40 Years of Breakthrough Leadership Insights in One Extraordinary Book! From
The One Minute Manager® to
Raving Fans, Ken Blanchard’s books have helped millions of people unleash their power and the potential of everyone around them. For 40 years, The Ken Blanchard Companies® has helped thousands of organizations become more people oriented, customer centered, performance driven, and socially responsible.
Now, in this fully updated third edition of
Leading at a Higher Level, Blanchard and his colleagues bring together all they’ve learned about world-class leadership, including brand new chapters on building a high-trust workplace, collaborating for high performance, driving success through mentoring, and leading at the organizational level. You’ll discover how to create targets and visions based on the “quadruple bottom line” and make sure people know who you are, where you’re going, and the values that will guide your journey.
Leading at a Higher Level presents the definitive discussion about using SLII®–the most widely used leadership model in the world–to lead yourself, individuals, teams, and entire organizations. More important, you’ll learn how to dig deep within, discover the personal “leadership point of view” all great leaders possess, and apply it throughout your entire life. This book will guide you, inspire you, provoke you, and be your touchstone. Discover how to…
- Go beyond the short term and zero in on the right target and vision
- Eliminate the gap between your company’s stated values and actual behavior
- Deliver legendary, maniacal customer service and earn raving fans
- Truly empower your people and unleash their incredible potential
- Create a coaching culture that boosts performance at every level
- Ground your leadership in humility and focus on the greater good
Leading at a Higher Level is for everyone who wants to become a better leader in any company, any organization, any area of life.
“Leading at a Higher Level makes clear that respect and integrity aren’t pleasant-sounding options; they are essential criteria for an organization’s survival. As inspiring as it is instructive, this book belongs in every leader’s core curriculum.” –WARREN BENNIS, bestselling author of Leaders and On Becoming a Leader
“If you want to have a great company, you don’t have a choice but to lead at a higher level. When you do that, you excite your people, they take care of your customers, and your cash register goes ca-ching.” –HORST SCHULZE, Vice President and CEO, The West Paces Hotel Group, LLC; Founding and former President & COO, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC
Ken Blanchard has had an extraordinary impact on the day-to-day management of millions of people and companies. He is the coauthor of the iconic New York Times bestseller
The One Minute Manager ®–revised and released as
The New One Minute Manager ®–as well as 65 other books whose sales total over 22 million copies in 47 languages. Blanchard’s other business bestsellers include
Raving Fans,
High Five!, and
The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do. Blanchard is Chief Spiritual Officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a global leader in creating the world’s best managers, training more than 150,000 people each year.
This book contains indispensable contributions from The Ken Blanchard Companies’ founding associates and consulting partners, including Marjorie Blanchard, Madeleine Homan Blanchard, Scott Blanchard, Don Carew, Eunice Parisi-Carew, Randy Conley, Kathy Cuff, Garry Demarest, Claire Díaz-Ortiz, Chris Edmonds, Fred Finch, Susan Fowler, Bob Glaser, Lael Good, Vicki Halsey, Laurie Hawkins, Judd Hoekstra, Fay Kandarian, Linda Miller, Alan Randolph, Jane Ripley, Jesse Stoner, Drea Zigarmi, and Pat Zigarmi.
Introduction xxii Leading at a Higher Level xxiii
Why Did We Write This Book? xxiv
How This Book Is Organized xxvi
SECTION I: SET YOUR SIGHTS ON THE RIGHT TARGET AND VISION 1
Chapter 1 Is Your Organization High Performing? 3 Don Carew, Fay Kandarian, Eunice Parisi-Carew, Jesse Stoner, and Ken Blanchard The Right Target: The Quadruple Bottom Line 4
A High Performing Organization Scores Every Time 9
The HPO SCORES® Model 10
Leadership Is the Engine 12
The HPO SCORES® Quiz: How Does Your Organization Score? 13
HPO SCORES® Quiz 13
Chapter 2 The Power of Vision 17 Jesse Stoner, Ken Blanchard, and Drea Zigarmi The Importance of Vision 17
Effective Versus Ineffective Vision Statements 18
Creating a Vision That Really Works 19
A Compelling Vision Creates a Culture of Greatness 24
Vision Is the Place to Start 24
Vision Can Exist Anywhere in an Organization 26
Make Your Vision a Reality 27
Vision and Leadership 29
SECTION II: TREAT YOUR PEOPLE RIGHT 33
Chapter 3 Empowerment Is the Key 35 Alan Randolph and Ken Blanchard What Is Empowerment? 36
The Power of Empowerment 37
How History Blocks Change to Empowerment 37
Tapping People’s Power and Potential: A Real-World Example 39
Learning the Language of Empowerment 40
The Three Keys to Empowerment 41
Chapter 4 SLII®: The Integrating Concept 53 The Founding Associates The Three Skills of an SLII® Leader 54
Goal Setting: The First Skill 54
Diagnosis: The Second Skill 54
Matching: The Third Skill 55
Enthusiastic Beginners Need a Directing Style 58
Disillusioned Learners Need a Coaching Style 59
Capable But Cautious Performers Need a Supporting Style 60
Self-Reliant Achievers Need a Delegating Style 60
Development Level Varies from Goal to Goal and Task to Task 61
Meeting People Where They Are 62
The Importance of Partnering with People 66
Effective Leadership Is a Transformational Journey 67
Chapter 5 Self Leadership: The Power Behind Empowerment 69 Susan Fowler, Ken Blanchard, and Laurence Hawkins Creating an Empowered Workforce 70
Creating Self Leaders Through Individual Learning 71
The Three Skills of a Self Leader 72
Chapter 6 One-on-One Leadership 81 Fred Finch and Ken Blanchard Establishing an Effective Performance Management System 81
One-on-One Leadership and the Performance Management System 85
Partnering as an Informal Performance Management System 100
One-on-Ones: An Insurance Policy for Making One-on-One Leadership Work 101
Chapter 7 Essential Skills for One-on-One Leadership 103 Ken Blanchard and Fred Finch One Minute Goal Setting 103
Areas of Accountability 104
Performance Standards 105
One Minute Praisings 110
One Minute Re-Directs 113
The Fourth Secret of the One Minute Manager 116
Chapter 8 Building Trust 119 Ken Blanchard, Cynthia Olmstead, and Randy Conley The High Cost of Low Trust 119
The Benefits of Trust 120
The Four Elements of Trust 120
Creating a High Trust Environment 121
The Transparency Challenge 124
Repairing Broken Trust 126
The Ripple Effect 128
Chapter 9 Coaching: A Key Competency for Leadership Development 131 Madeleine Homan Blanchard and Linda Miller Definition of Coaching 131
Five Applications of Coaching 132
Application One: Performance Coaching 133
Application Two: Development Coaching 135
Application Three: Career Coaching 137
Application Four: Coaching to Support Learning 140
Application Five: Creating an Internal Coaching Culture 142
Chapter 10 Mentoring: The Key to Life Planning 145 Ken Blanchard and Claire Díaz-Ortiz Obstacles to Beginning a Mentoring Relationship 146
Choosing a Mentoring Partner 147
Essence Versus Form 147
The MENTOR Model: Elements of a Successful Mentoring Partnership 148
Creating a Mentoring Program in Your Organization 151
Tailoring Mentoring to Career Stages 152
Chapter 11 Team Leadership 155 Don Carew, Eunice Parisi-Carew, Lael Good, and Ken Blanchard Why Teams? 156
Obstacles to High Performance 158
An Effective Team Leadership Approach 159
Providing Leadership Behaviors That Match the Team’s Needs 168
Strategies for Higher Team Performance 173
The Power of Teams 176
Chapter 12 Collaboration: Fuel for High Performance 179 Jane Ripley, Eunice Parisi-Carew, and Ken Blanchard Collaboration Is Not Coordination, Cooperation, or Teamwork 179
Creating a Collaborative Framework 181
Collaboration Versus Competition 183
What It Takes to Be Collaborative 184
Collaboration: Fuel for High Performance 189
Chapter 13 Organizational Leadership 191 Ken Blanchard, Jesse Stoner, Don Carew, Eunice Parisi-Carew, and Fay Kandarian Real Life Examples of HPO SCORES® 191
Determining the Appropriate Leadership Style for Your Organization 198
Diagnosing Your Organization’s Development Level 198
Results and Relationships: The Determinants of a High Performing Organization 198
Matching Leadership Style to Your Organization’s Development Stage 201
Applying the Appropriate Leadership Style at Each Development Level 203
The Importance of Diagnosis and Matching 206
A History-Making Organizational Turnaround 207
Chapter 14 Organizational Change: Why People Resist It 209 Pat Zigarmi, Judd Hoekstra, and Ken Blanchard The Importance of Leading Change 209
Why Is Organizational Change So Complicated? 210
When Is Change Necessary? 211
Why Change Gets Derailed or Fails 212
Focus on Leading the Journey 214
Surfacing and Addressing People’s Concerns 215
Different People Are at Different Stages of Concern 223
The Importance of Involving Those Who Are Being Asked to Change 223
Chapter 15 Leading People Through Change 225 Pat Zigarmi and Judd Hoekstra Five Change Leadership Strategies 225
The Importance of Reinforcing the Change 247
Chapter 16 Managing a Successful Cultural Transformation 249 Garry Demarest, Chris Edmonds, and Bob Glaser Gung Ho!: A Starting Point 250
Managing a Successful Cultural Transformation 255
Critical Success Factors for Cultural Transformation 261
SECTION III: TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS RIGHT 263
Chapter 17 Serving Customers at a Higher Level 265 Ken Blanchard, Kathy Cuff, Vicki Halsey, and Jesse Stoner Getting Legendary SCORES from Your Customers 265
Creating Legendary Service 267
Serving Customers at a Higher Level 272
Permitting People to Soar 281
Wallowing in a Duck Pond 282
Giving Your People Wings 282
SECTION IV: HAVE THE RIGHT KIND OF LEADERSHIP 285
Chapter 18 Servant Leadership 287 Ken Blanchard, Scott Blanchard, and Drea Zigarmi What Is Servant Leadership? 287
Applying Servant Leadership 290
Great Leaders Encourage People to Bring Their Brains to Work 293
What Kind of Leadership Impacts Performance the Most? 294
Being a Servant Leader Is a Question of the Heart 298
Driven Versus Called Leaders 299
The Plight of the Ego 300
Ego Antidotes 302
What Servant Leaders Do 304
Servant Leadership: A Mandate or a Choice 307
Chapter 19 Determining Your Leadership Point of View 313 Margie Blanchard, Pat Zigarmi, and Ken Blanchard Elements of a Leadership Point of View 314
Developing Your Own Leadership Point of View 323
Become a Higher Level Leader 332
Endnotes 333
Acknowledgments 347
About the Authors 349
Services Available 371
Index 375
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