Brian Williams, Fact-Checking and Leadership

Here's a link to take you directly to the column, which lists 4 key questions about the fact-finding effort.
Here's a link to take you directly to the column, which lists 4 key questions about the fact-finding effort.
Your job as a manager is to navigate those rocky times, protecting the health of the operation while taking care of your staff. That's a real challenge facing many of today's managers.
It's certainly the case in the world of journalism, which is why the editor of the Columbia Journalism Review made it the focus of my column this month.
She asked me some good questions about how much information managers should share with staff.
As you know, that's a complex issue. Share too little and you are unfairly keeping them in the dark. Say too much and you may reveal sensitive business strategy or trade secrets. So, in this article, I lay out what managers should do and say.
I also remind managers about the impact their mood and emotions can have on a team - and even the quality of the work your people produce.
Hope it's helpful for you - in good times and bad.
Culture trumps all. It's one of the key things I teach to managers. Right now I'm helping a friend, a leader who's been asked to help others understand how he changed a culture. He's supposed to teach it in a workshop, but needed insights into how to do more than tell some stories. You see, what he's done was so instinctive to him that it's been like breathing. He knows he does it, but can't necessarily describe the intricacies of the infrastructure behind it all.
That's why I helped him break his success down into smaller parts, so others can see the many decisions, the points of entry, the continuous effort and reinforcement in a variety of categories that have to take place to create and sustain a successful culture. The list you see on this page is the framework I gave him, and now he's happily filling in the important details.
Out of all of aspects of culture, do you know which one I believe is the most overlooked but essential?
It's "assumptions." I learned that from applying the ideas of organizational culture expert Edgar Schein, who says culture is comprised of artifacts (the things we see), espoused values (the things we talk about) and assumptions. It's those assumptions, which are like the hidden part of an iceberg, that are the foundation of the culture, and often hardest to identify and change. Assumptions are beliefs so commonly shared that people don't even talk about them -- they just act on them.
Unless you surface the many assumptions in organizations, ask why they exist and if they still should -- and people are willing to have those conversations -- then culture will remain at status quo.
Feel free to use my infographic as a checklist to assess your organization's culture. First, ask yourself what it is you WANT your culture to be: entrepreneurial, innovative, customer-centric, social media-friendly, diverse, ethical, collaborative, nimble - you get the picture. Take any of those and then go down the list of cultural elements.
That's why it's essential for those of us who care about leadership development to custom tailor our teaching to the people in the room. We need to understand their goals and challenges. I have long believed (and written) that leadership is personal, so it stands to reason that leadership workshops can't be cold, academic and impersonal events.
But even as I prepare by learning about the group I'm teaching, I also know that there are topics that people ask for, time and again, and sessions that inevitably get the highest marks in post-seminar evaluations. So, as you are looking to develop your own leadership learning agenda, you may want to pay attention to these topics:
One of the most important things I've learned in recent years, however, is the need to "teach in the moment." Often, I work with an organization to analyze what's working best, as a way to show people how successes can be deconstructed to show the assumptions, values and choices behind them, and how to apply that knowledge to other goals and challenges in the workplace. That kind of meaningful conversation and teaching doesn't happen if a workshop leader just drops in with a few already prepared teaching pieces. You need to build a special framework for a focused discussion that then leads to interactive and on-point teaching.
It's what I love best about my work: helping aspiring leaders build on what works and discover ideas to address their personal and organizational challenges.
When leaders take the time to show more of their whole, authentic selves, it helps people put the things they say and do into better context. Some managers believe in keeping their distance from staff, never revealing much about their personal lives. They think being enigmatic adds to their power. I think it detracts. You need not be everyone's best friend as a boss. That's not possible. But you can be open, human and real.
Because I've had inquiries from folks all over the world about the availability of the book, I asked the Printsasia folks what geographic areas the company serves. The answer: USA, UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Belgium, Spain and India.
I know you are looking ahead to the holiday break and I'm sure you've earned that down time! But you'll rest easier if you know you've buttoned things up perfectly before the year ends. There are always a few things you can do now that will make the year ahead even better.
That's why I put together a quick list of tips for you in my latest column for Poynter.org. All you have to do is click on this link to read the column. Then check off the items as you complete them.
After that, just have a wonderful holiday season. And may your work be even happier in 2015!
I'm really looking forward to talking with VMware's team. Some will be dialing in from the beautiful Palo Alto campus. These photos give you a glimpse of the work environment:
The Palo Alto campus is famous for its turtle pond and its venerable residents.
I should point out that I have a mascot, too. VMware turtles, meet Mr.Tugboat, who thinks my home office is really his.
Tugger's a smart old fellow, but he won't be offering advice during the VMware "Boss Talk" call-in show. He's delegating that work to me.
I was interviewed for this article in the Columbia Journalism Review, which looked at how startups are approaching change -- and the lessons they can teach all of us.
If you'd like to read the article by Erin Polgreen, just click here. It's worth it just to see the cool animated illustration at the top!
Here's the interesting thing: Although the publication is written about journalism and the audience is people who are interested in media issues, the management issues are universal.