Are You Playing Buzzword Bingo?

Today is Leadership Day 2012.  Amazing leaders from all over the world are contributing to a powerful, dizzying array of posts that you can find here.  For my #LeadershipDay12 I have been thinking a lot about a game that many leaders do not even know they are playing.  The video below best exemplifies the leadership game of "buzzword bingo".

Listen carefully when people speak about the work that they are doing.

• Are they speaking in a series of code words that ultimately mean very little?  
• Are they playing buzzword bingo without even knowing it? 

It is easy to fall into this trap since there is always a new word, term, acronym that describes the next greatest thing.   Many leaders are focused on "preparing students for the 21st century" even though we are almost 13 years into the decade.  You will undoubtedly read posts about  #BYOD, #BYOT, or even #BYOB.  You may start the new year with a focus on flipping, a multitude of mobile missions, or even an eye on iPads, iPods, and iTunes U.

The buzzwords mean very little by themselves.  That's why so many reform initiatives or revolutionary ideas fail.  We often never move past the words into the real actions that make a difference.  Leaders must move beyond buzzwords and into the work that really matters.  This work starts by framing the WHY behind your initiatives. 

For Example:

• Why are we going mobile?  How are we going to do the work?  What do we expect to accomplish?

For #LeadershipDay12 I am challenging all leaders to stop playing buzzword bingo.  Drop the acronyms, forget the new catchphrase and focus on the work that needs to be done.  

What Does Your Room Look Like?

"If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room" 

- Austin Kleon

I spent a great deal of my childhood in my room (mostly because I was sent there as a punishment and a few times by choice).  I never really got any smarter in my own room because I was by myself and I also spent most of the time plotting an escape or how to take over the world.  By default I was the smartest, most talented person in the room.  


Now I have the opportunity to work and learn in many different rooms both virtually and face to face.  This opportunity is actually free to all yet still only a small minority choose to take advantage of it.  One of the beautiful things about technology is you are now able to leverage the world as your room.  You can connect, engage, and learn from experts in all fields of study.  You can move from room to room dependent on the topic.  


Right now on  I am intensely learning in rooms focused on #edreform, #leadership, #literacy, and #mlearning.  I am fortunate to learn from and with some of the most talented people in the world who are practitioners and experts in their respective fields.  I am always looking for ways to expand my room and learn from the wisdom of the crowd.  


As soon as you feel you have arrived and you know everything you need to know....It's probably time to go!

Gaslight Leadership

This morning on my way in to work I noticed that my gaslight was illuminated.  I typically pay little attention to the gas in my car on a day to day basis.  I realized that I had gotten into the dangerous habit of waiting for the gaslight to tell me I needed gas.  

I guess this isn't the worst practice if you are driving in a populated area with gas stations all around.  It is fairly easy to stop once the light comes on and fill up.  

What would happen if you weren't paying attention and the light comes on with no gas stations in sight?  In essence, you would be stranded.  I believe that this waiting for the light to come on phenomenon extends past the gas in your car and into the leadership practices of many.

Many leaders have become heavily reliant on the data that is fed to them while ignoring the critical daily data points along the way.  I receive data reports that are delivered on a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis.  This data is important but it has also lead to a gas light approach to leadership. The problem with waiting for data is that it often comes in too late to correct the course, change actions, and make a difference.  

As a leader don't wait for your organization's gaslight to come on before you decide to alter your course.  Focus on your daily practices, conversations, and observations.  Pair this qualitative data with your data reports and you will be far more likely to yield positive results.  It definitely beats being stranded on the side of the road with no gas station in sight.  

A Leadership Flatline

What would you want a doctor to do if this is what was showing on your monitor at the hospital?

  

Would you want the doctor to keep continuing what they were doing despite the results?

Would you want the doctors to spend their time diagnosing how the flatline was really the patient's fault?

Would you want the doctor to put together a long range plan to begin to get a pulse?

OR

Would you want the doctors to change their current method because of the data on the monitor?

Would you want the doctors to hold themselves personally accountable for changing the results on the monitor?

These questions may sound absurd considering that we are talking about a life or death situation.  You would never want the doctor to behave according to the first set of questions.  

The most effective leaders would not exhibit these behaviors either.  Replace doctor(s) with leader(s) in each of the questions above.   The data would be around the goals of the organization that the leader is in charge of.  How many leaders have you seen behaving according to the first set of questions?  Many organizations are exhibiting flat lines and yet the leader continues to act in the same manner that brought on the failure.

Leaders must lead differently to spike a flat line in data.  How can you as a leader begin to bring your organization back to life?

You may need to grab the paddles...countdown and CLEAR your leadership practices.

Asking the Right Questions

I am a proponent of a leadership style that involves a great deal of teaching or coaching versus a style that requires telling or directing work.  I have even written about this belief of Teach Don't Tell before.  One of the most effective ways to coach or lead is through the use of questions.

People generally try to provide a response to the questions that you ask.  The validity and reliability of the responses may be subject to question though.  How do you as a leader move people and the organization forward?  It will not be done on

There are many different questioning strategies that leaders can employ.   The easiest strategy is to change the first word in your question.  Most people by nature ask "What" questions.  These questions elicit responses that do not require much critical thinking.  The best shift in questioning will occur when you stop asking "What" and begin asking "Why".  The answers to "Why" questions are often more complex and get to the root of the issue.

Try asking three consecutive "Why" questions to seek a better understanding of a decision or a situation. By the end of the third "Why" you typically reach the core belief or root cause.

"Why" not try it and see if you get different results.

Rules to Break: That's How We Have Always Done It

"You are remembered for the rules you break." -Douglas MacArthur  

The MacArthur quote is especially true when you consider leadership.  If you don't break any rules you will continue to do the same things every day.  I thought I'd start a new series about the rules that leaders should be breaking.


The first rule in the series is more of a habit many leaders fall into.  It involves using the phrase "That's how we have always done it."  This is the cornerstone for answers about initiatives, procedures, etc. that do not make any sense.  If you are not convinced, try the following exercise.

• Pick something in your organization that doesn't make any sense, drives your crazy or gets in the way of the real work.
• Ask someone who has been in the organization for an extended period of time the following question: Why do we do that anyway?
• What answer are you likely to get?  The answer will be some variation of, "I'm not sure. That's the way we have always done it."

This is unfortunately also the answer to the most important question (WHY?) we can ask as leaders. These "that is how we have always done it" moments are also the things that are preventing change or improvement in organizations.  As a leader take inventory of all of your "that's how we have always done it" moments.  

• Can you answer the WHY question about your decisions, initiatives, and changes? 
• Does the answer to the WHY question actually match up with your stated values and beliefs?

Effective leaders move from "That's How We Have Always Done It" to "This is WHY we are doing it." The WHY must have a strong foundation in order to build an outstanding organization.


There are many other rules that leaders should break.  I'll try to capture more in the coming weeks. In the meantime...


What rules do you think leaders should break?

No One Has the Right To Waste a Minute of A Child's Life

The title of this post is actually a line in an Education Leadership article from ASCD.  I often come back to it as I work in and with schools.  


What would schools be like if we all embodied this concept?  
What if every moment was spent with this mindset?  


In the words of the great Dr.Seuss, "Oh, the places you'll go!"