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Category Archive: Career Development

The 5 Levels Of Leadership

Posted by on December 18, 2013

There is no doubt that people follow their leaders for totally different reasons. In Good To Great, Jim Collins talks about Level 5 leaders who demonstrate high character and an iron will to get things done. Positional leadership is the weakest level of commitment and will never be effective. John Maxwell gives us another helpful model that can help us to be more effective:

“I came up with the idea of five distinct levels of leadership many years ago, and first described the concept in a book inDeveloping the Leader Within You. And in 2011, I devoted an entire book, The 5 Levels of Leadership, to exploring the levels – their upsides, downsides, the best behaviors for that level, the beliefs that help a leader move up to the next level, and how the level relates to the Laws of Leadership.”

Busyness

Posted by on November 1, 2010

I always receive the highest evaluation scores when I speek on the subject of how to set personal priorities for own life. The major point of my presentation is that we are all overscheduled because of the wireless connected culture we live in today and we must find a way to say no to many of the things that are robbing us of the priorities we care about the most.

I use a time matrix diagram devleoped by Stephen Covey that divides all of our daily lives into four quadrants that are based on the two variables of urgency and importance. Everything that is urgent demands some action immediately and the things that are important may not.

If something is urgent and important then it should be done. It could be a doctor’s appointment personally or a major project at work that is due this week. Hopefully for most of us at least the majority of our day should be spent in this category.

The next area is all the things that are urgent but not important. The blackberry is screaming for attention, the inbox is full and there are meetings on the schedule. The problem here is that we have assumed that because something is urgent it must be important.

Another very unproductive area includes the things that are not urgent but they are not important either. The danger here is that when we get home in the evening we want to run away and hide with hours of meaningless T.V. or surfing the net.

The single most important category is the things that are not urgent but very important. This is where family, friends, faith and all of our important relationships reside. Most of the time our family and our friends will not demand our immediate attention but if we neglect them long enough they will move into the urgent category and we will all suffer the consequences.

The only way to find time for the things that really matter is to stop doing so many of the things that really don’t.

Categories: Career Development Execution Personal Leadership Work Life Integration | Comments Off on Busyness

Weaknesses

Posted by on October 24, 2010

All of us have them but the real question from a personal and professional leadership standpoint is what should we do about them? In the old days of positional leadership everyone was encouraged to work on improvement in every area so they could be the best overall leader possible.

Of course if our weaknesses are in the character area we must do whatever it takes to eliminate the wrong attitudes and negative behavior. Beyond that spending a major amount of time trying to gain some small advantage in any area where you have no skills or passion is basically a waste of time.

Regardless of the time invested and the seminars attended if you are not creatively wired then you probably never will be. If you are not gifted at project management then just working at it harder and longer will not produce significant results.

For the maximum amount of return and to make the largest impact you must prioritize working in the areas of your strengths. This is where you are naturally strong and your passion fuels what you do every day and not your job description.

There are many different types and styles of effective leaders. What you must determine is what do I uniquely bring to the table for the leadership assignment I have been given that sets me apart for this specific role.

You may be a nine or ten in only one particular aspect of leadership but if you know what that is and you primarily stay in your strength zone then your ultimate impact will be incredible. Most people are not willing to pay the price to be a ten at anything they had rather spend their time working on their weaknesses.

Categories: Career Development Personal Leadership | Comments Off on Weaknesses

Situational Leadership

Posted by on October 21, 2010

The one word that best describes the leadership model of the last century is positional. Most of the major decisions were made at the top and the role of the team was to merely execute the plan.

When you move to the new models of leadership today the one word that best describes these styles is participative. This simply means the team is involved in helping form the priorities and strategies in addition to execution.

When hiring a leader for the old model you found the best person that fit the job description. Then the team would adjust to the style of the new leader.

Today situation leadership is the key model in these highly participative team dynamics. It is now the responsibility of the leader to shift his or her style to the needs of each team member and the chemistry of the team as a whole.

The needs of the team members and the team as a whole will shift based on their competency and commitment levels. These levels will always change depending upon the task or project at hand and that is the whole point of validating the need for situational leadership.

If a person has very low competency based on lack of experience then a more hands on directive approach is needed. On the other hand if there is high commitment and high competency then the leader should shift to delegation.

The poor communication that is produced by misalignment between leaders and followers is the major factor in decreased productivity within our organizations.

Categories: Career Development Servant Leader | Comments Off on Situational Leadership

The Juice is Gone

Posted by on October 17, 2010

I freely acknowledge that this post is not going to be for everyone. However, if you are a growing Christian and working in the corporate world it may be exactly what you need to hear.

As we mature in our relationship with Christ we start to see things the way He does and not the way the world does. Most people at work are motivated by power, pleasure, position and pride.

Even for us as Christians we get caught up in what kind of car we drive, the clothes we wear and the houses we live in. Our success status can even be defined by where we are in the leadership ladder at church.

When we grow to the point of real spiritual brokenness we move beyond success to significance. This means that we realize that the only lasting thing that really matters at work are the people and not the profits or performance reviews.

For the first time in our lives all the things that used to be important no longer motivate us in light of eternity. We often ask ourselves a thousand years from now will this really matter. Now we have moved from Success to Significance to Surrender. The old juice is gone.

Now your career has become your calling. No, you do not need to quit your job and go to seminary because you are headed for Africa. You need to live your new Christian life right where you are with reckless abandon for the glory of God.

Categories: Career Development Spiritual Growth | Comments Off on The Juice is Gone

Peter Principle

Posted by on October 10, 2010

Every leadership expert that I have read in the last five years understands that the most important asset for any organization is the people who are on your team. If you have not transitioned from the industrial age to the information age in how you are leading your people you will not be able to compete in the new global economy.

Good to Great makes the point about getting the right people on your bus and making sure you get the wrong ones off. There is also a priority on verifying that everyone is in the right seat on the bus.

This is where the Peter Principle can create blind spots within your organization. Just because someone has been a very effective employee in the past does not mean they can continue to be effective in the future.

The natural tendency is when someone does a good job they eventually assume even greater responsibility. They were the best customer service representative you had when your company started and there were less than one hundred accounts.

When the company reaches three hundred accounts then other customer service representatives are brought on board and now your best practices representative just became a manager of other people. After all they deserve the job because they have tenure, expertise and loyalty to organization.

There is only one major problem; they are not gifted or passionate about managing a customer service department that one day will grow to over one hundred employees. These once great team members who are no longer effective have been promoted beyond their capabilities and that is why they are failing.

Never assume that because someone is great in one discipline they can naturally transition to leading others in the same area. If you do not watch this one very carefully you run the risk of a dysfunctional customer service department and tragically loosing a once great employee in the process.

Categories: Career Development Staff Development | Comments Off on Peter Principle

Final Performance Review

Posted by on June 14, 2010

We have all had good and bad experiences with this wonderful but sometimes problematic annual rite of passage in corporate America. It is always helpful to know what is expected of you and to hear from your superiors how they think you are doing.

As Christians we must never forget that ultimately our real employer is our heavenly Father. Because of the price He paid for our redemption we should have a passion to live our lives in reckless abandonment to His will.

His expectations are very clear as we are going about our everyday lives we are to be spreading the aroma of His grace to all of the people we come in contact with in every situation. Our lives should be living epistles to be known and read by all at home, at work and in the normal patterns of life.

As we unconditionally minister grace to other people we are earning the trust and opportunity to share with them the reason of the hope that lies within us. Our conviction is that stuff and success don’t really matter in the end but what we have done to move others toward knowing Christ does.

Jesus said it so clearly that it cannot be missed as the Father has sent Him into world He now sends us. We are to be storytellers of His personal grace and compassion in our lives and hope givers for all the broken people who live in utter despair.

During my final performance review I only want to hear one comment, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Categories: Career Development Personal Leadership Servant Leader Spiritual Growth | Comments Off on Final Performance Review

Light The Fuse

Posted by on June 10, 2010

Lighting the fuse is an appropriate analogy for any leader who is about to initiate a significant change process. If you make a mistake during this critical process the whole situation can figuratively blow up in your face leaving your people and your organization in worse condition than before you started.

It is never enough to just do the right thing, you must do the right thing, the right way, and especially at the right time. There are at least four major reasons for initiating the change process:

Need Must Be Met—this would appear to be the easiest of all the reasons after all there is someone or something that is not right and we can make it better. However, rarely does everyone in your group see this need in the same way and many may not be directly motivated by this cause at all. Be careful of needs that only touch a limited constituency.
Opportunity Should Be Taken—this one requires everyone to look out into the future and see a new reality that is better than the one they are in today. This requires maximum amount of visionary leadership to paint a picture that people can embrace to the point they are willing to move forward.
Problem Can Be Solved—here again one person’s problem is merely another person’s distraction. Compelling reasons must be given that this situation not only if affecting people in a negative way but if it is not resolved it will only become worse.
Crisis Threatens Our Future—now you have an issue that can be communicated in such a clear and dramatic way because if it is not dealt with the future of this group of people or organizations is in peril. Never take a problem and try to turn it into a crisis for impact sake because people will see through the clever marketing and lose confidence in the leader.

The bottom line for any leader is that you have a very limited amount of leadership capital with your people so spend it wisely. Most people will only be motivated to change when the pain of the present is clearly worse than their fear of the future. Be careful not to judge them for that because to some degree we are all the same way.

Categories: Career Development Leading Change | Comments Off on Light The Fuse

Great Commission Companies

Posted by on June 8, 2010

I would highly recommend this book for any Christian that is serious about fulfilling their calling by leveraging their career to impact the world for eternity. The authors are Steve Rundle and Tom Steffen who pack a lot of great information about the biblical justification for their approach and several actual examples that fit their definition of success.

The core conviction they have is that every Christian is already in full time ministry and the spreading of the gospel should not be delegated exclusively to a small team of ordained missionaries. They also believe that there should be no dichotomy between the sacred and the secular when it comes to using our career as a platform to accomplish ministry.

This is not some clandestine strategy to use business platforms as a way of getting into closed countries but rather a convictional approach to start legitimate businesses that make a profit and then help their local communities. It is also a very holistic approach to missions that avoids both extremes of a social gospel on one end of the spectrum and counting decisions on the other.

This approach avoids all the negative aspects of redemption and lift that eventually removes new believers from their immediate community where they can be the most effective in reaching new people. There is an acknowledgement that some companies may make profits to provide the necessary funding for other front line ministries.

They believe that “by establishing authentic businesses that employ local workers among the least-reached peoples of the world, they contribute to the economic health of the immediate community and also provide avenues for both physical and spiritual ministry.” This really is about making a profit so that you can really make a difference.

Categories: Career Development Church Scattered Contextualization Missional Living | Comments Off on Great Commission Companies

When To Light The Fuse For Change

Posted by on March 8, 2010

Most leaders understand there are powerful forces in place to maintain the status quo both on a personal level and with an organizational culture as well. Therefore choosing the timing of when to start a change process that you want to be successful is critical.

If you don’t have any of the following priorities in place then do not light the fuse because it will blow up in your face:

1. Problem to be solved—at the very basic level of motivation for any change is the reality that something is clearly wrong and you know it needs to be fixed. I am overweight and if I do not start an exercise program and change my diet I am going to be in serious trouble.

2. Opportunity to be taken—sometimes doors seem to open that we were not expecting and the benefits gained far outweigh the risks involved. A good friend offers to pay my membership in the health club for a year if I will commit to go.

3. Crisis to be avoided—in this situation you recognize the perfect storm is brewing and if you don’t act immediately the consequences of my inaction could be catastrophic. I have now had a heart attack and my doctor says without major change I will have another one and it will probably be fatal.

4. Need to be met—this moves the motivation point high up on the scale because there are hurting people involved and the change process will directly benefit them. If I am not willing to act based on what I need surely because of the people I love the most I will do whatever is necessary to be there for them.

5. Calling to be followed—as a Christian I am called to represent Christ to the world in all that I do with my life. If I do not take care of the body He has given me to be used in His service then I can lose my testimony and damage my effectiveness in helping other people.

These priorities also apply in our professional lives as we seek to lead the change process in the context of a company culture that tends to react after it is too late rather than respond to what should be obvious. Leaders must be willing to cast a clear vision that the benefits of leaving the current reality behind far outweigh any pain involved in moving to a new and better place for all involved.

Categories: Career Development Leading Change Personal Leadership Servant Leader | Comments Off on When To Light The Fuse For Change