GROWTH

Feb

2019

Learning from a Leader in Manufacturing

I was in Starbucks sipping my water and learning from the leader of Rego-Fix, USA a sixty plus year old company which continues to grow and expand into various international markets. Our purpose was for me to get to know him better and also during our time I had the opportunity to learn some of his guiding leadership principles.

Mr. Weber is a learner and that is why he is a great leader. We briefly met at a leadership development event and during our time at Starbucks he suggested three books to add to my ever-expanding list of books to read. From our time I can tell he is a man of great discipline, drive, and humility. If you are familiar with the book Good to Great by Jim Collins my guess is he would qualify as a level five leader.

During his tenure leading this organization his three guiding leadership principles are what have also become the guiding principles for the organization. Before covering those let me highlight how he defined the company’s culture. As I have heard people say culture eats vision and you will see how his cultural values align with his personal/company values.

Mr. Weber desires the company culture to contain the following four elements:

A meaningful job for his employees
Respect from peers
Members of the company would clearly know what is expected of them
He and his team would be resourced to do the job

When I look at these four elements I can see how they directly align with one of Mr. Weber’s core values:

Integrity

Of course hopefully every leader would say this, but Mr. Weber said “integrity is paramount.” He models this value by living only asking someone to do something he is willing to do himself. This creates an environment where he earns his people’s respect and models an expectation that is implemented throughout the organization.

Excellence

When he said excellence, I had to get clarification because one can easily confuse excellence and perfection. Mr. Weber described this as a function of disciplined habits. In order for his organization to provide an excellent product and results he must have clear expectations. He has built this into his culture in part by providing his people with the resources they need.

Growth

This value is obviously important to him personally since I first met him at a leadership development workshop and within our brief time, he recommended three books. When we discussed this topic more in-depth he suggested that growth requires discipline and planning. Growth is not accidental, but intentional and purposeful.

When these three core values are lived out daily by him personally he sets the example and helps create a culture that enables a sixty plus year old company to continue to develop and thrive in an ever changing world.

What about you? How are you doing in these areas? Do you have a plan for intentional growth? Do you need someone to come alongside you in that growth process so you can lead at your full potential? If so, contact me for a free thirty-minute coaching experience. In the meantime, lead well.

Sep

2018

Confessions of Bad Leadership

The morning was still cool and the sun had barely come up so the atmosphere was not too thick with humidity. I was excited though because I got to tear up things.

I am the early riser usually in my home and I got to go to the local Rotary garden that our family helps take care of. Today was a little more enjoyable because I got to dig up the broccoli that had been planted and harvested over the past four months.

At first I was yanking the broccoli out of the ground by hand, but my back and body quickly reminded me I am no longer in my twenties so I retrieved a shove to help the process. As I was pulling out the broccoli plants and tossing them into a pile to haul off I was struck with a question: why is it as leaders we find it much easier to tear down than to plant and allow time for growth?

As I pondered this question a few ideas why I find tearing down easier than allowing growth to occur came to mind:

Impatience. Quite frankly I can be extremely impatient with the process of planting seeds and waiting for them to grow. When I used to coach athletes on a daily basis it felt much more efficient to yell across the room for them to be quiet and stay on task. It may work for a moment, but I found if I took the time to understand what motivated that individual who often was off task and planted seeds to help them see a bigger picture I got improved results.
Selfishness. Let’s be honest, we like to see results and when we pull up plants or tear down a building for a construction project the results of our work are quickly evident. There is nothing wrong with wanting to see results, but what if we are trying to get results at the expense of another person’s well-being. Daniel Goleman coined a phrase called the “amygdala hijack.” In simple terms this is when we blow up at another person and we behave completely irrational. Selfishly we may feel better because we “blew off some steam,” but in the long run we will have a lot of messes to clean up from our over-reaction.
Ease. The process of tearing down an object is much easier than building or allowing time for growth. I did not have to think about what plant to pull up or where to put it. The labor was fairly mindless. On the other hand when planting the garden you have to bend down and put the seeds in a particular area and dig up each hole. You have to think about where to plant the seeds and how to space them. I know, not too physically laborious, but it requires more mental energy.

As a leader launching a project or program or planting seeds of growth in the lives of those we serve either at home or work requires energy. Tearing people down, unfortunately, is quite simple while creating an environment for growth takes great planning, care, and persistent work. As leaders do we plant seeds of growth with the people around us or unintentionally tear them down? What is one way you can create fertile soil to develop great leaders by creating a culture of patience, selflessness, and comfort with being uncomfortable? Need help thinking into that? Contact me and I’m glad to help. Lead well at work and home.

Jul

2017

Leadership Lessons from the ER

A number of years ago I was having sharp pains all over my abdominal area. I dealt with them for over a month. I even went to the ER one night only to get a pat on the back and reassurance I would be OK. One particular evening I had gone out to a very nice steak dinner with my parents and family to celebrate my birthday.

After putting the kids to bed my wife and I finished our dessert from the meal and soon after went to bed. At about 11:30 PM I woke up and the pain was different. I just knew something was going on. I told my wife she had to find someone to watch the kids and that I needed to go to the ER.

Now I can tolerate pain . . . for the most part. This evening when we got to the ER all I wanted is them to give me something to stop the pain. It was excruciating and I had just seen my entire dinner again if you know what I mean.

The next ten days are a fog. During the first five I was so medicated I barely remember people coming in and out of the hospital to visit. I remember a point during my stay where I felt like I was suffocating and had to be put on oxygen while having a tube down my throat. I cannot imagine what my family was feeling because I barely knew where I was. Finally, after numerous tests, the day after my birthday the doctors opened me up to remove a large section of my obstructed small intestine.

After my ten days in the hospital I now weighed 22 pounds less than when I entered, actually less than when I was a freshman in high school. I was gaunt and felt like I was 80 years old. I felt like I was climbing a mountain just to walk down the street five houses in beautiful Spring weather. The recovery was slow, but now years later I have memories and a large scar to remind me of the experience.

What does this have to do with leadership?

Even in great adversity I had to lead myself – I was in the middle of completing my Masters and in spite of my situation I had to be disciplined to complete work to keep me moving forward. (I know … I am a little too “Type A”) As a leader we want to shut down and give up during the adversity, but the hardest person we have to lead is ourselves and keep taking one step at a time.
No matter how painful the problem, you have to find a solution – I was dealing with this issue for over a month and I tried to ignore it, but obviously I had to deal with the issue. In leadership there may be an obstacle or challenge we want to avoid, but if the problem is important enough no matter how hard we try, we will have to solve it.
Growth takes time – It took me at least a year to get close to where I was physically before the surgery. I was frustrated and I am impatient, but over time I got back. Leaders tend to want results yesterday, but as with our bodies physically it takes time to grow whether that is developing other leaders, an organization, or something else. We need to continually take patient action.

What about you? What leadership challenge are you facing at work or home that if you do not face it head on it will become an emergency? Do you need someone to coach you through the process and hold you accountable? Click Here if you want to learn about the coaching process.

If you found this helpful share it with others or share your thoughts below. Remember pain is temporary and growth is a process. You can do it!

Jan

2017

Four Principles to Make Growth Easier

Have you ever tried to learn something new? That is the easy part . . . gaining the knowledge. The hard part is implementing it. I was in the backyard throwing the football with my son one evening. For fun I thought I’d try throwing with my left hand. As you can guess the accuracy, power and overall aesthetics looked about as good as a two year old.

I know how to throw a football so I worked at it one step at a time. I had to think a lot in the beginning and it was awkward, but by the end of our time together it became quite a bit more natural to the point I threw a spiral or two. This is what growth feels like.

I was reading the book SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham because I don’t know a whole lot about effective sales. At the end of the book he provided what I would call four growth principles when implementing a new concept:

Focus on just one behavior to work on – when I first learn something I want to master it all now and on top of that, I want to be perfect at it. That is not how I learned to read. I learned letters, then certain words, simple sentences, etc. So when we learn just take the next step.
Choose a safe environment for practicing – if I want to improve my speaking ability and implement new techniques and skills I probably should not practice in front of hundreds or thousands of people. I should start by practicing with a few friends or a small audience so the awkwardness of implementing something new can be worked through without the risk of setting me back from my larger goals.
Practice it a lot and quality will come – I am a recovering perfectionist so I often want to be able to do everything perfect before I do it “for real.” I simply need to practice and learn from my mistakes. As I continue to learn I will be able to perform the skill with better quality over time.
Try it at least 3 times before judging whether it works – If a baseball player were adjusting his swing the first few times will be awkward and maybe not successful. If he gives up after just a few tries then he will not really know if it works. Give whatever skill you are trying an appropriate amount of time to develop before dismissing it as ineffective.

Maybe you remember when you were a child and the physical growing pains you experienced. Possibly you know that awkwardness of the first time you tried to have small talk in a social gathering. Growth is painful and awkward at first, but over time through perseverance and taking it one step at a time you will develop. Is there an area you know you need to grow in, but are overwhelmed by? Identify it and break it down into small steps and take the first step of growth today. Maybe the first step is commenting below on what you are going to grow in to hold you accountable to doing it. If you found this helpful, please share it with someone and keep pursuing growth.