ControlFr(W)eak

Full disclosure: Writing this post is a little painful as I look in the mirror and reflect on leadership lessons learned.

We've all know 'em. Most of us have worked for some of 'em. They're the group of folks who have been handed the leadership role in an organization and choose to operate in Control Freak mode.

Here are common outcomes that result from a Control Freak Leadership mindset:

> The stronger folks around us "stand down," waiting to be told what to do, when to do it, how to do it.

> The weaker folks around us gladly let us/others do all the work.

> Creativity, motivation, energy, synergy, and innovation grind certainly downward.

> The most talented team players quietly drift away from the organization.

 

Some worthy alternative energizing modalities for leaders are:

> Collaboratively paint and communicate a clear picture of the Vision of the organization.

> Encourage ALL members, regardless of role, to pursue that Vision with as much autonomy as possible.

> Invest more time/energy/resources in team growth than in team management.

> Relentlessly notice, acknowledge, praise, and incentivize those who take the "permission" given to achieve both exceptional results and learn-worthy fails.

> Continually seek feedback from all quarters, non-judgmentally, about "how things are going."

Control Freak-ness results in Performance Weak-ness. Dependably.

MakeBetters

 In recent years we have heard the word "makeover" used quite a lot. That word is loosely applied to the results gotten from a day at the spa, to buying and flipping a house, to restructuring one's financial portfolio, to ...........

The case for a complete makeover is often made per the perception that something "ain't working right" and the results we're getting (whether cosmetically, financially, organizationally, health wise) are no longer acceptable. 

Rarely, however, are complete makeovers and epiphany-driven changes warranted. Rarer still do they produce long-term results. Change takes place over time and is the result of incremental, intentional, and stubbornly disciplined effort. 

MakeBetters -- the purposeful approach of continuous improvement processes, made piece-by-piece, inch-by-inch, and day-by-day -- are the surest path to getting better, doing better, being better.

We are wise to pick a few, very important, elements of our life and work and purposefully move the needle in those areas. 

Betterness will surely happen, but almost never will it occur overnight.

Did I say disciplined?

+++ >>> +++ >>>

The wisest leaders I know spend a LOT of time on the positive, and as little as possible on the negative. They are particularly purposeful in this respect when it comes to working with their teams.

These impactful leaders are astute discerners of the skills and acumen of team members, and very intentionally fashion the roles of teammates to fit their respective skills sets. Leaders of this ilk understand clearly that folks function best when they are able to leverage their "gifts" as opposed to trying to spend time compensating for their "deficits."

Thus, these results-oriented and smart leaders do several things that optimize the performance of individual team players (and, consequently, the organization):

-They relentlessly focus their attention, planning, and actions on the future.

-They lift up rather than beat down.

-They don't dig up old and buried bones of failures past.

-They constantly fashion work for others premised in Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose (see Daniel Pink's thoughts on this topic HERE).

-They regularly bite their tongues and ignore old wounds in the interest of progress for all.

-They understand that Positive and Forward are two sides of the same coin.

Leadership is not for sissies. Never has been.

Factfulness

 I recently read Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World - - and Why Things are Better Than You Think by Rosling, et al (2018). 

In this book, Rosling and co-authors use a remarkable collection of data to identify and address numerous misperceptions that we typically hold regarding the current state of affairs in our world. To underscore these misperceptions he repeatedly compares the responses to survey items in his voluminous audiences (usually highly educated ones) to the response rates he gets on the same surveys when placed in front of chimpanzees. All too often, the chimpanzees outscored the humans. Actually, almost always. Uh oh!

My top takeaways from reading Factfulness:

·     Averages mislead us by hiding a range, often a very broad range, of numbers in a SINGLE number.

·     Beware comparisons of both averages ANDextremes.

·     Be very careful jumping to any conclusions if the data variances are less than 10%.

·     Bad news plays much better in the media than good news; that’s why we get so much of the former.

·     Trends in data almost always exist in curves; rarely ever in straight lines.

·     I/We are not normal; and other people are not idiots.

·     Categorizations are the same as generalizations, and they are usually misleading.

·     Change is almost always a very slow process, thus very difficult to see while it’s occurring.

·     Single perspectives are notorious liars; viewing problems from many different angles is the best path to a meaningful solution.

My favorite quote(s):

“I never trust data 100 percent, and you never should either.” (p. 50)

“The world cannot be understood without numbers. And it cannot be understood with numbers alone.” (p. 128)

 

“Factfulness is … recognizing when a scapegoat is being used and remembering that blaming an individual often steals the focus from other possible explanations and blocks our ability to prevent similar problems in the future. To control the blame instinct, resist finding a scapegoat.”  (p. 222)

 

“Factfulness is … recognizing when a decision feels urgent and remembering that it rarely is.” (p. 242)

 

This book was recommended to me by a colleague who noted that it completely changed the way he thought. It had a similar impact on me. I just love it when authors, speakers, teachers, wangateurs take my mind to new places. 

 

I highly recommend Factfulness. 

(re)FOCUSed

The wisest leaders I know are relentless focusers. Or, RE-focusers.

These leaders understand that their personal time, energy, and resources are finite. They know full well that they cannot do everything, meet with everybody, read every book, invest in every project, or attend every meeting.

Thus, these wise leaders decide with laser-like clarity the most important things in need of their attention (the late Stephen Covey described them as "the BIG rocks") and they relentlessly focus and re-focus on those elements of highest import.

The words, the calendars, the schedules, the efforts, and the expenditures of these wise leaders send an undeniably clear message about what they deem important. 

Failling to do so is what former Secretary of State Colin Powell describes as "mission creep," the inevitable dilution of our impact and effectiveness when we allow the myriad competitors for our attention to de-focus us.

Time to (re)FOCUS? 

Likely. Always.

Healing1orMany

The late Dr. Hans Rosling did very impactful work during his lifetime - first as a physician, subsequently as a data analyst, finally as an evangelist for truth.

He told a story in his book Factfulness (2018) about serving as a young physician in a poverty-stricken country. Initially, he filled his very long days trying to treat and heal as many children as he could. Eventually, he came to the exhausted conclusion that he could heal far more children by teaching the parents some basic health habits that would interdict the antecedents of the illnesses that were killing their children.

In short, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

The wisest organizational leaders I know understand and apply this same logic. They purposefully spend the preponderance of their time teaching key players and implementing impactful systems aimed at interdicting the effectiveness killers of the organization - things like poor customer service, inventory bottle necks, bureaucratic time wasters, meaningless busy work, etc.

Upstream "health" habits dependably mitigate downstream "disease." This applies equally to both individual and organizational wellbeing.

HearingGod

 I recently read Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, by Dallas Willard (2012). 

In this book, DW leads us through a careful consideration of what it really means to communicate with the God of our understanding, deeply, meaningfully, continually.

My top takeaways:

·     The Bible – THE word of God – is not EVERY word of God.

·     Our conversation with God should be similar to that which we have with a spouse or dear friend, simply a continuation of the one begun years ago.

·     Real communication is a two-way street that is only substantive when both parties choose to be engaged. It is bogus and hollow when either party doesn’t.

·     God can and does communicate with us through a wide array of media: the Bible, other humans, our spirit, music, nature, events, …

·     Just as with the other beings in our lives (not just the human ones), the quality of the communications is directly proportional to the depth of our relationship with one another.

·     Presence is a powerful medium of communication, both spoken and non-spoken.

·     A very nice recipe for learning: Read > Reflect > Respond > Rest.

·     Our faith walk is about sense-making, us making sense of our existence and purpose. We can only do so via a communicative relationship with God.

My favorite quote(s):

“God is not looking for a holy place. Places are holy because God is there.” (p. 97)

    “Great faith, like great strength in general, is revealed by the ease of its workings.” (p. 156)

 

    “We are required to “bet our life” that the visible world, while real, is not reality itself.” (p. 284)

 

    “Spiritual people are not those who engage in certain spiritual practices; they are those who draw their life from a conversational relationship with God.” (p. 288)

This book helped me think about my relationship to the God of my understanding, and about how I might make that relationship even richer. 

Thanks for the recommendation, LP.