SIMPLE RULES OF LEADING WELL

An outstanding post by Mac Lake!

Sometimes I think we make leadership more difficult than it has to be. The truth is if you follow some simple rules leadership is easy 90% of the time. The other 10% is where leaders earn their paycheck.

But some find themselves facing leadership problems with their team 90% of the time! That’s when a leader has to stop and look in the mirror. Is the problem the people or is the problem the way you’re leading?

Leading would be a lot easier for us and those we lead if we’d follow a few simple rules.

• Demonstrate a high confidence in your people. I’ve discovered the higher the confidence I have in people the higher the confidence they have in themselves. When people have a high confidence in themselves they’re more likely to take greater risks and innovate in ways that add great value to the organization.
• Praise progress not perfection. Imagine the difference it would make if leaders would stop looking for what people are doing wrong and started looking for what people were doing right and praising their progress. Team members would begin to discover and maximize their strengths. And that’s always a win for an organization.
• Establish shared expectations regarding performance outcomes. If you don’t establish shared expectations you’ll experience shared frustrations. One of the wisest things you can do is talk to your people about what their performance will look like in the future not just what it looked like in the past.
• Give people the tools and resources they need to do their job well.This will not only help them be successful but also feel successful.  Often times it’s not lack of commitment or competency that creates poor performance, it’s lack of the right tools.
• Smile, laugh and enjoy what you do.  When you enjoy what you do that joy spreads to the team. A simple smile is an expression that communicates you love being there and you love what you do.   It’s amazing how much smiling and humor can create a work culture people love.
• Lead from trust rather than leading from suspicion. If you lead from a position of suspicion then you create a tentative team. They will be guarded and operate out of fear.  If you fail to establish a culture of trust you’ve failed to establish a spirit of team.
• Make it meaningful.  Let’s face it sometimes the work our team does feels very menial.  You and I know it all works together to make the mission move forward.  But it can be easy for them to forget.  So make the work they do meaningful by always pointing them to the big picture vision, celebrating the wins and showing them that their contribution made a difference.

What are some other simple rules of leading well you’d add to this list?

THE TOXIC LEADER SCORE

An amazing post by Dan Rockwell!

A time for honesty?

Your Toxic Leader Score* (TLS) is the level of unnecessary irritation you cause others. If you occasionally irritate colleagues by arriving late, you’re a 3 on a range from 1 to 10.

If you frequently irritate colleagues, but don’t realize it, your TLS is 9. The worst leaders don’t know they’re toxic.

10 ways to elevate your Toxic Leader Score:

1. Make everything about results. “Relationships are for babies and losers.”
2. Minimize or ignore emotion and energy. “Just do your job!”
3. Change course in mid-stream without preparing people or giving reasons.
4. Complain more than affirm and compliment.
5. Devalue progress. When someone makes progress, remind them they have far to go.
6. Set long-term goals – ignore short-term wins.
7. Focus on fixing weaknesses, rather than maximizing strengths.
8. Be a know-it-all.
9. Interrupt people.
10. Believe it’s all about the money.

Leadership is more than vision and strategy. It’s also inspiration. Your unscientific Inspiration Score (IS) is your ability to tap the power of happiness.

10 Ways to elevate your Inspiration Score:

1. Dedicate yourself to building positive energy environments. The most powerful thing you do is create positive environments where people love coming to work.
2. Show respect. If you want people to act like owners, stop treating them like slaves.
3. Be decisive with openness.
   • Seek input.
   • Explore options.
   • Explain purpose.
   • Make decisions.
   • Adapt as you go.
4. Trust people. Meddlers and micro-managers top the Toxic Leader chart.
5. Ask questions, gently. Questions feel like interrogations when all you care about are results.
6. Make work about them, not you. Help people get where they want to go.
7. Give helpful feedback.
8. Practice open handed generosity.
9. Pat people on the back, literally. Touch energizes. But, don’t lay your hand on people.
10. Pursue excellence collaboratively. Set high standards and figure out how to reach them together.

What behaviors make leaders toxic?

What behaviors make leaders inspirational?

5 WAYS TO FACE THE CHALLENGES OF COACHING TEAMMATES

Nice one Dan Rockwell.

The challenge of coaching teammates is technical skill. You know how to do their job the “right” way, if you’ve been promoted up the ranks. Or, at least you think you know! 

Don’t explore options when there is only one. It’s disingenuous, manipulative, and humiliating.

If there truly is only one way to accomplish the goal, then teach, don’t coach. Tell, show,  give room to practice, and evaluate.

If you know “a” way:

What if you know “a” way to get the job done, but want them to explore their options?

Tell them you’ve done the job and you know a way to get it done. Ask permission to explore options that make sense for them.

“Would it be ok if we explore ways to accomplish this goal in ways that make sense to you? What works for me, may not work best for you.”

Don’t be a know-it-all because you know one answer.

Coach after you give advice:

If coachees want your advice, and you are inclined to give it, coach after they’ve tried your methods.

“Go ahead and try it this way. Let’s talk about the things that worked and didn’t work for you at our next meeting. Perhaps we’ll find new ways to get the job done that suit your strengths.”

Avoid:

1. My way is the right way.
2. “I didn’t think your way would work, but I wanted you to learn a lesson.”
3. Coaching as coercion or manipulation.
4. Pretending you don’t know, when you know.
5. Savior-coach attitudes.

Coaching teammates:

1. Ask at least two questions before making statements.
2. Provide space for progress, if time allows.
3. Pursue solutions that work for others, not you.
4. Give advice reluctantly.
5. Honor their strengths and celebrate progress.

Bonus: Ask, “What’s next?”

How might internal coaches answer the challenges of coaching teammates and direct reports?

How to identify "Character" in potential leaders

Character is still important and still prominent in the biblical passages on leadership. But how do you spot “Character” in potential future leaders?  

Dan Rockwell helps us to identify character in leaders before we pick them and give them responsibilities. Originally posted by Dan Rockwell

You dare stand with men and women of character. But, protect yourself from leaders who love position, rely on authority, and need admiration.

Character invites respect and loyalty.

Five ways to spot leaders with character:

1.     Under authority.

o    Fully embrace organizational values.

o    Speak well of those in authority.

o    Supportive of board decisions.

o    Publicly stand with decision where there was private disagreement.

2.     Able to press through resistance.

o    Tenacious when it comes to excellence.

o    Willing to suffer for principle without retaliation.

o    Serving others when it would be easier to serve self.

o    Prepared to disadvantage self for a higher cause.

3.     Open to correction.

o    Willing to acknowledge wrong.

o    Passionate about improvement.

o    Open with ideas they’re learning.

4.     Passionate about next steps.

o    Haven’t arrived.

o    Not self-sufficient.

o    Provide second chances.

o    Trust others who have expertise.

5.     Emotionally steady.

o    No tantrums.

o    Openness to suggestion.

o    Curious regarding disagreement.

A leader with character believes success is about others.

What do you look for in leaders with character?

THE CURE FOR TWEAK-BOSS

A great post by Dan Rockwell

Don’t come around – after the job is done – with your pearls of wisdom! If you know the best way to do it, either do it yourself, or explain how you want it done – before it’s done.

“You could have…,” demotivates.

Bosses want:

1. Initiative. Go do your best. Don’t keep asking questions. Tweaking at the end allows initiative.
2. Learning. It’s OK to stumble along, as  long as you’re learning. They don’t want to explain everything.
3. Improvement. Performance was acceptable this time. They want improvement next time.

We could always improve. But, why bother doing your best, when your best is never good enough?

Suggestions before:

Successful leaders own their performance.

One of my colleagues is better than me at support and compassion, another is better at planning. I need their voice in my performance. But, I don’t enjoy their tweaks after the fact, even though I benefit from them.

Leverage the strengths of others before you execute, not after.

I go to my compassionate colleague to gain his “tweaks” before I have tough conversations. When appropriate, I invite him to join.

I go to my checklist colleague to gain his “tweaks” before I execute a plan. I explain the goal and solicit his suggestions.

1. Explain goals.
2. Lay out plans.
3. Ask for suggestions.

Seek input before, not after. Don’t wait for your tweak-boss to come to you with improvements on past performance.

Proactive incompetence:

Tap the strengths of others before you begin, not after.

Don’t flaunt your weaknesses; leverage the strengths of others.

1. Prepare thoroughly.
2. Don’t expect others to do your work for you.
3. Lay out your goal and plan. Seek input.
4. Integrate their suggestions, when they make sense to you.
5. Proactively seek feedback after projects are completed. Maintain control of your performance.

How might leaders tap the strengths of teammates before projects begin?

What prevents leaders from exercising proactive incompetence?

Humility learns. Arrogance knows.

“If you stop learning, you might as well lie down and let them throw the dirt on you.” Ken Blanchard.

Not learning:

1. Controlling people.
2. Closing out people.
3. Justifying decisions.
4. Preventing mistakes.
5. Explaining why you’re right.

In all your learning, learn to be a learner.

15 ways to expand leadership: learning to learn

1. Let others be right.
2. Explore the grey. Black and white has its place, but learning happens in the grey where both/and embrace each other.
3. Listen to people you don’t like. Chances are they’re different from you. Learning is exploring difference.
4. Go “with” before going “against.” Learning includes challenging ideas, but understand before confrontation.
5. Embrace confusion, don’t solve quickly. Thinking shifts to defending, once you think you know.
6. Talk about what hurts. Pain teaches more than comfort.
7. Believe the person you’re talking with knows something you don’t.
8. Try something that feels awkward. Things that feel right align with the past and keep you doing more of the same. Warning: don’t violate your values when embracing awkward behaviors.
9. Don’t beat yourself up when you don’t know. Commit to find out.
10. Say your thoughts outloud. Sometimes smart thoughts sound dumb when spoken out loud.
11. Listen to smart people even if they have frailties. Don’t rule someone out because they have weaknesses.
12. Write down your ideas. Writing is thinking.
13. Relax about learning. Stress narrows your thinking. Take a breath. Walk. Laugh.
14. Ask yourself, “What am I learning?” Do you have an answer?
15. Say, “That’s interesting,” when you hear something that seems “wrong.”

Seven Deadly Sins Of Church Leaders

A great post by Pastor Perry Noble of Newsping Church

#1 – Comparison – One of the best ways to feel better about yourself as a church leader is to compare yourself and your church to people who are not doing as good as you are.  (It’s also a sign of extreme insecurity). 

#2 – Piling On – When a church leader falls and people begin to attack, one of the biggest problems in church world is that Christians seem to feel an obligation to “pile on” when they do not know the whole story... and in reality the person who fell probably needs more people praying for them than they need another bullet in their back. 

#3 – Majoring On The Minors – When church leaders refuse to “break bread” with someone else who is a believer but doesn’t line up doctrinally with everything they believe, then they do not represent Christ as He commanded us to in John 13:34-35. 

#4 – Leading By Fear – If God has not given us a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7) then He hasn’t given it to church leaders to lead with. 

#5 – Using Prayer As An Excuse For Passivity – Many times a church leader can see a problem and realize that a difficult decision or either a tough conversation needs to take place… but they will “pray about it” rather than participating with the leadership calling God has placed on their lives. 

#6 – Declaring What We Are Against Way More Than What We Are For – All too often when people hear the word “Christian” they think, “oh, those are the people who hate me and what I do.”  What if we, as church leaders, stopped screaming at people and actually took the time to serve them?  THAT could change the world. 

#7 – Laziness – Ministry is tough work.  Loving people is tough work.  Leadership is tough work.  When the memories of the past are greater than our future hopes and dreams it is most likely because we have settled into a place of predictable comfort and have no desire to “step out of the boat.”