Independence Day: Leaders Declare Their Values Through Action
Have you as a leader been forced to make a critical decision that would not only impact your life, but the lives of those you serve? If not, the time will surely come for you. Your mental fortitude will be tested. The team that you’ve surrounded yourself with will face pressure to deviate. Pressures will surround you from all sides. Yet will you hold to your conviction?
Infusing Team-Mindedness to Compound Cohesion
The quality of relationships among the executive leadership team is a primary factor in developing effective teams throughout the whole organization. Researchers Hersey and Blanchard indicate that the most significant factors in the productivity of an organization pertain to the interpersonal relationships therein. These relationships are foundational to the success of effective teams. This is a linchpin for all leaders.
Overcoming the Leadership Vacuum: Harnessing the Compounding Power of Teamwork
The success of organizations depends on strong, visionary leadership. Companies can compensate for the absence of certain skills and resources but cannot overcome the absence of effective leadership. This leads to a high level of frustration among leaders and team members. What causes this dilemma? The leaders’ skill sets are weighted toward other areas. Consequently, a massive leadership vacuum develops.
Building a Culture of Remebrance
What does remembrance accomplish in an organization? For one, it helps us to appreciate the present. We remember the struggles, the sacrifices, the humble origins, the story that led us to this moment. Does your team know the stories or the people who preceded them?
5 Lessons at Augusta National
I have had the great pleasure of playing several rounds of golf at Augusta National, a truly spectacular experience - the beauty of nature, the pressure to make the best shot, the weight of knowing renowned players have played on the same green, the variety of challenges of each hole. As I reflect on these experiences, here are five lessons that translate to great leadership!
The Barrier of Stewardship
Staffing is your most valuable resource and, at the same time, can be the most difficult component to navigate. Maybe you’re at a place where you need to hire for a specialized position that you don’t have in-house, or perhaps you can’t utilize volunteers to accomplish tasks to the degree you desire. Getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats is critical for organizational growth!
The Barrier of Staff
Staffing is your most valuable resource and, at the same time, can be the most difficult component to navigate. Maybe you’re at a place where you need to hire for a specialized position that you don’t have in-house, or perhaps you can’t utilize volunteers to accomplish tasks to the degree you desire. Getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats is critical for organizational growth!
The Barrier of Structure: Part 2
If you are regularly working on tasks well past normal working hours, you could have a structure problem. Give careful thought to your work-life balance. What would the ideal work-life balance look like for you in a week? Strive to build an organization that can function well without you.
The Barrier of Structure: Part 1
Do you expect your departments to grow? Will current facilities and technology suffice? If expansion is in your future, then a strategic plan must be developed to assess what structures are needed to pave the way for growth.
The Barrier of Systems
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “This is how we’ve always done it…” Would that be acceptable to you? Would you press into those routines to assess if they could be refined, to cut any excess, to add greater accountability, or possibly renovate entirely? If we’re honest, our teams and procedures could use some system assessment.
Self-Leadership: Part 2
Many describe their identity by what they do. “I am a [profession/title].” If this is your first natural response, then consider a vital truth—what you can achieve, your past success, and your current title are not your identity. What you DO is merely a vocation or hobby, but who you ARE is much more significant. This is an important distinction.
SELF-LEADERSHIP: PART 1
When I am involved in leadership coaching, the initial question I like to ask is, “Who are you?” This question speaks to our identity – how we see ourselves. I usually get some interesting responses. The question and answer are key if we are going to be all that we were made to become.
Reigning in Your Thoughtlife
Good attitudes infuse a can-do, optimistic belief in people. The contrary is also true: poor attitudes sow discouragement, division, and fear. Negative attitudes won’t produce a positive culture. This begins with us! It begins with the thoughts we choose to think and meditate on. Be protective of your mind because your subsequent attitude will absolutely pervade the organization, for better or for worse.
Leading at the Highest Level
Let Presidents’ Day remind us of the heavy weight carried by those in senior leadership, that both strengths and flaws mark the lives of all leaders, and that all of us are still becoming the leaders we long to see. It is a lifelong journey and we each are responsible for our own development. What you long to see in others should be exemplified in you.
Part 5: Values in Action
Leaders are always defined by the standards they set for themselves, not standards set by other people, but self-imposed standards. Great leaders always expect more from themselves than they do from their followers, and they willingly put forth more effort. That’s a powerful leadership value, one that Mayor LaGuardia may not have fully understood, yet exemplified beautifully in his efforts to lead well.
Part 4: Valuing Leadership Over Management
One element of being effective is understanding the difference between managing others and leading them. Management is about handling things—numbers, facts, budgets, details, accounts, schedules, etc. Successful managers are people who can manage/control/handle responsibilities. Leadership, on the other hand, comes from the root “to go.” The word “leader” denotes moving forward and progress. Managing is about handling, but not necessarily about motion.
Part 3: Embracing Change as an Essential Value
In leadership, you are bound to hear from your team members, “We’ve always done it this way.” The reality is that you are working with people who have developed a routine, schedule, and comfortable method of fulfilling their responsibilities. While the tried-and-true way may be effective, you may encounter the need to change a facet of your organization, whether localized or universal. And if you are married to a method, you can end up sitting on the dock of the bay as boats of innovation speed by.
part 2: Values on the Leadership Team
Your leadership team is a microcosm of the organization, or the church body. Whatever you want to grow among the larger group must first be sown into the smaller group. What you value will be valued by others. What you remember will be remembered. What you change will be changed. What you do will be done by others. We lead by example, both positively and negatively. One of the most powerful lessons we can learn is the power of our actions and the gravity of responsibility we have as leaders.
Part 1: Live the Values
Ultimately, our potential as leaders will be determined not by born leadership abilities, but by letting ourselves be crafted through circumstances, instruction, observations, reflection, failures, and renewed efforts. Leaders who make the greatest impact have spent years in the leadership development process themselves. Organizations rise and fall based on a firm set of values. And one of the most reliable ways to build credibility inside and outside our team is to Walk the Talk.
Part 5: Influencing Through Communication
Our message as leaders can very easily be lost through ineffective methods. For the sake of effectively conveying a message, vision, instruction, or word of correction, we leaders must strive to communicate verbally, vocally, and visually in a meaningful way that is memorable. People are watching, listening, and perceiving. Share your vision in ways that others can “hear” it through a variety of complementary modalities.