Putting Our Differences to Work: The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance - Couverture souple

Kennedy, Debbe

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 144297060X ISBN 13 : 9781442970601

Editeur : ReadHowYouWant, 2012

Synopsis

Putting our differences to work means creating an environment where people, naturally unique and different, can work more effectively in ways that drive new levels of creativity, innovation, problem solving, leadership, and performance in the marketplaces, workplaces, and communities of the world. Debbe Kennedy shows how to make all the dimensions of difference--such as thinking styles, perspectives, experiences, work habits, and management styles, as well as more traditional diversity considerations like gender, race, ethnicity, physical abilities, sexual orientation, and age--tremendous sources of strength. Kennedy draws on the latest research and a wealth of real-world examples to offer compelling evidence showing exactly how putting our differences to work accelerates innovation and contribution. She identifies five distinctive qualities of leadership that leaders must add to their portfolio of skills to make differences an engine of success. And she provides a detailed six-stage process for making the most of differences in the workforce, combining first-person best-practice stories and strategic with tactical ideas to help you put each step into action.

A propos du livre

Extrait

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.

—Mahatma Gandhi

Introduction
The Fastest Way

Organizations and individuals all over the world are discovering that putting our differences to work is the most powerful accelerator for generating new ideas, creating innovative solutions, executing organizational strategies, and engaging everyone in the process.

This book is about how to make your own discovery of this truth. It comes with everything you need to get started right where you are.

The breakthrough is the essential ingredient of diversity, in its broadest sense. Real value lies at the intersection of our differences. This encompasses everything from our thinking styles, problem-solving approaches, experiences, competencies, work habits, and management styles to our ethnic origins, cultural backgrounds, and generational insight (see the Dimensions of Difference illustration). All our differences give each of us a unique perspective from which to draw, including gender, race, physical abilities, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, age, and everything that makes us who we are

image
Dimensions of Difference

The value lies at the intersection of all that makes us different... 2as individuals. The magic begins when we come together. The secret is learning how, when, and where to tap into all the wealth of insight, wisdom, and new thinking to solve problems, create new products and services, and build stronger communities with benefits for everyone.

In 2005, I had an opportunity to get a memorable glimpse into our emerging generation of innovators and the experience of putting our differences to work today. I was invited to speak at an online Leadership Forum hosted by Microsoft on the topic of “How to Get Buy-in for New Ideas.” With innovation commonly being known as “the engine of growth,” I wasn’t too surprised when the Forum drew a crowd. In what seemed an instant, over 550 leaders showed up online. I had no idea at the time that the group was so diverse, because I could only see their names. Later, I learned they came from over twenty countries representing regions across the world, including Europe, Asia Pacific, Canada, Latin America, and the United States, demonstrating that people with new ideas are a universal treasure. They represented major companies from every industry, as well as entrepreneurs, government, military, education, health care, and community organizations. I discovered the group was a cross section of CEOs and senior leaders, managers of every type, as well as educators, business owners, ministers, and consultants. Imagine all this diverse talent coming together, peer to peer, meeting on common ground, because we were brimming with new ideas to bring to our respective organizations. Up front, I asked the group why they came to this particular session. I admit, I was moved by the responses. I recognized there was a deeper level of connection among us that would have been missed if I hadn’t asked the question. Ninety percent described themselves as change leaders or innovators with new ideas to improve their businesses and organizations. Nearly half indicated that, over and above their jobs, they had come because they hoped to change the world. And this was just a small random sampling of leaders at one meeting. I have learned, since this group heightened my own awareness, a growing number of us would describe ourselves and our missions in a similar way.

In this one hour, we accomplished much together. We learned about presenting new ideas and pinpointed common problems standing in the way of innovation, change, and growth in our organizations. The dialogue continued through emails and influenced a series of smaller online conversations that I hosted in the following weeks.

Three main issues generated the most comments, discussion, and correspondence afterward. They are indicators of the gaps that still exist between leaders and employees effectively putting their differences to work to innovate and influence organizational success. See if any of these sound familiar 3 to you and what other truths you might add to the mix from your own experience:
Our company culture isn’t open to new ideas; process is more important. There is a lack of interest in change and innovation. Everyone sees the need; no one wants to take the risk. New approaches aren’t welcomed.
Gender, race, and age still play a role in acceptance of new ideas in our organization. If you think differently or ask too many questions, it leads to losing the respect of senior leaders.
Senior leaders/managers take ideas and present them as their own. The focus from our leaders is on execution of strategy; they’ve forgotten people are leading it for them. It would be great if they showed more interest in what people have to say.
These comments are good examples of common issues that stand in the way of putting our differences to work effectively across any organization. This kind of breakdown in communication erodes trust and impacts productivity and achievement in ways we may not even notice unless we are paying attention. Here is a question to consider for yourself and your organization:

What are the chances you or other leaders in your organization might be leaving similar impressions with those looking to you for leadership?

Most of us go along thinking we are doing a great job, so receiving this kind of feedback isn’t fun, often comes as a surprise—never at a good time—and is disappointing to the best of us. No one would purposely want to have members of their teams thinking this way. The important lesson we all need to remember is directly related to effectively putting our differences to work: it isn’t what we think we are doing that matters; it isn’t what we’ve said, think we’ve said, or wish we’d said; it is what others perceive and receive from us that has the sweeping influences—influences we often don’t realize restrict both the individuals and the organization from delivering the highest levels of results, innovation, leadership, and performance.

One of our biggest culprits is our language. Putting our differences to work requires that we develop the ability to communicate with the people we are counting on most to fulfill our business and organizational strategies and goals. This means reaching them, understanding what they need from us to be great themselves, so they can accomplish great things for the 4 organization. To do this, we need to become conscious of what we say and how we say it. Eric Hoffer, a well-known American social writer, summed up this need nicely: “The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.” In recent years, “the visionary and the idealist” messages that come from a leader’s heart are frequently getting replaced with economic buzz words in sound-byte form. One example of this trend shows up in the results of a survey.

Top 10 CEO Challenges Overall
Rankings of Challenges of “Greatest Concern”

Excellence in execution
Sustained and steady top-line growth
Consistent execution of strategy by top management
Profit growth
Finding qualified managerial talent
Customer loyalty and retention
Speed, flexibility, adaptability to change
Corporate reputation
Stimulating innovation/creativity/enabling entrepreneurship
Speed to market
Source:The Conference Board, October 2007.

In October 2007, The Conference Board released its CEO Top 10 Challenges, reporting the results of a survey of 769 global CEOs from 40 countries. Each of these challenges is largely dependent on the commitment, ingenuity, brainpower, grit, and new ideas of the people behind them. But would you know people were important by the way these concerns are expressed? People were not mentioned as one of the “greatest concerns.” Unfortunately, many of these “people-less” words and expressions become our talking points—and we wonder why people don’t feel more energized, inspired, and engaged. Those of us who can most effectively eliminate inhibitors to putting differences to work within our teams and organizations will have a decided advantage because we will have developed new mindsets and skill sets about communicating with our people to support our success.

This book is a practical guide for leaders at all levels. It is designed to support any organization’s challenges by bringing out the best in everyone. It comes packed with knowledge, know-how, and inspiration to help you more effectively put differences to work. It establishes the need for change, offers real-to-life stories to prove its premise, and defines five distinctive qualities of leadership to lead the way. To help you map a goal-directed journey, it includes a well-defined process with six action steps, best practices, and both strategic and tactical ideas to foster your thinking and actions in making differences the catalyst for new thinking, new approaches, and new contributions that will serve business and society 5.

In a kind of paradox, I must admit the idea of putting our differences to work isn’t a trendy new concept. There is nothing trendy about it. It is steeped in substance. History is replete with examples that cover every kind of human experience in work and life, yet we still struggle with it.

In recent years, on many fronts, I think it’s safe to say that our confidence, our capacity, and our capability have been shaken. We’ve lost touch with the power we have when we join together, because opportunities to demonstrate it have been moved into the background amid lots of churn and pressures of doing more with less. In most cases, putting our differences to work has been unintentionally shadowed by an ever-increasing demand for the leader’s mind share and a time of massive change in the very nature of how we work and live.

What we may have forgotten is that we’ve proven over and over again that we know how to put our differences to work. In fact, this book has over twenty-five present-day stories demonstrating many of its lessons, qualities, and best practices in action. I’m certain, as you read the stories, you will be reminded of similar experiences you’ve had or stories with a little different twist. As I write, I’ve had my own flashbacks.

My first recollection of experiencing the power of putting our differences to work came in my first year as a new manager at IBM. How I got there was a story all its own that sets the stage.

I had a hip, metropolitan life in Los Angeles, California, where I worked at IBM’s landmark high-rise on Wilshire Boulevard. I had been with IBM for five years at the time. I visited Alaska on vacation late that summer and stopped by the IBM office. To my surprise, they offered me a job. In what seemed a flash, I accepted and boldly moved to what seemed, at the time, a foreign land: Anchorage, Alaska, a new business frontier.

I arrived in the dead of winter. I worked in IBM’s shoddy two-story building with old rusted-out desks and a broken elevator. The view from my new office was a far cry from the bustle of the well-groomed business district I was used to in L.A. Instead, it was a landscape devoid of any colors, except brown and white. It became an ever-present symbol of the drastic change before me. On my desk I kept my welcoming gift, a local book entitled Life without Lettuce. It was different all right—a pioneering journey of sorts. The job called upon me to adapt fast, be flexible, focused, and get fired up in this new uncharted territory.

In a short time, in stark contrast to the exterior brown and white landscape, I felt a vibrant energy inside this uncommon workplace. It was fun and full of life with a cast of characters you would never imagine working side by side. Because most of us had been imported from other places, we had no families nearby. It was indeed a melting pot. 6

We enjoyed the rewards of being the top revenue-producing office in the country in our division; topping all the charts, and getting lots of attention. In a short time, I was promoted to my first manager job, which put me among the first women managers at IBM in the northwest United States. The leadership team that I joined consisted of all men—most of whom could be described as the rough, gruff, rugged, earthy, bush pilot types.

After just four hours as a manager, we were all summoned into a makeshift conference room. The “big boss” from the “lower 48” had flown into town unannounced, and he didn’t look happy. He was the last to enter the room. I still remember how he slammed the door shut, and I recall his exact words: “All indications are that this is a failed corporate audit.” The news shocked me. It was the first time I realized it was possible to be one of the best offices and also one of the most out of control and not realize it. Our mission was then explained: we were to turn the place around if we were all to survive.

Survive we did—in a big way. We involved everyone. Many of us were called to work outside the comfort zones of our own jobs. We tapped into our differences, creatively calling upon diverse thinking styles, problem-solving skills, cultural knowledge, and even expertise in traveling to remote villages. For the most complex issues, we hand-picked the people on the team with a track record for knowing how to solve problems, instead of simply relying on our obvious experts who might be blinded by their own processes and methods, some of which had proven faulty in the audit. Top salesmen teamed with our all-women accounts receivable staff to use their clout, influence, and charm to collect huge sums of money long past due. Our rough and rugged “bush pilots,” familiar with the cultures in the back country of Alaska, partnered with sales and service, hopping in their planes to solve problems at remote customer sites. Technical support people aided those in charge of security to figure out how to better secure the building and the company’s assets. Administrative assistants were turned into analysts, responsible for establishing new business controls. I can still see our branch manager sitting in the “bullpen,” answering phones when it was necessary.

In a matter of months, with a lot of hard work, we were not only a top revenue-producing office but also one of the top operating organizations. Our team was recognized for its dedication to mission and innovative approach; our heroes were rewarded.

The following spring, I was promoted to a regional job in Seattle where I began helping other leaders work with their organizations to put differences to work to solve complex organizational problems. Much to my surprise, a few months into my new job, I was named Manager of the Year for my contributions in Alaska. I mention this only to point out the power and 7 enduring influence leaders have on their people. What I’ve never forgotten is the character they demonstrated to me as a young leader. You see, because I had already moved on to a new assignment, consideration for this honor could have easily been pushed aside—you know, “out of sight; out of mind.” In fact, I’ve always known that choosing another manager for this honor ce...

Revue de presse

“Debbe Kennedy teaches us how diversity accelerates innovation to everyone’s advantage. This is a win-win-win book in which you and your people win, your organization wins, and the world wins."
—Joel A. Barker, from the foreword

“Personal, reflective, insightful and inspirational. Full of great ideas and a very powerful story that shows how we need to redefine leadership and diversity in order to help make the world a better place. Needs to be widely read – urgently!”
—Dr. Bruce Lloyd, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Management, London South Bank University

"The dangers of ‘groupthink’ are painfully apparent across our world. That’s why diversity, broadly understood, is so essential to innovation and progress – as Debbe Kennedy reminds us in this pragmatic and wise guide for leaders."—Mike Wing, Vice President, Strategic Communications, IBM

“Rarely has there been a more relevant, more needed guidebook for leaders of the future than Putting Our Differences to Work. Debbe Kennedy has illuminated diversity, innovation, and leadership in a way that will help leaders across the sectors to redefine the future in our times of massive change.”
—Frances Hesselbein, Chairman and Founding President, Leader to Leader Institute, and former CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA

"The power of Debbe Kennedy's storytelling helps us all see our own accomplishments in a new light while encouraging us to take our leadership to a new level. The six steps she offers provide a road map for leaders and organizations on how to effectively put differences to work." —Emily J. Duncan, former Vice President, Culture and Diversity, Hewlett-Packard “Leaders must find new sources of growth more than ever today. After questioning what leadership means while reading Putting Our Differences to Work, I found myself focused on one thing: I, the leader, must first harness our people’s rich and diverse experiences, cultures, and perspectives to attract growth.”
—Lane A. Michel, Executive Vice President, Quaero Corporation

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: ReadHowYouWant
• Date d'édition: 2012
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 144297060X
• ISBN 13: 9781442970601
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 400
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible