Leadership Fitness in 5 Minutes with Gary Slyman

How good of a culture fit are you with what you’re planning next?

You are thinking about what’s next, you might be moving laterally or up or a totally new job.

How do you uncover if you are a culture fit for your next position or organization you are going to? We will revisit Schein’s analysis of organizational culture:

1. Artifacts:  You know where you want to go? What are those things you see when you walk into the organization?  There is a feel in the office.  What is it you want? Write it down, this is what you are looking for.
2. Espoused Values:  What is written, mission, vision, values, strategic plans? This is often the easiest to find on websites or in the office.
3. Underlying assumptions:  This is what really is going on in the organization. What do you want them to be in your next organization?  You have to uncover them. Formed by people being together for a period of time and solving a problem, this gets passed along. Build questions about what you want to uncover?  For example; tell me about the last time someone left, why did they leave?

Write down what you want,  you need to get face to face with people in your organization. Does the audio match the video. It is worth the work to uncover these areas to find out if you are a good fit.

Do you know your organizational culture well enough to make a change?

In Edgar Schein’s book “Organizational Culture and Leadership” he proposed that organization culture can be analyzed on three levels.

1. Artifacts - what do you physically see and feel when you check out an office space or business?
2. Espoused values - what is the ideal mission, policy and expectation of behavior? 
3. Underlying assumption - the expectations that are assumed but not necessarily talked about.       

 If you are an executive exploring a new company or organization walking through the history of that company looking at the above can become very insightful and helpful to making a cultural impact.

Did you catch this morning's weekly standup? 
Blind Spots:
We all have them. Where to find them & how to overcome them. 
Explore the following three areas:  
Knowledge
Behavior 
Emotion

Let’s see if we can find yours. Think about yourself in the workplace and those you work with. 
4 Things to Look for With Blind Spots
1. Know your assumptions
2. Test your assumptions, 
3. Get more knowledge  
4. Get more feedback
Share your thoughts on this process below.

Trust. What is it and how do you build it? Who do you trust? Who trusts you?  What are the foundations to that trust?

Trust in the work place.

Think about one person you trust no matter what and also the other extreme of a person that you do not trust.

What are the foundations of trust or lack of trust with each individual? 

Trust - being vulnerable at a time of risk or uncertainty

Did you catch the Monday morning standup?
3 Perspectives to Consider for Success
1. External Stakeholders
2. Team as a Whole
3. Individuals on the Team

Think about who you are leading, what positive impact in the short term and long term do you want to have?

Thankful for each of you in the Great Transitions Strategies Community

There are over 45,000 veteran organizations, how do you know which one's to support?  Below are five that I have personally worked with or know others who have had direct positive impact from them. 

Each of these help the veteran, their family and the local community. 

1. Commit Foundation - helps veterans transition (www.commitfoundation.org)
2. Project Opportunity, Baltimore -  provides 10 week entrepreneur course (www.project-opportunity.com)
3. Candorful - provides practice interview for veterans (candorful.org)
4. Head Strong Project - provides services for veterans suffering from PTSD (www.headstrong.org)
5. Cohen Veterans Network - provides mental health services to veterans and their families (https://www.cohenveteransnetwork.org/

Do you have others?  Share them below. 

What intentional change did you try to make this year?

What were the results? Were they positive or negative? What if you could apply some science to ensure you can make changes and they are sustainable?

Listen to hear the details and comment your thoughts below.

Self-Awareness.

This is the most important element of your leadership. If you understand who you are you can lead well.

I explore two parts of self-awareness, from the research and book by Tasha Eurich.

1. Internal - how clearly you see yourself, your insights, goals, the impact you have on others.

2. External- how clearly you see yourself as others see you.

They are independent of each other. Research has shown that having external self- awareness can lead to better relationships with those you lead and you can be a more effective leader.

How do you build self-awareness? Through honest feedback. Need help getting that feedback? Comment below.

Executive Presence - Authenticity 

How do you ensure your authenticity? 

Know your values and demonstrate them all the time. 

1. Know your top values.
2. Define your values
3. Communicate them frequently

Values drive us...we are daily trying to fulfill them. 

Our series on Executive Presence has ended, but now let's look at: How do You Evaluate Yourself?

I suggest a 360 evaluation, that you write. Think about what you want to know. I recommend no more than six questions over the areas below, some with a scale and some with free form comments, keeping the questions short.

Areas to explore... Executive Presence: Gravitas, Communication, & Appearance.

Need help? Comment below or send me a message.

Have you done a 360 yourself, share you thoughts below