Do We Understand Leaders?

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Expectations on Leaders

I attended an author’s briefing today for a new book called The Work of Leaders.  It was written by a team of four authors and one of them, Julie Straw, presented the briefing.  Lots of great information but one thing she presented near the beginning got my attention and got me thinking and so  I wanted to share it with you.

In the briefing, Julie shared some insight into a lot of the research they did in support of the book.  What caught my attention was a survey they did on employees asking about the shortcomings on their leaders.  They distilled it down and came up with three primary issues that people have with their leaders.  They are, in order,

  1. they want them to be more active about finding new opportunities for the team
  2. they want them to focus more on improving process and making things easier for people
  3. they want them to spend more time motivating and encouraging their followers

What struck me about this was the comments themselves.  Certainly number three is a quality that leaders should embrace.  In fact, a leader should spend the vast majority of their time encouraging people, equipping people, and motivating them to become better than they are.  But the other two items, #1 and #2, are not really leadership issues; they are management issues.

Managers or Leaders

One of the things this tells us is that many people put management and leadership in the same bundle.  When people say that the leader should be more active about finding new opportunities for the team and focus more on improving process, they are really saying that these are behaviors they would like to see in their managers that obviously they aren’t seeing.

Remember the simple formula:

managers are about process, leaders are about people.

So seeking new opportunities and improving process, making life easier for employees; those are the job of the manager.  Equipping, empowering, encouraging, motivating, and growing are the roles of the leader.

That said, to be a truly effective manager you must also be an effective leader.  In fact, perhaps what the results of the survey really tell us is that people would like to see their managers both be more proactive in their management roles but also would like to see them be better leaders than they are.

Leaders are Grown

I mentioned earlier that leaders have a responsibility to grow their followers; it’s an enormous responsibility. But for a leader to grow others, they must first grow themselves.  You cannot give what you don’t have to give.  I think leaders are recognizing this more and more.  One of the other survey results cited in the book The Work of Leaders is what people think they need the most in order to be better equipped for the jobs.   What was number one?

Leadership Training

The challenge is that we can’t just throw a band aid on it. Offering one training course, or sending someone to  a conference, or giving them a book to read will not make them anymore of an effective leader than sitting in a boat makes you a good sailor.

Leaders Sail the Waters Daily

leaders sail the the watersWhile sitting in the boat you are surrounded by the tools you need to sail, but you must first gain knowledge about sailing.  You must spend time developing and applying the skills to sail; knowing how to gauge the wind, navigate the water, determine the course, and bring all elements in line with moving in the desired direction on the water.  You must know how to trim the sails, handle the helm, coordinate the crew, and change direction to as the sea and wind changes to keep yourself on course.  You must be mentored by a more experienced sailor.  You must learn from your mistakes on the water.  And you must do all of this day in and day out to become the sailor you were meant to be.

If you are not engaged on a DAILY basis in developing your leadership skills, the growth necessary to become an excellent leader will simply not occur or will be haphazard and slow at best.  Leadership growth occurs best when it is

  • Daily –  you must do something every day to develop your skills
  • Intentional – you must have a plan for the skills you need to develop and how you will develop them
  • Scheduled – you must set aside time on your calendar for it; otherwise any excuse will help you avoid it
  • Guided – Someone needs to help you see and navigate the process; like a coach or mentor
  • Progressive – build on a skill one by one; don’t attempt to master anything in a day

Spend as much (if not more time) on developing yourself and your people.  When you do, you will be surprised to find how many of the other process-oriented problems will take care of themselves.

Not sure how to start, why not call me for a complimentary consultation.

Action Plan

  1. Identify three skills you need to develop further.  Remember to work from a position of strength and not weakness; in other words, identify your three strongest skills and seek to make them better.
  2. Pick the one you want to start on.  Locate resources to help you develop that skill and secure them.
  3. Set aside time on your calendar DAILY to work on it.  It should be the same time every day.  Guard it ruthlessly; let nothing short of a client need or spurting blood interrupt it.
  4. Keep me posted on how your are doing.  I want to hear your success stories.

Overcoming Our Natural Resistance

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Resistance to a Poke in the Eye

You must overcome resistance to insert contact lensLearning to put contact lens in can be a challenge.  Twenty years ago I got contacts and remember spending a good couple of weeks getting used to sticking my finger in eye to put them in.  After spending the years between wearing glasses, I went back to contact lens in the last year and it was much easier to make that adjustment this time; took just a day instead of weeks.  My wife, Sherry, just got contacts and is now trying to get used to it.  She has had a rough go at it, but finally the last couple of days she has been able to successfully put her contacts in.

The reason it is such a challenge is our body’s natural protective defenses.  Anytime anything comes anywhere near the eye, it the body’s impulse to close the eyelid, providing resistance to whatever might potentially damage the eye.  Putting anything in your eye is not natural.  Some even have trouble putting in eye drops.  Certainly, poking yourself in the eye can and should prompt resistance by the body.  You learn to insert contact lens by teaching yourself to work past the natural resistance and overcome it.  Only then can you successfully insert the lens into your eye.

All Kinds of Resistance

The protection system in our body is designed to resist not just physical harm like a poke in the eye, but also emotional harm like a real good poke at our self-esteem.  Trying something new, taking a risk, making big changes are all things that can potentially cause harm to our emotional well-being.  That part of the mind that handles protection doesn’t analyze the situation in terms of future productivity or success; it simply assesses the current situation and launches resistance forces to protect us from the potential danger.  This is something that is in every single one of us.  Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, professional athletes, you, me; we are all victims of this resistance.  This resistance will keep us from doing anything risky.  It will create excuses, rationalizations, meaningless busy work; anything it can to keep us from putting ourselves on the line, from risking our pride and self-esteem.  Left to run free, resistance will keep us from doing anything productive or different.  The key is to teach yourself to work past that natural resistance to action and overcome it.

Overcoming Resistance is Easier Said Than Done

It won’t be easy.  The more you fight it, the dirtier resistance fights back.  It is not a fair fight.  You are the underdog.  Resistance has no morals, no consideration.  It wants control of your life.  In his book, Do The Work! Steven Pressfield puts it this way:

“Resistance will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stick-up man.  Resistance has no conscience.  It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is turned.”

Take Back Control from Resistance

be victorious over resistanceDetermine not to let it have that control.  How do you do that?

HABIT

What allows you to learn to stick your finger in your eye every day to place a lens there is the development of a habit.  Even after doing it once, your body will still resist it.  It is only through the habit of the daily activity that you overcome that resistance and are able to wear contact lens, thus freeing you from glasses.  What allows you to be successful at reaching a goal or completing any project or initiative is the development of a habit or habits that hammer resistance constantly.  Decide on the DAILY actions you need to take.  Enter them on your calendar in blocked off times.  Do not allow yourself to do anything else during that time until your do the scheduled things.  Give yourself rewards for doing it and consequences for not doing it.

Never let up!  Resistance will outlast you and come back no matter how much you think you have beaten it to a pulp.  Be ruthless and merciless!  Stick to the established habits and be faithful.  Only then can you quiet the screams of resistance in your life.

Action Plan

  1. Create a list of 2-3 things you want to accomplish within the short-term that you have been attempting to do unsuccessfully.
  2. Under each item, write down AT LEAST ONE THING you must do DAILY to accomplish it.  Block off time on your calendar every day to do those things.  Create a reward for doing it and a consequence that will impact you.
  3. Start NOW!  Don’t schedule this starting next week.  Today or tomorrow at the lastest.
  4. Keep me posted on how you are doing.  I want to know about your successes and your challenges.  WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER!

Growth Like a Weed

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Growth Through Blogging

In my accountability group this morning, I brought up the fact that I was blogging daily.  I began this a few weeks ago based on a suggestion that Seth Godin once made that you should blog daily and have something to say about your business.  I hasten to add that while I thought on it from Seth’s suggestion, the decision and reason are mine (which I will get into in a minute).  You will never be at peace fulfilling someone else’s plan for you; it has to be your plan and your reasons.

My Reasons

One of the members of the group asked me why I was doing it, what was the purpose I hoped to accomplish.  Had I attracted a lot of traffic for it?  Did I hope to build traffic or clients through it?  My response surprised them a bit.  No, that is not my objective at this time.  While I welcome people to the blog and while I do work some SEO features into it, building my list or traffic is not currently my primary objective of blogging daily.  I had two big reasons for doing it:

  1. I had a goal and it was an ambitious one.  I not only have to have something to say every day but I have to have a sufficient amount to say about it.  If you think it is easy, try it sometime; although I will say once I get going have enough to say rarely is an issue.  But it was important for me to set an ambitious short-term goal and accomplish it.  So far, so good; haven’t missed a day yet.
  2. It gets me to put my thoughts on paper, as it were.  Topics I think you might want to read about it because, quite frankly, they interest me as well.  It forces me to think on what I have know and what I have learned about these subjects and organize them.  It also forces me to explore a little more and see different perspectives and increase my knowledge.  Who knows, perhaps all this may wind up in a book someday.

growth through goal achievement Both of these reasons have little or nothing to do with building lists, increasing traffic, making sales, or gaining clients.  It has to do with growth; an intentional plan of growth to prepare myself to be able to add value to others more and serve better.  Setting and reaching an ambitious goal is a growth initiative as it not only requires discipline to accomplish it but reinforces self-confidence when I achieve it.  As Henry Thoreau wrote,

 What you get by achieving your goal is not as important as what you become by achieving your goal!

So I am seeking to achieve more to become more and the reverse is also true, I become more to achieve more.  It stretches me and makes me reach higher and deeper.  In addition, putting my thoughts down helps me create and improve content that has garnered through years of experience and research.  Getting it all down prepares me to turn around and share it with others.  All the knowledge in the world is useless unless you can share it with someone else and help them grow.  According to John Maxwell, the idea is to

be a river and not a reservoir.

And what I got into this business for is to Cultivate Growth.  It is my primary purpose for all I do, to foster growth within others to become better leaders, better family members, better employees, and better citizens of their community.  To do that best, I must also cultivate growth within myself.

Cultivating Growth

For growth to really work, your growth has to be like a weed.  A weed grows daily and it grows regardless of what is going on around it.  It takes whatever it can feed off of and keeps going.  Your growth needs to be the same as the weed and more.  It needs to be

  • daily
  • intentional
  • undeterred by circumstance
  • measurable

growth by 1% a dayEvery day, keep 1% in mind.  Commit to grow yourself by 1% daily.  I used to say that if you do that the after one year you will have grown by 365%.  Actually, however, it is not additive, it is exponential.  You get 1% on top of 1% on top of 1% and so on.  Large amounts of growth through a daily commitment.  Make that growth in measurable areas where you can see the changes; that builds confidence and reinforces the movement towards progress.  The progress is key.  Keep going, keep growing.

Be a 1%er!

Action Plan

  1. What are you doing specifically and intentionally to foster your own growth?  If nothing, what are you willing to do?
  2. Track your progress on a daily basis.

Purpose at Our Core

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Purpose is the Foundation

Grad with no Purpose

Many years ago, I partnered with a good friend to start a career counseling business.  Now, we were not one of the “job in a drawer” places where someone just flips through the Rolodex and says, “here’s your perfect job!”  We actually worked with our clients to help  identify where they would be happiest and where they would be at their element.  Where they can be fulfilled and fit in.  We were trying to do something of significance, because so often we ran across people who really had no clue who they were or what they were designed to do.

Purposeless Education

Case in point.  One client comes in.  She has gone through college, went to medical school and became a doctor.  Went through residency.  At the end of residency, decided she did not want to be a doctor.  Went back to school and studied psychiatry.  Went through residency again.  Decided she did not want to be a psychiatrist.  Now, 30 years old and all that time and money spent in school and programs – all that knowledge and training – and she had no idea what she wanted to be.  Sitting in my office, tears and sobbing, she felt lost and that all was lost.  She had no idea where to go, what to do, how to make a difference.  She had no purpose.

We All Seek Purpose

She is not alone.  Too many are in the same place.  Not sure where to go or what to do.  Many times, they made decisions on what to do or what job to take or career to pursue based on someone else’s dream.  So they trudge along in a job they can’t stand, where they can’t wait for quitting time to come around or can’t wait until they hit retirement age and do something else.  But even retiring doesn’t solve the problem.  They still feel lost and without direction, they are just doing it from home instead of the office.  There are even studies to suggest that retiring leads to an earlier death.  I emphasized the suggest because it is far from conclusive.  Anyway, we are lost for most of our lives without purpose.

Benefits of Purpose

Purpose gives us positive emotions that bolster us.  We feel passion to drive us.  We feel emotional connection.  We feel satisfaction at having an impact.  We feel fulfillment at adding value to someone else.  Purpose does more than provide direction, it provides meaning and significance to our lives.  As a result, working to fulfill our purpose can lead to more profitability personally and corporately in part because we will have a more positive attitude.  That improved attitude will allow us to view the challenges of life in a different perspective.  Mountains become molehills, nothing seems insurmountable.  Sacrifice seems more temporary and more worthwhile.  We feel and see victory.

Do you know your purpose?  Do you really feel the significance of what you are doing, how it impacts others and adds value to them?  If not, know that IT IS NEVER TOO LATE to discover it.  At the same time, you don’t want to wait.  Some wait too late and miss the opportunity to discover and live that purpose.  As Oliver Wendell Holmes said,

Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!

Some day may never come and the greatest tragedy of all isn’t taking a risk and losing it all, it’s going to the end of your life on earth with that song still in your heart.

Purpose Finds your heartIf you know your purpose, truly feel the passion that drives you, I commend you and hope that you are pursuing it on a daily basis.  Let me know how I can help you.

If you don’t know your purpose, make a commitment to start TODAY to begin the journey of discovery.  Don’t be afraid to seek help finding it.  Trusting a professional coach can help you accelerate the process and more accurately identify your purpose.  You would not be alone in this; a large number of successful corporate executives use coaches for this and other reasons.  However you do it, DON’T WAIT ANOTHER DAY!  Take that first step.  You can do this, it’s in you.  Let the song out.

Action Plan

  1. Sit down RIGHT NOW and do one of two things:
    1. If you know your purpose, list the things you need to do DAILY to live it.  Schedule time on your calendar to work it and commit yourself to the process.
    2. If you don’t know your purpose, commit to do something TODAY to start the process of discovery.  Not sure where to start or what to do, find a coach.  Do it now.

Risky Business: The Power of WHY

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Why Powers Risk

WHY Power WHY power makes us do things that others question.  It has been almost three years now since I took this very risky venture on several fronts.  I chose to work for myself instead of for someone else.  I chose to change my primary business from technical training and development to cultivating leadership and personal growth.  I chose to invest in being a Founding Partner in the John Maxwell Team and a certified leadership speaker/trainer/coach.  I chose to pour my resources into developing that business.  For a variety of reasons, it is still not a booming success but I know it is coming and continue to work towards that.

Why Powers Purpose?

The big question I usually get is WHY I chose to make the change to leadership development and fostering personal growth as opposed to sticking where I was with training and development consulting (I still do that by the way).  I can only say that it is the answer to that very same WHY that drives me. Over the years I have worked for several companies, large and small, and through that with many client companies.  A consistent issue I saw in many organizations is that there was plenty of management going on and very little leadership.  And there is a difference, which I have talked about in an Ah-Ha! Moment of the Week video.

And what I saw from this was that most of the problems of the organization was due to that lack of leadership.  I truly believe that

Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership

and that the level of effectiveness of leadership is what determines how a company succeeds and grows or withers and dies.  Small businesses today especially need to embrace this because in this hard economy it becomes real easy to lose vision what you are trying to accomplish and how you are going to get there.  You get lost in the trees of survival that you can no longer see the forest.  Then, when things do clear you are totally unprepared to take advantage of the growth opportunities before you.  I believe in small business and I believe in YOU and that’s the WHY that drives me every day! It’s why I became the TOP-LINE GUY to help you achieve BOTTOM-LINE RESULTS!

Action Plan

  1. What’s your WHY?  Is it specific?  Just making money is not enough; just serving people is not enough.  You need a WHY that will drive you through hard times.  A WHY that will compel you to take risks, financial and otherwise.  A WHY that will set the stage for you to swallow pride and independence enough to seek help to excel.  A WHY that will drive you to learn what you need to learn and gather who you need to gather.  A WHY that demands a legacy to go far beyond where you will ever take it.
  2. Write that WHY down.  Remind yourself of it every day.  Let it infiltrate your organization in the vision, in the mission statement, in the customer service, in employee relations; in everything you do.
  3. Not sure how to make all that happen?  Not sure of your WHY?  Seek a coach or partner who can help you identify it, define it, and live it.  There’s a reason that highly successful organizations have coaches; because that’s how they became highly successful organizations.

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