LeadershipConneXtions

Leaders Who Care (and the Followers Who Believe Them)

Caring, it is what life is all about. We talk about professional care, health care, home care aids, pastoral care and so on.

Here is a paraphrase of a well known quote: 

Followers don't care how much a leader knows until they really know how much the leader truly cares.

On June 10 I did a post on caring and empathy and while reading  Behar's book about Starbucks (see the sidebar- CURRENT READS) it really hit me again. Caring is vital to leadership.

Jim Collins talks about moving from good to great. Howard Behar wold say that "caring" is part of that move and part of the essence of great leadership.

When I read Behar, I think he either has had some significant Christian worldview imprinted on him at some point, or that he is just the blessed recipient of an unusual amount of common grace and natural revelation.

Behar talks about the leader caring for others proactively (do it first), unconditionally (whether it is returned or not) and sacrifically (take the heat and take the bullet aimed at others). Hey - that is a three point message right there. Although the best messages are lived for a season before they are spoken.

Caring for others in this way is at the heart of great people leadership and great organizational leadership. Behar thinks that MBA programs ought to offer Love and Caring 101 in their curriculum.

The point of this is to do some reflection and assessment:

• Do you really care for the people you lead?
• In what ways do your actions line up with your answer?
• Who don't you care for?
• And - if you asked those around you (and if they would give honest answers) would they name you as a caring leader?

It is important for leaders to remember that the definition of care changes somewhat (much like the Love Language idea) from person to person.  We have to be "careful" to understand what others really need in terms of care.

Maybe it is time to come up with your Personal, 2008 Gift of Caring Project.

Brian Rice

Making Judgment Calls

Tichy and Bennis describe the making of judgement calls as "the ultimate act of leadership" (HBR, October 2007). Effective leaders are those who make a high percentage of good judgment calls at the times when they matter the most.

But what exactly is a judgment call? What exactly is taking place during a judgment call? Is it intuition? Is it common sense? Is it a hunch, a gut level feeling...? Is it a left brain thing or a right brain thing?

The theory and research on this is pretty under-developed...

We do know that most judgment calls have to do with the issues of (1) people, (2) strategies, and (3) times of crisis.

Some of the research done by Tichy and Bennis have identifed "a bit more" the dynamics that are taking place in times of making judgment calls. Here is a brief and basic recap of some things they have found. (If you want to get into this a lot more - check out their book.)

A judgment call is not an event, but rather a process.

It is a process that has three phases to it.

The first phase is a time of preparation where the leader is framing and understanding the issue in its organizational context as well as doing preliminary alignment of those who will be a part of the judgment call or affected by it.

The second phase is when the call is actually made.

The third phase is the execution phase where the leader now follows through, makes happen, executes the call and moves into REDO LOOPS where adjustments are made as new information comes in.

Are you facing any situations where you are going to have to make a judgment call in the near future? If so - try thinking about it in terms of the three phases above and see what happens.

I liked their article so much that I went out and bought the book. Haven't had time to get into it yet, but it is on my list for the summer.

Brian Rice

Alienus Nun Diutius (For all those who failed or neglected to take high school Latin, see the bottom of the post for the translation)

Pixar has a remarkable organizational culture. Here are a few things about that culture.

They fund the career development of their employees.

They made the jump from being an idea-centered business to being a people- centered business. Instead of developing ideas, they now develop people (who develop ideas).  A BIG DIFFERENCE!

Everyone who works on the movie in any capacity is viewed as an artist. Everyone works together to tell a story. The motto is "Art is a team sport."

Employees can devote four hours of work every week to taking classes. Pixar has created a learning organization as part of their culture.

It is a fun and nurturing place to work.

In an industry that is hypercompetitive and where insecurity and burnout are the norm, Pixar has created a place of colloboration, teamwork and learning.

The opportunity to learn and create and work alongside other talented people - this is the greatest reward for working at Pixar.

Alienus nun diutius means:  Alone no longer.

It is the inscription on the crest of Pixar University.

Awesome.

I think this is what our churches and missional organizations should be like. And I wonder why so many of them are not like this?

Brian Rice

Why Pastors Get Fired

This TOP TEN LIST that was in Leadership (Spring 2008, pp 12) grabbed my attention.

Here are the TOP TEN REASONS pastors get fired in the Southern Baptist denomination.

TEN:  conflict with other staff

NINE:  sexual misconduct

EIGHT:  administrative incompetence

SEVEN:  weak leadership style

SIX:  decline in attendance

FIVE:  conflict pre-dating the pastor'sarrival

FOUR:  too-strong leadership style

THREE:  poor people skills

TWO:  church's resistance to change

ONE:  control issues  (the top reason every year since this survery was first started in 1996!)

Here is a short article with a few suggestions about how to leave if/when you've been fired.

Brian Rice

Career-Track Leaders, and the Fate of Organizations

Becky gave me an article that was in one of her monthly journals:

Leadership and the Fate of Organizations was an article in the February-March 2008 issue of American Psychologist. The authors are Kaiser, Hogan and Craig.

It was a very scholarly study on the issue of what kind of leader is needed for optimum team performances.

The authors made a very striking case that there is one group of leaders who are more focused on CAREER SUCCESS and another group who are focused on ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS. And there is a world of difference in the qualities needed for those different objectives.

With just a little bit of spoofing, the Career Success Driven Leader is committed to:

• looking good
• avoiding confrontation
• withholding suggestions for improvement
• not asking the boss to champion unpopular positions.
• always agreeing with the boss
• having good presentation skills
• looking good in meetings where superiors are present
• sustaining an intense desire for career advancement
• not pointing out the uncomfortable realities
• not initiating adaptive realities

The conclusion in the article is that what is good for teams is not what career-minded leaders tend to bring to the team.

And the last paragraph is very intriguing.  They talk about presidential campaigns being decided on "the basis of self-presentation skills and charm more than talent for leadership."

Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower were were two of the greatest leaders in America's military history, but they were charismatically challenged/deficient. On the other hand, John Kennedy and William Clinton were two of the most charismatic presidents, but who did not leave a record of impressive  achievements. The personal need for attention on the part of Kennedy and Clinton caused them distractions from doing their presential duty well.   (Note: These are the words of the authors and not my aown ssessment.)

I got to thinking about their comments in light of the upcoming Democratic Primary in Pennsylvania! Since the article was a recent article, I couldn't help but wonder if the authors are subtly or not so subtly asking questions about a certain very charismatic candidate? 

Brian Rice

Reference: American Psychologist, Vol. 63, No. 2:96-110

Creating Organization Culture (and Life)

One of the most important skills of leadership is for the leader to be able to create the organizational culture (or feel or ethos or spiritual/emotional/values rich environment).  Edgar Schein believes it is one of the unique tasks of leadership.

Here are some GREAT words (from Walter Wright) on the kind of culture we should be creating as leaders.

A culture where people experience trust and respect, generous affirmation, and recognition of their personal lives encourages loyalty, continuity, and longevity. It is good to work where you are appreciated and respected, where you belong, where people listen and take you seriously.

When the character of leadership is expressed with integrity, it nurtures a culture of openness and trust (or conversely secrecy and suspicion), which builds the social connections that make the experience of work positive and productive (or negative and confining). Leadership shapes culture and that contributes to people finding satisfaction and fulfillment in their work.

What kind of culture is prevalent in your organization or team or family?

What can you begn to do to create the kind of culture described above?

Brian Rice

Exit Interview

I keep forgetting to write a blog about this, so here goes. A couple of months ago I was asked to do an exit interview with Christian Associates, the organization Susy and I served with for many year.

One of the board members, Len, and I met in Los Angeles when I was visiting there. He asked me a series of questions about my years with CA: what was most impactful, how the organization can develop, what I think is hindering it, etc.

Many organizations (especially Christian ones!) and people avoid exit interviews. They are awkward, to say the least. But my interview was a very positive experience, in part because Len was very gracious with me and because I think highly of Christian Associates and its people. Sure, there are ways that CA can grow and improve (as is the case with every group) but also ways in which God is using them for His Kingdom.

- Brian Newman

P.S. The cartoon is a joke! Laugh, please!

Creating a Leadership Culture

A while ago I met with leaders of a large church in Denver. Their question to me is, "How do you create a leadership culture in a local church?" I scratched my head for a week trying to reflect on what happened at Crossroads Church in Amsterdam that leaders are raised up and multiplied.

Here's some things I will say to these folks:

1. You have to be INTENTIONAL about it. Leadership multiplication does not happen accidentally. You need to plan for it, try some things and keep what works, evaluate it and tweak it.

2. You need a NUCLEUS of leader-gifted people to spark a Leadership Revolution. Like attracts like in this. I was fortunate to have TEAMS of leaders early on who shaped a culture - Geer, Innes and Caroline, Wenny, Mark, Jeannette, and Johan. Quality of the team, quality of the empowerment.

3. There must be a PROCESS, not a program. Invite young leaders into a lifelong journey and adventure of development, rather than the next 'how-to' course. We created what became known as "The Leading Edge" for our process. A whole lot of people have entered the process in the past 9 years.

4. MORPH a lot. Set a few things in stone, then invite people to shape and contour what you do in the empowerment process. Invite those being empowered to help guide the process.

5. PERSEVERE for the long haul in this. The change process at Crossroads began in early 1998 when we did the pilot of what was called The Leaders Institute. When I left the church in mid-2005 I felt that we had - by God's grace - established a leadership culture. It took about 7 years. This is NOT the McDonald's approach to leadership development!

Brian Newman

3 Cheers for GOOD Institution!

Have you noticed that in our Postmodern world we enjoy being skeptical toward institutions, suspicious if you will. It's sport to beat up on the Church especially, or anything that has the B word ... bureaucracy. It got me thinking... have we thrown out the "baby with the bath water?" Here's a short article I wrote recently about all of this. Download three_cheers_for_good_institution.doc

- B. Newman

A Nice Mission and Vision Statement

The Leadership Foundations Course at LWCC spent the last two weeks helping leaders learn how to develop Values and Vision Statements. I have been doing this for ten years and it takes time to do it well. We distinguished between statements that oragnizations use and statements that we craft for ourselves as individuals.

I was surfing the net looking for some illustrations of organizational Vision and Mission Statements and here is one that caught up eye.

The Vision Statement is on top and the Mission Statement is below.

-BR

"Creating a pocket of greatness"

You may or may not know who Jim Collin is, the author of Built to Last and Good to Great. Both books should be required reading for every leader.

Collins is a genuis in understanding how organizations function internally, and he is a master at telling real-life stories.

Recently I listened to an answer to a question in one of Collins' lectures. it is called "creating pockets of greatness." It's only about TWO minutes long. Listen to it here. It is worth the two-minute investment!