My eleven-year-old daughter unearthed a new, highly technical business term: the mollusk. While preparing for a science test she asked me if I knew what such a creature was. Because I’d fallen asleep in 10^th grade science class (I didn’t tell her this), I replied, “Nope. Do tell.”

“It’s an invertebrate, meaning it has a hard outer-shell and no backbone.”

Unbeknownst to my daughter, in that moment she helped me prepare for a test – an important leadership exam. Recently, I had made a mistake at the office, and rather than owning up to it I was being defensive. And I was delaying, delaying, delaying the steps needed to rectify the situation.

Translation: I had the outer shell: defensiveness. And I had no backbone: I was unwilling to take action. I was an office mollusk.

Mollusks turn into big elephants for a lot of teams, evidenced by the fact that so many organizations move at a snail’s pace. (Those who didn’t fall asleep in science class caught the intended pun: The snail is a mollusk.) Teams with mollusk-mania often hear these phrases:

• “I could never have that conversation with him. He’s my boss.”
• “Let’s ensure we have 32 meetings to discuss this before we make a decision.”
• “I didn’t do anything wrong. He’s the butthead.”
• “Don’t even try. The budget will never get approved.”
• “I wouldn’t say anything if I were you. CYA, baby.”

It’s time to lose the defensive shell and grow a backbone. Here are the words our team will hear me utter more often:

• “I take responsibility for this.”
• “I recommend we…because…”
• “What can we do to move this forward – faster?”
• “These are the facts…and here are possible solutions.”

How strong is your backbone? Will you pass your leadership exam today?

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

We’ve had a special request to share our blog from February 2008 that talks about the importance of focus because it is relevant to the current business climate. So here goes.

The marathon is beginning. You’re at the starting line. Suddenly, you look at the contestants around you – and are shocked! One person has a piano strapped to their back. Another is pulling a bath tub. And there’s someone carrying an elephant!

As crazy as this sounds, consider that many people bring similar burdens to their day– and it destroys their chances for success.

Backward Focus Thinking:

• “This project is going to be tough,” says a colleague as she starts a meeting.
• “We’re going to take a hit in employee morale,” laments a teammate as an initiative is launched.
• “Productivity is going to dive when word spreads about this,” shares a well-intentioned employee – who is not adequately skilled.

Do you see the burdens these competitors are carrying as they enter the race? Yet, what they’re concerned about is real. So how do they best compete?

Forward Focus Approach:

A team led by a woman named Natasha knows the key: “It’s all about focus,” she says. “Because we go towards our focus, as we enter any change initiative, we’re going to create more of whatever we focus on.”

Natasha and her team take it further. They ensure greater results by addressing concerns directly – and in a way that creates greater results. Here’s how they turned the above concerns (burdens) around:

• “How do we simplify this project?”
• “What can we do to build employee morale through this?”
• “What steps can we take to increase productivity during this change?”

What subtle backward-focused attitudes are you carrying around? Unload those burdens by changing your focus.

Are there people on your team who are confused because the manner in which they conducted business in the past isn’t working anymore? And, do you know people who are frozen, unsure what to do next, because they’re puzzled about the future?

Welcome to the Era of Confuzzlement.

Confusion and puzzlement reign, leaving too many teams arguing about their past (a complete waste of time) and ridiculously slow to respond to the future. So slow in some cases, that the future becomes the past before they can do anything about it. Which means, of course, these teams then have new (old) material to argue about. And the cycle continues, in some cases leaving entire organizations confuzzled.

Lead by Stepping Out and Up.

“This is a crisis economy,” shares a friend named Rich. “You can’t follow the same rules. You can’t think like you used to. You have to step out and up. You have to lead different.”

Rich should know. He’s part of a team that is guiding an organization through difficult – and successful – changes. Below are some of the reasons why they’re winning. Use these steps with your team to step out and up:

1)    Create a culture where everyone is responsible for leading – everyone is expected to step out and up.

2)    Ask forward focus questions – and lots of them. Rich’s organization knows that the moment they get comfortable with “answers” that in time, people will become confuzzled. Leadership is in the questions – not the answers.

3)    Build a thinking system that responds to new ideas with “how do we make that work?” instead of the confuzzled approach of “here’s why that won’t work.”

If you are approaching business like you did three years ago, your customers will most certainly become confuzzled, too, and take their scarce dollars elsewhere.

You can lead today by clearing up the confuzzlement that grips so many. Today, step out and up.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?