Omar L. Harris's Blog, page 11

Debunking the Myth of "A" Players

I originally planned to write an article entitled, "The 5 A's of A Players" but quickly realized that doing so would only further contribute to a dangerous trend of disengaged employees worldwide. Also, I don't actually believe in the concept of the A Player - at least not in the Jack Welch/Steve Jobs notion of the term. The A Player hypothesis stems from a potentially harmful and antiquated management philosophy made famous by Jack Welch back in his GE heyday when he introduced the "vitality curve" which articulates variances in employee performance. According to Jack, all employees could (and should) be force ranked into tiers such as 20/70/10 or A,B,C - where your top performers (A players) were in the top 20%, your vital majority fit in the middle 70% (B players), and your bottom 10% (C players) should be let go on a regular basis to infuse the organization with more A and B level talents.On a superficial level, this management philosophy seems quite reasonable. In every endeavor in life there are those who excel, those who are good enough to get by, and those who should keep searching for their true calling. So the vitality model lines up quite nicely with how we perceive and reward success, generally, and has spawned a litany of books and articles on how to know if you are an A Player; how to hire A Players; how to motivate A Players; and how not to lose A Players; etc. The thought being that these 20% generate the majority of business value and should ultimately progress to the top of the enterprise pyramid. The inherent flaws in this model, however, are that 1) you can become highly leveraged as an organization on the talents, capacity, and whims of a few employees; 2) the powerful interplay of an optimized team can outproduce any single individual's talents and 3) as organizations become increasingly matrix-ized, ability of an individual to command and control based on positional power (individual talent) gives way to the need for individuals capable of leading without line authority which requires acknowledgement that there are others with greater functional expertise that must be engaged to make the right business decisions (collective talent).This theory of performance tiers also leads most organizations to concern themselves less with the WHY behind the successes of their top talents in favor of the WHAT they can give to motivate these talented few to even higher levels of productivity. It seems that the organizational management scientists have given up on trying to crack the code on overall employee engagement due to an over-reliance on the low hanging fruit of driving talent.Why not investigate the more difficult question of WHY some employees consistently play at the A level versus B, and C? Wouldn't cracking this code lead, theoretically speaking, to even greater heights of productivity?Doing such an investigation would invariably force you to move away from cookie cutter roles and oversimplified management philosophies and delve much deeper into the murky waters of employee engagement (and disengagement). It would require truly seeking to understand of the root problems of HOW employees are attracted, onboarded, trained, incentivized, nurtured, and continuously developed. It would drive you to give a hard look at your line managers and their capability to not only manage performance but also to cultivate and inspire their employees and build high performance teams. It would lead you to the long- forgotten conclusion that sustainable organizational success is not built on the abilities of a talented few but on the collective zeal of the enterprise.Understanding and activating employee engagement is truly one of the most difficult challenges of our age. But failing to do so will place the fate of organizational (and societal) progress in the hands of very few at the expense of the massively under realized potential of the many. The path forward seems to be that we must invest more time in developing human systems that can cultivate and motivate the whole organization while acknowledging the contributions of the A Players and leveraging their infectious influence not only as "the example" but as champions of engagement who can lead the entire team to the productivity promised land.What are your thoughts on how best to activate and engage employees? Let me know in the comments section below. And if you like this article, please share! 

Leadership Lessons Learned from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Please note: this article contains spoilers.After the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Act III of the Star Wars Saga is off to a sterling start. By expanding the mythology of the series beyond the original trilogy, Disney will surely continue to capture gold for years to come while allowing for new stories to be told. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is one such tale and there are plans for a young Han Solo movie and perhaps even a Boba Fett spin-off as well.The synopsis of the film goes: In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.On the surface, Rogue One is about the audacity of hope in overcoming outlandish odds to bring about meaningful change. But this movie is also very much about the power of causes and how each person, once fully committed to a cause, can make an impact. In that sense I found it to be a fantastic leadership case study.A shared cause can glue together even the most unlikely of allies to achieve a greater good.With this thought in mind, allow me to present 5 key leadership lessons gleaned from this epic adventure.Principals come first: At the beginning of the film, Galen Urso, a brilliant research scientist is hiding out on the planet Lah'mu when Imperial weapons developer Orson Krennic arrives to take him to complete the unfinished Death Star. For the greater good, Galen probably should have sacrificed himself rather than allow his brilliance to be twisted into crafting a weapon of mass destruction. Instead, his wife is killed and he is taken back into Imperial custody where he is forced to complete the destructive machine. In business, a leader's judgement and values are constantly tested. But just because you can do something, does not mean that you should. If you find yourself rationalizing in favor of a breach of your own morals and values, nothing good will come from it. Better to double down on the side of right and pay the price of good character in the present versus delaying the penalty for some short term gain.Together is better: The rebel alliance has a tremendous asset on its side in intelligence officer Cassian Andor, but he prefers the company of a sarcastic (and often hilariously snarky) droid K-2SO to other humans. Jyn Urso is a loner who has been able to stay off the Imperial radar since the childhood tragedy that resulted in her mother's murder and father's capture. They are thrown together by fate but bound together by the shared cause of dealing a significant blow to the Empire. Along the way they ally themselves with a blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Îmwe, his mercenary friend Baze Malbus, and pilot Bodhi Rook carrying a message of hope. Individually, each of them is extremely flawed, but together they accomplish the impossible. People are full of rough edges with peaks of brilliance and troughs of ineptitude but teams are designed to be well-rounded. And when collective talent is aligned behind a shared purpose, good things usually follow. It is the job of a leader to make sure that teams are greater than the sum of their parts and to aim this multiplied virtuosity at Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) that will stretch the group to achieve more than each individual could ever accomplish on their own.Faith takes practice: Throughout the movie, blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Îmwe constantly repeats the phrase: I am ONE with the force and the force is with me. He says it mostly in moments of high tension and crisis, and this mantra enables him to proactively confront some significant challenges. You get the sense that he has been repeating the phrase and then acting accordingly for many years, to the point that it has become more than a mantra - it is a way of being. For this warrior, hope is not a strategy, it is a powerful motivation to action - despite the obstacles. It's been said that success is built on small daily habits that are consistently repeated and applied. If you and your teams are not achieving the desired results, it might be time to re-examine your daily habits and mantras. When you find habits and mantras that keep you moving forward regardless of inevitable barriers, adopt and repeat them early and often.Don't run, fight: Once Jyn and Co. make it back at the rebel base with the confirmed intel that the Empire has a devastating weapon in their hands they intend to use to end the rebellion, the leaders of the uprising cower in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. In this moment, Jyn finds herself abandoned due to the cowardice of her superiors but she decides to disobey them and fight for freedom anyway. Her insubordination inspires many others to join the cause and ultimately they are successful in securing the precious plans to the Death Star's one hidden vulnerability. There are two powerful leadership lessons to take from this - 1) trust your people and 2) defend your values. Leaders should be on the lookout for colleagues like Jyn - who embody the values of the enterprise and want to defend them at all costs. When you find your organization's values threatened by internal or external threats, rally your forces and fight back with everything you have. These are the battles that you MUST win or else risk extinction.Sacrifice is necessary: In a pivotal moment, once they have identified the location of the Death Star plans, the droid K-2SO sacrifices itself so Cassian and Jyn can accomplish their mission. In business, there are crucial instances when one or multiple team members must sacrifice something in order for team goals to be achieved. These sacrifices may come in the form of funding, ego, promotion, or other individually important aspects that could hinder team success. As a leader it is important to explain the wider context behind priorities, recognize sacrifices being made by individuals on the team, and ensure alignment with the path forward. Leaders also must make their own sacrifices such as ignoring short term gains in favor of long-term sustainability; using authority instead of positional power to influence outcomes; and empowering and encouraging team members to make good choices versus taking the top down directive approach.Overall, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a thrilling and inspiring addition to the Star Wars cannon (5 out of 5 stars from me).What other leadership lessons did you glean from the film? Let us know in the comments below. And please give the article a share if you enjoyed and got anything out of it.

Becoming your Best Self

At the end of December, I will cross the halfway point on the march toward the end of my fourth decade. Over these nearly 40 years I've been blessed to accumulate many significant friendships, experiences, learnings, and accomplishments as well as some spectacular failures. At this mid-way point, I have been doing a considerable amount of reflecting on the incline phase of my life before I initiate the inevitable, long, slow decline that begins around the 40 year watermark. No matter what I do, if I live another 40 years I am sure to be a tremendously different individual at the end of that era - so I want to take stock of what is important moving forward.The question that keeps recurring for me these days is have I become the best version of myself? In order to answer such a heavy inquiry, I've begun to break down my life into chunks to examine my person, my purpose, and my potential. By delving into these three areas I can assess progress and set objectives to potentialize existing strengths and manage weaknesses.It was Plato who asked, "…why should we not calmly and patiently review our own thoughts, and thoroughly examine and see what these appearances in us really are?"My person: How to evaluate yourself is an important consideration. I am a big fan of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and turn to it time and time again to assess what is motivating me at a given moment. For me, living a life is quite similar to climbing a mountain and Maslow's model provides the stages of the climb - with Self-Actualization as the summit of being where your full potential is realized.The self-inventory (and climb) starts on the lower levels of the pyramid. Fortunately, my basic needs are definitely being met and most of my psychological needs are also satisfied. There are some issues on the level of esteem, however. As someone who sets a high bar for myself, I don't always feel like I have accomplished everything I could have by this point and this tension simultaneously drives me forward and holds me back from living a more contented life. I have assessed that being in the moment and practicing gratitude and appreciation for life's daily accomplishments and wonders can fill in this gap so I can better fulfill my purpose.My purpose: Mark Twain is attributed with the following powerful quote: "The  two most important days in  your life are the  day you were born, and the day you find out why."In my opinion, there is no more important mission for a human being than identifying purpose. Purpose may take many different forms from procreation and parenting to professional pursuits to creative endeavors to spiritual mastery. Defining one's purpose, however, becomes much easier once you understand and "claim" your unique talents. Talents are defined by the Gallup organization as naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied.I've already detailed my journey to develop my own talents in a previous blog, but in essence, transforming talent into strength requires effort (application + skills + knowledge) that must be exerted until you exhibit consistent, near-perfect performance in an activity you love doing. Think about this statement for a moment and let's unpack the three key concepts of strength: consistency, near-perfection, and love.Consistency is steady and sure - just like your handwriting. You don't have to think about writing at this point, you just do it.Near-perfection is a highly obvious - just like your favorite recipe. You have calibrated all the ingredients in such a way that wonderful flavors are all-but-guaranteed.Love is re-energizing - just like your favorite person. You leave each interaction more full than you began and can't wait to be with that old friend again.The pursuit of strength therefore enables the achievement of purpose. Interestingly, both pursuits (strength and purpose) involve falling in love with something or someone. It is love that opens the gateway to the fulfillment of your true potential because you just can't get enough of that feeling.Without love there can be no strength or purpose. Without knowledge of self, there is no potential to be fulfilled.So to summarize my progress against my purpose - I know who I am, I know what makes me unique and strong, and I know what I love doing and for whom I love doing it. My continual challenge is understanding that this has to be enough or else achievement of my potential will fall short.My potential: Just as not everyone reaches the summit of Everest in their lifetime, not everyone truly fulfills their potential. Paulo Coelho describes this as "The Personal Legend" which is a really interesting oxymoron.How can achievement of potential be both deeply personal and yet the stuff of legend at the same time?Maybe it's because to reach self-actualization, you have to dig to the deepest level of the self and only through this depth of excavation can you find the inner brilliance to then shine on the world in legendary fashion.When he was 12 years old, Mohammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) declared he would be The World Heavy Weight Champion of boxing by the age of 22. Not only did he achieve this objective right on time, but along the journey he discovered his talents, turned them into strengths, found purpose, and then over delivered on his potential not just by winning the heavyweight title 3 times but more so by defending his beliefs and then morphing into a lifelong defender of the weak and meek. This is what self-actualization looks like and that's why it is a worthy pursuit. If we all could be brave enough to live life the way this great human did then truly the world would be a better place.From mind-development.eu here are a list of other attributes of self-actualizing persons:They are realistically oriented and not threatened by the unknown. They have a superior ability to reason and to see the truth.They perceive and understand human nature. They accept themselves, other people, circumstances and the natural world for what they are. They able to learn from anyone and are friendly with anyone, with no regard to stereotypes.They are emotionally intelligent and feel no need for crippling guilt or shame. They tend to be serene, characterized by a lack of worry. They are self starters, are responsible for themselves, and own their behavior. Work becomes play and desires are in excellent accord with reason.They are unflappable and retain dignity amid confusion and personal misfortune, all the while remaining objective.They have a great deal of spontaneity and have no unnecessary inhibitions.The self-actualized person can be alone and not be lonely.They are honest and seek justice for all.They are autonomous and independent. Thoughts and impulses are unhampered by convention. Their ethics are autonomous and they determine their own inner moral standards.They have a fresh rather than stereotyped appreciation of people and appreciate the best aspects in all things. However they resist conformity to the culture. They determine their own behavior and have their own views on people and events.Moment to moment living for them is exciting and often exhilarating as they live their life to the full. Vibrant moments are frequent and peak experiences not unusual. Peak experiences are moments when one sees clearly what before was hidden or obscured.They seek wholeness; they are able to merge opposing views into a third, higher synthesis, as though the two have united; therefore, opposite forces are no longer felt as conflict. Self-actualizing people retain their childlike qualities and yet have a far-seeing wisdom.Their intimate relationships with specially loved people tend to be profound, sincere and long-lasting, rather than superficial.Their sense of humor is philosophical rather than hostile. They can laugh at themselves but never make jokes that hurt others.Self-actualizing people enjoy an inborn uniqueness that carries over into everything they do. Their creativity is original, inventive, uninhibited and - since they see the real and true more easily - valuable.Self-actualizing individuals are motivated to continual growth. They are also aware of their primary goals in life and are devoted to fulfilling them, both for their own benefit and as service to others.Assessing myself against this list, I know that the summit is like an oasis in the desert - it appears closer than it actually is in reality. Still, I now know that what truly matters is what I do today and each day to live a self-actualized life where my potential is fully realized. Age has nothing to do with it...I hope you enjoyed this rather long article and I hope you are also working to become your best self! Please share this article with your network. Would love to discuss your journey in the comments section!

Transform your leadership style with this powerful 3 letter word!

Kids are born leaders. Watch as parents squirm when this powerful leadership word exits their child's lips - WHY? Forced to elaborate and articulate a response that is sufficiently complete but also simple enough for a child to understand, the parent invariably resorts to something nonsensical. Funny enough, the same thing happens when you as a leader ask your staff WHY they are engaging in a particular activity or taking a given course of action. It's truly amazing how often we don't question the reason or rationale behind what we are doing. But you can stop all that with one word - WHY.When you are starting your leadership journey, other questioning words are much more prevalent. You typically focus on the WHATs and HOWs and WHENs of achieving a given objective. But invariably you will encounter resistance, problems, and obstacles and it is at this juncture that you need to unleash the latent power of the WHYs.This approach is particularly important when searching for the root cause behind a given issue related to a performance breakdown or at the beginning of a problem solving cycle. Answering the 5 WHY's can provide critical understanding of the true nature of the situation and lead to solutions that truly address problems at their base.Allow me to illustrate:Let's say that your car battery is dead.WHY did it die? Maybe the battery is faulty.WHY is it faulty? Maybe due to an electrical fault.WHY was there an electrical fault? Maybe there's a bad connection.WHY was there a bad connection? Maybe car vibration loosened the connection.WHY is the car vibrating too much? Maybe the wheels are out of balance.Best potential solution: Balance the wheels.Without leveraging the power of WHY, in this example, 9 out of 10 people would rush to replace the battery which will most likely fail again because the true root cause was not identified and corrected. WHY is the transformational leadership question to ask when you are winning and losing. If you know WHY you are winning (i.e. well balanced wheels), you can double down on your success and scale that up (drive faster, go farther). In converse if you know WHY you are losing (i.e. need to balance the wheels) you can stop and intervene to avert disaster.Every now and again you should do an inventory of your company's processes and procedures and leverage the power of WHY. If your team cannot explain WHY they have to undertake a given activity or perform a certain task in a certain way then imagine how that confusion potentially permeates deeper into the organization. These “WHY's” are the precise difference between basic descriptions and good explanations. And good explanations go a LONG way in achieving buy-in and alignment.Let's take this concept up a few levels. To what degree do you understand WHY your role exists as a leader or WHY your company should exist or WHY customers should choose your products or services? Simon Sinekhas a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership — starting with a golden circle and the question "WHY?"Sinek's golden circle takes an inside (insight) out approach to defining purpose and reason for being:In Sinek's words, "People don't buy what you do they buy why you do it. The goal is to do business with those who believe what you believe." Once you understand WHY you, your company, and product and services should exist  it becomes much easier for people to follow, engage, or support you.WHY is the difference between staying in bed and waking up ready to do your best everyday.WHY is the difference between lack of engagement and total buy-in.WHY is the difference between good and great performance.Let's discuss how you've leveraged the power of WHY in the comments below. And I'll leave you with this very inspiring TED talk by Simon Sinek on the topic. If you enjoyed this article, please share it with your network! Also, please join my growing leadership tribe on twitter!

Called to Coach

I had the amazing opportunity to palaver with Jim Collison and Danny Lee from Gallup last night about my strengths journey and wanted to share with you all here. Increasing my awareness of my unique talents and abilities and taking full ownership for the development of these talents and abilities took me from an actively disengaged, uninspired employee to a leader of organizations all around the world. I invite you to watch the video and if any ideas or questions are sparked about anything you hear, let's have a dialogue in the comments section!

Leadership is a Long Haul

I recently read an article in Popular Mechanics magazine recently called, "The Grueling Life of a Long-Haul Trucker"that triggered me to reflect on the parallels to leadership. Truck drivers lead solitary existences, travel extensive miles, stop in strange towns, and speak their own distinct language. They also live in pursuit of clear goals and can break those objectives down into weight ratio, miles per gallon, and hours trucked per day in order to maximize their revenues. The truck driver profiled in the article makes this profound statement that I'd like to unpack here:As long as you take care of your truck and avoid the big breakdowns, you should come out on top. But there's a lot more responsibility having your own truck. Anything that goes wrong is your problem.Take care of your truck - in the literal sense a truck is the cabin, engine, tires, and trailer. In the leadership sense, a truck is yourself (body, mind, spirit), company, team, culture, values, products, and services. Your job as leader is to ensure that the vehicle is in tip-top shape so you can go the distance and achieve your goals.Avoid the big breakdowns -  time is literally money in the truck driving world. The driver in the article talks about how something as simple as purchasing diesel from warm weather parts of the country can leave you stranded in colder weather parts waiting for a tow truck and/or police to rescue you before you freeze to death. In the leadership sense, this translates into what the book Great by Choice calls "productive paranoia". Great leaders anticipate the factors and circumstances that can derail their progress and always plan and prepare for the worst case scenario. Rose colored glasses may make the world look prettier but they also prevent you from seeing that the sky is falling!Come out on top - truckers need to arrive on or ahead of time with their sanity and cargo intact and the same applies for leaders. Your function is to instill a high performance culture and drive it until you are winning more than you are losing. By default that means that all leaders need a score board by which to visualize success for themselves and their teams, week over week, month over month, quarter over quarter, and year over year.Anything that goes wrong is your problem - truckers are fundamentally solo professionals, so when bad things happen, accountability is relatively easy. In leadership however, when things go wrong do you place blame on others or do you take a hard look in the mirror and recognize the error of your own ways? Accountability is one of the keys to performance and leaders who do not hold themselves accountable will have great difficulty holding anyone else accountable for results.What other parallels can you draw between leadership and long haul trucking? Let me know in the comments section. And if you enjoyed this article please share with your network.Please join the leadership tribe on twitter!

Get out of your Depth

Recently, I was reminded of the famous Albert Einstein quote, "The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." The cue came in the form of the Accelerated Strengths Coaching Course that I was fortunate to participate in a few weeks ago held by Gallup. To understand more I need to take you back to my initial introduction into the Clifton Strengths philosophy in my mid-twenties and my journey to maximize my unique talents into strengths and do the same for others.If you've read any of my other articles, you know how much I attribute my success to the understanding and nurturing of my key talent areas from an early stage of my career. Way back in 2002, I took an assessment expressing to me that I had Ideation, Maximizer, Strategic, Self-Assurance, and Command talents and that offered the promise of doing and achieving more by directly applying these talents in my day to day work life. As a young marketer, I began to believe in my ideas and standards and strategies and was able to convince senior leaders to support these ideas, standards, and strategies. And success begat more success which begat even more success.And it was all because I had decided to CLAIM these five talents as my business identity.I started reading everything Gallup published on the science of strengths and  translated the insights I gathered from Go Put Your Strengths to Work and Strengths-Based Leadership into my personal development plans. Soon I was promoted into my first managerial post and I started applying what I'd learned about strengths with my teams as well. I mapped out my teams based on the four domains of strength and used the science to build high performance teams in very different businesses and geographies. I remade roles for my team mates based on their talents and not their job description. I took risks and moved people across disciplines convincing them that they had the right stuff for the job regardless of what their CV said previously.After ten years managing people based on what was right with them versus what gaps they had, I discovered an interesting correlation. The difference maker, as it had been for me, was that psychological ownership of one's talents almost always translated into a boost in performance and productivity. So I focused my time and attention on getting people to see themselves as I did through the lens of talent and strength. As is always the case, some people made the leap and some didn't.It was at this point I began searching for more and better techniques and approaches to helping people understand, own, and apply their unique talents. Around 2010 I found out that Gallup had initiated an Accelerated Strengths Coaching Course. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, I never was able to take this four and a half day course until a few weeks ago. And that's when I had my major AHA moment. For ten years, I had basically been free-diving into the ocean of strengths based coaching, management, and leadership. But just as it's difficult to get to any real depth on a single breath, I realized that I had only scratched the surface of what was possible with this philosophy.First of all, tools. So many tools!! I left the course with around 8 pounds of material which paled in comparison to the incremental weight of the knowledge I had acquired over a relatively short space of time. I had learned how to map all 34 talent themes for an individual, manager, and team and how these themes interacted with each other in unique and interesting ways. I had learned how much time it takes to successfully coach for performance. I had acquired X-ray vision into the inner workings of the people around me and the precise tools to adjust the knobs and dials for optimal alignment.Basically, I felt like Luke Skywalker at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.There was something markedly different about me now. And the name for that difference was DEPTH. I had peeked into the Marianas Trench and the depths had peeked back at me and let me know that should I choose - there was enough space to keep diving indefinitely. And this knowledge was surprisingly EMPOWERING. Over ten years I had been shortchanging my teams due to my own limited knowledge of the subject matter, but never again.My call to action for anyone who has taken the Clifton Strengths assessment or who is managing based on the philosophy is to get out of the shallow waters and dive deeper for the true pearls that will unlock game changing insights for yourself and others. You can never have too many Jedi's in this world...If you enjoyed this article, please share with others!