Page 273 - The extraordinary leader

250 • The Extraordinary Leader

does not allow it, and that pace seems to accelerate constantly.
Our society and culture has not provided good models of
mechanisms for people to give those in authority over them any
honest reactions to what they do or how they are doing it.
Further, there are strong political pressures in most organizations
that block the truth from being passed from subordinates to their
superiors. People are subtly told, “Don’t rock the boat,” and
“messengers get killed.” That is why any mechanism that unclogs
the pipes between people in the organization is of great value. Tools
such as 360-degree feedback instruments or skip-level meetings
perform that function.
● Coaching. Coaching and mentoring are powerful developmental
processes. There is a rapidly growing trend to provide coaches to
leaders and not waiting until they are in trouble. Coaches are seen as
a way to help the good become much better. They observe meetings,
review memos, critique speeches, and in general assist in building
behavioral skills.
● Simulations. Computer-based simulations meet the criteria
established above. Simulations can be extremely job-related. They call
for frequent decisions. The consequences become clear immediately.
There is accountability, and they are engaging.
● Team-building activities. Activities that involve teams actually doing
something, such as building a product, assembling a tent while
blindfolded, or creating a new advertising campaign, are powerful
learning methods.
● Planning back-home application of new learning. We recommend time
spent in development sessions actively planning the back-home
implementation of what has been learned. This greatly increases the
likelihood of it being acted on.
● Creating measurement dashboards. What better activity could there be
than to create simple, effective measures by which to gauge leadership
effectiveness?
● Senior people come in to relate “war” stories. It is one thing to have an
executive come in to deliver a prepared speech on some aspect of the
industry or regarding the state of the economy. It is quite different if
the executive will come in and relate personal experiences regarding
ways to handle difficult customer situations, tough negotiations with