DDI’s Talent Management Intelligence

Hollywood’s Cynical Take on Executive Integrity

By Mike Hoban

Did you see the movie “Unstoppable” about the runaway freight train and which starred Denzel Washington?  A fun and action packed popcorn flick for sure, especially as a $1 Redbox rental, but there was a brief scene in it which pandered to a jaundiced view of what corporate CEOs are supposed to be like. It was about integrity. It was blatant and snarky. And it was unnecessary. Yet, many viewers likely accepted it as a plausible and maybe even a probable way of how things work in the corporate world.

In the scene, several options to stop the runaway train are identified to prevent it from careening off the tracks into some fuel storage tanks in the middle of a downtown area.  Many lives and many dollars are at stake. The CEO is called to make the final decision (so far so good…).  Um, where is the CEO?  Playing golf, of course, with some other well-heeled golfers. His key question to his lieutenant, himself an archetypical “suit,” has to do with the share price implications of the options. Of course, he opts for the choice that minimizes the stock price downside. 

Granted, the job of a CEO is to balance stakeholder interests, which includes being the enterprise guardian for the equity of stockholders, the true owners of the company. But the scene was not about how business leaders have to courageously manage competing interests or wrestle with the grey space or navigate through institutional dilemmas. To this viewer, it was about painting the business leader in one dimension, as only caring about the money and probably his own stock options. It was Gordon Gecko clutching a three wood.

Because of the headlines of recent years, many people are cynical about business leaders and the values they hold.  Yes, there are rogues and book cookers in business and perp walks for executives seem to have high entertainment value. But there are seamy side members of most professions and my experiences and personal optimism lead me to believe that the vast majority of managers and leaders are honest and hard-working. 

Headlines about insider trading or egregious greed are headlines because they represent a deviation from the expected. Does Hollywood really need to fan the flames of some misguided populist thinking which posits that the corporate suites are integrity-free zones? I suppose a story about a CEO with high integrity and a strong moral compass wouldn’t sell many tickets.    

Mike Hoban is a senior consultant for Development Dimensions International (DDI). 

Learning 2.0: Beware the Power Law

Excerpted from "A Practical Approach to Leveraging Learning 2.0" in ASTD's March 2011 issue of Learning Circuits. 

By Aviel Selkovits

The wonderful thing about social media is that it presents a highly democratic space. You can choose to be an active participant in the conversation, building a highly collaborative and creative forum. Or you can choose to be more of a ‘consumer’ of the information, anonymously reading others’ posts and comments.

However there is a dirty little secret to Web 2.0—and thus Learning 2.0, and that is the Power Law. The Power Law, by definition, is a mathematical relationship between two quantities. In the case of social media, it has evolved into a 90-9-1 distribution. Essentially, 90 percent of people using these tools are passive observers, 9 percent are active contributors, and 1 percent are the leaders and creators. While this distribution is perfectly adequate in the world of social media, when it comes to leadership development it can create some hurdles to effective implementation.

The impact of using these tools as part of your learning implementations is that they enable everyone to have a voice and to contribute. As shepherds of organizational development, we have to build accountability around the usage of these tools. The value of the learning activities, and the sense of community created, is greatly improved when everyone joins in the conversation.

Workplace learning and performance professionals need to promote the value of these activities and tools before the learners ever sign online or enter a classroom. As some leaders will be hesitant to be the first to post, consider putting up applicable questions they can respond to, making it less daunting to get the conversation started. Providing meaningful activities and follow-up will build their enthusiasm and accountability, which will drive them to continue practicing and honing their newly learned skill set. But beware: Don’t think if you put these new tools out there that everyone will jump to use them—as with all change, there is an adoption process that has to be managed.

Read the entire article online in Learning Circuits.

Aviel Selkovits is a Senior Consultant in DDI's Learning Solutions.

Health Care Needs New Heroes - The Talent Implications of Health Care Reform

Excerpted from the Spring 2011 issue of HR Pulse.

By Debra Walker

A changing of the guard, a new breed, a revolution, or a paradigm shift…pick your cliché and it applies here. The changes listed above are driving the need for health care to reinvent what it’s looking for from its ‘heroes’ of patient care: executives, physicians, leaders, and staff. That means if hospitals and providers continue to hire the kind of person that was successful in the past, they are likely to fail in the future. Let’s take a closer look at what’s needed at all levels of talent in a post-reform health care organization, and the get-it-done competencies we suggest that organizations use to drive the necessary behaviors:

Surgeon Atul Gawande said it brilliantly in an April 2010 article that ran in Harvard Business Review: Health Care needs a new kind of hero. “Think of Sully Sullenberger, the pilot who landed the plane on the Hudson River,” he says, drawing an analogy to a hero from recent headlines.  “The story the public had about him was that he was an unbelievable pilot, and that’s what saved the plane. He was the hero.  He kept saying no, it was adherence to protocol and teamwork allowed [the team] to safely land the plane.  Heroism in medicine ought to mean having the humility to recognize that we are more likely to fail on our own, and embracing teamwork to help us provide the best care.”

Gone are the days of lone ranger physicians, operating independently according to their own laws of the land. Also diminishing are roles where non-clinical executives manage from offices far away from patients. Expertise from both parties must converge to lead together, which is why we talk about both physicians and executives together here. Harmony and collaboration is not always the norm when it comes to notoriously contentious physician/executive relationships. But this friction has no place in a world of collective strategy execution and shared leadership models. So for executives and physicians, we find this competency effectively describes the behavior necessary to succeed:

> Cultivating Clinical and Business Partnerships. Senior leaders must initiate and maintain strategic relationships with stakeholders inside and outside the health system to advance clinical and business goals. This means reaching out to physicians or other executives, cross-functional partners, payers, suppliers, community representatives, unions if applicable, and others to identify partnership opportunities, and to create win-win outcomes for all parties involved.

For more information on the talent implications of health care reform:

Read the entire article "Forward Focused Talent" online.

Register for our Webinar "A New Breed of Executive: Developing Executives to Lead Transformational Change" on March 14, 2011.

Debra Walker is a Vice President at Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Leadership Lessons from Dr. Seuss

By Nikki Dy-Liacco

This week would have marked the 107^th birthday of the late Theodor Seuss Geisel, fondly known to all of us as Dr. Seuss. His colorful and best-selling stories Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas have captured the hearts of kids and kids-at-heart around the world. I still love reading my pop-up book of Oh, The Places You'll Go! and enjoyed the movie adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! from a couple of years ago.

Quotable quotes from Dr. Seuss continue to remind me of important life lessons. As I am currently preparing for an upcoming Leadership Development Program, a little light bulb went off in my head: there is also a lot to learn from Dr. Seuss on leadership! After a quick Google search, I realize that others have had the same a-ha moment. But because I am a big fan, I couldn’t not write this blog. In the spirit of freezy-breeze-made-these-three-trees-freeze-alliteration, here are a few C’s on leadership:

• Camaraderie. The all-time favorite The Cat in the Hat has a great line: “It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.” Building true camaraderie in the workplace goes beyond just having fun for fun’s sake. I like how the Great Place to Work Institute defines camaraderie as one of their five dimensions; it is the ability to be oneself; a socially friendly and welcoming atmosphere; and a sense of “family” or “team” in the company. Leaders play a critical role in creating and sustaining a culture of authentic camaraderie. Their visibility and accessibility (especially of senior leaders), as well as the way they recognize and reward employees both formally and informally, can make a huge difference in making a company a great (and fun!) place to work.

• Commitment. The Lorax promises, “I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues.” Unfortunately, not all leaders stand firm behind their teams, speak on their behalf, defend their direct reports as needed, or give credit where credit is due. It cannot be stressed enough how organizations need leaders who are committed to their teams and who can be trusted by their people. Through their behaviors and decisions, leaders must earn that trust every day. Their values must be visible through their actions, and they must walk-the-talk, and be both able and willing to be held up as an example to others. “I meant what I said and I said what I meant,” goes the line in Horton Hears a Who! “An elephant’s faithful one-hundred percent!”

• Confidence... not just in themselves, but more importantly, in others and especially in their teams. Organizations need leaders who encourage others to fly high: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. Oh! The Places You’ll Go! You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.” In our white paper on Leadership Beliefs, leaders need to coach and set others up for success, to give up the limelight and let others shine—which also mean leaders need a strong, not a big, ego. Leaders who are secure about their own accomplishments and achievements are comfortable to take the back seat and truly enjoy seeing others learn, grow and succeed (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed!).

• Continuous learning. In I Can Read with My Eyes Shut, Dr. Seuss writes: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Imagine if all leaders took charge of their own professional development (which goes beyond just reading of course) instead of waiting to be sent to an assessment center or assigned a new project? A client recently shared with me how he wishes leaders would see their and their direct reports’ Individual Development Plans as a fluid process; not just an annual chore or a compliance document with check boxes to tick off, but an ongoing journey to improved performance and better results.

What are your favorite leadership or life lessons from Dr. Seuss or any other children’s book?

Nikki Dy-Liacco is DDI’s Marketing Manager for South East Asia.

Manage Through Culture: Inspiring Performance in the Chinese Workforce

By Heather Daigle

During my recent trip to Shanghai - my former home of five years - I had the pleasure of speaking with a number of consultants, talent leaders and front-line managers on the latest developments in managing and motivating talent. When I left China in 2007, talent management practices had not yet fully taken shape. Now, talent has become a hot topic, and I wanted to know – what is working?

Through my conversations, I heard many tales of failures, such as companies investing in external trainers who bring little to no value or transformation. As I probed deeply for the keys to success, a theme began to emerge: managing through culture. 

Culture is far from a foreign concept to Chinese employees. The rich history, traditions and norms of Chinese society, combined with its collectivistic roots, render organizational culture a powerful metaphor.  Even as old traditions are abandoned in favor of new conventions in modern society, Chinese culture engenders strong pride and loyalty among people.

What does this mean for organizations operating in China? It means that intentionally crafting and reinforcing organizational and team cultures can be a compelling source of clarity, motivation and growth for the workforce. At an organizational level, communicating strategies, objectives and operational tactics through a united cultural lens can trigger collectivistic mindsets, enabling employees to integrate their identities with that of the company. For the Chinese employee, this can be tremendously motivating.

For managers, it’s about creating and embodying a strong team culture. By establishing and promoting team unity, group norms and shared goals, managers can inspire team loyalty and encourage collaboration. Rooting individual performance expectations in the culture of the team and organization can facilitate intrinsic motivation and an individual drive for results.

A Chinese friend and manager at a leading global software organization shared his perspective on managing through culture. “I expect my reports to go to the front line of the battle for me, to be willing to die for me,” he confided (metaphorically speaking, of course). “But, this means I must be willing to die for them.” Only when managers and leaders in China fully embed themselves in the culture they promote – when loyalty is reciprocal -- can they inspire a high performing team.

But here’s the catch: modern Chinese society is riddled with individualistic goals and pursuits. The potential for inspiring motivation and drive through unity and shared identity is there – much more so than in Western environments – but it requires deliberate action to create, sustain and manage through culture. If culture and team cohesion are left up to chance, employees are likely to take the individualistic approach and pursue their own goals, perhaps at the expense of their teammates or companies.

Our guest blogger, Heather Daigle, is the Director of Organizational Development for Rolling Forecast Solutions, LLC and explores global talent issues in her blog Speak the Culture