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Lead On

This is not a political post. A very few weeks have past since our nation elected its next President Barack Obama. Was President-elect Obama your choice?Maybe he was and you are elated and looking forward to his leadership - maybe he was not and you are still grumbling about it and spending unproductive time nailing every team member he adds to his cabinet.

Whether it be the news media or water cooler conversation - there is too much grumbling going around. The votes have been cast and counted for. Our job as leaders is to "lead on!" We are called to respect the position of President, and prayerfully support our nation and her leadership whether we agree or disagree. For theorganizations and teams that we GET TO lead, we must carry the role of servant leader now more than ever. People need leaders who are excited to lead above the many current challenges and "sure to come" future challenges. People do not need to hear their leaders grumbling about the new guard. This puts you the leader on your heels in the eyes of your people. People need leaders who are leaning forward and captivating the masses to believe in a better future and be part of creating that better future. The next President does not run your team - you get to do that.

No doubt, new administrations regardless of party will implement new things that will cause some chaos. My advice is: be the leader who assures your people that you all will work together in transparency and determination to manage the changes with excellence and outside the box thinking.

I saw a letter from a CEO on the day after Obama was elected President. It was an email to his company and here is a snippet from it:

"It’s a 'new day' and CHANGE is directly ahead in America and around our world. How we embrace it and enhance it is the test of our metal, ingenuity and commitment to good and fairness in the value that we mutually create and add to all that we associate with. In this puzzle, opportunity will emerge and our ability to keep a positive vigil and operating strategy that will make it work for us is the course we must make our commitments to and look forward to in the main while using what we have learned in our past to make our future bright."

"Please join me in embracing this Change and reaching new heights together as 'Great Americans'"

 

This message inspires hope from the Chief Executive at a time when there are mixed emotions. It is nothing of a political message. It is everything of an organizational rally to its toes when it could have easily flipped to its heels.

 

Yes, there are going to be some things you like and do not like - your job is NOT to grumble it, BUT to Lead right on through it. Let's see what we as leaders are really all about.

Leader Profile - Lars Dalgaard

Being close to HR and all things people driven, I have been intrigued by Lars Dalgaard. Lars is the CEO and founder of SuccessFactors, a leading HR (talent management) software company. For one, I have been exposed to his product and some of his executives. The product is rocking and the team has a contagious DNA.

Dalgaard is known to be quite bold if you will. One of the common threads you will hear about him is his grand vision and massive goals. He is driven with a passion to "go and make this a very different world to work in."His large appetite for success is fueled by his belief that no one should be unclear about how they stand in their company and should be treated immaculately well. He firmly believes  that his product will do more than just create a better workplace for his customers. He states clearly that SuccessFactors "will improve worldwide productivity by 50%." Now, as Jim Collins would say - that is a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). Why not have one? You must.

In reading an article on him published in Workforce Management I came across the following founding principle of his when he started SuccessFactors in 2001:

"No Jerks! Our organization will consist only of people that absolutely love what we do, with a white hot passion. We will have utmost respect for the individual in a collaborative, egalitarian, and meritocratic environment - no blind copying, no politics, no parochialism, no silos, no games, no cynicism, no arrogance - just being good."

If you calculate your way through that principle - you see that he is going on the defense against many of the toxic inhibitions to an effective organization and apparently does not tolerate anything but the best. Check the links throughout this post for some brief notes on him. An interesting guy who is going after great things with a supreme belief in a better future.

Lower The Criticism

For the past few months and especially last week, if you have turned on the tv or the radio, you have no doubt been exposed to an overload of criticism. During election periods the criticism quotient is through the roof. Like many, I am over it and glad the commercials and ads are done with for now.

There is a liability to our leadership when it comes to this over exposure. For one - the unavoidable psychological factor of your mind processing negative rants and attacks on people. Whether you are intentional with it or not, your mind is going to hang on to the negation for a while. What happens then? As soon as someone does something that you do not totally agree with - you mentally send a toxic level of criticism towards them and perhaps even verbally pounce on them more than you should have. Additionally, if you are not careful - you will find yourself looking for someone to screw something up so you "have something on them." These are just a few examples of the many liabilities a culture of criticism creates.

When we spend our mental energy on harboring negativity and looking for a messy moment - our leadership weakens and our ability to create a better future struggles greatly.

Trust me, you have some of the mess in you just by nature of our recent environment. My advice to us is:

One, stay away from the news today (it will be there tomorrow) and create your own news by leading at a higher level. Two, encourage people with your smile. Three, give verbal compliments to someone you do not know. Four, praise your team members for what they have done. Five, call someone and tell them you are thankful for their life.

These few things will help you shake some of the cynicism and help you embrace that delivering hope is up to you. Your people and the world around you will tune in to you vs the squawk box.

Why are you doing it?

How often are you like me and get caught up in the grimy details that lead you to get lost on why you are doing what you are doing? The details can derail our purposes if we are not careful. When this happens, we become less inspired, less inspiring, fatigued and certainly less productive. This doldrum can set it in on us especially with big tasks or projects that you may be heading up.

I have done a very simple thing that I am confident will help you if you adopt it. This first photo is a file folder packed with contents of to-do's and updates for a large project.

 

When I look at the file above before and after a meeting, I see just a file filled with documents. I need to go into this file with a reminder of the purpose and I need to close it with the same reminder. These files below do just that...

   

This is so easy and may seem hokey, but it's not. Every time I source one of these files for myself or before leading their relative meetings, I am reminded what it is we are trying to do. Also, regardless of how long and taxing the meeting may be - when I close one, I am brought back to the nobility of the task and not the nuances. This method is much better for my mind and it helps me be inspired and more inspiring.

I ask myself as related to the two files in the picture:

1) Did we make progress towards having excellent training at every position?

2) Did we help them grow today?

Avoid Relational Recession

I read a select few blogs on a regular basis. One of my favorites is Keith Farazzi's. I have been a Keith fan ever since reading his book Never Eat Alone. I agree with Keith on pretty much his entire message. Keith is a leading voice on the power of relationships as the fuel for our biz lives and total life.

While our economy is taking a hit and the criticism boat is full to capacity - people tend to cling to scarcity thinking. "The world is going to end, businesses are going to survive, Washington is corrupt, hide your money in a mattress oh my!" When people adopt this thinking they go scarce with their focus on relationships. Nothing could be more damaging. When things are going bad, be great, when the mood state is dropping, try and raise it. When emotional intelligence is threatened, remind people by your emotional actions that it is more important than ever.

When we do rebound from an economic standpoint - the people who avoid the relational recession will be the first ones to gain the new business that is sure to come.

Link to this brief video from Keith and many others on his blog.

Thank You White Noise

In my last post I jabbered a bit about the importance of creating time for White Noise so that the pace of our lives does not rock our souls to sleep. Over the weekend, we went on the defense against unnecessary noise and ushered in the white. What was it that was going to come to my quiet mind??

It was more than I would have guessed. Over the weekend we attended a funeral visitation following the passing of a great man whom I once knew well. Here is a snapshot of his final days. Wednesday of last week @ 81 years old, he was putting some finishing touches on the roof of his house. Thursday he was in town with his son and shopping for a new truck. A few hours later he had a stroke which ultimately lead to the final chapter of his Best-Seller life here on earth.

Also over the weekend I was exposed to another individual who likely has many years left to live on this earth, yet they were seemingly dying already. It is likely a mix of buckling under the rigors of life, not reaching out for any help, and the impending symptoms of depression when we do not deal with the demons.

When the white noise came in for us and obliterated all the other sounds, these stories above were the dominance of my mind. This is what I kept hearing the white noise tell me:

We can either live to our death or die to our life.

My friend of 81 was totally alive until the last sentence of his life on earth. This inspired my heart. My other friend appeared to be dying to life. This broke my heart.

Perhaps you thought my white noise was going to bring in some creative biz advice. It actually turned all that off and reminded me of more: Loving People and being more sensitive to their total life.

I thank my wife for helping to create and inspire our white noise - let's do more of it my Princess.

White Noise

The term "White Noise" was a reminder to me last week and has been on my mind during the latter of this week. Why? I need to listen to it, not only do I need to listen to it - I need to make space for it in my biz life.

I had a 20 year old speaker tell me once: "The pace of our lives will rock our soul to sleep." My soul's eyelids have gotten heavy this week and I am thankful to recognize it. What is the result of this pace and schedule? Weaker judgment, less confidence and too much worry.

I am going on the fight against it and I hope you will too because surely many of you are wiped out right now. Either from the intensity of your responsibilities, your minute by minute stare on the stock market, wondering who won the debate and who is going to be your next President. Here is a promise - some of those issues will still be present come Monday without you fretting them. Join me in this:

Turn it all (phones, tv's, music) off for at least a few hours and turn ON the white noise. This is from the dictionary on white noise or white sound: "noise used to mask or obliterate unwanted sounds."

Not just remove unwanted sounds, but obliterate them. I get the feeling the committee that penned that definition was maxed out mentally and felt the need to thrown a flying uppercut to their stresses. I am glad they did because we all have some unwanted sounds that need OBLITERATING.Even if you have to start small - take at least 20 minutes to be quiet and think on something other than unwanted sounds. I predict you are going to need more than 20 minutes - how about 2 hours eh? Now that is going to be tough for us. Let's give it a shot.

I will post next week on what my white noise sounded like. Have a great weekend!

Greatness

Last week I had the privilege to hear Jim Collins speak @ Catalyst. When you think Jim Collins, you likely think Good to Great or Built to Last. It was not surprising that Collins was going to talk about going from Good to Great, however a small twist had him not focusing on good. His main point was greatness.

Mind that 90% of the audience were ministry leaders so his talk was presented for them without a lot of business rhetoric. In his focus he told us that "Greatness is not a result of your circumstances or surroundings as much as it is a result of your disciplined behaviors."

This makes sense of course to each of you, but how often do we take stock of our actions and make sure they are of sound discipline. He used the example of Lance Armstrong's focus on cancer prevention being in similar discipline to his training regimen for cycling. Of course, the raw talent that Armstrong has is paramount, but the disciplined behaviors surely lead to his greatness on and off the bike. I feel strongly that this is an area that too many people lose sight of. We all need to be most disciplined in our behaviors and actions.

What are the daily disciplines that you as a business or ministry must have. There should not be a laundry list of them, just a fine few that you can pay intense attention to.

Greatness is a function of your disciplined behaviors and actions.

The Liability of Strengths

I am a firm believer that to be the best we must minimize our weaknesses and maximize our strengths. As a subscriber to this effective mindset, I am additionally becoming more aware of the following fact:

For the many assets your strengths bring to your leadershipip - each strength also carries its own liability to your leadership. If you were to think on all of your strengths and study the array of strengths found in Buckingham's Strength-finder, you will realize the liabilities of each one. While it may be easy to realize what the liability is, how do you rise above the liability and channel the assets to create a better future?

Manage the liability and allow the asset.

Chew on this: Your strengths are natural abilities and as you cultivate them and learn more about them - your merely just allow them (let them) to do their thing and performance utopia beckons. The liability portion of your strength is not naturally manageable - you have to be disciplined on it.

For example, communication is my ccurrent #1 strength. What is the liability? A gifted communicator can get long winded in a normal conversation. I have to manage my communication and realize that listening is often the best form of communication.

Futuristic/Vision is another one. Most of the time the asset of being futuristic in my thinking helps to inspire a better future. The liability is a tendency to lose touch with reality and not make total sense to constituents.

Think of a "Type A" personality that is all about charging forward and getting it done. They go on vacation and charge through everything and wear the family down when it was time to relax and recharge. The asset of a "go-getter" become a liability when it's time to wind down and create a relaxed environment.

These are for you to think on for yourself and perhaps help others with. What are your strengths and what ways can you manage the liability of those strengths? Email me some strengths and I can give you some thoughts on the natural liabilities to watch out for.

Connect Early

This week, I was afforded the opportunity to speak to a group of leaders on the importance of creating great front line managers and great front lines. Obviously, that's a gigantic subject to fit in one talk. In an attempt to provide some simple "sticky" advice - one item I gave was to "connect early."

John Maxwell captured this best with his "law of connection" that states - "Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand." When I say connect early, I am referring to the need for a manager (front-line, mid-line, top-line) to connect with a new hire's heart - right out of the gate. How is this best done?

What I learned from one of our young amazing managers was to spend one-on-one time with a new hire and find out special dates in their life and create a connective schedule for them. For example - finding out if a new hire has a spouse or significant other. If so what is their name and birthday and even an anniversary date if celebrated. This manager also finds out if this person has children and if so - what are their names and birthdays. What our manager does here is give his associates the option to take those dates off. Not only does he provide the option - he encourages the option and injects his desire for his people to have strong family focus.

IF it is found out that this new associate (especially 18-20 year olds) has no spouse/signif other, no kids - he goes a different route. He will find out two dates that are important to them during the calendar year. Maybe it's a race weekend, a family reunion, a concert...whatever it may be, he gets that date and provides the option to take that time off.

While this sounds simple - it is! It most of all however it's a connect early approach. These new hires get a taste really quick that this manager cares about them and their families. Most of all, he backs up this behavior throughout their careers and all else follows those connections.

This is adaptable and scalable at any level. It makes that early connection happen and begins a productive environment.

This is not for your HR department to do for you or your managers. This is manager must.