Recently CEO Des Penny caught up with Tim Browne to discuss ‘Presenting Your Socks Off’ Proteus’ new workshop touring Australia in March and April.
Click the podcast icon to listen in to Des discuss why advanced presentation skills are so important to leaders and find out a bit more about the 1-Day Proteus Workshop ‘Presenting Your Socks Off’
Adelaide - March 16
Sydney - March 18
Brisbane - March 25
Melbourne - April 19
Honesty & Hope
Interestingly, if you look at the research on leadership from Kouzes & Posner, it asks followers ‘what characteristics do you look for and admire in your leader - someone whose direction you would willingly follow?’ The universal #1 response was honesty, followed closely by wanting senior leaders to be forward-looking. So in essence, followers want both honesty and hope.
Combine Kouzes & Posner’s with Collins’ research and we discover that we, as leaders, need to be honest about what is happening, while ensuring that we give people hope – something to look forward to. As executives we need to show our followers that there is hope by being authentically passionate about our vision for the future. “Where there is no vision, the people perish!”
Keith McFarland’s book ‘The Breakthrough Company’ outlines five years of research with over 7000 companies. He looks at how start up companies break through the entrepreneurial phase to become extraordinary - his research and book have become the 2008 version of Good To Great for start-up companies! His key finding was that successful breakthrough leaders were both charismatic and egoless; they were driven by vision, while also building something bigger than themselves. “What one characteristic did all of the breakthrough CEO’s studied share? Charisma! But it turns out that the word ‘charisma’ doesn’t mean what many people think it does. Charismatic leaders inspire us with their character.”
So here lies the paradox of leadership - we must strive to be humble by “checking our egos at the door”, and be honest by telling out staff the truth about the current situation and yet, just as importantly, we must be ‘warriors of hope’ and genuinely charismatic about our envisioned futures.
Click here for more information on Executive Training at Proteus.
“Truth is not in one extreme and not in the middle, it is in both extremes” - Charles Simon 18th Century Pastor
Throughout our executive development programs at Proteus, we challenge senior managers and executives to discover their true leadership style and to embrace the privilege of leadership.
A key resource we utilise to assist executives identify their authentic leadership approach is Jim Collins’ seminal research and book Good To Great. In this book he introduced the concept of ‘Level 5 Leadership’, which has now become part of the business lexicon.
According to Collins, humility is a key ingredient of Level 5 Leadership. His simple formula is Humility + Will = Level 5 Leadership. The executive leaders analysed as part of the research are described as having a paradoxical combination of distinct characteristics, for example; being timid and ferocious; shy and fearless; modest with a fierce, unwavering commitment to high standards; being both humble and having an incredible will to succeed, i.e. ‘a paradoxical blend of humility and will’.
Through running Executive Development programs across Australia the more I see this same paradox in great executive leaders of people and businesses.
These leaders are the principals of our schools, CEO’s of local councils, engineers that have been brave and entrepreneurial enough to start a new business, directors of hospitals, the list goes on.
Many of these people display incredible passion about their organisations’ success and consistently make decisions for the greater good – often at their own short-term expense. For example; when the full impact of the GFC hit one of our clients, a manufacturing company based in Victoria, their US parent company instructed the Managing Director to slash 30% of the staff… his decision was that he would be part of that 30% to go. Why? Because it was the right thing to do!
Continue reading: Part 2 of “Preparing executive leaders for the Paradox of Leadership”
Click here for more information on Executive Training at Proteus.
Elusive dream or a workable reality?
By Richard Dore – Director
The Proteus Leadership Centres
Having a great workplace culture can appear to be rare and creating one is elusive and near impossible for some managers. People are often frustrated by their culture, with some describing their workplace as being dominated by negative and toxic personalities. Underhanded and manipulative infighting stifles growth; innovation and results, to turn around toxic culture The Proteus Leadership Centres developed their powerful one-day workshop that focuses specifically on how to ‘Creating a Positive Culture’
Here are some ideas that may help you turn around your toxic people and create your own positive workplace culture:
Reflect the culture that you want.
You must visualise the culture you want and model the behaviour accordingly. If you want a great culture it starts with you … ‘culture is caught not taught’! Modelling exceptional behaviour sets a standard and expectation for people to live up to. Not modelling positive behaviour will at best frustrate people, or at worst be seen as hypocrisy and increase cynicism.
Focus your energy on the right people.
Positive, optimistic people will not only inspire you but also celebrate your successes and encourage you to do more. Don’t surround yourself with negative and miserable people, as they will only bring you down to their level. Sure, always support and empathise with a person who is having a bad day but be wary of persistently pessimistic people who are energy vampires.
Call people on their behaviour
The best way to eliminate toxic or negative behaviour is to call your negative people on their behaviour and don’t indulge them. Alternatively, simply get rid of them … set your miserable people free!
Recognition is vital for a great culture.
Spend the majority of your time giving people praise, recognition and rewarding them accordingly. People simply love being acknowledged and praised for their contribution, so catch people doing the right thing. When you give people genuine praise, it also gives you a lift and it becomes contagious.
Stop whinging
Make a decision today that you are no longer going to whinge and you will no longer allow other people to do it to you! At Proteus our ‘no - whinge’ policy is -
“If you are not prepared to be a part of the solution then you forfeit your right to complain”.
This is strategy brings forward ideas, plans and solutions each time a problem comes up. As opposed to the toxic dump delivered by negative individuals or an environment where people want you to fix everything for them, this only creates a culture of dependency – something you must avoid!
Fight clean.
Create workplace team rules or norms whereby if you have a problem you go direct to the person, without getting everyone else involved. This works best when you create a culture of ‘robust debate’ and ‘healthy dissent’. I believe there is nothing more exciting and invigorating than having a workplace where robust discussions occur which allows for innovation and creativity to rise to the top.
Celebrate your successes and your people.
Rather than being frustrated by the diversity of your staff, celebrate and utilise their differences and support and encourage their uniqueness. I read somewhere that successful teams have a party and unsuccessful teams have more meetings! So always remember to celebrate diversity.
Performance, Professionalism and Passion
Finally, use the three ‘Ps’ for creating a great culture.
The above suggestions are quite simple, however not always easy to implement, because these ideas may require you to change your behaviour. So take a moment to stop, reflect and respond more strategically to achieve your desired results.
Truly great leaders and companies have always worked hard for success, however they know what to focus on for their achievements. So work hard on the right areas and enjoy the benefits of having a great culture.
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Richard Dore will be coming to a city near you to deliver his one-day workshop on the topic soon:
Brisbane - September 29 Melbourne - October 23 Adelaide - November 18For information visit www.proteuscentre.com or call the events team on 08 8110 7300.
This week Li Cunxin has been named Australia’s top dad! Li was a speaker at our 2009 Brisbane conference and has just been confirmed as part of our fantastic lineup for the Sydney - Leaders with a Life conference in September 2010.
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Article in The Australian
HE is known worldwide as Mao’s last dancer and now international ballet dancer turned stockbroker Li Cunxin is Australia’s top dad.
Mr Cunxin, who now lives in Melbourne with his wife and three children, has been named the 2009 Shepherd Centre Australian Father of the Year.
“This is indeed a great privilege,” he said on receiving his award at a ceremony at NSW Parliament House in Sydney. Read on>>
Each year the Proteus Leadership Centres partners with AbaF (Australia Business Arts Foundation) to offer South Australian visual artists the chance to win an incredible 12-month business development scholarship.
Recently the Adelaide Advertiser ran an article on our 2009 winner – Cindi Drennan:
ILLUMINART will deliver visual landscapes to festivals and the commercial sector with the help of this year’s Creative Leaders Scholarship, says founder Cindi Drennan.
Multimedia artist Cindi Drennan was awarded the 12-month business development scholarship by the Australia Business Arts Foundation and Proteus Leadership Centres. Read on at news.com.au
Speakers have just been announced for Proteus 2010 Sydney and Adelaide Leadership Confernces:
Leaders With a Life - Sydney: 14th April 2010
Li Cunxin - Mao’s Last Dancer Martyn Newman - Emotional Capitalism Heather Swan - Overcoming Fear Des Penny - CEO The Proteus Leadership CentresLeaders With a Life - Adelaide: 17-18 May 2010
AfterBurner - Performing At The Highest Level Eve Ash - What Makes Leaders Inspiring? Shane Radbone - People – Success - Life David Parkin - Building Winning Teams Dr Fiona Woods - Managing In Times of Crisis Martyn Newman - Emotional Capitalism Rachel Robertson - Adapting To A Changing Environment Bruce Sullivan - The Energy of a 4 Year Old!One of the joys and privileges of working for Proteus is the opportunity that we have as staff to hear from amazing leaders when they speak at our Leadership events. Last week in my home town, Queensland, leaders gathered at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre to experience one of our best ever speaker line-ups.
It was the following speaker, John Anderson, founder of Contiki Tours, who next shed some tears. He gave a moving recount of how at the age of 22 with only 25 pounds to his name he founded Contiki because he was so passionate about traveling Europe. Now over 2 million young people have travelled with Contiki and while “what happens on the bus – stays on the bus,” John’s anecdotes left a powerful impression. I will always remember the quiver in his voice as he told us that every time he sees a Contiki bus drive past he always waves at the passengers.
Post lunch Terry Hawkins and Tom O’Toole (of Beechworth Bakery fame) cranked it up a notch - challenging the delegates to reflect more carefully on our own behaviour (are we in the pit?) and gave us some great ideas to implement in our own teams and organisations.
We were joined by many of the delegates to close the first day at our traditional networking session – lots of fun!
On the second day – Peter Sheahan – asked us to challenge our assumptions – to flip our thinking and look for how we can leverage our own “STORY”. I am not alone in saying that it was at this point I ran out of room for notes in my Conference booklet!
Whether you are scared of heights or not, base-jumping champion Heather Swan’s story about confronting fear and risking embarrassment was unsettlingly powerful. I remember her reminding us to celebrate the journey as much as we celebrate the destination – a pertinent thought to apply to our own leadership journey.
It was during Richard Dore’s presentation on Establishing Leadership Habits that many of the ideas fell into place. I left with an action plan – with specific things to implement personally – and within my team. To complete the experience, Explosive Minds closed the conference with a bundle of laughs and some practical exercises on improving our communication.
WOW – what a couple of days. Don’t just take our word for it, check out some of the feedback clients have shared with us. Many have also pledged to join us again next year – I hope you can too!
Feedback:
That was undoubtedly the best conference that I have ever attended. The calibre of the speakers was exceptional and there were so many great ideas from all the speakers, which I think will be invaluable for our business. There was no time in that whole two days that I felt bored or not stimulated - so well done.
I wanted to say that the conference was fabulous! It really was the best conference that I have ever attended.
There was never a dead moment. I loved every minute of the two days. What a boost to my motivation and attitude.
Thanks to all for organising such a brilliant line up of fantastic speakers.
I really enjoyed the conference.
It’s amazing what a couple of days out of the office can do for motivation and perspective. Also Richard’s presentation was great. Thanks to everyone involved in organising the whole thing.
Thanks so much. I loved the conference. I think it was one of the best I have attended!
Thank you. It was an excellent conference. I learnt so much in those 2 short days – both personally and professionally. - Looking forward to the next one.
I would just like to express a big thank you to the Proteus Leadership Centre and all the Presenters at the conference.
The conference has been really positive experience for me and has given me a lot of food for thought.
I’m a big fan of www.ted.com, where I regularly watch international and icon speakers on a brilliant array of topics around the globe – all at no cost.
I recently watched Seth Godin (international author of Tribes, Dip, Meatball Sundae, Purple Cow, etc) deliver a presentation ‘On The Tribes We Lead’, which was fascinating, challenging and quite provocative – especially on leadership.
He suggests that leaders need to ask themselves ‘what do I do’?
According to Seth Godin, a leaders primary response to this question, is to be a heretic! Whereby you actively seek to challenge the Status Quo (look around and identify what it is you don’t like) and go on to lead a tribe a people to change it.
Godin claims that you don’t need permission from people to lead them, they are actually waiting for you to lead them … you don’t have to invent a movement you need to lead it. Look around and find a group of disconnected people (a tribe) that have a yearning for something that they don’t have yet and create a movement.
He asserts, that you don’t need charisma to be a leader – being a leader gives you charisma. By leading a movement that connects you to a tribe – you will become charismatic!
Godin challenges you to ask yourself:
· Who are you leading?
· Who am I upsetting? (Because if you are not upsetting people you are not changing the status quo)
· Who are you connecting with? (Most people want to be connected … they want to be missed!)
So I highly recommend that you check out Godin’s presentation: ‘On The Tribes We Lead’
Let me know your thoughts and whether you agree with Godin assertions on the tribes we lead? - Who knows - you just may connect with a group and create a new movement!
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Richard Dore is a Director at the Proteus Leadership Centres and is based in the Melbourne Office - 03 9848 0500.
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Peter Sheahan is a worldwide authority on generation change. He is the author of several leadership books including Gen Y and FL!P and winner of the National Speakers Association leading keynote speaker in 2006. He has embraced the digital world of marketing with his own dedicated youtube channel. View this clip (below) to see his sizzle reel featuring footage from conference presentations and appearances on television.
Peter will be speaking at the Power of Positive Leadership Conference hosted by Proteus in Brisbane on the 27th and 28th of July 2009.
