Young leaders often explain their aspirations in self-centered language. They focus on themselves and neglect others. Individual contributors are great, but leaders always connect and mobilize people. Leadership is about others.
12 ways to connect and mobilize:
Highlight need – explain why things can’t go on as they are.
Make them know they matter – show how they can help.
Include everyone in crafting vision – engage people if you expect them to be engaged.
Create channels for service – build organizational structure.
Call people to rise up – great work isn’t convenient. Disrupt established patterns.
Establish enabling relationships – build confidence by connecting the inexperience with the experience.
Point out more need – more to-do makes people matter more.
Celebrate success – dance because you’re making a difference.
Identify and leverage forward looking leaders.
Six roadblocks to success:
People tensions. Inexperienced leaders wrongly believe good causes and great needs solve interpersonal tensions. Connecting people, not completing projects, is the great challenge of leadership. Good people collide.
Power struggles.
Confusion. Begin with simple behaviors that express big vision.
Underutilized talent. People walk away when you waste their time and talent.
Diverse values and motivations. Accept that what’s important to one isn’t important to another.
Losing purpose. People lose motivation when they feel their efforts don’t make a difference.
How can leaders mobilize people? What hinders effective mobilization?
Passion is longing to be what you could be, but aren’t.
Passion for leadership is the combination of falling below your imagined leadership potential and longing for exceptional leadership – at the same time.
The gap between longing and attainment is passion.
You:
ABC’s of finding your passion:
Accept disappointing performance. You read leadership books, blogs, and articles because you long to be better. You aren’t there yet. Pain gives birth of passion.
Believe improvement is possible and worthwhile. Hope makes you bold.
Create a Picture of the preferred future. Think about ultimate goals not the process. You aren’t sure how to get there. But, when you close your eyes and dream, you see the end.
Deliberate steps – action. The whole path is never clear but a step is always possible.
Others:
People fuel our passion when they make us feel we matter.
Recently, people fueled my passion, again. It happened during a presentation to a group of Human Resource professionals.
I paced the back of the room like a caged animal while announcements were made. A participant came back and said, “Can I do anything to make you more comfortable?” I’m not sure if my pacing invited the question but it made me feel I mattered.
A participant asked me to sign their program. I felt awkward and didn’t respond well. “Really?” I said. I regret saying that. After reflection, it makes me feel I matter.
About half-way through my presentation, someone asked, “What’s the future for you, Dan?” That wasn’t the topic. I almost brushed it off. Instead I gave a short reply and moved on. It made me feel I mattered.
Leaders make others feel they matter. Any fool can make others feel they don’t matter.
Passion – the courage to act on dreams – comes from within and without.
Jeremy offers a series of questions to assess your inspiration quotient:
Do you absolutely believe in what your organization does and stands for?
Do you have a plan for tomorrow?
Do you enjoy planning your strategy?
Are you optimistic?
Do you motivate others easily?
I believe…
Leadership value is determined by the ability to inspire.
Don’t tell me what you can do. Tell me what you can inspire others to do.
Four surprising qualities of inspirational leaders:
Passion balanced with compassion. The pursuit of personal gain and glory doesn’t inspire, it threatens. Inspiration occurs when others believe you genuinely put them before yourself.
Strengths and frailties. The frailties you’re working through inspire others to work through theirs. Avoid whining. Focus on hope, progress, and benefit.
Belief. “The people who influence you are the people who believe in you,” Henry Drummond.
Optimism. Rise above the failures of others by believing in their future. Those who believe in others inspire others.
“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great,” Mark Twain.
Bonus:
I asked Jeremy how leaders inspire themselves. He talked about finding mentors. In his own words (2:35):
It’s “Sprinter” in Central Pennsylvania. Spring isn’t here. Winter hangs on. One day it’s sunny and warm. Yesterday it snowed!
Change comes slowly. Winter won’t let Spring arrive. It’s the time of uncertainty and reluctance.
Change:
Unwilling to change is arrogant resistance, fearful reluctance, or ignorant blindness. Or maybe the present is just fine.
My preference is changing others not me. Changing others enhances potential and extends capacity. Changing others feels like adding new brush strokes to paintings.
Changing me, on the other hand, feels like drilling cavities without Novocain.
Seeing Oz or not:
My focus on the future makes me wonder why you resist change. Can’t you see the glow of Oz just around the corner?
While I see Oz, you’re seeing Kansas and it looks pretty damn good compared to a fuzzy glow in the distance.
Your dreams don’t change others until others dream them.
I think about reaching forward and feel excitement. You think about letting go and feel afraid.
How to change others:
Work on changing you before others. Go no further until you’ve made changes!
Don’t demonize Kansas unless it’s already disappointing. Criticizing an acceptable present to those who built it makes enemies not allies.
Celebrate the people and behaviors that built the present. They build the future. Don’t insult them.
Talk about Oz in the language of Kansas. Connect with their passion to make a difference. Ignite aspirations. Often, inspiring others centers on helping others find courage.
Paint others in the picture. Help them see where they fit in. Connect current passion with future possibility. When people see themselves in the future they find courage to release the past.
Change begins by imagining new futures. Belief in the future releases Spring’s life. But, clinging to the present strengthens Winter’s grip.
How can leaders become effective agents of change?
You may be wondering why you don’t have more direction. It’s intentional.
The advantage of new teams is no history.
The advantage of being told what to do is safety. Freedom, on the other hand, makes the storming process more turbulent but the result is ownership.
You have the big picture and I trust you.
Your first few meetings include searching for clarity of roles, function, and identity.
Searching for clarity feels confusing and awkward. Search for clarity with optimism.
Be realistic about your challenges without becoming pessimists. Don’t bury your head in the sand. If you do, you’ll fail. But…
Trust your ability to find answers.
Norming is the third stage of team formation:
Esprit de corps emerges. Respect and connection describe relationships. Norming results from working through storming. Allow time for bonds to form.
Shared goals create focus and guide decisions. It takes time for personal agendas to fade and the big picture to come into focus.
Rules of relationship are established. Everyone agrees on how to treat fellow team members. Some team members need more prep time than others, for example. This will be acknowledged and respected.
Go to: “Memo to the New Team,” for info on the first two stages of team formation.
Five questions to ask yourselves:
How can I help others fit in?
How can I support others?
How can I show respect to the talent of others?
How can we move forward? Teams spiral into negativity apart from forward movement. Small comes before big.
How can we be bold without being foolish?
Bonus tip: Put the person with the most complicated schedule in charge of scheduling meetings.
What brings teams together and creates high performance environments?
“I think there’s so much time and effort wasted on setting forth mission statements and vision statements…” Karen Martin, author of, The Outstanding Organization.”
Pointless vision:
Compelling vision doesn’t cure sick organizations. Martin said, “Many organizations have these lofty visions and they can’t even deliver product to customers…”
Forget about it:
Martin said, “I’m a little cynical about the whole vision-mission when people can’t perform well and customers aren’t being satisfied.”
Sick organizations should forget about changing the world and change themselves.
Aim low not high. Do less not more. The most important thing sick organizations do is get healthy.
Useful vision:
“Being able to just get your work done successfully is a more important vision for an organization than … solving world hunger, for example, if they’re not able to perform at high levels, yet.” Karen Martin.
Finding health:
Martin’s book explains the path to health:
Clarity
Focus
Discipline
Engagement.
Clarity:
Clarity is the first step toward health. Ambiguity prolongs sickness.
Band-Aids don’t help broken arms. Diagnose the real problem. Prescriptions for misdiagnosed issues make matters worse.
Fuzzy problems don’t get solved. Name them! Misdiagnosed issues cause organizations to:
Cure symptoms, not causes.
Apply damaging solutions that don’t help.
Waste resources.
Offend sincere, talented employees by misdirecting their energy.
Interview:
4 minutes with Karen Martin explaining health over vision:
Quote:
“If the mission or vision doesn’t directly effect how [front-line people] are doing their work then it’s … pointless.”
Bonus:
Facebook contributors fill in the blank: Don’t focus on organizational vision if ______.
Mark went on to say, “Life’s curveballs and my conservative nature provide daily excuses for not doing what I am capable of. But my experience has shown me that anyone can hit what they aim for, or very close to it.”
Mark’s comment reminded me of a quote attributed to Michelangelo, “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”
Defeat excuses:
Develop deep experience. Experience provides perspective for aiming high. Mark said, “I’d get my Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours and go make a dream come true.” Gladwell says the key to success is practicing something for 10,000 hours.
Follow your drive. “In order to bring my ‘A’ game I need to be working on something I am passionate about.”
Build the team. “I would need an amazing team that was built on the kind of trust that only comes from knowing that we care about each other.”
Connect with mentors. “I would need a mentor who can take the pie-in-the-sky vision that I am hesitant to even say out loud and, through experience and personal example, lead me to the point where I can see my team making it happen.”
Failures:
Don’t stick with one thing long enough.
Follow expediency rather than passion.
Focus exclusively on themselves.
Think they know more than others.
Get real:
In my opinion, building the team and find mentors are the most neglected components of the road to success.
Why do people fall below their potential?
What makes aiming high more than pie-in-the-sky?
I haven’t read Mark’s book, Shortcut to Prosperity, but the table of contents goes well beyond pie-in-the-sky thinking.
Catastrophe is one decision away during turbulence. Reacting makes you look like a fool, eventually.
Wise leaders respond to turbulence; fools react. Reactions are passionate but uninformed. How many times have decisions outrun information? Ouch! That hurts.
Successful leaders respond; failures react.
“Make it go away,” reflects self-serving reaction. “What caused this,” begins organization-serving response. Circumstances control reactionary leaders; they feel pushed around. Principles guide responsive leaders; they face into the wind.
Establish direction before solving issues.
10 Ways to respond to turbulence:
Define smooth sailing. Is smooth sailing an option?
Predict duration. Is this a squall?
Explore intensity. Is this a hurricane?
Examine history. How long has this been brewing?
Who or what is at the center? People who consistently cause turbulence won’t solve it.
What behaviors, attitudes, or circumstances instigated turbulence? Should they stop or continue?
Describe the best next step? Forget perfection.
Are you navigating by the stars or controlled by the wind?
What new turbulence does the next step create?
Is public response warranted?
Bonus: Identify, support, authorize, and follow champions who lead through turbulence.
Hard truth:
Sometimes the ship should sink.
Any organization determined to save itself has lost sight of its mission. It’s not worth saving. Think of all the bureaucratic organizations bailing water to stay afloat.
Turbulence purifies and clarifies. Every response to turbulence clarifies the value you bring and how to bring it best. If you don’t bring value you deserve to sink.
“… In a free market the only way to do well is to do well for others.” Gary Hamel
Is fun at events but manipulative as long-term strategy.
Places unnecessary burden on leaders and managers.
Never lasts.
Drains and exhausts. Pumping up pours energy from you to others.
Ignition:
Healthy people all dream the same dream; they long to matter.
Igniting passion is always about their dream not yours. Leaders are matches. Fire and heat come from others.
Flames ignite the moment others see themselves in your dream. Help them find a place and watch the magic.
They own it when they’re in it.
Release:
Pumping up is pushing. Igniting passion is releasing. Once their fire starts, step back. Don’t control it; focus and fuel it.
Avoid limiting. Let your dream grow beyond you.
Don’t correct. See where they go.
Keep talking big picture and results. Passion and expertise from others fill in details.
Warning:
Details kill baby dreams. Let them grow legs before detailing them to death. Talk “what” when dreams are young. Talk “how” when they can walk.
The right people:
Dream killers are everywhere. Success depends on talking to people who share your values. Casually bring up your idea and watch for the sparkle. If you don’t see it, move on. They may ignite later.
Pulling not pushing:
Passionate people pull you; you don’t push them. There’s nothing better than watching a collection of small fires become one giant blaze.
Surprise:
Keep your dream in the back, like a back-seat drive. Keep their dream in the front. Everyone wants to matter. Give them a way.
Has someone ignited your passion? What did they do?
Every team has a few passionate leaders chomping at the bit to create the future. But, dead weight weighs them down.
Most teams lead by consensus, the lowest common denominator.
I believe in leading with teams but struggle with drifters, underperformers, and the fearful who hold organizations back.
It’s frustrating when playing it safe is success, for example.
Obstacles:
Leaders who have retired in their positions.
Politically adept but leadership deficient chair holders.
Organizational cultures that honor silence and punish candor.
Lack of intention to build high performance teams that press into the future.
Hope:
One unselfish person with passion,
skill, courage, and patience changes things.
First, identify untapped opportunities:
Few resources.
Low cost.
Observable results.
Ignites your passion.
Look for something you can lead, not others.
Focus on bringing positive benefit not solving problems or pushing dead weight. Maintain positive focus. Most importantly, forget about convincing the entire team to join you.
Second, leverage allies:
Approach people of influence and bring up your list of untapped opportunities. “I’ve been mulling over…”
Avoid selling your ideas, just lay them out. Ask for more.
Look for something that makes their eyes twinkle and explore it.
Never develop ideas with people who don’t care. Leave them behind if you must.
Have coffee-conversations and toss ideas around until a few bubble to the top. Don’t push people, ignite them. Pushing invites resistance.
Third, pull the trigger:
Choose an opportunity with the most supporters. (Back to looking for the twinkling eyes)
Take personal responsibility. “I’m moving forward with …”
Ask for suggestions.
Develop and share your plan with influencers who buy-in.
Do it on a small scale and share results.
Don’t apologize if criticized; own it.
Key:
Look for the biggest bang for the fewest bucks. Remember, something is better than nothing.
How can frustrated leaders create positive impact in organizations where leadership teams are dead weight?
