Real-Time Leadership Lessons With Carol Kauffman And David Noble

I recently met with Carol Kauffman, co-author with David Noble of Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High. Kauffman, a global leader in the coaching field, is the founder of the Institute of Coaching and on faculty at Harvard. Noble is a strategist and leadership advisor who supports the personal growth of senior executives. In our conversation, Kaufmann shared practical protocols that leaders can implement to move through difficult circumstances.

Ask: Who do I want to be?

One of the most critical questions Kauffman poses to leaders is: “Who do I want to be right now?” Once leaders have answered that question, Kauffman poses three others: “What do I want to accomplish, what are my priorities, and what do I love to do?” In our conversation, Kauffman shared that leaders often lead without a strong idea of where they’re going and without much thought to the greater impact they’re making. Many leaders live in the moment, only responding to crises and putting out fires. These leaders may be unaware of their options for how to move through difficult circumstances. This is why Kauffman encourages a more thoughtful approach informed by the questions she poses.

Kauffman and Noble share strategies to help leaders focus in the moment, even when they’re experiencing a crisis. As Kauffman shared in our conversation, it’s easy to lead on autopilot; Kauffman and Noble’s goal with coaching clients and with the book is to help leaders move forward more thoughtfully and strategically. One method that helps leaders do this is the MOVE strategy.

How to MOVE in a high-risk leadership situation.

Leaders are tasked with making difficult decisions under extreme stress, all day long; this leads to decision fatigue. In Real-Time Leadership, Kauffman and Noble share a model to help leaders be decisive in their decision making. The model is called MOVE; each letter represents a necessary action in the decision-making process.

M—Being mindfully alert to these three questions: ‘What are my external goals?’ ‘Who do I need to be in this situation?’, and ‘How can I lead the way so my team can accomplish these goals?’

O—Generating options. Kauffman and Noble write that for any issue, there are four different options to create a winning situation. One approach is to ‘Lean in,’ or take an active approach in solving the issue. Another option is ‘Don’t Lean,’ which means to take in all that is happening and not react. Depending on the situation, Kauffman and Noble offer different options for moving forward.

V—Validating your vantage point. Are your own natural tendencies obscuring your perspective on the leadership or business challenge you’re facing? Validating means asking for input from others to make sure you’re seeing the whole picture.

E—Engaging and Effecting Change. Looking at your vision and priorities, create a plan for moving forward and learn from the changing (and challenging) business situation.

What to do under stress.

Kauffman shares that the most crucial superpower leaders can leverage is calmness. In group settings, calmness is contagious. Kauffman advises leaders to acknowledge to their teams the challenge at hand and tell the truth about the situation. Leaders must then pull from the past and think: “When we’ve been in periods of heavy stress before, how have we gotten the work done?” They may then capitalize on input and ideas from their team. By doing this the leader is energizing others to solve the issue at hand.

Good leadership doesn’t just happen. Leaders are most effective when they’re able to move forward through stressful situations thoughtfully and productively. Real-Time Leadership presents strategies that allow leaders to do just that.