 I walked from the parking lot to the office this morning with a co-worker I’ve known for 10 years. She shared with me a lesson that I believe can serve as a catalyst to you and I achieving our highest potential. This is what she said: “Shane, you’ve changed in the best way possible. You’ve always been nice. But, now I see you as someone who genuinely care about others in a way that is deeper than ever before. I don’t know what you’re doing but keep doing it because it’s working!” There it is- the difference maker between you and I adding growth in our organization and multiplying it! Buy-in to the leader precedes buy-in to the vision a leader has for growth.
I2 months ago, I set out to intentionally increase my leadership ability. Even though I’ve achieved success in terms of positional leadership, I believe that to achieve significance requires me to always be growing beyond my current capacity. In my journey, I have found that no one accomplishes anything great alone and that the roadblock for many who want to accomplish great things is their inability to gather enough people to do something great! My coworker is someone who has experienced me introducing change into our organization many times. I couldn’t help but reflect on how much more efficient that change would have been to execute and how more effective the results could have been if she had wanted to follow me as the leader then the way she communicated she was willing to follow me now? Here’s how it could play out for you. You’ve been thinking on a new opportunity. If you are successful it could significantly impact your business- maybe expand your customer base, open up a new market segment, streamline operations, etc. You’re convinced enough to move forward with getting your team to speak into the dream and see if what you’ve considered is possible. When you move the idea out of your thinking and into the thinking of others, that’s where your leadership ability is defined. How do people receive ideas you bring their way that require them to change? In my experience, if people haven’t bought-in to the leader first they won’t buy-in to the leader’s vision. The message my coworker sent me today with her comments was that she was ready to up-level her commitment to follow me beyond where it had previously been. It wasn’t my smooth talking, ability to be nice, or my strategic plan. It was my growth as a person. Yes, you do need to be nice and you do need to be competent! But, what determines your team’s openness to explore new opportunities is largely related to the level of buy-in you’ve created prior to your asking them to try something new. Lack of buy-in decreases the potential for your team to efficiently process through the opportunity you lay before them. There is a short window in which we can act to take advantage an opportunity. You don’t get extra time to “get the team on board”. Time is money and that means a lack of buy-in is costing you, literally! If you want to act on an opportunity quickly, you need people who are already willing and able to hear you when you sense the need for change! When you ask people to consider a new opportunity, do you sense some are giving you the “glazed over” look? Are some high performers slow to consider the up-side potential of new opportunities? Do you butt-heads with key staff when you try to introduce change? If so, it could be you need to increase the buy in to who you are before you spend more time asking for buy in to your idea. Three Ways to Increase Buy In To You As A Leader
Questions To Spark Your Leadership Transformation How have these thoughts raised your awareness about your own leadership behavior? What do you need to change so that your actions are more inline with your intentions? Who can help you implement what you've decided? Share this blog with them as an introduction to what you're looking to change. W. Shane McKenzie is The Leadership Transformation Coach. He helps leaders achieve greater effectiveness and become more fulfilled in their work by facilitating positive changes in their leadership behaviors. Join the Leadership Transformation Roundtable to get your copy of the questionnaire Shane uses to discover how close his intentions match the reality of those he leads. What others are saying about W. Shane McKenzie "I’ve worked with Shane for several years. He possesses a unique and highly effective combination of strategy, team leader and great communicator, a rare combination. He has a very strategic mind so he makes connections and sees disjointed paths where others do not. This allows him to both plot direction and execute the path to success. He’s truly committed to the greatness in others. He listens fully, asks the right questions at the right time, and gives us the space to both think and respond." - Linda Lindquist-Bishop, Strategic Facilitator, Speaker, Exit Planning for Business Owners, and World Champion Athlete “Shane has the ability to frame a conversation in a way that brings a thought or concept full circle. He’s excellent at tying each session together, which helped me recognize a pattern of growth. He’s not a “teacher”; he’s a discussion facilitator…in other words these sessions aren’t built around Shane teaching concepts. This method of facilitation opens the door for personal application, which is critical to this development process. He asked questions that forced me to think with intention.”- G. Williams, Product Manager  Are you feeling overwhelmed at work? Chances are you’re extremely busy and end your day mentally exhausted and overwhelmed. Right when you need to be at your best for your family you are finding you have the least amount of energy, focus, and drive to invest in what you say is your highest priority. I get it. It’s extremely draining and life starts to be monotonous when you live in a less than healthy state of stress for extended periods of time.
What’s at the root of all of us being overwhelmed? The usual suspects, “them”, come to mind. The ones who don’t understand how busy you are and pile on more work, and those who ignore how you’re producing for the company despite being down a team member in your group. Being asked to produce above what is your capacity can certainly create unhealthy stress over time and it’s definitely frustrating when you believe you don’t have the respect of others who just see you as a resource to reduce their own load! In my experience as a leadership coach, I have discovered these situations account for smaller than perceived amounts of the unhealthy stress we carry day in and day out. There is larger culprit and it hits really close to home. It’s you. It’s you and it’s me. It’s our inability to effectively lead ourselves that I have found generates the highest levels of unhealthy stress. It’s our low ability to lead ourselves that is the catalyst for depleted evenings at home, missed ballgames and dance recitals, and even our obesity. It’s me and it’s you and it’s all about leadership. What are we missing? I believe our leadership ability determines our level of effectiveness. Leading ourselves is the first, and hardest, task we have when it comes to getting out from under the stress. Below are three ways you can increase your effectiveness and stop missing out at home. If you incorporate these into your routine on a daily basis, you will experience an internal relief and transform your relationships both inside and outside the office.
Maybe you’ve identified one way you’re currently creating an unhealthy level of stress in your life. If so, take a moment and write out exactly what you’ve learned about you and your ability to lead yourself. Next, decide what you need to change. What specifically are you going to do that you are not doing today in order to better lead yourself and create a more fulfilling day tomorrow? Finally, who is it that you can pass this blog to that will benefit, as you have, from gaining a new perspective on smoothing out the ride? Who can you add value to by opening up new possibilities that come from acting on what you’ve learned? W. Shane McKenzie is The Leadership Transformation Coach. He helps leaders achieve greater effectiveness and become more fulfilled in their work by facilitating positive changes in their leadership behaviors. Join the Leadership Transformation Roundtable to get your copy of the questionnaire Shane uses to discover how close his intentions match the reality of those he leads. What others are saying about W. Shane McKenzie "I’ve worked with Shane for several years. He possesses a unique and highly effective combination of strategy, team leader and great communicator, a rare combination. He has a very strategic mind so he makes connections and sees disjointed paths where others do not. This allows him to both plot direction and execute the path to success. He’s truly committed to the greatness in others. He listens fully, asks the right questions at the right time, and gives us the space to both think and respond." - Linda Lindquist-Bishop, Strategic Facilitator, Speaker, Exit Planning for Business Owners, and World Champion Athlete “Shane has the ability to frame a conversation in a way that brings a thought or concept full circle. He’s excellent at tying each session together, which helped me recognize a pattern of growth. He’s not a “teacher”; he’s a discussion facilitator…in other words these sessions aren’t built around Shane teaching concepts. This method of facilitation opens the door for personal application, which is critical to this development process. He asked questions that forced me to think with intention.”- G. Williams, Product Manager  Perhaps you've seen it before. A public figure is interviewed by the media. After eloquently stating and restating her position, despite the reporters efforts to pound out more details, she relaxes and speaks her mind! Thinking that the microphone is off, she races through a litany of obscenities to share her disapproval of the interviewer and it's all captured for the world to hear because the microphone is on. If you're a manager or an executive there is a lesson here for you. You have the microphone and it is always on!
As a positional leader within your organization, people are always watching and listening to you. You may be tempted to think that an after-hours conversation with a rising star is just "small talk about the future". If you believe you can have conversations like you're just another person on the team and it not affect your organizations culture you are wrong. While you may want to let your guard down to let off steam or you may want to share just a little insight with someone about the big plans you've been thinking about, remember, your microphone is always on. You aren't afforded the luxury of "just brainstorming" when your the leader. You gave that up when you stepped out of an individual contributor role and took on the responsibility of manager or executive. You're always the leader and when you speak people listen with a filter. "How does this affect me, the department, the company and what should I be considering and working towards as a result?" Your microphone is always on! Your team is continuously seeking feedback from you on key areas. So much so that even your innocent conversations (read dreams here!) can direct their future actions, beliefs, and understandings of where the organization is headed. All without you ever knowing it's happened. What's worse, if you're inconsistent with the messages you send, because they change depending on whom your with, it's double-trouble. Now, you're creating significant uncertainty among the team. No one knows who you are and they start to doubt what to expect from you. You think they aren't sharing with each other? Think again. Remember, your microphone is always on. Maybe you're reading this and you're aware now of the problems you've created by over-sharing. I've made that mistake in the past, too. I can help you increase your leadership ability in this area because I've walked the road of transformation that's necessary to see change. Schedule your free strategy session here. I had to learn the hard way that productivity as a manager and executive don't come from your technical skills. If you believe it does, then you're going to over-share. You'll do it because you'll think you know more than others and you'll think your helping by getting in everyone's business. You're not helping when you do this, so stop and take a different approach. You want to get your team involved and you want to make a significant contribution to the organization yourself. What worked when your weren't a manager isn't going to work now that you are. It's time to change. Your productivity is going to come from your leadership ability, not your exceptional technical skills, from this point forward. Here are tips you can use to avoid over-sharing and compromising your leadership effectiveness.
I'd like to hear from you. Have you ever forgotten that your microphone is always on? What's was the outcome and what did you learn as a result? W. Shane McKenzie is an executive coach and leadership mentor who helps leaders achieve greater effectiveness and become more fulfilled in their work by facilitating positive changes in their leadership behaviors. Join the Leadership Transformation Roundtable to get your copy of the questionnaire I use to discover how close my intentions match the reality of those I lead. What others are saying about W. Shane McKenzie "I would recommend Shane’s coaching to any leader. He has a refined process that allows leaders to see things in themselves that they might not be able to see otherwise."- Mel Munoz, Physical Therapist Assistant and Grad Student "Shane is a trusted friend and advisor who is passionate about people, life and developing leaders. I love his zeal for growth and how he exudes professionalism in every way. He is a tremendous leader and executive coach."– Sky Streety, BusinessExecutive and Management Consultant |
AuthorW. Shane McKenzie is an Executive Coach and Mentor who specializes in helping successful leaders leave their job to own a business using proven strategies to minimize risk. 
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