We have all had one of those days – lots on our plate – and your Boss show up at your door without a coffee for you and says “Sorry to interrupt how about those Blue Jays? Oh Yeah, one more thing. We need to add something to that Bloggins’ project.”

Let’s break that down:

“Sorry to interrupt.” – Translation: They aren’t even remotely sorry

“One more thing.” – Translation: A big add-on but DON’T go overtime and meeting all your other priorities.

“We need to add…” – Translation: “You need to do.”

The next time someone tries to put more work on your shoulders—when you’re already at max capacity—here’s how to respond to a:

Supervisor or Manager:

I can take this on, but I’d like to review something with you before I proceed.

Right now, my current priorities are: [list them in order].

Would you like this new assignment to be my top priority?

If so, that’s no problem, but it means that all my other projects will get completed slightly later.

I can create a timeline of when everything will be completed if that’s helpful to you.

Thanks!

Colleague:

I can help you with this. However, right now I am working on a different project that’s a top priority for my department.

I’m working on a deadline, and I need to stay focused and keep progressing.

I’ll be able to switch gears and attend to your request [at/on] [time / date].

Thank you for understanding!

Client:

Thanks for [writing / stopping by]. I can help you with this.

But first, let’s talk about the other items that I’m currently working on for you.

Right now, I’m working on: [list them in order].

If we add this new piece to the list, I’ll need to bill you for an additional [$$$].

It also means that the timeline we initially agreed upon will need to shift. [describe the new dates, timing, etc.]

Are you OK with the additional cost and new timeline?

If so, [tell me / write back to say]: “Greenlight! Go!”

Remember, whoever is making this “ridiculous and unreasonable” request is probably just as swamped and stressed out as you are or it could be a genuine crisis. In either case, these scripts might not be appropriate, so have some empathy and try to be compassionate.

No matter how colleagues choose to communicate with you (rudely, coldly, crazily), you can still be professional and polite when you respond.

Be patient. Stay cool. Speak firmly.

You’re a senior leader in an age of unrelenting change.

And you know your organization needs to undergo a major change to remain profitable and viable.

You’ve committed significant organizational power to prepare for the change. You are there and ready, but is your team?

Watch the video about why your team is scared stupid about change.

How Can You Assess Readiness for Change?

Leaders underestimate the effort it will take to implement and sustain organizational change and the operational and people issues that can derail any change.

They are so caught up in keeping the business operational and profitable that they fail to take the time to sufficiently plan change.

Is My Organization Ready for Change?

You must get answers to the following three questions:

1. How ready are the leaders in my company for the change?

Are your direct reports truly committed to supporting this change or are they just giving lip service?

How your managers feel about the proposed changes as change efforts stall at lower management levels in the organization. Can you answer the following questions?

• Are your direct reports effective sponsors for this change?
• Do managers in your organization communicate effectively with their team members?
• Which managers will be major obstacles to implementing this change?

You may be surprised to learn how much work your managers need before you begin an organizational change and that some restructuring may be necessary.

2. How ready is my organization for this change?

Even though you have the support of enough critical stakeholders to make a meaningful organizational change. You may not get the change outcomes that you need because your company is not ready for change because of its various policies, practices, and working culture.

You will need to determine how ready your organization is for change are the following:

• Does your organization measures business performance?
• Does this change effort support the whole organization?
• Does your organizational culture reward or punish innovation, taking risks, and solving problems?

You’ll want to look at your existing processes, employees, and suppliers and assess whether they are ready for the change you need to make.

3. How ready are my employees for this organizational change?

Employees are critical to the successful implementation of any change effort. When employees are not ready for change and are forced to do so by management, they will resist.

This resistance can range from indifference (loss of interest in their work), to passive (doing only what they are told to do), and to active (sabotaging the effort with deliberate errors or by slowing down).

To minimize employee resistance, you will need to determine how ready your employees are for change by asking:

• • • Do your employees understand your customers’ needs?
    • What is the state of employee morale in the organization?
    • Do your employees feel personally responsible for their success in the organization?

 Download Your 9 Question Readiness Assessment by Clicking Here

By assessing the readiness of your managers, organization, and your employees before launching a change, you will have a realistic overview of what is needed to implement successful organizational change.

And you’ll understand the sustained time and commitment needed to undertake a meaningful organizational change in your company.

Being a leader is about understanding what is going on around you.

In the military, it is called ‘Situational Awareness,’ Often, the people with the most pertinent information about the situation are those working for you.

Questions are powerful tools, and knowing how to wield them precisely is key to becoming a better leader.

How to ask?

If it’s about asking the questions, how do you ask the right questions in the right way?

1. Ask these questions like you care & want to know the answers. You’re not reading from a script; ask with authenticity.
2. You asked, so be prepared to hear answers that you may not like, but time to listen — openly and honestly.
3. The answer you need may not happen the first time you try. But if you ask sincerely and humbly, you will build trust & confidence. So ask regularly, and the quality of the information you gather will improve.

Read about the six things you need to communicate

What to ask?

1. What is your biggest accomplishment this month?

Why?

• This question provides a sense of forward motion and progress.
• When workers relate positive information, it gives them a sense of personal accomplishment.
• Answers give you both oversight and performance improvement potential.
• You have a measure if people contribute in the ways you need them to.

2. What’s your biggest challenge right now?

Why?

• You can begin to understand where the worker is struggling.
• You can learn about pinch points in an employee’s process, work, or company culture.
• It puts your conversation into problem-solving mode because when you know where your team member is struggling, you can do something about it.

Read how not to Eff Up talking to your people.

3. What things should we do differently, or what processes can we improve?

Why?

• People understand that things can be done differently, so being open to feedback from ‘below’ can be invaluable.
• When team members recognize that they can provide value beyond their job description, you can harness this power to improve the company.
• You may not always act on every suggestion, but you’re going to discover some things that genuinely need to change.

4. What resources would be helpful to you right now?

Why?

• By using the word “resources,” you’re opening the door beyond money.
• What you might think employees need is often different from what they want.
• Don’t assume the solution is more people or money, trust the people working on the project to understand what will solve the issue.

Read about how to listen.

5. Is there anything I can help you with?

Why?

• It lets your employees know you’re a human and care about their success and well-being.
• It allows you to understand any personal factors that may influence their work.
• It demonstrates you’re a real human being.
• You improve your working relationship with them by showing sincere interest in their life and improvement.

It’s tough economic times in my home province of Alberta due to a halving of the price of oil, yet there is a cautious consensus that things are stabilizing and people are starting to hire and grow.

Read more about talking to your people in tough times

As people start to hire, they are surprised to realize that there is as much business risk in growth as there is contraction; but what do leaders need to get the full advantage out of growing?

There is a minimal competitive advantage gained from strategy, technology, finance or marketing. These disciplines are essential as they can set one company apart from another, and knowledge of each has become ubiquitous and democratic. Any size organization has unlimited access to the best thinking and practices around those subjects.

The one remaining untapped, simple, reliable and virtually free competitive advantage is a healthy and robust leadership culture.

A leadership culture can eliminate politics and confusion from the environment, cause productivity and morale to soar and prevent good people from leaving. The most brilliant organization in the world can fail if it does not have a leadership culture – look at Uber.

I’ve seen it repeatedly when a healthy leadership culture will always find a way to succeed because it will tap into every bit of human intelligence it has. I have led volunteers & staff to respond to some of the most significant disasters of our time by unleashing human talent.

Why haven’t more companies embraced and reaped the benefits of a leadership culture? 

Quite frankly, it’s hard. It requires real work and focused discipline. Therefore it has no appeal to those looking for a quick fix.

But the biggest reason is that it requires courage. 

Leaders must be willing to confront themselves, their peers, and the dysfunction within their organization with honesty and persistence. They must be prepared to walk straight into uncomfortable situations and address issues preventing them from realizing their potential.

Read more about leading with courage.

What exactly does an organization have to do to develop a leadership culture? There are three simple but complex steps:

1. Build a Tight Leadership Team – Get the organization’s leaders to behave in a functional, cohesive way. If the people responsible for running an organization act dysfunctional, that dysfunction will cascade into the rest of the organization and success.

2. Create & Communicate Clarity – The second step for building a healthy organization is ensuring that the leadership team members are aligned and clear on the organization’s existence and the highest essential priorities. Leaders must eliminate gaps between them so that people have complete clarity about what they need to do to make the organization successful.

Then over-communicating that clarity. Leaders build a culture of leadership personally and consistently repeat themselves and reinforce what is important. This action sets leaders of healthy organizations apart.

3. Reinforce – Leaders must ensure that any process involving people, from hiring and firing to performance management and decision-making, is designed to support and emphasize the organization’s success intentionally.

Can an organization with a healthy culture of leadership fail? Yes. 

When politics, ambiguity, dysfunction and confusion are reduced, people are freed to serve clients, solve problems and help one another in ways that will leave unhealthy organizations behind as you turn the economic corner. 

Healthy organizations recover from setbacks, attract the best people, repel others, and create opportunities that, at the end of the day, create an environment of success.

Leadership is a concentrated experience. Everything you do is immediate, definitive and inexorably tied to your eventual success.

It’s critical that to be successful in business is to understand leadership. That means real leadership, not some watered-down TED Talk or watered down the flavour of the month corporate leadership fad.

You can read the summary below or watch Steve’s video:

Here are the five skills you need the most:

1. The skill of self-awareness

 Success begins within. When you have a sense of who you are, it invites you to do something about it. Having self-awareness amounts to be better advised. The more you know yourself, the closer you can become to being all you can be.

2. The skill of business acumen

Success begins with keenness and quickness in understanding and dealing with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome. In the competitive environment of business, being the best at what you do is good, making good decisions is great; but a clear, comprehensive understanding of the business environment you’re operating in is invaluable.

3. The skill of relationship-building

Building lasting relationships is the cornerstone of all business success, and respect is at the heart of building business relationships. It is the glue that holds together the functioning of teams, partnerships, and managing relationships. Even with the best products and business practices, you still need strong relationships to succeed.

4. The ability to create an inspired culture

A culture of inspiration and motivation influences others to perform at their best. One of the most important assets of any enterprise and every business is the employees and its culture. Together they create a system of shared passion and commitment, which creates an environment that breeds, talent, growth, development, and creativity.

5. The skill of agility and adaptability

Adapting to change requires the willingness to manage change and to stay open to new ideas, it means to be adaptable to new situations, handle unexpected demands with aplomb, and be ready to pivot at any moment. To maneuver through changes is to learn to be adaptable and agile. So where do you stand with your leadership skills?

Ask yourself the following: What do I need to do to keep up with the pace of business with the increasing complexity of today’s workplace? What can I do today to hone in on my leadership skills to be successful?

There are many leadership skills and competencies that, when combined and applied, go toward making you an effective leader. It is best to remember you could develop each of these skills within yourself. It’s always up to you.

I know—too well from firsthand experience—that being good at your job doesn’t qualify you to be the boss. You have to learn how to lead. That’s why I’m offering to share some of my years of around-the-globe-in-some-pretty-wild-situations experience

If I were to ask you to imagine a heroic commander of a 100,000-man army, what would your mind’s eye see?

Would you picture a 42-year-old, awkwardly tall, pear-shaped, over-weight guy?

Could you imagine someone who was a failed teacher, a failed insurance salesman and a failed real-estate developer?

Well, that was Lieutenant General Arthur Currie.

During WW1, Currie was the Deputy Commander of the Canadian Corp during the Battle of Vimy Ridge and became the Commander of the Canadian Army in Europe. Postwar, with his high school education in hand became the Principle of McGill University.

This isn’t a retelling of a great moment in Canadian history. It is a story of a relative under-achiever who rose to face an unbelievable challenge and the lessons for the rest of us mere mortals.

There is only so much space in history for an Eisenhower, Churchill or Caesar and history is replete with unnamed regular folks like us who work hard and play our parts in achieving greatness.

Here are five characteristics demonstrated by General Currie, and all people, who become great leaders in their own time & right?

Uncompromising Integrity. Do not cut corners or cheat. Though others may be smarter, more forceful, and more creative, never compromised in your work and life.

Read about moral courage

Work Hard. Often when others play or waste time, continue to work. Feel like they are stealing from the company unless you give your best efforts.

Be Personally Responsible. Never blame employers and employees or complain because someone else in the organization was recognized or received a promotion.

Be Decisive. Know that slow decision-making is poor leadership and that analysis paralysis can kill an effort. Instead of living in fear of making the wrong decisions, move forward just as soon as you have sufficient information, not complete information.

Read about making decisions

Read. Good leaders read books, articles, and anything they could to make them a better person and a better leader. Ordinary men and women became extraordinary through constant and continued learning, regardless of the sacrifice.

Like General Currie, most of us are not the smartest, the best educated, or most articulate.

But Like Currie, we can hold high principles & work hard, and through these character traits, we common men and women can become extraordinary leaders.