Aligned Leadership:  A Model for Extraordinary Achievement
— Greg Kilgore, Updated August 15, 2010

It is my vision that you, me, and all of humanity work and play together free, enriched, fulfilled, and rewarded.  All of the articles I post, the information I share, the projects to which I contribute, and the clients with whom I engage are in support of this vision.  (For more about my professional passion, please visit Ventures for Transformation.)

September 2009, I posted an article about leadership, Leadership Essentials, which has been viewed 1,400+ times (source: Posterous).  In that article, I present the following essential leadership strategy:

Responsibility. Values. Commitment. Strategy. Planning. Execution. All the while, alignment to the values. Begin again with responsibility. Repeat. The game to play to win all the other games combined.

Also, in that article, we explore the value of most of those aspects of fundamental leadership strategy.

In this article, I emphasize the most critical aspect of effective leadership and WHY it is so valuable to understand and to embrace...

The most critical endeavor of effective leadership is ALIGNMENT (or "Aligned Leadership").

Whether you are embarking upon a campaign to create change within a community, a marketplace, a small business, or an organization, Aligned Leadership is required.  Without Aligned Leadership, short-term goals may be attained, but sustainability, lasting growth, innovation, and extraordinary rewards will never be achieved.  Effective leadership is only ever Aligned Leadership, otherwise leadership is ultimately ineffective.

Aligned Leadership is a phrase that implies "alignment" is required between something and something else.  So what then is to be aligned with what?  And why?  Simply stated:  Everything you do must be aligned with your VALUES and fundamental COMMITMENT(S).

Why?  A career of study and practice of adult learning styles, training techniques, achievement coaching, and human performance development reveals: People choose and act upon what INSPIRES them.

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Here are the basics of the model of Aligned Leadership with enough complexity to get the big picture...

Identify and declare your VALUES. >>>  Define and communicate your VISION Statement.

Determine and declare your COMMITMENTS.  >>>  Define and communicate your MISSION Statement.

Determine, define, and maintain:  models, processes, rules, policies, systems, and methods.  >>>  All the while MAINTAIN ALIGNMENT with the VISION and MISSION.

Observe, consider, and respond to the cards you are dealt, in other words, the external environment, availability of resources, internal interpersonal dynamics, etc. >>>  All the while MAINTAIN ALIGNMENT with the VISION and MISSION.

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Many of the terms here (vision statement, mission statement, models, methods, etc.) have evolved (or devolved) in corporate and business culture over the years to the point of being considered absurd.  There is one reason alone why that is true:  Leaders failed to maintain alignment of actions with Values and Commitments.  Leaders fail to maintain alignment because they  allow several aspects of human nature to get the best of them.  A few stand-out challenges of human nature facing leaders (and team players) are...

• Novelty:  I've been studying adult learning styles most of my career.  One thing is clear:  We very often take for granted and forget critical know-how knowledge the more familiar we become with performing the exercise.  To reinforce sustained performance excellence and continuous improvement, we require being re-introduced to critical know-how knowledge in fresh, new presentations, stories, and contexts.
• Ego:  We associate basic instinctive survival with looking good and being right.  So much so, we instinctively and habitually avoid doing what's best for others and for ourselves to avoid the appearance of impropriety, wrongness, and looking bad to others and ourselves.
• Short-term satisfaction and short-term memory:  We will choose short-term gratification much more often than long-term satisfaction.  Often, we will put-off until tomorrow actions that we do not enjoy and then forget our long-term motivations altogether for those actions.  Ultimately, often the actions never get fulfilled.

Recently, I discovered Simon Sinek's presentation about the importance of WHY.  To quote a few Internet sources:

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.

All organizations and careers function on 3 levels. What you do, How you do it and Why you do it.  The problem is, most don’t even know that Why exists.  The Why is your driving motivation for action.  The Hows are the specific actions that are taken to realize your Why.  The Whats are the tangible ways in which you bring your Why to life.

If you want a pleasant diversion into Sinek's perspectives, they are right on-point with the practice of Aligned Leadership, they are stated somewhat more simply than this conversation, and his presentation is enjoyable to watch or hear...

So, I emphasize here:  Once you are grounded in your "Why" (VALUES and COMMITMENTS), everything you do (sales, marketing, business process, human resource management -- everything) must BE ALIGNED with your Why.

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I've been gratified to learn that there's recently been a rising-up and definition of a new role in some organizations, the CSO, Chief Strategic Officer.  The role of Chief Strategic Officer is defined as as a high-level senior executive whose main responsibility is to ensure that execution flows from strategic planning by assisting the chief executive officer with creating, communicating, executing, and sustaining strategic initiatives within a corporation.  Chief Strategy Officers are normally executives who have worn many hats in business.

Chief Strategy Officers are responsible for three critical jobs that are considered to be the most important aspects of successful strategy execution: (1) Must portray a company's strategy to every business unit within a corporation so that all employees, partners, and contractors understand the corporate-wide strategic plan and how it backs into the companies overall goals.  (2) Must drive immediate results within a corporation, whereas the CEO is normally responsible for driving long-term results and providing vision.  (3) Must drive decision-making that creates immediate change.

The CSO often influences organizational development, typically in close coordination with the CEO, including consumer innovation, business process outsourcing, financial structure, product supply chain, regional expansion, communications, and acquisitions.  The CSO ensures a robust organization design which is a key component of a successful market focus and position; market focus and position of course being a building block of a high-performance business.

Thanks to Simon Sinek (video above), I now also refer to the CSO as the "Chief WHY Officer!"

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Did you notice my VISION and MISSION at the start of this article?

It is my vision that you, me, and all of humanity work and play together free, enriched, fulfilled, and rewarded.  All of the articles I post, the information I share, the projects to which I contribute, and the clients with whom I engage are in support of this vision.

I invite you to hire me to collaborate with you to achieve this vision for you, your business, and your big games in life!

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GREG L. KILGORE, Achievement Coach
360° Achievement Coaching:
Creating Awareness, Accountability,
Action, and Achievement!

Get a 360° perspective, and take action now!

Leadership Essentials — Greg Kilgore, Thursday, September 10, 2009

There are many theories and models about Leadership. Some of which I have read that have resonated with me and even inspired me. Some of which I have studied. Yet, ultimately, when I speak of Leadership, I can quote the best ideas I've ever heard and share them as I've embraced them, or I can just talk straight from the gut and the heart about my personal experience and understanding. Another time I suppose, I can share the laundry list of writings and teachers that have come before me. For now, I am going to speak of Leadership as it has impacted my life, and in turn the lives of those that I have been able to touch.

First, leadership requires being responsible. The buck stops with you. It's not that you can be all things to all people or achieve every objective yourself. Yet, when the game isn't progressing, are you being responsible? Are you holding those responsible that you've invited to play the game with you?

I've partnered with and coached countless business owners, managers, and so called leaders. Those who are always the first and last person to be responsible for the myriad aspects of their business achieved their goals or a valuable variant whereby they could reach for new possibilities. They had to extend their reach beyond his or her personal grasp by recruiting others to be responsible as well, but the leader who wins his games is the leader who takes complete responsibility for whether or not the game was winnable in the first place. Business leaders who hand off the ball without taking responsibility for whether or not all of the variables are at play to ensure victory before the hand-off have no one to blame but themselves if the venture fails. What never fails is that the least responsible leaders are always the one's complaining that their team, staff, or reports are failing them.

As important, though not more so, is that a leader stands for something. What do you stand for? Odds are, you stand for something, you just don't declare it often, and so you might not know how to put words to it yet. Perhaps you don't actually stand for anything yet, but you want to. In either case, some self-exploration is required. Once you've determined which values matter enough to you so that you will commit to them, and which values you want for others, now the game is on! Just to illustrate a point: If your empassioned value is "prosperity," then what there is to do in your life and your work can certainly have something to do about that. When you realize that the achievement of prosperity often necessitates the involvement of others, then you invite others who share your value of prosperity to play a game with you. Or you find talented partners who you inspire to share your commitment to the value.

As a leader, the first role to play (very often neglected amidst all of the pressing to-do's) is the role of "facilitator of alignment." Alignment is the next most essential trait to exhibit as a leader and to foster with others who have been invited to play your game(s). Strategic execution, the last in my short list of leadership essentials, is not so lofty a goal in a business or a venture. Execution that succeeds comes from strategy that generates plans that are aligned with the values to which a business or venture has been committed.

To review: Responsibility. Values. Commitment. Strategy. Planning. Execution. All the while, alignment to the values. Begin again with responsibility. Repeat.

Now, much can be said about best practices to maintain commitment, effective planning, righteous execution, and communication aptitudes and emotional intelligence to share the vision and mission of a venture. We can drill down into those topics on another occasion. Today, let's just get that leadership doesn't require a mastery of all the best practices. Some leaders are quiet. Others raucus. Some are technical. Others visionary. Some are catalysts. Others cooperative and collaborative. You get to choose what style of leadership you want to express as well. Leadership can be manifested by anyone, anytime, anywhere. Leadership starts within and expands and manifests, becomes real, between people.

An interesting exercise I discovered involves spending a few minutes standing in front of a mirror. Stand in front of a mirror and witness yourself. Don't assess or evaluate whether or not you look good or bad or whether or not your hair is just so. Just "get it" that you can be seen simply, matter-of-factly. Next, imagine someone standing next to you that you would find satisfaction leading to play a business or venture game with you. See him or her standing there (in your mind's eye of course), and imagine he has an appreciative and fulfilled expression on his face. Then imagine someone else. And yet someone else. Try to be specific with who they are, and why they would be following your lead to participate in a game of your choosing. When you've filled the space somewhat in the mirror of your mind's eye, witness your self again, and get that all of the people standing next to you in front of the mirror can look into the mirror and witness you also. And you them. And they themselves.

There's a lot of powerful psychology and awareness going on in that exercise. More than I will elaborate upon here. Ultimately, what the exercise gives you is a sense of how others can see you and you them and they themselves. Relating to each other simply and with positive anticipation of appreciating each other and being aligned with each other is the beginning of being responsible to each other.

Responsibility. Values. Commitment. Strategy. Planning. Execution. All the while, alignment to the values. Begin again with responsibility. Repeat. The game to play to win all the other games combined.