Leadership By Formula

Can you lead with formulae?

It is possible, if you treat these formulae (for leadership and management) as guidelines and models of behavior. In today’s demand for microwave-convenience and paint-by-numbers approach to getting things done, we need to stay mindful about simplicity and directness. Get the job done is the goal. Be purposeful, and be directed by purpose for without it, motivation becomes a challenge. You will not successfully motivate people into action, unless they share a similar purpose. Thus, alignment of goals and purpose is vital.

Most importantly, regularly measure your leadership. Evaluate your progress through constant feedback. Get structured feedback (honest and direct) from your peers and managers. Seek the counsel of a coach or mentor. Leadership is a practical approach. We learn best from practice and application. We haven’t truly learnt until we commit to doing and applying ourselves fully and thoroughly.

Use formulae of your choice for reminding yourself of your choices. Even 1-2-3 steps can be more useful than random actions and decisions. Break down your learning by parts, sequence, or priority. Think about how pianists rehearse – individual parts learnt separately, then strung together as a complete whole. It is no different from learning how to swim a new stroke: breathing, entry, exit, pull-through, staying buoyant, gliding, kicking, and driving through.

Power of Self-Assessment (But A Little Feedback Helps Heaps, Too)

Copyright: BruceLee.com

Measurement is a critical aspect of determining progress and progression. How well have you performed lately? How did you assess that?

Schools and educational institutions administer tests and examinations, to assess the effectiveness of the educational and learning processes. How students fare in their tests, gives a reliable measure of rote learning and their study methods. Whether actual learning has taken place leaves much to be desired. Michael Fulan wrote: ‘There is so much education going on this country, but very little learning!’ referring to the Canadian educational system. This observation can be extended to other countries, too.

Self-assessment is another way of measuring improvements and results. Athletes who use the scientific method to measure their progress, may glean enough useful information to assist them in adjusting their training programs, so as to meet their need for competition and races. With the use watches and monitoring instruments, we can gather feedback/data on heart-rate, cadence, speed/pace, distance, location, terrain profile, average moving speeds, and power. Increases in total distance, average speed and recovery heart-rates help in empirical assessments. Other non-instrument based measurements include recovery rates, muscle soreness, appetite, ability to sleep uninterruptedly, hydration levels, cramping, nutritional needs and feedback from your coach, are other factors that contribute to the total performance equation. Performance = Work + Rest.

Leadership Lessons: What are your tools for assessing your performance? How do you know you are still making progress? How do you monitor for stagnancy and stasis? Which tools would you consider reliable in assessing your growth and development? How much are you doing to develop your competencies and capabilities?

Learn By Speaking To Experts

Dr Cal Lightman is an expert on lie-detection in the hit TV series. It is based on real-life social anthropologist, Dr Ekman's work and research on facial recognition and micro-gestures.

One of the lessons in business and in endurance sports I have learnt is: Talk to experts.

This approach seems to be a common pattern among people of excellence. Virgin Group founder, Richard Branson suggested that he ‘surrounds himself with experts’. He manages this ‘team’, while they help manage his numerous businesses he has created. Macro-manage instead of micro-manage. Tap on the expert’s expertise and breadth of working experience. Learn to leverage on their lessons.

I was at Adidas retail-outlets last week, looking for minimalist shoes to train and race in. I met one of their experts, Sean who asked me questions about my running needs. He surprised me pleasantly by identifying some of my discrepancies about my feet; I had a broken toe that has caused my foot to be slightly wider. Together, we decided on the most comfortable shoe size, design and weight for my running needs. I respectfully asked him questions that intrigued me, however naïve or ignorant I may have sounded. Ask, and ye shall find.

Working with an expert such as a coach – whether in sports, business or career – can be an edifying experience. You learn much about collaboration, perspectives, and developing capability. You also learn to recognize the values of performance, respect, potential, broad-mindedness, and choice. When choosing to work with experts, interview them as you would any job candidate. How close do they fit your profile and expectation? How wide is their experience? Which unique skill-sets would you find complementary? Which personality type would you prefer? Would you prefer an astute critic, or an engaging encourager?

A coach who walks their talk is highly relevant. Being consistent in their thoughts, words and deeds is important. Certainly, coaching is a partnership. Once you engage a coach, you will need to trust them and the process. You will have to commit to the active processes of exploration, analyses and prescription. Constant feed forward and feedback are crucial pieces of the strategic equation for performance.

If you are keen to enhance your swimming performance during a race, here is an expert’s opinion.

If you would like to change your tire, and this is crucial during a race when the technical support team is not immediately available. It is important to be self-sufficient through your technical skills and working knowledge.

The Fitness and Finesse of Feedback & Feeding Back

How well do you give feedback? In my years of interviewing, reading and watching interviews, I conclude that local sportspeople have a moderate competency in handling the media. Youth athletes smell of angst and teen spirit. They are comfortable expressing themselves with less regard for consequences.

These were the rants of an upset elite age-grouper. Do you empathise with him? How do you relate to his feedback?

Another two reporters for RedSports also wrote a piece on unfair categorization of runners, and subsequent disappointment of runners who did not podium. Interestingly, both reporters were affected runners themselves. From a journalistic point of view, the piece was more of a social media observation rather than objective reporting.

The missing link of communication and feedback is feed forward. What we feed forward to another will be fodder for feeding back. Feedback is obvious when you position a ‘live’ microphone next to a speaker. It gives a shrill scream of a banshee! Feedback made at the moment of emotional outbursts may be irrational and unreasonable. Having said that, serious racers take their results seriously since they have different expectations and measurements of their performance.

In my analysis, only Garmin watch-users filed the complaint of ‘inaccurate distance’; there was no mention of other types of brands and instruments. Koh Yong Jin, a sports science consultant suggested, ‘Firstly, Garmin watches do not measure elevation well, provided the watch measures 3D profiles. There might be an apparent loss of distance. Secondly, each watch has a tolerance built in, to the tune of plus/minus 100-200 metres. Lastly, since it is an IAAF-sanctioned race, the distance had to be verified and approved according to international standards.’ IAAF is the International Association of Athletics Federations that provides the rules for large-scale international races.

Feedback is just that - feed back. That does not mean that decisions can be overturned immediately as there are consequences to stasis and dynamics. Change involves sensibility and sense. Things must make sense. Results merely captured a point in time, a snapshot of progress and performance. We can shift our focus from unfair rankings to actual timing, pace, intensity, tactical execution, nutrition, and confidence. Feed these data into another race in the near future, so as to change our training program, or stick with it.

Leadership Lessons: We will be judged from the way we communicate with others. How often do you give deeper and broader thought to how you speak and write? How often do you give the excuse of ignorance? How do you deal with severe criticism? How often do you seek refuge behind free media or a person when crisis emerges? How you deal with disappointment reflects on your ability to manage your relationships. 

Serious People Have Serious Expectations

This morning, I completed a half-marathon and gained a hard-earned personal best. My Garmin 310XT recorded a distance of 21.2K at a time of 1:39:36.

I am not a particularly fast runner but I think I can hold my own with the fast ones. I bumped into Poon before the race, who is a 10-hour Ironman finisher (and superb rider) and we discussed our race pace. I caught up with him early and we ran side-by-side for the first 10K before I faded in the middle chapters due to insufficient fluid intake (aid-stations were far apart). The highly competitive and mentally strong Poon, came home three minutes earlier, and alluded that he expected me to hold the pace. I cheekily replied that I did not know I was his designated pacer/rabbit, and thus it was stressful to do so with his running ability. We agreed to push the pace harder at the Bay Run in September – which buys me more time to develop a 4:30 pace strategy, and allow my mild case of plantar fasciitis to heal. Fortunately, my heels did not give me grief this morning. I suggested that he be the rabbit in the pack and I would tail him.

Looks like Matthew is recovering well from his pre-Ironman fatigue as he secured a 2-hour finish, and I knew he was holding back. This was a new route, fraught with bridges, slopes, stairs and a significant bay view. We ran past landmarks like the F1 Pit Stop, Marina Bay Sands (casino), Singapore Flyer, Floating Platform, Esplanade (arts and concert hall), and the Central Business District. The post-race recovery chat at the F1 pit stop with friends Brian, Jacky, Teryn, Jolene, Izza, Winston, Poon and Adam ‘One-Armed Runner’ was rich and gratifying.

There was a flurry of displeased adrenaline-drenched comments after I emerged from the finisher’s chute. Apparently, runners were annoyed with the lack of clear directions-signs and race-marshals at strategic junctions. The water-point was also spread wider than expected so hydration was a key issue. I surmised that the prize-giving ceremony would be compromised as leading runners ended up later in the pack due to the additional distance covered. We discussed the possibility that the eventual winners would not want to collect their prizes because they felt it as unfair to the better runners who took a wrong turn. The apologetic organisers bravely and immediately surveyed runners for their feedback. 

Having hitched a ride home, I discussed with my tri-buddy Jolene about our observations about people and their working values (mainly respect and gratitude). One topic that emerged was that people could get personal in an argument over professional matters. One may be thrilled with holding an argument based on fact, observation and perception yet others may be annoyed or threatened by it. I said that there will be haters, and haters will hate. There is not much we can do to change their perception, prejudices and perspectives unless they choose to do so. We also discussed catching people doing right, as well as wrong. If we catch people doing wrong all the time, it may breed cynicism, criticism and paranoia. Be constructive in your feedback and influence people to care about important things. Simple, yet not easy – got to start sometime, soon. This morning, Poon gave me useful feedback of my running posture which I will process seriously - as I am always eager to run injury-free and faster.

Live and let live – I suppose.

Leadership Lesson: Review your values that activate you into action. Explore new values that can enervate you and move you to accomplish new results. Learn to discern conditions where you can accept or reject outcomes and shortcomings. Empower with encouragement and constructive feedback. Correct yourself when wrong. Work towards your next better performance.