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The Dark Side of Leadership – Three Nightmare Traits (TNT)

Leadership has a dark side.

In the heart, mind, and soul of every leader is a struggle. A struggle between who the leader wants to be and between who their followers need them to be. Most contemporary leadership books, articles, and expositions focus on the positive or bright side of leadership. However, because leadership is composed only of leaders and followers, humans, there is a negative and dark side.

Leaders must lead themselves effectively in order to lead others productively. Leaders that fail in this regard will fade, falter, and fail in the task of directing others. A position does not make a leader. Power does not make a leader. What makes a leader is sustainable character and indefatigable integrity.

“The greater a man is in power above others, the more he ought to excel them in virtue.
None ought to govern who is not better than the governed.”
— Publius Syrus

All leadership is not good leadership. Simply  because a leader holds a position, a title, and authority doesn’t mean that leader is benefiting the organization and its followers. There are traits existent in humans that when exposed in the life of a leader have very adverse effects on those they lead and their organizations.

De Vries (2018) called three of these traits TNT or Three Nightmare Traits. These three traits are leader dishonesty (low honesty-humility), leader disagreeableness (low agreeableness), and leader carelessness (low conscientiousness). Leaders who exhibit these traits inhibit their organizations. Leaders who exhibit these traits frequently will drive really good people away and end up with an organization of sycophants, suck-ups, and shysters.

Leader dishonesty is a trait absent of honesty and humility. This trait reveals the leader to be insincere, arrogant, greedy, manipulative, and immodest. Such a trait is a red flag that the leader could be making unethical decisions that affect the organization. Leader dishonesty is shown to lower the motivation of others who have to work with or for that leader. Dishonesty is a trait that induces, exacerbates, or invites an unethical culture. Once a leader opens the door by sacrificing personal integrity, all manner of unethical behavior can be expected from the rest of the organization.

Leader disagreeableness is the tendency of someone in an organization to be difficult to work with or for. They are often inflexible, aloof, distant, unforgiving, overly critical, and abrassive. They do not have to be loud to do this. In fact often, they sulk, pout, and listen to others poorly. They create environments of unproductivity where they are either ineffective at producing work or negatively impact the work of others. Disagreeable leaders are often driven by the need to control others and situations. This often leads to the frequency of conflicts and the intensity of conflicts. These types of leaders drive others away and are chemistry-killers. Leader disagreeableness leaders to division, decrease in retention, and lowering productivity.

Leader carelessness demonstrates a lack of conscientiousness. This means there is a bent towards carelessness, ignorance, negligence, and impulsiveness. This trait can create a culture of mediocrity and wishful thinking. Ideas and dreams are often espoused without genuine, detail-oriented work done behind the scenes. Because carelessness is a sign of ignorance, these leaders are often not as smart as they want to appear to others. Carelessness leads to poor decisions and drives away high performers. Often, this leadership trait is a sign of passivity or passive leadership. Passive leadership is strongly associated with poor organizational results. Carelessness can also be a sign of passive-aggressiveness.

The Three Nightmare Traits have opposite traits that truly help organizations: Honesty-humility, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Honesty-humility seeks to do what is ethical and beneficial to others above self at all times. This trait demands the truth and accepts nothing less. Agreeableness is one of the strongest traits to connect and bind teams of people together. It also enhances productivity. Conscientiousness is often found in leaders whose organizations are considered excellent and worthy of emulation.

The solution for leaders that struggle with these is to (a) tell the truth, (b) don’t be difficult to work with, and (c) pay attention to details. These are traits that draw followers in, increase trust, and stimulate growth.

The Bright Side of Leadership

A- Tell the Truth. With so much confusion, deception, and dishonesty in the environment today, it is critical that leaders seek the truth, find it, and articulate it. Truth is absolute and needs to be valued in the life of the leader and reflected in the actions and reactions of the organization. Honest leaders create a culture of integrity where figures, frustrations, and feelings are checked for accuracy before being espoused, fought for or manipulated. Truth is the great equalizer. When organizations inner workings get out of balance, it is most often because truth is viewed as expendable, inconvenient or burdensome. Leaders must be truthful and demand the truth from their followers, especially when it is unpopular or concerning.

B- Don’t be Difficult. Leaders who are disagreeable are difficult to work with and work for. Agreeableness is a positive trait that reduces the degree of difficulty in relationships and how decisions are made. Being agreeable means you don’t have to be right to get it right. It also doesn’t mean you are a passive, weak-willed leader who becomes passive-aggressive towards those you are leading. Agreeableness is born out of humility. A leader who is going to work to be amenable, agreeable, and compatible, must humble themselves to others so that teamwork is not hinder, made more challenging, and stress increased.

C- Pay Attention to the Details. Being a careful leaders does not mean you lack ambition or desire. A careful leaders sees danger, the details, and is good at discovering what really exists. Paying attention to the details is one way that you can discern if a leader is conscientious or not. A leader who frequently neglects, ignores, or passes over the details will change narratives, manipulate facts, and build decisions off of ideas not intelligence. Shortcuts are the fast route to destruction and unproductivity. Excellence is found in the details. Excellent leaders have an excellent grasp on the details that determine outcomes.

Conclusion

Leaders who want to grow others and grow their organizations need to be aware that there is a dark side lurking or active among those who lead. The three nightmare traits (TNT) will explode, implode or retard results and the development of others in the organization if left unchecked. The process in which leaders deal with their dark side will direct the decisions and development of the organization.

 

 

 

 

Reference:

de Vries, R. (2018). Three nightmare traits in leaders. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 319902.

 

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Leaders: Go Get the Best Talent (Finding Top Talent for Your Organization)

A job no one can do other than the leader is to find the best talent. The best talent is called top talent. As a leader, when you farm selecting the best talent out to someone else, then you will never get the greatest talent you can find. Leaders most devote targeted, specific, and intentional time to discovery, recruitment, cultivation, and selection of the best talent. If you are not the best talent selector in your organization, then you are not doing all of your job.

A leader’s job is not only to cast the vision, set the course, and energize followers, but find the best talent and spread them throughout the organizations. There are no shortcuts to finding, recruiting, and developing top talent. There are always highly talented people, but most of the time they are not looking for you. As a leader, you must be hunting both internally and externally for top talent.

What is top talent?

Top talent represents the top 5% of your employee workforce who possess (a) both leadership & followership capacities, (b) ability to attract others to themselves, (c) naturally take ownership in the organization, (d) drive the organization forward, and (e) are committed to personal growth. Top talent is rare, but they do exist. Both graphite and diamonds are made up of carbon. However, the composition of diamonds and graphite differ greatly. At the atomic level, diamonds are composed in a crystal lattice structure that makes them the naturally hardest substance on earth. Conversely, graphite is made up of rings of hexagonal structures that allow for the conducting of electricity (which diamonds don’t have), but makes it incredibly weak when pressure is applied. Top talent leaders are diamonds—their internal composition is different from 85% of the others in the organization (The bottom 5% are probably neither).

Everyone in the organization cannot be top talent, but everyone can be talented. Talent is the combination of composition, capacity and chemistry. Composition is who they are (what qualities they are made of). Capacity is their personal ability to exploit and maximize who they are by what they do. Chemistry is how well they are able to achieve that in the context of others. Talent is present in differing levels in every person on the planet. Talent is not and never will be equal. Talent can be measured, and if something can be measured then it is not equal. Skills are learned behaviors or practices that can make someone more talented, but are not talent themselves. Skills are external facets that an individual learns over time. It is up to the leader to ensure that top talent is skilled in their job duties. For the sake of an organization, skills are traits or practices that you learn that can be both tangible (operational) and intangible (relational).

Becoming a Leader of Leaders

Top talent has a natural propensity to excel in both the tangibles and the intangibles. As a leader if you struggle to identify these in your own life and growth, then you will struggle to recognize them in others. This is why there are so few leaders of leaders. These apex leaders have a natural ability to assess both the tangible and intangible qualities of talent. Typically, these leaders are not 100% in their calls, but they have a much greater-than-average ability to read who the person is and what they may be capable of.

What qualities does top talent posses?

a – Has both Leadership and followership capacity. This cannot be stated enough that your top talent knows how to both judge and serve, direct and follow, & teach and be taught. Followership is the ability to know when to step and where to step. Leadership is directing and guiding the steps. Everyone can’t lead. Therefore, followership is critical of everyone in the organization. Top talent has an understanding of when to step up and when to step aside. They don’t fight for a position, they fight for a purpose.

b- Ability to attract others to themselves. Top talent are likeable, winsome people. They are talent magnets themselves. They are not bullies, bosses or tyrants. Top talent are the warm people who like a fire in the cold of winter draw others to themselves. They praise and encourage others because its a natural part of their personal composition.

c- Natural ownership of parts of the organization. Top talent doesn’t have to be told to take ownership. They naturally see needs and address them. Top talent doesn’t complain, they construct. Construction is the ability to see a need, diagnose the root, and put a plan in place to correct. Ownership is not a certificate or a pass to do what you want when you want it. True ownership is hyper-stewardship that is always working to grow the organization and those in the organization.

d- Ability to drive the organization forward. Not only are top talent naturally good at ownership of the organization, they also posses the ability to drive it forward to reach better results and desired outcomes. Top talent are drivers. They don’t wait for another to take the wheel and play the role of passenger. They want to drive the organization forward. They want to reach goals and see growth. They press into new places and new spaces along the way. Top talent doesn’t think they know where they are going, they actually chart a course, know the road, and start driving toward the destination. They also know when to yield the wheel when the time comes.

e- Are committed to personal growth. Top talent never have to be told to learn, because they are perpetual students. They not only learn, but they apply what they are learning. Top talent also teaches and instructs those around them. You can’t teach someone what you have learned. Top talent keep striving towards mastery. They are internally motivated and disciplined. When correction is needed they subject themselves willingly and make adjustments. Top talent will find their own mentors and models. They do not need to be assigned or told to learn from others. They are way ahead of their peers in this area.

Conclusion

As a leader, one of the most important roles you have is to get top talent in your organization. Once they are there, it is your job to ensure they are growing and developing. Organizations are living institutions comprised of humans who have differing levels of talent, skills, and ability. Top talent act as force multipliers in your organization. They have intangible qualities in amounts that others don’t or they use in them in ways that benefit the organization in ways others don’t. Leaders who farm talent out to others limit the their organization’s ability to reproduce leaders, reach desired outcomes, and sustain success. As John C. Maxwell said, if “Everything rises and falls on leadership,” then as a leader you must go find top talent to infuse energy and facilitate elevation in your organization.

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix:

The Three Ways to Measure Top Talent:

Composition, Capacity & Chemistry

 

The Five Qualities Top Talent Naturally Posses:

1- Has both Leadership & Followership Capacity

2-Ability to Attract Others to Themselves

3-Natural Ownership in the Organization

4-Ability to Drive Organization Forward toward Desired Outcomes or Goals

5- Commitment to Personal Growth

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A Bad Attitude Makes a Bad Job

A job is what you make of it. A job is assigned work or tasks that require your energy and effort to complete. Many people make their job harder by bringing a bad attitude with them. A bad attitude makes every job a bad job. A bad attitude is when an individual allows negative thoughts about a person, situation, circumstance, or job to guide their efforts, energy, and actions regarding that thing.

It’s been well said that a bad attitude is like a flat tire, you can’t go anywhere until you change it!

No Job is Easier with a Bad Attiude

Several years ago, one of my children was recruited to play on a travel team that trained over 2 hours from our home. The commute to training meant I would have to drive 2-4 times a week 4 or 5 hours at a time and, once the season came, games were hundreds and even thousands of miles away. Once, as a family, we made the decision to accept the offer, I knew that I would only make each 4-5 hour commute even more difficult if I ever dwelt on a bad attitude or worse, spoke about it. So, four years later, I don’t give myself permission  to complain or have a bad attitude about it. I considered driving my daughter a job and no job is easier if you have a bad attitude about it. Four years and a couple of hundred thousand miles later, we are still doing it and I am still have a good attitude about it.

Your attitude is your choice.

John C. Maxwell (2006) believes that your attitude is your the greatest difference maker between those who will achieve and those who won’t. A negative attitude is common, ordinary, and it kills your progress. Everyone has a choice to dwell on the negative or look for the positives. A positive attitude is not a naive attitude. A positive attitude recognizes the challenge and chooses to think and express hopeful and joyful expressions while working to the outcome.

A bad attitude makes a challenging job more difficult.

When you have a bad attitude, you are actually making what you have to do worse. A bad attitude has never made a job or task easier, better, or quicker to get through. A bad attitude creates a layer of resistance that compounds the level of difficulty they already exists. Bad attitudes are like glue—they are sticky and slow things down. Positive attitudes are like grease—they make things move.

A Bad Attiude Magnifies the Problem 

A bad attitude magnifies your challenges and makes them feel like problems that are bigger than they actually are. This means the problems drags on longer than it should. A positive attitude accepts the challenge and attacks it with gusto to eliminate it as soon as possible. Positive attitudes shrink problems to bite-size pieces that are easier to deal with and manage.

A Bad Attitude Attracts Bad Company

A bad attitude acts like a magnet drawing past negativity and buried negativity to the surface. The negative magnetism of a bad attracts the negative thoughts of others giving those thoughts life. Bad attitudes love company. A person with bad attitude who spreads their negativity will draw out jealousy, negativity, pride, envy, strife, and hatred.

A Bad Attitude Slows You Down 

You bad attitude is an anchor for the journey you are on. All a bad attitude does is slow you down, divide your team, and work against productivity. A bad attitude will never propel you forward. In fact, a bad attitude not only drains energy but but stifles productivity and momentum.

A Bad Attitude Signals a Weak Mind 

A perpetual bad attitude is a sign of mental weakness. Those who can’t get over or get out of a bad attitude are mental dwarfs. Bad attitudes are reflective of weak minds and hard hearts. A positive attitude is a indicative of a strong mind and a willing heart. The heart is root of your attitude.

A Bad Attitude Creates Fixations

A bad attitude looks at what you don’t have as opposed to what you do have. A bad attitude fixates on the problem. The negative thoughts associated with a bad attitude attach themselves to the fixation making the problem appear much bigger than it really is an making the outcome seem much more distant. 

The Root of a Bad Attitude: Selfishness 

At the root of a bad attitude is simply selfishness. John C. Maxwell said, “In a word most bad attitudes are selfishness.” Selfishness is putting what you think and what you want above reality. When you are selfish you are living in a world of make-believe. Selfish people are impatient, frustrated, and demanding. They put their perceived needs and wants before anyone else’s including the organization they serve.

A Positive Attitude Promotes Peace 

In challenging times, preserve peace with a positive attitude. Get over yourself and realize that everyone else is under pressure as well. Bad attitudes retard progress and diminish productivity. They are vacuums sucking the energy out of the environment and organization. A positive attitude is an energy multiplier. Positive energy comes from a positive attitude.

The Leader’s Role Regarding Attitude 

A leader who doesn’t stop negative attitudes is complicit in draining the organizations energy. Leaders must lead with a positive attitude and then require all those under their authority get positive or get gone. A leader is responsible for the overall attitude of the organization. Demonstrating a bad attitude or allowing bad attitudes to go unchecked is leadership failure. Effective leaders don’t do bad attitudes.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
– Thomas Jefferson

 

References:

Maxwell, J. (2006). The difference maker: Making your attitude your greatest asset. HarperCollins Leadership.

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The Question of Culture

Every organization will have a culture. Every leader will be part of a culture. The leader will either carry the culture or be carried by it.

The question of culture is not one of importance. The question of culture is how is it defined and then layered in the organization? 

Culture is huge buzzword in the second decade of the 21st Century. This is largely because so much of our society has changed dramatically very quickly and there have been drastic cultural changes where old norms have been discarded and technology & ideology are forcing new strategies. The need for culture is pressing and immediate. As leaders forge new paths into the new global, digital world, new strategies arise. New strategies often lead to necessary changes in culture (Krishnamoorthy, 2015). Strategy shifts have led to a renewed interest in organizations emphasizing the importance of culture because the need to transform culture to keep pace with external and internal pressures.  There is collective agreement to the importance of culture.

However, what is not as unified is an understanding of what composes culture and how to maintain it.

Culture: Learning & Leadership

Part of the problem in defining culture is things that are hard to measure are often hard to define. How can something as seemingly mysterious as culture be measured? The answer starts at the beginning. Culture always has a founder. Culture is the accumulation of the founder’s beliefs and values transferred into the habits, practices, and behaviors of the people and processes of the organization. Culture does not simply occur. Culture is learned. Therefore, whoever is doing the organizational instruction often holds one of the most essential roles in the entire organization. Examining culture is an examination of what the group has learned or is learning. Someone is always responsible for the learning. Organizational culture fades when learning is absent or marginalized. Leadership is critical because leadership is the key to learning (Schein & Schien, 2016). It is more important for leaders to define their cultural values and beliefs than to talk about the importance of culture. Make no mistake: culture is always the responsibility of the leadership, because where culture goes, the organization goes.

People are always responsible for creating culture. In any successful organization, there is or was always a founder who instituted ideas, principles, and practices that were embraced and adopted at an early stage among a key group of founding members. Those founding members then transferred those cultural elements to an early group of adopters or initial stakeholders. A founder creates a group who learns from the founder or learns together. This group learning is the foundation for organizational culture (Schein & Schein, 2016).

Values: Inspirational & Operational

To create culture in your organization, department, business or team, the leader must identify core values that are essential to both the character and the strategy of the organization. Core values create cultural form for the unique context of the individual organization (Tocquigny & Butcher, 2012). These core values must not only sound good, they must work good. They must embody the principles and tenets of belief of the leaders. Values don’t set organizational direction, they carry the organization in the direction set by the leader. It is ineffective to list core values that no one knows and no one practices. It is unproductive to pick values that are solely aspirational, yet fail to become operational.

Good core values must be a combination of inspiration and perspiration. These values must lift the culture to an ideal state, but also a practical, achievable state. Too many organizations list values they don’t practice and they don’t preach. I have sat with many key leaders of organizations who fail to know their core values or they fail to know how these values are layered into the organization’s processes and procedures. Cultural values must be present in both the people of the organization and the practices & procedures of the organization.

Former CEO of Proctor & Gamble Ed Harness said, “Though our greatest asset is our people, it is the consistency of principle and policy that gives us direction” (Tocquigny & Butcher, 2012). Organizations that are inconsistent with their principles create an unstable culture that impedes the harmony and synergy of the organization. If the followers in the organization are unaware, having to guess or misaligned with values and principles of the organization, the cultural state of the organization will make sustainable progress difficult. Leaders must work relentlessly to embody the values, articulate the principles, and hold others to behavioral accountability. A healthy organizational culture is an organizational multiplier. A leader must do more than talk about culture. A leader must have the character that the culture represents.

 

References:

Krishnamoorthy, R. (2015). GE’s culture challenge after welch and immelt. Harvard Business Review.

Schein, E. &  Schein, P. (2016). Organizational Culture and Leadership, 5th Edition. Wiley.

Tocquigny, R., & Butcher, A. (2012). When core values are strategic : how the basic values of Procter & Gamble transformed leadership at Fortune 500 companies (1st edition). FT Press

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Improvement: Dream Big, Step Small

You may dream big, but success is not the dream. Too many people get stuck on the dream and the dream never materializes. Success is a series of small steps or improvements that make the dream or vision a reality. Success is more a measurement of growth than anything else. Growth is an unyielding commitment to improvement. If you want to succeed as a leader, a follower or in your organization, then your focus and your efforts needs to be fixed on continuous improvement.

What is growth?

Growth is simply sustained improvement over time.

Those who fail to improve never arrive.

The key word in our definition is improvement. Improvement is gain by degrees or increments. To improve, things must become better or the quality must increase. Improvement is a statement of quality and is born of a spirit or attitude of excellence. The most excellent people and the most excellent organizations are composed or driven by an attitude of continuous improvement. This means the internal machinations and the external deliverables are always under review and always under construction. Those who fail to improve never arrive.

The spirit of continuous improvement is revealed by Sheldon (1897), “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” Who you are is not who you need to become. Becoming is superior to being. Becoming recognizes that you are not done growing and there is room for improvement.

Improvement takes humble conviction. Leaders and followers who truly make an impact on others, their organization or their environment do so with the humble conviction that they must get better. Information does not equate to improvement. Just because you have knowledge of something does not guarantee a change or transformation. Improvement is not knowledge it is transformation.

Improvement must be sustainable. If you change for growth too quickly, then you will outgrow your foundation. This principle applies to leaders as well as organizations. Every good thing that grows well over time has a solid foundation. Without a solid foundation of morality, integrity, and virtue what is being built will become too heavy and either collapse or crumble. We see this played out in the lives of leaders and organizations all the time. There is simply no substitute for integrity. Integrity’s offspring is  sustainability.

Don’t improve for the splash. A splash is noticeable, dramatic, and short-lived. A splash attracts attention but carriers very little momentum. Without organizational or personal momentum, energy is never captured and energy is quickly lost. Learn how to ease into the shallows one step at a time. These small steps are how you grow by degrees or increments. Dream big, but step small. This allows you to learn your environment, learn what opposes you, and learn your self. Sustained, incremental growth that garners little attention and draws no attention often seems like not a dramatic enough impact is being made. But, good growth is not always dramatic. Good growth is a result of daily habits. A runaway train is dramatic, but the end results are devastating. A forest fire is spectacular, but the end product is depressing. A tornado is powerful, but its outcome is destructive.

Improvement requires measurement. All growth goals that you have as a leader or for your organization must be more measurable than they are aspirational. Vision is important, but most visions are not measurable. The mission is measurable. The mission is composed of a series of goals. Goals guide growth. A leader without goals lacks guidance. An organization without well-communicated goals will meander like a river being driven where forces take them. A leader without goals will wander. The problem with a wandering leader is the leader’s replication and duplication are impaired. It’s hard to make followers when you aren’t entirely sure where you are heading or when you will arrive.

Improvements and Necessary Endings

Improvement doesn’t mean you get what you want. Often, a stuck or struggling leader or organization needs to remove, remodel or reorganize before improvement can happen. Often, improvement is simply addition by subtraction. However, this kind of improvement is a difficult form of improvement because there can be actual pain or perceived pain there. I remember years ago, I had a leader who was not growing. I had tried everything I knew after frequent meetings and counseling sessions to get the leader to improve. This leader would nod his head in agreement, yet never change his behavior. Eventually, after sustained poor performance and no improvement, I had to have a difficult meeting to set the date to part ways. Instead of improving between the meeting and the departure date, this leader demonstrated he had an unwillingness to improve under my leadership in our organization and became even more resistant. Consequently, the day of his departure was rapidly moved up. It was a painful departure. But, it was a necessary ending for our organization to improve. Necessary endings are often the catalyst for much-needed improvement. 

Dr. Henry Cloud (2011) wrote,  “Without the ability to end things, people stay stuck, never becoming who they are meant to be, never accomplishing all that their talents and abilities should afford them.” Some endings are not only necessary, they are past due. Like a library book long overdue, there are some relationships, actions, habits or processes that need to die, stop or end, in order, for improvement to occur. Leaders often have a hard time of letting go. But, leaders committed to improvement allow for every chance for betterment. When improvement does occur in a reasonable timeframe, then the leader is harming the individual and the organization by allowing the lack of improvement.

Improvement requires a culture. Culture is the key driver of organizational health. Organizational health facilitates organizational growth. If your organizational culture is not a culture that embraces improvement and rejects mediocrity, then yours will be an organization that fails and falters in its growth trajectory. Failure for an organization to grasp the importance of culture will result in the organization becoming a victim of it (Schein, 2010). Culture is more important than anything else in an organization (Schneider, 2000). Culture is more important than leadership,  followers, and what is produced or served. Culture is the glue that holds an organization together. Organizations that demonstrate continuous improvement have it wired into their organizational culture.

True success is a series of small steps of improvement. Improvement is a relentless commitment to getting better and ensuring that those in the organization believe and act in a way that proves true. Improvement is never accidental. Improvement requires intentionality, patience, and effort. Few things improve quickly and dramatically, unless you are in the midst of a crises. Organizations either fade slowly or improve systemically. Leaders who take the responsibility to improve, will strengthen their influence, grow their results and meet organizational goals.

 

 

 

 

References:

Cloud, H. (2011). Necessary endings: The employees, businesses, and relationships that all of us have to give up in order to move forward. Zondervan.

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.

Schneider, W.E. (2000). “Why good management ideas fail: the neglected power of organizational culture.” Strategy & Leadership. Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 24-29.

Sheldon, W.L. (1897). What to believe: an ethical creed. Ethical Society of St. Louis.

 

 

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What Makes a Successful Organization

Ted Engstrom says, “The successful organization has one major attribute that sets it apart from unsuccessful organizations: dynamic and effective leadership.”

Work requires energy. Leadership requires that energy be directed, leveraged and appropriated in a way that both energizes and galvanizes the organization. This is dynamism. Today, with much misplaced passion and false fervor abounding, leaders who will be dynamic must also be genuine. Their energy must come from their heart. Nothing is more dynamic that an energy that comes from the heart. An organization will never achieve and sustain the success they are looking for without leaders who are dynamic.

What exists naturally before transformation is passivity. Passivity is unused energy or misplaced energy. A passive leader leaks energy or wastes energy. This type of untransformed leader will not direct their organization towards success.

Robert Greene says, “The conventional mind is passive – it consumes information and regurgitates it in familiar forms. The dimensional mind is active, transforming everything it digests into something new and original, creating instead of consuming.”  Transformation is the genesis of creativity, curiosity and innovation. Organizations that disrupt the conventional and passive natural tendencies are much more likely to succeed. But there must be a rejection of passivity. This does not mean frantic or frenetic activity. Very essence of transformation is leading the dimension or plane that you are currently in and stepping into the unknown or little known.

I had a flagging store. I needed success. I knew transformation was the key. The results of this store were good, but not great. They could have been better. They should have been better. We began to build a leadership team where each of our leaders really led from their heart. I was looking for dynamism first, effectiveness second.

I propose that you cannot make someone to be dynamic. You can model it and instruct to it, but dynamism is a transformational work at the level of the heart. Each leader has to want it and suffer for it. Without such a transformation, futility, frustration and failure will surely result.

You can teach leaders how to be more effective. You do this by giving one, small objective a single goal at a time. Before you hit bullseyes you first must teach your developing leaders how to hit the target. Dr. Curtis Odom agrees and says, “Dynamic leaders understand that we no longer live in a static world. They chose to focus on only one thing at a time.” I teach my leaders that if everything is important, then ultimately nothing is important and nothing will get done. Focus, plan and attack one thing at a time. This is dynamic leadership.

If you can’t hit the target yourself, then expecting others to is an exercise in futility. No amount of authority, compensation or expectation can put oth others on a target you don’t know how to hit yourself. A fundamental error in development is assuming a leader in a position or with a rank or title is capable of hitting the target. Effectiveness is a tightly grouped shot pattern. Effectiveness comes through experience.

This group of leaders lead from their heart and absolutely get after it to get their shots on target. Some go wild. Some hit the edges. But, they are learning to get on the target—one shot at a time.  Bullseyes will come. The leader’s job is to find those who are willing to learn and who will release their heart in a collective desire to find success together.

Organizations and teams transform when leaders transform. Every organization has a heart and that heart is evidenced in those who lead. Success is the byproduct of transformation.

 

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Development is Difficult: What Leaders are Facing Today

If development was easy, then you wouldn’t be reading this article. The reality is that development is difficult. The desire to develop self and others is real and most leaders will acknowledge it is part of their responsibility. However, the process of moving forward down the path of development is never as straight forward or as simple as it seems.

Development is a walk. It is a walk with others. There are times on this walk where you want to run, but you have to slow down. There are times where you are running and wish you were still walking. There are uphills and downhills and turns and twists that come at unexpected times. There are interruptions, disruptions and distractions on this walk. Development is a walk down a path with a bad map and missing signs. The only way to develop is to keep walking and stay on the journey. Development is not a train ride where you get on at one station and get off at the next and somehow in the process of the train ride you magically transformed, grew and developed. No development is a walk where growth happens not just one step at at time, but one series of steps at a time day-after-day, season-upon-season.

There are no easy days with development. There are good, rewarding and fulfilling days, but in real development, there is nothing easy about it. Anything easy means a lack of resistance. Development or growth is a process that is the revelation of one level of resistance after another. Development is a process by which change is demanded and growth the outcome. People change slowly and growth takes time.

Development is growth by degrees. A degree is a fractional measurement that is most often invisible. Leaders, especially, young leaders want to see their growth and chart their development. This often leads to great frustration both for the young leader looking for development and the senior leader facilitating development. Objectives, tasks and skills can be charted, but maturity cannot be. The difficulty with development is that much of it is invisible. You can’t chart when someone matures. You can only see the maturation when the pressure increases, a decision needs to be made or in a conversation.

Development is difficult because growth is not a guessing game. Too many young leaders treat development like if they can just guess the right answer it will make them the right leader. Leadership is never a function of guessing the right answer, but a function of knowing the right answer. I ask the young leaders I work with questions all of the time. I am not only looking for the right answer, I am looking for the right thought process, critical thinking and drawing conclusions.  I am looking for them to say they don’t know when I know they don’t know, instead of trying to guess the answer. Many young leaders inhibit their own development because they want to appear smart or possessing the right answer, so they will guess the answer or try to sound like they know what they are talking about. Development is not a guess, a hope or a wish. Development is not a game of chance. When individuals guess to appear right or sound good, they are missing the mark of development. Because, they are trying to convince themselves and the one doing the developing they are further along than they really are.

Development is difficult because it is personal.  People are unique. If you are in the process of developing others, a “one-size-fits-all” approach will never work for everyone. People are individuals. This means they receive, process and believe information differently. What confuses the matter even more for those desiring to be developed is the fact that there exists an abundance of information. Literally, a young leader desiring to develop can get lost in a maze of information or drown in a sea of data. Development is not a check-list. Development is more of a check-up. A check-list is something the individual can check off themselves. A check up involving a physician is an assessment given by a professional trained in examining another for deficiency. I try to have check-in’s and check-up’s with those I am developing. This is where I sit and ask questions. I am trying to get the younger leader sitting across from me to unravel their heart and mind, so that they can begin to become more self-aware of where they are sufficient and where they are deficient.

Development is difficult because it involves the truth. The truth can be painful. You don’t become a stronger leader by lifting light weights. You become a stronger leader by encountering the truth and learning how to handle it. The truth can be hard, harsh and heavy. Too many leaders in the development process avoid the truth as if it will somehow hinder the relationship or cause growth not to happen. Truth avoidance is one of the surest indicators of a lack of development.

Growth will never happen without the truth. Now, the delivery of the truth is what often has to be worked on. But, when you deliver the truth you do so simply, humbly and without conditions. I used to work with a phenomenal leader who was incredibly analytical, strategic and goal-oriented. However, this leader would often run rough-shod over the subordinate leaders. I could see extra stress when it was unnecessary all because this leader was so driven he would tip the environment from positive to negative because the objectives were in danger of not being met. I finally just had to tell him, “There are times that you get entirely too focused on the objective and forget about all the people you are leading to reach that objective. Your team doesn’t enjoy working with you during these times. Your speech turns negative, you stop making eye contact and you are very short with your people. You must change this behavior and create a positive environment.” He said, “Ouch, okay.” He began to work on it and even engaged several on his team to help him when he started getting that way. His development was sparked by a difficult conversation. Difficult conversations are often the catalyst for leaders who are stuck in their development journey.

Development is difficult because it requires awareness. You cannot fix what you are aware of. You also cannot fix what is diagnosed incorrectly. The first step in development is self becoming aware of what needs change. Others can tell you over and over again, but until the light of self-awareness dawns, self-development will be absent. I have sat with many young leaders who I will address a concern or issue and they will immediately say, “I know, I know.” Knowing and doing are two different things. In fact, if you say you know about an issue and have not taken steps to begin the process of change, then you know very little. We live in a day and age where information abounds, but self-awareness is lacking. Development is always first self-development. No one can fix you. They can present you with tools, resources and enlightenment, but only you can make internal adjustments. There will never be self-development until there is first self-awareness. Awareness leads to action. So, if action is absent, awareness is often absent.

Development is difficult because discipline is involved. There will be no true or lasting development without discipline. Discipline is not only the element that guides you to growth, but it is the element that will sustain your growth. No one grows well without good discipline. But, discipline is painful. Development is painful. This is why so many people talk about development and growth, but so few actually develop and grow.

Years ago, I had one of my top leaders stuck in his development. He was aware that there was an element of his leadership that was absent. In fact, every time we sat down and talked, this particular element always came up. His inability and unwillingness to step into an uncomfortable and painful part of his job and leadership was not only hindering his development, but affecting our organization. Eventually, the pain of not changing exceeded the pain of the change and he began to implement elements of discipline into his routine that began to reduce the discomfort and pain one day at time while gaining traction towards his own development. His discipline drove him to development.

Development is difficult because the journey is life long. There are no short-cuts on this journey. There is no fast-forward and no fast-track. Its a long, often tiring journey. In the development process, it’s never over. So, development can not only be tiring, but exhausting. But, development is also highly rewarding. There exists a deep, internal fulfillment when you grow yourself or when you see others grow. Any parent intrinsically knows this to be true. When my children could walk on their own two feet, spell their own name, tie their own shoes, ride their own bike and eventually drive their own car, I had a deep sense of satisfaction because I could see their growth. This was deeply rewarding for me, their parent. As a leader, the same sense of fulfillment exists in the development process of others. I have the same sense of fulfillment when my leaders learn new things, make better decisions, impact the organization and live a more productive life. When those who you are trying to foster development in begin to get it for themselves, it is rewarding and fulfilling for you.

If development was simple and easy, then we would never lack for great leaders and great followers. But, that is not the case. Development is difficult, painful and often cloudy. The abundance of information, pressure and voices make the climate today more challenging than in the past. But, development is a noble, worthy and critical pursuit that all leaders must engage first for themselves and then for those they lead. A leader is not an effective leader unless he or she is actively promoting the development of those they lead. Leaders must lean in and do the difficult work and walk of development. The price of development is a high price, but valuable things always come at a great price.

“I think you can accomplish anything if you are willing to pay the price.”

-Vince Lombardi

 

 

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How to Set Yourself Apart as a Leader

There are leaders everywhere. But, there aren’t great leaders everywhere. A great leader doesn’t need recognition or reward to be considered great. What a great leader needs is simply great effectiveness. Great effectiveness comes from great accountability which comes from the drive from a leader to set themselves apart from who they were in light of who they can become.

Leadership is not equal, because effectiveness is not equal. What you see in sports is simply that one leader can get something out of players that another did not or one leader sees something in a player that another leader missed. All too often, a coach comes in and replaces a truly effective leader only to not get any where near the same results. The solution is suddenly to get new players. Then, those players don’t get the results the coach or manager wants then the coach is sacked. Then, the cycle of effectiveness starts over. If you truly want to measure leadership, then measure effectiveness. Don’t measure effectiveness of promise, but effectiveness of production. What you produce is ultimately the measure of how you lead.

There are several ways to set yourself apart as a leader.

1) Out work every one else. Hard work in our society used to be the norm. That is no longer the case. A work ethic is taught and modeled. Work ethic starts in childhood. Children who aren’t made to work will not grow up to be adults who love hard work. Children who have parents who don’t model working hard rarely grow up to be hard working adults. But, work ethic is the measure of energy given to complete a task combined with the values one holds while completing that task. If you want to set yourself apart, out work everyone else. Simply, arrive earlier and stay later. Put the work in outside the actual job to become more effective at your job.

2) Be your own toughest critic. Most humans don’t like criticism especially when it involves what they are producing. But, if you want to set yourself apart from others, then learn to be hard on yourself. Don’t give yourself passes, excuses or liberties. Learn to be tough on yourself, so when others criticize you or your work, you can accept it as merely objective, learn from it and move on.

3) Have impeccable integrity. Integrity is the measure of authenticity in your life. Today our world is filled with duplicity and deception. Great integrity ultimately means great trustworthiness. The most effective leader ever, Jesus, said, “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’.” Simply, be a leader whose word means something, who is incredibly consistent and who doesn’t flip flop when communicating direction or decision. Impeccable integrity creates great bonds of trust.

4) Get out of your feelings. Emotion clouds an effective leader from making the best decisions. I am not advocating to never have or show emotion, but a truly effective leader must learn to master their emotions. This means you must learn to control your emotion. Every emotion you have is not the right emotion at the right time. Just because something feels right doesn’t make it right. Leaders who lead by feeling will discount their effectiveness because allowing your feelings to lead means feelings are first and others are second. Feelings will always rise to the top until you push them to the bottom. I have seen many developing leaders leave the organization because they couldn’t get past their own feelings of superiority, inferiority and not feeling appreciated.

5) Have the best attitude. Negativity is a stench that no one wears well. The problem with negativity is that humans are by nature drawn towards the negative. The average person has to work not to be negative. To really separate yourself from your peers or increase your leadership influence, then have the best attitude. I am not advocating blind positivity, but rather measured and consistent positivity. The best attitude is a combination of where a calm spirit meets an energetic soul. When things get difficult remain positive. Don’t pollute the air with negative speech or negative talk. When you hear negativity in your environment cut it off. Negativity spreads but so does positivity, but there are fewer positive people around so it constantly seems like a battle with negativity. However, it is more likely that teams will follow a positive leader than will ever follow a negative one.

6) Take the blame, share the credit. Ineffective leaders always want to be recognized and get credit for what they are doing. But, effective leaders have learned to take the blame and share the credit. Taking the blame as a leader is not just the noble thing to do, but the right thing to do. A leader has elevated responsibility and elevated accountability. Today, many leaders just want the responsibility without the accountability. A leader is not only known by the results they get, but also the people that they produce. If you want to increase effectiveness, then share the credit when things go well and they by-product is you will increase your loyalty among those you work with. To share credit, you have to give credit. Find those on your team who deserve some recognition and give them the credit.

7) Be the most appreciative. In a self-centered world, very few people express gratitude. Gratitude is thankfulness and to be thankful you have to actually do something that reveals you are thankful. This means you actually say ‘thank you’ to those around you, you write a ‘thank you’ note or send a ‘thank you’ text. To be thankful, you have to actually train yourself to see what is positive, what is helpful and who is putting forth the effort. It is important to tell those who you are leading that you appreciate them. It is not enough for you to just think “Well, they know I am thankful.” To increase your effectiveness as a leader, you must show them that you are actually thankful.

8) Wear humility well. No one wears pride well. Arrogance like a bad attitude stinks. But humility is a fragrance that everyone wears well. Most leaders struggle with pride. It’s part of what has helped them succeed. However, their drive and passion, can easily be replaced by self-assurance and arrogance, which is distasteful and ineffective. Humility on the other hand is a beautiful trait that leaders must discipline themselves to practice at all times and in all situations. Humble leaders serve better, lead better and look better than proud leaders. A humble leader has learned to get their own ego out of the way so they can see others and see decisions with greater clarity, which increases their overall effectiveness. Humility also means if you fall you are much closer to the ground and it a much less painful drop.

9) Be a life-long learner. Never feel like you have arrived. Always take the attitude of one who is just starting out. When you get some praise or acclaim push it away and drive yourself to continue to learn. It is easy to have to learn when you are starting out. But, as you gain more leadership influence and leadership ground it requires much greater intentionality to continue to learn. Taking the attitude of a student, puts the leader in a position to be a better listener. Good learners are good listeners. Leaders who are poor listeners decrease their effectiveness. Leaders who are good listeners make better decisions and can read people and situations better. Students also study. It is important to do not do what you think is best, but study your organization and learn what success looks like in your organization, but what you think it looks like.

10) Get really good at the details. Too many leaders skip over the details because they are focused on “the bigger picture.” This is a mistake if you want to increase your effectiveness. Excellence is found in the details. It’s the small things that determine the consistency of the big things. Too many leaders see themselves as visionaries and “big picture” people, yet they have never disciplined themselves to know the details and uphold them. Vision is important, but vision is not the key to excellence. Desire is also not the key to excellence. Your vision and your desire may paint great dreams, but they do little to increase your effectiveness. Attention to detail is a critical trait that has immense power to multiply a leader’s effectiveness.

These ten things are not a comprehensive list, but they will most certainly increase your effectiveness as a leader if you begin to practice as many of them as possible with as much consistency as possible. Great effectiveness requires great responsibility. And great responsibility comes at a price.

“The price of greatness is responsibility” – Winston Churchill

 

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Building a Better Team

Great teams are hard to put together. To make a team you must build the team. Simply putting people together doesn’t make a team, it makes a group. A group is a loose association of members. A team is a tight. For teams to be tight, the fit must be right. If you want to find success as a team, then you must move from merely a group to a team that will go to great lengths to serve one another in pursuit of the team’s goals. As a leader, the decisions and choices you make will either build your team up or inadvertently tear your team down.

The team is always a reflection of the leader. If you want a better team, then work on becoming a better leader. The second you take your personal leadership growth for granted is the second your team starts falling apart. You can never take your team or your growth for granted. Leaders aren’t leaders without followers and followers make up the team. Many leaders complain about the quality of their team. This is a direct reflection of the leader. A complaining, selfish and whining leader will attract weak people. A humble, selfless and serving leader will attract strong people. I have a rule regarding people and that rule is “like attracts like.” People aren’t like magnet where opposites attract. This is why we have heroes and those we look up to—because people are drawn to people like them. If you allow negative people to influence your organization or if you, yourself, are negative, then that is who you will attract. But, if you get positive, stay positive and demand positivity then you will drive the negative away because they will stick out like a sore thumb. In my organization, our second Core Value is a “Positive Community.” If you can’t be positive, we promote you to customer. If you want a better team, then be a better leader.

The strongest teams have the clearest mission. Weak teams don’t know what they are doing, why they are doing it or where to start. Strong teams have clear missions. The English word mission really comes from the Spanish word “missio” and the subsequent Latin word “mittre” which meant “the sending” or “to send” as in Christianity in the sending of the Holy Spirit from God to His people. A mission has a transcendent purpose or call buried in it. This is why mission is always more powerful than a purpose or an objective. Objectives are markers on the mission’s road. It is imperative that leaders keep the mission simple and the communication clear. A mission is much more like a calling than merely picking a convenient purpose.

The best teams have the best culture. Culture is king on any successful team. The leaders of the team are the creators and carriers of culture. Without leaders, sub-cultures spawn and values are changed. Your values define your culture. If you want a new culture, then get new values. If someone wants to hijack your culture, then allow them to devalue your values and they will shortly be replaced. It is imperative to over-communicate and tie your values into everything you do on your team. Never meet, never communicate and never plan without keeping one or more of your team’s values as the driver of that objective. In recent years, my core values have become much clearer on my team. Every thing that touches a team member has one of our five core values embedded in it. Our orientation is where we discuss the values at length. Our interview guides and team member reviews all have our core values embedded in them. Former GE CEO Jack Welch simply said, “Culture drives great results.” If your culture is struggling, then you either haven’t transmitted your core values across your organization or you need new values.

Everyone on the team is replaceable. Yikes! This can feel scary and unknown and certainly there are some people that are very difficult to replace. So don’t miss this: some people are really hard to replace. But, everyone is replaceable. There is always someone else that can do the job and there is very often someone who can do the job or task better. This may not seem like this, but if we simply look at the records that exist in the world, each new generation finds a way to beat them. It may take a while and some things may have to change, but change is going to happen whether you want it to or not. There are times where we think believe that certain members of the team just can’t be replaced. But, these team members have stopped listening, aren’t coachable or have started negatively affecting the chemistry of the team.

As a member of the team, make yourself hard to replace. I don’t say irreplaceable, because everyone including the overall leader is replaceable. But work to make yourself very difficult to replace. Not because you are difficult to work with, withhold information or become obstinate, but because you are committed to personal growth and the growth over others on the team. Those who are committed to growth are hard to replace. This means always see yourself as a student. Keep learning. Stay humble and work hard to not be replaced. Recognizing that even you are able to be replaced will help you stay more humble. Team members that are hard to replace embrace the team’s values, carry the culture, work with conviction, have a growth mindset and work well with others. Team members that are easy to replace are focused primarily on one thing: themself. Being hard to replace means you focus on team goals over personal goals and others over self. It’s very difficult to replace selfless people.

Learn to replace yourself and you become hard to replace. When you learn, share. As y0u share what you learn, you are actually sharpening and strengthening those around you. Sharing is a selfless, sacrificial act. Share your best not your left overs. This means be intentional to pass on what you have learned or what you know with others. I believe God blesses this and in fact, I have seen it over and over again. As a leader who seeks to grow other leaders, I learned early on that I must share sooner what I have learned with those who are following me. There is very little I don’t share with those I am mentoring, training and teaching. Why? Because if you can learn earlier in your curve you can have longer, more sustainable success over the duration of your involvement–the growing leader can grow stronger, faster and get results earlier. Many leaders want to withhold information or knowledge because they want to be the grand dispenser of growth. Really what they want is to be in control. Leaders who learn to replace themselves are more interested in growth than control. If you want racehorses then you must expand the room they have to run. If you want mules then yoke them and hem them in, they wont go or grow very far.

Basketball Hall of Fame Coach John Wooden said, “The best way to improve your team is to improve yourself.” Improvement takes time, intention and challenge. Thinking about improvement and actually improving are two very different things. To get better people, you must become a better leader. The onus is on you, the leader, if you want to build a better team. This is a building work that is never done. There is always work to be done. Team work building never stops. The best teams are always highly committed to building a better team and continuously working on it.

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Every Slow Period is a Time to Refine

Every Slow Period is a Time to Refine

February 10, 2022

by Alex Vann

I remember 20 years ago when I became a business owner. The business started hot, but quickly, my sales disappeared and I was filled with disappointment. The weather was rough. The business was tough. And I didn’t know a soul. There was never any profit for the rest of that time in that business, so I just sunk lower. I started looking at all that I didn’t have and, eventually, all that others had. And, then even worse, all that I left behind. I had left a stable job with stable income in the town I was from. Until, I had a breakthrough mentally: God placed me here, so stop looking around for what I didn’t have and start focusing on what I do have.

God had given me a gift: time. Time is a treasure and you only have so much of it. You can lose it, waste it or you can redeem it. When you see time as a gift, you will be much more intentionally to use, spend and invest your time where it will do the most good for the most people. I had the time to review my soul, my self and my systems. Often, we don’t slow down enough to use our time well enough. When a slow down comes, suddenly, much of your time or your organization’s time becomes more available.

Slow periods can be incredible growth periods. 

Slow periods are times to examine what you actually have, not what you don’t have. When times get slow, use your time to narrow your focus, take away what you’ve allowed that shouldn’t be there and begin to look to add what you want to see in the future. In slow times, you don’t look to the future for comfort, you look to the future for preparation. If you use an axe all day to chop wood, then the next day and the next day for many consecutive days over a long period of time, something subtle happens that you don’t realize until you slow down: the axe became dull. Fast, busy seasons cause organizations and leaders to lose their sharpness. A slow time is a time to sharpen your axe. A clean blade means you expend less energy, so you become more productive. A dull axe means you have to use more energy to get the same result, eventually causing the results to plateau. Slow times are times to sharpen yourself, which leads to greater growth.

Slow Times are Periods of Refinement

Refinement doesn’t mean you relax. Relaxing means you slacken or loosen your grip, energy or effort in favor of a more comfortable position. Rest is different from relaxing. Rest is when you intentionally withdraw your energy in an effort to replenish your energy. Rest is also a time to settle. When you live in anxiety, worry and fear, you are being driven and it will be very difficult to experience true rest. Organizations and leaders are living with perpetual anxiety and constant worry. Rest is part of the rejuvenation that your body, soul and mind need that creates space that pushes those negative aspects away.

Slow Times are a Test

To refine something in the ancient times it was to put in a crucible. The crucible was the refining pot. The purpose of the pot was to draw away the impurities from what was pure—it separated the bad from the good and the weak from the strong.

“Remove the dross from the silver, and a silversmith can produce a vessel” Proverbs 25:4

Be a peoplesmith. Slow times give you times to refine yourself and your craft. There are no craftsmen and craftswomen without producing an actual craft. To be a smithy, you must have material (resources), get rid of the dross (refinement) and produce the craft (results).

The Slow Times Make the Stuff Stick Out

There is no hiding in slow times. When it’s slow, stuff sticks out. Slack people, uncleanliness, bad habits, poor stewardship, unproductive systems, ill-discipline and a sloppy organization really comes to light. Volume covers a multitude of sins. Volume is not an indicator of being a good steward. In fact it is easier to be a poor steward in higher volumes because it’s easier to overlook waste, sloppiness and disorganization.

Slow Times are Times to Show Appreciation

Thank God for the slow period. Slow times give us a chance to take inventory of what we need versus what we accepted. This is a great place to start to show appreciation. Be thankful for what you have and who has helped you. Appreciation has a way of unlocking things in our lives, leadership and organizations. This is the time to get back ahead in your plans, your preparation and your energy. This little lull is a God-given rest for many. Use it wisely. It’s too easy to hit the panic button. Don’t do it. Hit the praise button, slow your thinking down, slow your decisions down and start trimming away the fat.

Use Slow Times to Break Bad Habits

Busy drives you to bad habits. Survival reinforces particular habits. Slow times are times to break bad habits and refine and retrain. Sometimes this is your mind and your body. Sometimes this is your team and your systems. Sometimes, this is simply your mindset. Busy can drive your thought process to be lopsided and tainted. Slowing down mentally can allow you to rediscover healthy thought processes.

In times of refinement first, take a careful inventory. Second, begin to remove what doesn’t belong. And third, replace with what is necessary. Lean muscle is strong muscle. Bad habits make you weak. They weaken you individually and they weaken you organizationally. Use the slow times to eradicate bad habits by starting new, good habits. Make your systems, people and process as lean as possible. Then, press into your people. Get your focus off of what you don’t have or what you project you won’t have. Fixated on unpleasant things produces one thing: a mind fixated on doom. Don’t live in doom. Refine your field and prepare for the next season when it will bloom.

Don’t Watch the Clock During a Slow Season

Before there were GPS’s in cars and mobile phones in cars, to drive on a trip you had to have a map and patience. There was no countdown clock until you next turn or your next arrival. All that existed was the clock in your parent’s head and staring out the window wondering, “Are we there yet?” There is no clock on a season of refinement. It lasts as long as the reset or revival takes. Don’t try to rush your refinement, simply try to squeeze as much juice as you can out of those lemon rinds and organize all that you can. Spending your time wondering and obsessing over “Am I there yet?” is punishment both to you and to those you lead. You will get there when you get there.

Don’t Squeeze Tightly on What you Can’t Control

Life is simple: there are a few things you actually control and many more things you have very little to no control over at all. Slow times remind you that there is much you don’t control. Relax your grip and slow down your grind.  Perhaps you need to rediscover why you started out on your journey in the first place. Perhaps, you need to re-surrender your calling to Almighty God. Perhaps, you simply need to learn that you aren’t in control. God showed me during that really slow season when I started my business that he can grow my field (business, life, relationships) far better than I can on my own. My job is to work the field. The scope of my responsibility is to work the field by enlisting fellow laborers and trusting that God will send the increase. Until such a harvest comes, prepare yourself, prepare others and prepare for all that God might do.

Slow Times Reveal Your Faith

Max Lucado said, “Faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about life and He will get us through it. God is still in control.” As a Christian, I firmly believe that God is in control. As a human, I often live like that God is not in control. Slow times reveal the measure of faith you are really living with. You need very little faith when you aren’t in a test. Slow times really reveal how much you actually believe what you say you believe. If you have built a good system, with good people and have good processes, then have faith that things will get better. Perhaps, your slow time is really just a test of your faith after all and your faith is really being refined. The Apostle Peter had these words for some tough times of those he was leading nearly 2,000 years ago, “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1:7).