“The Leadership Code”

Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood & Kate Sweetman

Notes by Dave Kraft
50-85% of leadership characteristics were shared across all effective
leaders. Effective leaders are able to think and act both in the short term
and for the long term. Effective leaders project into the future and
define a context in which their organization and their people will
succeed.
Leaders create a credible and hopeful image of a future for everyone
who needs to invest. The also connect the future to the present by
turning aspirations into action. Effective leaders gauge when their focus
needs to be on architecting the organization and its capabilities, and
when it needs to shift to individuals and their abilities.
The five parts of the “Leadership Code.”
Rule 1 ~ Shape the Future
They not on envision, but can create a future
Rule 2 ~ Make Things Happen
Executors translate strategy into action
Rule 3 ~ Engage Today’s Talent
Talent managers know hot to identify, build, and engage talent to get
results now
Rule 4 ~ Build the Next Generation
Rule 5 ~ Invest in Yourself
The higher up the organization that the leader rises, the more he/she
needs to develop excellence in more than one of the four domains. The
essential thing is to know what leadership dimensions need to be
developed and then develop them.
Rule 1 ~ Shape the Future
Strategy is being clear about where you want to go. Any leader’s
intention is to create a future that is even more attractive than the
present. Mission and visions not rooted in reality create more cynicism
than confidence. Being all things to all people generally results in
succeeding with none. If you are going to be a strategist, your
fundamental rule is to be clear about where you are going.
1. Stay curious and develop a point of view about your own future
You need to have a sense of possibility and access new ideas that may
take you out of your comfort zone. Ask yourself, “What if?”
2. Invite your savviest outsiders inside
3. Engage the organization—no “one” knows enough
4. Create strategic traction within the organization
ABC’s of strategic traction
Aspirational
Behaviors
Customer relations
Discipline
Energize-A compelling strategy that engages people in creating their
own futures energizes them
Focus-The “Sweet Spot” is to rightsize the strategy so that it stretches
but does not snap the organization.

Rule 2 ~ Make Things Happen

We often know where we want to go and what we should do but we
don’t do it well. Execution is the ability to turn what we know into what
we do. As a leader you ability to execute will enable you to turn strategic
aspirations into actions, desires into results, and desired futures into
present reality.
Leaders who execute connect the present to the future, focus on linking
the short term to the long term, manage their time, engage others, and
ensure accountability and consequences for delivering on time.
1. Make change happen
Excellence in execution inevitably requires leaders to play a role in
making change happen.
• To what extent are strong leaders assigned to this project?
• To what extent is there a clear need for the project?
• To what extent do we have a clear direction for the change?
Do we have buy-in and commitment from the people necessary to
implement the change? Any leader’s job is to share information so that
people know why the change needs to occur and help people define the
personal day-to-day impact of the change on their work
• To what extent do we break up the change into decisions that
need to be made in the near term?
• To what extent are we able to institutionalize the change?
• To what extent do we measure and learn from the change efforts?
In leading change, leaders must have the discipline to turn what they
know into what they do.
2. Follow a decision protocol
Good question a leader needs to ask is, what decision do you want me to
make coming out of this discussion?
• What is the decision that needs to be made?
• Who’s going to make the decision?
Determining decision rights and rules in advance or making decisions
clarifies expectations around authority and accountability expectations.
Being clear about who makes what decisions builds accountability. If
one person is accountable, decisions will often be made.
 • When will the decision be made?
Deadlines generate commitment to action
• How will we make a good decision?
3. Ensure accountability
Accountability is at the heart of execution. When there is no clear
accountability about who will do what, execution languishes. There
needs to be:
• Standards
• Consequences
These conversations should be timely, behavior based, and candid
• Feedback
What did we set out to do? What did we do? What did we do well? What
could we have done better? What did we learn from this experience?
What will we continue to do? What will we do better or differently? At
times, team members rarely have a common understanding of what
they were setting out to do.
4. Build teams
• Clear purpose
• Defined Governance Process with Roles and Decision-Making
protocols
• Strong relationships
High-performing teams also manage differences and conflict by
encouraging the sort of debate and dialogue that raise alternative points
of view
• Ongoing Learning
5. Ensure technical proficiency
You may not be the expert in all things, but it is good to be very gifted at
some things.
The fundamental leadership rule of execution is the ability to turn what
we know into what we do

Rule 3 ~ Engage Today’s Talent

To engage today’s talent, be a talent manager
1. Communicate, communicate, communicate
If you are serious about retaining and developing talent you depend on,
you need to connect with employees candidly through honest, open and
two-way dialogue
It’s best to focus on only a few priorities and explain why those
priorities are important. When people know the why, they more readily
accept the what
Ray Wierzbicki, when head of professional services at Verizon,
repeatedly made it clear that he wanted his people “skipping to work.”
2. Create aligned direction; connect the individual to the
organization
Have every member of your team identify his or her goals for the
upcoming sixty or ninety days.
Leadership hypocrisy exists when you try to be something you are not
or behave in a way that is not consistent with your personal style.
3. Strengthen competencies: ensure that people have the
competencies they need
What are the employee’s personal strengths?
How can you develop these competencies?
4. Provide people with the resources to cope with demands
Resolve to set high expectations and also help them access resources to
meet the demands
5. Create a positive work environment—practice spiritual
disciplines at work
When employees experience a positive work environment, they are
more likely to stay, be productive, and be an encouraging source for
attracting future employees
6. Have fun at work

Rule 4 ~ Build the Next Generation

One of your primary leadership roles is to cultivate next-generation
employees
1. Map the workforce
Getting the best talent comes by setting clear standards about what is
expected and then sourcing, screening, and securing potential
employees
Key questions to ask:
1. Which critical jobs will make the largest difference in the next 5-
10 years?
2. How well positioned are you to staff those critical jobs with the
right people?
3. What percent of the key positions have qualified talent in place in
other roles?
3. Create a firm and employee brand
You need to look carefully at yourself to see if you embody and live the
employee brand you articulate
4. Help people manage their careers
Building human capital requires you to have candid, forward-looking
and helpful conversations with employees about what they want and
what they can expect from their careers
Career Stages:
Stage 1: Learn ~ Employees are dependent, working under the
direction of others, helping and learning from more experienced people.
They figure out how things work
Stage 2: Master ~ The employees demonstrate their competence as
independent contributors and build their expertise
Stage 3: Manage ~ Professionals stimulate others through ideas and
information and lead a team or department
Stage 4: Direct ~ Provide direction for the organization
5. Find and develop next-generation talent
Everyone in an organization needs to be a talent scout, to be constantly
on the lookout for great young talent. If you want to build effective
human capital, you will need to develop, empower, and allow employees
to take risks, even if they occasionally fail. Delegation is about coaching
and teaching, not judging and evaluating. As a leader, make sure you
empower people by giving them both authority and information.
Encourage networks and relationships

Rule 5 ~ Invest in yourself

When you have personal insights into yourself, you will be more able to
lead others. It requires equal measures of self-awareness and self-
discipline.
1. Practice clear thinking; rise above the details
Clear thinking requires getting past the details to see the broader
implications and thus exercise good judgment. You need to master the
principles and allow others to determine the practices that will help
them deliver on the principles. Top leaders transcend the pressure—the
simply act, keep their cool and focus on what matters most. If there is a
decision to make, identify it, study it, and make it. If you’re wrong, admit
it and learn, but be willing to act.
2. Know yourself
Seek to understand your predispositions and your signature strengths
3. Tolerate stress
4. Demonstrate learning agility
You should see the world not only as it is, but as it can be. Seek new
ideas. Be disciplined about continuous improvement. Be unique and
creative. Find a balance between analytics grounded in data and
intuition rooted in instinct. Avoid extremes. Create a learning cycle—
Choice, Consequence and Corrective action.
5. Tend to your own character and integrity
6. Take care of yourself
Physical, emotional, Social
7. Have personal energy and passion

Ensuring better leaders and leadership

The code helps us avoid the trap of emphasizing one element of
leadership over the others.
1. Establish a clear theory of leadership
Any company model and development plan that does not support
building all five leadership code competencies is imcomplete
2. Access leaders
Good assessment tools and processes will lead to a targeted individual
plan that equips each individual to take charge of her own department.
3. Invest in leaders
Provide coaching. Find people who can act as:
• Performance advisers
• Relational brokers
• Experience brokers and optimizers
 • Career champions
Rotate assignments to optimize learning
4. Follow up to align organizational practices
Think through on compensation, succession, training and development