Thought of the Week - 10/20/08

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Like all great Servant Leaders, King knew the value of the art of gentle persuasion. This concept sets servant leadership apart from past leadership styles in the fact that instead of dictating to staff members the decisions that are made, buy-in is obtained by the leader setting the stage simply through open communication. By creating awareness through gentle persuasion, listening and offering empathy, the most difficult situations can be eased.

What strategies or techniques do you use to help “mold” consensus within your organization?

Thought of the Week - 10/13/08

"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it." - Theodore Roosevelt

How well do you know those you lead? You are probably surrounded with an abundance of talented individuals, unique to your workplace, whose expertise possibly has gone virtually untouched. According to the Rising Sun model, “Instilling Independence” is defined as: “Developing an atmosphere of hope, confidence and autonomy.” In other words, Instilling Independence is believing in people, believing that we hired them for the right reasons.

Instilling Independence is thinking and assuming the best in others. It is empowering your employees to do the job they were hired to do. No other single strategy of effective supervision is more powerful than allowing an employee to actually do the job they were hire for without having to micromanage how they do it.

Have you ever been micromanaged? How did it feel? Did you like it? Did you feel respected? Did you respect the person who micromanaged you? It is always interesting to us that no matter how many people we ask, almost all have been micromanaged, but no one likes it! So who is doing all the micromanaging and why?

Thought for the Week - 6/9/08

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. -- John F. Kennedy

If you’ve hired someone for a particular job, you must have believed they were capable of doing that job. So why not get out of the way and let them do it? You hired them because you believed they were going to do the job, and you need to maintain that belief and treat them as such. The day that you believe that they can't do the job, is the day that you need to start doing something different, possibly even saying this is not the right place for them.

Empowerment has been defined as the process of enabling employees to reach their own potential in ways that help the team or organization. This definition focuses less on control and power and more on the effective use of autonomy and delegation. This allows employees both controls over and responsibility for the work they have been assigned.

Unfortunately, many managers and supervisors struggle with the act of delegation. Effective delegation requires being very specific about what you want, setting clear parameters and timelines, making sure the resources are available to accomplish the task, setting up regular “touch base” meetings to check on progress (if necessary), and being available for support if requested.

One of the most critical rules of delegation is making sure you set appropriate limits, establish necessary ground rules, and clearly stating your expectations. If you can only spend a certain amount of money and you have a limited timeline, share that up front.

As long as those you delegate responsibility to meet the criteria that you gave them, you need to accept whatever they come back with. The worst thing you can do as a supervisor is send them off, let them work for two months, and when they come back and have met your criteria, you say that it's not what you wanted. You will kill morale.

We have all probably been in that boat where we asked “why didn't you just do it yourself the first time then, and save me the two months of work if you already knew what you wanted?” Your job is not to do the work for your employees. If that were the case, why would you need them in the first place?

Effective delegation not only instills independence in your employees, it also frees you up to do the job you were hired for. As suggested earlier, your role as a servant leader shifts from “managing” the productivity and progress of employees to coaching and mentoring their continued growth and development.

Have you ever been micromanaged?

How did it feel?

Did you like it?

Did you feel respected?

Did you respect the person who micromanaged you? I

t is always interesting to us that no matter how many people we ask, almost all have been micromanaged, but no one likes it!

So who is doing all the micromanaging and why?

Thought for the Week - 3/31/08

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." - Max DePree

Many of the leaders we talk to and work with are apprehensive about the concept of Servant Leadership. Actually, it is not the "concept" of Servant Leadership that they are uncomfortable about, it is the implementation.

We believe that one of the hardest skills for a leader to learn is the fine art of delegation. Some leaders believe that Servant Leadership means that you abdicate your role, responsibility and authority as a leader. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Effective Servant Leaders never abdicate, the delegate. They are clear about what they expect, that set clear and reasonable parameters, the provide the necessary support and resources, and they remain in touch and available as needed.

What do you consider to be the hardest thing about delegation?