Ring the Bell - School's In.

An essential lesson for leaders in business today – at all levels and across all industries and geographies - is that they have to do more of what they are supposed to do - lead. Not manage, not supervise, not avoid the tough decisions, not seek broadly based consensus. No - they must lead!

In today's world, employees, teams and organizations need (indeed, they are insisting) the leader to be way out in front of the pack. The lead dog – not above everyone else, but certainly a head of everyone. They want the leader to be the one bringing in new knowledge, new insight and new perspectives and, as a result, taking them to new, exciting places.

For many executives, this "wake up call' is the equivalent of telling them they have been sent back to kindergarten. It's time for leaders to get their hands messy again. To dream. To doodle. To dare. To play in the corporate sandbox.

It's time for leaders to share, to teach and to lead.

The Knowledge Transfer Leader

In his book "The Cycle of Leadership" it was University of Michigan Professor Noel Tichy who first coined the term Virtuous Leadership Cycle. It suggests that to be truly effective as a leader, one must seek out new knowledge, and then pass it along to those around them, who in turn must pass it along, thereby continuing the cycle.

In other words, the leader has to be the one who sets the tone and determines the appetite by constantly refilling the crucible of learning and knowledge to the point of overflowing. It is then the leader who also has to be the one to ensure that it is then flooded into the full body of the organization.

Unfortunately, what has been happening in many organizations is quite the opposite. In certain organizations, the leader uses a command-and-control approach. Information is hoarded, blocked, or manipulated either by the leader himself or by those surrounding him. The leader's ego gets in the way of learning new things, and the organization's thirst for knowledge dries up.

The cycle is this case is anything but virtuous - it's actually vicious.

Let's hope you're not late for class.

The Teaching Leader

Jack Welch often cites one important piece of wisdom he believes led to his success at GE as much as anything else. He believes that leaders must come to understand, as he did, that once you become a leader of people, the focus must shift away from you and become a total focus on them – the people.

Is it any wonder that Jack Welch and GE are profiled in "The Cycle of Leadership"? Jack Welch understood that his role was to pass information to his people. If he learned something new, it was his JOB to teach as many people at GE as he could. As a result, he in turn made GE the world's largest teaching organization.

This is an important distinction and a different mentality. It completes the journey from Knowledge Worker, to Learning Organization, to Teaching Organization. The emphasis being the "value" of knowledge can only be maximized so long as it's moving at lightening speed.

Lesson Planning

Professor Tichy believes the key to creating a Virtuous Learning Cycle is to develop what he calls a "Teachable Point of View" (TPOV). Essentially, a TPOV is a concise set of ideas, concepts and beliefs the leader can use to easily and graphically convey a message to the team and the organization.

If the leader is effective at developing a TPOV, it can easily be spread, like a virus, throughout the organization; to every department, team and to all of the people. Each team member can then repeat the TPOV, and distil it down into terms relative to their role in the organization.

Naturally, the hardest part of this process (and perhaps the reason it is avoided by many) is actually developing the TPOV in the first place. It is hard work because it requires leaders to take a serious look within themselves, take time for introspection - make the "intense journey into themselves" that others have spoken of as the most important step a leader can take. Leaders must truly understand who they are, what they believe in, and what is needed to make the organization succeed and then they must share it widely.

Fables, Storytelling and Teaching

There is one thing to keep in mind when developing a Virtuous Teaching Cycle Organization and it is that the best teaching is not conducted in a formal classroom setting. It occurs every day during the thousands of crucial conversations a leader conducts. Keep in mind, the goal is to transfer knowledge; the focus of the transfer should be on the timeliness, not the formality.

To support this premise you only need to examine history. There are examples of traditions and teachings in every society of the "elders" sharing their knowledge through a very simple format - storytelling. Today, whether it is at the Boardroom table, in the Cafeteria or around the corporate "fire pit" – the process and the intent are the same.

Stories that capture the hearts and minds of listeners are what motivate, align, and invigorate the organizational lifeblood.

In Our Opinion
The Beacon Group's Keys to Developing Virtuous Learning Organizations

Take Attendance - Character counts. Stories must be believed and information must be believable. The key is to know yourself, and also have an understanding of and trust in those around you.

Know Your Stuff - Be prepared for questions. Questions are a good thing, because you immediately know if people are listening. You must be prepared to elaborate, provide context and/or clarity, if required.

Assign Homework - Once you, as a leader, have developed your TPOV, your next goal is to ensure that each member of your team develops their own, complementary TPOV, thereby perpetuating the cycle.

Standardize Testing - A good way to check the effectiveness of the "teachers" in your organization is to test the students. To ensure alignment, assessing the level of comprehension of your TPOV throughout the organization is crucial.

Our Monthly Rant
Studying Abroad

Has your organization implemented an Executive Exchange program?

What about friendly consulting?

How about visiting a non-competing production facility?

No – at least not formally?

Think about it again. Why wouldn't you want to expedite your organization's exposure to new ideas, philosophies, processes, cultures?

Think your organization could learn something from a soda pop manufacturer?

How about cycle times, quality control, marketing.

What about from an insurance company?

How about attention to detail, customer profiling, and customer retention.

So, what ever you do, don't leave your plant, your office, your division. Solve all of your problems using the same resources you've always used.

Seriously, it has not worked all that well.

Has it?

The Beacon Group can help your organization and its Leaders with our World-Class Organizational Development Expertise.

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