Powerful Conversations: How High Impact Leaders Communicate,   ISBN:9780071353212

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"Powerful Conversations" is a well written essay about an important topic necessary for successful leaders to enable them to move from 'broadcast' mode to exercise the power of the conversation. Conversations matter, and in a large organization senior leaders have limited opportunities to make a difference. Harkins explains how to do this effectively. Similar to many books, Harkins offers a few key concepts within a broad framework and illustrates with real life stories. At the end there is an excellent appendix with the special ingredients. These principles outlined can be applied to everyday life; this isn't restricted to work.


Part 1 - defines powerful conversations ... what, structure, objectives, impact, output

Overview
- Importance of quality conversations that involve shared feelings, beliefs, and ideas with an exhange of wants and needs that translate into mutual commitments and action steps.
- Link between powerful conversations and high-impact leaders - the importance of trust and the say/do relationship.

Stages of a Powerful Conversation, immediately followed by discussion of barriers and importance of listening
1) Advancing the agenda - expression of honest feelings or sincere needs with desired outcome, goals. Constitutes request for help and solicits contribution.
2) Shared learning - mutual exploration of issues with skillful probing of wants and needs of other participant(s); place to discover hidden agendas and connect facts with underlying assumptions.
3) Stronger relationship - closing stage to make sure participants have nailed down next steps and are open about what they will do to make those commitments for action come to life. Closes by leader asking openly about whether the other person got what they wanted from the conversation.

Tower of Power Model - 4 step plan/tool to lead through the 3 stages of a powerful conversation, ensuring that the right steps happen
Step 1: "What's up?" or 'what's goin' on?'
o Strive to make emotional contact with the other person so they will open up, share a dialogue, and reveal their hidden agenda and "undiscussables".
o Leader should express her/his agenda, wants, needs.
o Establish openness and trust by "pulling" the conversation by leading with openness and vulnerability.
Step 2: "What's so?"
o Focus on discovering the hidden factors underlying the issue or problem. Typically, people move too quickly from facts to inferences and assertions (quickly climbing the ladder of inference).
o Probe and question to determine facts and soundness of reasoning behind assertions.
Step 3: "What's possible?"
o Imagine alternatives, creative solutions.
o Leaders should challenge people to `see with fresh eyes', think differently (see "Theory U").
Step 4: "Let's go!"
o Confirm mutual commitment to action.
o Action steps expressed, clear and explicit.
o Comment: Reflect/restate ... "I understand you will do this ... I hear you agreeing to take this action."
Build the foundation. Don't force upward or skip a step

5 Primary Types of Powerful Conversations (capitalized labels are competences analyzed in the Leadership Assessment Instrument in Appendix)
Actualize strategy around Focused Drive - defining clear and simple goal(s), determine and communicate steps to reach the goal, instilling a sense of urgency, necessity, and determination (can capability) to reach the goal (motivating to actualize).
Stabilize through conversations around Emotional Intelligence - perception and emotional maturity used to calm stressful situations and provide hope for optimistic outcomes, dispelling distress, fear, and anxiety.
Build trust through conversations around Trusted Influence - achieving a balance between commitment and empowerment - conversations have 3 legs of support: 1) saying what you are doing and doing it consistently, 2) demonstrating genuine sense of caring, 3) expressing and sharing beliefs in nonjudgmental ways.
Drive ideas with conversations around Conceptual Thinking - hitting the right balance between innovation and big picture thinking with innovation addressing new solutions/ideas and big picture thinking looking at big picture themes and systems.
Systemize and focus work processes through conversations around Systems Thinking - hitting the balance between work process orientation and mental discipline needed for rigorous thinking needed for difficult situations.

Bad Conversations - getting bogged down in `the swamp', and getting out - conversations we all have at times. Characteristics ...
- unclear, poorly expressed or poorly understood content, issues
- unfocused content marked by veering off on tangents, too many facts, wants, concerns, needs
- frequent interruptions, poor exchange, frustration
- lack of active listening.
- unexpressed beliefs, guarded emotions, unspoken needs
- harsh emotions and tone, out of tone with meeting
- non-verbal signs of negative feelings
- unresponsive body language
- outputs ... bad feelings, bad judgments, bad decisions
Steps to get out of "the swamp" ...
1) drop your original agenda - deal with what is happening in the room
2) validate issues and feelings - uncover the roots
3) create a list - get it all out
4) confirm the list and get a clear understanding of issues
5) start with the last item; early items tend to be smoke screens
6) build up the issue - have the sponsor explain why this is important
7) hold up the mirror - establish the line of reasoning, make it visible for all to examine
8) leave the swamp - use the "tower of power" to reframe the issue, assumptions, new possibilities, and craft actions for commitment to move forward


Part 2 - practice - how leaders use powerful conversations to foster trust, drive change, motivate and retain people, deliver their own special message

Trust importance, meaning, levels of trust (see also "The Trusted Advisor")
4 C's of trust: caring, commitment, clarity, consistency
Rules of trust
o begins with a commitment
o requires being clear and consistent
o loyalty occurs only through consistent acts of caring
o requires living one's own beliefs
o involves an interlocking system of internal beliefs (shared)
Levels of trust: 1) commitment, 2) loyalty, 3) belief
Trust breakdown, rebuilding

Chapter ... Change - comment: this is a major role for the leaders ...
They listen to and spend time with employees at all levels of the organization.
They are caring people who are very direct (telling it like it is).
They do exactly what they say they will do.
They do not let the strategy overwhelm the people.
They are incredibly open to diversity (divergent opinions and perspectives with due respect).

Steps to an agenda for change
Develop an agenda for Change vision by setting the goal and clearly defining objectives.
Focus the senior leadership team on defining and fine tuning the architecture for the Agenda for Change.
Focus managers at all levels on the vision and objectives.
Institute a learning system (every change effort involves learning).
Ensure that passionate champions are heading up specific, critical components of implementation and operation ("free radical leaders" to make things happen). Champions are ...
o highly driven and enormously focused, with strong mental discipline,
o trusted inside of organizations; everyone knows their commitment to getting things accomplished,
o see the big picture, but don't often invent,
o not necessarily systems thinkers but are always perceptive
o achievement oriented,
o drivers, capable of creating unstoppable momentum,
o don't entertain probabilities of not reaching the goal.
High impact leaders ...
o spend quality time with passionate champions on a regular basis,
o frequently check in with passionate champions to ensure they stay on track,
o follow up on commitments they make to their passionate champions.


Chapter ... Retaining People - short introduction to a major topic


Last Chapter ... The Voice of Leadership and the Power of the Leadership Voice



Appendix - Powerful Conversations Toolbox

Guidelines for planning, conducting, and measuring powerful conversations
Tower of Power summary
Leadership Assessment Instrument (5 competences cited above)
The Trust Tool - notes on trust
The Change Tool - change process notes (this is a brief intro to a very important and more complex subject; it is a good start but there are very comprehensive change management programs and models with diagnostic and operational tools available)
The Retention Tool - again, a complex subject, spanning far more than this brief intro
The Trust, Change, Retention tools are good summaries to use in preparing for conversations but not a substitute for more complete treatments of each of these important areas.

Customer Rating: 

As a coach, consultant and author, I have read many books about communication. I have to admit this one goes right to the top. It provides an excellent model for powerful conversations that are based on open communication, trust, and forward movement. The model of "What's Up, What's So, What's Possible, Let's Go, is simple and complex at the same time. Harkins shares real-life examples that illustrate his points. Combining this resource with another of my favorites, Difficult Conversations Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most will enable any leader to maximize his or her communication results. Pay special attention to the definition of "passionate champions" and the enlistment of these people for supporting organizational change. I referenced this book many times in my latest book, Managing Sticky Situations at Work.

This is definitely a must-read for high impact leaders.

Customer Rating: 

It is no secret that some leaders can inspire people to heroic levels of greatness, while others can not even stimulate individuals to the level of mediocrity. Some organizations can inspire fierce employee loyalty while others watch their top talent depart regularly. The author of this book argues that often the reason for these situations lies in the way the top leaders of an organization communicate with the rest of the organization.

The author of this book shares his insight as to how high impact leaders communicate. By sharing the stories of some remarkable leaders who use Powerful Conversations techniques to spread their voice throughout their organization, to instill trust and loyalty, and to effectuate deep and profound change when change is necessary, the author hopes to share:

· why you must always say what you will do and what you say;
· how to use the four-step Tower of Power to guide companies through Powerful Conversations that lead to action;
· how to really listen to people so that organizations hear their message and they know that you understand;
· how to create Agenda for change and implement it to create profound change within the organization.

The author shares the five competencies-focused drive, emotional intelligence, trusted influence, conceptual thinking and systems thinking-shared by all high-impact leaders.

Customer Rating: 

Prior to reading Powerful Conversations: How High-Impact Leaders Communicate, I had anticipated a manual to the proper rules of conversation. However, this book turned out to be much more than a manual of sorts. Harkins not only provides ways to develop excellent communication as well as leadership skills, he also explains what powerful conversations are, how they are structured, and what types of impacts, accomplishments and outcomes they render.
Being able to communicated effectively is critical in today's corporate world. Harkins reminds us of some of the most basic skills that most of us don't even consider to be as important in communication as they actually prove to be. Skills such as the ability to build trusting relationships and listen carefully to others.
However, not all the techniques discussed are as basic. It does indeed take practice to become a master of powerful conversation. Harkins provides six tools which can be used to enhance your communication and leadership skill in order to ensure greater success. I found Tool 1: Planning, Conducting, and Measuring Powerful Conversations, to be an excellent guideline for the preparation and implementation of powerful conversations. This tool also provides a series of simple but very relevant questions that you can ask yourself to determine what type of outcome resulted from your conversation.
Harkins also includes a self-scoring sample of the Leadership Assessment Instrument (LAI) to help you gain insight into your own leadership abilities, which I found to be extremely helpful.
Overall, I found this book to be very beneficial and would recommend it to professionals, students, and anyone looking to enhance their success.

Customer Rating: 

The title Powerful Conversations: How High-Impact Leaders Communicate led me to believe that this book was primarily concerned with interpersonal communication. I found, however, that it is largely focussed on the ethics of leadership and the philosophy of emotional intelligence as applied to big business. The book is of high calibre in this respect, and for this reason I gave it 4 stars. But if you are looking for a hands-on manual on communication you will need to look elsewhere.

Anyone who is sufficiently motivated to read this book will no doubt be already aligned with the basic philosophy of trust, openness, honesty, and clarity. The challenge lies in implementing such a philosophy. No doubt Harkins takes a more practical approach in his corporate training programme, and it would be a very large and expensive book if it were to contain such a programme in full. However, I find it frustrating that Harkins spends far more time explaining why than he does explaining how. Some methodology is woven into the text, but on the whole, the presentation focuses largely on principles and attitudes.

All of these elements, of course, provide a necessary foundation for any system; after all, rote behaviours are largely unsustainable. But there is also a need for clear directives on the progressive action steps that need to be taken. The book must serve exceedingly well as a door opener for corporate clients, but the owner/operator of a small business will not find definitive steps that he or she could progressively implement from the book alone. I should add that I am not advocating the rigid paint-by-numbers formula that some other motivational books follow.

What I most question is Harkins' representation of trust as a primary focus, rather than as an outcome of deliberate and conscious process. Trust, far from being a subjective quality only, is an objective competency that employees as well as their leaders must progressively develop and demonstrate. For example, in his book, Leadership, Rudolph Giuliani describes the functioning of his mayoral team with great frankness. In so doing, he demonstrates clearly how trust is not assumed at the beginning; it is developed over time and established through frank and honest appraisal of each team member's verbal and practical input. I miss this in Harkins' book.

I have nevertheless reserved a place for Powerful Conversations on my bookshelves. But to round out Harkins' perspective, I have added books like Rudolph Giuliani's Leadership, Jim Loehr's & Tony Swartz's The Power of Full Engagement, Dorothy Leeds' The 7 Powers of Questions and Meryl Runion's Power Phrases. Together, they make a mighty team.