Self-Leadership: Part 2
Many describe their identity by what they do. “I am a [profession/title].” If this is your first natural response, then consider a vital truth—what you can achieve, your past success, and your current title are not your identity. What you DO is merely a vocation or hobby, but who you ARE is much more significant. This is an important distinction.
SELF-LEADERSHIP: PART 1
When I am involved in leadership coaching, the initial question I like to ask is, “Who are you?” This question speaks to our identity – how we see ourselves. I usually get some interesting responses. The question and answer are key if we are going to be all that we were made to become.
Reigning in Your Thoughtlife
Good attitudes infuse a can-do, optimistic belief in people. The contrary is also true: poor attitudes sow discouragement, division, and fear. Negative attitudes won’t produce a positive culture. This begins with us! It begins with the thoughts we choose to think and meditate on. Be protective of your mind because your subsequent attitude will absolutely pervade the organization, for better or for worse.
Leading at the Highest Level
Let Presidents’ Day remind us of the heavy weight carried by those in senior leadership, that both strengths and flaws mark the lives of all leaders, and that all of us are still becoming the leaders we long to see. It is a lifelong journey and we each are responsible for our own development. What you long to see in others should be exemplified in you.
Part 5: Values in Action
Leaders are always defined by the standards they set for themselves, not standards set by other people, but self-imposed standards. Great leaders always expect more from themselves than they do from their followers, and they willingly put forth more effort. That’s a powerful leadership value, one that Mayor LaGuardia may not have fully understood, yet exemplified beautifully in his efforts to lead well.
Part 4: Valuing Leadership Over Management
One element of being effective is understanding the difference between managing others and leading them. Management is about handling things—numbers, facts, budgets, details, accounts, schedules, etc. Successful managers are people who can manage/control/handle responsibilities. Leadership, on the other hand, comes from the root “to go.” The word “leader” denotes moving forward and progress. Managing is about handling, but not necessarily about motion.
Part 3: Embracing Change as an Essential Value
In leadership, you are bound to hear from your team members, “We’ve always done it this way.” The reality is that you are working with people who have developed a routine, schedule, and comfortable method of fulfilling their responsibilities. While the tried-and-true way may be effective, you may encounter the need to change a facet of your organization, whether localized or universal. And if you are married to a method, you can end up sitting on the dock of the bay as boats of innovation speed by.
part 2: Values on the Leadership Team
Your leadership team is a microcosm of the organization, or the church body. Whatever you want to grow among the larger group must first be sown into the smaller group. What you value will be valued by others. What you remember will be remembered. What you change will be changed. What you do will be done by others. We lead by example, both positively and negatively. One of the most powerful lessons we can learn is the power of our actions and the gravity of responsibility we have as leaders.
Part 1: Live the Values
Ultimately, our potential as leaders will be determined not by born leadership abilities, but by letting ourselves be crafted through circumstances, instruction, observations, reflection, failures, and renewed efforts. Leaders who make the greatest impact have spent years in the leadership development process themselves. Organizations rise and fall based on a firm set of values. And one of the most reliable ways to build credibility inside and outside our team is to Walk the Talk.
Part 5: Influencing Through Communication
Our message as leaders can very easily be lost through ineffective methods. For the sake of effectively conveying a message, vision, instruction, or word of correction, we leaders must strive to communicate verbally, vocally, and visually in a meaningful way that is memorable. People are watching, listening, and perceiving. Share your vision in ways that others can “hear” it through a variety of complementary modalities.
Lead Yourself in the New Year
As a runner at the start of a race, we toe the line, ready to dart forward into the new year. But, as you can imagine and have likely experienced, it becomes harder and harder to continue the race to achieve our goals as the weeks pass. Life is a great distractor. Have you been there?
A CEO For All Time
For two millennia, people around the world have been observing it with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular in nature. Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, sharing meals with family and friends and, for some, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. Perhaps your family traditions are like these.
Part 4: Communicate the Vision
It is important for us to remember that regardless of how wonderful a vision is, it is dead on arrival if we are unable to communicate it effectively. Replication should not be our priority. We can, however, enhance our own presentation skills by observing others’ style with the hope of adopting some qualitative elements to help us communicate our vision more clearly and effectively. You may want to pull up Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech as an inspirational refresher.
Part 3: Goals and Teamwork
Once you know your destination (vision) and have set guiding principles (strategies), you need to specify action steps for stakeholders to take. Your team should be clear on what their responsibilities are, how they are to do it, when they should be done, and how they know when they have been achieved. Here is a familiar and simple formula to help us remember how to define effective goals. They should be SMART.
Part 2: STRATEGIES ARE YOUR MAP
Vision, strategy, and goals are three very distinct components. They are all a part of the whole but stand alone in their function. To arrive at a specified location, you need a map (the strategy). They require thoughtfulness, teamwork, and developing specific action steps. While each part is important, no one element alone will help you realize your vision. Each is dependent on the other.
Part 1: Naming a Vision
We all have our own understanding of vision. Some may think that it is a pie-in-the-sky, abstract concept created by the folks in corner offices with giant glass windows, or maybe from those who interview focus groups in a think tank somewhere. Perhaps you see vision as something quaint to talk about, but not usually applicable to the throws of real life. That notion is completely understandable because if not understood and implemented correctly, that is what vision often becomes. So, what is vision? Simply put, vision is a statement that paints a picture of the desired end stated in such a way that people can see it, see themselves in it, and implement it.
Part 1: Naming a Vision
We all have our own understanding of vision. Some may think that it is a pie-in-the-sky, abstract concept created by the folks in corner offices with giant glass windows, or maybe from those who interview focus groups in a think tank somewhere. Perhaps you see vision as something quaint to talk about, but not usually applicable to the throws of real life. That notion is completely understandable because if not understood and implemented correctly, that is what vision often becomes. So, what is vision? Simply put, vision is a statement that paints a picture of the desired end stated in such a way that people can see it, see themselves in it, and implement it.
OWN YOUR TEAM’S DEVELOPMENT
It is very important that we, as leaders, determine what developmental stage our team is in, not only for the purpose of knowing our responsibilities, but because your team needs to work its way through the elements of each phase. There are valuable formation skills that are attained through each stage. Wise leaders regularly reflect on those under their care, both individually and as a team.
Here’s to the veterans
Veterans day reminds us not only of the sacrifice of millions of military service men and women who served their country to preserve freedom across our national history. It also reminds us of the power of collective experiences and goals. The United States rallies around one common word on one day every year – “Veterans.” Likewise, be intentional to rally your team around that which is of greatest value to your organization.
NORMING & PERFORMING
After the first two stages of team development, the third stage is called norming – the time when the team is actively working together. During the norming stage, most teams have achieved an open climate where team members express emotions constructively, willingly and confidently contribute to the team, and demonstrate caring attitudes about the team and organization. In this third stage team members are consciously skilled. The final stage of team development is performing – the time when the team is fully functional as individual members and in collaboration with other team members. During this fourth stage, team members are unconsciously skilled. Consequently, team members comfortably reveal their true selves and self-identify as an integral member of the team.