I can’t stand skim milk! To me, it tastes like water and I don’t like it. It’s weak to me. Whole milk is placed into a centrifugal separator where fat is extracted (basically everything good about it) to produce what I think looks and tastes a lot like cloudy water! There is a force in business that can act a lot like the machine used to produce skim milk and it’s called indecision. Indecision dilutes your effectiveness as a manager or executive and leaves your team with a bad tasting experience. This is skim milk leadership. I know the negative side effects indecision can bring to a team because I operated as a skim milk leader for years. You can read more about that here. Sometimes I would delay an answer to buy myself time in hopes they’d come to a solution on their own (fear). Other times I would ask them what they thought should be done (shifting responsibility). I’d also talk about all the aspects of the problem without providing an answer (avoidance). My inability to make a call resulted in my team doubting I could help them, that I had their best interest in mind, and that I truly cared for them. The worst part of the ordeal for them was I thought I was pulling it off without them knowing I was wishy-washy. Skim milk leadership. If you’re suffering from indecision like I used to, register for your free strategy session here. I’ll help you bring solid decision-making ability to the table, starting now. “Can we go this direction?”, “Here is the direction I’d like to go, are you good with that?”, “Here are the facts and this is what I think we need to do. Can we move forward?”. All questions or variations of ones we’ve been presented with at some point as the person responsible. When a team member comes to you looking for an answer, it’s normally because they can’t move forward absent of your decision. In that moment, they are looking for an answer: yes, no, or maybe. Skim milk leadership won’t solve their problem. Here’s how you can confidently move forward in those moments with a decision.
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 When my son was around 5 years old, he really didn’t like vegetables. My responsibility as his Dad was to keep him healthy and safe and that meant making sure he ate at least a few green beans before he had desert. I took responsibility for his choices back then, mostly by offering him limited options to choose from before dinner. “Would you like green beans or black eyed peas?” was a phrase I repeated often that year! And, it worked. He made healthy choices because I controlled his options. It was great because I kept him healthy and safe while he was able to retain his right to choose. I’ve noticed that managers and executives tend to fall into similar patterns when guiding their teams. Out of a desire to keep the business healthy and safe, we revert to thinking our responsibility is to give good choices and let the team decide which one they’d like to pursue. Especially when times get tough. We’re the manager or executive after all, right? We have to keep things safe and healthy. We give our approach a grown-up name like empowerment, delegation or brainstorming so people believe they have more ownership than they do. What we are really doing at times is searching for the choice to provide the team that is healthy and safe. We even start to believe it’s in the team’s best interest that we operate this way. What a mistake! I know because I made the unfortunate error of trying to lead this way. At that point in time I didn’t know that giving others choices doesn’t mean you aren’t controlling them. I demotivated others because of my inability to define problems that needed to be solved. As a result, I never cut them loose to use their strengths in developing solutions. This created doubt, confusion, and fear in others. Asking your team “green beans or black -eyed peas?” is the wrong question. How do you know if you’re controlling your team like I was? Here are phrases I heard from my team that let me know something had to change. I hope they’re as useful for you as they were for me.
If you recognize that you’re making the same mistake I made years ago, you can change. I’m proof it’s possible! It takes intentionality and many times an executive coach can help you work through the process of change more effectively than you could do on your own. A good first step to transform your leadership behavior is registering for a free strategy session that I’m making available to anyone who’s committed to a journey of growth. You can do that here. 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 “Shane is a trusted peer whose advice I seek when faced with leadership challenges. He brings clarity to tough situations and has been an objective sounding board for over 14 years!” – Pamela Westbrooks, Vice President of Administration “When your boss speaks, I never understand him!” It was April of 2012 when I read those words. I had recently sent each of my Directors a series of questions to find out how they really thought things were going with my leadership. I’ve found that people tend to be more direct and open when they have time to think and provide written feedback. I wanted the truth, and I got it. Among other things (which I talk about here), I learned I had a communication problem! Through the questionnaire, one Director shared with me that others on our team were very confused whenever I shared a new idea or gave an update on our strategy. After a meeting, someone actually came up and said to him, “When your boss speaks, I never understand him!” This was a person who carried major responsibilities for leading and guiding the work of others. If he was confused, as close as he was to the source, you can image how bad it was for the 33 other people who were trying to make sense of what I was saying. If you want others to give you the type of feedback that started my leadership transformation, you can join the Leadership Transformation Roundtable and receive a free copy of the questionnaire I used. Over time, I learned what went wrong. Here is what used to drive my communication with others and caused me to be ineffective.
These three beliefs also led to me talking way over the heads of other people. I would use big strategic words and pass around colorful spreadsheets, all designed to communicate I was capable. I created a culture of confusion, instability, and frustration. Looking back, the message I sent others can be summarized by what Jim Lundy wrote in his book, Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way. “We the uninformed, working for the inaccessible, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful!” Thankfully, through the hard work of Executive Coaching, I was able to change my behavior. I can help you improve your communication skills using the same coaching process that turned my leadership around. Register for your free strategy session here. There’s a better way to communicate and it starts with connecting. I want to share with you three keys to winning with communication that my mentor, John C. Maxwell, has taught me. They’ve increased my effectiveness and when you use them, you’ll increase your leadership impact and add value to those around you. Three Keys To Winning With Communication
W. Shane McKenzie is an executive coach 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 used to discover gaps in my communication with others. 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 Register for your free strategy session here. “Shane is a trusted peer whose advice I seek when faced with leadership challenges. He brings clarity to tough situations and has been an objective sounding board for over 14 years!” – Pamela Westbrooks, Vice President of Administration |
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. Archives
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