Susan Scott: Ran think tanks for CEOs, with Vestige for 13 years and now owns Fierce Inc., an internationally recognized leader in cultural transformation and executive education. Authors Purpose: Help leaders have conversations that interrogate reality, provoke learning, tackle tough issues and enrich relationships. Principles and Quotes Business is fundamentally an extended conversation with colleagues, customers, partners, and the unknown future emerging around us. As our lives and business are in constant change, our realities change. The world will not be managed. Life is curly. Don t try to straighten it out. Investigate it on a regularly scheduled basis to understand what reality you are in and deal with that. What has changed in the last month? Principle 1: Master the Courage to Interrogate Reality Make a proposal Check for understanding.don t defend your position, seek further understanding of others opinions. Check for agreement Reality always is changing, so the person with the best vantage point may have the best perspective rather than the most experienced person. What s the biggest payoff of interrogating reality? People learn to think. In any situation, the person who can most accurately describe reality without laying blame will emerge as the leader, whether designated or not. Edwin Friedman Remove the word but from your vocabulary and substitute the word and. It opens up multiple realities, this is true and this is true. The realities don t compete against each other, they just exist. Provocative Questions for Interrogating Reality: What is impossible to do that if it were possible would change everything? or Imagine that we are a new competitor in town and that we have deep pockets. How would we put our company out of business? 1 Synopsis Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott
Provoke Learning, confront means search for the truth. Mineral Rights Model to help individuals and teams investigate reality in such a way that they are mobilized to take potent actions on tough challenges. Step 1: Identify your most pressing issue. The issue that I most need to resolve is: Step 2: Clarify the issue. What is going on? How long has this been going on? How bad are things? Step 3: Determine the current impact. How is this situation currently impacting me? What results are currently being produced for me in this situation? How is this issue currently impacting others? What results are currently being produced for them by this situation? When I consider the impact on both myself and others, what are my emotions? Step 4: Determine the future implications. If nothing changes, what s likely to happen? What s at stake for me relative to this issue? What s at stake for others? When I consider these possible outcomes, what are my emotions? Step 5: Examine your personal contribution to this issue. What is my contribution to this issue? (What am I pretending not to know?) Step 6: Describe the ideal outcome. When this issue is resolved, what difference will that make? What results will I enjoy? When this issue is resolved, what results will others enjoy? When I imagine this resolution, what are my emotions? How would you feel then? 2 Synopsis Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott
Step 7: Commit to action. What is the most potent step I could take to move this issue toward resolution? What s going to attempt to get in my way and how will I get past it? When will I take this step? The official truth is what the leader and management see, the ground truth is what everyone else sees. What conversation can we have with one another to help our collective understanding of ground truth? Example: Many companies have stated Core Values and a Mission Statement their official truth, and what is the ground truth of using them on a day to day basis? Let s examine current reality. What has changed since we last met? Where are we succeeding? Where are we failing? What have we learned in the last few months? What is required of us now? As a leader you get what you tolerate. People do not repeat behavior unless it is rewarded. The same goes for our families, our marriages and friendships. Principal 2: Come Out from Behind Yourself into the Conversation and Make It Real No one has to change, but everyone has to have the conversation. David Whyte Authenticity is not something you have: it is something you choose. All bread crumbs lead to the CEO s office. We advertise for CEOs and human beings show up. The results that disappoint and displease us reflect aspects of ourselves beliefs, behaviors that simply aren t working. Barring all else, what is one word or phrase that absolutely describe you? When do you act in the opposite direction? All conversations are with myself, and sometimes they involve other people. This is incredibly important to understand. Embracing insight changes the way we relate to and interact with everyone in our lives. I may think I see you as you are, but in truth, I see you as I am. The implications are staggering, and not the least of them is this: The issues in my life are rarely about you. They are almost always about me. Stump Speech: take a long walk and let answers come to you, so it needs to be a long..walk! Where am I going? Why am I going there? Who is going with me? How will I get there? 3 Synopsis Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott
Principle 3: Be Here, Prepared to Be Nowhere Else The conversation is the relationship. By paying fierce attention, you can be an unanxious presence in an anxious world. Obeying your instincts requires that you listen to your own internal voice, acknowledge your internal reference point, rather than rush to embrace the myriad references and voices of others. Decision Tree Model: You have 6 months to teach everyone who reports to you to get along without you. Purpose useful method of delegation and professional development. Leaf Decisions: Make the decision. Act on it. Do not report the action you took. Branch Decisions: Make the decision. Act on it. Report the action you took daily, weekly or monthly. Trunk Decisions: Make the decision. Report your decision before taking action. Root Decisions: Make the decisions jointly, with input from many people. These are the decisions that, if poorly made and implemented, could cause major harm to the organization. Goal of Decision Tree Model: Identify clearly which categories decisions and actions fall into, so that employees know exactly where they have authority to make decisions and act. Provide employees with clear upward path of professional development. Progress is measured when a track record is established making good decisions, moving from leaf, to branch to trunk. To assist companies in consciously developing grassroots leadership, freeing up execs to take on more challenging responsibilities. A direct outcome of the Decision Tree is that learning is provoked. Principle 4: Tackle your Toughest Challenge Today Burnout happens, not because we re trying to solve problems but because we ve been trying to solve the same problem over and over and over. Presenting the Issue (Challenge) to a group prep work: The problem named is the problem solved. Pat Murray The issue is: be concise, one or two sentences, get to the heart of the problem. It is significant because: What s at stake? How does this affect $$, income, people, product, etc. What is future impact if issue is not resolved? My ideal outcome is? What specific results do I want? Relevant Background Information: Summarize with bulleted points: How, when, why and where did issue start? 4 Synopsis Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott
Who are key players? Which forces at work? What is the issue s current status? What have I done to this point? What options am I considering? The help from the group I want: For example alternative solutions, confidence regarding right decision, critique of plan. It is crucial to spend time in the problem-naming part of the exercise. If it takes awhile, it takes awhile. DO NOT offer solutions right off, want to make sure the group is solving the right problem. Principle 5: Obey your Instincts In fierce conversations there is neither a struggle for approval nor an attempt to persuade. There is instead, an interchange of ideas and sentiments, during which you pay attention to and disclose your inner thoughts while actively inviting others to do the same. The fundamental outcome of most communication is misunderstanding. During each conversation, listen for more than content. Listen for emotion and intent as well. Your confusion is an asset; in fact, your search for clarity may blaze a path for others. Watch what happens to the conversation when you do this. Invite others to do the same. Principle 6: Take Responsibility for your Emotional Wake Our emotional wake determines the story that is told about each of us in the organization. You take responsibility for your wake by being clear and taking a stand. Your Leadership Stump Speech..This is where we re going, This is why we re going there, This is who is going with us, This is how we re going to get there. Principle 7: Let Silence Do the Heavy Lifting The best leaders talk with people, not at them. Entrepreneurs have special challengers here, because they can t wait to tell their story in order to attract, employees, investors and vendors. The have versations. The more emotionally loaded the subject, the more silence is required. Use silence to slow down a conversation so that you can discover what the conversation really wants to be about. Allow silence to fill in the greater meaning that needs to be there. 5 Synopsis Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott