"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might" – Ecc9:10
The personal blog of Michael J Pierce
It’s like Kirby’s always saying: “We play to a standard”
It doesn’t matter what the task, event, or situation occurs with me, I have to complete it to my standard, which in my experience is higher that most people. People let it be known that they don’t care. Explicitly, a lot, but implicitly most.
I do.
Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:
No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.
At other times it feels like being mildly drunk, or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says. Or perhaps, hard to want to take it in. It is so uninteresting. Yet I want the others to be about me. I dread the moments when the house is empty. If only they would talk to one another and not to me.
There are moments, most unexpectedly, when something inside me tries to assure me that I don’t really mind so much, not so very much, after all. Love is not the whole of a man’s life. I was happy before I ever met H. I’ve plenty of what are called ‘resources.’ People get over these things. Come, I shan’t do so badly. One is ashamed to listen to this voice but it seems for a little to be making out a good case. Then comes a sudden jab of red-hot memory and all this ‘commonsense’ vanishes like an ant in the mouth of a furnace.
From A Grief Observed
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis
https://dzone.com/articles/7-steps-to-becoming-an-effective-leader
To start with, I feel like this is one of the most important things you can do. If you’re going to be asking people to do things for you (be it solve a problem, jump 10 feet (?) or eat an ant, what? it happened to me once!) you need to show your team that you understand what you’re asking for.
This is not to say that you should be able to perform every single task you’re asking your team to perform, because that might simply not be possible (and that makes total sense). But what it does mean, though, is that there are certain behaviors you’ll expect from those under your leadership such as something as simple as not drinking while on the job, being on time everyday or even joining calls 5 minutes early, just to be sure you’re never late. Here is where you need to show your teammates that you’re capable of following the same rules they do. And this is because (and you can call this Step 1.5 if you like), you’re also part of the team.
The same rules and the same restrictions that apply to them, must apply to you too, you’re not above the system, you’re just as much a part of it as they are.
Sadly, we’ve all heard it before, the good old “we did great!” and “you failed” might not seem like a big deal, but the strategical removal of one’s self from the second expression is used to avoid responsibility for the team’s failures. Something that, if you think about it, as a leader, you’re not supposed to do.
At the core of your job description, there should be a line stating that “you’re directly responsible for both, the success and failure of your team.”
If you’re in a position of leadership, take two minutes and try to remember if you ever said those words. It’s easy to have missed them in the heat of a discussion or when trying to deal with the chaos of a failure. And it is specially easy to say if the person or group of people you’re talking to, actually caused the problem.
We’ve all been there at one point or another, the key here is not to never say it, but rather that once you’ve identified you’re that person, using these phrases, you correct yourself.
The team didn’t fail, you did, all of you, but especially you. There is no spinning it, you need to own up to it, and start working on damage control.
This might sound like a no-brainer, but again, in the heat of the moment and when things start to go wrong, forgetting this simple step is too easy.
And even though the positive attitude should be maintained throughout the entire duration of your project, doing so during the darkest times is critical. Pointing fingers, being moody, ignoring teammates because they’re making your life harder is definitely the wrong way to go.
Hate tends to breed more hate and positivity does the opposite, it helps keep your teammates in a good mood, and happy people usually have an easier time concentrating and staying on track.
One big issue when leading a team for the first time (heck, or the first few times) is trusting your own judgment. Trusting that you’re making the right decision and not looking like a fool in front of everyone, it’s not easy. Impostor syndrome is big here, feeling you’re not ready to lead your team, filled with more capable professionals, what are you doing there? Who made that terrible decision?
So Step 4 is about learning to trust your own instincts by trusting your team. If you’ve followed the previous steps, you understand by now that you’re part of a team, not under it or above it. That should also come with the understanding that trusting them and asking them for advice would not mean showing weakness in front of them.
In fact, asking them for advice in the face of a critical decision will show you trust them enough to hear and consider what they have to say. I tend to prefer leaders with an open mind to criticism by their own team, these people can find solutions outside of the proverbial box, simply because they considered the opinion of someone with a different point of view.
This goes back to you being part of a team, not above it or outside it. You, as their leader, have a very unique position where you can, and should, discuss their expectations about growth. Knowing where they want to go, will allow you to help them get there.
Be it as part of your team, or outside it, helping others grow is also one of the core aspects of your job description.
They’re not there, in your team, to work with you forever, everyone needs to feel they make a change, everyone needs to know their work matters, and professional growth is the ultimate way to show that. If this doesn’t happen, if you keep people stuck in a position simply because they’re giving you the outcome you need, they’ll burn out, they’ll eventually leave you and, probably, the company as well, and that loss will be on you.
You can probably see how this also relates to having a positive environment for everyone to work in. Step 3 was a more direct reflection on your day-to-day actions and how to deal with your teammates, but this also helps towards achieving that goal. Leaders that cares for and are interested in the growth of their teammates tend to gain their respect and loyalty.
This step is quite important as well, it may not be directly related to your team, but it ties right into taking care of your mental health.
Usually people who are promoted into a leadership role tend to take on all the responsibilities associated with that new position, but forget about the “benefits” the change brings. One of them being that they now should not be doing their old tasks. This one is the toughest ones, since it’s very tempting to think it’s easier to do it by themselves than ask others who might not fully understand the priority behind the task, or maybe they don’t even know how to perform it.
It’s hard, but they need to delegate to and educate their teammates on how to perform the task (if required) and then trust that person will perform as expected (see how I went all the way back to Step 4?).
Doing this will help leaders focus on their actual task, instead of trying to do everything by themselves and failing at it (because they will, they now have other responsibilities and distractions that will probably prevent them from functioning like before).
The final step, and what I consider to be generally useful advise, is to embrace the chaos that leading a group of people might entail.
No matter how many rules you put in place and how many standards you set, the truth of the matter is people are unpredictable and sometimes they’ll surprise you (both in the good and bad sense of that word). If you expect them to behave like machines and you treat them as such, then you will not enjoy the process and they will fight it (as they should!).
Just accept this fact and treat your team like a group of human beings, each one of them will bring the best of them to the table, but they will also bring their baggage. And this is not to say you should turn into the psychologist of the group, what I mean is that you should understand that fact, and treat them accordingly.
That is it for today, there are definitely a lot of other aspects of leading teams that I haven’t covered in this article, but I wanted to focus on personal and team related ones, since, in the end, you’re dealing with people and that should be (in my opinion at least), your main focus.
Just remember, if you’re unhappy with your current leader, they might be new to that role and might be trying their best to deal with tasks they’ve never done, without anyone to guide them through the process. Be nice, try to explain to them how you’d like to be lead, that might just be what they need.
Let me know your thoughts, and if you feel I left an important one out of the list, share it in the comments section!
See you in the next one!
We use Slack at work. Because we’re all off in different places and working at different times, we use a channel to let everyone know where we’re at. This channel content grew to be announcements, and then group “Happy Birthdays” and more and more. Upper management decided it was “too much” and mandated only messages about location were to be posted.
So another channel was setup for “Happy Birthdays”. And then, because we shared youtube links for our favorite songs, another channel was setup. It was great. Some I liked, and wouldn’t have known about, if it weren’t for the channel. Classic songs that we all liked. Off-the-beaten songs. We shared and it was good. There was some small criticisms, and songs posted as a rebuttal to others, which just made it all the more fun.
But one day, a colleague posted Weezer covering A-ha doing “Take on Me.” Individually, harmless. But combined, egregious to the senses. I commented about it at lunch. We had previously commented on his penchant for Canadian music, including Rush. Someone suggested that he be banned from posting for 3 days. The laughter turned into a plot. We would petition the creator of the channel, whom we referred to as “The Commissioner” to ban him. On Count 1: Playing Canadian music, we were denied. Rush rocks. But on Count 2, The Weezer song, The Commissioner agreed. Egregious. The ban was issued and the individual was removed from the private channel.
Others protested this, one posted another Weezer song and he was immediately banned. This lead to further protests, like posting Nickleback songs. OMG I didn’t know they were Canadian. The Commissioner decided that showing some mercy was in order and issued this order: To commute the ban, the transgressors could post an American Flag emoticon in the FORBIDDEN CHANNEL upon which, we would all ‘Like” it.
The camaraderie and braveness of the Team, is the prime reason they are high performers.
I’m still laughing…
I found this at https://dzone.com/articles/the-9-traits-of-highly-effective-leaders. I think Deming said it better: The aim of management is to help people and machines do a better job.
According to the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, “It is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.”
The founding principles include nine behaviors: serve first, add value to others, build trust, listen to understand, think about your thinking, increase your influence, demonstrate courage, live your values, and live your transformation. What do these behaviors look like in practice?
Serving first is about approaching work with a collaborative mindset. Instead of thinking, “How can I win?” leaders with a serve-first mentality look to make situations a win-win for all participants. These leaders go beyond simply giving a job description to an employee and sending them off to tackle the day. Instead, they care about the whole individual, including personal and professional growth of each person.
This differs from “serve first” because it’s about what you as a leader can add to help others grow. What are your strengths? What are the unique skills that you can use to help improve other people’s projects, ideas, and careers?
When trust is high, cost is low and speed goes up. To achieve these benefits, high-trust leaders choose to delegate and not micromanage, meet deadlines and give actionable feedback, and they’re accountable for decisions and outcomes.
It’s not about listening to decide when to chime in with your own opinion, it’s about listening to ACTUALLY understand. Leaders should practice active listening, and make sure they’re not interrupting people during meetings or 1:1s. Try these two questions to listen to understand: “Tell me more” and “Help me understand.” These questions open the door for others to share their perspective, without feeling like they’re being undermined or doubted.
Servant leaders evaluate how they think about messages, situations, behaviors that they experience. Is input or feedback received in a negative way or as a positive opportunity for improvement? The trick is to differentiate between useful thoughts and non-useful thoughts, and re-frame negative beliefs. For example, don’t use absolutes like “always” and “never” when describing situations or behaviors.
Typical leaders think about grabbing more power when they look to increase their influence, but the servant-leader aspires to share what they know and what they’ve learned over the years to enable other people to learn from and utilize that knowledge. It means more people possess the information and ability to make decisions and innovate, and ensures the leader is not a bottleneck to progress.
People often mistake servant leadership as being “nice,” but sometimes the kindest thing you can do is to have the hard conversations with people, deal with conflict, make the tough decisions, and hold people accountable. Demonstrating courage is about encouraging people to move forward and get results.
As many tasks become automated and competition for talent increases, employees look for more alignment between their personal values and company values. Leaders who live company values aligned with the principles of servant leadership foster a more inclusive and productive environment for their teams.
Becoming a servant-leader is not a one-time action or seminar, it’s a lifelong pursuit. The principles become part of the leader. They live them day in and day out, and take them into the business and their community.
In addition to boosting team morale and professional growth, servant leadership yields strong business results. For example, a 2015 study conducted by KRW International found that CEOs whose employees gave them high marks for character delivered an average return on assets of 9.35% over a two-year period. That’s five times as much as CEOs with lower marks for character, with an average return on assets of only 1.93%.
Results have been measured for years, including a comparison of “Good to Great” companies and “servant leadership” companies. In their book, Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving, James Sipe and Don Frick share that during the 10-year period they studied, stocks from the 500 largest public companies (S&P 500) averaged a 10.8% pre-tax portfolio return. Companies featured in Jim Collins’ book Good to Great averaged a 17.5% return. However, the servant-led companies’ returns averaged 24.2%.
And researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago saw measurable increases in key business metrics, including a 6% increase in job performance, 8% increase in customer service, and 50% increase in employee retention.
The results are clear: servant leadership is not only good for the soul, it’s good for the spreadsheet.
It’s tempting to hoard information, approach colleagues as competitors, and attempt to win at all costs as the world moves faster and faster. But it turns out that collaboration and a servant mindset increase your chances of success, not only as a leader, but as a business.