LEADING AND WINNING WITH PEOPLE

Another possible negative in your organization is – THE SLACKER.

This is the person who chooses to make excuses rather then produce and contribute. This person is unmotivated, lazy or uninterested. They might not cause problems with their actions, but their inaction can be a point of resentment for the rest of the team. All your leadership coaching, team building exercises and cohesion can be slowly eaten away by allowing this person to openly and intentional underperform. The rule stands true: “Your team is only as strong as your weakest link.” Some people can be like dead weight, dragging behind and slowing down the team. You must not allow this to go unchecked.

It is important to determine if this person is actually slacking off or if they are not being challenged and have become bored in their position. If someone has become apathetic due to to being under-challenged, the problem is your leadership and ability to delegate; not their laziness. Sit down with them and find out where they feel they would best fit in the team or if there is a need they would like to fill. Sometimes this isn’t possible to accommodate, but if possible give them the responsibility they desire. You want your best players playing to their strengths.

If the person is actually slacking off intentional, communicate your expectations and challenge them to a higher level of involvement. Immediately assign them responsibility and then monitor their performance. If this solves the problem, it means they needed further direction and are probably not a self starter. They will make for a good assistant to a key team player who is self motivated.

If you have followed the steps above and their is still no improvement, it is in the best interest of your team and your momentum to let them go. As leaders, we must learn to make hard and uncomfortable decisions for the sake of the team. If this person is allowed to stay and continue to work and perform poorly you run the risk of killing team morale and affecting other players performance.

LEADING AND WINNING WITH PEOPLE

Today, I want to cover another type of person you will encounter in leadership – THE CHALLENGER.

The challenger wants your authority and/or your position. This person thinks they can do a better job than you can, thinks they are smarter and more gifted than you, or perceives you as weaker than they are so they want to push you around. Challengers are usually strong-willed, arrogant and have issues with authority. They want to be the boss of everyone else, and don’t like taking orders from anyone.

If direct intimidation and criticism doesn’t work, their strategy and focus will turn to those underneath you. Their goal is to steal your influence with your team or members. They will attempt to discredit you or try to rally people to their cause and distract them from the direction of the organization. Challengers usually prey on weaker, passive people or search for any sign of disappointment and disgruntled feelings in team players and exploit it for their purpose.

Sound Familiar? If challengers have succeeded at all, you will now be fighting two battles: 1. with the challenger 2. with people who are now loyal to his cause. This is a hard pill to swallow, and how you navigate this will determine how much influence you lose.

Here are some steps that will help you handle this person.

Is the challenger someone who is close to you or someone new to the organization?

1. If they’re an old team member, you should approach them personally to see if the issue can be resolved. Be stern, but caring. Don’t react in anger; they are looking for the opportunity to challenge you and will possibly use anything you do wrong against you. Express your concern, dig to see if there is any anger or frustration that can be resolved between the two of you. If you achieved reconciliation, they will be even more loyal to you. If you can not reconcile, it is best to remind them that they are not going to take your position, you will not tolerate their behaviour and they must either follow your lead or leave.

2. If they are someone new to the team, ask them to leave immediately. Most likely, they have done this before somewhere else and their ultimate goal is to be the boss. They do not want to be a team player. You must also address the entire team about the problem the challenger has become since you do not know who they have infected.

Do not back down, and do not react. Handle the situation quickly, but handle it with wisdom and temperance. Remember, great leaders lead well in calm waters and in dangerous storms.

LEADING AND WINNING WITH PEOPLE

Yesterday, I covered PART ONE  of the first negative personality to lead - THE COMPLAINER.

Today I am continuing with the 2nd type of complainer.

2.) Those who try to help by mainly identifying problems

Some people have keen observation skills and can quickly identify problems, but have under-developed problem solving skills so they can seem extremely negative. It is hard as a leader to hear about the problems and mistakes of your leadership and team from a subordinate, but these people are usually highly invested in the success of the team and this is the reason they are vocal about problems. These people might not even realize that they are being a negative or the growing burden they are becoming to you and the team.

I used to be this type of person. It was easy for me to want to see improvement and I was a perfectionist so nothing measured up to my standard. The people above me took this as criticism and removed me for what they perceived as a bad attitude.  I could have been a great asset to the team instead of a burden, but the leader did not take the time to instruct me into a better team player.

This type of person needs to understand the negative effect they are having on the team and should learn to keep their problem finding to a minimum. Communicating to them that their approach is harsh and does more harm that good should usually be enough to modify their behavior. Also, occasionally ask them for feedback after large events or gatherings. Allowing them the opportunity to help improve the system will make them feel valued and give them a more positive outlook.  These people are assets to your team who need more direction.

Usually one or two conversations will help you identify if you’re dealing with a natural complainer or an unintentional complainer. Instruct and encourage both and in extreme cases – remove the second.

LEADING AND WINNING WITH PEOPLE

We finished covering 10 qualities of a great leader which you can read here. Now I would like to cover skills to winning your people, dealing with personality problems, and leading different personalities. Leadership is usually working closely with people and this means you must have tact, awareness, and sensitivity as well as many other important people skills. Over the next 10 days, I would like to discuss some common problems with people you will face and ways to deal with them successfully.

It has been said, that their are three types of people in every organization: POSITIVES, NEGATIVES AND NEUTRALS.

Today, I would like to discuss how to deal with NEGATIVE  #1 – COMPLAINERS.

Complainers fall into two main categories: 1) Negative or Pessimistic people OR 2) Those who try to help by mainly identifying problems.

In this post we will cover the first group of complainers – NEGATIVE OR PESSIMISTIC PEOPLE.

Complainers are toxic to an organization and the first is much more difficult to manage. Usually those who are naturally pessimistic have been that way for a long time. Maybe they used to be a very positive person but over time or after a really disappointing situation, see the world through a negative set of lenses. They are negative about everything and easily see the bad in every situation. These people can erode a team’s momentum and chemistry because of constant negativity. People like this can become very draining.

If they are vital to the team or perform well alone, it might be best to confront them individually about keeping their negative emotions to themselves. Also, as the leader become the sound board for their negativity, and limit their voice in team settings.Since their negativity stems from deeper issues than the organization, trying to fix their attitude would consume much of your time as a leader. If the situation has become very toxic and none of the solutions mentioned already have worked, it might be best to let them go. If they are allowed to remain on the team and spread their negative attitude, the rest of the team will either become negatives like them or lose motivation because of the deflating environment.

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

I’m covering 10 vital characteristics of a great leader. You can go back to read the other qualities of a great leader from the main page.

The 10th quality of a great leader is FOCUS.

“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.”

-Tony Robbins

Focus is the ability to fix your gaze on a goal and run straight toward it. Maintaining focus as a leader is not an easy task. People in your organization and team will constantly try to steal your focus away from the main issue. Problems and fires can consume your time and energy, stealing your ability to focus on the big picture. You must guard your time and your vision. You must remind people on your team constantly of the direction, and redirect those who would like to change the focus of your team.

Focus is more than concentration. It is disciplined ignorance of distractions. If you want to be a great leader, this means guarding and stewarding your time and energy well. Focused leaders are productive leaders. Distractions are not necessarily unimportant issues, but they are not immediate attention issues. Only you know what is most important, but if something or someone is constantly trying to grab your attention away from your primary focus you must get rid of the distraction. Distinguishing problems from distractions is a skill a focused leader has mastered.

Focus is your friend. Fight for focus. This is a battle you must win if you want to be a great leader.

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”

-Bruce Lee

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

I’m covering 10 vital characteristics of a great leader. You can go back to read the other qualities of a great leader from the main page.

The 9th quality of a great leader is HUMILITY.

Arrogant leaders are lonely leaders. If you’re filled with pride, think you know everything, and don’t like input that contradicts you in anyway way, you will be surrounded by non-thinking yes-men. Great leaders realize they don’t know everything, and surround themselves with people who know what they don’t know. The best way to hide your weaknesses is to gather people around you that compliment your strengths and cover your weaknesses. This requires humility on the part of the leader.

It is tempting as a leader to disregard anyone who dares to challenge your authority, but doing this will hurt your team and inflate your head. Pride leaves your blind spots wide open. Prideful leaders are many times insecure leaders. Prideful leaders are hyper sensitive to criticism, complaints, and challengers. These difficult situations will expose your insecurities and pride or they will highlight your maturity and humility. Great leaders aren’t perfect leaders, but they are humble leaders.

A great leader is well aware of his weaknesses and is quick to admit when they have made a mistake. As much as this hurts your ego, it builds your teams trust and earns their respect.  Here are 3 positive steps to develop humility as a leader:

1. Humble yourself when necessary
2.  Admit when you’re wrong
3. Acknowledge your weaknesses

“Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.”

-St. Augustine

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

I‘m covering 10 vital characteristics of a great leader. You can go back to read the other qualities of a great leader from the main page.

The 8th quality of a great leader is INTEGRITY.

I’ve heard it said that integrity is “who you are when no one is looking.” This quality is on the top of my personal list because of how rare it is in today’s society. I also know lack of integrity can destroy in a moment what took a lifetime to build. Integrity in leadership means being honesty, playing by the rules, honoring your promises, and keeping your word. People want to follow a leader who practices what they preach and live a life they can trust. Prove your character through consistency and people will run to follow you!

You can take shortcuts in life, but you can’t take shortcuts in becoming a person of integrity. Every decision you make either builds or destroys the integrity you have acquired through your life. Small choices matter, don’t overlook them. In a world where cheaters win and don’t get caught or punished, it’s easy to justify leaving the high road. But it isn’t worth it. Even if you succeed and accomplish the results you hoped for, you still have to live with the fear of being caught and the guilt of poor choices. The end does not always justify the means.

If you want to stand out as a leader; you don’t have to be the most talented or the smartest, live a life of integrity. Character stands out in a crowd of talented people. When you live with integrity you can sleep peacefully. At the end of your life you can stand proud knowing your life was worth emulating.

“Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no persuasion move thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollity; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.“
— Benjamin Franklin

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

I’m covering 10 vital characteristics of a great leader. You can go back to read the other qualities of a great leader from the main page.

The 7th quality of a great leader is GOOD PEOPLE SKILLS.

If you have difficulty working with others, are impatient and unwilling to teach, are rude, harsh or demanding; you will have extreme difficulty leading and keeping a team. I’ve known leaders who had all the intangibles, all the skills, but were terrible with people; so they cycled through key team members constantly. The crowds usually love these type of leaders b/c they seem perfect in front of the masses, but the closer you get to these type of leaders away from the spotlight, the less appealing they become.

When people are in close proximity to each other on a regular basis, their will be conflict. It is unavoidable. Your team will have issues with you, with each other, with your methods, with your communication. There are countless opportunities to become offended with each other. When these offenses happen, they kill your momentum and start to kill your team. You must know how to work with others, treat them well, and put out fires before they burn your people.

Here are some specific skills you must master in order to lead your people well.

1. Communication – As the leader, you are constantly communicating with your team. As we all know, the more you talk equals more opportunities to say something stupid or offend someone on your team. Master your tongue! Be careful what you joke about, don’t insult or speak negatively about your team, don’t complain. You can build your team up through your words or tear them down. Use your words wisely.
2. Resolving Problems - How you handle problems, complaints, fights among team members will be a major factor in defining you as a leader. These things will happen, even among the best teams, so be prepared to referee well and absorb complaints and problems.
3. Understand the needs and desires of your people - Understanding others is an important part of being a good leader. You need to know what motivates and excites your team. You cannot lead each team member the same way; they are individuals and must all be handled and lead differently.

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

I’m covering 10 vital characteristics of a great leader. You can go back to read the other qualities of a great leader from the main page.

The 6th quality of a great leader is the CONFIDENCE.

People want to follow a confident leader. If you’ve done your homework, prepared yourself for the task, and believe in your abilities, people will believe in you too. Confidence reassures others that you know what you’re doing and where you’re going. You can gain confidence through preparation, proven talents, and past success. God has given us each talents and abilities which we were created to use. A healthy confidence in your self will help you lead others.

The truth is that we all; including leaders, havedoubts about ourselves. No one is immune to those nagging insecurities and self-doubt. But you can never lead from those feelings. I have personally learned that after an event or activity that I lead, I will experience the all to common insecurities and feelings of discouragement which try to overwhelm me. It is very easy to react based on these false feelings. But doing this will harm your vision or team. These feelings are false and will go away. Don’t allow them to control you.

A good strategy to overcoming these insecurities is:

1. pray
2. share them with people outside the organization or the person above you
3. sleep on it

If God has called you or someone has promoted you, you are worthy and able to do the job well. Have confidence in yourself!

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.
-Vince Lombardi

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

I’m covering 10 vital characteristics of a great leader. You can go back to read the other qualities of a great leader from the main page.

The 5th quality of a great leader is the ABILITY TO DELEGATE.

If you can’t trust others with responsibility then you will never lead a large team or organization. I have seen many extremely competent, talented leaders who micromanage everyone who works under them. They can’t delegate and don’t want to. They are usually perfectionist, who get caught in the small details and can’t look past them. Strong leaders will not stick around if they aren’t given legitimate responsibility. Micro-managers stifle their teams growth and development. They also stifle greater success.

If you want to be a great leader, give your people responsibility and reward accomplishments with greater authority. People are at their best when given responsibility equal to their ability. As a leader it your responsibility to identify your teams strengths and put them to work. You can’t do everything, and if you try to wear every hat in your organization you will always have a small team. Don’t allow insecurity of losing your position or authority to stop you from delegating. If you want to make a great impact, you need to delegate early and often.

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

Theodore Roosevelt

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

I’m covering 10 vital characteristics of a great leader. You can go back to read the first 3 qualities of a great leader from the main page.

The 4th quality of a great leader is PASSION.

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.
— Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch

Passion will push you, when all other motivations have failed. Passion is a fire inside you that cannot be quenched. Typically, great leaders become leaders through a passion to make a drastic change in the world. There is a dream, a purpose, and a vision that consumes them every waking moment. You can’t fake passion, you either have it or you don’t. That’s why as a leader you must be passionate about your team and organization or you will burn out.

Ask yourself, do you believe in what you’re doing? Would you die for it? This is not over dramatization on my part, it is reality. We are all gonna die, so what we spend our lives building must matter in light of eternity. If you don’t believe in what you’re leading you either need to reevaluate your mission or quit and pursue what passionately consumes you. Don’t waste your life building a kingdom you don’t want to live for.

Great leaders believe in their mission with intense passion, and this is why they succeed. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great example of this. He risked his life to see African Americans receive the same respect and privileges of every other American citizens. His passion moved the nation, and brought about the civil rights movement that ultimately took his life. But the passion didn’t die with him, it continued and grew stronger because he ignited everyone who followed him. His passion was contagious and his passion was historically important.

Don’t underestimate the power of passion. Pursue your passions and lead from that passion.

I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got.
- Walter Cronkite

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

I’m covering 10 vital characteristics of a great leader. So far, we’ve covered the qualities of – being a life long learner  and Courage.

The 3rd quality of a great leader is DETERMINATION.

The difference many times between success and failure isn’t genius or talent but determination. Failure is frustrating in our personal lives, much more so when you are the leader with expectations to meet and people’s careers and hopes in the balance. Many times people quit right before they reach a breakthrough. How tragic that is. I love this quote by Michael Jordan, one of the best athletes of all time.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Michael Jordan

Determination is the will to push through barriers and problems without quitting. If you want to lead, you will face problems. Problems with people, problems with clients and customers, and problems because of lack of resources. If you expect perfection, you will be in for a rude awakening when you become a leader. Did you know Henry ford, the inventor of the first motored automobile, failed and went broke 5 times before he successfully launched Ford Motor Company? Walt Disney was fired from his first newspaper job for “lacking imagination and any good ideas.” He also had multiple failed business ventures which left him bankrupt. And of course there is Michael Jordan, who didn’t even make the basketball team in high school his freshman year.

Next time you get discouraged and want to quit, remember any good idea came after a load of bad ones. Remember, Henry Ford, Walt Disney and Michael Jordan and you will be in good company. If you want to lead, at some point you will fail. But if you want to be a great leader, push through and learn from your failures. They can either break you or make you. Determination is the difference maker.

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

I’m covering 10 vital characteristics of a great leader. Yesterday, we covered the 1st quality – being a life long learner. Today I want to cover a quality I find rare in many leaders, but the ones who have it quickly rise to the top.

The 2nd quality of a great leader is COURAGE.

Leaders must take risks to push the organization to the next level. Any idea or movement that has really changed the world met resistance and had a huge risk of failing. But the price of success pushed the leader forward. I love this quote:

“You can’t discover new oceans unless you have the courage to leave the shore.”

-unknown

Leaders are usually dreamers and visionaries. But many allow fear to lead them into mediocrity.  The top guy who doesn’t take risks is more like a manager than a leader. Managers are concerned with guarding their position and not losing their authority. Leaders push forward, constantly taking risks and willing to lose a little now for a big gain later. Are you a leader or a manager? Are you OK with that? Has fear kept you back as a leader?

Courageous leaders lead great organizations. Look at the leading company or team in any field, and you will find courageous leadership. These teams are leading because they took risks and challenge the accepted norms that no one else would. They were game changers. Usually these type of teams have a courageous leader who was willing to dream something radical, stand against the flow and push forward with conviction. There is a story of a boy named David, who stood against a giant that no one else wanted to face. David shouldn’t have succeeded, he was outmatched and outweighed in every category, but he still won. Courage stares fear and impossibilities in the face and runs at them.

“Fear is met and destroyed with courage”, said James F. Bell.

 Fear is a part of life, but it doesn’t have to overcome you. If you are battling fear, then it means you are taking risks. That’s a good thing! Absence of fear doesn’t mean you are a courageous person, it just might mean you aren’t risking anything. So dream big, plan something that will change the game and then put it into motion. Don’t allow insecurity, fear of losing your position or fear of failure to hold you in the status quo! If you have an outrageous idea that could drastically change everything for good, don’t let fear stop you! Take risks and push forward with courage! This is what a great leader does.

Your quality as a leader is the ceiling for your leadership.

Over the past couple of days, I’ve been discussing ways to help shape your culture as the leader. How to create and establish vision, mission and influence. These are the foundations of creating a climate for potential leaders to grow and develop. Over the next ten days, I want to discuss the qualities of a great leader. The reality is that you can either be the hindrance or the catalyst for growth of your people. This truth will be constant, you can’t take people where you aren’t willing to go yourself, and you can’t make people into what you’re not. Over the next 10 days, I will be highlighting 10 characteristics of a great leader. If you want to be an exceptional leader, these qualities are non-negotiable. 

The first characteristic of a great leader is they are A LIFE-LONG STUDENT.

 “The recipe for perpetual ignorance is to be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.”   —  Elbert Hubbard

Any leader who isn’t constantly learning and growing, will be pushed out of his position by someone who is. Great leaders are great learners. Their is a drive inside of every great leader to constantly grow and to be the best leader possible, and this means learning and growing from others who have been successful. I told you in a previous post that you can’t copy another leader’s mission, but you can emulate their characteristics. “This isn’t rocket science“, as one of my friends so eloquently put it; you can develop great leadership ability through reading, asking questions and following a leader you aspire to emulate.

In an earlier post, I recommended some books worth grabbing to help you develop yourself as a leader. This is a good place to start. There are so many resources available that there is no excuse for not growing. Don’t blame your ineptitude and ignorance on your people, climate, or lack of resources. If you haven’t put in the work to study and grow, you will be the obstructor to your own success. On the other hand, if you continue to grow and to learn; you will produce great leaders, attract better leaders, and open doors to greater opportunities and positions. If you want to lead a great team, you must be an exceptional leader. This happens through striving to be a little better each day.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.

-Henry Ford

Understand Mission

I want to help you understand the importance of mission and the pitfalls of losing momentum in your mission. Remember mission is how you get to where you’re headed. This is unique to every team, so you need to think through this often and evaluate your climate and target audience regularly. Yesterday I wrote about the trap of trying to copy another team’s mission. Go back and read that first if you haven’t, so you can follow along. Today I want to tackle the 2nd common pitfall of successful mission, which is changing direction too often.

As a leader, you can certainly over think things. If you notice you are losing momentum, even if it is very slight, you want to do a complete overhaul and change directions. Or if you hear grumbling and discontentment by a few people, you assume everyone in the organization is unhappy. As a leader, I understand those feelings of uncertainty. It is easy to second guess yourself and doubt and double take your course. But I want to encourage you to STOP!

Most people don’t see the secret insecurities of a leader; the pressure from within, the pressure from the outside, the critics, the complainers, the expectations. It is difficult to not jump to conclusions and make irrational decisions. But I want you to remember this: consistency is your best friend. Even the best organizations hit speed bumps, but they have been coasting along the same path for such a long time that it doesn’t derail them off course. On the other hand, if you’re doing donuts on the interstate b/c you keep changing your mind, you’ll probably get in a bad accident.

I’ve known leaders who want to make drastic changes anytime things seem stagnant. It kills their momentum. Don’t be that leader. Give your plan and mission time to work, time to grow. Very few teams see overnight success. It takes patience and endurance. STAY THE COURSE. CONSISTENCY IS YOUR FRIEND.

Understanding Mission

If vision is the engine of your organization, mission is the wheels. We’ve been talking about the importance of creating vision, casting vision and guarding vision in the last three post; so I want to cover this idea of mission.

Mission and vision work together. Vision is where you’re going, mission is how you get there. And I think this is where a lot of leaders get stuck or deflated. Either they see another successful organization or team and try to carbon copy their mission or they waiver inconsistently constantly changing mission and never gaining any traction.

I’d like to examine these two pitfalls of gaining momentum in your mission. The 1st is copying someone else’s mission.

There is much we can learn from great teams and organization. Many of their principles and philosophies are universally beneficial, and could help your team. But I believe an organization’s mission should never be copied completely. Mission is dependant on many unique variables; strengths of your organization, your target demographic or audience, your environment and your vision. These 4 things are usually very different from the organization you would like to mimic. Their mission won’t work for you because you are in a different climate.

A polar bear wouldn’t do well in Florida, and a vegetarian wouldn’t do well as a BBQ taste tester. You can’t plug in someone else’s mission to your team, it will fail. But I’ve seen this happen countless times with new leaders. They look at a great company or team and want to be just like them. It won’t work because it’s not supposed to. You are meant to reach a different group of people and that requires a different game plan.

A good leader knows his target audience and should know how to get them to respond. This requires time evaluating your audience’s needs, desires, and passions. Here are some questions to get you started:

1. Who are trying to reach?
2. What are you trying to accomplish?
3. What are your teams strength?
4. What strategies and procedures have been effective for your organization? Why?

If leadership is influence, take people someplace that matters.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GUARING VISION

Currently, I work in a corporate environment. And for some reason, these high level managers love to have meetings. We have this running joke in the office about having meetings about meetings. It is such a waste of time and resources. But I believe there is a higher cost to pay from poorly executed vision than wasted resources.I believe when you plan and execute poorly, you are killing your vision and shooting your leadership in the foot.

I believe as the leader, every word you speak, every action you take and every interaction with your team is communicating the vision and core values of your organization. You are running the show, and if you plan poorly, execute sloppy or mismanage your resources you are communicating that as a core value.

I have been apart of teams that love to have meetings! If people would show up, they would have meetings every day for 4 hours. They love gathering their team, and seem to feel as if being together in the same room is the same as accomplishing something.

***NEWS FLASH***

Just because you are gathering people to hear you speak, doesn’t mean you’re being productive! You can spend money, and have events, and start projects, but if the effort doesn’t multiply into results and progress; all you’re doing is spinning your wheels! And to be frankly honest, you are killing you’re influence and vision.

You must be intentional about everything you do as a leader. If you don’t have a specific, well thought-out plan and purpose for moving, you are being a bad leader. Don’t move or gather to inflate your ego. Guard your vision through intentionality. Everything you do should have purpose and vision oozing out of it! If it doesn’t, people will realize quickly you are unprepared and will feel like you are wasting their time. Vow to never be that leader!

Here are some rules to check yourself as a leader:

1. Prepare longer than you speak, the bigger the decision or event – the longer your prep time should be
2. Think through the purpose and communicate it through-out the meeting. If you can’t sell yourself on the purpose, don’t have the meeting
3. Put yourself in your teams shoes – If you were them would you want to be there?
4. Will this event or meeting add significant value to your team? Will it multiply your team’s effort?
5. Is my current plan the most effective way to communicate or act? If it isn’t; stop, plan, and think more before you move or gather.
6. Am I doing this to inflate my ego or assert my authority? If the answer is yes, take a step back before proceeding.

If leadership is influence, take people someplace that matters.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CASTING VISION

In my last post I wrote about the importance of creating vision. Today, I want to emphasis the importance of casting vision to your team. This is one of the most important tasks of a leader. You must constantly remind your team of the big picture.

I oversee the college ministry at my church. One of the most consuming task on our team right now is setting up and tearing down before and after service. You want to clear a room of potential leaders fast; ask them to do manual labor. I have a great team that has been faithfully serving in this capacity, but at the same time I know I must remind them of the Big Picture. The Big Picture of our ministry is creating an environment where people can connect with God and to help each person grow in passion and service for Jesus. We had a guy respond to the gospel last week and he is getting baptised on Sunday! That is why we set up chairs, and I constantly remind them of that.

Casting vision frequently will help your team identify the goal and understand their identity.

1. Identify the goal – There are things you do every day that you dislike. You would like to sleep a little longer, eat a little more or work a lot less, but you don’t. Do you know why? Because you can identify the goal in doing things you wouldn’t naturally enjoy. I would prefer to work 20 hrs a week than 40, but I like the 40 hr paycheck better. I would love to eat a carton of ice cream, but I don’t want to be a candidate on the biggest loser so I step away from the Blue Bell. If your team can identify the goal in menial tasks, they will overlook what is unpleasant now for what is beneficial in the big picture. Keep the goal in front of them.
2. Understand their identity – Casting vision helps your team also understand who they are in the organization or team. If they don’t understand the big picture, setting chairs or doing spreadsheets can be unfulfilling and limits their involvement. But if they understand the vision, they can be picking up trash and not see themself as a garbage man. Why they are doing it is as important as what they do.  Help them understand their identity in light of the big picture and they will feel like a valued team member.

This is your task as a leader. You must constantly remind your people of the Big Picture, because a menial task with no greater purpose can be quickly demoralizing and kill your team’s excitement. Remind them of the vision constantly, remind them so frequently and so often that regardless of what task they are doing, they are focused and sold-out to the vision.

If leadership is influence, take people someplace that matters.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING VISION

You’re starting to gain influence with people, you are building momentum…what’s next? The next step is creating and casting VISION. Maybe you’re asking yourself, “What is vision?” Vision is knowing where you’re headed and why you’re going there. People aren’t going to stick around long if you’re walking in circles, twiddling your thumbs. If you don’t know why you’re gathering, or if your vision is so uninspiring and lame that you barely want to do it; people you’ve gathered will lose interest quickly.

Here is the big idea in creating vision:

1. Dream up an plan that is bigger than you can accomplish alone – If you can do it alone, then the vision is too small to justify a team. The larger the vision, the more hands needed to lift the load. If you settle for small/easily attainable vision, your team will be small and limited. But if you vision is big, you will attract big people. The bigger the challenge and the higher quality of the reward will determine your teams capabilities and ceiling.
   
2. Your vision must have broad appeal and specific focus – Your vision must be general enough to attract people with different skills and talents. For example, If you’re rebuilding a car, you just need a mechanic. But if you’re building a car company, you need many different disciplines working together for a common goal. You want to attract people with different skills which will strengthen the team. If you vision only appeals to one group of people, you will be strong in one area and weak in many others. This is what I mean by broad appeal. Secondly, you must have specific focus. If people can’t understand your vision in 2 or 3 sentences then it is too complicated. Good vision is easy to understand and quickly implemented to a variety of task.
   
3. Create a vision with eternal values – Most people want to be apart of a vision that will outlast them and will matter to others outside of the organization. This is why you are seeing organizations like TOMS shoes be so successful. The vision is financially profitable and social charitable. It is a win/win and makes people want to be involved.
   

Leadership is influence.

-John Maxwell

In Day four, I highlighted 5 things that will help you gain influence with people you are attempting to lead. Today, I want to highlight 5 things that will kill your influence and hinder people from following your leadership.

1. Selfishness – If you are concerned with your own fame, position and title above the needs of your organization and your people, your influence will crash and burn. Nothing turns people off faster than a leader who uses people for his/her own selfish goals.
2. Negativity – Negative people are like virus. They attack healthy host and make them sick and weak. If you are naturally pessimistic, you will have a hard time leading. Also, if you speak negativity and complain, you will attract a team of negative complainers.
3. Apathy – Laziness and complacency will kill your momentum and kill your teams drive to keep pushing forward. If you don’t believe in your vision, why would anyone else?
4. Ignorance/Incompetence - Few things are more frustrating than a leader who doesn’t know what they are doing and where they are going. There is no excuse for this! There are so many resources available and at your disposal. Learn and grow or die.
5. Lack of Integrity – If people can’t trust you, they won’t follow you. It’s not hard to remember a leader who killed a great organization over a character issue or a series of poor choices. If your words mean nothing, if you are unreliable and shady, your influence will be vanish faster than ice cream at a weight watchers convention.

Leadership is influence.

-John Maxwell

Why is leadership influence? Because in many situations, you can’t force people to follow you or participate. You have to convince them with little or incentives to share the burden of your vision. If you can’t influence people, then they won’t follow you. People are naturally self-seeking and are primarily concerned with what is most beneficial for them. Convincing others to follow your lead, believe in your ideas, and help you accomplish your mission takes influence.

Here are 5 things that will help you gain influence with other people:

1. Genuine concern for people – This quote says it best, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” If you can love someone and they can feel and sense your concern goes beyond your agenda, you will gain influence in their lives.
2. Attitude – Positive attitudes are contagious. People are attracted to those who see the possibilities instead of the pitfalls. People who are full of energy and are happy are irresistible in a world of negativity.
3. Passion – Passionate people change the world. People want to follow someone with conviction. This kind of person believes so fully in their mission, that they would die for it. If you bleed for your vision, people will bleed for you.
4. Knowledge – Knowledge gives you credibility. If you know what you’re talking about, and can articulate it well, people will listen. People want to follow someone who can teach them new things.
5. Character – If people can trust you, if you are a person of your word and if you live a life of integrity, you will win their allegiance. If you are consistent and reliable and practice what you preach, you will gain a good reputation and you will gain influence.

Read More

Developing yourself as a leader

 

You have a vision and a plan, and you’ve starting moving. What’s next? Learning how to lead. You need to develop yourself, improve your leadership aptitude and knowledge. Any good leader knows that they don’t know everything. To be the top dog, you should know more than the people who follow you, and if you don’t they will leave and find someone who can teach them.

So I’d like to recommend some materials to get you started on your leadership journey.

Books:

Websites:

Mark Driscoll Leadership coaching

Seth Godin’s Blog

“If you think you’re leading and no one is following you, then you’re only taking a walk.”

-Proverb

Leaders lead. Leadership has become a buzz word over the past decade or so. Everyone is talking about it; who is a leader and how to become a better one. Leadership is trendy, and everyone wants in the cool crowd of leadership.  Here is the bottom line though, if no one is following you, why would you consider yourself a leader? If you want to be a leader and look back and no one is following, answer this question: WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

The 1st thing to remember about leadership is people follow someone with a vision and a purpose. People will attach themselves to you if you have a compelling vision and courageous mission. Leadership is taking a torch in the darkness and heading towards the great unknown.

Here is the big idea today, the first step isn’t to “become a leader”, but get a vision, plan with purpose and start walking. As you do this and are persistent, almost magically people will follow you. Do you desire to be a leader? Get to steppin’.

Everything rises or falls on leadership.

-John Maxwell

Leadership matters. Anyone who disagree’s probably takes for granted something many people do not, the success or failure of an organization, team or country rest in the hands of its leaders. When any organization starts heading in the wrong direction, the first guy to get the axe is the man on top. People do not tolerate bad leadership, because the price of going off course is too costly.

Think about it, when American citizens are frustrated with the state of the country, the first person that gets blamed is…the president. When a sports team can’t win or isn’t performing to it’s potential, you get a new coach. Or when the financial stability of a company is in jeopardy, the CEO resigns. Where leadership is timid, uncreative, incompetent or unwilling to take risks, everyone in the organization suffers. Leadership determines the depth of failure or the height of success. Almost nothing matters as much as who is calling the shots.

Over the next 30 days I want to look at the topic of leadership. What qualities makes you a leader, how to develop your leadership aptitude, and what will make people want to follow your vision. If you desire to do something that matters, if you have a dream or vision that is bigger than you can accomplish on your own, or if you want to gauge your own leadership ability – stick with me over the next 30 days. It’s gonna be good!

Attitude

As you can see on the right side of this page, I’ve been reading the book The 17 Indisputable laws of teamwork by John Maxwell.

I’d like to share with you some of his thoughts on attitude in the context of a team:

Attitude is one of the most important qualities of a team member. Bad attitudes spread quickly and ruin a team. Here are some indicators of having bad attitudes:

• Thinking the team wouldn’t be able to get along without you
• Secretly believing that the success of the team is because of you, not the whole team
• Keep score with praise and perks
• Hard time admitting mistakes
• Bringing up past wrongs
• Believe you are being underpaid or under-appreciated

At some level, we all work with other individuals on a common goal. It is very easy to fall into these traps at any point along the way. After reading this, and knowing my own tendencies, I have been more self-aware of my thoughts and words towards those I am working with. Bad attitudes are contagious, self-inflicting and kill advancement and growth. Don’t be that person! If your attitude sucks, look for positives, adjust perspective, and stop complaining!

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”

-Zig Ziglar

Deception

• Obedience leads to greater truth.
• Disobedience leads to deception.

When we excuse ourselves, ignore or disobey God’s instruction and right living, we quiet and eventually cut ourselves off from the voice of God. This will leave us to our own devices, and to the lies of the enemy. We cannot stay neutral, un-influenced from this world, and the mindsets and patterns of our culture.

The wrath of God against sin is not to send down fire on you or me as we do something stupid, but to allow us to get what we think we want. He doesn’t stop you, and your lifestyle and patterns of sin start to shape the way you believe. Things you used to believe were wrong, start looking less serious or sinful. You might stop using the word sin all together, calling it choice, preference, or breaking away from religious restrictions.

Regardless of how you excuse yourself, sin is tightening it’s grip on you. All the while, you believe you are doing nothing wrong. Deception switches the truth for the lie and you have no idea you have been suckered.

If you are living or practicing behaviour that you once believed was wrong, but now feel comfortable doing, are you really free? 

Are you are living a lie?

Is it possible that you have been deceived?

Sacrifice

Roman 12: 1  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

If you have been following Jesus for more than a couple of months, your experience will confirm the discomforting truth that the path after Jesus is not always easy. I appreciate the bluntness of Jesus and Paul; they don’t sugar coat the cost of discipleship for us. It is a difficult journey, but the most fulfilling one.

The process of becoming more like Jesus is a process of daily dying. This self-sacrifice we must become is a daily occurrence. It is a surrender of our will or agenda; a choice to allow God to be God in our lives and decisions, not just in our minds. Sacrifices don’t impose their opinions, throw in their two cents. They have one purpose, they are there to die. 

This is the way we please God. The verse above states that this is spiritual worship or as other translations have put it, your pleasing service to God. God delights in those who delight(surrender, defer) to him. This isn’t because God is a masochist or loves seeing us suffer, but because he knows we are much more effective and blessed when he is in control. If we acknowledge that God is good, than we must acknowledge that our self-sacrifice is both pleasing worship and  joy-filled discipleship.

“God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.” 

-Jim Elliot, Missionary 

Consistency

Do you find that people usually overlook slow and steady for glamor and success? Society is all about the hype, the next “big thing.” Nothing grabs our attention more than 15 minutes because usually those popular things are soo shallow their shelf life expires really quickly. This bothers me. Shallow culture creates shallow people. We look at the rich, famous, beautiful and think, “if I could only have that life, everything would be great”. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Two reality checks for you:

• You don’t know what they had to do to get where they are.

People look at success, crave the same result, but have little interest in putting in the time and dedication to make it happen. Most of the time we have no idea the amount of effort that individual gave to be where they are today. It is usually a slow and steady climb to the top, not a get rich quick scheme and it usually doesn’t fall into their lap. Don’t crave other’s success, crave their will to succeed. Did you know that 80% of millionaires are first generation millionaires?

• Consistent hard work produces life long success

The person with the silver spoon; someone who didn’t earn their way, many times doesn’t value their riches. But the person who invested years of sweat, overcame failure and adversity will treasure the process as much as the achievement. Don’t be shallow or naive. Don’t allow yourself to believe the hype that success without consistency is possible. It is the daily grind that makes you great. In your life, your mission, dream, cross-bearing, Jesus disciple life; don’t overlook doing right now, working hard now, obedience today for tomorrow’s hype. Did you know that one-third of lottery winners go bankrupt?

I see so often, that when people aren’t happy with an aspect of their life, they want to do a complete overhaul. Stop being so dramatic! If you aren’t happy where you are, start doing the things you know you should do, but have been neglecting. Don’t fool yourself into believing that massive changes will revolutionize your life. You need to change through daily consistency, not through massive renovations.

Today is all you got, throw yourself into this day. Before your big plans and life changing ideas, do what is necessary but not glamorous. These things might not bring applause, but they are shaping you into a person of success.

Discouragement

I realized a while back, that I get very easily discouraged. I usually have such high expectations, that if everything doesn’t go exactly as I planned, I get discouraged. Discouragement distracts our focus from the big picture.

Discouragement happens when we take our eyes off the goal. We cannot judge progress off of current emotions. Discouragement in that moment is deceptive and only focuses on the negative.

Keep your eyes on the big goal. People will let you down, circumstances will be challenging. There is always resistance to the execution of God’s calling. Do not waver. There is nothing wrong with high expectations, but we need to realize when we have shifted from excellence to perfectionism. Circumstances will never be perfect. Instead of focusing on the lack of people, resources, output; pursue excellence in what you can do.

Here are some adjustments I am learning to make to overcome discouragement.

• Continue to walk forward.
  

Don’t allow discouragement to cause you to stop what you know to do.

• Don’t compare effort against others input

Remember the 80/20 rule. If you are the leader or a key player, your involvement and activity which be much higher than the average participant.

• Don’t allow small challenges to distract your vision

Challenges and putting out fires can consume your time. Don’t allow minor issues and small problems to consume all of your time.

• Understand that speed bumps and red lights are normal obstacles to gaining momentum. They are temporary. Don’t allow them to define you.

Challenges are opportunities for growth and character. Don’t lose your credibility or influence through negativity or pessimism.

• Keep your eyes on the Big Picture.

What you focus on is where you are headed. Don’t allow your main focus to be taken off of the main thing.

Whether you are working individually on a goal or with a team, it is detrimental to your progress to wallow in discouragement. Progress is one small step at a time. Don’t stop moving towards your goal.

Stay Alert

“You are, what you feed on.” Have you heard this before? Do you believe it to be true?

I believe this to be one of the most vital truths I have embraced in my own life. I know that I need to always be aware of the type of music, television, and websites I visit. But it is so much more than avoiding evil, because as you know well, evil is everywhere. You don’t have to pursue it to find it. Sometimes it shows up at your door, uninvited.

Yes, we must do more than avoid, we must pursue. Pursue what? We must pursue righteousness through Jesus. We cannot coast through discipleship. You cannot sit back, relax and enjoy the ride or you will end up somewhere you never intended to go. Living right is like paddling upstream, against the current; especially in the world we live in today. You must proactive, or you will fall.

“Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour. “

1 Peter 5:8