Leadership Torque

Name Change!

Today marks the start of a new year, and a new season for this blog, and hence I am changing the name of The L-Message to Leadership Torque!

That is all!

Build your Leadership Cred: Communicate

How many conflicts do you think occurr because something has been miscommunicated, not communicated or poorly communicated? I'm not sure what figure you might place against it but it must be a high one. Just yesterday I found myself in teh midst of a conflict because someone had drastically miscommuicated something about me and what I had(n't) said.

Stu (a friend I lead with at Church) says "You can never over communicate something". My hunch is that this is correct! Bill Hybels says when speaking about vision, that it leaks, it takes 21 days to leak out of your vision bucket before you have to recast the vision. I'm more and more inclined to think that this concept is true for all ideas, instructions, pleas, directions, etc., and that the time frame is also much shorter.

The good news is that if you learn to communicate well, if you are constantly developing this skill and if you communicate clearly and repeticiously then you will see that part of your leadership cred is kept intact. Possibly the best way to keep your teams on track, your people focused, morale up, strategy sharp, vision clear and everyone on the same page, has to begin with clear, concise and consistent communication.

THE CALL TO ACTION: Analyse the things you are communicating at the moment to your teams, to those you lead with, to the people you lead. Is there anything you need to be more clear about? Are there more conversations you have to have to make sure everyone is on the same page? Is there something you need to tell your people again and again and again?

Build your Leadership Cred: Encourage

Dr. Lewis Losoncy in his book "The Motivating Team Leader" suggests that the central reason why people do not perform to their full potential, is not because they are lazy, unmotivated, distracted, or anything of the sort. He says that it is a lack of encouragement that causes leaders not reach their full potential. I don't actually agree with his thesis, but I do really appreciate the central importance encouragement has in his leadership thought.

When we encourage, we place courage in others! We help them to see the things they can do, that they may not yet see and we affirm the great things they have already done. I think encouragement is such a huge, and often under appreciated, aspect of leadership that has the unmistakable ability to build ones cred with anyone who would follow.

Let's face it, we all love to be encouraged! Not in a false or ungenuine manner, but we love to know that we have done smething great, affected someone's life significantly, contributed something important, etc. So as leadership we need to offer this form of affirmation to those who follow us, when we do this they will enjoy following us. Hence we place more leadership credit in the bank!

THE CALL TO ACTION: Jot down the names of five people who you can encourage right now. Then go and write them a letter, send them an email or text, make a phone call, take them out for coffee and pour into their lives! you'll see the difference it makes immediately!

Build your Leadership Cred: Follow Through

It's my estimate that close to 75% of the daily stress leaders expereince would immediately disappear, if just one thing were to happen. I bet I have your attention now!

The greatest area of weakness in leadership I see on a consistant basis, would have to be people failing to deliver on things they have agreed to do. I know how easy it can be to promise something and then forget, get side-tracked, offer an affirmative but have no real desire to do it, become too busy that there simply isn't enough time. I mention here a few reasons, but we all know there are many more, that explain why things we say we will do, do not get done.

It is my opinion however, that when we repeatedly do not follow through on that which we say we will,  we loose credibility. Sometimes this can be an excellent indicator as to whether someone is fit for leadership. Presently, I am waiting on a couple of people - who have expressed a desire to step into leadership - to return one of the multiple phonecalls and advances I have made to meet with them. After 3 weeks I'm beginning to see a pattern emerge, whereby leadership credit has been spent, before it has been issued. This goes along way toward helping me decide if someone is ready to lead.

THE CALL TO ACTION: Everything you say you will do, make sure you do it. Devise a mechanism to remember to do it, to make sure it gets covered, to bring your best to the task. If you know up front you can't do it, then say so.

My observation and experience is that when things are not followed through on, leadership credibility is only slowly warn away. If the pattern is persistent and constant, then regaining leadership cred is a long, long road. If it's not addressed at all, eventually you'll find that know one trusts you to do anything and here ends your leadership. So don't let it get to that stage, if this is you, arrest this now, change what you need to change,so you can rebuild your credibility.

Build your Leadership Cred: Know The Plan

A while back now, I went to a training event ran by a well known and very popular leadership organisation who prided themselves on the pursuit and execution of excellence. I sat there for two days in a conference room with 10 other people reading through a manuel that outlined what we needed to be trained in.

By the end of the two days it was glaringly obvious that there was no plan or strategy for our training, there was no envisioning or passion behind what we were given and it sure as heck was not an excellent experience, let alone process. I came away quite frustrated and wishing that those in the position of leadership had a clue about the plan for those two days and beyond.

As a leader you have to have your head around the plan. You have to know where both you and the people you lead need to go and have some idea how to get there. If you don't you'll loose nearly all credibility. It really is that drastic. I read a quote the other day that said something along the lines of, "every leader should from time to time look behind them to make sue they are still being followed". But this is only possible if the leader is walking toward a desired future, according to the plan they have.

If you don't know the plan when people ask you, they won't want to follow you. Sure the trust they have in you will help, but they won't follow you if you don't know the plan of where to from here.

THE CALL TO ACTION: What leadership position are you in that requires you to have a plan? What is the plan? What does it look like? Who does it involve? What timing is important? What is the first step? Which direction are you planning to lead people in? Answering these questions is vital to your leadership credibility!

Build your Leadership Cred: Thank People

Have you ever received a bulk thank you email? I don't know about you, but for me I'd prefer a personal one liner, over a comprehensive bulk email to say thanks! I raise this because a great thank you isn't hard to get right! I try to take it very seriously the discipline of thanking people. Yes, it is a discipline! It's something that can easily slip through the cracks amongst the millions of other things you have to do.

Maybe it's so important to me because I've worked (paid and voluntary) in environments where it's felt like everything you do is taken for granted. In those places I found myself growing frustrated, angry and resentful not just at those who lead or managed me, but also at the task I was there to do and the cause I was in place to further.

The discipline of thanking someone is SO EASY! A short note of appreciation, a small gift out of the blue to say thanks, a public word of thanks followed with a round of applause, a brief conversation on the fly that still conveys that what someone did contributed to something greater and we're all better off because of it. The cost is so minimal, but the impact is so profound! So make it count, make it personal!

THE CALL TO ACTION: Right now go and thank three people for something, anything in fact. It could be what they mean to you as a friend, how they have served you or others, something they said that has helped or impacted you! Go on, build your leadership cred!

Build your Leadership Cred: Be Punctual

Of all the ways to build your leadership cred, this would have to be the easiest but most often neglected. In recent years a lack of punctuality has become one of my pet hates. I try and be places on time. Granted I'm not always successful but the way I look at it, is it's a sign of respect. If we have an agreed upon meeting time and I'm late, and don't let you know, that is not showing you any respect.

There are many reasons why a person can be late, but close to the top of the list for people who are frequently late is they are either lazy, forgetful or slack. Whatever the reason if you are late it says to the other person, what I was just doing is more important than you. Now if you weren't doing anything prior and just couldn't be bothered arriving on time, that says "I'm more important than you."

The biggest problem with a lack of punctuality however is the roll-on effect it has. If I'm late to a meeting with you, but we need to meet for an hour, that then means that you will be late to the person you have committed to meeting with after us. Thus I force you to disrespect another, because of my lack of respect for you. On a team level, meetings and team communication cannot occur till all parties are present. If one person is late, they are saying to everyone else "I'm more important than you, so wait for me." Of course the response is and often needs to be "We'll start on time regardless of who is here." The draw back of this is that the work of the leader is doubled in having to re-communicate everything that was missed, otherwise that leader has to put up with the mistakes made by the person who was late, who did not hear the instructions.

THE CALL TO ACTION: Turn up on time! Do what you need to do to be organised prior, so as to fulfil your commitments of turning up on time. Plan better, set your watch faster, work out travel times, aim to arrive early. It will quickly make a huge difference to your leadership cred!

Build your Leadership Cred: Listen

Paul Tillich said "The first duty of love is to listen". I wonder if the same could be said for leadership. When you lead someone you only know where to begin if you know where those you lead are at. I've realised through many painful and embarrassing moments that what I can think is the best course of action, can often be totally wrong, because I'm not aware of the full picture, because I have not taken the time to listen.

It is said that Bill Clinton would listen through the bottom of a can of Coke! What does that mean? Simply that regardless of what he did when in the presence of another, they always felt that he was listening to them, even went sipping some coke. I want to be that kind of leader who listens to those they lead in such a way that my leadership is appropriately tweaked so as not only to meet them where they are at, but to lead them effectively to the destination they will benefit from.

I think I could be so bold as to guarauntee that if someone you lead feels you truly listen to them, then your credibility will increase!

THE CALL TO ACTION: Today, I think I can safely say that you will be in a number of conversations. In each of them focus on listening, rather than talking. Ask questions and concentrate. After the conversation has finished recall what the main points of interest were in the conversation. If you do this on a regular basis you'll see how quickly your listening skills are fine tuned!

Note of caution, it's easy to listen and hear what you want to hear rather than what is actually being said. Challenge yourself to understand where the other person is coming from and what they are saying!

Build your Leadership Cred: Care

Caring for others goes an enormously long way to making them feel valued. If they feel valued by you, they'll want to be around you and want to know what you think and have to say, hence it strengthens your influence with them, making it easier to lead them.

I find people don't need grand gestures or a huge show to convince them that you care, they just need to know that someone who is responsible for leading them does care. Now we all know how easy it is to care for people who we naturally gravitate toward and find it easy to be friends with, but what about all those others?

Well you are leading them, therefore you do care about them, otherwise why would you bother? But we both know that showing them you care, whether it be through a note, or a short conversation, or an email, or a text message, is an action that you have to take, rather than a natural flow of events. That action however holds in it's grasp enormous power. We're not talking about faking care for someone, we're talking about actioning something that is real, but not necessarily within our comfort zone.

THE CALL TO ACTION: Right now think of three people who you lead, and in the next 2 days do something for or say something to them that conveys you care about them and they are valuable!

Build your Leadership Cred: Serve

Someone said to me the other day "When I think of servant leadership, I think of you!" I've waited a long, long time to hear those words! Well in fact I've never actually waited to hear them, but I have tried, ever since I began leading people to above everything else, serve them. The fact that someone named that, validated what I feel has been a major defining element in my leadership.

I'm a great starter of things, but in the (now very distant) past have been a poor finisher. Mainly because finishing requires allot of the behind the scenes, hard going, floor mopping, vacuum driving, chair shifting, rubbish clearing, servant work and I'd rather not do that! But I realised that if I don't, nobody else will. But if I as the leader do, then hopefully my example will inspire others to also serve.

I know how easy it is to sit back after an event and feel a sense of achievement and not realise there are others still working to clean up the mess I've created. So to gain credibility with those who are still at work, and to finish what I have started, and to show that I would never expect someone under my leadership to do a job I'm not willing to do, I like to serve!

More times than I care to remember have I seen a leader lose cred, because they're sitting back while people (literally) work around them to clean up the mess. I find it hard to comprehend nowadays why you wouldn't want to be working in the trenches with the team till the job is done, so we can all celebrate together on it's completion.

THE CALL TO ACTION: When is the next situation where there Will be a chance for you to serve? Work out when it is and what you can do, and then plan to roll your sleeves up and jump in, then make sure you execute the plan. You'll see things from a different point of view, and gain some cred in the process!