top ten mistakes leaders make 2014 web version
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Welcome
“I look forward to helping you take your leadership skills to the next level.”
Dr. Hans Finzel
What is Leadership?
• My idea of leadership is making an impact through other people.
• I do what I do as a leader so the team can succeed in what they need to do.
All Eyes on Us
• The higher you go in leadership, the
more eyes are on you.
• The higher you go in leadership, the
more expectations are on you.
Bad Leadership Habits
• Work against our effectiveness.
• Can neutralize our positive gifting.
• Can result from leading as you were led.
• Have to be recognized and purged.
“We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.” World famous management consultant, educator, and author.
A Question for you:1. What is a big mistake you
have ever seen a leader
do that really hurt you?
2. Can you admit one of
yours?
The Top Down Attitude
Abusive Authority
Dictatorship in Decision-making
Dirty Delegation
Lack of Listening
Controlling Management Style
Ego Centric Management Style
The Top Down AttitudeIs Traditional
Is Historical
Is Ingrained
Is Cultural – worldwide
Is Most Common
Servant LeaderJesus is the best example: John 13
“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed
your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
I have set you an example that you should do as I
have done for you.”
ApplicationsNot Abusive Authority: But view yourself as Servant of all.Not Dictatorship: But partners in the process.Not Deplorable Delegation: But give them room and freedom to do their job.Not Lack of Listening: But exercising a Phil. 2 posture.Not Controlling: But letting go with affirmation.Not Ego Centric: But the empowerment of others.
Servant Leadership
My Definition: When the leader
cares more about the good of
the team than his or her own
enrichment.
Alternatives1. Participatory management
2. Facilitator style
3. Democratic leadership
4. Flat organizations
5. Servant leadership
Jim Collins
Analyzed 1,435 companies to find ones that jumped from being good to being great and
sustained it for a minimum of 15 years.
Level 5 Leaders• Humble
• Listened and learned constantly
• Put company above personal goals
• Valued employeesfirst
• A "capacity for solitude is what nurtures great relationships." But in today's always-on social media world, our solitude has been replaced by incessant online updates, which both weaken our sense of self and our ability to create genuine friendships. -Sherry Turkle
People Crave Affirmation"One of the commodities in life that most people can't get enough of is compliments. The ego is never so intact that one can't find a hole in which to plug a little praise. But, compliments by their very nature are highly biodegradable and tend to dissolve hours or days after we receive them --which is why we can always use another."
Phyllis Theroux; essayist, columnist and author
Praise and Recognition
“Too often we underestimate the power
of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a
listening ear, an honest compliment, or
the smallest act of caring, all of which
have the potential to turn a life
around.” Leo Buscaglia, PhD
ExerciseMake a list of three to five people
that need a pat on the back from
you right now.
Write them an affirmation!
We need MavericksA Maverick is another name for… Visionary
Dreamer
Entrepreneur
Change agent
Non-conformist
Outside the BOX thinkers
We need Mavericks!Mavericks are our way out of the slide toward institutional
bureaucracy.
Large organizations usually kill mavericks before they can take
root.
Mavericks make messes by their very nature--the good messes
institutions need.
Learn to recognize truly useful Mavericks.
Mavericks help us learn
We live in times of change
We cannot go back to the good old
days.
We as leaders have to face the future.
The future is a moving target!
The
World
In 2010’s
The
World
In 1990’s
The
World
In 1970’s
Our past successes can be our greatest roadblocks to future effectiveness
The Eleven Commandments of Organizational Paralysis
"That's impossible.”
"We don't do things that way around here.”
“We’ve never done it that way.”
"It's too radical a change for us.”
"We tried something like that before and it didn't work."
Eleven Commandments…
"I wish it were that easy.”
"It's against policy to do it that way.”
"When you've been around a little longer, you'll understand.”
"Who gave you permission to change the rules?”
"Let's get real, okay?”
"How dare you suggest that what we are doing is wrong!"
Got Irrelevance?”If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”
• General Eric Shinseki, Former US Army Chief of Staff (4 Star General)
• Dictators deny the value of each individual member of the group.
• The leaders in our organizations are shareholders and should have say in the direction of the enterprise.
• The one who does the
job should decide
how it is done.
• Flat organizations
are the model of the
future.
Avoid Dirty DelegationOvermanaging is one of the great cardinal sins of poor leadership.
Nothing frustrates those who work for you more than sloppy delegation with too many strings attached.
Delegation should match each worker’s follow-through ability.
Why its hard to Delegate1. Fear of losing authority
2. Fear of work being done poorly
3. Fear of work being done better
4. Unwillingness to take the necessary time
Why its hard to Delegate5. Fear of depending on others
6. Lack of leadership training and positive delegation experience
7. Fear of losing value in the organization
8. Fear of failure
Great Leaders Do it Right
“The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men and women to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” T Roosevelt
One of History’s Great Delegations
Matthew 28: 18-20
Acts 1: 9,10 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Never assume that anyone knows anything.
The bigger the group, the more attention that must be given to communication.
When left in the dark, people tend to dream up wild rumors.
Communication must be the passionate obsession of effective leadership.
Communication Chaos
Communication is the lifeblood
Leaders have to provide it.
People crave it.
When it is absent…. Bad things
happen…..
“The Void Created by the failure to
communicate is soon filled with poison,
drivel and misrepresentation.” C. Northcote Parkinson in Crucial Conversations, by
Patterson, Grenny, McMillan and Switzler.
Communication
Communication“Certainly a leader needs a clear vision of the organization and where it is going, but a vision is of little value unless it is shared in a way so as to generate enthusiasm and commitment. Leadership and communication are inseparable.”Claude I. Taylor Chairman of the Board, Air Canada
Communication is hard work
Never assume people read what you write.
Say it in five different ways.
Rinse and repeat over and over.
Over-communicate by a factor of 10!
Life’s Blood“A corporation’s values are its life’s blood. Without effective communication, actively prac- ticed, without the art of scruti- ny, those values will disappear in a sea of trivial memos and impertinent reports. There may be no single thing more important in our efforts to achieve meaningful work and fulfilling relationships than to learn and practice the art of communica-tion.”
—Max De Pree, Leadership Is an Art
Missing Corporate Culture Clues
Corporate culture is “the way we do things around here.”
Never underestimate the mighty power of your organization’s culture.
Cultivating and changing the culture should be one of leadership’s top priorities
Learn to respect values different from your own.
What is Corporate Culture?
Don’t let the term scare you.
It is like America versus Japan.
Every family, church and organization has a unique culture.
“It’s the way we do things around here!”
How this HelpsSee pages 164 and following….
The 10 great benefits of knowing
your values and your corporate
culture.
Define Your ValuesWe need more than Vision and Mission
We need to identify our values
Increasingly today – people are drawn to values of a church, or business or enterprise – MAGNET!
Values: Whole FoodsSelling the Highest Quality Natural and Organic Products Available
Satisfying and Delighting Our Customers
Supporting Team Member Excellence and Happiness
Creating Wealth Through Profits & Growth
Caring About Our Communities & Our Environment
Value StatementsLike Glue—They help leaders hold an organization together.
Like a Magnet—They attract newcomers as members, employees, customers, or donors.
Like a Ruler—By which a leader can measure how his or her group is doing.
Success without Successors
Pride tightens the grip on leadership; humility relaxes and lets go.
Finishing well is an important measure of success in leadership.
Letting go of leadership is like sending your children away to college: It hurts, but has to be done.
Mentoring is a nonnegotiable function of successful leadership.
Finish Well and Leave Well
Most leaders don’t.
There is a difference.
What does finishing well mean?
What does leaving well mean?
Why does it matter?
Leave to LeaveTop Ten Leadership Commandments… “Thou Shalt Lead to Leave.”
Moses prepared Joshua to follow him.
Lyle SchallerLeaders tend to stay too long in a position rather than leave too soon.
Leaders do much more damage by staying too long than those who don’t stay long enough.
Make it an Intention
You are probably not thinking about it as much as you should be.
It is a long way off… maybe.
Don’t let your pride get in the way.
Intend to finish well and leave well.
Keep Your Short ListWho can replace me?
Your final act of leadership might be grooming your successor.
This is how to put great bookends on your leadership.
2 Great Success Stories
Paul and Timothy in the New
Testament.
Moses and Joshua in the Old
Testament.
Moses said to the LORD,
“May the LORD, the God of
the spirits of all mankind,
appoint a man over this
community to go out and
come in before them, one
who will lead them out and
bring them in, so the
LORD’s people will not be
like sheep without a
shepherd.” (Num. 27:15–17)
Failure to Focus on the Future
The future is rushing toward us at breakneck speed.
A leader’s focus must not be on the past nor on the present, but on the future.
Vision is an effective leader’s chief preoccupation.
Organizations are reinvented with new generations of dreamers.
Leader’s Job is the Future
I love this topic because I am a dreamer.
Someone on your team needs to dream.
We cannot all be dreamers: Engineers and accountants are needed too!
• “A picture of the future that produces passion in people.” - Bill Hybels
• “Vision is a clear picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be. “ - Andy Stanley
1. Do we all have the same vision for the future?
2. What are the strengths of our group?
3. What are our weaknesses?
4. What should our highest priorities be?
5. What do we do well?
6. What do we do poorly?
7. What barriers do we need to remove to fundamentally enhance our effectiveness for the future?
“There is no more powerful engine driving an organization toward excellence and long- range success than an attractive, worthwhile, achievable vision for the future, widely shared.” —Burt Nanus,
SIX TIPS for finding the right vision:
1. Brainstorm as a team - I am a huge believer in the power of team vision - go on a vision retreat!
2. Pray about it - really - if you are in ministry and/or leading a church.
3. Get around people that can help you with vision - what I am doing right now with Tom - vision is contagious!
4. Read books that will inspire you - in your field - read people that are doing what you want to do.
5. Read some good books on vision.
6. Go to some great conferences -Willow Creek Summit every August.