ROTARY

Dec

2022

Hope: A Leader’s Responsibility

I had the opportunity to be a part of our local Rotary Club’s charity ball to raise money to build wells in Sierra Leone. This event has been occurring for eleven years now. The morning before at our weekly meeting I was able to hear from a leader in Freetown, Sierra Leon share the social, emotional, and overall impact these wells bring to a community.

After attending that event and thinking about recent events in my life, our world, and the holiday season it got me curious about the impact of hope. As leaders we have a job to provide hope. I got curious and asked what impact hope has on others and why is it important for a leader?

You are the leader they should do what you ask, right? Hopefully you don’t agree with that statement and know I don’t if you’ve been reading these for a while. I did a little research and am going to highlight a few keys to providing hope as the leader

Have Hope

“If you lose hope, that may be your last loss, because when hope is gone, so is motivation and the ability to learn.” John Maxwell

Hope is at the foundation of leadership. A leader sees more before others often by seeing a problem or need and has hope they can provide a solution. The leader of this event saw the need for obtaining fresh water without walking hours to a filthy river with the chance of endangering the lives of young girls during the journey. He did something about it. Eleven years ago he started a project to raise funds in collaboration with a club in Sierra Leone to provide long lasting wells in various communities.

They started with hope and eventually small results and now have impacted hundreds of thousands of lives. It all started in the heart of a leader with hope. As a leader what is the hope you are clinging to? Hope fuels the desire to learn, grow, and make a bigger impact than we may be able to make on our own.

Give Hope

“Throughout history the effectiveness of a leader has been attributed to the leader’s ability to generate hope.” Kay Herth citing Luthens and Avolio

An individual may have hope, but they have to be able to transfer that to others. The bigger the problem and need, the larger the team. As the quote above mentions, a leader is only as effective as the hope he or she can generate within first. Once that hope is alive inside the leader, he or she must stimulate the growth of that hope by building a team. A hope-filled vision inspires a team and helps it build momentum.

Inspire Internal Hope

“Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the faith that, together, we can make things better.” John Maxwell

There are two types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic comes from some type of outside force, reward, or influence. This requires the leader to continually remind people of the reason the team should keep pressing forward.

On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is fueled by something within the individual. Individuals with this type of motivation have internal hope. This is not just optimistic thinking that life will improve, but as John Maxwell states above, a faith that as a team we will make things better.

When a leader has shifted from giving to inspiring hope their team will move mountains. Hope is the fuel that creates an expectation in team members that the goal will be attained. A team ignited by hope will tear down walls to accomplish the vision.

Here is the question: how are you at inspiring hope in those you lead? What can you do today to give them hope with a plan to work toward? Leaders must provide hope and a plan to get the team where they are trying to go. There is another element to this, but we will save that for next week. Need help thinking into how you give hope? Contact me for a powerful coaching session. Lead Well!

Luthans, F., & Avolio, B. (2003). Authentic leadership: A positive development approach. In Cameron, K., Dutton, J. & Quinn, R. (Eds), Positive Organizational Scholarship, (241-253). San Franciso; Barrett-Koehler.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kaye-Herth/publication/264838550_Leadership_from_a_Hope_Paradigm/links/543284530cf20c6211bc53e1/Leadership-from-a-Hope-Paradigm.pdf retrieved 12/4/2022

Maxwell, John. Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn. Center Street, New York: 2013

https://web.archive.org/web/20180512081422id_/https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/2006/cerff_winston.pdf retrieved 12/4/2022

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.