Getting better is a waste of time. Growing up is not.

Because we live in a self-obsessed culture where everyone can be everything and do anything based upon how you think or how you feel, “getting better” no longer has the same implications and implicit meaning that it once did. Getting better was once a very objective term. Now, it has become extraordinarily subjective. Once, if I had “gotten better” I had actually achieved something or grown. Now, “getting better” simply means that you or someone around you thinks they see improvement. Getting better is now about getting a response or a reaction, whereas, growing up is about real results.

How do you measure getting better?

You don’t really. You look in the mirror, you take self-assessment or you rate your personal satisfaction. Getting better has become more about feeling that fact. Getting better has become more about perception than progression. Getting better has become more about appearance than substance. You will make some adjustment or a series of adjustments that feel like measurements and you smile a smile of self-satisfaction, yet you still wonder why the others around you haven’t noticed how much better you are, why your influence and your productivity hasn’t increased, why you didn’t get promoted and why you didn’t get the results that you really wanted.

The reason why?

Simply, you haven’t really grown or grown enough to make a difference. So, you take the next step and you hire a coach or get a consultant–you look and find an outside voice that can help you “get better.”  Now, you have an “unbiased source” to help you determine where exactly you need to get better and some new techniques and strategies that will assist you in becoming a better version of you. Except this unbiased source is not really unbiased, because you are paying them or they are looking to use your story as their example. Let me describe to you the best outside source…a person that can benefit nothing, but the reward of self-satisfaction of helping you grow. Find someone who will engage you on a brutally honest level and give you the straight facts, who at the risk of damaging the relationship will tell you the truth. I have found this to be the best mirror (outside the Bible) that any leader desiring growth can have.

Focus on Personal Growth  

Let me shoot it straight with you, stop focusing on getting better, being a better version of you and start discovering how, where and why you need to grow.

The idea of personal growth has become lost in a raging river of self-improvement, enhancement and initiatives. An organization grows not because it gets better people, but rather, because the people they have are actually growing and developing.

Enter the millennial…there is a mystery in development for the millennial leader and those attempting to develop the millennial leader. But, many organizations are becoming organizations that have adopted a millennial mindset. This too is a problem. Millennials and millennially-minded organizations have a difficult time fathoming why others don’t see the growth in them, the potential in them and how good they can be–even though they feel they are growing. Millennials see growth as a continuous vortex of getting better that contains lots of movement and activity. But, they are missing one thing: growth. And growth means maturity. Maturity has levels, stages and seasons. Maturity is measurable. Getting better is an idea.

Growth = Maturity

Getting Better ≠ Maturity

Getting Better = Perpetual Immaturity

Growth means you have reached a new stage in maturity. Leaders and organizations must reach new stages in maturity, because without the new level of maturity (growth) then they have actually plateaued. The plateau is often where “getting better” gets stuck. When a leader or an organization gets stuck, then getting better means a lot of activity without a lot of productivity. Maturity yields higher productivity. For example, the more mature a muscle is means the more strength it contains and the heavier the load it can carry. Thus, by this analogy, maturity also produces as a by-product strength, force or in the case of an individual or organization, influence.

Getting better doesn’t mean you have more influence. An organization or individual that spends the majority of it’s time focused on getting-better that has developed into self-centered, image management will fail in its environment, community or market to grow influence. Don’t miss this: getting better doesn’t equal greater influence. This is what millennials and millennially-minded 0rganizations don’t understand. This is what an organization that is catering to the millennial mindset of getting better is missing. Your leadership hasn’t grown if your influence hasn’t grown.

Getting better has become a catch-phrase. It says everything, but means nothing. It includes everyone, but hold no one accountable. Getting better has become an excuse for poor performance, a lack of results and at the bottom of it all, justification for immaturity. We can blame Millennials all we want, but first, it’s the fault of their leaders, executives, parents, coaches, teachers, principals and educators for not demanding that they grow up. Second, the fault then lies with the Millennial for not recognizing and responding to their need to grow up. Instead, we have created a climate where getting better has replaced growing up.

Getting better is not a direction nor a destination, growth is. A spirit of continuous improvement is a wonderful thing. However, a spirit of perpetual mediocrity is a terrible thing. The idea behind a spirit of continuous improvement means that you are actually improving or maturing in your development or growth. Sadly, too many leaders in too many organizations, departments and positions have replaced the true spirit of continuous improvement with a spirit of perpetual motion. There is a danger in continuous motion (unless you are the earth spinning on its axis, but you aren’t). Leaders today are confusing motion with maturation. Maturation arrives after the growing pains and once healthy, sustainable production occurs. Too many young, millennial leaders or millennial-minded organizations don’t experience maturity, because at the first sign of pain they retreat or move away from it or they spend too much time diagnosing and re-diagnosing the symptoms without solutions. Healthy organizations and mature leaders accept the pain as part of the process. Unfortunately, many leaders and organizations see the pain as weakness and something that needs to be improved upon or a closed door. Worse they deny the pain really exists, excusing it for part of the process. The reality is the pain signifies that something has or is breaking down.

Getting better misses the mark of mastery. If you really want to be outstanding or excellent then your focus must be on mastery. Mastery is based on an apprentice/master model. Historically, someone wanted to learn a trade and would apprentice themselves to a “master” or expert for 7, 10 or 14 years and sometimes even longer. The length of time depended upon the trade or craft or the ability of the apprentice to learn. Some trades today still use this highly effective model. Unfortunately, with the pace that most organizations are moving, younger leaders are not given time or a path to grow effectively in an organization. Thus, the game of “getting better” escalates.  Information does not signify mastery. Knowledge does not signify mastery. Wisdom is the best indicator of mastery. Maturity is also a pretty good sign.

If you want to do something valuable for your organization, then grow. Don’t waste your time on the continuous cycle of getting better. Don’t use buzzwords and catch-phrases that make you sound more intelligent, but haven’t given you any more wisdom. Don’t walk around the gym, change your diet, get new work-out clothes and never get to work. Don’t wash the car, clean the windows, get new air-freshner, shine the seats and vacuum out the floor, but leave the gas tank empty!

Growth takes time, which explains why it is so unpopular. Getting better can happen right now or yesterday. Getting better can act as a great cloak of deception or a subtle fog of delusion. If all your focus, attention and metrics are focused on your perceived notion of measurement, then all you are doing is practicing the art of self-fulfilling prophecy. Growth takes commitment, which explains why else it is so unpopular. There are no magic pills to actually have expertise in a field, but there are many self-anointed experts with plenty of magic to share. Talk to any aged and learned leader that had any modicum of success and what you will find is lots of hard work, lots of time, lots of struggle and lots of lessons and different seasons of growth were apart of the journey. Getting better doesn’t teach us lessons, it lessens our teaching.

10,000 Hour Rule 

Malcolm Gladwell in his popular book Outliers: The Story of Success says that if you want to have mastery of a skill, an instrument or anything really, mastery in such a way that it becomes “second nature,” then you have to perform that activity for at least 10,000 hours. It also can’t just be the same motion, but it must be a deliberate progression under the guidance and tutelage of another who has already achieved. This is not a consultant, but an instructor.

Communicating with people is a skill. Leading people is a skill. Conflict resolution is a skill. All the facets of leadership, including influence, are not achieved because we’ve “gotten better.” Growth, these 10,000 hours, requires discipline, direction and a price to be paid. If I practice something just 1 hour a day, then it will take me a little more than 27 years to learn something. Okay, let’s say in regards to leadership and communicating, by proxy in your work environment, you spend 4 hours a day of real interaction and leadership training & development with others (not in a cubicle or behind a computer screen or smart phone), then (minus weekends) it will still take you almost 10 years to achieve 10,000 hours. This is why we don’t see great leadership everywhere all the time, despite the fact that we think we are “getting better.”

Little Girls & Cornets

I can get better at something by only spending a few hours at something. I listen to my two youngest daughters play their cornets almost every weekday around 6:30am (it’s certainly a way to wake the household up). They get better each week (most of the time) by very slight degree. It might take them several weeks or a month or an entire semester to prepare a piece for a performance and they’ve been doing it for two years. They are fortunate in that they have an excellent instructor and they started young, so they are progressing, growing rapidly. I encourage them, but I lack the skill to instruct them. Today’s millennially-minded organizations and leaders are mistaking encouragement for instruction. We tell them that they are “getting better,” but they haven’t grown until they can pass the test that their instructor gives.

Why have I said all this?

Because, getting better no longer means the same thing that it once meant. “Getting better” has become an anecdote, a catch-phrase and organizational jargon. I encourage you to strike it out of your vocabulary. It simply doesn’t carry the same weight or meaning that it did for years. Instead, talk about maturity, talk about growth. Consider for a moment your health. You can get better and still be sick. But, if you are growing, then you are getting healthy. Getting better no longer means you are getting healthy, although we often think it does.  Getting better has become a delusion and a deception for many that think they are growing, but are not. Stop focusing on getting better and start working on growing.

Find a Giant

Find a giant and learn from them. A giant is taller than you will ever be and always shows you that despite how good and how much you think you have gotten better. When you measure against a giant you always fall short, but you still keep measuring to chart your growth. The giant represents someone that has achieved results, maturity and health that is worthy of emulation. Giants humble us, but they help us. They help us grow up. They reveal to us where our weaknesses, our opportunities and our immaturities are. The danger for many millennials and millennially-minded organizations is they believe they have become the giant. There is great danger in this mentality, because it is filled with pride and that is when “giants fall.” Giants who don’t consider themselves giants, stand strong and firm for a long time (but that’s another lesson for another day).

Too many of our young leaders today are measuring themselves against dwarfs, not giants. You need giants in your organization. You need giants in your life. You need giants to surround you. Giants, in this example, represent where you want to go and how much you need to grow. If all you ever do is surround yourself with dwarfs, you will be deluded into thinking you are much taller, much more mature than you really are and much more able than you really are. Find a giant and you will either realize how much you have to grow or you will run the other direction back to the land of dwarfs.

Conclusion

Success is not found because we desire it, but because we work for it and we measure for it–often for a very long time. We can get better and never achieve success. However, it is hard to separate growth from success. It’s not the desire for success that will sustain your growth trajectory, but your discipline, your 10,000 hours, your unrelenting measurement against giants that will keep you humble enough to work harder, stay longer and listen better than your contemporaries.

“Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for 22 minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after 30 seconds.” 

~Malcolm Gladwell

(c) Redwall Leadership Academy. 2017.

“Leaders are readers and readers are leaders”

This is an expression that my mother, who raised six successful children, would often proclaim. My mother wanted us to read the Bible and then any other good book that we could learn from. But, she wasn’t picky, fiction or non-fiction, she just wanted us to read. Our television watching and video game playing was limited and this gave us the “opportunity” to read. One of the reasons that I write to this day is because my writing is an extension of my reading. Reading is where your thoughts collide with the thoughts of another. Reading is mental exercise. Too many leaders today have grown thought-obese, because of too little mental exercise.

This collision of thought is healthy for anyone, but especially for leaders. Because the world moves at a much faster pace these days and information comes at light speed, leaders must set time aside to engage their mind and their thoughts in a healthy, contemplative manner. Reading (and writing for me) accomplishes this. Reading is healthy, mental exercise.

If you want to make better decisions, think better thoughts. If you want to think better thoughts, read better books. For me, I have not found a better book than the Bible to read.

Reading is where the collision of thought happens. A collision without a conclusion does little good. So the will must get involved. The will must form the thoughts into actionable behavior. Storing up information does a leader no good. A leader must read for understanding and application. If application is not the goal of the leader, then the leader will always play a supportive or frustrated role which will summarily yield little in the way of results and influence or simply be a knowledge collector. Reading stretches your mental template for learning. So, read this article, think and maybe learn something…

Leaders have to be and they have to do. Let’s assume that if you are reading this article, then you are currently leading or are aspiring to lead to a greater level. Then, let’s ask a question and see where it takes us.

What must leaders do?

#1 – Leaders Set Direction. People everywhere at all times need direction. This means they need directors. Leaders are Directors. Leaders are directors not collectors. If you think you are a leader, but aren’t directing anything, then you aren’t really leading–you are occupying a position and have probably become a roadblock for your team.  A good director knows the team, the players, the landscape, the obstacles, the goals and the vision of a future outcome before communication begins to happen. A good leader must first understand where the organization or team is going and then how to get the team moving in the right direction. Here’s the bottom line: Someone has to lead, because someone will always lead. In your organization a leadership position does not guarantee that you will ultimately be the one that is the director. The director must be a highly effective communicator. I have taken to teaching my millennial leaders how to be more effective in communicating, because they will become more effective at directing. The breakdown most often is not in the desire, but in the directing. Bad directors, get bad results.

Learning: Better Communicating creates Better Directing.

#2 – Leaders Set the Tone. Once the direction has been set and the directions given, the morale and the environment can still not be productive or effective. In fact, a leader can be great at giving directions, but terrible at getting anyone to follow them. This is because, leaders must also set the tone. What is the tone? The tone is the temperature or the climate in which the team will be operating in. Tone is critical in the construction of chemistry. If a team is struggling with chemistry, chances are the tone has not been set well by the leader or someone else beside the leader is creating the tone. It is critical that leaders understand that they must set the tone. If a leader is always too busy, too rushed to take time for questions or explanation, then they are setting a tone that will result in a coldness or corner-cutting environment. The tone is also set in work ethic and upholding the standards. If the leader cuts corners, takes perks and slacks off because of their position, then they are setting a poor tone. Leaders must hold themselves to a higher standard.

Smoking in the Office

I was discussing this point with some of my learning leaders and one of them shared the example about a factory where smoking was forbidden. In fact, the manager ensured that no one smoked on the production floor, in the break room, outside or even the bathroom. However, when the manager would return to his office that overlooked the factory floor, he would close his door and smoke in the office. As a result, the manager always smelled like smoke. Soon, the workers realized that the manager didn’t hold to the standards himself and neither should they. The manager set the tone with his actions, not his words.

Learning: Don’t Smoke in the Office (Leaders must hold themselves to a higher standard)

#3 – Leaders Control Emotion. If you work with millennials or are a millennial, then this is one you really need to pay attention to.  We need to review emotions for a minute: not everything you feel is the correct feeling at the appropriate time. Feelings or emotions are triggered by different stimuli. These stimuli can be both internal and external. Before you express how you feel, the effective leader needs to work through what caused the specific emotion to arise.

If you don’t have all the facts, your feelings can betray you, mislead you or delude you. It is important to acknowledge your emotions, but not be controlled by them. Expressing emotion can be fine,  if it is done in a healthy and controlled fashion. But, demonstrating too much of an emotion or the wrong emotion in front of your team or others can neutralize your effectiveness as a leader. This can also cause you to lose credibility. You can be angry, but getting angry at people you are working with doesn’t really help the situation. Learning leaders must separate their emotion from the decision. Don’t make decisions when you are highly emotional. Get control of your emotions before you make decisions. I have learned not to correct or discipline a team member until I have a firm control of my emotions and then conducted an investigation. Don’t give a raise or a promotion, because you are excessively happy. Just as you don’t fire someone because what they have done or you perceive they have done makes you angry.

Emotions can cloud judgment. I’m not saying that you need to deny your emotions (that’s unhealthy), but you do not to get control of your emotions. A wise leader learns (a) to master his/her own emotions, (b) how to read correctly the emotions of those they are leading, and (c) then effectively utilize emotions to inspire and encourage.

Emotional Intelligence

Leaders must also learn to read correctly the emotions of others. A wrong reading or misreading of another’s emotions can add further fuel to a fire you are trying to put out. This is called emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence has never been more essential for leaders than it is in today’s super sensitive environment. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage the emotions of yourself and others (Psychology Today). There are three basic skills in EI (1) the awareness of your emotions and the emotions of others, (2)  the ability to harness your emotions and apply them into critical thinking and problem solving, and (3) the ability to regulate or manage your emotions and influence the emotions of others.

Your emotions need to be the wake, not the wind. The wake follows behind the wind. When your emotions become the wind, you often lose control of your boat and capsize. Keep your emotions as the wake, not the wind.

Learning: Don’t be controlled by your emotions, rather control your emotions.

#4 – Leaders Set & Restore Order. Order is critical in every organization. Leaders who don’t maintain order aren’t leading. Very often the leader’s role is to restore order. Every organization and every team is full of individuals and variables. Harmony is born through order. Organizations are more effective when they are most harmonious. Leaders are responsible for this harmony. Part of this harmony is revealed when the leader sets the tone, but the fullness of harmony is when the leader has helped everyone discover and maximize the role needed. This creates fluidity and synchronicity in the organization or team that plays like beautiful music.

Leaders are conductors. It is the leaders job to establish what a clear picture of order should look like and move the organization to that. The leader cannot take a break for this role, because things left alone tend to decay or rot. This is why the leader must be a vigilant conductor. The leader must be more conductor than inspector. Inspectors only identify the problems of disorder, but conductors set and restore order. Order is established through a devotion to the standards.

Learning: Order is not set or restored because a leader shows up. Order takes intentional planning, preparation and a devotion to the standards.

Summary  – What Leaders Do  

1- Leaders Set Direction

2- Leaders Set Tone

3- Leaders Control Emotion

4- Leaders Set & Restore Order

The world needs better leaders. Your world needs better leadership. It starts with you and it started without you. So, jump in and see what difference you can make. Leadership always makes a difference.

(c) Redwall Leadership Academy. Redwall, LLC (2016)

The strength of a leader is found in the strength of the followers. 

You are not a leader unless you have followers. 

You are not a great leader unless you have great followers. Greatness is defined by quality, not quantity. Jesus started with 12. Great leaders should look to develop a small, tight circle of outstanding followers, before they look to grow a large organization. 

If you look around and you are thinking that you are leader and there is no one following you, then you have a problem. Your problem might be that you are not a leader. Pure and simple, leaders have followers. So, if you think you are a leader and no one is following you, then you are a lone wolf. The lone wolf hunts alone, eats alone, howls alone and dies alone. There is no such thing as a lone wolf leader.  A lone wolf who thinks they are a leader, might have a leadership position, but this doesn’t mean that they have any followers. A lone wolf leader is really like an independent contractor. They work for themselves, task people for their benefit and at the end of the day will be surrounded by no one. They are loyal to themselves and subsequently don’t receive the loyalty of those around them. Wolves are effective when they hunt in a pack, eat as pack, howl as a pack and stay in the pack. They control more territory, eat better meals and produce more wolves. But, there is always a leader (the alpha) in a wolf pack. Every wolf must learn their role and fit in that role or be expelled from the pack. Wolves without packs are in a precarious position. Leaders without followers are in a precarious position. 

Great leaders have great followers. Followers are real people. This is important. Leaders must assess if the people around them are truly following them in reality, not just in fantasy. Jimmy Collins, retired Chick-fil-A President, makes a distinction between followers (those following a leader) and workers (those occupying positions and doing tasks).  Many leaders have deceived themselves thinking that the people around them are following them, when in reality, they were not.

~Leaders must capture the heart of their followers. This is where inspiration takes place. People want to be inspired. A follower is inspired, a worker is not. The quickest way to move someone who is only a worker to a follower is to inspire them. A worker is just filling time and space by performing a task or duty solely for a personal benefit. The only way to capture a heart is to first connect with the heart. You can appeal to someone’s mind or their wallet and never connect with their heart. The leader must demonstrate genuine care and concern for the individual for any chance of a true connection to happen. Followers willingly surrender their heart to the leader when they are inspired to follow. The surrendered heart is, well and truly, the only captured heart. Any other type of capturing of the heart is just holding someone’s heart hostage through manipulation or coercion.

How to Apply: A good way to apply this is to have a one-on-one meeting with the follower. A leader who can cast a vision that is embraced by the follower has the opportunity to capture the heart. A leader that can open his/her heart and have a worker open their heart and share is close to winning the heart. If you can relate a message to your follower and the follower believes the message and then shares the message with others, then a heart has been won. A good test of this is in the request. What can the leader request of the follower without asking, “Have I won your heart?” (that would be entirely awkward, don’t do that). It’s simple, can you stay a few minutes longer today? Can you come in early? Can you help me with a special project? You are asking if they can do more. If the request is greeted with immediate embrace, enthusiasm or energy, then you have probably won the heart. A captured heart can become a loyal heart…

~Leaders must win the loyalty of their followers. Loyalty is a freely given commitment of allegiance from follower to leader. But, this commitment always starts with the leader. Leaders must first give their loyalty to those who they desire to follow them. Leaders must always demonstrate allegiance to those they wish to follow. When leaders take this loyalty for granted in their followers, they weaken the heart bond and create and environment of mistrust and suspicion. A leader must express clear motivation when making decisions that affect those that are following. Without expressing motivation, erosion of trust has the potential to develop. A leader to maintain loyalty must guard trust at all costs. Trust is guarded and solidified by transparency. Transparency on the part of the leader and on the part of the followers.  Tenure is not a test of loyalty. Be careful, just because someone has been around for a long time, doesn’t mean you’ve won their loyalty. Money creates a false sense of loyalty. Leaders have to be careful to test if the loyalty is to the money or to the leader.

How to Apply: The test of loyalty comes in the response. Workers respond slowly, methodically and selfishly. Followers respond quickly, passionately and selflessly. A good practice for leaders is to ask challenging, difficult or new things of those working for them, then, measure the response. Good workers will still get the job done, but their response is a pained response, a slow response or a bothered response. Workers respond to be left alone. A good follower will respond to this new challenge with enthusiasm. A good follower embraces the leaders directions or directives. Followers respond to please. 

~Leaders must earn the respect of their followers. Transparency earns respect. Respect has to be earned. Respect cannot be demanded. Demanded respect is the basis of tyranny. Tyrants in the work place are bossy, self-centered and egotistical. Leaders must truly serve their organization and serve the followers of their organization. This means they work hard to not only initially earn their followers’ respect, but always work to maintain the respect of their followers. This means the leader’s actions, conduct, speech and behavior must be above and beyond reproach.

How to Apply: A good practice for leaders is to publicly honor their followers as much as possible in ways that are authentic and meaningful. Another good practice for a leader is to not demand the spotlight or demand elevated status in the organization, but share the spotlight and elevate others as much as possible. A good practice for leaders is to be the example. This means first modeling the behavior for your followers. Instead of saying, “Go do this or let me see that.” Leaders say, “Let me show you how or I will demonstrate for you.” A poor work ethic, sloppy performance or distracted attention will cause respect to erode from your followers. Remember names, details, families, and personal interests of those that follow you. This generates much respect. Followers expect leaders to be different than them. I personally try to remember names of people and things about people after just one meeting. I try to give my full and immediate attention when I am in a one-on-one setting. This means I must give my undivided attention to the person and then actually think about them and what we talked about. Also, I try to speak to each of my followers as much as possible making a joke, using self-deprecation or praising the work that is done. Knowing personal life details about your followers is a quick way to earn respect, loyalty and their heart.

It’s not the quantity of followers that makes you great leader, it is in the quality of the followers you have that determines the greatness of your leading. Great leaders have great followers. Every great leader is a great follower, but every great follower isn’t a great leader.

“Come follow Me“

Jesus

(Mark 1:17)

(c) 2016. Redwall Leadership Academy.

What is culture? 

Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

We can acknowledge that culture is more important than strategy. Instead of spending more investment on strategy, spend more time on building culture. Culture is centered around one thing and one thing alone: people.

But, that still doesn’t explain what culture is…

Simply stated, it’s really hard to define. I have found many definitions that are scholarly and verbose that try to include every static idea in a very fluid and subjective word. Culture can mean different things to different people at different times, but most all readily agree it exists and it is a key component in the success or failure of any organization. 

Culture is the collective shared ideas about life that shape and affect behavior.

Culture really is a climate that directs conduct. So if you want to change the conduct then you have to change the culture. But, if it is so hard to define, then certainly it is hard to explain and express. Culture is not based on a feeling, an event or a position. All of those elements may play a key role or become a critical by-product of culture, but culture will always be created, kept and recreated by people. Culture is all about people: what they believe, how they communicate, and how they conduct themselves. 

Culture is composed of three major, but simple elements: values, symbols, behaviors.

#1 – Values: What you believe speaks the loudest about who you are.

Every organization needs to identify who they are by identifying what is most important to those who are leading the organization. If the leaders do not identify the core values, then someone else in the organization will. If the leaders don’t believe in what they are proclaiming, then no one else will either. Core values must be believable both to the leaders that preach them and the followers that hear them. Core values must be accepted by all of those in the organization or dysfunction will surely follow.

What is so evident is that when a organization does not clearly define “who they are” the organization develops multiple personality disorder. Competing identities will always weaken or destroy any organization.

Values state to everyone in the organization “this is who we are.” And when a member of the organization knows who they are, they also know who they are not. Core Values need to be simple, identifiable and believable.

Most importantly, your values are your convictions. Convictions give consistency to your identity. Many organizations have failed, because they compromised on convictions. Compromising leads to catastrophe. Better to be consistent over a long period of time with short growth, than inconsistent over a short period of time with explosive growth. Consistency produces clarity and sustainability. Many organizations change their core values when they move from private to public, causing a loss of identity.

If you want a stronger culture, clearly identify and articulate your core values.  

#2- Symbols: How you communicate is essential to how you will be perceived and received.

Organizational communication is an element that many organizations overlook or minimize the necessity of the role. Symbols are the formation of the language, brands, logos, and stories that an organization passes throughout its framework. Symbols are powerful. Without them, our thoughts would not become words, our plans would not become realities and our dreams would not be possible.

Symbols in an organization communicate simply and powerfully messages. One often overlooked symbol is the story or narrative. The story is an anecdote that serves to carry culture across generations and emphasize a point. Some of the best teachers in the world are the best storytellers. A great story causes the listener to identify and learn through the telling of the story. Stories are one of the most effective ways to pass ideas of importance to new members and new generations of the organizations. All members of the organization should be able to tell key stories or anecdotes about the organization that reinforce the values of the organization.

If you want a stronger culture, become a better story-teller. 

#3- Behaviors: What you do is the result of what you believe and how effective your communication is.

What you do is important. Why you do it is more important. You can have the best training system in the world, but if there is not a culture that honors and emphasizes training, then the behavior is not reinforced and culture is lost.

If you want to instill a culture of service, then the leaders of the organization must not only talk about serving, but they must also demonstrate that they also serve. If you want a culture of generosity, then the leaders must model generosity. Modeling is one of the most effective behaviors that communicates and reinforces culture. It is not enough just to identify and tell someone what they must do, they also must see it being done. Too many organizations still practice, “Do what I say, not what I do.” Everything rises and falls on leadership. Leaders must be the supreme examples in the organizations, if not they are creating dysfunction by their own example.

The Question

One question I often ask of those developing in the organization is simply this: “Who are you modeling yourself after?” This is an eye-opener for sure. Sometimes, they don’t even know what this means. Sometimes, they are modeling themselves after the wrong people. There should be a healthy lineage of behavior modeling in the organization. I say healthy, because this exists in any organization. If you have a dishonest leader, then trust me the subordinates to that leader are being taught to be dishonest because of the modeling principle that comes through the concept of behavior.

If you want a stronger culture, then focus on practicing behaviors that reinforce your core values. 

People are the key to each of these three culture components. People have values. People see and communicate through symbols. People have behaviors. To create culture you have to construct a healthy lining that begins with your beliefs (values) and extends in how you communicate and the expected conduct that will follow. Without convictions your culture will only be consistent in its inconsistency.

Leaders must identify what they believe, preach it and practice it. If not they have deceived themselves and someone else is creating a culture that is leading the organization.

“Be doers of the word and not hearers only”

James 1:22

Leadership seems to be lost these days. What should we be looking for in our leaders? 

There is not much debate around leadership anymore. The fact is widely acknowledged that leadership is at an all-time low, despite having more written about it in the past 30 years than all the millennia of human history combined.  If there was a hall of fame for worst leaders, then we’d certainly have some prime candidates as we begin the 21st Century. Somewhere along the way, our leaders have lost their way. Followers stopped holding their leaders accountable and our culture is not better for it.

There are still great leaders out there, but sadly many of them are not running for public office, being promoted as generals (we do still have some great generals) or sitting in positions of national influence. If you’ve ever been led by a great leader, then you know that everything rises and falls on leadership.

6 Things that are Essential to Excellent Leaders

1- Credible & Believable. If a leader is not credible, then they are unbelievable! Literally, if you are trying to convince yourself that the leader in question is trustworthy, then that leader has already been discredited in your mind. Rhetoric is the art of popular and persuasive speech. As a discerning follower, you must get beyond a leader’s rhetoric and assess their motivation. True inspiration does not come from solely passionate and persuasive speech. True inspiration comes from your assessment of credibility of the speaker’s motivation. Credibility is always born out of substance. Beware of leaders who peddle promises without substance. Anyone call tell you what you want to hear, very few will tell you what you need to hear–it’s the credible leader that will do the latter.

The ancient Greeks called this credibility a speaker’s ethos or spirit. You must ask yourself, “Does my spirit really connect, identify or testify to their spirit?” Each person has intuition until they quit using it or allow someone to numb it. When you evaluate a leader as credible, you have judged them believable.

If people don’t believe you, then ultimately they won’t follow you. So, either you have to bribe them, brainwash them or bash them to get them to follow you. This is what poor leaders do. Great leaders steer far away from this pattern of behavior. Poor leaders are always fearful of losing control, so they go to great lengths to protect their ability to control their followers. Great leaders are believed and beloved by their followers and they are willingly followed.

2- Track Record of Being Right and Getting it Right. There are no perfect leaders presently inhabiting the earth. There are good & effective leaders and there are poor & ineffective leaders. The question is not if they make mistakes, but rather, how they respond to their mistakes. I always teach that some mistakes are healthy (just not the lawsuit kind, the kind that cost a lot of money or the kind that loose your life). However, an assessment of leadership is to ask “Has this person learned from their mistakes?”

Leaders don’t always come out and say, “Yesterday I made a mistake, today I will correct it.” That would be nice, but maybe a little naive. However, does the leader at some point own up to the error and make the needed adjustments and corrections? Especially, as they progress, do they stop making that error.

3- Willing to Take a an Unpopular Position based on Convictions. Leaders with conviction have friends with convictions. You want to see the measure of a leader: look at the convictions of their friends. Convictions are deeply held beliefs that identify character and determine direction. Convictionless people are stringless balloons–they float whichever way the wind blows them.

Great leaders work hard to avoid the popularity contest. Great leaders take a position and hold it.  The effective leaders take a stand for what is right, not what is popular. Because true convictions are based on absolute, moral law, then the great leader will stand firm, despite popular opinion and pundits turning against him/her.

Convictions breed consistency. Great leaders are highly consistent people. Why? Because they are not trying to figure out what people want and then give it to them. They have a message to proclaim and allow people to see the consistency, transparency and candor that their personal convictions illicit in the life of  that leader. Many of our leaders today, not only can’t pick a position, they won’t pick a position. Moreover, because moral law has been disregarded in the court of public opinion, they take the popular position.

One of my favorite proverbs is a statement Jesus said, “Wisdom is proved right by her children.”  Every leader has a track record. Examine the track record. Wisdom and right decisions are always linked. A wise leader more often than not gets it right–whatever it is! (Just for the record Jesus never got it wrong). Always look at a leader’s “children” or what or whom they are producing. Good trees bear good fruit. Bad trees bear bad fruit or no fruit.

4- Understands and Applies Honor. Honor is a term that we rarely use anymore. We used to see our country as a place worthy of honor. We have holidays to honor those who have sacrificed and shed blood. Honor is a good thing. To honor someone or something is to esteem that thing above others. Historically, our nation has honored the brave, the selfless and those that have paid the highest sacrifice.

Leaders that understand honor, have the habit of giving it and showering it on those around them. Poor leaders, selfish leaders gravitate towards honoring themselves. These are self-centered, ego-driven leaders who are more about manipulating those that follow them and rewarding those who ensure their continued power. This is because they don’t like to share honor. Watch who leaders place around them “on stage.” Do they place self-less people or self-centered people? Do they put forth honorable people or dishonorable people?

Early Christians were commanded by the Apostle Paul to “outdo one another is showing honor” (Romans 12:10). To show honor demonstrates a reverence, a respect and a sacredness that is rapidly departing from our nation and our culture. Without honor a nation, a people will decay. Dishonor decays a nation. Demanded honor breeds tyranny.

5- True to their Word. Leaders who can’t keep their word, really can’t be trusted. Truth is not expedient for a leader. Truth is a non-negotiable for a leader. Sadly, our culture not only allows dishonest leaders, but whole-heartedly embraces them.

My father taught me to keep my word, despite what it cost me. Many games or fun things I missed because I had a prior commitment. Followers need to demand that leaders commit. A committed leader is a leader that is dedicated to the cause, the organization and the mission. A person’s word used to be their bond. A bond is a seal and a restriction. This bond of trust seals in the mission and restricts the distraction.  A leader that keeps his/her word is a leader that is demonstrating that they are both responsible and can be trusted. A leader that can’t keep their word is demonstrating that are irresponsible, looking for convenience and untrustworthy.

Trust is glue. Glue is what bonds things together. Trust is the bond that unites leaders and followers together.

“Work Hard. Do your best. Keep your word. Never get too big for your britches. Trust in God. Have no fear; and Never forget a friend.”

~Harry S. Truman

Leaders who get “too big for their britches” are arrogant leaders. Arrogance is blindness. Blindness leads people into ditches, snares and pits. Humility keeps a leader in the right-fitting pair britches. Humility makes a good mirror. Pride is a foggy mirror.

6- Trusts in God. There is no greater thing a leader can do than to put his/her trust in the Almighty Creator. When a leader recognizes that they too are under the authority of God, then a level and measure of humility enter in to that leader’s life that will affect their entire organization and sphere of influence. Leaders that recognize that God is supreme and has given man absolute, moral law truly begin to understand justice, judgment and mercy. Our nation’s greatest leaders were unashamed to evoke God’s blessing and publicly express their belief in God and the Bible.

“If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.”

~Ronald Reagan 

We, as followers, must throw off the shackles of ignorance and passivity and demand that our leaders act like leaders instead of tyrants. Leaders who have credibility, who get their decisions right, have deep-seated convictions, act honorably, keep their word and trust God. We, as followers, must look beyond the popularity contest and the posturing contest to discern what is truly motivating and guiding that leader. Leadership doesn’t have to die with an election. If everything rises and falls on leadership, then let us ask God to raise up leaders who will raise the nation, the culture, the community and the home back up.

“Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.”

– Dwight D. Eisenhower

“When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world…”

~Carol Dweck

Imagine a world where everything was as smooth as glass, everything was in its place and in order, where everything and everyone worked exactly as it should and to top it off–you sat on the throne. You were simultaneously in control and, yet, didn’t need to be in control because everything was perfect: perfect in placement, perfect in position and perfect in recognition.

Reality check: That world doesn’t exist in this world. Let’s stop pretending we are thinking in the right world/the right mindset and get real with where our minds (the collection of our thoughts, desires and attitudes) really are.

“…be renewed in the spirit of your minds…” Ephesians 4:23

The spirit of your mind is the soul or seat of your mind. It’s what guides your decision-making and your responses. It’s your mindset that helps you progress or hinders you in regress.

What is a mindset?

Think about this for a minute. It’s a word that actually means a lot that we throw around frequently to describe how we are thinking or feeling about something. But, is that really a good understanding of a mindset…does that really describe what a mindset is and what it does?

If your mindset is your world, then the question is “Do you need a new world?“

Consider this: a stale mindset is a dull & boring world, but a passionate mindset is a new & exciting world. If you want to change your ability to influence your environment and get new results, then most often you need a new mindset. Your old mindset has decayed and it is okay to let it pass away. Put it in the grave and bring forth a new mindset. Mindsets only have the life you allow them to have. Your mindset is your responsibility. Your mindset is not the responsibility of your spouse, your employer, your organization, your digital media stream or your community. Your mindset is your responsibility.

#1 – How you think determines how you act

The sum of your thoughts and attitudes equals your mindset. If you are filled with negative, critical or bored thoughts, then your attitude will reflect that and so to will your mindset. People have gotten very good at pretending. Pretending they are happy when they are miserable. Pretending everything is fine when it’s really falling apart. Pretending something bad is good. Pretending things that matter don’t. They fake it, not until they make it, but until they make it out of the environment they have been faking it in. We are bombarded with more information than ever before. This means an unprotected mindset is a leads to an unprotected life. If you want to act differently, then you must learn to think differently. This is critical to the establishment of a new mindset.

#2 – The Right Mindset is Inspirational, the Wrong Mindset is Aspirational

When you have the right mindset, the mindset that grips you and grabs you and inspires you. Inspiration breathes new life into you, your relationship, your team and or your organization. When you have new life, new air, then you are able to move. Move means “into action.” When you have the right mindset, this is a mindset that engages you, grips you and ultimately moves you to action. Inspiration is the catalyst of progress. Something that is aspirational is something that is out of reach. When you have an aspirational mindset you have a wish or a desire-filled mindset.  When you have the wrong mindset, you aspire towards something, but never actually move towards it. Or you take one step, it gets hard, so you quit. Inspired people don’t quit.

Aspiring people look towards the mountaintop and dream of standing on it, but never begin to climb the mountain. Inspired people don’t quit until they reach their goal. 

#3 – To Change You Must Embrace Your Challenge

Challenges are what form and shape your mindset. A challenge is an objection to your direction. Sometimes these are speed bumps. Other times these are stop signs. Even other times they are road-closed signs! You must learn to stop treating every speed bump in your life, situation or circumstance like a dead end.  A hurdle is an obstacle/challenge that you can cross if you are prepared. A lack of preparation often leads to paralysis.

 If you want to transform your mindset, because it is transformation that is truly needed, then you must learn to see adversity not as a shoal to wreck upon, but rather a tool that shapes you. Transformation, literally, means a dramatic or severe change. Growth often doesn’t happen because your mindset is in neutral.  Mindsets get stale, stagnant and stuck. Often, the only way you will change or transform is through adversity, trial or challenge. If your mindset is stuck, then most likely you have become casual and comfortable or even careless.

#4 – Break Your Bottlenecks.  A bottleneck is “a place or stage in a process at which progress is impeded.” In renewing your mindset, you’ve got to be able to identify where your hold up is and why you are being held up. Sometimes, this is because you are not going in the right direction. Sometimes, this is because your motivation is wrong. When your motivation is wrong, you often get your expectations wrong. Wrong expectations always yield unsatisfactory results and frustration.

A new mindset is a new world. What world are you living in?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” 

-Thomas Jefferson

*Leaders have followers. 

You are not a leader unless you have followers. You are not an effective leader unless you have influence.

*Leaders will be judged by their effectiveness. 

To be effective means you have positive impact.

*Effective leaders are not passive. 

Passivity will kill your organization and your leadership effectiveness.