The 10 Fundamental Powers of Extraordinary Leaders

From Tony Robbins:

Reasons to be Unreasonable: The 10 Fundamental Powers of Extraordinary Leaders

Posted by admin on Apr 23 2013

 

Leadership is about progress: It’s the ability to make things happen, maximize resources and inspire. It’s the capacity to create an environment in which people thrive and results are achieved. It’s the extraordinary quality that solves problems and gets things done.
Ultimately, leadership is the ability to significantly influence the thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviors of others. Here are The 10 Fundamental Powers of Extraordinary Leaders that allow them to have massive influence with those they lead:
1. The Power of Vision: Your vision must be larger than yourself, larger than the moment. Leaders embrace what moves them, transforming these inspirations into clear visions of what they must (rather than “should”) achieve.
2. The Power of Unreasonable Expectations: To receive the ultimate rewards, you must live by the ultimate standards. Leaders are unreasonable men and women who refuse to be bound by the past, while reserving their most unreasonable standards for themselves.
3. The Power of Conviction: The quality of your life is in direct proportion to your ability to deal with uncertainty. Leaders confront uncertainty with their own internal certainty, an absolute conviction that they will not only withstand, but conquer any situation.

4. The Power of Connection: True leaders have an uncanny ability to care and connect, which comes from thoughtful interactions and understanding the motives of others.
5. The Power of Passionate Communication: To inspire others, you must first be inspired. Inspiration is channeled through bold and heartfelt communications that express your high standards and convictions.
6. The Power of Strategic Innovation: Leaders constantly innovate, anticipating the road ahead and staying ahead of the trends. They know that strategic innovation is a daily habit, something that needs to be part of the daily culture of the group or organization they lead.
7. The Power of Action: Leaders are bold. They are men and women of action. Action does not come out of conversation; action comes out of a change in psychology, mindset and physiology. (Ultimately, it’s a change in emotional state.) Also, leaders have the power to get others to take action and do things they wouldn’t normally do.
8. The Power of Truth: The truth penetrates—it has power. Leaders tell themselves, and everyone with whom they interact, the truth.
9. The Power of Character: Leaders are responsible, consistent, courageous, loyal and fearless. They learn from their mistakes and use these lessons to make progress and get results.
10. The Power of Giving: Ultimately, no man or woman is happy unless they have found a way to contribute beyond themselves. They’re not giving to be acknowledged—they do it because it’s right.
All outstanding leaders—quiet or boisterous, famous or unknown—exhibit these traits. By integrating these powers into your life, you will inspire yourself and everyone around you to see, attain and exceed your goals.

Effective Schools Checklist

Posted on August 22, 2007 by Tunya Audain

Don’t blame the parents. Don’t blame the kids. Don’t blame the neighborhood.
If we want effective schools let’s look at the schools.
Ron Edmonds of Harvard who put the term “Effective Schools” on the map with his speech “Some Schools Work and more Can” in 1978 said

We can whenever, and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need, in order to do this. Whether we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”

It’s a scandal! Nearly 30 years later most school people don’t have an inkling about these findings, or if they do are more prone to debate or ignore the research than implement it.
Of course, this is typical because there is little up-take within a system when there is no motivation to improve (or worse still, a feeling that improvements aren’t necessary – the problems will go away).
What we need is to open up the discussions – let parents in on the scene to ensure effective schools. You can be sure, parents won’t let the matter die or gather dust for another 30 years! Resolve, commitment, the will to do things comes when there is a “dynamic” going on – when parents and educators CARE together.
We can’t let another two generations of school children slip through. This checklist is from the 1983 archives of Education Advisory, a consumer service for parents in the 70′ & 80′s.
EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS CHECKLIST(from the original work of Ron Edmonds, Harvard, 1978)
___ 1. Instructional Leadership Principal is an effective communicator (with staff, parents, students, school boards), an effective supervisor, & the instructional leader in the school
___ 2. Focused School Mission General consensus by the school community (staff, parents, students ) on goals, priorities, assessment, accountability. The mission statement is specified and reviewed periodically.
___ 3. Orderly Environment Purposeful atmosphere, not oppressive, and is conducive to teaching and learning.
___ 4.High Expectations Demonstrated high expectations not only for all students but for staff as well. The belief is that students are capable and able to achieve, that teachers are capable and not powerless to make a difference.
___ 5. Mastery of Basic Skills In particular, basic reading, writing and math skills are emphasized with back-up alternatives available for students with special learning needs.
___ 6. Frequent Monitoring of Results Means exist to monitor student progress in relationship to instructional objectives (and results can be easily conveyed to parents).
___ Means to monitor teacher effectiveness
___ A system of monitoring school goals
___ 7. Meaningful Parent Involvement Parents are kept well-informed re: programs, goals, etc. There is ample opportunity for them to keep in touch with their child’s progress. They are consulted for feedback about the school and when changes are foreseen Parent-initiated contact with the school is encouraged.
___* 8. Avoidance of Pitfalls Up-to-date awareness of good educational practice plus retaining currency in the field concerning promising and discredited practices.

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*Most “effective schools studies” repeat the first 7 points. But, Edmonds’ original work stressed “one of the cardinal characteristics of effective schools is that they are as anxious to avoid things that don’t work as they are committed to implement things that do.”

http://education-advisory.org/2007/08/effective-schools-checklist/

Expectations

Once again Kevin Eikenberry provides some great wisdom. 

 

What Do You Expect? Four Areas of Expectations Required for Great Results

by Kevin Eikenberry on September 17, 2012

in Communication, Leadership, Leadership Communication, Learning

Poor performance, turnover, conflict and disengagement. This reads like a checklist of most leaders’ worst fears. I know, because they get mentioned to me nearly every day when I talk with, coach, consult with and train leaders.
While there is no single silver bullet answer to solve all four of these problems, there is one major component common to all. Dissect issues of poor performance, look at the causes of employee turnover, find the root of most workplace conflicts and disengagement and you will find unclear or mismatched expectations.
But don’t just nod your head and agree with me philosophically; think about one of the challenges you face today as a leader – I’d be willing to wager unclear expectations is playing at least some role in the situation. Keep thinking about your situation and consider the four areas of expectations that follow. For optimum performance and strong relationships, make sure expectations are crystal clear in all four of these areas…
The work itself. People need to know exactly what is expected of them for the work itself. What levels of work quality are required? What defines successful completion of work? What are the boundaries on responsibilities? What are and what aren’t the roles of the job? This all includes, but goes beyond, the job description. For optimum performance and strong working relationships, these must all be clearly understood and mutually agreed to.
Most people might think this is enough. And to be honest, there are often big gaps here, and if you close these gaps things will improve dramatically. But there are three more areas of expectations worth clarifying and codifying.
The communication. How do we communicate? About what? When? How often? Using what medium? Communication is a critical component of organizational life and is far too important to leave to chance. Without clear expectations here, people operate based on their preferences and their habits, which might not meet the needs of others in the organization. More workplace conflicts probably start here than any other place. If you want to improve the communication in your organization, spend some time clarifying what is expected in your communication.
The time. Time gets in our way a lot too. What does “I need it Friday” mean? Does it mean it is on my desk at the start of my day or is the close of business fine? Does it matter when people work or how they work? Do people know what the expected response times are for inquiries from Customers, co-workers and leadership? If not, people may swing far from what you assume to be obvious. Without clarity here, people could either be on their email device 24/7 striving for immediate response, or at the other extreme assuming a couple of days is fine for that request.
The culture. People don’t work in a vacuum – the workplace itself is an important component of the work itself. When people are hired either fresh from school or from another organization, they bring their past experience and habits with them. If those experiences and habits differ from “the way things are done around here”, there will be mismatched expectations. These mismatches can lead to a perception that people aren’t a good fit, can be the initial source of poor performance (perceived or reality) and the root of interpersonal conflicts. Make sure that the organizational norms and overall expectations are explained. Help people see that understanding and matching their behavior with cultural expectations, while more subtle than some other factors, is incredibly important to their success.
Human beings operate and perform based on their view of the world. In the absence of clear expectations, they create their own worldview. The nasty words we use for that are – we assume. To create great performance, improve employee satisfaction and engagement and reduce the incidences of workplace conflict, spend more time on setting clear expectations.
When you do that everyone knows the answer to “what do you expect?” and more success will follow.

What Employees Really Want

From Kevin Eikenberry:  What Employees Really Want


Reason Why. People want to do work that matters. Help people see the big picture in their work. Connect their work (or help them connect it) to the larger, aspirational mission of your team or organization. This bigger picture will make a big difference.
Clear expectations. We all want to know what is expected – what a target for success is. If expectations change, let people know – and engage them in that conversation. How can people meet your expectations if they don’t know what they are? Do they know?
Relationship. People don’t want to work for a paycheck, they want to work for and with people. That goes for you as their boss and their co-workers. How often do you share a kind word, give specific encouragement, or check in to see what they need? These mean more than you will ever know – unless you realize how much they matter from your boss.
Targets. Human beings are goal oriented beings. Give people something to shoot for. When these targets are connected to the big “why,” magic occurs.
Freedom. Even in the most process-oriented and procedurally-focused jobs, there is room for personal approaches. Give people some latitude within the framework. You will get higher levels of commitment, and likely process improvements too!
Input. Ask questions. Shut up. And listen. People have valuable perspectives. They want to share it. So ask for their input and value it.
Future. Help people see themselves in a future they desire – and help them get there. That future may or may not be the one you see them in, so you must ask. Then do what you can to support and encourage them to reach that future.

Set the Example

Once again Kevin Eikenberry has provided some valuable insights for our Esperanza leaders and educators.

To lead someone or something means, literally, to be in front, so that others can see and follow in that direction. Stated another way, if you think you are leading, but no one is following, you are just taking a walk. The following are 7 ways to set an example for others to follow.

Attitude
As a leader, they are looking to you, watching for clues and modeling your attitude. . If you don’t do it, who else will?

Learning
Every leader wants those they lead to be learning, developing and growing. It is hard to convince them to do so if they don’t see you doing it

Expectations
The expectations you have for others will impact their performance, positively or negatively. Which way will it be? Are you going first by raising your expectation of others so they can build confidence, urgency and discipline to reach those expectations? It won’t happen automatically. Set your expectations of others, let people know you believe in them, then watch them grow!

Change
If you want to affect and implement change you must be a champion of it. Are you open to trying new things?

Trust
Offer them trust. Be more trustworthy. Waiting for others to take the lead, could be a long wait. Extend and offer trust first. Occasionally you will get hurt, more often greater trust will build.

Questions
Stop talking and start asking. Ask questions first. Ask questions often. Listening
Certainly, once you ask a question you will be best served by listening to the response. Setting an example means taking the risk, doing what is necessary, doing what no one else is doing. It means going first.

Learning From the "Miss Saunders" Story

I recently read an article titled In Praise of Principals (in Hard Times) by Elena Aguilar. As I pondered on the thoughts and suggestions in this article I was reminded of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy theory.

Every educator is probably aware of the Pygmalion effect and the self-fulfilling prophecy as it relates to students. One of my favorite stories that is allegedly true is the following.

A school teacher somewhere in America (lets call her Miss Saunders) was given the task of supervising the worst class in the school - the one where other teachers dumped their worst students.One day Miss Saunders was talking with the principal in his office, about her students, when the principle had to answer a phone call. The principal turned away from his desk for a minute or two, and since the file on her class was lying open on the desk Miss Saunders leaned across and read the top sheet on the file.She was amazed to see that it was a list of the students, with their IQ scores. Amazed because all of the scores were well over a hundred. In fact a couple were over 150.Armed with the knowledge of how intelligent her students were Miss Saunders' attitude changed completely. Instead of thinking the students were stupid, ignorant or lazy Miss Saunders began to treat them as the "gifted" students she now knew them to be.And of course it had fantastic results. From being a class of losers it became one of the top three classes in the school as far as their test results, etc., was concerned. Moreover the students became far better behaved, more attentive, took better care of themselves, and so on.At the end of the year the principal congratulated Miss Saunders on doing such a brilliant job with such "unpromising" students."Unpromising?" said Miss Saunders. "But I sneaked a look at their IQ scores one time and they all rates as 'superior', 'gifted' or even, in two cases, 'genius'."The principal thought for a moment and then burst out laughing."Are you talking about the figures on the top sheet of the class file?" he asked.Miss Saunders nodded."Well I hate to disillusion you," said the principal, "but those aren't their IQ scores. They're their locker numbers!"

Although it is extremely important for teachers to treat students as if they were capable, it is just as important for principals to have the same kind of expectations for teachers and vice versa. After all, all humans whether they are children or adults, tend to behave as they are treated.