Todd Wangsgard
Enterprising, results-driven, and grounded are words that describe Todd Wangsgard. He brings 24 years of leadership and organizational development experience to his clients.
Clients value his ability to create clarity out of the business fog that prevents most companies from enabling greatness and developing the capabilities of their associates.
Todd has excellent professional experience. He was Senior Manager of Training, Talent Management, and Communications for ATK Lake City, a government-owned, company-operated manufacturing center in Independence, Missouri. He organized the training department, developed and implemented all levels of leadership curriculum, and oversaw the operation’s succession planning and teambuilding strategies.
As the Manager of Professional Development for ATK, a $4 billion aerospace and defense company, Todd led the creation of employee and leadership assessment and development initiatives for operations in 23 states.
Todd worked for Intermountain Healthcare, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah, the intermountain west’s largest physician, clinic and hospital network. He founded IHC University and managed the implementation of curriculum as well as the administrative team of IHCU.
An industry cross section of Todd’s clients represent higher education, health care, insurance, manufacturing, aerospace, and defense.
Todd holds a PhD from Walden University in Leadership and Organizational Change. He has also earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix and a B.A. from Weber State University (Ogden, Utah) in communications.
Todd is affiliated with a number of professional organizations and holds certifications to teach a number of programs. He is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), a Master Facilitator for Achieve Global, and a Certified Professional Behavior Analyst (DISC).
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FranklinCovey Consultant Blogs | Todd Wangsgard | January, 2012
Leadership & Team Trust – Keyword: Alignment
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This is the third installment of a three-part series on trust by Dr. Todd Wangsgard, featured in the Texas/Oklahoma FranklinCovey blog.
I intend for employees to work well together. But sometimes they don’t.
I intend for people to understand the department’s goals. But sometimes they aren’t clear.
I intend for the production line to remain “up” all shift long. But sometimes it isn’t.
I intend for my kids to just know that I love them. But sometimes they wonder.
The difference between what we intend and what is could be called a credibility gap. As we examined in my first blog posting in this series (see Leadership and Trust: Keyword – “Confidence”) every person, organization, team, process, or piece of equipment portrays some level of credibility. According to Stephen MR covey, credibility is the sum total of one’s integrity, intent, capabilities, and results. The gap I’ve described in the examples above is typical of that rift between good intentions and actual capabilities and/or results that occurs when something is out of alignment.
High trust teams require alignment.
This is where the leader can leverage his or her efforts to build personal credibility at the Self Trust level and the increased trust that comes from key behaviors (see my second posting Leadership & Relationship Trust – Keyword: “Behavior”) at the Relationship Trust level. These combine for the leader who must create trustworthy systems and symbols that are aligned.
A mid-level manager at a large auto manufacturer with whom I work quite closely expressed frustration when he had done everything he could to be a more trustworthy leader, develop relationships of trust, and still find that people were failing to “deliver the goods” on the job. It wasn’t until he took a closer look at his department’s systems and processes that he found one of them was broken. He tried hard to be fair. He was tireless in his communication. He treated his associates with dignity and respect and expected the same of them. However, the computerized system that made work assignments each day – determining which stations each associate would work at – kept putting some people on the same processes, shift after shift. This created issues of boredom, repetitive motion injuries, low morale, and resentment. “After all,” associates would think, “I’m sure the boss keeps me here because he doesn’t like me.”
When things get out of alignment and we fail to address them, people will quickly assume the worst.
It wasn’t until he discovered that there was a break-down in the training reporting system that ensured associates were qualified in the computer system to work in other areas that he was able to apply a quick and effective remedy. He aligned the system with his good intentions.
Ask your team to examine the systems in your department – communication, budgeting, training, meetings, performance, etc. – and get their input on where these could be better aligned. Your interest and concern alone will generate trust, not to mention the many ways you rebuild and refine systems and processes that ensure your team remains credible and successful, long after you are promoted.
This even works outside of the office. If your loved ones begin to wonder how much you care, give yourself an alignment: Tell ‘em and show ‘em!
Leadership & Relationship Trust – Keyword: “Behavior”
This is the second installment t of a three-part series on trust by Dr. Todd Wangsgard, featured in the Texas/Oklahoma FranklinCovey blog.
Actions speak louder than words.
Years ago Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of The7 Habits of Highly Effective People, (and father to Speed of Trust author Stephen M.R. Covey) found himself teaching a workshop in Oregon where a participant related to him during a break some of the challenges he was facing due to his past indiscretions. Dr. Covey was careful to bring out the principle that:
You can’t talk your way out of a problem you’ve behaved your way into.
Years later in his research, SMRC noted that while it is true you can’t talk your way out of a problem you’ve behaved your way into, it is true that:
You can behave your way out of a problem you’ve behaved your way into.
Once the leader establishes and continues to build personal credibility through the Four Cores (see my Part 1 blog posting, Leadership and Trust – Keyword: “Confidence”), it is critical to examine and practice the behaviors that will allow him or her to build trust in relationships with individuals – personally and professionally.
Let’s look at the headlines.
Without divulging specifics on these stories, let’s uncover what business headlines from the past few days suggest to us about the importance of trusting behaviors:
- Fast food CEO has big plans to flip its ranking
- Auto manufacturer changes body style to appeal to customers
- Board of private company opens the books to dispel rumors
- Company makes good on broken promises
Each of these speaks to the behaviors that are being demonstrated in order to build or rebuild trust. Those include at least five from SMRC’s 13 High Trust Behaviors list, such as Listen First, Get Better, Create Transparency, Confront Reality, and Right Wrongs.
Simply put, trustworthy leaders lead out when it comes to behaving in ways that builds confidence and they inspire others within their ranks to do likewise. And just because you may have slipped and lost the trust of someone significant, it is often easier than you thought to rebuild that trust by quickly identifying the key behaviors that were/are missing and behaving your way back into the other person’s good graces.
Leadership and Trust – Keyword: “Confidence”
This is the first part of a three-part series on trust by Dr. Todd Wangsgard, to be featured in the Texas/Oklahoma FranklinCovey blog.
Author of The Speed of Trust, Stephen M.R. Covey, defines trust as “confidence born of the character and competence of an individual or organization.” This simple yet complete definition of an otherwise squishy subject takes into account both the feel-good side of trust in character as well as the practical side of one’s reliability in competence. Both character and competence lend confidence to those who would consider following any leader. And more than ever before, trust (or confidence) is sought after by an increasingly globally savvy audience of human beings who see the impact that geo-political activities are having on their individual well-being.
SMRC (as we affectionately call the author at FranklinCovey) also boldly asserts that, “trust is the key competency of the new global economy.” Again, as you replace “trust” in that sentence with “confidence,” one can see how the currency of trust is not just a “nice-to-have,” but rather an absolute imperative for leadership effectiveness under any circumstances. It is key, because without it, business plans, corporate promises, financial metrics and reports all come under the scrutiny of one question: “Yes, but what should we believe?”
The Speed of Trust book and classroom experience offer several models of thinking to better understand and define trust that break the subject down into understandable water cooler discussions. The Four Cores of Self Trust that subdivide Character into one’s integrity and intent and Competence into capabilities and results. The Five Waves of Trust that any leader must assess and develop within, including Self Trust, Relationship Trust, Organizational (or team) Trust, Market Trust, and Societal Trust. The 13 Behaviors of High Trust, including Talk Straight, Create Transparency, Right Wrongs, Get Better and nine others.
I recently worked with a successful CEO in the manufacturing and fulfillment business who has truly lived out the kind of trustworthy behavior described by SMRC. He has worked side-by-side (while the CEO) with frontline employees on the manufacturing line to learn what they do and to help keep costs down during a recent recession (Show Loyalty, Deliver Results, Confront Reality, Practice Accountability). He has made an effort to get to know every single employee in the company and remembers to send them a hand-written birthday greeting each year (Demonstrate Respect, Show Loyalty). While announcing a 15% pay cut for himself, he asked all exempt associates to accept a 7½% pay cut to help off-set their losses or agree to termination with a 3-months’ salary severance package (at their higher rate of pay). No one left and all were subsequently rewarded with “back-pay” on their lost wages after a couple successful intervening years and given a sizeable bonus (Talk Straight, Create Transparency, Show Loyalty, Get Better, Keep Commitments).
The confidence that Stephen writes about and that I’ve witnessed in industry over the past 25+ years starts with a leader who has genuine confidence in himself or herself and in the associates who choose to follow. Give them a leader they can trust (the Self Trust wave) and you have a foundation upon which you will build lasting relationships, enormously successful organizations, and a brand that generates intense loyalty and growth.