The Death of Strategy

Strategy is the art of creating a “Roadmap” of where you want to go, in either (or both) Personal or Organizational terms.
To be a Peacemaker, you need a Personal Strategy. You need to map out all the things you need to do to acquire the skills you require to make Peace.
To work in any Organization, you need both a Personal Strategy, and an Organizational Strategy. If you don’t know where you are going, how on Earth are you ever going to get there?
A Personal Strategy is no more or less than a series of statements about what you think you most want to do, and all the elements associated with making those pictures come true, in the context of a timeframe.
As we said previously, Time is not the enemy, it is the focussing mechanism for your planned actions.
If you are thinking in Organizational terms, we have agreed that for the Organization to be successful, you must first become successful. So you need to know (warts and all) what you really think the situation is - from your unique perspective.
You need to be able to assess your Strategic needs to achieve the Profit potential you desire – and this potential can be any of the multitude of different definitions of Profit that has meaning for you.
Creating a Strategy is your chance to discover exactly how you feel, and what you believe to be important about how things work, how they should work, and what you think should be done to progress either yourself or the Organization to your specific and direct benefit.
Either way, for a Strategy to work, you need to understand the relationships within which you are presently working, and wish to work within, in the future. This is sometimes referred to as a “Gap Analysis”, and is essentially simple.
Imagine three circles, where you are in the centre, your immediate environment is in the next ring, and the outside world is represented by the third ring.
So, starting with you (the inner ring), consider these seven questions :
1. Where are you now?
2. What is working for you?
3. What is not working for you?
4. What resources do you have (or you can get access to)?
5. Where do you want to be?
6. When in Time do you want to be there?
7. What resources will you need to get there?
Simple, isn’t it? The “Gap” of course is what you determine lies between the WWWW portion and the WTW. When we get People to complete this exercise we find that most don’t usually take account of themselves and their resources very often, and are usually surprised at how much they have going for them. The important thing is for you to describe your Picture in your words, and understand the gap between where you are now, and where you want to be.


When you are comfortable with this, try the next step – asking these same seven questions but this time with you as the centre of your immediate environment (the second circle) – this can by your Family, Home, Social, Professional or Organization environment. It might be the immediate Team of Group with whom you work closely.
1. Where are you now?
2. What is working for you?
3. What is not working for you?
4. What resources do you have (or you can get access to)?
5. Where do you want to be?
6. When in Time do you want to be there?
7. What resources will you need to get there?
Now, how different were your answers? Were they a long way apart? Where did the famous four “D’s” crop up? (Remember the discontinuities, divergences, dichotomies, and discomforts?)
Before you venture further, have a really good look at the Gap between your expectation for yourself, and your expectation for your immediate environment. Is this a recipe for Stress? Does it need a Peacemaker? Is there some amount of work to be done to bring the two Gaps closer together? Might your Strategy be to close these gaps before you set your sights on something grander?
When you’re completely happy with your observations and analysis, complete the next step – asking these same seven questions but this time with you as the centre of your larger environment (the outer circle), the outside world in which you, your Team, Group, Organization, or structure plays. In this case, you might be describing the whole Organization, a larger structure than your Team or Group, or just the outside world from your perspective.
1. Where are you now?
2. What is working for you?
3. What is not working for you?
4. What resources do you have (or you can get access to)?
5. Where do you want to be?
6. When in Time do you want to be there?
7. What resources will you need to get there?
And now you have yet another Gap, and possibility another set of the dreaded “D’s” to work through. But when you stop and look at this exercise in hindsight, you will quickly be able to identify where your greatest threats are likely to come from, and hence your greatest potential for the killer Stress!
We have found that the simple application of the WWWW + WTW process to be a foolproof way of involving every type of Personality Style in a Strategic process - from the charming Person who answers the phones, all the way up to the People who think they already know all the answers (without making the phone call!).
Interestingly, every Person who uses this process comes away thinking about all the things that they need to "make better" in order to fix the areas that they believe are not working. The process also seems to unlock a lot of the negative Attitudes about what can, and what they perceive can't, be done within themselves or their Organization.
Attitudes are the result of three things - the infor­mation upon which the Attitude has been formed (whether or not it is true or false); your feelings towards the object; and your intent for action. A close, almost introspective examination of your role within your environment or Organization tends to "loosen up" such Attitudes, the first vital step in any managed Change Program. And of you don’t change, then everything stays the same.
“If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.
The key element of any Strategic Plan is a clearly defined and stated Objective (or series of linked Objectives). It is imperative that any Objective be literal and singular in definition and intent, because People change slowly, and can only focus on one thing at a time when under Stress. If you do nothing else beyond this point, you at least have the basis for a future Strategic Plan, one that will enable you to march a long way down the road towards the Profit objective you have set – that of being a Peacemaker.
Getting your Strategic plan up and running can also be a simple process.
If you remember, to create any successful managed Change Process, you need to achieve four simple things - you need to establish exactly what it is you really want to achieve (Literal Objective), and by when (Timeframe); what everyone’s Attitude is (current Mindset and belief structure); and what Motivates them to do the things they do well. Then you need to link these four things together using Self-interest and Self-worth, so that every Person fuels your success with their Ego.
Because everyone has different needs when they are in the Learning mode, we have developed a Model that we call the “Barrier Process” to assist you in visualizing what your Strategy might look like.
The Barrier Process has eight levels of activity, starting with what we have called the “Hypothetical Construct”. A Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do, so it seemed appropriate that our Strategic Model should start with the hypothetical statement that we would use as our Strategic Objective, or Vision Statement, or Mission Statement.
We have defined it as follows :
Hypothetical Construct - this is your agreed and verbalized Prime Objective, and may be expressed as a Mission Statement, Vision Statement, or Strategic Objective. It must have a time frame, and a metrics element, and it must be achievement orientated and focussed on a position in the future where you currently are not.
The essence of involving metrics is that unless something can be measured, it cannot be changed, modified, or improved, and if we have learned anything over the years it is that a Strategy needs to be flexible, and constantly reviewed
An example might be, “Within two years, I will have developed my skills so that I can will be regarded as an excellent Peacemaker in my environment.”

Now, in any real Strategy or Strategic process, there will be barriers to your progress. Some will appear to be functional (systems, processes, and such like) and others will be purely Emotional. In truth, even the practical barriers will become Emotional, as you develop the ability to manage your Attitudes and Behaviours, and to master the processes and systems that you will need to force multiply your ability as a Peacemaker. We define Barriers as the reasons, perceived and actual, that will prevent you from achieving your Objective. We look at seven areas (you can add to these if necessary, but this is the minimum to be scrutinized).
Relationships - internally, externally.
Beliefs and attitudes - internally, externally, and levels of TRUST.
Processes - internally, externally, dependencies, and alignments.
Systems - internally, externally, dependencies, and alignments.
Communication - internally, externally, bi-directional genuine exchange of ideas with acknowledged feedback mechanisms.
Organization - internally, externally, what are the structural issues.
Environment - internally, externally.
Now, every Communication is an opportunity to Motivate, and the success of every transaction will be your ability to develop Relationships, Communicate, and Motivate.
The next element in the Barrier Process is therefore the Attention Getting Mechanisms - To make any significant Change, you have to get the attention of your Target Audience - internally, and externally. You must have credibility, Trust, deliverability, and sustainability. The AGM's also need to be expressed in the language and frame of reference of your intended audience - they must see the ATM's as important and relevant to them, not necessarily you. How will you firstly get, and then hold, the attention of your Target Audience?
Then there are the Trade Items - Every Relationship, internally or externally, is built on the exchange of perceived value - either Rational, or Emotional. What TI"s are you going to bring to the table, in the form of ideas, knowledge, values, expressions, vision, Motivation and Communication? What will you "trade" your TI's for? What does your Target Audience expect? What don't they expect? What would be of great benefit to them?
The next two levels are self-explanatory :
Information Management - Information is data, about things, People, events, relationships, opportunities, and transactions. How are you going to manage your Information in this new environment? What values will you ascribe to it? How will it be processed? Accessed? Updated?
Knowledge Management - Knowledge comes from doing something with information - experiential learning, interpretation, analysis, and applied tactics. Knowledge is the wealth and future of any Organization. How will you collect it? Store it? Value it? Access It? Update it? At what point will you share it, and towards what end? Is KM you potential for creating a significant competitive advantage?
Any Strategic process is involved quintessentially in the hearts and Minds of People, and People orientated processes, so we need to break our normal systems and pattern thinking models and venture far into the meld of “Mind over Matter”! And what matters next are Insights - Understanding where the Vested Power is, and what the Literal Truth is about your process, what Insights can you generate that will fuel your motivation, direction, and determination to succeed? How will you express these values to your Target Audience? How will you measure you progress against these Insights?
And last, but not least, we have The Three Critical Icons - An Icon is a picture or representation of something that we interpret and assign values to - and here we deal with the big three - the Rational, Emotional, and Transitional values that you will ascribe to your desired Process. What are they? How will you measure them? What do they mean?
When you can complete this picture, you will have an incredibly powerful Strategy. Making Peace will be easy, and influencing all those around you will appear to be so easy you may find it hard to remember what used to Stress you!
Now, back to the Organization viewpoint for a minute.
From an Organizational perspective, how well an individual is regarded by their peers, and subsequently rewarded within an Organization, depends entirely on his/her perceived and/or demon­strated Behaviour within the Organization. It is mostly other People who make these critical value judgements, and very few People in any Organization Trust the value judgement of others, even when – and particularly - they are in a position of authority.
Mostly the value judgement is based on some form of numerical achievement level - profit achieved, units per hour, hours worked, etc. It is often perceived that Organizations have a tendency to "stack the figures", casting great doubt on the credibil­ity of numerical targets. Organizations that strive overtly for bottom-line per­formance do so at the expense of the Emotional satisfac­tion of their People - and often at the expense of their jobs.
Consequently, People are rarely Motivated by numerical targets. For this reason, we developed a patented cognitive system of value measurement (CBVI) where each Person is encouraged to rate themselves, from their perspective (but with an eye on how they believe others might see them to be).
In effect, this produces a "Truth" table, which ena­bles you to honestly track your real value to the Organization, outside the normal but severely limit­ing numerical tendency of trying to measure achieve­ment by counting things. Better still, it is a "Self" evaluation, not one done as part of a review or other formal process. It is a critical adjunct to any Strategic process, in that it allows you to see where you really are within your immediate environment, and then within the larger environment of the Organization or the outside world.
The four elements that make up the Value Index (VI) Model are:
· Potential
· Performance
· Profit
· Behaviour
Using the VI Model, you judge your Value, not the "system".
Potential is the experience you brought to the Organization at the time of your initial hiring, plus the anticipated promise of your future perform­ance.
Performance is the level of contribution you are actually making to the Organization.
Profit is how well you really are doing within the Organization, but expressed over fourteen metrics, and not just financial.
Behaviour is how you go about the daily task of contributing your performance to the Organization.
We define Behaviour as those physical habits, activities, properties and Emotions displayed by a Person, as observed by another Person. The key word here is "observed". Behaviour that is not observed within the Organization is irrelevant to the Organization (but not necessarily irrelevant to the Person).
There are several immutable rules concerning Behaviour :
1. It is your observed Behaviour (as perceived by others) that cause the greatest problems within an Organization – problems that lead to Stress.
2. Behaviour can easily be changed. To change Behaviour, you must change belief structures and consequently Attitudes.
3. To want to change Behaviour, first you must believe in the need to change.
4. Only you can generate belief (in anything).
5. You can only believe (and will only believe) in things that suit your purpose.
6. The strength of your commitment to anything is derived from the strength of your belief in it.

When you use the VI Model :
- You can quickly see where there is potential for improvement.
- You are making the judgement, not someone else.
- You will be making the determination to make any Change, you will not be forced to do it.
- You will measure the degree of change, and
- You will assess the value of the change.
Use a scale of 6 or less, 7, 8, 9, and 10 for how you would rate yourself using the VI Model, and discover for yourself exactly where you are now, personally, within your immediate environment, and then within the greater environment of either your Organization, or the outside world.

POTENTIAL
At your primary interview for your job, how would you rate,
from <6 to 10, where 10 represents a maximum (or excellence), your...

Experience
Potential
Keenness for the position
Feeling for the Organization
Feeling for the interviewer
Belief in yourself
Belief in your ability
Vision for the future
Ability to fit in
Ability to become a "Star"
Ability to be a long-term employee
The interviewer's impression of you

PERFORMANCE
Today, how would you rate, from <6 to 10,
where 10 represents a maximum (or excellence) your...
Experience
Potential
Keenness for the position
Feeling for the Organization
Belief in yourself
Belief in your ability
Vision for the future
How well do you fit in
How much of a "Star" have you become
Are you a long-term employee
Do you contribute to the Organisational culture
Do you reflect the Organisational culture
How proud are you of the Organization
How keen are you to buy shares

PROFIT
Today, how would you rate from <6 to 10
where 10 represents a maximum (or excellence) your …

Monetary reward
Experience reward
Exposure reward
Challenge reward
Emotional reward
Stimulus reward
Vision reward
Potential reward
Market value
Organisational value
Self-worth value
Achievement value
Potential value
Realistic value


BEHAVIOUR
Today, how would you rate from <6 to 10
where 10 represents a maximum (or excellence) your …

Willingness to help your peers
Willingness to help your peers at the expense of your profit
Support for management
Support for Organisational goals
Support for Organisational culture
Loyalty to the Organization
Verbal support for the Organization
Verbal support for your peers
Contribution to the Organization beyond job description
Willingness to sacrifice self for your peers
Willingness to sacrifice self for the Organization
Willingness to sacrifice self for your subordinates
Trust in the Organization
Trust in your peers

VALUE INDEX INDICATOR (VI)
Today, how would you rate, from <6 to 10
where 10 represents a maximum positive feeling your propensity to...

Hire yourself for your current job
Hire your peers for their current job (by individual)
Peer # 1 (no names)
Peer # 2
Peer # 3
Peer # 4
Peer # 5
Hire your subordinates for their current jobs
(by individual)
Sub # 1
Sub # 2
Sub # 3
Sub # 4
Sub # 5
Purchase the Organization (assume capacity)
Keep the management intact
Keep all your peers
Keep all your subordinates
Keep the same culture
Keep the same Organizational objectives

To apply what you have discovered from the Collative Behavioural Value Index, simply mark any element that scores a “7” or less. These are areas that need your urgent consideration, in formulating your Strategy. Not to mention the fact that these elements are most probably the areas of greatest Stress to you!
By now it should have become obvious that developing a Strategy for anything requires you to really get down and dirty with things like Relationships, Performance, Communication, Group Dynamics, Profit, Motivation and Personality Styles.
When we considered the many facets of Motivation, we discovered that to understand how to Motivate someone, you first have to understand how to Motivate yourself. And because you are already highly Motivated, it does not mean that those around you are.
For a Person to be truly successful, they must achieve their goals as judged by themselves. To be truly successful, a Person must achieve the "Goal beyond the Goal".
While your vision of your ultimate destination is what fuels your effort, it is the journey that you will take to get there that will be the most satisfying.
The goal you must have beyond your goal, is one based on the satisfaction and majesty of this journey - otherwise you will get where you are going, and find a hollow victory!
There is nothing more soul destroying than standing on the pinnacle of success, and finding yourself alone and empty. Just ask any elite athlete who has worked for years to win Gold, does it, then finds that they are at a loss as to what to do with themselves next. What they lacked was a Strategy that included winning the Gold as a mere step in their Life journey to becoming a Peacemaker. People are who and what they see themselves to be. The sum total of their will, and what they do. To change the possibilities for a Person, you must change the way they see themselves and their prospects.
Like Making Peace, you must hold up the mirror and show them all that they could be. Then you must help them to plan a Strategy to get there.
The real business of Making Peace is Personality driven, not Profit or achievement driven. It is your strength of Personality, and the strength of your convictions that will make you successful against all odds. You respond to what excites you, not necessarily to what others may get excited about. You understand now how important a Strategy will be in shaping your World into the Peaceful environment you want it to be.
For the Organization (Team or Group) within which you work to become successful, you must either become the focussing Personality (the Leader), or learn how to:
- Teach others how to achieve their "Goal beyond the Goal"
- Create a non-threatening but positively competi­tive environment
- Guide them to their success for their reasons, not yours.
- Make Peace with everyone, and infect everyone with the need to in turn make Peace with everyone they come in contact with.

To achieve this task, you must:
- Help them to see themselves as successful contributors to the Peacemaking process
- Help them to judge their success by their standards.
- Help them to recognise their strengths.
- Show them how to Motivate those around them.

By example, show them how to be winners, and Peacemakers.
You can do this, all you have to do is choose to do so. The secrets of "Elite" Leadership are simple to discover - talk is soothing, action is invigorating, Leader­ship is inspiring, so your Challenge is:
- To Lead so that others might follow.
- To Motivate so that others might be inspired.
- To promote ownership, so that others might succeed for their reasons, in their Time.
- Understand that you having the solution is never the answer - giving Ownership of the solution is always the answer.

Make mistakes - remember Einstein believed he was right only 3% of the Time - and that the sheer quality of the 3% more than made up for the other 97%! Are you better than Einstein?
Attitudes are formed in respect to an Attitude object, and very much based on what you believe. Always check that you have the facts, and not a bunch of assumptions. How you feel towards the Attitude object is vital - because feelings always dictate how a Personality will act.
Your intent for Action is crucial, and is almost totally influenced by your "Attitude". So when you find it hard to do something, relate to another Person, or get enthusiastic about rising to the occasion, remember that you are the Peacemaker, you have your Strategy, so implement it.
Remember HOT, BREATHE, SMILE and that the difference between today and tomorrow is only what you make it to be.
Use your energy - the bright light always draws the Moth - as the bright performer always draws the willing support.
Provide your effort and energy selflessly, so that others are invigorated by your presence, and in awe of your performance.
A “you-before-me” Attitude fills the tank of Life, and because it feels so good, everyone will pass it on to all they meet.
And remember always that CONFIDENCE IS CONTAGIOUS!
Support roles can make or break a star performance. By taking the People in those roles for granted, you effectively depower your total potential, by standing alone in a crowded marketplace.
By embracing them, supporting them, and using them as force multipliers, your ability to make Peace is enhanced considerably.
In effect, they contribute their energy and skills to your effort, allowing you to maximise your ability and reach as a Peacemaker.
To maintain this synergistic relationship, you must always show them how they have contributed to your success, and reward them emotionally for it. The more vital a part of your effort they see themselves to be, the greater will be their support of you.
There has never been a successful Peacemaker in any generation who got there by magic. Magic does play a part, but in the preparation of your mind, and the positioning of your inner-stance. Magic can fuel your self-worth, self-image, and your ego, but it must always be seen for what it is - a powerful, addictive drug, with a long downside. Magic and luck always surround the "Elite" per­former - because the harder you work, the finer your skills, the more magic and luck you seem to generate!
Strategy is essential for developing all the skills and habits that lead to generating more than your fair share of Magic, and if you have your Strategic Roadmap out and ready, then you will truly be able to make Peace wherever you go.
And remember, Strategy is knowing what to do when there seems to be nothing to do – and there is always the opportunity to make Peace with someone, somewhere, sometime.


The Second Pregnant Pause


This Model illustrates the relationship between the “Head” and “Heart” elements of Performance, and how they all rely on the bedrock of Behaviour – Leadership. If you are to be a Peacemaker, then you will have to understand this Model, and be able to work your way around it as you create processes that are intended to promote Change and make Peace.
Leadership is the foundation upon which any process that involves People must be built. True Leadership is the critical ingredient in developing your skills as a Peacemaker, because as you move forward to Make Peace, you will have to lead from the front! In essence, it will be how you develop your True Leadership capabilities and capacities that will determine how good a Peacemaker you will become.
True Leadership is all about managing Change. In a way, it’s the only real hallmark of Performance - how well any Change Management process is actually implemented. How well People reflect ownership and commitment, and how much energy they put into realizing the Strategic Objectives you have set.
Change Management is probably the most difficult of all the Performance attributes. It is the one area where nothing can be hidden, and mostly everything will be scrutinized and potentially challenged. “Change” per se, is a hot topic! Everyone talks about it, has an opinion on it, but in truth, probably understands very little about what “Change” is really about. True Leadership is being able to sift out the hysterical and add in the value to any Change Management process - so that People immediately see the benefit to them in their terms – of participating in, and adding their energy, to the process.
And Making Peace is the greatest Change process of all!
How to get your Objectives and priorities right is covered earlier in the discussion on Strategy. The process is simple - ask these key questions - WWWW and WTW - then evaluate the differences between your two “Objective Terminals” and plan in your resultant Strategy.
True Leadership requires strong Strategic skills - as every successful Change Management process is determined by a clear, simple, literal set of Objectives. Objectives that Motivate others to give freely of their energy and commitment!
Remember, a Strategic Plan is a “roadmap” of your intentions to change your performance picture for the future. Your success will be totally dependent on how much you believe in your picture, and how emotionally strong you are, in the face of any obstacle.
In an Organizational context, Change Management can be “mapped” - as a series of stages, or processes :
1. Initiate the Process (Strategy – Picture of the future)
2. Understand the issues and processes involved (Barrier Process)
3. Evaluate the processes (Group Dynamics, Communication, etc.)
4. Review the assumptions and make decisions (True Leadership)
5. Implement the process (Making Peace)
You should review at every step, and be prepared to be flexible as you implement your Strategy.
At the Individual level, it is important for the True Leader (Peacemaker) to understand that the principles that apply to an Organization going through a Managed Change process are exactly the same as those the Individual should consider for any Personal Change Management process. If necessary, create your own map of potential Change activities.
There are eight immutable Laws regarding Change Management - the first is “The Power of One©”. This is a very simple concept in that the absolute success of any Change Management process can be accurately judged by the commitment, belief and input of the least involved Person in the process.
The second is “The Power of Sustainability©”. No Change Management process can survive and succeed if it cannot be sustained over Time. This is yet another test of True Leadership – shaping Time as the focusing mechanism, rather than the enemy!
True Leadership is understanding the difference between perception and reality, and being able to help others change their Attitude and beliefs. To make something come true for someone else, you have to put the context, information, possibilities, problems and opportunities in their terms. They have to have Ownership of the process - it has to be theirs - not yours - and the stronger their belief and Ownership, the greater will be your success.
The other six immutable Laws regarding Change Management :
3. Specific belief in the necessity for Change
4. Ownership of the process by everyone involved
5. Multidirectional real-time Communication
6. Vested authority and responsibility
7. Perceivable benefits for all concerned
8. The Change Strategy delivers on the promise
A successful Change Paradigm is totally consistent with the four elements of any successful Training Program :
1. Motivation / Reasons – Cause or need for Training (Action)
2. What to do (Strategy and Tactics)
3. How to do it (Processes and activities)
4. How well are you doing it (Review, Feedback, Relationships)
This is the essence of True Leadership - continual searching for improvement and added value, leading your People to fulfilment and reward. It is also the heart of any successful Change Management process and the essence of Making Peace.
The Chaos Theory and True Leadership go hand-in-hand! Hard to imagine, but true. Every Process that involves Human Systems is subject to the laws of Chaos Theory. People Systems can be managed, Motivated, and measured, but they can never really be “controlled”. True Leadership is about Empowerment, and Ownership - and they are the only two assets the True Leader has that have any real power in modifying the effects of the Chaos Theory on any Process.
True Leadership is about creativity, the exact opposite of the obvious! True Leaders seek out ways and means to make things work better - easier - and deliver more reward to all those who participate. True Leadership is Motivational - invigorating - stimulating - and always innovative.
Take time to review the “balance” issues that may be present in your Change Management process. This is a critical factor in obtaining the two imperatives mentioned earlier - “The Power of One©” and “The Power of Sustainability©”. Ownership by every Individual, and a sustainable program are very difficult to achieve if there are serious balance issues for either yourself or your People. True Leadership is about balance, and finding the “node of reality” in out-of-balance situations that lead to great Stress. And the heart of good balance and reality is Trust.
“The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him.”
(Henry Lewis Stimson (1867–1930).
And …
“At the bottom of the heart of every human being from earliest infancy
until the tomb, there is something that goes on indomitably expecting,
in the teeth of all experience of crimes committed, suffered, and witnessed,
that good and not evil will be done to him.
It is this above all that is sacred in every human being. (Simone Weil 1909–43).

What you don’t believe in or don’t trust you can’t do. Trust is the tenth element of Individual Performance, and the first element of the “Truth” Table :
T – Trust R – Respect U – Understanding T – Truth H – Honesty
TRUST Is a two way street - I trust as much as I am trusted - I trust more AFTER I am TRUSTED - The more trusted I am the more I will trust - I like being seen as a trusted member of the organization.
There are three distinct levels of Trust and Performance expectation you must be aware of :
Self – How trusted you are as an individual

Organizational – How trusted you perceive you are within your Team, Group, or Organization.


And Environmental – How trusted you are as a result of being associated with your Team, Group, or Organization.
The four “D’s” crop up here often, and a Gap Analysis of the different levels of perceived Trust from one Level to another is often quite revealing. Needless to say, any inconsistency between levels of Trust generates massive Stress in the individual, and needs to be addressed immediately in any thing you do.

If you always maintain a HOT process – Honest, Open, and Transparent, then you will always inspire Trust, just as you will if you always do as you say you will do.
Perhaps the finest attribute of True Leadership is the ability to act and behave in a totally consistent manner, reflecting the espoused values and Behaviours that you and your Organization thrive on. It is this consistency that People sense, and consequently, leads to great Trust in the Individual. Without the Trust of everyone involved in any Change Management process (or Peacemaking process), it will fail.
This is the single most difficult aspect of Trust in any Organization, and where True Leadership really comes into its own. The perception of how well an Organization supports its People in times of crisis is directly proportional to the perception of Trust levels within the Organization. True Leadership is about ensuring that the Individual is supported with the appropriate resources and systems to maximize their Individual Performance under any conditions - to the benefit of the Organization and the Individual!
For example, what is Client Expectation verses Reality? Clients always seem to want and expect 100%!
Yet we know that any People System can never sustain 100% performance without extraordinary resources and support – and this becomes a real test for True Leadership. How can you deliver 100%, knowing the cyclic nature of Performance? What can you negotiate with your Clients that will enable you to meet their best expectations, without killing your People? What are the real, sustainable deliverables? How can you earn the Trust of your People under these circumstances? Do you understand the Stress reducing nature of these questions, and the potential for Making Peace?
Without Trust you have nothing. True Leadership is about Trust. Making Peace is about Trust.
Generating it. Nurturing it. Mothering its development Organization-wide. The Barrier Process can help you to establish what are your current levels of Trust; where your Trust paradigms are; where your Trust deficiencies are.
Once you have the Trust issues in hand, it is time for the True Leader to look at the Motivation required to achieve the individual buy-in to the Change Management process.
“Motivation - Let it be your constant method
to look into the design of People’s actions,
and see what they would be at,
as often as it is practicable;
and to make this custom the more significant,
practice it first upon yourself.”
(Marcus Aurelius 121–180).

Motivation is not what comes at you from the outside. Motivation is what you generate internally from what comes at you from the outside. True Leadership comes from understanding this critical distinction, and acting accordingly. You can provide external Motivational elements to any process, but it is what the Individual “takes” into their own value and Behaviour system that will ultimately determine their level of Motivation. And when Motivation is internalised it is sustainable.
Motivation is dependant on ten of the critical Elements of Performance :
VISION
Knowledge
Skills
Abilities
Training
Communication
Environment
Awareness
Trust
LEADERSHIP
Motivation is critical for True Leadership. With the advent of the “click-and-go” era, there is so much information available about seemingly everything that it is very easy to confuse Motivation with Attitude (Attitude formed around subjective beliefs). True Leadership promotes this distinction - and allows the Individual (and Group) to clearly understand the real Motivation for the Change Management process - and the benefits to all concerned - in their terms. It actively discourages Attitude formation around gossip, fiction and rumour, reducing self-induced Stress, and prolonging the quality of Life!
Back to Leadership for a minute –
“The real leader has no need to lead
he is content to point the way.”
(Henry Miller 1891–1980).

And
“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common :
it was the willingness to confront unequivocally
the major anxiety of their People in their time.
This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.”
(John Kenneth Galbraith 1908 - ).

True LEADERSHIP is about tomorrow - True LEADERS attract the PEOPLE to their VISION - a VISION that carries all BEYOND TODAY. This is the very essence of creating a Strategy – a “roadmap” of your future picture.
True Leadership is ensuring that every aspect of the Change Management Process is congruent with the Vision, Direction, Motivation, and Strategy. One voice, one set of words, one story, singular, consistent belief generated by sustainable, single-minded attention to detail and delivery. Wherever anyone goes, they get the same story, feeling, attitude, and belief in the process by everyone concerned. This is a hallmark of True Leadership in action!
Remember the Communication Dictate - (C1) “It is the prime responsibility of every member of any Team structure (or Management) to either lead, follow, or get out of the way”.
There are four LEADERSHIP Styles, and you can easily position them on the Personality Grid.
1. Directing : Provides specific instructions and closely supervises task accomplishment
2. Coaching : Continues to direct and closely supervise task accomplishment, but also explains decisions, solicits suggestions, and supports progress
3. Supporting : facilitates and supports subordinates efforts toward task accomplishment and shares responsibility for decision making with them
4. Delegating : Turns over responsibility for decision making and problem solving to subordinates
True Leadership is about managing these styles in your People, and balancing them in the Teams or Groups you form.
The Stanford Model of Learning suggests that there are four “stages” we go through when learning something new – Awareness, Knowledge, Understanding and Action. Think back to the Four Learning Styles, and the Four Stages of Learning, and relate them to this model.
You will start to see a remarkable synergistic relationship evolve!


There are also four distinct phases we go through when Learning - Unconscious Incompetence - Conscious Incompetence - Conscious Competence - and Unconscious Competence. Coincidentally, there are also four different ways we learn.
Four stages. Four phases. Four different types. Two “truisms” - People only learn what they want to learn; and they only learn it when they want to learn
This is the real test of True Leadership! This is also why Motivation is so important in any Change Management process as well as having the commitment and ownership of everyone involved. The Learning process also underlines why any Strategy must be singular and literal in intent. Remember, People do things for their reasons, not yours, and People are unlikely to be Motivated by your needs and desires.
People learn only what they want to learn, and People learn only when they want to learn.
One of the tools available to the True Leader – the Peacemaker – is the concept of “Two Profits”. Earlier we said that to most People, the types of things that Motivate them are Emotional, and not Rational.
We also discovered that the different Personality Styles need different mixes of Rational and Emotional “cues” to be able to establish their belief systems, and build their Attitudes, and Trust paradigms
Delivering the “Two Profits” provides the perfect balance to enable every Personality no matter where they may be positioned on the Grid to “buy in” to your Change Management process.
And a fast track to Making Peace.

The concept of the “Two Profits” comes from the dichotomous relationships observed on the Performance Interaction Grid, where we constantly see the potential for conflict and Stress. In simple terms, True Leadership is understanding that there must be an Emotional “product” to match every Logical, Rational, or Physical “product”. Satisfaction is an Emotional feeling - a physical product is a thing - or Attitude Object. How we think and feel about this object becomes our driving force - the stronger the feeling, the stronger the drive. This is what True Leadership promotes - a strong, positive Emotional connection to every rational Change Management Process.
True Leadership is also the art of understanding Group Dynamics, and reducing the inherent Stress that is present in any Team or Group situation.
The simple truth is that the moment you have more than one Person involved in any Process, you invoke the Laws of Group Dynamics!
Groups tend to magnify any flaw or weakness in any Strategy, and invariably create a measure of resistance to any Change process that they do not have real and total Ownership of. Another Test of True Leadership!
And as we have discovered, in any Organization, achieving the “bottom-line” is the Motive force, financial control is the accelerator, and Teams of People (Groups) are the wheels on which the Organization runs.
Because Organizations don’t do things, People do, it stands to reason that an Organization’s success very much depends on how well its People do the things they do.
The basic property of any Group is its level of cohesiveness, or the degree to which members are attracted to it. What attracts People to Groups?
True Leadership! People group themselves by their Attitudes and beliefs. They link their minds, ambitions, desires, hopes, and actions by sharing a common Vision of what they might achieve together. True Leadership provides this linking Vision by providing the Strategy by which the Group can achieve their desired outcome - your Objective. To make this “leap” the Group must have real Ownership of the Strategic Process. It must be theirs, and they must believe that it is theirs.
When cohesiveness is high, members are Motivated to participate in the Group's activities and to help the Group attain its goals and objectives.
The management of Groups (Teams) is simplified by the application of the well-recognized and tested concept of (C3) - Command, Control, and Communication.
The Command (C1) hypothesis stipulates that :
- "In any Organization there is a visible hierarchical structure to which the individual can easily relate".
- “It is the prime responsibility of every member of this hierarchical structure to either lead, follow, or get out of the way”.

The Control (C2) imperative states that :
- “At every level of an Organization, there shall be sufficient structure to maximize efficiency, prevent chaos, disorder, and disharmony in work, while promoting the orderly and concise flow of information and smooth change of command from one level to another”.

The Communication (C3) dictate demands :
- "An accurate, clear, simple, and understandable exchange of information (ideas) at every structural level, irrespective of the capability or circumstances of the sender or the receiver".
- “A successful Communication (exchange of ideas) is said to have taken place only when the receiver can demonstrate that they can implement the required work to complete the object of Communication (by Feedback)”.
The Successful implementation of the (C3) Communication dictates, is in itself the precursor to a successful Strategy - and proof of True Leadership.
There is an interesting point that underlines these statements, and that is that the effectiveness of a decision is the quality of the decision multiplied by the acceptance of it.
Quality x Acceptance = Effectiveness of the Outcome
One last point on the concept of Change Management - it is easy to get lost in the detail of the process. That’s why you need Milestones (small, digestible steps with achievement markers) agreed at the outset to objectively measure your progress against. This is yet another reason why your Objectives must be singular and literal in intent. True Leadership is reflected by the smooth passage of Change within an Organization, and the demonstrated Ownership and commitment of the People involved.
Any Organizational development - Managed Change process - Personal development or Strategic Initiative - is made up of a series of processes - simple steps that involve research, People skills, and understanding of how People think about and react to Change. All bound inexorably together by True Leadership!
There is one other important skill you must develop as a True Leader on the path to Making Peace. And that is to understand the relationships that drive your Belief Structure – and underpin your Attitude formation and consequent Behaviour.


When you create your Vision, you are combining your Knowledge and your Values. Vision is always about the Picture of your future that you most want to make true. It is the prime driver in Performance, and it is the first thing a True Leader develops.
Your Intent is based on your Knowledge and your Behaviour, and if there is any inconsistency between these two elements, then you can expect to become Stressed.
Culture is a combination of your Values and your Behaviour, and again, any inconsistency leads to great Stress.
Because Identity is a combination of Intent, Vision, and Culture, it is easy to see where the greatest component of Stress might come from.
Use this Model when you are first thinking about your Strategy for any Change Management process, and make sure that you have consistency and sustainability in every element.
Ban the dreaded “D’s” forever – and make Peace!