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Develop a We Focus And Not a Me Focus
____________________________________________ "There's only one thing more contagious than a good attitude and that's a bad attitude?Most bad attitudes are the result of selfishness." -John Maxwell The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork "A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle." - Benjamin Franklin ____________________________________________ Great leaders know how to focus on the team ahead of themselves. They do this by developing a "We" focus. Consider an exercise I often run with seminar participants. I call it the Best/Worst Supervisor exercise. I'm going to ask you to reflect on two specific supervisor-employee relationships you have experienced from the employee side. As you read the rest of this article, stop for a moment and carefully think about these relationships with your supervisors - either past or present. Relationship Number 1: Think about the person you worked for that you would be willing to help anytime. Someone who you would willingly come in early, stay late, or work through lunch for just because they asked. The key phrase is, "just because they asked." The person we are considering got extra effort from you because of who they were and not from the position of authority they held over you. You might write down the answers to the following questions as you reflect on this experience: - What specifically did they do? - How did they behave towards you and others to create this feeling in you? - How much fear did you feel associated with working for them? - Did you feel controlled or influenced by them? In other words, did they have an indirect effect on your behavior, or did they directly regulate your behavior? My personal experience, verified by discussions with thousands of business people across the country, is that most people report a positive, influence type relationship with this person. We'll call this person the Best Supervisor. Relationship Number 2: Now, think about a supervisor you hated to do anything for. The supervisor who kept checking your progress, criticizing your work, and threatening to punish you in some way if you did not perform to standard. Now, reconsider these questions with regard to this person. - What specifically did they do? - How did they behave towards you and others to create this feeling in you? - How much fear did you feel associated with working for them? - Did you feel controlled or influenced by them? In other words, did they have an indirect effect on your behavior, or did they directly regulate your behavior? We'll call this person the Worst Supervisor. Most people say that the Best Supervisor got more voluntary effort and better long-term performance and relationship results from their team. I have yet to meet the person who says the Worst Supervisor got great performance from their team. Now consider this question for a moment: Who do you think these two people thought/think about first? Most people say that the Best Supervisor tends to keep their focus on others. Most people also say that the Worst Supervisor tends to think only of themselves and their interests. The question for leaders becomes How do I want the people on my team to view me? The answer lies in how we, the leaders, think. Our thoughts become words or actions that influence the behavior of the people around us. When I focus on my personal desires, I act in selfish ways. When I act in selfish ways, I inspire mediocre performance in my team. When I focus on the team, I act in the team's best interest. When I act in the team's best interest, I inspire high-level performance in my team. As I close this article, my mind is racing with possible questions and qualifying statements. Due to space and time constraints, I haven't even begun to address some of the issues that come to mind: - How does this apply to team members who don't want to play nice? - How do you preserve the integrity of your vision while working with people who see things differently? etc. These issues are too big to consider all at once. I'll address these related issues at a different time. So for now, I encourage you to remember this one tip . . . Develop a "we" focus and not a "me" focus. Copyright 2005, Guy Harris You may use this article for electronic distribution if you will include all contact information with live links back to the author. Notification of use is not required, but I would appreciate it. Please contact the author prior to use in printed media. About the Author: Guy Harris is the Chief Relationship Officer with Principle Driven Consulting. He helps entrepreneurs, business managers, and other organizational leaders build trust, reduce conflict, and improve team performance. Learn more at http://www.principledriven.com Guy co-authored "The Behavior Bucks System TM" to help parents reduce stress and conflict with their children. Learn more about this book at http://www.behaviorbucks.com
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Yet many leaders fail to motivate people to achieve results because those leaders misconstrue the concept and applications of motivation. Pure Discipline General George S. Patton was born on November 11, 1885 on his fathers ranch and vineyard in Los Angeles County over what is today the city of Pasadena and much of the UCLA campus. Early in life he was small and weak, but raw determination and drive built up body day-by-day, piece-by-piece. Cub Scout Leader Outdoor Experience Recently I attended Cub Scout Leader Outdoor Experience training. This was a 24 hour course starting Friday evening. If you are a leader whose Council officers this kind of training, I would highly recommend it. Leadership Like Water-Water Canoeing Although world business is undergoing historic changes, the prevailing view of what constitutes business leadership is stuck in the past. Generally, business leaders view leadership as an order-giving process. The word "leadership" itself comes from old Norse root meaning "to make go." Many leaders believe that they must "make" people go by ordering them to do things. Leadership Challenges: The Walls In Our Lives We have all experienced walls or challenges in our work lives. How you handle the walls may be a defining point in your leadership and your career. There are a variety of ways to attach these walls some more effective than others. A Blueprint for Leadership - How to Be a Better Leader If you were to build a house, you would begin with a blueprint. This blueprint proves useful because it contains more than directions on how to build a house. It also describes the finished house. Chris Top 7 Favorite Leadership Books 1. The West Point Way of Leadership. Having Fun In Leadership "Don't measure your life by your goals, but rather by what you are DOING to achieve them." ?Unknown Leadership In The Zone! "You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only one who does what you do." - Jerry Garcia The Synergy Effect Have you ever considered that everything you want in life comes from someone else? The greatest minds in any field are keenly aware of the value of working with and involving others in life plans, business, work and personal commitments. The Leadership Vacuum In today's fast moving, ever changing, and highly competitive world there is a vacuum of leadership. More than ever our government, businesses, religious organizations, and our educational institutions need leaders. Partnership: Choose It or Lose It Charlotte decides to do good. Charlotte is a highly motivated worker. Something has been bothering her lately, something about the structure of the work flow that's causing redundancy, misallocation of resources, costly errors, and diminished productivity. On her own she does a careful study of the situation and convinced that she is on to something, she spends her evenings writing a detailed report that includes her observations, the apparent costs to the system, evidence of mismanagement (she is a bit caustic here), her vision of how the work flow should be structured, along with the steps she feels would turn things around and assure success. In the end, this is a detailed report, meticulously done, twenty-five single-spaced pages, with charts and graphs. Charlotte is proud of her work, the fact that she did this at her own initiative and on her own time, and she is truly excited about making a positive contribution to the organization. Charlotte finishes her report and sends it to the company president. And then she waits. And she waits. Certainly there will be a phone call, a meeting, some acknowledgment of her contribution, a bonus maybe, even a promotion wouldn't be out of the question. Something. But nothing comes. A week goes by. Two weeks. Still nothing. Hope wanes, and a bitterness begins to settle in. Those executives, she thinks, they go off to these programs on partnership or leadership or empowerment; they learn all the right words, but in the end it doesn't mean anything. It's more of the same old arrogance of top management. They really don't care. And this marks the end of Charlotte as a highly motivated worker. She is angry; she has her evaluations (all negative) of the president; she is feeling very righteous -- I did the right thing and what did it get me? -- and she has lost interest in pursuing her productivity project. What's the point? she asks. That's the last time I'll go out of my way for this company, Steps to Becoming a Good Leader STEPS TO BECOMING A GOOD LEADER: 1. Develop a master plan. What are your goals? What are the organization's goals? How are you going to reach them? 2. Develop a leadership style. To manage people, you need to know how you are going to do it. Be comfortable with the leadership style you choose, and it will lead to future success. 3. Know the risks. Making any decision has its risks. Know the risks involved and whether the organization can afford to take them. 4. Get the authority you need. You need authority to achieve goals. If you don't have enough, get assertive. Tell your superiors you need more authority to make decisions. 5. Be decisive. Don't get caught saying, "Let me get back to you." Consult staff, but you make the decisions. 6. Be firm. If you believe in your decisions, then stick to them. However, be open to suggestions and be flexible. Leadership Push vs. Pull? At your next staff meeting consider leading your team through the following discussion. Rationalize Success Away I was invited to do a Leadership workshop at a well known Fortune 100 company out in New Jersey. The all day event was geared toward their new crop of interns. At a point in my presentation I talked about the many reasons we come up with for not taking action. The many excuses we create in order to delay or defer acting on our plans to achieve success. Choose To Become An Encourager "...I know that the only source of happiness is within me, and I will begin to share it. Like a perfume, I know that I cannot pour it on others without getting a few drops on myself." - Og Mandino, "The Choice" 3 Dynamic Techniques To Boost Your Executive Leadership! Here's a really simple way to measure the strength of your executive leadership skills. Ask your people to name 3 important reasons why they enjoy working with you.
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