Best Principles Before Best Practices.

By Ray Blunt

There is a game being played somewhere right now within almost every government organization. The game is called ‘In Search of Best Practices’ and it is played something like this: “We’re about to launch a major change (like putting in a leadership development program). Before we do, let’s benchmark the best organizations around to find out what they do, and especially, let’s see what other government organizations are doing. After all, we don’t want to reinvent the wheel now, do we?”

So the change team dutifully goes out, does their research, makes some site visits, documents their findings, and then prepares a menu of best practices from which a program is built. The game proceeds by briefings up the line which are bolstered by citations from the Who’s Who of Best Practices—prominent companies in the news, selections from the 100 Best Companies to Work For, other Federal agencies, etc. The game is won when the program, designed around the Best Practices, is given the go ahead. So what’s the problem? It may possibly be declaring a premature end to the game by failing to realize that ‘best’ is simply a local term, not a universal one, and that there may be better and prior wisdom that is being ignored in the bargain. It’s something worth discussing.

Interesting Practices
The victory lap cannot realistically be taken until the program design actually produces the results that people intended because somewhere in people’s minds is the sneaking suspicion that if we do it like the big boys and girls we will be like the big boys and girls. But that syllogism can turn out to be false, and some have fallen into that trap—including me.

Dave Ulrich, perhaps the wisest human resources expert around, uses the term “interesting practices” to describe such approaches to a range of human resources initiatives. They may work in the long run–or they may not. The key is to understand the culture of the organization, the capabilities the organization possesses, and the needs it is trying to address. Keeping up with the GEs or the Microsofts of the world or even the IRSs does not mean your approach to leadership development will mirror the outcomes of theirs.

Five Best Principles
It may make more sense to start with a solid understanding of what can be called ‘best principles’ in succession and leader development and then see which practices will work for your organization’s culture and its specific needs for future leadership. If you begin with the best principles, you can then safely test out your proposed practices to see which ones best fit your situation. Here are five principles that have bred success, specifically in excellent Federal Government organizations:
1. They base their practices on the four proven principles of how leaders learn to lead—challenging and varied work experiences; significant relationships with senior leaders; self awareness based upon feedback, reflection and lessons from the hardship crucibles of life; and self development and selected training.
2. They make a business case for developing future leaders with decision makers that helps drive the mission and avoids the trap of simply being something ‘good’ to do.
3. They recognize that initiating leadership development, at least in the Federal Government, is most often a cultural change as well where leaders shape the culture and it is not simply a case of human resources development (HRD) standing up another new training program.
4. They understand that the key cultural change is this: it takes leaders to grow leaders—not trainers, not HRD experts, not consultants: leaders grow leaders—and that it will take a serious time commitment on their part.
5. Senior leaders hold themselves and their human resources development and training partners accountable for results—those results are that a next generation of good, solid leaders emerge (who, in turn, grow those behind them).

Getting It Right
In my opinion these are tantamount to being non-negotiable principles of developing future leaders, forged from experience. These must be the framework around which any leadership development program is designed before anyone starts thinking about best practices. And if you look carefully, four of these five principles are based on an assumption that it takes leaders to grow leaders. These principles are not a menu; each one is critical to success. Successfully applying these principles requires hard work and persistence over a long period of time—make no mistake about that.

So, what do you see in your own leader development efforts in your organization? If you are a leader, are you actively engaged in developing the next generation in your own organization at whatever level (and devoting the time it takes)? What barriers do you face in doing so? If you are an aspiring leader, what can you do to help imbed these principles if they are not yet implemented? Do you think you can make such an impact on those above you? Finally, is it a realistic expectation that the public service leaders of today have the time and the capability to help grow the next generation or the awareness that their contribution is sorely needed?
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Ray Blunt is currently the Associate Director and Fellow at the Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation and Culture. For the past 12 years he has served as a leadership consultant and teacher for the Council for Excellence in Government and the Federal Executive Institute as well as for several government and non-profit organizations. He spent 35 years in public service in the US Air Force and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Is your coaching blog or web site really ready for visitors?

One of the pleasures of writing this blog is scouring other coaching blogs and web sites for marketing news and information that will be useful to you, my readers. Eager to find the “good stuff,” each week I end up reading dozens of blog posts and visit as many web sites.

Now and then I run into a coaching blog that tries to get it right but stumbles here and there. “Stumbling here and there” is what we humans do. To err is human, right?

Most of us with blogs have had this experience: we edit, proofread, spell check, read it again, and feeling we’ve covered all the bases push that “publish” button. Only then do we see the mistake, the name we didn’t get right, the link that isn’t working, etc. So, back we go, hoping we can correct our errors before anyone sees it.

Today I found a blog post that seemed perfect to discuss on CNE: “The Important Rules of Business Coaching.” We all want to know what the rules are, how they might complement whatever “rules” we currently follow, or if — as some might suggest — there are no rules.

Here’s the link– the actual blog post is useful. I don’t know if it is original material, but that’s not why I mention it. The problem is that the blog itself is not ready for prime time. In the header it reads, “Let us healp you Earn Some Wealth.” Beneath the blog name, “Earned Wealth,” we have those ubiquitous Latin fill-ins “Lorem/Ipsum/Dolorem.” Not exactly the way to build confidence in the author or the wisdom he/she is trying to share with us.

Certainly this is an egregious example of not being ready for one’s readers. However, it makes a point worth making: sometimes the most glaring mistakes are the ones we miss.

For several weeks I had a blog sidebar that was getting pushed down to the bottom of the page. I never saw it because I always used my main desktop computer to work on the blog. Only when I loaded the blog into my laptop did the error show up. Goodness knows how many readers also saw it. So now I review all my web sites and blogs on both computers, each with a different OS and web browser.

In the spirit of ”what are friends for,” perhaps it would be proper to drop a friend a carefully-worded note if we do see something out of kilter on their blog or web site. Besides being a good reason to touch base, your friend will appreciate your thoughtfulness — after the initial embarrassment wears off.

For home-based coaching practices, staying focused is a challenge.

Many coaches operate their practices from home. There are plenty of good reasons to work from home but there are also a few pitfalls. One of the real perils of working from home is getting distracted.

For me distractions mean everything other than work: taking care of the dog, reading non-business email, feeding and re-feeding myself, reading books or magazines not related to my work, surfing web sites, doing chores, reading blogs that are not feeding my business. The list could go on and on and on. . . .

Perhaps even more distracting than non-work related matters is spending time thinking about work ideas that are not related to my immediate tasks. I think it is important to keep the mental doors open to new ideas, to be able to brainstorm, to explore new business concepts or approaches. The problem is, for some of us, those brainstorms can take control of an entire day. . .or longer. The result? We don’t stay focused on our current work.

Here’s the deal I make with myself in order to stay focused on what I need to do today –

Each morning while I am still drinking my first cup of coffee, I give myself 30 minutes to sit with a notepad and take what I call “brainstorming notes” — writing down business ideas that have floated to the surface that I might want to look at more carefully in the future. If something comes up that I think looks promising, I will plan to spend the time I need investigating the idea in more detail. That time has to be scheduled in. . .which leads to my next “staying focused” strategy.

While I am still sitting there with my notepad — before I put myself in front of the computer — I list my tasks for the day, estimate the time for each one, and give them a priority level from A to E. If there is time available, I will schedule in my “brainstorm” ideas. If not, they have to wait for another day. Eventually, I will look at them more carefully — perhaps in the evening when my other tasks are done.

There’s a reason why I write out my task list on a notepad first, before turning on the computer. For me, the computer is one big distraction machine. I want to read all the news I can find, read and respond to tons of email that has nothing to do with work, look at the latest NBA news, check out some blogs, etc. etc. Before I know it, half the morning can be swept away before I’ve even thought about my real job.

So, my rule is that when I go to the computer for the first time each day, my first task is to check the calendar on my Personal Information Manager and enter the task list I wrote on the notepad. That process helps to keep me mentally focused on the things that matter most today. I just remind myself that even home business owners get breaks for lunch (usually), and I can always read the online edition of my local newspaper at noon.

I know that everyone has to develop their own time-management strategy, but I thought I would tell you what works for me. By the way, I’ve used something called Time and Chaos (now called Intellect) for many years as my PIM and contact manager. I’ve tried using Outlook but feel like I am lugging around a 600 pound dead guerrilla whenever I use it. So I stick with Chaos.

This “staying focused” topic has all sorts of alley ways and side-streets — I hope we can go down a few of them.

Got some ideas of your own? Feel free to comment or drop me a line.