A Short Leadership Lesson

As a youngster I loved sports and playing outdoors.  Baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey, skateboarding, and any other game we could drum up in the neighborhood.  Most of the time, only the veil of darkness and the ring of the dinner bell got us in from the streets.  It was during this time that BMX racing and riding grabbed my attention.  In a big way.

A group of us kids started congregating in a vacant field next to the local 7-11 to ride.  It became a daily ritual.  And each day the number of riders grew.  As our group of riders grew and changed, so did that vacant field.  We transformed that vacant field into our very own BMX wonderland.  We created a track.  We built jumps.  And we practiced.  And practiced.  And practiced.  We were focused.  Constantly pushing each other to outdo what the last person just pulled off.  It was great.  Incredible.  What was once a group of ten, now was pushing thirty to fifty riders each day.

It kept us out of trouble.  Just a bunch of kids doing it themselves and having a great time.

And as the group of riders grew, so did the amount of parents coming to “watch” and “observe” what we had created in that little vacant field.

Which was where it all started and eventually ended.  It began with a one dad.  One who started coming out to the field to add uniformity to our races.  He brought a stop watch.  He set up groups.  He told us when to race.  He told us how to race.

What was one dad, became two, then three, then five, and so on.  Pretty soon we were having schedules provided to us on which days we would be racing and who would race against who.  We were put into age brackets.  Ability brackets.  We were even informed that rules were being initiated on how and when you could ride on the track.

Before we could even wrap our heads around the rules and regulations that those “observing” parents had initiated – the city had stepped in to provide control and oversight to the proceedings.  It was their responsibility to ensure that everyone was safe.  And the more the “observing” parents and the city stepped in – the more rules and regulations that were implemented.  The more rules and regulations that were implemented, the more our original group of riders began to drop off and disappear.  Daily.  Day after day.  Until, finally no one came around to that vacant lot next to the 7-11 to ride anymore.  And the vacant lot, once transformed, went back to being that vacant lot.

Which, looking back, provides great lessons for leaders and leadership…

As leaders, we often want to step in on something when it starts going good.  We want to provide oversight and take control of the situation.  And in doing so, we can sometimes crush the spirit and enthusiasm for the work.  For example, we talk about the importance of collaboration and teamwork in 21st century organizations.  Yet, we often put so many parameters around and incorporate such heavy handed requirements that people avoid the collaborative process.  Parameters and requirements that squeeze the most important part of the process right out of the process.  Killing enthusiasm.  Killing the work.  Making people tired.  Pushing people right back to status quo.

The leadership lesson to take from this is that we sometimes have to step back.  We sometimes have to remove ourselves from the process.  Understanding that our zeal to be involved can often be the undoing of the process.  Of the work.  As leaders, we have to understand where our efforts are needed, required, and to what level. Which is why leadership is as much an art as it is a science.

A Shifting Paradigm And The Real Value-Added

“Most of us are ready to give it our all when we start a job.  We are usually full of ideas for ways to do things better.  We eagerly offer our whole intellectual capacity only to be told that it’s not our job, that it’s been tried before, or that we shouldn’t rock the boat. 

Initiative is viewed with skepticism.  Our suggestions are ignored.  We are told to follow instructions.  Our work is reduced to following a set of prescriptions.  Our creativity and innovations go unappreciated. 

Eventually, we stop trying and just tow the line.  With resignation, we get by.  Too often that’s where the story of our work life ends.” 

-David Marquet Turn The Ship Around

Leadership matters.  It matters greatly.  How we lead matters even more.  Daily decisions have long and short-term effects on the people and organizations we lead.  Decisions that cascade down upon the organization in two ways; as a shower to renew and energize the spirit of those within, or to rain down in a torrent, endlessly pounding out the voice, enthusiasm, and engagement of those in the organization.

Engage or disengage?  Raise up or push down?  Empower or disempower?  Issues that reside in the hands of leadership.  For one way or the other.  For better or worse.  A story that has been told over and over throughout time.

A story that we hear even today…

We don’t have to listen very closely to hear the clamoring voices of those crying out for leadership – in government, business, education – as we watch the endless parade of self-serving agendas that tear apart and bring down our organizations and institutions in every arena of our society.

People are frustrated.  Disengaged.  Disillusioned.  Searching.

The movement from job to job and organization to organization is at an all time high.  And not because people are looking for change or a new profession.  This is not a factor of boredom.  Not a mid-life crisis type of thing.  It is a leadership thing.

People are desperately searching for leaders that they can stand behind – stand with.  People are crying out for – Authenticity.  Purpose.  Transparency.  A foundation for which to settle.  A foundation built upon intrinsic motivators.  The kind of motivation that creates engagement and momentum across the organization, for the long-term.

Otherwise, it is difficult to care deeply and engage selflessly in an organization that doesn’t seem to reciprocate.

Even harder to be “all in” with a leader that is “all me”.

Contrary to current opinion, people are not adverse to strong leadership.  They actually crave it.  Our society is crying out for strong, selfless leaders.  Authentic. Transparent.  Dedicated to the organization and those within it.  People are searching for those leaders.  Which is apparent in our current concerns over the throngs of the disengaged.  The multitudes engaged in professional migrations.

They are searching for that kind of leader.  That type of organization.  And they are struggling to find them.

Yet, when they do, they want to be there.  They want to be involved.  To be a part of it.  They want the opportunity to throw all of their chips on the table.  To be part of something that they can value – and it values them back.

It is there, at that level, that engagement is activated.  The real value-added shift that creates engagement.  Value me, value you.  A give and take.  Back and forth.

In our schools.  In our workplaces.  In our society.  Engagement has become the real wildcard of success.  A real brick wall obstacle that is affecting far too many organizations and institutions.

Our world is changing rapidly.  For some, much more rapidly than they would like.  Our society is much more mobile and agile than any other time in history.  Rapid changes are pushing hard on our organizations and institutions.  Knocking on the door.  Urging us to come out and play.

But not waiting around before moving on.  Almost as if they know that many of our structures stand as pillars and walls – immovable obstacles that will take us a long time to overcome before we can answer that door.  Before we can entertain the prospect of being able to come out and play.

In every arena, leadership faces these questions.  These structural obstacles.  Can we change?  Can we “Turn the Ship” before it is too late?

Can leaders overcome the ingrained, of our 19th and 20th century mindsets?  Outdated models and strategies that serve as immovable anchors within our organizations.

That of, command and control.  I lead, you follow.  Leadership of the disengaged.

Our world has changed and the present and the future is going to require a different kind of leadership.  For those that choose to anchor themselves in past practices, in command and control, be very aware that the rug is being pulled out from under you.

We have entered the cognitive – the age of the knowledge worker (Covey).  A time of resurgence in creativity and innovation.  A shift that is well underfoot.

And for those reasons – leadership must remain agile.  Grounded in true north principles, yet, agile enough to apply those principles in an ever changing and evolving world.

We are shedding the old.  Casting off the past paradigms.  The one of the “leader-follower”.  A new age.  A new time.  Or, that which David Marquet refers to as – “leader-leader”.

Where engagement occurs.  Where people, their ideas, and their contributions are valued, considered, and supported.  It is the lifting of the lid.

Allowing creativity and innovation to coalesce across the organization.  No longer, “I lead and you follow” – when so much more can be accomplished when we determine to “lead together”.

As Marquet shares in Turn The Ship Around –

“Leadership is not some mystical quality that some posses and others do not.  As humans, we all have what it takes, and we all need to use our leadership abilities in every aspect of our work life.”

To accomplish this requires a certain level of leadership – one that incorporates humility and confidence.  And for those willing to forge forward, it has its rewards.

For as Marquet shares –

“The leader-leader model not only achieves great improvements in effectiveness and morale but also makes the organization stronger.  Most critically, these improvements are enduring, decoupled from the leader’s personality and presence.  

Leader-leader structures are significantly more resilient, and they do not rely on the designated leader always being right.  

Further, leader-leader structures spawn additional leaders throughout the organization naturally.  It can’t be stopped.”

This is true value-added.  This is authentic leadership and the art of lifting, or what John Maxwell refers to, as the “Law of the Lid”.  It is the cornerstone of where engagement occurs, grows, and expands.  Rooted in relationship.  Adding value to the relationships and the people we lead and serve.

We live in an interesting time, one in which we are on the cusp of great changes – and yet, many still cling fervently to the past.  

Change is difficult.  Change is hard.  Painful.  Even when we know change is in our best interest, we have a tendency to hang on to the known, cling to status quo.  However, it is here that opportunity exists.

An opportunity for a new way of doing.  A new way of leading.  A new way of being.  An opportunity to create a new story...

Reference and resources:

Marquet, David (2012). Turn The Ship Around!: How To Create Leadership At Every Level. Greenleaf Book Group Press. Kindle Edition.

Where Is Your Leadership Laboratory?

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.  The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”  -Thomas A. Edison

When you hear scientist, what image instantly pops into your mind?  Is it the mad scientist in the long white lab coat with the wild eyed look and the tousled hair?  Or the secret laboratory cluttered with strange experiments and bubbling test tubes filled with strange and brightly colored substances?  From real to folklore, from Thomas Edison to Dr. Frankenstein, when we hear scientist our mind conjures up an array of images and caricatures.  Much of which is the influence of movies and television…

Most of us have a mental image of a scientist, huddled away in a laboratory, working away feverishly at some grand experiment to solve one of life’s riddles that has plagued us for centuries…or plugging away on a new discovery that will serve for the betterment of mankind and the world for centuries to come.

For us, scientist and laboratory are inextricably linked.  It is where they go to create, to innovate, to discover, to give life to their ideas and dreams.

And when we consider these examples…there is not such a big divide between the work of a scientist and the work of a leader.  Much like scientists, leaders are responsible for leading the way into the future.  Experimenting.  Discovering.  Innovating.  Creating.  Conceiving a better way forward.

However, unlike a scientist, where do leaders go to innovate?  To generate ideas?  To tinker, tweak, and try things out?  A place where experimentation and discovery can happen.

Where is our leadership laboratory?

As we move forward into the coming year we need to think about creating our very own leadership laboratory.  A place to tinker…a place to learn.  Experiment.  Dream.  A place where failure leads to discovery…accompanied with new lessons and new learning.

We need to allow ourselves a place to be scientists…scientists of leadership.