Leadership … Continued Discussions 5/26/10

In this post I want to discuss “trust,” both in regard to a leader’s trust in others and others’ trust in a leader.  Both aspects are absolutely essential to a successful tenure as a leader.

Re the importance of a leader trusting those whom he or she leads, it is my sense that people cannot excel at what they do … contribute maximally, if they do not feel that they are believed in and trusted to make a greater difference.  Without a clear sense that their thinking, their input, and their actions are sufficiently valued to warrant consideration, their input and actions will not be forthcoming, at least not to the extent they might.  It is human nature not to put oneself in jeopardy.  And if there is a perceived absence of trust, leader to staff, jeopardy can loom large.

My guiding principle in this regard is to trust everyone … until such time as they prove to me otherwise.  Samuel Johnson, the 1700s English essayist, biographer and poet, espoused something similar in saying, “It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.” Frank Crane, the late 1800s early 1900s American Presbyterian minister who is best known as a speaker, columnist and author, touched on this as well in saying, “You may be cheated if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough.” For those who would lead, I would change this to read, “You may be mislead if you trust too much, but you will walk alone or in the presence of only those who will tell you what you want to hear if you do not trust enough.” Trust gives rise to engagement, contribution and caring … trust is the foundation of progress.

And for that sense of a leader’s trust to evolve within a staff, these individuals need to be engaged and empowered to be a part of the process.  They need to be courted … their input actively sought out.  And that input needs to be truthfully considered.  And when their guidance goes amiss, and it surely will on occasion, the importance of their contributions to finding the ultimate best path forward needs to be the focus … not the quality of the input.  This is when those who would be led understand that their leader trusts them and values them.  This is when greater differences are made.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said this well, “Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.”

The other side of the trust equation is the reality that a staff must trust its leader … to make best possible decisions in support of the organizations and in support of them, if they are to fully invest themselves in the vision of the leader.  But this will come naturally once the leader’s trust in them is perceived as real and is routinely displayed.  Trust breads trust.

And what of the trust that a leader’s superiors would have in him or her?  A leader cannot function if there is a lack of trust from above, and surely will experience a diminished tenure if such exists.  So, there must be an absolute belief in and trust in a leader if this individual is to succeed in a leadership role.  And, I can think of no better way in which to evolve trust than to be proactive with open and honest communication … an ongoing sharing of both the good and the bad, of successes and failures, of right decisions and errors in judgment.  This and a tightly embraced belief that a leader and his or her elected & appointed leaders together constitute a team will generate the kind of trust that every leader needs in order to succeed.

In short, trust is everything … and it must be earned daily.

Author Cross-references:

Frank Crane: None

Steven H. Davis: Also see posts 9/26/09, 5/11/10

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Also see post 11/1/09

Samuel Johnson: None

Key Word Cross-references:

Authentic/Believable/Genuine: Also see posts 1/2/09, 1/28/09, 2/18/09, 2/25/09, 3/16/09, 10/26/09, 12/5/09, 1/4/10, 2/24/10

Inclusive/Open/Honest/Transparent: Also see posts 12/12/08, 4/20/09, 5/1/09, 7/7/09, 8/3/09, 10/26/09, 11/11/09, 1/29/10, 2/24/10

Team: Also see posts 1/13/09, 2/18/09, 4/20/09, 8/3/09, 1/6/10, 4/19/10

Trust: Also see posts 12/12/08, 12/16/08, 12/5/09, 2/18/10

Leadership … Continued Discussion 4/19/10

In this post I want to return to Ken Blanchard and his book The Heart of a Leader, which I have found to be an excellent read and chock full of wisdom and inspiring guidance.  Specifically, I want to focus on the following quote, “Successful organizations today have a triple bottom line – very much like a three-legged stool.  The three legs of the stool are Raving Fan customers, gung ho people, and financial strength.  All three legs have to be strong for the stool to stand.  If you focus on only one leg, the stool will fall.  Even if you focus on two legs, but forget the third, the stool will still fall.” The relationship to this quote and leadership, quite simply, is that successful leaders understand and live this quote.

The tendency for many is to focus most heavily on the fiscal leg of this stool, tightly embracing the forever need to grow revenue and reduce expenses.  Although a critical part of an organization’s ability to remain viable and have the necessary resources to further the organization’s mission, I consider this the hierarchical third leg on the stool.  The second leg, which is somewhat interchangeable with and codependent on the third, in my view of things is the staff/volunteer leg of the stool.  If you do not have a staff functioning as a team and if you do not have elected/appointed volunteers also functioning as a team and the two functioning together as a total team, it has been my experience that the greatest success become largely unachievable.  In its absence, staff silos evolve, Board splintering occurs, and one heck of a lot of energy goes into infighting and turf protecting as versus innovating the effective strategies that will propel an organization and its mission forward.  That leaves one additional leg, superlative customer service, which I view as the absolutely critical leg on this stool.  Organizations and companies exist to fulfill a need … to provide products and services that a body of individuals need and want.  Fulfilling the value needs of an individual is a significant reason for that individual continuing to seek the products and services provided by an organization or company.  But a part of meeting the value needs of an individual or a whole community of people is to accompany that product or service with the highest order of customer service.  This is what people want; this is what brings them back again and again.  Blanchard provides yet another aspect of this in the following quote, “The best definition of profit I’ve ever heard is that it is the applause you get for satisfying your customers and creating a motivating environment for your people.”

If you invest heavily in the staff & customer service legs of the stool, the fiscal leg will evolve on its own and continually strengthen.  If you instead invest heavily on the fiscal leg … the other two legs will weaken; too heavy of a focus on growing revenues dwindles the staff’s focus on team functioning and on customer service … which ultimately negatively impacts the fiscal leg.  It is my sense that the ticket to fiscal strength is not in how many products or services you can evolve and take to market, but in how many “Raving Fan customers” you can create.  And the road to achieving that lofty goal is in the staff you hire, the example you set for them, the values you instill in them, and the focus you give them.  A “one for all and all for one” attitude and a true and compassionate belief in customer service within every member of a staff will yield the higher-order successes that will elevate an organization to ever higher levels of mission fulfillment.

Although agreeing with Blanchard on the necessary three legs of the stool and the reality that all three require attention if desired results are to be achieved, I feel that there is a hierarchical order in the way that attention should be allocated and in the degree to which that attention should be applied.  Superlative customer service and evolving a motivated and customer-service-focused total team are primary … together, they will yield fiscal growth and stability.  That said, I find it interesting that Blanchard listed the three legs of this stool in the order in which he did in the first quote and the fact that he lumped together customer service and a motivated staff in the second.  Perhaps we are looking at this through very similar eyes?

Author Cross-references:

Ken Blanchard: Also see posts 9/10/09, 3/29/10, 5/11/10

Key Word Cross-references:

Customer Service: None

Inspiration/Motivation: Also see posts 1/16/09, 2/3/09, 2/18/09, 2/25/09, 5/17/09, 6/5/09, 6/26/09, 9/9/09, 2/18/10, 2/24/10

Team: Also see posts 1/13/09, 2/18/09, 4/20/09, 8/3/09, 1/6/10, 5/26/10

Values: None

Workplace Environment: Also see posts 12/12/08, 1/28/09, 2/6/09, 2/19/09, 7/7/09, 8/3/09, 9/9/09, 1/6/10

Leadership … Continued Discussion 3/29/10

In this post I want to explore the larger side of leadership … the reality that every individual, regardless of rank or station in life, has the opportunity to lead the way.  And although there are many quotes I could gravitate to toward underscoring that reality, I want to quote Ken Blanchard, the author of The Heart of a Leader, who stated in his book that “Leadership isn’t just about having a powerful position.  Anytime you use your influence to affect the thoughts and actions of others, you are engaging in leadership.”

In making that statement, Blanchard succinctly defines leadership as having influence … a statement with which I fully agree.  Underscoring this, let me resurface a quote utilized in a long-ago post, one from John C. Maxwell and his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “The true measure of leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.” And Richard Chait, in a June/July 2004 article in Board Source, also pointed to the significance of influence in saying that leadership is “the power to influence culture, values, and beliefs.  The ability to shape agendas and priorities.” To be sure there are many, many other qualities that help to comprise what we traditionally see in a leader, but when you boil it down, influence is the critical characteristic.  If you cannot influence others to follow your agenda or to get on the bus with you, you cannot lead.

So, how does one raise their influence quotient?  Although there are many roads that lead to evolving one’s ability to influence others, I can speak best to my own road traveled.    For me, the single most important step in that journey was gaining belief in myself and growing confidence in the process.  It is very lonely sitting out on the end of an idea branch … for all to see and potentially throw rocks at, but influencing others, and therefore  experiencing leadership, is about taking such risks.   Goethe described the alternative well in saying that “The dangers of life are infinite and safety is among them.” Once you become a willing idea contributor, you have the opportunity to shape discussions and influence the decisions-made.  And this can come at any level on the food chain.  You don’t have to be sitting at the head of the table or have all of the answers, you just need to be willing to contribute to the process.  Indeed, in my many years in nonprofit management, the bulk of the really good ideas that made it to the table were from middle managers and below … those people most in the trenches.

That said, the next logical question to surface is how does one embrace risk-taking … how does one learn how to take those leaps of faith?  Although there is a natural weave of this through most of us, clearly some are much more risk-aligned than others.  However, when mentored down this road, even the risk adverse have the opportunity to take such leaps.  And this surfaces a critical function of all leaders … to grow those around them.  And when it comes to growing risk-taking in others, perhaps the most available opportunity for any leader is to encourage absolutely everyone to be a part of the process.  Isabel Briggs Myers, the late American psychological theorist and co-creator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, provides us with a clear enough process … “If you don’t know what an extrovert is thinking, you haven’t been listening.  If you don’t know what an introvert is thinking, you haven’t asked.” Simple enough, ask and listen … but mean it when you ask for an opinion and listen intently.  Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, had an interesting twist on this, “Listen long enough and the person will generally come up with an adequate solution.” Asking, encouraging and listening are the three legs of this mentoring stool.

So, to the leader I would say … invest in others and grow their belief in themselves.  Help them to contribute … help them to grow their confidence and therefore their leadership skills.  And to the would-be leader I would say … believe in yourself.  Know that you can make a difference.  And share your good thinking whenever the opportunity arises.

Author Cross-references:

Mary Kay Ash: None

Ken Blanchard: Also see post 9/10/09, 5/11/10

Richard Chait: None

John C. Maxwell: Also see posts 12/8/08, 6/5/09, 6/26/09, 11/20/09

Isabel Briggs Myers: None

Key Word Cross-references:

Chance Taking: Also see posts 12/12/08, 3/25/09, 7/7/09, 11/1/09, 3/12/10

Confidence: Also see post 2/19/09

Encouragement: Also see posts 1/13/09, 9/9/09

Influence: Also see posts 12/8/08, 2/25/09, 2/18/10

Listening: Also see posts 8/3/09, 9/9/09, 10/26/09, 1/29/10

Mentoring/Nurturing/Developing: Also see posts 12/8/08, 12/12/08, 1/13/09, 2/6/09, 2/28/09, 6/5/09, 7/7/09, 9/9/09, 9/15/09, 10/26/09, 12/5/09, 1/6/10

Leadership … Continued Discussion 11/20/09

I want to focus this post on communication, a topic I have devoted previous posts to and a topic that cannot be emphasized enough to those of us who would grow our leadership capabilities to next levels.  In this specific post, I will quote Kevin Eikenberry.  The quote, which appeared in his book Remarkable Leadership, is as follows, “Communicating powerfully isn’t about being glib or an exceptional conversationalist.  It isn’t about using the right words at the right time or having a great vocabulary.  Communicating powerfully is about being able to ‘share or make common.’  As a leader, when you ‘make common,’ you are forming a connection between you and those with whom you are communicating and forming a community based on common meaning.”

Eikenberry, who I find remarkable in his ability to simplify even very complex concepts, points in this quote to several keys in communicating effectively.  I always admire those who can speak eloquently about absolutely anything and at the drop of a hat, but all too often a retrospective contemplation of what was shared leaves me less impressed.  Speaking without substance … almost simply to be heard, does not contribute to the community of thought and often dilutes the discussion of the moment, yet many of us do precisely this on a regular basis.  It is almost as if we feel that if we do not speak to something we will be thought unknowing or unable to form a contributing thought.

Speaking to issues is important and a critically important aspect of being a leader … at any level.  But, it is important that one’s contributions truly contribute to the discussion at hand … that one’s words have substance and purpose. And this is where I will share an anonymous quote that is included in Linda Picone’s The Daily Book of Positive Quotations, “There’s nothing wrong with having nothing to say – unless you insist on saying it.” And I will also quote Helen Gurley Brown, “Never fail to know that if you are doing all the talking, you are boring somebody.”

And this is a good time in which to resurface a quote from John C. Maxwell’s book The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, wherein he states that “leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.” Much like Eikenberry, Maxwell guides us to connect with those who would follow us … to rally a response or action.  But that can only happen when both the leader and the follower are working together … are on the same page.  And this only happens when communications are clear and understandable, are substantive, and have meaning.  Add to this the passion that accompanies a true belief in what one is promoting, and the response should be synergistic and effective.

Leadership is much more than having one’s voice heard, it is about communicating the issue or directive of the moment clearly, effectively, and believably.  This is what rallies people to take action … to make a greater difference.

Author Cross-references:

Helen Gurley Brown: None

Kevin Eikenberry: Also see posts 9/15/09, 1/4/10

John C. Maxwell: Also see posts 12/8/08, 6/5/09, 6/26/09, 3/29/10

Key Word Cross-references:

Communication/Effective Speaking: Also see posts 12/12/08, 3/4/09, 5/17/09, 6/26/09, 7/7/09, 9/9/09, 12/5/09, 1/4/10, 1/29/10, 2/24/10

Synergy: Also see post 2/19/09, 2/24/10