Category: Leadership

Believing in people is critical to a leader’s level of influence. Believing in people is also key to the success of both the leader and their team reaching their true potential.  However, a leader cannot have influence without believing in their people. Belief cannot exist without trust.  And while trust needs to be a 360 degree commitment between a leader and their team, it starts with the leader. John Maxwell says, “Here’s the bottom line; people will more likely follow and be loyal to leaders who can correctly demonstrate the answer to these 3 questions. Do you care about me? Can you help me? Can I trust you?” So how should a leader go about answering these three pivotal questions? 

The first quesThe first questions is “do you care about me?” This is a very important question for any leader who wishes to be successful.  A leader’s success comes from the people they lead. The leader needs to become aware of who their people are and their unique giftings.  Leaders need to care enough to understand how well and how efficient their people do their jobs.  These are basic tenants of leadership. So, why is it so hard for some leaders to understand that if people don’t think their leader cares about them or understands them; they don’t give their best effort. Why? It is because there is nothing to motivate the team to put forth their best work other than their own work ethic or fear.  And understand,  people can become so worn down in a negative environment their work ethic will erode over time. As for fear, it is a toxin which fuels motivation only for a moment in time, only to destroy it in the end. 

So what does caring look like? It starts with becoming aware as a leader. Becoming aware of who your people are is the first step towards positively influencing them. In  Maxwell’s book, “A Leader’s Greatest Return, he quotes David Augsburger, noted author. Augsburger says, “ Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person that they are almost indistinguishable.  Listening draws people to you, which works better than trying to push your leadership upon them. Empathy builds trust.” Leaders need to understand who their people are.  This is accomplished by listening to them.  And this does not mean focusing on how one is going to respond to what is being said. It means listening while trying to put oneself in the speaker’s shoes.  It means trying to see things from the vantage point of those you lead. Listening opens the way to understanding.  Understanding leads to connecting and connecting forges trust.

The second question is “Can you help me?” This question points to one of the foundations of servant leadership.  Helping people requires serving them. Robert Greenleaf, father of modern servant leadership, encourages leaders to ask themselves the following questions: “Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? A quality leader needs to ask their people how can they help them grow? What do they feel they need for personal growth and professional development. Leaders should seek out  the little things which makes their people feel appreciated and accepted in the workplace.  But it does not stop there because servant leadership is a 360 degree effort. In his book, Infinity Game, Simon Sinek ask us to “think of an organization as a plant.  No matter how strong it is, no matter how tall it grows, if it cannot make new seeds, if it is unable to produce new leaders, then its ability to hire for generations is nil.” In short Greenleaf and Sinek are saying competent leaders will encourage their people serve others in the work place. This is yet another way a leader’s level of influence is enhanced. When exerting influence in this manner, the leader is reproducing themselves. They are creating leadership seeds as their people serve others in a 360 degree fashion including: subordinates, fellow peers and even their leaders.

The last question is “Can I trust you?  Will you as the leader be there for me?  John Maxwell points out that, “Without trust, influence is nothing more than coercion and manipulation.  Integrity cannot be purchased on a whim; rather, it’s shaped by each ethical decision you make. Your integrity is your responsibility. It’s an inside job, the cumulative effect of your choices in life. Integrity matters, because it’s the gateway to trust, and only by establishing trust can you gain the right to influence others.” Too often, managers and supervisors default to using coercion and manipulation, as well as fear, to motivate performance in the work place. Coercion and manipulation erodes a leader’s level of influence. While there may be some temporary success, in the beginning, it is short lived. People working under the yoke of coercion, manipulation and fear simply have no incentive to do more than the minimum to get a task or project done. “When leaders are willing to prioritize trust over performance, performance will follow.” (Simon Sinek). With this in mind, leaders should endeavor to make trust, in the work place, a leadership priority.

When a leader successfully answers the questions: Do you care about me and can you help me they open the doors which lead towards answering the last question; can I trust you?  Remember listening draws those you lead towards you as a leader. Listening gives way to understanding. Understanding promotes connection; which gives the leader influence. Positive influence yields trust.  And trust is critical to leader and subordinates alike.  Choosing to take the time to listen, to understand, to intentionally connect, “without manipulation” are choices which determine the leaders’s integrity. And while integrity is the leader’s gateway” to gaining trust. It is also the means for a leader to maintain trust, as well. So trust and believe in your people, so you can begin to positively influence them in integrity.

There are many myths and misconceptions about how to get ahead in today’s work place.  Today, I’d like to talk to you about two of them. As well as, the not so obvious alternative to both of them.  That alternative is servant leadership. When it comes to getting ahead many people, in the work place, try to seize extreme control of any situation which may advance them or their cause. Many do this through either becoming a master at manipulation, assuming a “my way or the highway” mentality or both. Each of these paths will erode away the ethical framework of who you are.  And it silences your inner ethical voice.

The first myth I’ll discuss is the one dealing with manipulation. Now if you are talking about operating a “thing”, car, machinery, etc. by mechanical means, then manipulation is not necessarily a bad thing.  However, when one moves from manipulating an inanimate object, like machinery, to the manipulation of a person; it takes on a whole different meaning. Webster’s defines manipulation as attempting to control or play upon by artful, unfair or insidious means to one’s own advantage over another person or persons. And most people are not really enthusiastic about being artfully, unfairly or insidiously controlled by another person.

• When it comes to manipulation in the work place, the underlying motivators are a need to win by any means necessary or coveting what an another peer, up line supervisor or executive has.  I’ve no problem with competition for a position and the best person being chosen for the job.  This is the way it should be. What is of concern is the “by any means necessary” part.  This opens one to coveting what someone else has because they want or feels they deserve it more. Coveting is a desire which exceeds all morality and ethical decency.  It’s a way of thinking which, after time, builds sound proof walls around your internal ethical voice.   And after time, that voice is silenced and we find ourselves taking unsavory and, at times, illegal acts to obtain our desire. Doing so, simply to advance ones self at the expense of another. Manipulation will put you on a path of losing who you are and what you could be. Instead you spiral downward, becoming what you were never meant to be. 

• But what is the alternative? How about servant leadership?  I remembering taking on a new job which included taking on certain cases from other investigators.  At the beginning, many investigators were skeptical of me and my new position.  Some thought, I would be taking credit away from them for those cases. Understanding their concerns, I kept up with the stats of those cases. I presented a positive report on each investigator to their supervisors for their respective performance reviews.  I pointed out how I would not be successful, but for the initial work of each investigator. And any win I had was due, in part, to the initial work of the investigator.  Once this happened, investigators openly referred cases to me and I’d worked along side them to help them with their other cases. The simple servant leadership premise I worked from can be found in the writings of John C. Spears, CEO & President of Spears Center of Servant Leadership. Spears said, “That there is a deep hunger in our society for a world where people truly care for one another, where people are treated humanely and helped in their personal growth, where workers and customers are treated fairly, and where our leaders can be trusted to serve the needs of the many, rather than the few. We seek a model of leadership based upon teamwork, community, and ethical and caring behavior. Being a team player who put others first and placed emphasis on team gain rather than self gain made me a success.

The second myth has to do with the rationale of the “it’s my way or the highway” mentality. Now, there are times when a leader gives a directive which just needs to be followed, up to a point, with no questions asked.  When I was in the Navy we would conduct drills, like touch and goes on the flight deck aboard a ship.  Aviators would practice landing and taking off in their helicopters.  As flight safety officer, if they came in too low or if there was a safety issue, I would order my landing signalman enlisted to waive them off.  Basically telling the pilot they could not land. There were no arguments or counter points to be made. If you were waived off, you were waived off the landing.  However, when I speak of the “my way or the highway” mentality; I’m talking about those who feel they are right about nearly everything. They have to be in full control at all times. And they allow no dissenters what-so-ever. You either follow them or hit the road as a former employee.  There is almost no middle ground with them.

• Again, there is a servant leadership alternative. Our peers and subordinates may have ideas which may solve a present problem or prevent one in the future.  Thus saving you, the team and the company time, effort and money. Therefore, we have to periodically silence our external voice, move beyond one’s managerial title and listen to others.  James C. Hunter, author of The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership, stated, “Active listening requires a disciplined effort to silence all that internal conversation while we’re attempting to listen to another human being. It requires a sacrifice, and extension of ourselves, to block out the noise and truly enter another person’s world-even for a few minutes.” Notice Hunter says we have to make a sacrifice.  A sacrifice which includes blocking off the noise of our our voice, so we can enter into the world of others. You cannot talk and listen fully at the same time.  Listening adds value to others and gives you positive influence over them.  And as John C. Maxwell states, “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It’s about one life influencing another.”

As leaders we must rise above the myths and misconceptions about how to get ahead in today’s work place. We need to set them aside and embrace the servant leadership alternatives to them. The way to get ahead is to truly be aware of who you are.  Know your unique gifts and enhance them through personal growth and development as a servant leader. Then you will have the confidence to know you can compete with anyone at any time, any place and for any job. In doing so, you will not only maintain your ethical framework, but you prevent erecting barriers to your inner ethical voice.   The voice which is the essence, of who you truly are.

Each of us invest time in doing something.  Even if it is to do nothing but sit on a couch; you are still investing time.  And many of us receive no return of investment on the time we place towards our current activities.  So much so, we might as well be sitting on the couch.  I want to give you several reasons to invest in yourself first and foremost.  Just as you should pay yourself first, each pay day, and invest it for you future; you need to invest in you first.  And the way to pay yourself is to focus time on your action plan for personal growth today.  If you wish to lead by influence tomorrow; you need to start with today, because today matters.

When I think of growth, it reminds me of farming and the old saying, “You reap what you sow.”  John C. Maxwell says, in his book Today Matters-“We grow only when we apply what we know. Be intentional about developing and following a personal growth plan. Each day, endeavor to acquire knowledge and put it to use. No one else is tasked with making sure you grow; you are responsible for improving yourself personally and professionally.”  In short, today matters. What you plant today, in terms of your personal development will determine what you harvest tomorrow.

1. The first step in this action plan for professional growth is to cultivate the field.  Any farmer would tell you a key step towards growth is one has to prepare the field for sowing or planting seeds. And if you are going to cultivate or plow a field; you are going to have to be intentional about it.  After all no field ever plowed itself.  The field I am talking about is you.  You have to prepare yourself to receive knowledge.  So how do you prepare to cultivate your field?  Start by setting aside time.  We all have busy and hectic schedules, You have to carve out that time.  And time makes the ground very hard too plow.  But keep in mind, you are more important than your schedule. Your  schedule should be developed around you, not you around your schedule. As you invest in your personal growth today, every facet of your schedule will improve tomorrow.  Then when you participate in personal development training, read a book, listen to a recording or work with an executive coach, be present.  Meaning you need to focus on what you are doing.  You need to make the most of this time.  When I went to Gonzaga University, in pursuit of my Master’s in Organizational Leadership, I’d tuck my babies in bed and kiss my wife good night.  Then I would turn my focus on my course work.  Believe me after a long workday and family time, all I wanted to do is to kick back and relax. However; I had goals for my family and I wanted growth, so I could seize upon future opportunities to become a leader. A leader who leads by influence.  So cultivate your fields by intentionally setting aside time to develop yourself and maintain focus, so you make the best use of your time.

2. The next part of the action plan for personal growth is to invest in some good seed. You will need to water and feed the seed, as well as, keep your field weeded. Keep in mind you get what you sow or plant. If you want to grow your ability to be a great leader, then find good seed to plant so you can bring forth a good crop.  The seed can take many forms.  Perhaps there are leadership classes and workshops in your area which you can take part in. The John Maxwell Team regularly holds workshops and training on leadership.  Seeds also need to be watered and fertilized.  A great way to do this is improve the way you communicate.  Each of us communicates, but most of the time we do so without making a connection with the person or persons we are speaking too.  Becoming an effective communicator will enhance your leadership and bring forward a richer harvest.  Seeds need nutrition as well.  Weeds will fight fo steal that nutrition away from your seeds.  One of the best ways to feed and weed your field is coaching.  A coach can help you self-develop your field.  A coach can also help you self-discover the weeds in your field, so you can remove them.

3. Another important step in your action plan for personal growth is to avoid doing nothing.  If your field is not growing good seed, it is going to grow weeds.  Weeds do not need much to take root and destroy any opportunity to lead by influence.  What weed crops might pop up and over run your field: Apathy, unfulfilled dreams, discontent, frustration, and anger.  The weed of apathy seeds will blow in. And if there is no action taken; indifference takes root.  The weed of unfulfilled dreams accompanies apathy.  You’ll dream about being more and doing more, but apathy keeps your dreams in check.  A dandelion of frustration blossoms out of the unfulfilled dreams and the chaotic winds of life spreads the seeds of frustration.  Frustration gives life to anger. And anger further disengages us from being the best version of whom we can be.  Therefore doing nothing is not only detrimental to your personal growth; It robs the world of you being able to lead as you were truly meant to lead. It steals away the possibility of you positively influencing others.

I wish to encourage you to invest in yourself today, so you’ll be leading by influence tomorrow. Maxwell was very insightful when he said, “When we add value to ourselves, we add value to others.” This is so true. When you make the commitment to add value to yourself by investing in your personal growth, you in turn add value to others. So get out there and cultivate your field. Invest in some good leadership seed and don’t forget to water, feed and weed it.  And speaking of weeds, remember if you do nothing you’ll invite a crop of detrimental weeds onto your field. And make no doubt, these weeds can and will overrun you. And the world may be robbed of your leadership and the potential positive influence you could have had on others.