Management Psychology Group

Tag: hodge golson

  • Leading Through Bad Times

    High-Stakes Leadership
    Recent events (the coronavirus pandemic, the lockdown of global economies and civil unrest) have intensified the spotlight on leadership in situations of danger and high stakes. These circumstances have clearly highlighted the need for good data, objective analysis of facts, the courage to make decisions in the face of pressure and incomplete information (and sometimes to change course in light of new information) and the ability to communicate complex ideas in an understandable and persuasive manner.

    People in positions of public leadership (including business executives) have a hard time getting, analyzing and using good information. And being in a visible position of leadership, especially in a large organization, is fraught with new obstacles and dangers related to the social media landscape.
    Given that these are unusual and unsettled times characterized by mistrust of leadership and institutions (verified by Gallup and others) it’s imperative that leaders in the public eye, and leaders in general, behave in a way that builds credibility and trust. Yes, this is idealistic, and yes, many of our systems seem to be broken. But with luck, reason and hard work we can fix them, or at least get them back into effective working order. Here are some ideas that might help us move a more positive direction.

    You need good data and sound analysis. In all situations, but especially in trying times, leaders should first off try to get good data. Although we have more information at our fingertips than at any time in history, there is also much more noise and spin in the system. In any leadership role, especially in a high-stakes situation, remind yourself that everyone is likely to be working an angle. Assume that everyone will be pushing an agenda and trying to influence your decisions. Though it may not be an agenda from bad intentions, people often have a vested interest in certain outcomes which is likely exacerbated during tough times. So, look at your data with a rigorous and skeptical eye. Seek confirmation from as wide a variety of sources and viewpoints as possible. Always consider the possibility that you may be wrong. And be sure you understand basic statistics and probability.

    You need the courage to make decisions with incomplete data. There will always be people who will question the leader’s decision and who will actively or passively resist progress if they don’t agree. In reality, the true effectiveness and consequences of many high-stakes decisions may never fully be known. Many situations are just too complex. What are the consequences of shutting down an economy in a pandemic versus keeping a country open? In a perfect world, we would be able to quantify the effects of both courses of action. However, there is likely to be little agreement on the most probable number of deaths due to the disease versus those due to a crashed economy. In these circumstances, leaders need objective sources of data and analysis. But they also need the judgment and courage to make some decisions that will not be easy or popular. Not many people are wired to do that. In the public arena, there is tremendous pressure from all sides. In battle, military leaders are sometimes confronted with situations that will cost lives no matter what the decision. One can only hope to minimize the loss. The best way to do that is to have accurate data, rational analyses and the most competent and objective advisors.

    Show a positive vision and the way to achieve it. Acknowledge that people are facing major problems and difficulties, paint a positive vision and communicate a path out of the trouble. Clarify but don’t simplify. Admit it when you don’t have the information. Don’t cover up, prevaricate or make up an answer to look good. People are motivated by a fear of loss. They need to know the leader will help them avoid it. They need to see that the leader is working hard to make things better and giving them the chance to be successful.

    Make sure everyone understands the mission. In tough times, unity of effort is more effective than unity of command. Make the “North Star” explicit. A good example of this is the approach attributed to General Thad Allen, leader of the Hurricane Katrina recovery task force. In the early chaos, he was reported to have climbed on a table in the command tent to address the troops trying to get ready to deal with the devastation. His message was: “Treat everyone you meet who has been affected as if they are a member of your family. If you do that, two things will happen. First, if you make a mistake, you will err on the side of doing too much. Second, if somebody has a problem with what you’ve done, it will not be with you. It will be with me.”

    Keep the faith that things will get better. Human history is characterized by conflict and struggle but also by progress and problem solving. Despite the constant drumbeat of negativity, most objective data and trendlines show that we are in better shape now than at any time in history. Remember that human ingenuity is not usually considered by models of scarcity, gloom and doom. We encounter tough times, we adjust, we solve problems and we create a better life. That’s our nature. None of us are perfect as individuals and none of our organizations are perfect. However, the steady overall trend has been in the positive direction since we first began to record history.

    A Good Leader Helps People Overcome Adversity
    Growth through pain is a cliché, but it’s also true. A tough fact of life is that that we don’t learn much about our¬selves or our character in good times. We can’t fully dis¬cover our strengths and shortcomings without being tested by adversity. How we deal with it is central to who we are – and how credible we can be in leadership roles. In bad times, all eyes are on the leader. The way you behave has a tremendous impact on your people. The best thing the captain can do in stormy seas is keep the tiller steady – unless, of course, the ship is headed towards the rocks.

    When people are under prolonged periods of stress and strain, predictable and bad things happen. They can become increasingly wary and tend to interpret each new sign as an indication of more bad things to come. Negative emotions run high and people are more likely to bark at each other and openly show frustration. They become skeptical of the new and the different, and are prone to reject it out of hand. As the stress continues, fatigue sets in and they become even more pessimistic about the future. Relationships suffer as the focus be¬comes one of staying afloat as a business. Steadiness and insightful coaching are crucial to survival and success in tough times. A stressful environment increases the leader’s potential impact. People look to leaders more in hard times, which is partly a product of the ambiguity that adversity creates.

    Focusing on the Right Things
    A critical coaching challenge in uncertain times is to keep people focused on things that are under their con¬trol. You might not be able to affect what happens in the market, but you certainly can reach out to your cus¬tom¬ers and provide great service. This sense of control helps people manage their stress and allows them to experi¬ence small wins that have a buffering effect. It is critical that the leader or coach provide a broader vision of the future, and a sense of direction and purpose. By linking today’s actions to a better future, people gain a sense of perspective. By pointing out to an employee how their individual job links to a broader corporate strategy, you give that person a greater sense of purpose and utility. And that provides significant relief from the debilitating effects of stress.

    On the people side of the equation, the key responsibility of a leader or coach is communication. Regular, honest, candid, and consistent communication is key. You must be seen as a reliable source of information, even if it means admitting you don’t know. Equally important is listening. By understanding the concerns of their people, leaders can more readily address them and share with them the information and insights that reduce misunderstandings and fight negative rumors. In tough times, it is critically important to create opportunities for positive emotion. While a sense of humor helps, it is also important to celebrate wins, find ways to have fun, and to thank people. Emphasizing strengths, wins, and good news helps redirect attention and energy.

    A cornerstone of great leadership is taking care of the troops. Listening and empathy are important, of course, but you also need to be attuned to signs of burnout. Because much is expected of people in a tough economy, they need to find ways to recharge their batteries. Framing challenges people face as developmental opportunities can often help redefine their emotional experience. While few people would wish to go through boot camp again, most recognize the benefit of that challenge. Seeing current circumstances as being tested under fire makes us more resilient. Remember the words of Winston Churchill: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

    Naturally, managing the task and managing your people are essential to success in any circumstances; but in tough times, the self-management dimension is critical. You’re in the spotlight even more now. You set the tone. If you are positive, confident, and optimistic, your people are likely to behave in the same way. If you display focus and determination, they are likely to follow suit. In stressful circumstances, you need to manage your behavior to bring about greater optimism and more effective action from your people, and help them manage their own attitudes and behaviors towards appropriate outcomes.

    It’s natural for people to feel powerless and victimized in tough times, so it is important for leaders to help their people shift from the mindset of the passive victim observing things from the sidelines to that of the athlete playing the game. You must keep them focused on the fact that there are always choices available, and that, although they may not be able to control the final score, they do have control over how they play the game. If we consistently play with integrity, stamina, optimism, and intensity, we usually surprise ourselves. Even if we lose, we can be proud of our performance. Remember, just as panic and despair are infectious, so are energy and enthusiasm. As you look around your organization, remember the words of Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
    One way to keep people focused on positive action is not to slip into the trap of automatic sympathy. While it makes a person in victim mode feel good to hear such things as, “That’s terrible, you must feel awful, they should fix it, poor baby,” and other messages of consolation, those are precisely the wrong messages. They imply that the power is out there, with those bad people who are doing you wrong, with that evil competitor or that rotten economy.

    A more effective way to get and keep the right focus is with statements such as, “Yes, that’s tough – what are you going to do about it?” or, “I wish it was different, but it’s not – what did you learn from it?” and “I understand you’re angry – so how will you avoid this in the future?” These responses imply that the power remains with the individual and that some positive outcome can arise from a tough situation when you employ the right strategies. A key to great leadership in tough times is to help people see reality, and to help them find appropriate ways to deal with it. Keep in mind the words of Carl Rogers: “The facts are always friendly.”

    Leaders often need to help their players reframe their current situations, and see things in a different light. This is important: the conditions that conspire to present you with your current set of choices are not always under your control, but the way you respond to them is. Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning describes the experiences that helped him develop these insights, and illustrates this concept quite effectively. You can’t imagine much worse circumstances than Auschwitz, where the Nazis had the power over everything in your life, including whether or not you get to keep it. Some people, however, including Frankl, were able to survive their ordeals in the death camps.

    Being a neuroscientist and psychiatrist, Frankl was intrigued by the puzzle of what makes some people re¬silient and what causes others in similar life-threatening circumstances to succumb. His observation was that, although people in the camps were deprived of choice in all aspects of their lives, those who retained the human dignity of choosing how to respond were more likely to survive. Those who gave up and acted as if they had no control, no choices, were more likely to die. This was also illustrated in studies of learned helplessness conducted by Martin Seligman, one of the primary developers of the relatively new field of Positive Psychology. He demonstrated that dogs that were subject to shocks over which they had no control eventually gave up and stopped trying to escape. Even when the doors to their cages were left open, they would lie down and passively accept the shock rather than try to get out. They could have escaped the shock simply by walking through the open door, but their previous training had not provided them that frame of reference.

    Hopefully, none of us will ever have to endure traumatic experiences such as those described above; but we still whine and complain. It’s our nature. Still, we can transcend our nature at times by shifting our frame of reference, realizing that we in fact do have more control than we think, and changing the way we act. Similarly, when we change how we think (often leading to the insight that we in fact do have options), we’re preparing to change how we respond and behave. The clear lesson of these results and observations is this: how we choose to respond to a situation allows us to transcend even the worst of circumstances.

    The right changes in behavior enable us to make things better. We can choose to see things differently as we become more aware of alternatives and we can consequently choose to act differently as we develop the courage to do so.

    Thought Questions for Bad Times
    How do you begin? If you’re in a bad situation, start with a question: “What am I going to do to make things better?” This implies analyzing your circumstances with an eye towards seeing what can be improved. As you do this, you may begin to see alternatives you might not have considered. This is when you can see opportunities to act differently. You might not have caused your situation, but you always have the choice about how to respond to it. You have more control than you realize. It sounds simplistic, but sometimes the simple solutions are the best. To help your people shift their thinking from being the victim to becoming an active participant, try these questions:

    What will you do to make your life better?
    When will you do it?
    How will you measure your success?
    How long before you know whether it’s working?
    What will you do if it’s not working?

    Key Concepts

    When people are under stress, they look to leaders for information, direction, and support. In dangerous and high-stakes situations, leaders need accurate data and analysis. They also need to communicate a clear vision of success and a path out of the difficulties. If you can help people realize they have more control than they realize, they will be more effective. Re-framing their current negative situation to help them focus on the things that are under their control, and showing them they can find things they can do, will help them get through.

  • The 3 x 5 Conversation: A Simple Aid for Growth and Leadership Development

    We all need feedback but few of us get the kind to really help us be successful on the job. And few of us do a good job of giving other people similar critique. The 3 x 5 conversation is a simple but effective way to communicate and to make sure we are focusing on the right things. It’s a way for subordinates to get calibrated with their bosses, and it’s also a structure for managers and leaders to coach subordinates towards greater success. It can work particularly well to facilitate difficult conversations about underperformance.

    A key assumption here is that the boss knows what his or her subordinates are supposed to be doing and knows what success looks like. The term “3 x 5” refers to a typical 3 x 5 note card, and to the number of topics to be discussed. Writing three to five bullet points on a 3 x 5 note card is an effective way to keep focused on the most important. Below are some examples.

    You need feedback from your boss. This is especially useful early in the transition to a new position or to a new boss. This is more conversational and actionable, and less threatening, than the typical structured performance review. It’s a vehicle for you to make sure you’re doing what is expected. In an ideal world, you’d have a good roadmap for this on the front end. But we don’t live in that world, which means we often need to take the initiative rather than waiting for instructions and guidance that may never come. Here, the initial conversation could go something like this:

    “I’d like to make sure that I’m doing everything I can to be successful. I would appreciate getting on your calendar for a few minutes to make sure I’m focused on the right things. It would be of great help to me for you to articulate your key priorities for my work, and also what success in each of those areas will look like in your eyes. I’ll bring a similar list of the things that I’m spending most of my time on and we can compare notes to ensure I’m pointed in the right direction.”

    From this conversation, you should have enough information to set some clear targets for success. Of course there may be more than the three to five priorities, so don’t put artificial constraints on the boss. But you’ll probably be able to distill the key takeaways from this discussion into a manageable set of priorities.

    You want to give feedback to a subordinate who is performing effectively. The basic idea of comparing notes in a more conversational and informal setting applies here as well. Even if you have already provided a structured performance review, this is still a good way to help successful people stay focused on the right thing. You don’t need the encumbrance of a stilted performance management/review structure. Here, the initial conversation could be something like:

    “I’d like to be sure that you have everything you need to continue to be successful in your job. At your convenience, let’s talk about my priorities for your work, and also about the key things you’re focusing on at this point. Don’t worry, this is not a formal performance review. And we’re having this talk for good reasons, not bad. I just want you have a clear roadmap for continued success. Before we get together, please list the three to five key things you are focused on at this point, the things that are taking up most of your time. Then we can compare notes to make sure that we’re in sync. No other preparation is necessary.”

    You need to give feedback to a subordinate who is having performance problems. You should be positive here, but don’t pull your punches. Even if you have not already addressed the shortcomings before, the chances are good that this person knows he or she is not performing at the level you expect. However, things need to be made explicit. Emphasize that you see this person as valuable and worth the effort to coach and develop, but that there need to be some changes. Also emphasize that if he or she is successful, you will be too. This means you have a vested interest in a positive outcome. Keep in mind Marshall Goldsmith’s ideas about feedforward (http://bit.ly/191fadX) rather than feedback. That is, don’t spend much time on his or her screw ups. Rather, communicate what success would look like in your eyes. Use the same general introductory format as above but stress that this is an opportunity for you to work together to achieve success. Set the tone that you’re providing coaching for future achievement and growth, rather than just critiquing the past.

    The session should conclude with specific behavioral steps to help him or her to achieve success. Stay focused on behavior: what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, and why it needs to be done. And be sure to include checkpoints and time frames.

    What to do with this information.

    As a subordinate, the critique and insight you receive from these sessions should be central to your career planning, skill development and ultimate success. It should have given you enough data to define your most important goals for growth. A general sequence for this would be as follows:
    1. Decide on a few (no more than three at a time, please) key goals that will help ensure your success and make your life easier on the job. These goals should be of the SIMple variety – Specific, Important and Measurable (from One Page Talent Management —  http://amzn.to/1m9b7FL).
    2. Take inventory. What resources are available, and what obstacles are you likely to face? Take into account your primary strengths and how you can use them to help you achieve these goals. Also plan for how you will deal with the Resistance (capital R) that’s always an obstacle to positive growth and change. See Do the Work (http://amzn.to/1QVot58).
    3. Develop strategies to achieve these goals and test them out in the real world.
    4. Tweak your strategies in response to tangible results and feedback from these efforts.
    5. Iterate. Keep the process going to achieve new and/or modified goals.
    As a leader, try to play more the role of coach and mentor. That is, help your people to work within the above goal-setting/accomplishment structure towards a positive outcome. Check out the references above for insights and tools for doing this.

    Good communications are essential to success in any organization. No matter how diligent you are about communications, things tend to fall through the cracks and people get lax after a while. It takes sustained and continued effort to make sure that everybody has the information they need to be successful. The 3 x 5 conversation can help keep the lines open and can help create a culture of growth and positive achievement. This tool is deceptively simple and easy to use, but it’s not a one-time fix. It’s something you’ll need to rely on consistently over time for maximum impact and benefit.

  • Blocking and Tackling: Active Leadership 3

    Author’s Note — this is the third installment in a serialization of Active Leadership: A Blueprint for Succeeding and Making a Difference.

    Michael is considered smart and visionary. He can see a variety of attractive futures clearly, and usually selects a good path towards their achievement. He enjoys many ideas and explores them in depth. He has the ability to keep his audience spell­bound when he describes his various visions and creative solutions. It was no surprise to anyone that he was selected for an operational leadership role in a unit that was stuck in the mud. He approached this turnaround opportunity with a great deal of enthusiasm. Six months later, he’s also stuck in the mud. The unit’s performance has barely budged, and in some cases even grown worse. This shouldn’t have been the case. He came in with a strategy that impressed his bosses and he had many meetings with his own subordinates and several all-hands sessions, to communicate his vision. People seemed to get it and to be on board. However, he is now frustrated by an increasing number of blank stares. Why can they not see his vision? Why can’t they just do their jobs and move along the path toward success he has laid out for them? His battle cry was “Together we’ll transform this division into the shining star. We can help each other to succeed beyond our dreams.” He knows they were excited about it but now it seems they’re floundering. Things were so clear at the start. He’s beginning to question if his vision for the unit is achievable.

    Skills of influence facilitate a success­ful leader­ship jour­ney. Some other basics are to be considered, however, not the least of which are those of managing people. This all falls under the heading of “common sense.” As a mentor of mine was fond of saying, “There’s nothing common about common sense.” This is simple and obvious stuff that’s easy to overlook when fighting daily skirmishes and obstacles to success in business. Welcome to Management 101.

    Succeeding as a leader depends on your ability to select the right kinds of people. We’ll talk more about that a bit later. But assuming you’ve selected or inherited good people, what should you do to lead and manage them effectively? It should be easier than influencing those over whom you have no direct control, but that’s not necessarily the case. However, if you pay attention to the following ideas, you can make life a little smoother for both you and your people.

    Task, People and Self-Management

    Ralph Stogdill, one of the earliest leadership researchers, began the first comprehensive studies on leadership effectiveness in the middle of the last century. His work at Ohio State, and that of others later at the University of Michigan, focused on the behavior of the leader, rather than the traits necessary for success. Stogdill classified leader behaviors into two broad domains: initiation of structure, and consideration.

    MIT professor Douglas McGregor’s Theory X (the au­thoritarian production oriented style), and Theory Y (the supportive people oriented style) models were direct re­flections of this work. Successful leaders were seen to pay attention to factors related to task success as well as to the needs of the people who must accom­plish those tasks. In the 1970’s, these factors – task focus balanced by people focus – were popular­ized by man­agement consultants in successful books and train­ing programs. Robert Blake and Jane Mouton with The Managerial Grid, and Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard with Situational Leadership, were the two best known of these.

    Some of the key actions and behaviors associated with successful task management (initiation of structure) include setting clear goals, planning, defining metrics, monitoring progress, organizing, delegating, and solving technical problems. Actions associated with success in the people management (consideration) domain include communicating effectively, listening, providing support and encouragement, recognizing and rewarding success, and building and maintaining trust.

    In addition to task management and people management, there is a third important dimension of successful leadership. This factor is self-management, the macro dimension that enables the proper focus on the other two domains. It enables you to strike the right balance between the two while making sure your per­sonal characteristics and needs don’t sabotage things. Insight, and the ability to self-monitor and self-regulate, are crucial to successful self-management. A central component of self-management is self-knowledge. We’re all, in reality, three people – the person we believe our­selves to be; the person others believe us to be; and the person we really are. You need as much congruence between these three people as possible. Good, accurate sources of feedback are necessary to narrow the gaps and enable appropriate self-management strategies.

    Achievement – the fundamental process

    My first exposure to work flow analysis was a university class in industrial engineering. The text defined the tasks of the leader as planning, organizing, and controlling. Well, that’s generally true, but as anyone who has tried to manage people knows, it’s not exactly that crisp. Most of the time, leaders are just trying to hold things to­gether and solve the last unanticipated problem. They usually have little chance to reflect on the process beyond getting through the crisis du jour. However, there is a certain flow of events, which characterizes the accomplishment of work in organizations. This was described by psychologist and leadership behavior re­searcher Clark Wilson, in his presentation of Task Cycle Theory, where work is envisioned as following a generally well-structured cycle of events, from goal setting to celebration of results. Similarly to my original college text, this is a good way to encapsulate and define activities, but doesn’t anticipate some of the real world sloppiness and ambiguity people encounter day-to-day. Nevertheless, it is helpful to illustrate key points about how work is accomplished.

    The Goal

    Your success in getting things done in an organization hinges on one key component – the goal. This is the first step in the cycle and is the key to any accomplishment. The cliché that you must know where you’re going or you’ll end up somewhere else stems from this reality. As computer visionary Alan Kay said, “The best way to pre­dict the future is to invent it.”

    Winston Churchill also weighed in with “The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.” You might invent futures and build empires in your head, but you’ll never bring them to reality without setting clear goals.

    The most effective goals have several things in common. Consider the following examples.

    “We intend to become a world-class provider of IT services.”

    This is a clear declaration: lofty and perhaps inspiring. But how will you know when you’re there? And when do you intend to get there? It demonstrates only the first requirement of an effective goal – that of defining the end result. The lack of defined metrics and time frames, however, clouds the picture. Compare it with President Kennedy’s national goal for the space program, articulated in 1961:

    “We intend to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade and bring him back safely.”

    This illustrates all the requirements of an effective organizational goal – it’s clear (nothing ambiguous about getting a man on the moon), inspiring (people got behind it and supported it – it was an article of national pride) and it provided a timeframe (end of the decade – it actually happened ahead of schedule). It also had a clear quality component (get the man back safely).

    People want the world to make sense; and they need to know what is expected of them. Because of this, the effective leader communicates the overall goal, and the reasons for it, in the clearest and most compelling terms. Our perceptions of reality drive behavior, so be sure your people have good information about that reality. You must communicate the goal, more often than you realize.

    After the appropriate goal has been defined, there are several, sometimes overlapping, steps that define the cycle of progress and accomplishment from that point.

    The Plan

    It’s hard to achieve a goal if you don’t know how to go about it. A plan for achievement might be implicit and obvious in the case of basic and simple goals, or it could be more elaborate and complex, in the case of strategic organizational goals. But it needs to be there. This is of­ten an iterative process. For instance, the basic strategic goal may be to double the size of the enterprise within three years. In this case, plans are developed for the overall goal, then sub-goals developed from those plans, to help move the company toward the big target. There can be considerable overlap between setting goals and planning for their accomplishment.

    The plan must anticipate problems, define likely solutions, incorporate alternatives, define what is needed, and allocate resources. This process may be facilitated by elaborate tools or can be a general roadmap in your head. It offers a chance to explore options and alternatives for goal achievement.

    Facilitation: support with measurement

    Once a plan is in place, the leader must facilitate the efforts of the team to implement it and to measure pro­gress. Here, the skills of encouragement and discipline are important. Some people experience internal angst about holding others accountable while also trying to support them. The most effective leaders realize that little will be accomplished if people don’t have a way to measure their progress, but also that people need more than just yardsticks.

    They need to know what’s expected (clear goals and methods) and how they’re doing (good metrics); and they need the tools for success. These tools include support, coaching and encouragement, feedback and ongoing communication. Here’s where Robert Greenleaf’s concept of Servant Leadership is most readily apparent in observ­ing effective leaders. They act as if they’re there to serve and help people get their work done, to make things better and to grow. One of the most effective questions a leader can ask is, “What can I do to help you succeed?”

    There must be a balance between demanding and supportive leadership behavior. The overuse of either style leads to problems: too far in the demanding direction leads to a critical and autocratic style. Too much support leads to an overly permissive, laissez-faire leadership pattern.

    Staying in control

    Despite the importance of the plan noted here, you can’t act as if it’s etched in stone. Keep in mind President Eisenhower’s comment, “Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.”

    The plan is a roadmap for a changing countryside. It will have to be updated based on data collected as you progress. The better your feedback loops and controls, the better your decisions on processes, systems, and changes of plans will be. If you don’t monitor the process with good, data based, metrics, you won’t be able to tell if you’re off course, or what you should do about it. If you’ve anticipated the range of options that will be avail­able, they should be incorporated into the system of metrics and controls so you know how you’re doing, and so you know what to do if things are not going well.

    Of course, any leader must show support and en­couragement, but you can’t relinquish control. Abdication isn’t an option. You have the ultimate responsibility for success, so you need to maintain the ability to make corrections and tweaks to stay on track. This sometimes means making tough decisions to replace team members who aren’t up to the task. But it more often means consistently holding people to the standards and expectations of behavior, performance, and progress dictated by the nature of the task, and by the organization. Sometimes the systems and processes just need to be tweaked, sometimes there needs to be a com­plete overhaul.

    A good performance management process makes this easier. If you communicate the expectations and stand­ards for performance on the front end, things go more smoothly. However, not everyone will share your motivation, knowledge, experience, or ability, so you must make sure everyone receives helpful corrective and productive feedback along the way. This is fundamental to managing – communicating what your people are sup­posed to be doing, giving feedback about how well they’re doing it, and providing suggestions for how they can do it better. Enforcing consequences if they con­sistently fail to meet standards and expectations is also necessary.

    Completing

    Once you’ve solved all the problems and achieved your current goal, you need to turn around and set new ones. A few important items require attention, however, in the final stage of successful goal attainment.

    First, celebrate it. This is a chance to reinforce good performance and recognize the efforts of the team. People need to feel that their work is important and ap­preciated. There’s no better way to do this than by public and private pats on the back from the boss. This is a great opportunity to strengthen the bonds of the team and to prime them for more successes. Don’t squander it.

    A second important part of the finishing process is to reflect on what everyone has learned. There should be a process of critique. This helps you to understand what you did right, as well as to analyze what went wrong – or at least what could have gone more smoothly. Make it positive. Avoid the “Yes you made an A, but you could have made an A+ if you’d tried just a little harder” syn­drome. A “plus-delta” wrap-up often employed by meeting facilitators is helpful: “What went well? What could have gone better?” This final task is often over­looked in the heat of new demands and pressures, but it’s a chance for true learning. Don’t miss it.

    Making allowances

    Since you usually don’t have the luxury of having every­body undergo a thorough personality assessment on the front end, it’s likely to take a while before you fully get to know the differences and subtleties of the individuals upon whom you must depend. Because of this, it’s im­portant to spend time with each individual, and observe them in team activities, to fully develop and flesh out your deeper insights about them and their motivations and abilities. First impressions are sometimes accurate, but it’s usually a mistake to judge quickly. It’s also a mistake to take too long to figure out who you can depend upon. As with so many issues, the leader must walk a fine line and keep a delicate balance here.

    Of course, we all know that one size doesn’t fit all and that people are driven by an unending variety of needs, motivations and dreams. And they’re enabled by unique com­binations of aptitudes, personality traits, and experi­ences. Some are comfortable being told what to do in a stepwise fashion, while others need to figure things out on their own. Some need constant social interaction, while others prefer to work in isolation. Some will slack off as soon as the boss walks around the corner, while some are tougher on themselves than any boss could ever be. You get the picture – people are different and you can’t manage everyone the same way. Some things, how­ever, do need to be consistent across the board.

    Communication of the goal and plan, helpful feed­back and coaching for better performance, holding people accountable and reinforcing the right behavior: these things are inviolable. The leader must be seen as consistent, regardless of the makeup of the troops. Douglas McGregor’s hot stove analogy is a good metaphor for consistent discipline. A hot stove glows red (every­body knows it’s hot and will burn if you touch it). If you do touch it, the consequences are immediate (it burns you as soon as you touch it). And it is universal (it applies to everybody who touches it in the same way).

    This kind of consistency must be balanced with flexibility. That is, the most effective leaders also make allowances for individual differences in personality, motivation, ability, and background. This is not to say that some people should get special treatment. Leaders are always judged on perceived fairness. However, they are also judged by the efficacy with which they manage and motivate widely varying personalities of individuals in their teams. This is where coaching skills and insights help you achieve the right balance.

    Key Concepts

    Without clear and meaningful goals, nothing happens, no matter how interesting the vision may be. People-, task-, and self-management skills are essential to effective leadership. They come into play in all phases of the cycle of results – goal definition, planning, facilitation, measurement, maintaining control, and celebrating suc­cess. Not only must you balance these dimensions, though: you must also balance consistency with flexibility.

     

    Hodges L. Golson

     

     

     

  • Action Learning: One Stone, Many Birds

    “I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand.”     – Confucius

    What if there were a way to fully engage your best people to solve crucial problems quickly and creatively without the usual conflict, ambiguity and inefficiency of typical group interactions? And what if, while engaged in this process, the participants also could gain deeper insights into themselves, develop their leadership skills and learn to function more productively and positively as team members? Further still, what if the technique were applicable to almost any problem, issue or crisis? Finally, what if it could result in significantly higher quality decisions and solutions than any other group problem-solving or strategic planning format? My guess is that you’d say this is typical consulting BS (Blue Sky, of course). Actually, such a technique exists and is widely used by many of the largest and most successful global corporations. There are many variations to the format but it goes by the somewhat less-than-exciting term Action Learning.

    Action Learning is a structured problem solving practice first developed by British physicist, university professor and consultant Reginald Revans in the 1940s. Early in his career, he had the good fortune of working with many world-class scientists, several of whom were Nobel Prize winners. He reported that he was struck by their ability to acknowledge and discuss their own ignorance by questioning and reflection, and then to share their observations with one another. His first application of the insights he gained from these scientists was in the nationalized coal mines of England, where he was able to increase production by an incredible 30%. Since that time, these principles, now known as Action Learning, have been applied worldwide to help organizations successfully improve their performance and solve some of the trickiest and most difficult problems they face.

    Author Jim Collins and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, among many other successful leaders and scholars, have noted that the great leaders ask great questions. They engage people in conversation. Great coaches, therapists and counselors know that the right questions are more powerful for generating deep insight and learning than received wisdom, prescriptions or solutions. This is the core of the Socratic method – asking the right questions to open our minds. Thoughtful and reflective questioning is central to a great conversation and is the heart of action learning. It is an educational and developmental process that encourages dialogue by focusing people on real world problems they experience, not by dealing with case studies describing things others have experienced.

    Action learning provides the platform for people to gain knowledge, insights and solutions through questioning, action, practice and reflection, not traditional educational methods. It doesn’t seek to find the right specific answer (like, for example, Six Sigma). Rather, it is described by authors and Action Learning scholars Skip Leonard and Art Freedman as more like an operating system. That is, it connects inputs (problems and opportunities), applications (tools and techniques) and outputs (solutions). It is central to the idea of the learning organization and continuous learning. It can be a key tool to help change a culture to become quicker, more responsive and better able to deal with crises and quickly shifting business/technology landscapes.

    Action learning is deceptively simple. There are six components and two major principles:

    • Components
      • There is a problem, challenge or opportunity to be addressed. It should be of high importance and urgency to the organization so that it pulls for maximum engagement.
      • There is an action learning team consisting of 4 to 8 people who have diverse backgrounds.
      • There is a specific process of questioning, listening and reflection.
      • Actions are taken in response to the process.
      • There is a commitment to learning. In the short term the process solves the problem. However, there is an important and valuable long-term learning component that helps develop individuals, teams and organizations over time.
      • There is an Action Learning coach, who may be internal or external to the organization, to help keep the focus and to assist in reflection and learning.
    • Principles/Format
      • Statements are made only in response to questions, and questions can be asked by anyone to anyone else.
      • The coach can intervene at any time to increase performance and assist in learning.

    The Action Learning process can be employed in an almost endless variety of ways to solve an almost endless variety of crucial problems and challenges. Types of problems or opportunities that can be addressed by this process include:

    • How to successfully assimilate an acquisition.
    • Determine the best way to cut our costs by $1 million.
    • Figure out the best way to handle a problem employee.
    • Find the best ways to ensure that we get the right parts on the floor on time so that we won’t miss shipping dates.
    • How to create better a performance management and feedback system for employees.
    • Determine whether we should offshore. Or whether we should bring some operations back from offshore.
    • Develop an appropriate strategy for cutting across the silos and getting people to work more collaboratively.

    Michael Marquardt, in his book Optimizing the Power of Action Learning, offers a good framework and insights for introducing and institutionalizing this tool into organizations. Although many of his examples come from large organizations (Boeing, Sony, Lockheed Martin, and Dow Chemical to name a few name a few), these principles can be applied and adapted to almost any type of organization. They work well with cross-functional teams in large organizations to help cut across silo lines and to generate solutions that will work in the real world. However, they also work well with intact executive teams charged with making crucial company survival decisions.

    In fact, this process is particularly useful for executives expressly because they are typically strongly biased towards action and solution generation than towards reflection. Because reflection is crucial to the development, they can learn more about leadership and about themselves by participating in Action Learning than by attending seminars or workshops. As the name implies, this process balances action with learning.

    Action Learning focuses and defines the problem to make sure everyone sees it, understands it and agrees that the right problem to solve. In so doing, it fosters team development. It reminds everyone that their success depends on that of the others. It helps to build trust and it helps to even out participation. The structure makes it exceptionally difficult for one person to dominate the process.It’s very useful for Apollo Teams and teams with one or more smartest-people-in-the-room members, because it enables everyone to be heard and engages everyone in the conversation. And, as many leaders come to realize through painful encounters with reality, when everyone is engaged and participates, the chances for a high quality outcome are greatly increased. When that’s not the case, train wreck.

     

    Hodges L. Golson, Ph.D.

     

    Readings

    Marquardt, M. (2011). Optimizing the Power of Action Learning

    Marquardt, M, Leonard, S. and Freedman, A. (2009).  Action Learning for Developing Leaders and Organizations

    Revans, R. (2011).  ABC of Action Learning

     

     

  • The Swing Thought

    Golfers know about the swing thought. It’s that pithy, focused nugget that helps you achieve a positive outcome. A proper golf swing is one of the most difficult accomplishments in sport. There are so many things that can go wrong. And if you start thinking about them at the wrong time, like in the middle of your swing, you’ll miss the ball completely. By focusing on just one major success factor during the swing, you can avoid many troubles. For instance, my tendency has always been to look up to see where the ball is going. This causes me to lift up just enough so that my club hits the ball high, and sometimes misses it altogether, rather than keeping my posture and head aligned to follow through and finish the swing appropriately. I need to keep my head down and my butt out to maintain the proper angle of my spine, or I’ll have a frustrating and embarrassing experience on the tee. But I’ve found that if I consciously think “head down, butt out” during the swing, I can hit the ball. Sometimes even reasonably well. I don’t always remember it, but the more I can make it my mantra, or “swing thought”, the better I’ll play.

    The swing thought is also useful beyond the golf course. For instance, my “head down, butt out” example was a great way to avoid trouble during the months leading up to my daughter’s recent wedding.

    Joking aside, the swing thought is a way to keep people attuned to the basics that will help them be successful over time. In coaching, we often counsel leaders not to try to do everything at once. If they can focus on just one behavior that needs to change or one thing that needs to happen, their chances for success will be increased. If one is overly introverted, the swing thought “louder” during an important meeting may help him to speak up rather than take a back seat to the more vocal and gregarious extraverts in the room. And someone who usually jumps in with a solution too quickly, shutting off discussion, may keep the swing thought “listen” in mind during that same meeting.

    The swing thought is a practical application of the Buddhist meditation concept of mindfulness. This has to do with focusing intently on the present and paying attention to a specific thought or purpose. But there’s nothing mystical about it. It’s a manifestation of how we’re wired. There is an increasing body of scientific research showing the value of mindfulness in the management of stress, pain, depression and anxiety, and many athletic coaches use it to help athletes focus on the present and consequently perform at their best. If we change the way we think, we can change the way we feel and consequently the way we behave. So it behooves us to choose the thoughts, and swing thoughts, that will help us improve.

    Now about that slice…

    Hodge Golson

  • The Foundations of High Performance: The I-Competencies

    Are top performers made or born? How can I get more of them? The answers to these questions hold the key to every leader’s success. The more top performers a leader can select and/or develop, the greater the success of his or her organization.

    Competencies are clusters of KSAPs (knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics) that enable a person to be successful in a particular job. There are two basic types of competencies. The foundation competencies are built into the system for the most part. These are the innate abilities and the enduring behavioral patterns we get through the luck of the draw from the gene pool and our early learning and background experiences. This is the raw material we have to work with. The surface competencies are the result of later training and experience in schools, early jobs and other learning experiences. People can develop a wide range of surface competencies depending on the types of foundation competencies they possess.

    Performance is dependent upon a person’s natural abilities and characteristics (the foundation competencies), the knowledge and skill the person possesses (the surface competencies), the ability of the organization to facilitate success and the ability of the leader to keep his or her people motivated and focused on the goal. The successful leader selects people with the necessary foundation competencies, helps them develop the necessary surface competencies and facilitates their success by keeping them focused on the right objectives. At the most basic level, high performance depends on four foundation competencies — the I-competencies:

    The Intellectual Competency. This is more than just how well a person can perform on a standardized test although it does include the aptitudes that predict success in an academic environment. However, it also encompasses common sense, mental agility, quickness and creativity, among others. It is a combination of how well the person uses his/her abilities and the unique mix of abilities. People who make smart decisions and who use their talents effectively are more successful over time than those who make bad decisions and/or squander their intellectual resources. The data are quite clear and unambiguous. There are always exceptions to the rule (there are very bright people who never amount to anything and there are people of very average ability who work hard and achieve at very high levels) but overall correlations between the components of this competency and performance over time are clear and consistent in a very broad range of jobs and organizations.

    The Interpersonal Competency. People who have good social skills and who get along with other people are much more successful as a group than those who don’t have as many talents in this area. The interpersonal competency includes general social and persuasive skills, social insight and intuition, likeability and persuasiveness among others. The intellectual competency enables a person to solve a problem. The interpersonal competency enables him or her to convince other people that the solution is the right one.

    The Integrity Competency. This is somewhat broader than the basic honesty-dishonesty dimension although it is an important part of this competency. This also includes general conscientiousness, discipline and follow-through. The person with high integrity will meet his or her commitments in the time frames agreed upon and to the standards at or above those which are expected. If not, he or she will let everyone know in plenty of time so that they won’t be surprised. Part of this competency includes the ability to focus and to use one’s talents and aptitudes with appropriate discipline. This is the factor that holds things together and facilitates trust and consistency of performance.

    The Intensity Competency. This includes energy, stamina, drive and the person’s ability to get fully engaged. People with high intensity are active, not passive. They are driven by a need to get things done and to see results. With the proper control and focus, people with high intensity will achieve at higher levels than those with only average levels of stamina and energy. This is the gasoline that drives the engine.

    As with any gift, there are potential downsides with each of the I-competencies. Very bright people may sometimes become overly academic, theoretical and philosophical. They may pursue ideas merely for intellectual challenge and fail to accomplish things in the practical realm. They can also inadvertently intimidate other people because of their strength of intellect. People with high interpersonal competency can sometimes get so wrapped up in the relationship aspects of the job that they lose sight of the tasks and goals at hand. The high discipline and conscientiousness which comes with the integrity competency can lead people to rigidity, perfectionism and stubbornness. The high energy and drive which comes with intensity can lead to errors of impatience, excessive ambition, impulsivity, an inability to relax and stress-proneness.

    In spite of potential problems, the I-competencies tend to counterbalance and facilitate one another. For instance, the drive and energy of intensity helps to ensure that the very bright person does not waste time in overly academic pursuits when practical results are demanded. Also, the conscientiousness of integrity can counterbalance the highly extraverted person when he or she is tempted to focus on relationships more than on task performance.
    Various surface competencies (e.g. financial acumen, collaborative problem solving, handling heavy workloads, sales ability) are dependent upon the foundation I-competencies at the base. If the person possesses the necessary foundation competencies and consequently has been able to develop the appropriate surface competencies, the stage is set for high performance. This is where leadership comes in. Merely having good people on one’s team does not guarantee performance. Their efforts must be focused and mobilized and they must be encouraged and rewarded for using their abilities in a collaborative manner.

    How to Succeed as a Leader

    Select for foundation competencies. If a person doesn’t have them, no amount of effort will enable him or her to develop the surface competencies necessary for top performance. The foundation competencies are wired into the system, whether by nature or nurture. At this point you cannot develop them through training or experience. Many dollars are wasted on people who don’t have the capacity to benefit from organizational training efforts.

    Focus on surface competencies for training. A leader may be lucky enough to have people with fully developed surface competencies necessary for success on the job but most people will need some sort of training and experience to get up to speed. Financial skills, specific engineering problem solving techniques, in-depth knowledge of the company’s services and products and specific sales techniques are among the surface competencies necessary for success in various jobs. For the most part these can be learned through academic or on-the-job training, coaching and general experience. These are the areas for training and developmental dollars.

    Attend to the basics. Not everyone has a charismatic leadership personality. However, most people can learn to get work done through others by focusing on the right basics: be sure the goal is clear and exciting (people need to know what is expected and they need to feel it’s worth doing); help them get the resources they need; Remove barriers; monitor progress, provide corrective feedback, and use collaborative problem solving when things get off track; reinforce good performance after the goal has been accomplished.

    This is the task cycle by which all work gets accomplished in an organization. Leaders who operate effectively in all phases of the task cycle pull for exceptional performance from their team. However, if the team hasn’t been selected carefully for the appropriate foundation competencies and trained to develop the necessary surface competencies, not much will happen.

    In summary, all it takes to be successful as a leader is to get good people, be sure they have the tools for success, give them clear and worthwhile targets, provide supportive feedback and critique…then stay out of their way until you’re needed. It’s that simple…and that complex.

    Hodge Golson

  • The I-Competencies and Leadership

    The four I-Competencies (Intellectual, Interpersonal, Intensity and Integrity) can serve as a useful framework for describing some of the factors necessary for success at different organizational levels. These attributes are foundation competences. That is, they are fundamental and cannot be developed significantly by training, coaching or experience. They are the result of genetics and the values one absorbs due to early family and societal/cultural influences. In this respect, they differ from the many surface competencies (e.g. formal presentation skills, spreadsheet skills, technical knowledge base, etc.) which can be taught. Each managerial level requires different behaviors and skills for success. Some of these differences are illustrated below, using the I-Competencies as an organizing structure.

    The Intellectual Competency

    This is more than just how well a person can perform on a standardized test, although it does include the aptitudes that predict success in an academic environment. However, it also encompasses mental agility, quickness and creativity, depth of knowledge and common sense. This factor is a combination of a person’s unique mix of skills and abilities and how well she or he uses them. People who make smart decisions and who use their talents effectively are more successful over time than those who make bad decisions and/or squander their intellectual resources. The data are quite clear and unambiguous. There are always exceptions to the rule (there are very bright people who never amount to anything and there are people of very average intelligence who work hard and achieve at very high levels) but overall correlations between the components of this competency and performance over time are clear and consistent in a very broad range of jobs and organizations. The differences in the use and expression of this competency at different organizational levels are as follows.

    Supervisory
    • Learn the technology and business.
    • Solve immediate problems in a practical manner.
    • Make decisions on practical, job-related things like technical applications, methods, etc.

    Mid-level management
    • Learn about politics, relationships, social networks, other functional areas.
    • Put structure into the big picture – interpret strategy.
    • Solve interpersonal problems.
    • Adapt and change gears rapidly – be quick and decisive.
    • Translate global strategy into appropriate solutions and actions.
    • Make decisions on structure and allocate resources.

    Top executive
    • Continuous learning: fire hose always in mouth; wide open on all fronts.
    • Cope with continuous conceptual demands.
    • Be quick and agile when connecting the dots…but reflective and appropriately self-paced before coming to    conclusions (balance the competing forces of reflection vs. bias toward action).
    • Solve strategic problems.
    • Create the right structure.
    • Think clearly and creatively.
    • Challenge assumptions.
    • Make wise decisions on resources, business direction, long term strategy.
    • Analyze larger business/capital issues and develop appropriate solutions.

    The Interpersonal Competency

    No matter how clever a person is and how elegant or elaborate his problem solutions, if he can’t communicate them to others and convince others of their merits, it doesn’t matter. People who have good social skills and who get along with other people are much more successful as a group than those who don’t have as many talents in this area. They have greater influence in the group because others like them and feel good about them. The interpersonal competency is the key that unlocks the door of influence. It enables you to communicate the worth of your ideas. This competency includes general social and persuasive skills, social insight and intuition, likeability and persuasiveness. The intellectual competency enables a person to solve a problem. The interpersonal competency enables him or her to convince other people that the solution is the right one, or at least a good one. The differences in the tasks and demands associated with this competency at the organizational levels are as follows:

    Supervisory
    • Communicate clear tactical objectives.
    • Give effective feedback and critique.
    • Reinforce successes.
    • Focus on building and maintaining good relationships with bosses and subordinates.
    • Maintain proper balance between detachment and involvement.

    Mid-level
    • Establish, build and maintain networks.
    • Build supportive lateral relationships.
    • Scope is 360 degrees – all relationships are important.
    • Develop reputation as approachable source of information and help.
    • Realize impact on others – develop and fine-tune self-insights.
    • Develop the confidence to hire people stronger than you are.
    • Learn how to develop and use the talents of others.
    • Learn how to disagree without being disagreeable.

    Executive
    • You can’t lead by giving direct orders to everyone at this level. To really influence the organization, you must    harness the power of symbolic behavior. Remember that people are always watching you. Learn how to    show the behaviors, attitudes and actions that give the troops the right message.
    • Develop strong relationships outside the company. A good network helps you gather the intelligence that will   affect the company.
    • Develop good political intuitions and skills.
    • Work on your insights – develop and nurture good sources of feedback, advice and counsel.
    • Fine tune your skills of assessment. Realize that everyone looks good at this level and that it is usually the    seemingly minor, subtle things that derail a person in the executive ranks. Be sure you’re getting the best people possible on your team.

    The Intensity Competency

    This includes energy, stamina, drive and the ability to get fully engaged. People with high intensity are active, not passive. They are driven by a need to get things done and to see results. With the proper control and focus, people with high intensity will achieve at higher levels than those with only average levels of stamina and energy. This is the gasoline that drives the engine providing the fuel for achieving goals and for staying motivated in the face of obstacles. It is often manifested in an organization or team setting as general motivation. The more motivated you are, the more likely you are to achieve results and consequently the greater your ability to influence others by virtue of your accomplishments and general credibility. The tasks associated with this competency at each level are as follows:

    Supervisory
    • Set the example of hard work and timeliness.
    • Stay involved with the task. Master all processes.
    • Apply yourself well and don’t stop until you’ve finished the job.
    • Keep your subordinates focused on the task. Don’t tolerate slacking off.

    Mid Level
    • Deal with increasing demands on your energy.
    • Process new information rapidly and effectively. You must translate, interpret and communicate increasingly    large volumes of material.
    • Push yourself and others to achieve at high levels and to sustain performance.
    • Try to keep your life in balance but be prepared to make sacrifices for the job.
    • Develop good stress management skills.
    • Act. When in doubt, step out and lead. Apply yourself with a consistently high level of energy and focus.

    Executive
    • Realize that this is the most demanding job you’ve ever had. There will be little time for personal life.    Everything is now about the job. Your work is never finished. You must have great stamina just to    keep up.
    • However…in spite of the above, you need to be sure you have appropriate ways to recharge and keep your stress    level manageable.
    • You must work with energy and resilience. The demands on your time and energy are relentless.
    • You must be able to adapt quickly to changing demands.
    • The job requires intense determination.

    The Integrity Competency

    This is somewhat broader than the basic honesty-dishonesty dimension although that is an important part of this competency. This is the cornerstone of building trust. Trust – along with expertise – are the two primary factors of credibility. This also includes general conscientiousness, discipline and follow-through. The person with high integrity will meet his or her commitments in the time frames agreed upon and according to the standards expected. If not, he or she will let everyone know in plenty of time so that they won’t be surprised. Part of this competency includes the ability to focus and to use one’s talents and aptitudes with appropriate discipline. This is the factor that holds things together and facilitates trust and consistency of performance. The greater the perceived integrity, the greater the trust. The tasks associated with this competency at each level are as follows:

    Supervisory
    • Do what you say you’ll do.
    • Establish trust with subordinates and bosses.
    • Act in a consistent and fair manner.
    • Apply clear standards fairly.

    Mid-Level
    • Build a broad base of trust.
    • Become recognized as a person of conscientiousness and credibility
    • Never, ever, betray a confidence.
    • Do what you commit to doing, do it on time and meet or exceed the standards you promise. If you can’t do this,    let everyone know well in advance. Never leave anyone hanging.
    • Don’t let anyone get blindsided if you can stop it without violating other laws of trust.

    Executive
    • Be a role model for credible, ethical behavior. Realize that all eyes are on you and that your behavior speaks    for you and the organization. The behavior needs to be consistent with the verbal message.
    • Remember the difference between doing things right and doing the right things.
    • Remember that you are the face of your organization to people on the inside and outside. Your actions will be    carefully scrutinized. Bend over backwards not to do anything that might remotely be interpreted as    questionable behavior.

    Although there may be some overlaps between the competencies, there are enough differences to make it useful to categorize and define them as described above. A person can’t make up for a marked deficit in any one of these competencies by being very strong in the others if he/she wants to ascend into the top ranks of management and leadership. This is a multiple hurdle system. One must have at least some minimal level of competence in each dimension or he/she will eventually de-rail.

    Hodge Golson