References
1. Beer, Michael High Commitment, High Performance Jossey-Bass 2009
2. Conner, Daryl R. Managing at the Speed of Change Villard Books 1992
3. Crosby, Robert P. Solving the Cross-Work Puzzle VIVO! Publishing 2010 
4. Scherr, Allen L. and Jensen, Michael C. A New Model of Leadership Harvard NOM Research        Paper No. 06-10, Barbados Group Working Paper No. 06-02, 2007

Tool for Ongoing Review Meetings
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In this article you will learn about black holes and how to prevent them from endangering change initiatives. ​

Reference

1. Heifetz, Ronald A. Leadership Without Easy Answers The Belknap Press 1994

Additional resources

1. Are flaws in decision making causing conflict and poor alignment--a quick diagnostic
2. We have a consensus!....?

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​(text of video)

References

1. Wheatley, Margaret J. Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc. 1994
2. Rodin, Scott R. The Steward Leader InterVarsity Press 2010
3. Sull, Donald and Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2015

Additional Information and Resources

1. For more information on Simple Rules (also called In-the-Moment Leadership Strategies) see website at neilbakerconsulting.com.
2. Subscribers can reference the Resource Guide. If you wish to subscribe for free monthly articles and link to this guide, click on Subscribe. You may unsubscribe at any time. 

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​(text of video)

References

• Coaching methods
  • How To Coach When There Is No Time
• Setting team norms
  • An Easily Missed Ingredient for High Team Performance
• Feedback and going first
  • Vulnerability, results, and leadership
  • Teamwork as perpetual feedback
• Clear, consistent decision making
  • Are flaws in decision making causing conflict and poor alignment?

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​(text of video)

​In this article you will learn how to give direction and coach at the same time. This is one of the more difficult balancing acts in leadership and it is crucial to the best results. 

Reference
Whitmore, John Coaching for Performance Nicholas Brealey Publishing 2009

Questions Tool for Coaching
Obtain the tool by subscribing for free monthly articles at Subscribe. On subscribing you will receive a link to a page for subscribers only with a variety of tools including this one on coaching. You may unsubscribe at any time.  

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In this article you will learn why coaching is so important to effective leadership and how to coach when it feels like there is No Time.  

Instructions to access Resource Guide
The Resource Guide for strategies which accelerate deliberate practice is available for subscribers only. Obtain a link to the guide by subscribing for free monthly articles at Subscribe. You may unsubscribe at any time. 

References
The full reference list for deliberate practice is available for subscribers only. Obtain a link to the list by subscribing for free monthly articles at Subscribe. You may unsubscribe at any time. 
1. Ericsson Anders, Pool Robert Peak: secrets from the new science of expertise Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2016

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This article is for experienced, seasoned leaders who feel, or who have felt at some time in the past, the aspiration to bring their highest values, skills, and passion to any and all situations, including those that are very provocative and difficult. 

References

1. Kahneman, Daniel Thinking Fast and Slow Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2012.
2. Baker, Neil J. et al Hidden in Plain View: Barriers to Quality Improvement Physician Leadership Journal (2) Mar-Apr 2016, 54- 57
3. Lencioni, Patrick The Advantage Jossey-Bass 2012

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Tool for Ongoing Review Meetings for Improvement Initiatives
Available for subscribers only. Subscribe for free monthly resources and obtain a link to the tool by clicking on the subscribe button below . You may unsubscribe at any time. ​

​In this article you will learn that secrets to successful healthcare innovation too often stay hidden, why this happens, and what is needed to uncover them. 

Here are two brief stories of improvement initiatives told at conferences in which critical success factors emerged only when I later talked individually with the presenters. 

​In this article you will learn about the potential harms of trust and five safeguards or ground rules to prevent them. How we define trust is the important issue. 

References

1. Edmondson, Amy C. Teaming Jossey-Bass 2012
2. Salazar, Marco J Barzallo et al Influence of surgeon behavior on trainee willingness to speak up: a randomized controlled trial J Am Coll Surg 219: 1001 – 1009, 2014

Additional resources

• Are you leading from reactivity or creativity?--four steps to see your blind spots

               Provides more details about indicators of "reactivity"--another term for "messiness."

• A Key Barrier to Making Our Leadership Transformational

               Explains a method to reflect on personal behavior to identify our own messiness.

• An Easily Missed Ingredient for High Team Performance

               Explains why team norms are so important and why it is so easy not to set them. 

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​Imagine someone has video-recorded you during every minute of your work the last week and you are now watching it. What are the odds that you will wince in some parts because of mistakes in the way you behaved or communicated?

References

1. Weisbord, Marvin R. Productive Workplaces Revisited Jossey-Bass 2004
2. Cooperrider, David Positive Image, Positive Action: The Affirmative Basis of Organizing in Appreciative Inquiry ed. by David L. Cooperrider et al, Stipes Publishing LLC 2000
3. Miller, William R., Rollnick, Stephen Motivational Interviewing, Second Edition The Guilford Press 2002

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​Our beliefs about what causes problematic behavior in others substantially impact our ability to influence change. ​

Tool
​A Four-Step practice--Guiding Questions
​
References
1. Ellis, Albert The Road to Tolerance Prometheus Books 2004
2. Kahneman, Daniel Thinking Fast and Slow Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2011

Reference List on Reactivity

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​(text of video)

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In this article you will learn about a four-step practice for a major leadership challenge—seeing our own contribution to problems. I discovered this challenge in my first leadership position supervising a staff of doctors and nurses at a hospital.  

Links to brief articles
     Having trouble motivating others?--a quick diagnostic
     Active telling--the art of assuring people listen to you 

Reference

1. Miller, William R., Rollnick, Stephen Motivational Interviewing, Second Edition The Guildford Press 2002

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with text of video

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​It is nearly automatic to feel that resistance is about the people resisting—that resistance is IN the resistors. 

When caught in this perspective, we tend to focus on our “messaging” (the content of what we are saying) in order to convince them or motivate them or get them to buy-in. This approach creates substantial risk that people will feel we are trying to change them leading to push back or passive compliance with a negative impact on results. 

There is a more effective way but it requires a shift in perspective. We need to see that it is not true resistance is IN others.

A common concern of even very successful leaders I work with is lack of sufficient confidence about giving and receiving feedback in the midst of day-to-day work. 

This is not surprising because feedback is inherently uncomfortable and risky. But, providing timely, effective feedback is essential if we are after the highest team capacity for transformation. Confidence in taking this on is enhanced by working with the following five barriers.  

1. Lack of a motivating, compassionate purpose for feedback. 
To counter discomfort, it helps to have a motivating, compassionate purpose. For example: “Feedback is not about correcting bad behavior. Under stress, everyone will, at times, act in ways counter to norms. The purpose of feedback is to help everyone be at their best.” 

2. Lack of sharing and assuring mutual understanding of different perceptions. 
Relational problems usually set off the nearly automatic tendency to leap from limited data to strong but often flawed conclusions. Effective, respectful feedback depends on stepping back from such certainty. Instead of just “giving feedback,” the initial aim should be to stay open and elicit and assure mutual understanding of each person’s view even if in disagreement.  

3. Lack of exchange of information specific enough to enable problem solving .  
Feedback is too often given in global generalizations. Then, the chances are high for provoking defensiveness and not getting to specific information which enables problem solving. For example, a client of mine was told by a colleague: “You are a very negative person.”

​Resisting her impulse to react, my client asked for a specific example and was told: “When I asked you for help yesterday, you said ‘No’ and walked away.”  Such “negativity” had not happened before. My client apologized and they agreed not to use quick hallway conversations to ask for help.  

4. Lack of shared norms for feedback.
Shared norms promote helpful feedback. Examples are: (a) Avoid global generalizations; (b) Use "I" statements and offer feedback as perceptions, not as The Truth; (c) Give descriptions of words and behaviors from specific work situations; and (d) Seek each person’s perception. 

5. Lack of sufficient leadership engagement in giving and receiving feedback.
A key objective is to develop feedback-rich team interactions. To do so, leaders have to model giving and receiving feedback--especially receiving it. Do you often ask how others have experienced interactions with you? All leaders make mistakes at times. Do you acknowledge them? 

Effective, timely feedback is not easy. It requires reformulating what feedback is all about. It reqiures universal respect and compassion. It requires constant practice. Working with the five barriers increases confidence and helps to embed feedback in daily leadership practice. 

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When facing difficult relational problems at work, it is natural and nearly automatic for us all to want to diagnose what is wrong and come up with THE right solution as soon as possible.

It is very common to leap quickly to strong but faulty conclusions. One example is attributing relational problems to personality issues or lack of skills. Actually, situational issues are far more often the primary cause of difficult behavior. 

Situational complexity and stress are inherent in organizational life. These factors easily provoke differing viewpoints and experiences among the people involved. Relational problems arise most frequently when these differences have not been adequately heard and understood. Pushing for a solution prior to such understanding runs a substantial risk of negative reactions and push back. 

Resisting the rush to diagnoses and solutions and taking the time for “dialogue and discovery” usually leads to much more success. By engaging in dialogue, a process of hearing and understanding different viewpoints, new perceptions and solutions emerge surprisingly often. 

While there are no recipes or scripts, the following three steps provide guidance. 

1. Reflect—recognize and manage leaps to conclusions in yourself

• Set aside certainty that there is ONE correct viewpoint (no matter how certain you are). Prepare to state your view with the aim of being understood, not “getting” agreement. 

2. Dialogue—first, set aside finding solutions in order to build mutual understanding

• State your intention to first understand each other even if there is disagreement. Be vigorous in assuring accurate learning about different viewpoints by avoiding debates and repeatedly summarizing and checking for understanding.    

3. Decide—seek agreement to meet again (expect multiple conversations for resolution)

• Take small steps over multiple conversations to enable the best chances for a mutual solution. It also helps to have clarity about how a decision will be made if and when that becomes necessary (e.g. by consensus vs. by a person with the authority to decide).

The first step can be the most difficult. When the stakes feel high, at times we all have unproductive habits of reaction. These take practice to change and, sometimes, coaching. 

The productive habit we need to continuously strengthen is counter-intuitive: we need to slow down the rush to solutions and take one small step at a time through dialogue and discovery. This enables the chances for the best success for both task and relational goals.  
 
Additional resources
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