Leadership

Apr

2018

Four Qualities of Championship Team Builders

Have you wondered how a sport coach becomes an effective leader and builds unified championship caliber teams? I have been around coaches for many years and involved in the sports world on some level. I have seen coaches who demonstrate this ability with great ease and are consistently successful. I have also seen coaches who struggle with this.

I have seen talented teams do poorly and average to above average teams succeed beyond what anyone would have imagined. Without a doubt in order to have success there has to be a certain level of talent or skill which applies in all areas of life. You won’t have a high performing salesperson if they are not good at working with people or get many customers for a service oriented business like plumbing if your plumbers are not knowledgeable.

How do these successful leaders build unified teams? I have been reading a book that answers that question through looking at the lives of nine high level sport coaches. In his book Getting to Us Seth Davis shares the stories of the lives of coaches such as Coach K, Coach Urban Meyer, Coach Izzo from Michigan State and others. Each of these coaches demonstrate what he calls a PEAK profile to develop unified teams.

Persistence – in the classic book Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill spends an entire chapter discussing the importance of persistence in success in any area of life. When an individual has persistence combined with a burning desire to accomplish their dream they can attain great accomplishments.

Empathy – one individual who brought this concept to the front of our minds was Daniel Goleman in his books on Emotional Intelligence. This is the ability for us to not only understand our own feelings, but also the feelings of the person we are relating to. Davis states it as “feeling whatever that person is feeling.”¹

Authenticity – the ability to be appropriately genuine and honest with those we lead helps increase trust and therefore builds greater cohesion among the team. The individual leader’s style may vary because some are intense while others are more relaxed in their style. No matter the leader’s style, if they are consistent, honest, and transparent in the right ways this will demonstrate authenticity.

Knowledge – no one follows a leader who does not know what they are doing . . . at least not for long. Davis reminds us that even if the doctor is really empathetic, persistent, and authentic if they do not know what they are doing there is no way we will let them operate on us. Without an appropriate level of knowledge leaders will not be able to maintain the credibility that will keep the team unified.

When you look at the four principles in Davis’ PEAK profile where do you need to grow? Do you easily give up as the climb gets challenging? Do you take time to understand and feel what those you lead feel? That may seem unproductive in the short term, but I wonder if the return is exponential in the long term. Are you authentic with your team members and continually growing in your expertise of the industry you are in whether through formal or informal education? At times I have found people need a coach to help them think into this process so they can see what they may not have seen on their own similar to what these sport coaches do for their athletes. Whatever you need to grow in, take the first step so you can become a better leader both at work and home.

Davis, Seth. Getting to Us. New York: Penguin House, 2018 p.3.

Apr

2018

What Type of Leader are You?

Leadership. I talk about it all the time in these posts. Maybe you don’t really think you are a leader or you think you aren’t a good one. Let me ask a question: what is a leader?

I had the opportunity to study leadership for my Masters and I could go into all sorts of academic eloquence on what a leader is or is not. First, are leaders born? Well, yes. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t met a leader who was not born. Some people may have a natural tendency to take charge, but does that necessarily mean they are a leader? Are people following them?

Often when I speak in front of people I ask the question: are you a leader? A few hands go up unless everyone in the room has a leadership position. Then I ask: do you interact with anyone? Every hand goes up at this point . . . or at least should. You interact with people and so do I so we lead them in one way or another. Leadership in its most simple definition is influence. When we go to the grocery store the way we interact with the people at the register (if we don’t use self-checkout) either helps them move in a positive direction or negative direction during their day.

Ok, so we all lead someone. How do we lead? Let me give you an illustration and for those who are in the auto industry forgive my ignorance in general.

Let’s say we go into a car dealership to look at a car. The salesman approaches us and starts to ask us questions. Now, one of those salesmen after some brief introductory questions starts moving in the direction of finding out what type of car we want and explains all the great features of the car he thinks is best for us. This is fine, but as we continue the conversation the focus is more on the car and closing the deal.

Now, we go into the same dealership and a different sales person comes up to us. He starts asking questions too. He still is asking what we want in a car since we are there to potentially purchase a car, but there is something different in his line of questioning. He is asking about us and what is important to us personally. He asks a little about our family and genuinely cares about our needs. These questions are not manipulative, but a genuine concern that whatever he guides us to is going to meet our needs and provide great value. Does he want to close the deal? Absolutely! He needs to feed his family, meet his numbers, etc. His bigger priority which we sense in how he interacts with us is understanding us as people and our needs and steering us (no pun intended) toward the vehicle that will best meet our needs even if it may not be the best for his pocketbook.

This is a sales illustration, but both individuals are leading the customer. One is saying just follow me and I’ll show you what you need, but the other starts from a position of asking lots of questions, listening, and building a relationship that will enable him to provide a transformational experience and make the customer want to come back.

Let me simplify this:

Transactional Leadership – getting the job done with less concern for the relationship. “Me”-centered.

Transformational Leadership – seeking to build connection in a way that others know you care and want to help them reach their goals. Other-centered.

We may not have a physical product we sell, but we are always influencing others. In your leadership are you being transactional where the end goal is your agenda or are you being transformational where you are trying to make your vision and the other person’s goals align so who work together to both win? Whether at work or at home transformation takes time and sometimes help from a coach to help you see what you can’t, but in the end accomplishes more and adds greater value to both sides. Stay tuned because next week I am going to share a tool I found that has helped transform me and helped me learn how to be more transformational in my leadership.

Apr

2018

What a Car Show Taught Me About Leadership: Part II

Last week I told how my son persuaded me to experience a car show where I talked to some of the exhibiters about what it takes to rebuild a car similar to the pictures you saw in my previous post. I gave four principles last time, but I want to expand on one of them in this post.

At one exhibit I was talking to the man who did all the work to rebuild one of the cars. As I said before, these cars often start out as rusty and quite rotten, but they transform them into a beautiful classic worthy of a showroom floor. I asked the man, how long does this take? I found his reply very pertinent to what I need to do in order to lead well at work and home. He said “I do a little bit everyday no matter what.”

After he said this it made me pause and think for a minute. No matter what industry we are in or what goal we are pursuing this principle is profoundly true. Our daily habits and disciplines determine the results we get. This man took a little time every day to do something on the car and eventually after a couple years turned it into what you see above. Do you want to lead better at work or home? What daily habits do you perform to help you get to your goal?

Time to Think – Create time and space to think in your day. I know we are all busy, but what if instead of scrolling through social media on our phones when we are waiting we allow ourselves to think freely. Who knows we may gain a new insight Facebook or Twitter may not have brought to mind. Block out a specific amount of time to intentionally think into your personal and professional growth.

Time to Read – I have heard it said that readers are leaders. Do you create time in your schedule to read books or other material that is mind expanding? Find out some of the books high level leaders read and get them in your hands to read and absorb. As a start authors like Jim Collins, Patrick Lencioni, Steven Covey, and John Maxwell are a few that have helped expand my thinking not to mention classics like Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale. Create the time, maybe just fifteen or twenty minutes while walking on a treadmill or some type of audio while driving.

Time to Listen – I am a doer and I have to intentionally create time to stop and listen to those who matter most. I may ask my wife or co-worker how they are doing, but do I have the habit of stopping to listen? If you are like me you may need to create the habit of intentionally slowing down to not just hear what others are saying, but actively listen.

Time to Do – We are all busy, but are we productive? Take time to evaluate what you are doing and make sure it creates the habits that will get you to your goal. Do you do the important, but not urgent activities that will give you more sales, develop leaders, build your relationships with those you love? Evaluate what you do so the seeds of activity become productive fruit.

Think through your habits today and decide if there is one you need to change, remove or add. You don’t have to do it all at once. A cathedral is built one brick at a time similarly a transformed life will be built one habit at a time. What transformational habit do you need to begin today?

Mar

2018

What a Car Show Taught Me About Leadership: Part I

A short time ago my son was in his room listening to a local radio station when he burst into my office excited about something. He really enjoys cars at this stage of his life and he heard about a local car show and he wanted to see. I checked out the cost and after seeing it was more than I was willing to pay I asked him if he was willing to pay for his ticket. Without hesitation he said “yes!”

A couple days later we get our tickets from the auto parts store that was sponsoring the event and drive downtown to attend the experience. Personally I am not as excited about looking at cars as my son, but we walk around and see cars ranging from classic cars to exotic race cars such as Lamborghinis. I must confess I did enjoy the experience more than I anticipated (it did help I was able to buy some fudge at a vendor).

During our time I was looking at photographs of a car in front of me that showed the process of rebuilding the car. I was intrigued so I asked him how he did it. After a brief conversation I found four principles from rebuilding a car that can be applied to leadership either personally or professionally.

Vision – In order to take something that looks to the common person as worthless and turn it into a display to be admired one has to have a clear picture in their mind of what the final result will look like. In order to lead anything one must have a clear picture of what the final result looks like.
Passion – Angela Duckworth discusses in her book Grit that a person who has grit or toughness exhibits two characteristics and one of those is passion. In order to take a rusted-out car and turn it into a showroom exhibit one has to have a lot of passion for the project. If your vision is going to come to fruition as a leader there must be passion that will fuel it or the vision will die from a lack of energy pushing it forward.
Strategic Plan – as I talked to the car owner I heard a plan that he had to implement in order to get a car with a rusted out bottom to become what eventually was a car that could be driven. This was not a random plan, but a specific process where certain aspects of the car were rebuilt first in order to get to the next step. As leaders we may have a vision and passion, but we must have a plan to follow which will have to be adjusted and will not be perfect. The plan will keep us focused on the purposeful work we need to accomplish so we lead intentionally.
Daily Action – One of the biggest concepts that arose from my brief conversation was that in order for him to accomplish this car rebuild he took daily action. He didn’t complete the project in one weekend. He did a little bit on a regular basis over a couple years. I know I get really impatient and want the vision fulfilled yesterday, but I need to remember that in order to accomplish anything worthwhile it will take daily habits that help me climb up the hill to my desired result.

As you look at these four principles where do you need to grow? Do you have a clear vision for what you are leading and are you passionate about it? If you have those is there a strategic (not perfect) plan in place? What is one daily action step you and your team need to take in order to fulfill the vision? Finally, who will hold you accountable to this next step? Keep leading well both at work and home with passion, vision, planning, and daily action and who knows what you will accomplish.

Mar

2018

Do You Have a Team for Your Dream?

“Individuals play the game, but teams win championships.”

John C. Maxwell

I have had the privilege of being a part of championship sports teams. I have been able to coach individual champions, but even more fun to be a part of were the team champions. These past few days though I was able to be a part of a world class team of champions.

You may be wondering what I am talking about on the last part, but I will get back to that. Maybe you have a huge dream you are trying to accomplish as a leader or let’s just call it a vision. The vision could be to meet a specific financial benchmark or reach a specific amount of people in your market or in the world. Maybe it relates to something entirely different and when you think of your vision it overwhelms you. . . . good!

If our dreams can be accomplished with just us as individuals then we are dreaming too small. During the last week I got to be a part of a team of leaders with The John Maxwell Team and John Maxwell himself who were in Costa Rica training 15,000 leaders from every area of influence to lead roundtables. These individuals who have been trained now will be able to train others in this same process and be able to transform their organizations and ultimately their country. How did you do that in just a few days you may ask?

Teamwork.

Each coach invested their time and resources and decided they would go to help this launch. What does all this mean for you and your leadership?

As I was a part of this experience and have seen championships won in the past, the common theme is that each team member had bought into the common vision. Recently I read that if someone isn’t buying into the vision that is OK, give them respect and time to work through barriers and then, if necessary, let them move on. They will surely find a dream they want to align themselves with, but apparently not yours.
The teams I have experienced accomplishing great things have valued the collective goal more than their personal goals. We are all selfish so as the leader we need to help people see how the bigger picture aligns with their individual desires. This may be the entry point, but at some point a great team player will see the team’s goal as more important and use their strengths to fulfill their role on the team. This is the superstar player who may not get the ball much, but makes the play at the right time to help the team.
The team I was a part of in Costa Rica knew something critical to team success: the leader cares about us more than his ego. John Maxwell is a very authentic and transparent leader and even though I don’t get much time with him I know he cares about me and this trip was about serving the people of Costa Rica and not exalting John. When we know that everyone is aligned with the common goal of serving the people it makes it much easier to align with the leader’s goal and serve as one unified team.

How big is your dream? Do you have a dream that is bigger than you? Is your vision a vision that makes you appropriately uncomfortable and you see that you need a bigger team? Are you willing to let go of control and empower others to help you accomplish the vision? Who do you need on your team? You may not know right now, but keep thinking and you will. Keep pursuing the vision, build the team, and accomplish the dream. Lead well.

Mar

2018

What’s Discipline Have to Do With Leadership?

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Thomas Edison

I have three boys and one of them is nearing the teenage years. He is a great young man, but likes to test the boundaries as all teenagers do. One of those boundaries is the expectation to do chores in a timely fashion. At times he will put them off until the last possible minute unless there is a consequence to motivate him such as losing time in front of one of the multiple screens he is permitted to use.

For some reason in certain areas of life we don’t grow out of this habit of procrastination. The reality is we resist discipline. I decided to look up the definition of discipline and I found a couple.

The first came from the online dictionary and said: “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior”

Wikipedia, which may or may not be reliable, provided the second: “discipline is action or inaction that is regulated to be in accordance with a system of governance.”

I found the second definition more appropriate for what we are talking about. Discipline is required in order to act and accomplish that we are pursuing. As a person with a family and many responsibilities discipline is critical for my success in leading at work and home. I have found there are multiple areas where I need to grow in my discipline. As I provide this short list maybe it will prompt you to think of an area you need to grow in your discipline.

Thinking – A leader must create time to think into their results. I know some people who find the time they spend thinking into their priorities and where to focus their leadership to be the most valuable time they have. This time may be guided with a coach or other resources. If I am constantly doing and never thinking intentionally then it will hinder me living and leading at my full capacity.

Health and Fitness – I have always enjoyed exercise and it keeps my eating addiction at bay, but I have found this to become a time at the beginning of my day that provides more time to think and release some stress. Now I need to grow in my discipline of the amount of sweets I eat because I have a lack of discipline in that area.

Mindset – I can be a very self-critical individual. I can play stories in my mind that prevent me from moving into action to accomplish my personal and professional goals. I have some big goals and I need reminders to be courageous and Bible verses help me, but for you it may be a quote such as the one at the beginning of this post. I have to keep my mind filtered and not listen to the excuses, but instead focus on that which will move me toward my goal. I will have to dive deeper into this topic in another post, but know we need to discipline our minds by focusing our thoughts on what will keep us positive.

Growth Habits – I don’t know what you lead and what you are pursuing, but let me share with you some of the habits that leadership expert John Maxwell has each day that helps him grow. He reads, he writes, and thinks each day plus a couple other habits. Are these first two habits you need to develop so you can continually grow as a leader? Maybe it is reading a specific book each day on your field of study or on how to lead better or studying the life of a successful leader. I don’t know what your growth habits would be, but I know I need to be intentional about reading so I can bring value to you and writing helps me clarify my thinking.

The quote from Thomas Edison at the top summarizes the challenge we all face. Will we develop the discipline (which requires hard work) to set us up for taking advantage of opportunities when they come our way. Take a few minutes today and look at your daily or weekly schedule. Where can you exchange time that is spent doing activity that is not purposeful for time to develop one of the disciplines above? Maybe exchange thirty minutes in front of the TV for reading time or fifteen minutes mindlessly looking at social media for some intentional thinking? Whatever the discipline, put it on your calendar, tell someone who will hold you accountable, and as I have heard a successful individual say: Dream big, start small, and do something. Grow your discipline in one area and watch as you become a better leader at work and home. If you need a coach to help you through the process, contact me and let’s talk. Lead well my friend.