Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations

Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations

by Ken Blanchard
Released September 2006
Publisher(s): Pearson
ISBN: 0131443909

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Book description

“Leading at a Higher Level translates decades of research and 25 years of global experience into simple, practical, and powerful strategies to equip leaders at every level to build organizations that produce bottom-line results. At Nissan, we have made these principles a core part of our leadership philosophy, better equipping our managers to bring out the great energies and talents of our employees.”

Jim Irvine, Vice President of Human Resources, Nissan North America

“At Southwest Airlines, we have always strived to lead at a higher level. We truly believe that profit is the applause you get for taking care of your internal and external customers. We have always insisted upon a happy, carefree, team-spirited—yes, even fun—working environment, which we think results in motivated employees who will do the right thing for their internal and external customers. Reading this book will make a positive difference in your organization.”

Colleen C. Barrett, President, Southwest Airlines

“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, President and CEO, The West Paces Hotel Group, LLC; Founding and former President & COO, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC

“Leading at a higher level is a must today if leaders are to rebuild trust and credibility, as we are doing at Tyco. This book will teach you how.”

Eric Pillmore, Senior Vice President of Corporate Governance, Tyco International

The definitive “Blanchard on Leadership”

25 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. The Ken Blanchard Companies has helped thousands of organizations become more people-oriented, customer-centered, and performance-driven.

In Leading at a Higher Level, Blanchard and his colleagues have brought together all they've learned about world-class leadership. You'll discover how to create targets and visions based on the “triple bottom line”...and make sure people know who you are, where you’re going, and the values that will guide your journey.

Blanchard extends his breakthrough work on delivering legendary customer service and creating “raving fans.” You’ll find the definitive discussion of the renowned Situational Leadership® II techniques for leading yourself, individuals, teams, and entire organizations. Most importantly, Leading at a Higher Level will help you dig deep within, discover the personal “leadership point of view” all great leaders possess—and apply it throughout your entire life.

For everyone who wants to become a better leader...

...in any company, any organization, any area of life

Set the right targets, follow the right vision

Focus on the “bottom lines” that really matter

Serve your customers at a higher level

Deliver your ideal customer experience, and create “raving fans”

Beyond ego: the way of the servant leader

Listen, praise, support, guide, and help your people win

Lead at a higher level. Lead your people to greatness as you create high performing organizations that make life better for everyone. This book will guide you, inspire you, provoke you, and be your touchstone.

Ken Blanchard (coauthor of The One Minute Manager®) and his colleagues have spent more than 25 years helping good leaders and organizations become great, and stay great. Now, for the first time, they’ve brought together everything they’ve learned about outstanding leadership.

Discover how to...

Go beyond the short term and zero in on the right target and vision

Deliver legendary, maniacal customer service, and earn raving fans

Truly empower your people and unleash their incredible potential

Ground your leadership in humility and focus on the greater good

For a long time, leaders have relied on Ken Blanchard’s insight, wisdom, and practical techniques. Now, he and his colleagues have delivered the leadership classic for a new generation: Leading at a Higher Level.

Introduction: Leading at a Higher Level—by Ken Blanchard  xvii

Section I: Set Your Sights on the Right Target and Vision

Chapter 1        Is Your Organization High Performing?  3

Chapter 2        The Power of Vision  21

Section II: Treat Your Customers Right

Chapter 3        Serving Customers at a Higher Level  39

Section III: Treat Your People Right

Chapter 4        Empowerment Is the Key  67

Chapter 5        Situational Leadership® II: The Integrating Concept  87

Chapter 6        Self Leadership: The Power Behind Empowerment  103

Chapter 7        Partnering for Performance  121

Chapter 8        Essential Skills for Partnering for Performance: The One Minute Manager®  149

Chapter 9        Situational Team Leadership  171

Chapter 10      Organizational Leadership  199

Chapter 11      Leading Change  223

Section IV: Have the Right Kind of Leadership

Chapter 12      Servant Leadership  253

Chapter 13      Determining Your Leadership Point o

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
    1. Dedication
  2. Praise for Leading at a Higher Level
  3. Contributing Authors
  4. Introduction
    1. Leading at a Higher Level
      1. Leading at a Higher Level
      2. Why Are We Writing This Book?
      3. How This Book Is Organized
  5. I. Set Your Sights on the Right Target and Vision
    1. 1. Is Your Organization High Performing?
      1. The Right Target: The Triple Bottom Line
        1. Provider of Choice
        2. Employer of Choice
        3. Investment of Choice
      2. A High Performing Organization SCORES Every Time
        1. The HPO SCORES™ Model
        2. S = Shared Information and Open Communication
        3. C = Compelling Vision
        4. O = Ongoing Learning
        5. R = Relentless Focus on Customer Results
        6. E = Energizing Systems and Structures
        7. S = Shared Power and High Involvement
        8. Leadership Is the Engine
      3. The HPO SCORES Quiz: How Does Your Organization Score?
    2. 2. The Power of Vision
      1. The Importance of Vision
      2. A Compelling Vision Creates a Culture of Greatness
      3. Vision Is the Place to Start
      4. Vision Can Exist Anywhere in an Organization
      5. Effective Versus Ineffective Vision Statements
      6. Creating a Vision That Really Works
        1. Significant Purpose
        2. Picture of the Future
        3. Clear Values
      7. Make Your Vision a Reality
        1. How It’s Created
        2. How It’s Communicated
        3. How It’s Lived
      8. Vision and Leadership
  6. II. Treat Your Customers Right
    1. 3. Serving Customers at a Higher Level
      1. Scoring with Your Customers
      2. Serving Customers at a Higher Level
        1. Decide What You Want Your Customer Experience to Be
        2. Discover What Your Customers Want
        3. Deliver Your Ideal Customer Service Experience
      3. Permitting People to Soar
        1. Wallowing in a Duck Pond
        2. Giving Your People Wings
      4. Going Above and Beyond Customer Service
      5. Making It All Happen
        1. Making Customers the First Priority
          1. A Story About Great Customer Service
          2. A Story About Poor Customer Service
          3. My Personal Customer Service Philosophy
        2. Creating Energizing Systems
      6. Creating Raving Fan Customers Requires Gung Ho People
  7. III. Treat Your People Right
    1. 4. Empowerment is The Key
      1. What Is Empowerment?
      2. The Power of Empowerment
      3. How Past History Blocks Change to Empowerment
      4. Tapping the Power and Potential of People: A Real-World Example
      5. Learning the Language of Empowerment
      6. The Three Keys to Empowerment
        1. The First Key to Empowerment: Share Information with Everyone
          1. Sharing Information Builds Trust
          2. Sharing Information Promotes Organizational Learning
        2. The Second Key to Empowerment: Create Autonomy Through Boundaries
        3. The Third Key to Empowerment: Replace the Old Hierarchy with Self-Directed Individuals and Teams
          1. The Power of Self-Directed Individuals
          2. The Power of Self-Directed Teams
          3. Dealing with the Leadership Vacuum
    2. 5. Situational Leadership® II: The Integrating Concept
      1. Matching Leadership Style to Development Level
        1. Enthusiastic Beginners Need a Directing Style
        2. Disillusioned Learners Need a Coaching Style
        3. Capable but Cautious Performers Need a Supporting Style
        4. Self-Reliant Achievers Need a Delegating Style
      2. Development Level Varies from Goal to Goal or Task to Task
      3. The Importance of Meeting People Where They Are
      4. The Three Skills of a Situational Leader
        1. Diagnosis: The First Skill
        2. Flexibility: The Second Skill
        3. Partnering for Performance: The Third Skill
      5. Effective Leadership Is a Transformational Journey
    3. 6. Self Leadership: The Power Behind Empowerment
      1. Creating an Engaged Workforce
      2. Creating Self Leaders Through Individual Learning
      3. The Three Skills of a Self Leader
        1. The First Skill of a Self Leader: Challenge Assumed Constraints
        2. The Second Skill of a Self Leader: Celebrate Your Points of Power
          1. Using the Power of “I Need”
        3. The Third Skill of a Self Leader: Collaborate for Success
    4. 7. Partnering for Performance
      1. Establishing an Effective Performance Management System
      2. Partnering and the Performance Management System
        1. Performance Planning: The First Part of a Performance Management System
        2. Performance Coaching: The Second Part of a Performance Management System
          1. Improving Performance
          2. Declining Performance
          3. Placing Blame: Not a Good Strategy
          4. Dealing with De-Commitment
        3. Performance Review: The Third Part of a Performance Management System
      3. Partnering as an Informal Performance Management System
        1. One-on-Ones: An Insurance Policy for Making Partnering for Performance Work
    5. 8. Essential Skills for Partnering for Performance: The One Minute Manager®
      1. One Minute Goal Setting
        1. Areas of Accountability
        2. Performance Standards
        3. Goals Need to Be Clear
        4. Reaching Goals Requires Feedback
        5. Performance Reviews Can Undermine Performance
        6. Limit the Number of Goals
        7. Good Goals Are SMART Goals
      2. One Minute Praisings
        1. Be Immediate and Specific
        2. State Your Feelings
        3. Praisings Are Universally Powerful
        4. Being Close Counts
        5. Make Time for Praisings
      3. Reprimanding Versus Redirection
        1. One Minute Reprimands
          1. Reprimand the Behavior, Not the Person
        2. Redirection
        3. Praisings and Redirection Are Key to Partnering for Performance
      4. The Fourth Secret of the One Minute Manager
        1. The One Minute Apology
    6. 9. Situational Team Leadership
      1. Why Teams?
      2. Why Teams Fail
      3. Characteristics of a High Performing Team
      4. PERFORM Across the Organization
      5. PERFORM in Action
      6. Team Beliefs and Attitudes
        1. Team Knowledge and Skills
      7. Situational Leadership® II and High Performing Teams
      8. Stages of Team Development
        1. Productivity and Morale
        2. Team Development Stage 1 (TDS1): Orientation
        3. Team Development Stage 2 (TDS2): Dissatisfaction
        4. Team Development Stage 3 (TDS3): Integration
        5. Team Development Stage 4 (TDS4): Production
        6. Team Development Stage 5 (TDS5): Termination
      9. Why Is It Important to Understand the Stages of Development and Diagnose Team Needs?
      10. Team Leadership Styles
        1. Directive Behavior with Teams
        2. Supportive Behavior with Teams
      11. Matching Leadership Style to Team Development Stage
        1. Stay on the Railroad Tracks
        2. Regression
      12. The Miracle of Teamwork
    7. 10. Organizational Leadership
      1. Why Is Leading Change Important?
      2. Why Is Organizational Change So Complicated?
      3. When Is Change Necessary?
      4. Change Gets Derailed or Fails for Predictable Reasons
      5. Focus on Managing the Journey
      6. Surfacing and Addressing People’s Concerns
        1. Stage 1: Information Concerns
        2. Stage 2: Personal Concerns
        3. Stage 3: Implementation Concerns
        4. Stage 4: Impact Concerns
        5. Stage 5: Collaboration Concerns
        6. Stage 6: Refinement Concerns
      7. Organizational Leadership Styles
        1. Directive Behavior for Organizational Change
        2. Supportive Behavior for Organizational Change
      8. Situational Leadership® II and Change
        1. For Information Concerns, Use Leadership Style 1: Directing
        2. For Personal Concerns, Use Leadership Style 2: Coaching
        3. For Implementation Concerns, Use Leadership Style 2: Coaching
        4. For Impact Concerns, Use Leadership Style 3: Supporting
        5. For Collaboration Concerns, Use Leadership Style 3: Supporting
        6. For Refinement Concerns, Use Leadership Style 3: Supporting, Blending into Style 4: Delegating
      9. Involvement and Influence in Planning the Change
    8. 11. Leading Change
      1. Eight Change Leadership Strategies
      2. Strategy 1: Expand Opportunities for Involvement and Influence Outcome: Buy-In
        1. Flexibility: Using a Number of Different Change Leadership Strategies to Successfully Lead Change
        2. Case Study: Non-Support-Paying Parents
      3. Strategy 2: Explain the Business Case for Change Outcome: Compelling Case for Change
        1. Why Change Efforts Typically Fail: Reason #4
      4. Strategy 3: Envision the Future Outcome: Inspiring Vision
        1. Why Change Efforts Typically Fail: Reason #5
      5. Strategy 4: Experiment to Ensure Alignment Outcome: One Voice and Aligned Infrastructure
        1. Why Change Efforts Typically Fail: Reasons #6, 7, 8, and 9
      6. Strategy 5: Enable and Encourage Outcome: New Skills and Commitment
        1. Why Change Efforts Typically Fail: Reason #10
      7. Strategy 6: Execute and Endorse Outcome: Accountability for Results
        1. Why Change Efforts Typically Fail: Reasons #11, 12, and 13
      8. Strategy 7: Embed and Extend Outcome: Sustainable Results
        1. Why Change Efforts Typically Fail: Reason #14
      9. Strategy 8: Explore Possibilities Outcome: Options
        1. Why Change Efforts Typically Fail: Reason #15
  8. IV. Have the Right Kind of Leadership
    1. 12. Servant Leadership
      1. What Is Servant Leadership?
      2. Applying Servant Leadership
      3. Great Leaders Encourage Their People to Bring Their Brains to Work
      4. What Impacts Performance the Most?
      5. Being a Servant Leader Is a Question of the Heart
      6. Driven Versus Called Leaders
      7. The Plight of the Ego
        1. Ego Antidotes
      8. What Servant Leaders Do
      9. Servant Leadership: A Mandate or a Choice
    2. 13. Determining Your Leadership Point of View
      1. Elements of a Leadership Point of View
        1. Your Leadership Role Models
        2. Your Life Purpose
        3. Your Core Values
        4. Your Beliefs About Leading and Motivating People
        5. What People Can Expect from You
        6. What You Expect from Your People
        7. How You Will Set an Example
      2. Developing Your Own Leadership Point of View
  9. Endnotes
    1. Introduction
    2. Chapter 1
    3. Chapter 2
    4. Chapter 3
    5. Chapter 4
    6. Chapter 5
    7. Chapter 6
    8. Chapter 7
    9. Chapter 8
    10. Chapter 9
    11. Chapter 10
    12. Chapter 11
    13. Chapter 12
    14. Chapter 13
  10. Organizational Change Readiness Assessment
    1. Scoring Instructions
  11. Acknowledgments and Praisings
  12. About the Authors
    1. Ken Blanchard
    2. Marjorie Blanchard
    3. Scott Blanchard
    4. Donald K. Carew
    5. Eunice Parisi-Carew
    6. Fred Finch
    7. Susan Fowler
    8. Laurence Hawkins
    9. Judd Hoekstra
    10. Fay Kandarian
    11. Alan Randolph
    12. Jesse Stoner
    13. Drea Zigarmi
    14. Patricia Zigarmi
  13. Services Available

Product information

  • Title: Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations
  • Author(s): Ken Blanchard
  • Release date: September 2006
  • Publisher(s): Pearson
  • ISBN: 0131443909