~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP WIRED John C. Maxwell's FREE Semimonthly Newsletter Designed To Maximize Your Leadership Potential. June 2003 - Volume 6, Issue 11 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue: * Maxwell Moment - Leadership Landmines, Part 1 * Leadership@Large - Surveying the Leadership Landscape * Interview - Credibility Counts, Part 2 * Quick Quotes - The Best Teacher ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maxwell Moment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP LANDMINES, PART ONE By Dr. John C. Maxwell It happens all the time. Successful leaders--people with great business acumen, great teams and great vision--are moving along, growing their companies when, all of a sudden, they fall flat on their faces. Their businesses start hemorrhaging money. Their best people start jumping ship. Their families start falling apart. And they sit at their desks with their heads in their hands wondering, "How did this happen?" I'll tell you how it happened. They were blown up by a problem they never saw coming. I call these problems "leadership landmines" because unless you're consciously looking for them, they're nearly impossible to spot. They're buried in the grind of daily life, quietly waiting to injure and perhaps even destroy the next unsuspecting leader who steps on them. Before I go on, I need to tell you that what I'm writing is based on personal experience. At one time or another in my career, I've stepped on landmines like the ones I'm about to describe. In some cases, I even have the scars to prove it. If you're moving and active, you're bound to have a painful encounter with a landmine every now and then. It's just the nature of leadership. But there are certain landmines that will absolutely wipe you out if you're not careful, and those are the ones that really deserve our attention. A friend once told me, "If I could kick the person most responsible for most of my problems, I would not be able to sit down for a week." From my own life and the lives of the leaders I've observed over the years, I have found that to be absolutely right. Most leaders I watch don't need to worry about the competition beating them. Instead, they need to be concerned about doing something stupid in the race and disqualifying themselves. Consider some of the topics we've covered in recent editions of "Leadership Wired." In late March, we talked about getting over today's success. In April, we discussed the importance of making tough calls. Last month, we learned about trust and how to let growth be our promoter. On some level, all of these issues involve potential leadership landmines. For example, spending too much time basking in today's success without looking towards the future will sabotage your leadership. So will failing to make tough calls, advancing in position but not personal growth, and betraying the trust of your people. You may never have thought of some of these things as being that bad, but believe me, they are. And none of them are caused by other people, including your competitors. If these problems affect your life, the blame lies squarely on your shoulders. So if you want to maintain your integrity as a leader, it's critical that you recognize them as leadership landmines and take steps to avoid them. In recent issues of "Leadership Wired," I've given you tools to do just that in several areas. But we've only just begun. Another deadly landmine that many leaders step on is the propensity to lose touch with the people they're leading. When leaders become isolated--due to success, failure or even extreme busyness--they become ineffective. It's the natural human response to withdraw during such times, but if you want to avoid this landmine, you can't do that. Get down off the mountain. Walk slowly through the crowd. Listen to your people and actually hear what they're saying. Sense what they're feeling. Hang out with them. Taking these actions will definitely enable you stay in touch with your people. The following steps also will help. 1. Value people. They're the only appreciable assets that you have, so don't go around thinking that they're replaceable or not necessary. You can't do your job without other people. 2. Avoid positional thinking. Leadership has nothing to do with your position or title; it has everything to do with your influence. If you want to keep from losing touch with your people, you have to adopt the mindset that the folks around you work with you, not for you. Titles and positions don't matter. If you're good at what you do, you don't need them, and if you're not so good, they won't help. So stop thinking of yourself in terms of your position or title. 3. Love the people you lead. This is something I've said for many years: People really do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. 4. Understand that you're in the people business. You might think you're in banking, real estate, manufacturing or publishing. But, as my friend Ken Blanchard is fond of saying, no matter what you do, you're actually in the people business. Your clients are people, your suppliers are people, and your employees are people. Make no mistake--you are in the people business. 5. Understand the "Law of Significance." This law says, "One is too small of a number to achieve greatness." If you can achieve your dream by yourself, you don't have much of a dream. In the next issue of "Leadership Wired," I will address several more landmines and outline steps to help you steer clear of them. In the meantime, take an inventory of your leadership based on what I've just written. Think about the landmines you've stepped on in the past, as well as those you might be dangerously close to right now. What do you need to do to avoid them? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership@Large ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PREPARING THE NEXT GENERATION Bestselling leadership authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner believe we are on the verge of a leadership explosion. In the Spring 2003 issue of "Leader to Leader" magazine, they predict "the emergence of a whole new breed of energetic leaders who will work to restore people's faith in one another and revitalize society's capacity to excel." That might sound like a tall order, considering the rash of corporate scandals we've seen lately. But Kouzes and Posner suggest that this is exactly the kind of climate necessary to produce noteworthy leaders. "Only challenge produces the opportunity for greatness," they write. That said, the authors don't believe organizations can just sit around waiting for this new crop of leaders to arise from the "chaos and uncertainty of the present." They offer five essential leadership actions that facilitate the growth of leaders. 1. Set the example. If you want to develop leaders who behave ethically, think long- term and treat people with dignity, give them the opportunity to observe leaders who demonstrate such behaviors. 2. Make challenges meaningful. "When it comes to excellence," Kouzes and Posner write, "it's definitely not 'What gets rewarded gets done' but rather 'What is rewarding gets done.'" 3. Promote psychological hardiness. This involves creating the conditions that make people believe they can conquer hardship. 4. Create a climate of trust. "Individuals who are unable to trust others fail to become leaders, precisely because they can't bear to be dependent on the words and work of others," the authors say. 5. Develop relationship skills. "Mastery of leadership requires mastery of those skills central to developing and maintaining positive relationships with others," Kouzes and Posner write. _________________________________________________________________ STICKING TO THE MISSION A clear sense of mission based on lasting values can help a leader facilitate rapid change. Such was the case at Newton Country Day School, an all-girls institution near Boston that was operating in the red and losing students in 1989 when Barbara Rogers took over as headmistress. According to Fast Company magazine, Rogers was able to turn the school around by focusing on five goals that had basically been ignored since they were adopted in 1975. "We put the goals first and formed our actions around them, even though that may have seemed financially irresponsible at the time," she said. For example, one goal says the school has "a deep respect for intellectual values." This goal meant that Rogers would rather leave a slot vacant, rather than accept a student who didn't meet upgraded admissions standards. Rogers created an uproar when she revised the school's awards policy. Instead of giving an award to every student, she cut the number down to five--one for each goal--to raise standards and stress the importance of the school's mission and culture. Many faculty members quit over this change, but those who stayed understood why the new direction was necessary and supported Rogers' commitment to the school's goals. "For those people, nothing that happened along the way shook that vision," she said. "It was really quite simple: We chose the approach with the highest possible risk because that was the only way to go. And that's what made it fun." For more information, see: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/34/newton.html _________________________________________________________________ GUEST COMMENTS: HIGH-PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP FOR THE COMING TURNAROUND By Danny Cox The longer a slow market persists, the more likely it is for both employees and managers to develop bad habits that can slow a company's reentry into an improving economic climate. These habits can take many forms, and leaders need to identify and root them out quickly. To accelerate the reentry, a leader must make sure that the four elements of a high-performance organization--interactive trust between coach and team, a sense of purpose, focused action and clear communications--are in place. Interactive trust is initiated by the leader's commitment to personal growth, which, in turn, sets a good example for the team. This example isn't set so employees will become copies of the leader, but to prove that the leader is on a growth curve and improving in his or her role. When the leader coaches an individual's strengths into better job performance, the reward is trust from the team member. Everyone sees this growth--the individual, the coach, other team members, the customers and, most importantly, the person's family. As trust and respect spread, they make the interactive statement that "You have my best interests at heart." Two byproducts are high morale and camaraderie among team members who realize something very special is happening. The second element, a sense of purpose, is bigger than just a goal or even a vision. Purpose makes a long-term statement that through the years, a number of visions will be achieved. A single vision is made up of numerous goals, all aimed at the eventual achievement of the vision. Leaders know that true enthusiasm is built by the accomplishment of smaller goals that are part of a larger plan. These periodic achievements build team energy in the march toward fulfilling the vision. High performance leaders also know that when a vision is attained, it should be celebrated and immediately replaced with another vision. This helps prevent a letdown in morale. Focused action is the third element. The leader is aware of where the team is and the course it needs to maintain to accomplish the goals and vision. The leader is precise and up to date on progress and keeps the team aware of it. This keeps energy and motivation high in each individual. The fourth element is effective communications. High performance leaders have inventoried each employee's weaknesses and strengths. They know effective coaches must be aware of the weaknesses but talk to the strengths. Another important phase of communications is to adopt a policy to "never quit selling your company to your company." Often, the last time an employee hears anything good about the company is during the recruiting phase. Keep selling them! A final reminder: When a team makes it through a storm because of good leadership, the cohesion that takes place is hard to break. Danny Cox is a business speaker and author of the bestselling books "Leadership When the Heat's On", "Seize the Day" and "There Are No Limits". He's a member of the National Speaker Association's Speaker Hall of Fame, as well as the elite Speakers Roundtable, a group of 20 of the most popular speakers in North America. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CREDIBILITY COUNTS, PART TWO In the last issue of "Leadership Wired," we began a two-part conversation with Joyce Godwin, a former healthcare executive who, over the last 22 years, has served on more than 30 boards of directors for a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. We ended the first half of our discussion with Joyce talking about the problems that arise when corporate or organizational leaders stretch or hide the truth because they think their boards only want to hear positive news. We pick up our conversation there. _________________________________________________________________ Leadership Wired: How do you change that type of "good-news-only" culture? Joyce Godwin: It can be changed by a strong board chairman who would lead the board in such a way that they say they want to have everything on the table, good or bad, and that they're there to look at the long-term survival and thriving of the business or the organization, and that they can only do that if they know what's really going on. They then must be prepared to make the tough decisions. In both general leadership and on a board, if the people don't know each other, then they won't talk openly. It becomes a cycle. If they trust each other, then they're going to respect each other, and if they respect each other, there's going to be more candor. It just keeps happening. With more candor, there's more respect, and with more respect, there's more trust, and when there's trust, there's candor. This should be the case at all levels of an organization. If people in a small department feel they can't be candid because that's not the expectation, then they're not going to develop trust, and it becomes a very negative cycle. The real disasters come when people do not feel comfortable talking, whether it's in the small department meeting or a board meeting, about what's really on their mind, but as soon as the meeting is over, two or three people gather and say, "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard," or, "I can't believe they didn't look at such and such," or, "No way is this going to work," but they didn't say it in the meeting. They don't have to say in the meeting, "No way is this going to work," but they can ask it in a better way. "I'm really concerned about this working, and my concern is based on such and such. Can we discuss it more?" And then people, whether it's a board member or an individual in a staff meeting, not taking responsibility for what they're doing by not being open to giving their input, and then later saying, "That wasn't my idea," or, "I would never have advocated that." Well, they did advocate that because they were there and they were silent. Maybe they didn't speak against it, but their silence indicated that they were more for it than against it. LW: It sounds like many of the principles that apply to boards of directors also apply to people in any leadership role. Godwin: Yes. Some of it is spending time together. So much emphasis in business is on the "doing", and the "doing" goes a lot better when there's sufficient time and attention spent to the "being." Like really knowing who you're working with, caring about them, encouraging them. It's just as important--if someone shouldn't be part of the team, not because they're a bad person, but they're just misplaced for what their talents and gifts are --to help them move to a place where they can perform better. We do a disservice to people when we don't help them do that. It breaks down the organization of which they're part of now, plus it's just frustrating to them and it's not letting them get on with what they should be doing. LW: How do you foster spending time together? How does that happen? Godwin: With a board, it's retreats. In staff meetings, it's spending a little time just checking in with each other to see what's going on. A big one is listening to what people are saying or what people are not saying. I'll see in business situations, and in organizations too, somebody will say some personal thing that is really significant--something that may be difficult for them to have said--and it's just ignored because people aren't listening. LW: For example? Godwin: Somebody says, "How was your weekend?" And perhaps the questioner didn't really want to know but he asked the question. And the other person says, "Oh, it was really rough--my father's dying and I had to spend time there." To which the first person says, "Okay, let's get on with the meeting now." I've seen that happen a lot. I think it's not that the leader was uncomfortable with that but that he didn't even hear what was said. LW: Do you have a word of practical advice for leaders who want to listen better but are so focused on their agenda--or distracted by everything else that is going on--that they're having trouble doing so? Godwin: Tell the people around you that you're working on improving your listening (or any other) skill and ask them for their assistance! -- Interview by Lois Flowers, INJOY consulting editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE BEST TEACHER "Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him." - Aldous Huxley "Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely." - Auguste Rodin "Men are wise in proportion not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience." - George Bernard Shaw _________________________________________________________________ Leadership Wired is written by Dr. John C. Maxwell and is available via e-mail on a free subscription basis. You can subscribe at: http://www.INJOY.com/Newsletters. Questions about document transmission or editorial comments? Contact mailto:feedback@INJOY.com. 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