Burnout and the leader

Two of the major causes of burnout for people in leadership are (1) when the leader takes on more than they should or (2) fails to hand over aspects of what they do to others.

This second aspect of burnout is not just detrimental to the growth of the future leader but to the leader themselves, and to the organization they lead.

Great things may have been expected of the leader in the past but when they have done all that they can it is time to hand it over to someone else, who if resourced correctly will grow and be bigger and/or better than the original leader.

This handing over does not diminish the first leader but rather is a way of moving from success to significance.

It is important for the new leaders to be free enough to be able to make mistakes on the way, without the thought or worry of having the authority taken away from them. Micro managing of subordinates will stifle any creativity they may have. It is this creativity that will cause organic change and growth within the organisation.

Paul S Allen

TEDxDunedin (A Reflection)

A reflection on the first TED^xDunedin event held December 4, 2009.

The thought processes I find myself having when attending events like this, seem to wander from what the speakers are actually saying to the implications of what they are saying. I found the process of the TED^xDunedin event to be a dialogue rather than just speakers talking to a crowd. This dialogue is more about a meeting of minds rather than sharing of words.

Some bullet points from the night…

Phil Osbourne (University of Otago) “The Power of Free”

• “Customers happy with value don’t complain about the price.”
• “What are you going to do when your competitors go free/style?”
• Most important  “The future is not about business as usual”

Matt Ayres (Polson Higgs)

• “What happens when your model of service is under threat?”
• “Your most valuable asset for the future is your insight into the problem your organisation exists to fix”
• “The future is inside the people you serve”
• “Fundamental for all organizations… it is about serving people better”

Jason Leong (The Distiller/Pocketsmith)

Growing up great, this was about the thought that business start ups are like “orphans” and that a model of incubation where a group of start up businesses are in an environment where they “Contribute – Collaborate – Share” is important.

Daniel Belton (Good Company Arts)

Daniels presentation was of interest to me as the video of dance that he showed caused me to think about the convergence of two seemingly opposite views, the rigid and the fluid.

The rigid and the fluid need each other to work in harmony; in fact one without the other is structure without life or chaos. As Itay Talgam has said in another TED video “You need process and content to make good music” Process is the structure, whether in business or other activity, and content is what makes it “human” or alive.

A quote from Daniel “[it is] Important that we don’t just “look” but we “see”.”

There was also a video from a neurological specialist talking about her experience when she had a stroke, describing the differences between left and right hemisphere thinking, the left hemisphere being structural the right being experiential. The encouragement from the speaker (Jill Bolte-Taylor)^1. was to spend more time on the right hemisphere to spend more time in the metaphysical and creative side.

This video matched well with all the people presenting tonight as the only way to move on is to change the way we think, and to do that we need to be creative in all areas of life and business.

To achieve great new things we cannot do what has already been done.

The world is changing around us whether we like it or not. How we respond to change will determine how we will cope and how we will fit in the future.

Please check out the TED^xDunedin site.

This was a great event and look forward to continuing the dialogue.

Paul S Allen

^1. The video by Jill Bolte-Taylor

http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

The Insecure and Egocentric Leader

The most dangerous person in any organization is the insecure leader who will not allow others to advance, for “ego” is the enemy of long term significant leadership.

Leaders should be more concerned about the cause than their title or position.

Time Wasters

Daydreams distract dutiful deeds,
while the clock ticks on.
Wonder wafts while work waits,
until time has gone.

Paul S Allen 2002

I found this interesting article today:

Pocketsmith is Dunedin start-up that really has it right when it comes to social media. Being a  personal finance and forecasting application they could be dry, boring and rather stale but as you’ll here in the video they’re on-to-it, personable,  engaging and strategically minded with their online social interactions. (Please forgive the background noise, I couldn’t get rid of it).Sam Schuurman, iThnk.com, Nov 2009

You should read the whole article.

IRGO unConference Report

Report on the inaugural Internet Research Group of Otago (IRGO) unConference 23 and 24 November 2009.

The three questions posed in the lead up to this unconference were listed on http://irgo.otago.ac.nz/

Centre for Innovation, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ

1. what might be possible for the future internet of the region?
2. what will citizens want from the internet in the future (two, five, ten years ahead)?
3. what potential internet problems or issues will we have to navigate in the immediate future?

These questions were addressed by all of the panel discussions throughout the two days.

This forum was successful in its approach to address these questions but raised more questions than answers, which will require an ongoing collaborative approach to develop new thinking and strategies to address the issues raised.

These are my bullet points from the Internet Research Group of Otago (IRGO) unConference this week.

Work

• Mobility of work, the Internet is everywhere with, generally, high accessibility.
• Technology is available to enable an “office anywhere” approach.
• Issues could include
  • A reduction in the control of the worker and the worker’s environment.
  • Appropriateness of this approach to industry type.
  • Speed and quality of broadband.
  • Productivity may be affected (positively and negatively).
  • Acceptance of this approach is required by business community.
  • Social interactive nature of the work place is potentially missing.
  • Concept of the “digital nomad”

Content

• Quantity vs quality
• Intellectual property issues
• Copyright vs Creative Commons
• Who has access to content and what rights do users have.
• Moderation of content vs self-regulation.
• Is it quality or just share-able

Social Media (reasons for…)

• Change management discourse.
• Community generated content.
• Client feedback
• Crowd sourcing of publicity/marketing/information
• Collaboration
• Brokering services
• New client/peer interaction model
• Networking online and face to face

New Revenue Models

• Traditional sales diminishing online.
• Value of digital content is “nil” as it can be an unlimited supply.
• Move to pay for service rather than pay for content model.

Ethics

• Freedom of speech vs control of content
• What is the definition of harm?
• Posting of anonymous content, including offensive, harmful or untrue content and comments.
• Who or what jurisdiction has control of what is “allowed” on the Internet.

Issues of Accessibility

• Quality of broadband in New Zealand is poor.
• Availability of Wifi or wireless ISP.
• Business exposure to the Internet.
• Acceptance of business that there is value in use of Internet.

Archiving

• Permanence and durable accessibility of data is an issue in long-term electronic storage.
• Technology changes will always need to be backwardly compatible. (Floppy disks used to be used as back up but who has a drive to access data now)
• Usability of back-up systems is vital
• The need for offsite and multiple storage options required for back up.
• Standardisation and meaningful file systems required
• What data is required to be backed up?
• What is worth keeping?
• The archivist has a vital role
• How to back up institutional knowledge.

The Future

• Much more development in telecommunication and automation using connective technologies.
• Dependent on quality and reliability of telecommunication networks whether wired/fibre or wireless.
• Cost to implement is an issue.

In conclusion I would congratulate IRGO in this its first unConference and look forward to the ongoing information that will be developed as a result of this forum.

Please visit http://irgo.otago.ac.nz/ for more information.

Paul S Allen aka paulusthebrit

http://twitter.com/paulusthebrit

http://thewaterside.tumblr.com

Change Your World

If you want to make a difference be prepared to stand out from the crowd and start to walk alone, only then can you start to change your world.

Small Things Matter

Small Things Matter

“Despise not the day of small beginnings”*

I have said it before that the bigger the vision the more the small details matter. The world’s largest structures are held together by some of the smallest parts. A single missing rivet can and has caused aeroplanes to crash and a simple “O” ring worth about 20 cents, which is faulty can have catastrophic results for space travel.

Small does not ever mean insignificant.

This principle is especially important to the leaders and visionaries of the world today. We may have big plans and goals for a brave new world, but unless we can work out the details of what it is and how it is going to be achieved it will remain just a dream.

The details matter, are the taxes paid, has the mail been posted, have all the rivets on the plane been counted?

It doesn’t mean that the CEO needs to check that the mail is collected, but it does mean they have to get someone to do it.

Team members are vital for the success of any organisation; people are never small and insignificant. Everyone within your organisation represents the whole of your organisation, whether they are the manager, the cleaner, the receptionist or the accounts clerk, every one of them plays a critical part in making sure your goals are achieved.

How much time or effort do you invest not just in saying how good your business is, but in showing just how important your staff are?

Remember the biggest structures in the world are only as strong as the smallest parts that make up the foundations.

Paul S Allen

*Zechariah 4:10 (Old Testament of the Bible)

Surviving Leadership

Tips for leaders on how to survive leadership

Remember leaders are human, they are not perfect and they make mistakes.

Leadership has sometimes been described as a lonely place; this should not be. As a leader you need to establish key relationships and friendships outside of your organisation. These people should be able to give clear and objective views about you and support you in your leadership.

Leaders need to be accountable to others.

Establish great governance structures around you.

Learn to delegate, equip those you delegate to and empower them to be able to make decisions on their own.

Let those people you have delegated tasks to do the tasks without your input or micro managing.

Learn to serve, a great leader is a great servant and people will follow a strong example.

Leaders are, by nature, involved in the lives of people. Learn to manage people well.

Learn to manage your time well. If you say you will be there at a certain time be there at that time, just as you expect others to do.

Have a clearly defined and written job description for your role as a leader and stick to it. It should include what all your levels of delegated authority are.

Know when it is your responsibility to make decisions and when it is not your responsibility to make them.

The health of the leader is the responsibility of the leader alone. (Physical/mental/emotional/spiritual.)

Have a healthy respect for the role of leadership; do not be afraid of questions that appear to challenge your decisions/values/beliefs.

Investigate all opposing arguments to your own opinions to find the truth, and then be prepared to face the truth and act on it.

Leaders are not invincible

Honesty and humility are the greatest character traits a leader should possess.

All organizations have people in them therefore all organizations are political.  Learn to deal with politics.

Have people you can safely offload to. Deal with personal issues quickly and appropriately with the right people.

Take time to learn, develop your skills.

Recreation time is essential to refocus and strengthen yourself.

There is freedom when you recognise that all leaders are just fallible humans.

The key to being a great leader or fulfilling any other role is to learn how to “be” before you start to “do”.

Paul S Allen

Getting Started

Things to consider before starting something new

The following are some ways to help you with the big picture stuff when thinking about setting up a new business venture or other project.

What are your motives for starting? Be aware of them if it is to make money, great, if it is to benefit the community great, but be able to define what the motives are.

What do you want to achieve? Do you know how you will measure the success of your new venture? What does success mean to you?

Keep a diary or journal of your thoughts/ideas/processes that you have. The big thing here is writing it down for a permanent record, many great thoughts are lost in the blink of an eye.

Research, research, research; do your homework; people will expect you to be the expert.

Protect your plans and intellectual property, you may need to talk to a specialist legal adviser for this so be prepared to spend some money.

Get alongside successful people; glean advice from their successes and failures.

Stay up-to-date with what is happening in the world and especially in the community where you expect to set up.

Do not take failure personally. Many things can happen to cause plans to change, learn from all of your experiences good and bad.

Be as objective as you can be.

Take time to develop the vision. You need to be able to see the full big picture.

Dream big but start small.

Remember the bigger the vision the more small details matter. Foundations need to be very strong to be able to support large structures.

If, on investigation, an idea doesn’t work don’t proceed.

Sometimes ideas may be sometimes “No” “Not Now” “Not Yet” “Not before…”

Be certain of your own values and ethics, they will drive your idea forward and give it strength.

Paul S Allen