March 2010

This Month's Features

+	Leadership Book Series
+	FMI's 360 Feedback
Leadership Videos Online
+	Introduction to the Leadership Institute
+	An In-depth Look at the Leadership Institute
+	Leadership Institute Testimonials

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FMI's Executive Coaching

Just as the best athletes have coaches, strong leaders often have coaches as well. In tough times, the need for coaching is even greater. Our FMI coaches bring more than 100 years of combined coaching experience, coupled with specialized industry knowledge, that can help you through these turbulent times.

Click here to learn more about FMI's Executive Coaching.

What FMI Executive Coaching clients are saying:

• "When you have the ability to make change and improvement to someone who affects your business, affects the growth of team members and affects your image – can you afford not to complete something like this? My answer is no!"

• "I already have made a greater contribution to this company as a result of coaching – both from a performance and a supervisory standpoint. In working with my group of a dozen people, they have their subordinates as well; I think it’s important how the impact transcends my group."

The "Practical Tools for Exceptional Leaders" booklet series is designed to help you learn and apply best-of-class leadership principles in your life and within your organization.
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A Letter From Ron Magnus, Managing Director

Imagine you are a world-class sprinter looking for a competitive edge. Fortunately, Nike has a brand-new miracle shoe guaranteed to trim a full second off your sprint time. And even better, it only costs $100. How many more races do you win next year?

The answer is zero, because any advantage you gain is easily accessible to your competitors. As short lists get longer, bids more competitive and clients more selective, construction industry leaders are forced to look outside of the traditional areas of budget, schedule and quality. The most progressive companies in the industry realize that carving out a unique and valuable position in the marketplace is not just a function of a great strategic plan. Instead, it is a result of a group of leaders who have the capability to think strategically by reading market trends, mobilizing people to pursue opportunity and aligning their teams around strategic initiatives.

This issue of the Leadership eNewsletter takes a deeper look at the leadership competency of thinking strategically.

Ron Magnus

Emotional Intelligence: Leading in the 21st Century

Tim Tokarczyk and Tom Alafat

Many experts believe that a person's emotional quotient (EQ) is a better predictor of success than IQ. Unlike IQ, emotional intelligence is a skill set that we can develop and improve throughout our lives.

Ed is a project manager who has risen through the ranks due to his attention to detail and insistence on finishing projects on schedule. He arrives on-site to inspect work completed by Dean, a journeyman, only to discover it was built out incorrectly. Fixing the work will increase the projected hours and material cost. Even worse, Dean refuses to take any responsibility for the mistake, even though there was a task plan in place.

Ed recognizes the severity of the situation and wants Dean to accept ownership over the problem. Tensions rise and both men start shouting, which attracts the attention of the rest of the crew. Ed realizes this is an unhealthy situation and unproductive toward his eventual goal of getting Dan to own the problem and develop a workable solution, but is unable to control his anger. The two men eventually start making personal attacks on each other.

To Ed's credit, his attempt to get Dean to accept responsibility for the mistake was intentional and part of the bigger picture in helping Dean become ready for the next level of leadership. Ed thought Dean might be resistant to take responsibility for his mistake, but he pictured himself behaving differently. He imagined he would listen to Dean's initial excuses, convince him to take responsibility, and motivate him to solve the issue. He did not expect to lose his temper, and he did not expect to hear himself personally attacking Dean. Instead of focusing on the issue, he called Dean "lazy, incompetent and worthless." Ed felt bad about the confrontation, but in the heat of the moment, his words and actions felt uncontrollable. Reflecting on the argument, he realized that over the years he has had many similar encounters. Ed knows there is a better way to deal with conflict but feels powerless to do so when tensions rise and tempers flare.

Read on to learn how to build your emotional intelligence so you may deal effectively with pressures and conflicts without damaging relationships.

Leadership 2.0: Building Trust, the Forgotten Application

Tim Tokarczyk

The advent of new technologies in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has transformed the landscape of human interaction. The world is smaller now than ever before, and people are more connected than at any previous point in human history. Globalization, for example, has enabled us to outsource non-essential business functions overseas or to share resources within multinational corporations across borders. The proliferation of cell phones has connected us; workers can now communicate with each other almost instantaneously around the world at the click of a button.

Further, social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have brought together millions of people into centralized locations, where access to their lives is open to all. These advances in technology have changed the way businesses operate, which provides both additional tools for leaders as well as newfound obstacles to developing trust with their people. To truly increase the speed and efficiency of their organizations, leaders must be careful not to overuse technology, but instead, to develop a trusting culture.

Read on to learn how the world will only continue to grow smaller as technology becomes more powerful, cheaper and more readily accessible.