Leadership Archives - Mel Brown & Associates

Your Team Is Facing a Challenge: Do You Step Back or Step Up?

Being a part of the John Maxwell Team as a JMT certified independent coach, teacher and trainer, I have the opportunity to participate and interact with John a few times every month through his podcasts, webinars and blogs.

In one of those recent interactions, he asked the question that is the title of this month’s Contemplation Corner – “your team is facing a challenge: do you step back or step up?”

Before you read any farther, take the time to ask and answer that question for yourself. As a leader, which do you do?

Now that you have asked and answered that question for yourself, let me ask you another question. “Did you do as I did? Did you think, ‘Of course, I step up to the challenge?’”

As John pointed out to us, “We’ve all been there. There’s an obstacle at work and you think to yourself: ‘I really need to step up and perform.’ And while that attitude may have served you well as a member of a team, when you become a leader, that same attitude can become a defeating prospect. As a leader, sometimes it’s more important to step back than step up.”

With that statement, he now had my rapt attention! I was thinking “Step back? There is a challenge to be faced, a problem to be solved. What do you mean step back?”

He then pointed out, “While this may seem like a paradigm shifting without a clutch, it actually makes perfect sense when you examine it further.”

If you are familiar with The John Maxwell Company’s Five Levels of Leadership, you will recall that when people become “Level 3” leaders, they drive productivity, but they don’t accomplish this simply through their own productivity.

As John pointed out to us, “It’s critical that a team’s productivity goes up as a result of the team’s efforts, not because their leader is simply working harder. And this only happens if a leader is willing to step back and focus on their leadership skills, instead of trying to do everything on their own. If a leader ‘steps up,’ it can mean that the team is unable to step up on their own and grow. Without the ability to produce on their own, the team can lose momentum, stagnate and underperform.”

That raises the question “How does a leader step back to let the team step up?”

John says, “To be an effective leader, you must take all the productivity skills you have worked so hard to build up to that point and work to imprint those skills on your team. By stepping back and focusing on the productivity of others, you will help them to thrive on their own. That’s being a true leader.”

“To make a real difference, this effort must be intentional. You should track progress to see if there’s real improvement due to your leadership efforts. Ask yourself: Is the team relying on you or are they working to solve their own challenges? And don’t be afraid to let your team fail. Learning from failure is how you can create the right environment for their ultimate victories. Almost every great success comes on the other side of a roadblock that needed to be overcome.”

There is an old axiom that says “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” The same is true of leadership. We may create positive results through our own efforts, but if we develop the leaders around us, those results can be multiplied exponentially.

Our most important job is the development of others; then step back and let them do what we have equipped them to do.

Are you willing to step back in order to move ahead?

Building or Reshaping Organizational Culture Part 5

So far in this series, we have explored the importance of creating a mission statement (which provides the organization with a clear meaning and purpose), developing a vision statement (which provides personnel direction in the form of a mental picture of what the organization wants to achieve at some point in the future) and identifying the organizations’ core values (the principles, beliefs and philosophy by which the organization will operate).

We also pointed out that the vision, mission and core value statements need to be more than something just hanging on the walls of the office, printed in the organization’s literature, and talked about in new employee orientation. All three must be implanted in the hearts of the organization’s employees and the decisions being made must be made on the basis of whether the decision is consistent with the organization’s values, will help the organization accomplish its mission and enable it to achieve its vision.

With the vision, mission and core values as the foundation upon which the new culture will be built, the administrator needs to understand that changing an organization’s culture occurs in three ways:Hiring and keeping team members who buy-in to the organization’s mission and vision and share the organization’s core values. In selecting employees, administrators must focus on doing more than screening for skills, knowledge and abilities required to do the job. They must also screen for organizational fit. Employees who share the same values, and buy-in to the organization’s vision and mission and who feel valued as employees will help shape the organization’s culture by serving as examples to other employees.

Building or Reshaping Organizational Culture Part 4

In the first two parts of this series of articles we explored the importance of having a mission statement (which provides the organization with a clear meaning and purpose), a vision statement (which provides personnel direction in the form of a mental picture of what the organization wants to achieve at some point in the future) and pointed out that the vision and mission statements need to be more than something just hanging on the walls of the office, printed in the organization’s literature, and talked about in new employee orientation.

For a mission statement to become a mission and for a vision statement to become a vision, it has to be implanted in the hearts of the organization’s employees and decisions must be made on the basis of whether the decision is consistent with the mission and will help the organization achieve its vision.

Since a vision statement is not a vision until there is buy-in from the organization’s employees, we also provided some methods of gaining buy-in from employees.

In part 3, we focused on another essential ingredient in the process of building or reshaping organizational culture – core values. Core values are the principles, beliefs and philosophy by which the organization operates. In that column, we also provided a process for identifying and/or creating organizational values.

This month we will wrap up our discussion on values by focusing on instilling them in the organization.

Building or Reshaping Organizational Culture Part 3

As noted in the title above this is the third part of a series of articles on building or reshaping organizational culture. In the first two parts, we discussed the importance of having a mission statement – which provides the organization with a clear meaning and purpose – and a vision statement – which provides

In the first two parts, we discussed the importance of having a mission statement – which provides the organization with a clear meaning and purpose – and a vision statement – which provides personnel direction in the form of a mental picture of what the organization wants to achieve at some point in the future.

We also pointed out that it is important that the vision statement must be more than just something that is on the walls of the office, in their organizational literature, and what they talk about in new employee orientation. For a vision statement to become a vision it has to be planted in the hearts of employees and decisions are made on the basis of whether what is decided will help the organization accomplish its vision. Since a vision statement is not a vision until there is buy-in from the organization’s employees, we also provided some methods of gaining buy-in from employees.

Since a vision statement is not a vision until there is buy-in from the organization’s employees, we also provided some methods of gaining buy-in from employees.
This month we want to focus on another essential ingredient in the process of building or reshaping organizational culture – core values. The mission and vision will take you nowhere if they are not connected to the actual values of your organization. When the vision and mission connect with the core values, they can provide guidelines for the winning behaviors and mindsets necessary to achieve the goals. Core values are what support the vision, shape the culture and reflect what an organization values. They are the essence of the organization’s identity – the principles, beliefs or philosophy of values. Many executives make the mistake of only focusing on the technical competencies of employees and often fail to focus on the underlying competencies that make their organization perform well – core values.

Building or Reshaping Organizational Culture Part 2

In last month’s article we defined the term “organizational culture” and introduced the first step in building or reshaping organizational culture which was to establish a mission which defines the organization’s purpose and provides meaning to the work employees do.

A reader of last month’s column suggested that it would be helpful to see some examples of good mission statements. As you read the mission statements below ask yourself does the statement tell what the organization does, for whom it does it and what the impact of doing it is? Is it written succinctly so that any employee could recite it upon request?

Google: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”

Amazon: “to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online”

At first glance, “to find” and “discover” might seem redundant. However, the language is purposeful because Amazon is hoping people might discover something that they were not looking for in the first place, but catches their interest while browsing.

Mel Brown and Associates: “to equip individuals and organizations to accomplish their visions, missions, and goals”

Every service Mel Brown and Associates provides (leadership development coaching, mentoring, training, organizational assessments, program evaluations, staff development, conducting management studies, contract monitoring, facilitation of processes for vision and mission development, policy and procedure development, and executive searches, strategic planning, etc.) is to equip our clients to accomplish their visions, missions and goals.

Building or Reshaping Organizational Culture Part 1

Within the last few months I have had a number of discussions with organizational executives in which the executive raised a question regarding vision and/or mission development, establishing core values, changing or creating an organizational culture, developing an effective employee performance appraisal system, enhancing employee accountability, or improving employee retention.

While the executives in each of these discussions was starting at a different focal point, in each conversation the executive’s overall focus was on how to improve the organizational environment to one in which employees were productively engaged in accomplishing the goals of the organization.

As a result of those discussions along with my observations during three recent projects in which we facilitated a vision and mission development process, conducted an organizational needs assessment and provided training on implementing an effective performance appraisal system, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to the readers of “Contemplation Corner” if I did a series of articles dealing with building or reshaping an organization’s culture.

Productive People

Have you ever noticed that some the “busiest” people you know are often the least successful? Did you ever wonder why?
In my work as a leadership and organizational consultant, I interact with dozens of organizational executives each month. Some consistently set and achieve their goals while others seem to be in a constant state of struggle to get anything accomplished.
What I find interesting is that the executives who struggle the most seem to be the ones who are constantly talking about how “busy” they are. When I ask them what they are busy doing, their responses usually relate to dealing with urgent, unplanned situations, reacting to situations that are outside their control, or completing tasks that could be easily delegated to someone else in the organization. Yet, when they discuss the things they “have to do,” they sincerely believe that they “just can’t find the time” to work on the things they had planned to do or would like to do.

A Discussion Regarding Leadership

In discussions regarding leadership, the question is frequently asked, “Are leaders made or born?” When asked this question, I often quip, “Both. I have never met a leader who wasn’t born.” However, the truth of the matter is that I do not believe anyone is a “born leader.” I am a firm believer that leadership is not something innate, but learned.

Some people learn leadership at an early age because they were raised in a family that modeled good leadership. Other leaders were less fortunate and had to learn their leadership skills by other methods.

The obvious question then is “how does one learn to be a leader?” The answer is “the same way any other behavior is learned.” That being the case, let’s explore how leadership is actually learned.

Through Personal Experience

You can learn through trial and error. Former major league pitcher Vernon Law suggested “Experience is the best teacher because she gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.” Every leader learns through experience. Leadership is often going where no one has gone before and blazing the trail. That is part of what makes a leader a leader. In fact, one thing that makes a great leader is the ability to learn from one’s mistakes.

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The Key to the What, How and Who of Leadership

The Key to the What, How and Who of Leadership
“What makes a leader?” What is leadership?’ Those are questions that have been the subjects of numerous books, articles and workshops for the past few decades. For an organization to function effectively it must have effective leadership, so what constitutes effective leadership?

The What
With all the research on leadership that has occurred during the past few decades, it has become abundantly clear that the “what” of leadership is “a vision.”

Leadership guru Jack Welch has repeatedly stated in his writings that a leader is someone with vision and the ability to articulate that vision to the team so vividly and powerfully that it becomes their vision.

A definition of leadership that I like, but have seen stated by so many people that I am unclear as to whom I should give credit for using, is “a clear and compelling sense of the future as well as an understanding of the actions it takes to get there.”

In his article, “Role of an Organizational Leader,” Ashim Gupta states, “The most fundamental role of a leader is to define the organizational goal, formulate plans and organize people to achieve the goals through the execution of plans.”

With that said, if the “what” of the role of a leader is “vision,” what are the “how” and the “who”?

The How
The vision determines the direction of the organization, but without strategy, the organization goes nowhere. Strategy articulates the plans or describes “how to achieve the
vision.”

Plans or strategies demonstrate the job knowledge or the skills if a leader which includes organizational restructuring (if needed), service or product delivery and management, and strategic management.

The Who
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