~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP WIRED John C. Maxwell's FREE Semimonthly Newsletter Designed To Maximize Your Leadership Potential. July 2005 - Volume 8, Issue 14 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue: * Maxwell Moment – Values 101 * Leadership@Large – Surveying the Leadership Landscape * Interview – Tough Management—Part Two * Quick Quotes – Making Preparations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maxwell Moment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VALUES 101 By Dr. John C. Maxwell When the legendary John Wooden was coaching basketball at UCLA, he seldom made home visits to prospective players. He did make an occasional exception, however, like the time he went to see an extremely talented prospect who had great potential to help his team. Wooden had every intention of offering the player a scholarship that night. In fact, all the necessary paperwork was ready and waiting in the pocket of his suit coat. But when he left the player's house later that evening, the scholarship was still in his pocket. What changed Wooden's mind? His decision had nothing to do with basketball, that's for sure. Rather, as Wooden watched the player interact with his mother, he was troubled by what he saw as a decided lack of respect. He surmised that a young man who spoke disrespectfully to his mom probably wouldn't respect his coach, either. That was enough to keep Wooden from offering him a spot on the team. When Wooden shared this story with me, he noted that he had often passed on exceptional talent if the player lacked good values. "What I have found is, just because the talent and the giftedness is there doesn't mean you're going to be able, as a coach, to bring it out of them," he said. "But if their values are there— the right ones—you can bring the best out of them every time." This story is a great illustration of an important teamwork concept: Values—those guiding principles that influence and guide behavior—determine the foundation of the team. When the members of a team are guided by respect, integrity, excellence and other positive attributes, their footing as a group is strong. Their shared values provide stability for their organization to build upon. That's not all a strong set of values will do for a group of people working together, of course. Let me illustrate with a few word pictures. • Values are like glue. They hold an organization together. • Values are like a ruler. They set the standard for a team's performance. • Values are like a compass. They give direction and guidance. • Values are like a magnet. They attract like-minded people. • Values provide identity. They define and identify the team. It's easy to talk about values in a generic sense. It takes a bit more effort to identify the specific principles that your company or team lives by, and even more discipline to communicate those values effectively to each person you hire. Sharp new employees will be able to ascertain much of what your organization believes in by watching your team in action. But it's always helpful when you reinforce those nonverbal messages with some kind of structured presentation that explains who you are and what you believe in as a company. I did this very thing several years ago when I moved my company to Atlanta from San Diego. We hired quite a few people when we moved, and to bring them up to speed on where we had come from organizationally, I gave them a formal overview of who we were and what was important to us. In this talk, I articulated the following values to my team: 1. Personal growth. It is the responsibility of each individual to grow personally, but it's the leader's responsibility to help facilitate that process. You can grow your organization only as much as you grow your people. 2. Making a significant contribution. I believe every person ought to do something that he or she truly believes is making a difference. 3. Living and working with passion. I don't know about you, but I want everyone around me to love what they do as much as I do. I have no desire to motivate people the people I work with to get passionate about life. I would rather beg them to find another job! 4. Commitment to excellence. As I've written in this column before, I believe each of us should set the bar higher for ourselves than anybody else will. 5. Team leadership. The only way to build a successful organization is by developing a great team around you. 6. Living a life of integrity. Without this, everything else is meaningless. Finally, the best way to ensure that everyone on your team is guided by similar principles is to examine each prospective employee through the lens of your organization's values and hire only those individuals who share those same values. If their values already match yours, they'll fit in much more quickly and start being productive a lot sooner than they would if you had to help them adapt to your company's mindset. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership@Large ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MICRO-INTERACTIONS Some leaders may not think that the short, casual encounters they have with employees and colleagues every day have much to do with their ability to influence others. But in a column on "Inc." magazine's website titled "Leadership is the Art of Micro- Interactions," Roger R. Pearman—the founder of two companies that provide leadership development training and an expert in the study of personality types—says that the smallest of interactions can have a huge impact on how people perceive a person as a leader. "Of the 67 established manager and leader competencies for success, and the 19 behavior clusters linked to career failure or derailment, the vast majority of behaviors are related to the management of relationships," Pearman writes. "Among career stallers, 75 percent of the behaviors are relationship issues (e.g. arrogance, betrayal of trust, defensiveness). All of these behaviors are connected to our most basic interactions." Relationships are developed through micro-interactions, Pearman says, and each encounter either makes a leader seem inviting or cold and indifferent. As time goes on, people who fall into the latter category are "usually thought of as self-interested, too absorbed and generally uninterested in others' contributions," he adds. And it's hard to work effectively with others when that's how they view you. How can a leader prevent others from forming such an impression of him or her? In short, make the most of every personal encounter, no matter how inconsequential it might seem. "Each interaction is an opportunity to recognize others, which communicates to them that they are significant to the organization," Pearman writes. "Asking a general inviting question shows you have some confidence in their work. Suggesting that you are willing to help communicates you see them as worthwhile." To read more, see: http://www.inc.com/resources/leadership/articles/20050501/microinteraction.html ________________________________________________________________ SEMPER FI During four years in the U.S. Marines, author and speaker Richard Biggs learned a host of practical skills—leadership, discipline, organization, persistence and commitment, to name a few—that have served him well in his civilian business career. But it was the lessons about teamwork that may have made the deepest impression on him. "The U.S. Marine Corps is the world's elite fighting force because it's composed of 'a few good men' who work together as a cohesive unit to fight battles and win wars," Biggs—a recent "Leadership Wired" interviewee—says. "Yes, each Marine is valued highly, but the Corps succeeds because it's a team of highly skilled men and women who are usually the 'first to fight' in any campaign." As a Marine, Biggs discovered the following three teamwork principles: 1. Independence. "Every Marine is fiercely independent," he says. "That may sound contradictory to the team spirit, but personal pride plays a major role in the overall success of the Corps. After all, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link." 2. Dependence. "The Marine Corps is masterful in molding a diverse group of people into a synergistic team," Biggs says. "Individual pride is encouraged, but excessive ego isn't tolerated. Each Marine is dependent upon the team to accomplish the mission of the Corps." Corporate America has much to learn from the Marines about this aspect of teamwork. As Jon R. Katzenbach and Jason A. Santamaria stated in a 1999 "Harvard Business Review" article titled "Firing Up the Front Line," "In a real team, no individual member can win or lose; only the group can succeed or fail." 3. Interdependence. "The Marine Corps is the smallest military branch," Biggs explains. "It's the ground force of the U.S. Navy. Navy SEALS often go in ahead of Marine recon units. The Navy provides transportation, air and big gun support, engineers known as Seabees, medical personnel called Corpsmen, and a host of other essential services. It's also necessary to coordinate battle plans with the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. Without an interdependent team attitude among all of the armed services, our military forces would be vulnerable and less victorious." From a business standpoint, John Maxwell puts interdependence in the proper perspective in "The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork." "If you want to do something big, you must link up with others," he writes. "One is too small a number to achieve greatness. That's the Law of Significance." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TOUGH MANAGEMENT—PART TWO In the last issue of "Leadership Wired", we began a two-part discussion with Chuck Martin, head of NFI Research, a global idea exchange and research engine with a membership of more than 2,000 senior executives around the world. Also a bestselling author, his latest books include "Tough Management: The 7 Ways to Make Tough Decisions Easier", "Deliver the Numbers", and "Grow Business in Good Times and Bad" and the business fable "Coffee at Luna's". In the first half of our interview, Martin talked about some critical issues that are facing leaders today, including communication alignment and the necessity of making tough calls. Here, we move on to a few other themes that pop up frequently in his research and writing. Leadership Wired: How did you come up with the concept for "Coffee at Luna's", and what is its primary message? Chuck Martin: The whole idea is that work/life balance is just out of whack today. People are working so many hours; they're working so hard. And they're doing it diligently—it's just the demands of the world of today. "Coffee at Luna's" was a book to get people to really see what's going on and what really matters. Although it's a business fable and we created the characters, it's based on two years of primary research. We had 25 senior executives across the country read a draft of it in advance and they all had input into it. It's based on the real world. That's why people read it and say, "Oh, that sounds just like me." The idea was to show what a person really goes through in terms of day-to-day life when they get promoted and all of a sudden, they have to lead a whole group. The main character is put into a huge leadership position but he hasn't been given the tools on how to lead, which is very typical when someone gets promoted. They might have been trained to be a good manager, but they may not have been trained to be a good leader. As a result, they take those management skills, which are basically process oriented—getting things done, working hours, all that—and try to do more of that. In "Coffee at Luna's", this poor manager becomes the head of an organization, and he only knows working harder and more hours. So he gets everyone to work more hours with him. They're working Saturdays, his home life is falling apart. Then corporate sends in an older gentleman, nicknamed "Teacher," who says, "Let's go have coffee at Luna's." Of course, the reaction of this manager is, "What's this guy? A lunatic? He wants to go have coffee when everything is coming down around me?" Then, over a series of coffees at Luna's, the teacher teaches the main character that there are really a few things that matter more than anything. And once you do these things and share them in the organization, it actually will run better. It's not about making the numbers. Everyone thinks it's about making the numbers, and that's one of the great myths of American business— that making the numbers drives success. The reality is success drives making the numbers. But that's not what everyone focuses on; they focus on making the numbers at all costs. LW: So what are the few things that matter more than anything else? Martin: No. 1, people need to stop and look around them and see what really matters at work. It's not just about stopping things; it's about stopping themselves and detaching momentarily, whether it's by taking a two-hour lunch or playing some golf or taking a day off where you don't have your cell phone or computer or voice mail and e-mail. Take a break and get a perspective of what really matters. Once that happens, you start to look at those around you and see who's in the same situation you are. Generally you find out that everyone is in the same situation and you need to get them to do the same thing. Once you do that, and it cascades throughout the organization, then you can start to change things. You start to modify little things—not big things—and if everyone modifies some little things, all the sudden there's monumental change in an organization. That's what the leader of tomorrow has to do. They have to stop and identify all of that and then they're responsible for getting people who, on their own, simply will work more hours, to do the same thing. LW: What's an example of a little thing? Martin: Let's say an employee comes in late a couple days a week, and everyone sort of lives with it. Come to find out, the employee might have a problem with a child who's in chemotherapy. Nobody knows because nobody at the office asks. The manager doesn't ask; they just make disparaging remarks about this employee coming in late. A flexible work schedule is a small thing that could change that person's life. All of a sudden, that person becomes dramatically more productive in the organization. Other employees see this and say, "Gee, I'm working for a caring organization." Then they become more productive because they have more vested—more of a reason to work —as opposed to being the hired gun. It changes attitude, which changes performance, which changes productivity. All measurable. LW: In your writing, certain themes pop up frequently … the value of time vs. the cost of time, busy is better, urgent vs. important, staying focused, the more you do the more you do. Obviously, busy isn't better if you're busy doing the wrong things. So how does a leader or manager determine what he or she really should be doing, and then, actually figure out how to focus on those things? Martin: It takes constant reevaluation. It's the old 80/20 rule— it's really 20 percent of the stuff that matters. It's not the 80 percent. It's not about cleaning your desk every day and getting that list done. Nobody gets their daily list done. It's about dealing with the things that truly matter. We know for a fact that business people are more productive before nine and after five; that's when the productivity occurs. Once you realize that, you can say, "OK, I'm not going to be productive between 11 and 1, because that's the lowest productivity time in the day for an executive." That's the time you want to be really dealing with what you can do to help somebody else along. Those interruptions do move the organization forward. That's the time the leader should take to help align other people below him or her in the chain with the strategy and vision and direction. The leader should always have a few things that matter—that's it. Everything else is simply supporting those three things. Every leader has to have that big list. It's the same number—one, two or three—for a leader at any level of an organization, but once everybody knows those three things, then anything that the leader does in the course of a day, week or month should fall under one of those three things. If it doesn't, it's probably the wrong thing. For example, MasterCraft is a boat manufacturer in Vonore, Tenn., that we used as a case study in "Tough Management". They wanted to align their whole organization. They have manufacturing, they have marketing, they have sales, they have all kinds of departments. They created a vision statement of what the company is about—what their mission is—and then everyone in the organization had to determine what they did to fulfill their part of that vision. As a result, people down the ranks found meaning to what they were doing as opposed to simply doing a lot of tasks every day. They were encouraged to go all the way to the CEO if someone told them to do something that doesn't fit under their mission statement. As a result, they're totally aligned, they're very profitable, they're very successful and people are happy. They know what they're doing and they see how it impacts the bottom line. LW: In "Tough Management", one of the skills that you say every manager should know is how to be tough without being a tough guy. How does a person do that? Martin: You have to actually do the breaks. Take the break away from work; take personal time. Look at employee morale. Protect your talent in the organization. Go pat someone on the back for doing a good job. We don't have that anymore—people telling people, "Hey, I really appreciate that effort you did—that was a great job." There's no time to do that anymore, so no one does it. Not being a tough guy doesn't mean that you're soft, but it means that you do physically recognize contribution to the vision and strategy—to the things that matter. When the leader goes into the ranks or to the manager or whomever and says, "Thank you, I really appreciated that," that goes so far in terms of building where people are going to go and who they're going to follow. There are leaders who people will follow through fire because they know those leaders really respect what they do. Over the years, because it's gotten so busy, some people have simply forgotten that. All those things that we learned growing up—say please and thank you—those are the kinds of things that went by the wayside, and that's what leaders need to do. Again, it doesn't mean being soft, but it means bringing the perspective of life into work—that it's not all about working 14 hours a day instead of 12. It's about helping people keep balance so that they contribute more in terms of quality of what they're doing. And that gets back to the 80/20 all the way down the ranks, where people then are themselves focusing on what matters. People need the help from the leader to do that. -- Interview by Lois Flowers, INJOY consulting editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BE PREPARED "The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare." — Thane Yost "The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well." — Sir William Osler "I thatched my roof when the sun was shining, and now I am not afraid of the storm." — George F. Stivers _________________________________________________________________ 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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