Leading Effectively Blog

We're Not Your Parents' CCL

Warning: shameless, self-serving propaganda alert!

Let me be absolutely clear: what follows is completely self-serving and if this kind of thing bothers you, you should stop reading now.

Glad we cleared that up.

I’ve been at CCL long enough to see some interesting patterns in the ebb and flow of what clients want from CCL. Only a couple of years ago, many clients were focused on building their internal capacity to train leaders. Several large clients had the idea that they would learn what we do and then they could do it themselves. Personally, I’m a great fan of building the capability of clients to do leadership development and talent management with internal resources. However, I’ve seen a shift away in several substantial clients from the focus on doing themselves. Why would this be?

It is not because they don’t have top internal professional staff. The quality of education and preparation I encounter in the learning and development, talent management and organizational development groups in large companies continues to improve all the time.

It’s not because their own trainers can’t learn to do CCL’s industrial strength facilitation of learning experiences. Much of what we’ve developed has become well known in the training community and we've trained thousands to do it.

Rather, there are two big speed bumps that affect this.

The first is that the creation of great learning experiences is amazingly demanding. The staff support and creative energy required merely to duplicate what it takes to create an LDP (Leadership Development Program™) is very costly. But that’s what it takes to create transformative experiences that have lasting impact.

The second speed bump is more important. Although CCL has created great programs, powerful research that’s had significant effects on leadership, a wide range of publications and resources (just look at the burgeoning Explorer series (Visual Explorer, Leadership Metaphor Explorer, Values Explorer), and an impressive array of services (coaching, evaluation services, Leadership Beyond Boundaries, etc.), that’s not why clients want to stay close to us.

Clients want to stay close to us because what’s being created next is always more interesting and valuable than what we’ve already shared. It’s entirely possible to take CCL programs and make them your own. We’ll even train your professional staff to deliver your internal leadership programs. But what’s the point? As leadership changes and the demands on leaders change, what worked yesterday is only a partial solution to what is needed today. It doesn’t begin to meet the needs for tomorrow. We invest in research and collaboration with other practitioners all over the globe because leadership is still a very young field. The most important lessons are yet to be learned.

Stay close to us. The most valuable thing we have to offer is the relationship of collaborative inquiry that leads to life and world-changing discovery. Stay tuned because you don’t want to miss what’s next.

Doug

Leadership Secret #1: Get a "Thing"

No, I’m not blogging about the rapacious effects of sexism today. That's not the kind of "thing" I'm talking about...

I am talking about the kind of “Thing” that can put you on the leadership map when you find yourself languishing somewhere off the page. Sometimes, even the most effective leaders feel as if their efforts go unnoticed. They fight the good battle yet receive minimal recognition for the value they deliver to their companies. Sometimes, their good ideas can even take on a life of their own, leaving the authors behind in the dust. If you find yourself identifying with such a predicament, my recommendation is that you get a “Thing.” (My other recommendation, by the way, is to check this fun little book by my colleagues Gina, Cindy, and Stephanie)

While Lao Tzu was enlightened enough to understand that “When the sage leads the people to victory, they say, ‘We did it ourselves!’” the rest of us may need a little dose of acknowledgement from time to time. Well, I do anyway. A "Thing" can provide you with just that dose. So, what's a "Thing?" A “Thing” is an idea that people unmistakably identify with you. It’s a symbolic indicator of your value.

"Things" come in at least three varieties:

• Your "Thing" might be an area in which you have some functional expertise. I worked with a guy once whose undisputed "Thing" was web marketing. He shared this expertise at any meeting he attended and found ways to make meaningful intellectual connections between his “Thing” and the work of his colleagues. These connections brought him and his “Thing” to the forefront of many conversations.
• Your "Thing" might also be an esteemed organizational value. I had the chance to observe a manager once whose "Thing" was efficiency, a value his company held very dearly. Every single utterance from this manager's mouth, every idea he proposed, every argument he launched, and every change he instituted were all in the name of efficiency. So much so, in fact, that he quickly became known as the "efficiency guy" throughout his company.
• In rare cases, your "Thing" might also be your persona (the way people experience you as a leader). I've had the privilege of seeing a few leaders who have enough charisma to charm the hairnets off a group of fast food workers. Such leaders gain visibility for the ways in which their public presence motivates and/or inspires others.

The difference between merely having something you're good at and having a "Thing" is the extent to and means by which you position it. To have a "Thing" you have to a) discover something you're passionate about and b) communicate that passion strategically and often. Experience tells me that this will get you visibility, if that's what you crave. To fully leverage your "Thing" however, you must be willing to follow through (behaviorally) on the promises you make (communicatively).

I’ve got to go now . . . I just realized I don’t have a “Thing.”