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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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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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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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How to Get Promoted – Common Mistakes Young Leaders Make

Do you want to get promoted?

Most people do!

Yes, most people who are working want a promotion. A few don’t, but the majority of the young leaders that I have worked with for over 25 years all desire promotion.  Promotion is a good thing. But, it’s not the only thing, biggest thing or defining thing of your life. Promotion comes and goes. It can be a sign of growth, development and advancement. Simply, promotion means advancement, progress and development. It is something that most ambitious young leaders really desire and work hard for…or they think they are working hard for.

Sometimes what or why we want promotion is actually for the wrong reasons. There are some common mistakes and misunderstandings about promotion. A better understanding of what promotion is and isn’t will allow you better to prepare for it.

What is Promotion?

Promotion is More than Recognition

Promotion means more than recognition. Yes, recognition is a part of promotion, but if you are immature, all you are working for is recognition. Recognition comes and goes and it goes more often than it comes. Work with a purpose, work with a passion and work to get results. Don’t work for recognition. If you do you will be sorely and frequently disappointed. Promotion is good. Don’t make promotion about recognition. Make promotion about results. Learn how to get the best results, teach others how to get the best results and promotion is a door that will not be too far in your distant future.

Promotion is Not More Important than Accomplishment

The famed business leader Peter Drucker says, “Promotion is not more important than accomplishment.” Promotion is not an accomplishment. It may feel like accomplishment. But, in reality, accomplishment is more powerful, more lasting and more impactful than a promotion. Accomplishment is what you achieved, what you’ve done and the results you’ve gotten. Accomplishment is not what you think you can do, but what you have actually done. Work to accomplish things. Don’t work to get promoted. Accomplishment is more meaningful than promotion.

Four Elements of Promotion: Potential, Impact, Accomplishment & Humility

Many young leaders and even veteran team members think “I deserve a promotion.” But that is because they are mentally measuring or having someone other than the boss tell them about their potential or their perceived impact. Potential, alone, does not merit a promotion.  Perceived impact, too, does not merit a promotion. Perceived impact is the difference you think you are making to others or the organization. Real impact is a difference validated by those in authority over you. Potential plus real impact plus accomplishment puts you in the conversation for a promotion (if one even exists).  There is no guarantee for promotion. The fourth and most important element is humility. I simply will not promote someone in my organization who lacks real humility. If you think you are humble and say to others that you are humble, you probably are full of pride and lack real humility. Humility is the force multiplier for promotion and simply why many who have climbed get stuck. Promoting a person full of pride, absent of real humility, will have devastating affects on the organization, moral and others.

I encourage my young leaders to work on personal development and personal accomplishment and then when the time is right, the opportunity will open. This is where the humility enters in–you don’t demand, you wait. Patience takes humility.  I simply have seen too many young leaders with lots of potential but their potential is paired with impatience, a lack of real impact and very little accomplishment. I’ve seen too many young leaders miss out on their potential promotion because they left, quit or checked out too early.

Four things you need to get in the conversation for promotion: potential, real impact, real accomplishment and humility.

Why do we want to be promoted?

We want a promotion for one of several reasons. The first reason is we may want to make more money. We assume, with a promotion comes more compensation. Secondly, we may want a promotion to have more authority or control over what we or others  are doing. Thirdly, we may want a promotion so we can be viewed or view ourselves as successful. Fourthly, we may want a promotion because we believe we have earned it or deserve it, even if we are not sure what comes next or what a promotion means. Fifthly, we may want a promotion because we believe we could do a better job leading or directing than the person “above them”. Finally, we may simply want a promotion because we feel stuck or un-engaged in our current role or position.

  1. Don’t view promotion as climbing a ladder.

Promotion is not climbing a ladder. The problem with climbing a ladder is eventually you run out of rungs of the ladder. Then, where do you go? What do you do? Promotion should not be viewed as climbing a ladder, because you will simply be focused on the next rung, as opposed to make the place where you are at the most effective and most productive that it can be. Promotion is more like an opportunity. View promotion as more door than ladder rung. A door you walk through. A rung you step on, hold on to and eventually leave behind. Sometimes, you simply aren’t ready to walk through the door. A door you can only be partially certain what lies behind it and what it opens to.

View: Promotion as a door that opens versus a rung you climb on.

2. Don’t think of promotion for more money.

Life is not about making money. That being said, you need to have a proper view of money. You need money to live. This is one of the reasons why you work. I like making money. But, I believe you have to develop a proper perspective of what money is and what it is not. I believe that money is simply a tool or a resource that allows a skilled individual to leverage the tool or resource in a way that creates opportunity, freedom and discovery. However, if you just want to get a promotion to get more money, then you are basically a mercenary. A mercenary is a soldier for hire. Mercenaries have no loyalty except to their wages. They are not loyal and not very trustworthy, because they lack commitment because they are always in a pursuit of more compensation. Truly successful leaders who gain promotion are not in it “to make money”. They are in it to make things better, make lives better, make things more productive and more effective.

View: Promotion is the opportunity not to make more money but to make elements of your job more effective and more productive.

3. Don’t think of promotion as an arrival.

Too many individuals think if they can just get promoted to the next level they will have “made it.” Listen, while you are on earth, there is more to learn, more to do and more to grow in. Promotion is not an arrival. Promotion is not a destination. Many individuals will work really hard to get promoted and then once they gain the promotion they feel as if they have arrived. Another way to say they have arrived is “entitlement.” Entitlement is the belief that you are owed or deserve something. Instead of working hard, they make others do the hard work. They abandon the practices and principles that got them promoted in the first place. This is why many young leaders get promoted and then get stuck. They unintentionally start thinking and working like they have arrived. It is often evident to every one but the one who got promoted. Promotion is not an arrival it is a step in your growth and it should encourage you to keep learning and keep discovery. Entitlement kills both growth and opportunity. Avoid it at all costs.

View: Promotion is simply one step on your journey of self-discovery and growth.

4. Don’t view promotion as the ultimate sign of recognition.

If you want to be a great leader, stop worrying about recognition. Rather, put your focus on the results over recognition. Recognition is cheap, but results are not. You want your boss to notice you? You know what bosses notice: results! Too many young leaders think that when the boss’s eyes are on them they need to perform. They are wrong, it is more critical to perform and get results when the boss’s eyes are not on them. The boss knows, because the boss knows the business and the business is measurable by results. Promotion should be an acknowledgement of results, not recognition. Some results are harder to get than others. The young leader desiring promotion needs to put their head down, accept that life isn’t fair and you can’t be anything you want to be and get to work. More than getting promoted, young leaders need to learn patience and resilience. You are not more valuable because you get promoted. You will have more responsibility, more pressure and more demand for your time if you get promoted. Most people are ready for what comes with promotion. This is why compensation rises with promotion. Because more is expected and their is greater risk & pressure as you are promoted. Many young people think a promotion means less work and more money. They are grievously wrong. As you rise pressure and risk rise. This is why those who are “higher” in the organization have more liberty and greater compensation.

 

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The Power of the Pause

Many leaders today are simply worn out. With so much change, volatility and uncertainty, it is simply exhausting. What you are feeling are the effects of living in a chaotic, constantly changing environment. Chaos is energy out of control. It is exhausting for everyone, but especially the leader. Not only does your body need order, but so to does your mind. We must discover and practice the power of the pause.

In the midst of exhaustion or fatigue, a pause will give you a moment of replenishment, especially if you spend that moment of pause wisely.

The leader is under more pressure, more stress and has more demands during a time such as the one we are currently experiencing. Exhaustion comes from sustained exertion. We are in a prolonged season where our minds are constantly racing, our bodies are constantly working and our minds are not at rest. There is new info, no info, changing info and conflicting info. All of this information creates a vortex, a whirlwind of stimulation. Every new piece of information causes a domino effect of decisions and reactions within us. It is like being in a race that you can’t stop running where there is no finish line and the course is unmarked. It often feels like a race in the dark with a gut punch here and a trip and fall there! This race creates fatigue. A race is run to be won and finished. You rest after the race. During the race, you pause. A rest is a hard stop. A pause is a temporary halt. To be effective in seasons such as this, prolonged rest may not be an option, but a pattern of pauses certainly can be.

A pause is a temporary halt. To be successful, you cannot have your mind racing all day every day, but your mind is probably needed all day every day. However, it is okay to halt the action—to pause. You have permission to pause. You must learn to pause. Good pauses lead to better thought. No pauses lead to emotional, absent-minded reactions and responses. It is better to pause, than to push when you are fatigued. A pause allows you to slow your spinning mind down. Uncaptured thoughts spin through our minds like a toddler in a fine china shop. A pause allows our mind to catch up to the thought, subdue it and bring it under control. An exhausted life leads to a mushy mind.

If you are a leader, then there is a high probability that you and or your organization are experiencing the signs and or symptoms of exhaustion. This sustained and “unprecedented” crisis followed by significant social upheaval and unrest causes the leader/community leader/financial planner/coach/counselor/spouse/voice of calm/parent/business person a great deal of sustained pressure and stress. The challenge of a crisis is there is no perceived finish line.

Afraid to let your guard down. It’s hard to prepare and plan for a field that constantly is changing, a landscape that has no predictable rhythm or a cycle that is un-cyclical and turbulent. Leaders today are tired both mentally and physically, but afraid to let their guard down for fear of a new twist, a new turn or a new trouble. This exhaustion has come from feeling, believing and not being able to “turn off.” Leaders for the past several months have had to “be on” all the time. This constant position of being on can lead to breakdowns, shutdowns and meltdowns.

Beware of mental meltdown. An overwhelmed mind will lead to broken down decisions. This means when your mind is tired your judgment, your attitude and your actions often suffer. An overwhelmed mind will not have the focus that a leader needs. Clearing your mind is not effective, because clearing your mind doesn’t clear the concerns or the challenges in front of you. Resting your mind and renewing your mind are absolutely essential.

Every journey requires, among many other things, faith. The first thing to go when your mind begins to melt or turn to mush is often your faith.

Your mind gets dull, it must be renewed. Your mind gets tired, it must be rested. Your mind gets empty, it must be replenished. Your mind gets mushy, it must be sharpened. Your mind gets confused, it must be enlightened. Your mind gets narrow, it must be opened. Your mind gets weak, it must be strengthened. Your mind gets loose, it must be focused.

Your life is a journey. Every journey requires, among many other things, faith. The first thing to go when your mind begins to melt or turn to mush is often your faith. When your faith goes, your problems grow, the finish line disappears and the walls feel like they are closing in. You being to feel like your work is futile.

Faith in your soul is iron in your mind. Great effort takes great mental energy. Energy is both renewable and depletable. It is easier to spend energy and for energy to be drained than it is to be replenished. Replenishment takes one thing: time. You can spend or drain energy quickly, but the renewal and restoration of energy takes much longer. A pause will give you a moment of replenishment, especially if you spend that moment of pause wisely. We are pausing, but we are not pausing wisely.

In exhaustion the first thing to not function correctly is the mind.

You are tired.

You can’t focus.

Everything is not at rest.

You are giving great effort.

Many people are depending on you.

Pause.

Do simple things.

Pause.

Do things, simple things, with pleasant people.

All people need pauses.

Learn to pause.

And in your pause, pray.

In the pause, pass on things the that don’t settle your soul or renew your mind.

Learning to pause teaches you how to endure. Endurance is strength over time. You need strength. You need mental strength. You need mental sharpness. But, the forces around you are sapping, draining and overstimulating your mind. Your thoughts are a form of mental energy. Uncontrolled mental energy is a collection of thoughts that will stir you up, steal your peace and sap your strength.

The power of the pause puts those chaotic thoughts back in their place. The power of the pause allows you some much needed mental margin. The power of the pause allows you to recalibrate.

“Be still and know that I am God”
Psalm 46:10

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Leadership Lesson: Doing the Right Thing Makes the Biggest Difference

Leadership Lesson:  Doing the right thing always makes the biggest difference. 

Don’t walk by wrong when you know what’s right. Don’t accept wrong, when you already know right. You don’t know right, you do right. You act right. You get it right. 

“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

You don’t do right to get an advantage. You do right because right is the advantage. Some people will try to do right because they think it puts them in a more favorable position, but they are not truly concerned about the correctness of the act.

Right always strengthens your position, even if you don’t see it at the time. When you do wrong and allow wrong, you are actually weakening your position. Wrong doesn’t change things for the better.

Doing right is always an investment in your longevity. When you do wrong you are sapping your strength and shortening the influence and impact you can have over time. Doing the right thing makes the thing last longer, produce more and sustain better.

The ability to make a difference is negated or neutralized when you don’t do the right thing. Doing the wrong thing or even maintaining a neutrality and indifference to what is right shortens your impact-span or life-span. Your impact-span is your ability to make a positive impact over time.

“To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:3)

Popularity does not make right.  Success does not make right. Power does not make right. Beware of a popular decision that sound good, but before God isn’t right. Beware of your success. Success will often blind you over time to what is right. Beware of unchecked power. Power unrestrained is not an admonition of what is right. Power is simply a force to do what is right. God is the ultimate judge of what is right. It is more important to be right in God’s eyes than right in the world’s eyes.

Right with God brings unseen blessing and favor at a time when you need it most.  Do the right thing and trust God with the fruit, the outcome or the results.

God honors those who do right.

 

(C) Alex Vann

 

 

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Leadership Lesson: Leaders Don’t Work Alone

Leadership Lesson:

Leaders don’t work alone.

If all of your thought, effort and energy (the sun total of your work) are all done apart from those you lead, you will never be a truly effective leader. Leaders have to work with those around them. In fact, they need to work closely with those other people around them—this is called community.

“Legions and fleets are not such sure bulwarks of imperial power as a numerous family”

-Tacitus

Isolation, when a leader works alone, weakens community.

The strongest organizations have the strongest culture. Culture is transmitted, stewarded and reinforced in the context of community. Culture is the sum of the values, standards and beliefs that are held collectively and are part of the heritage of the group. Each new team member we bring on board is being brought into our community. Each new customer that walks through our doors is coming into our community. Every community needs leaders who are accessible, present and available.

Avoidance, when a leader draws away, weakens accountability.

Every strong culture and strong community has an element of strong accountability. Accountability is where we hold one another answerable for actions, consequences and responsibilities.   Accountability is where a community becomes a family. The strongest communities are made of the strongest families.

Family is where community and accountability meet care.

Leaders who don’t work closely with their people, their teams and their followers have a much more difficulty time demonstrating that they care. Part of showing you care is being there. Thankfully, there are more ways than ever to connect these days, abut leaders must never forget that there is no substitute for their presence.

Leaders must engage, encourage and enlist others on each step of the journey for a work that is beyond what any one single member, including leaders, can accomplish.

“For the body does not consist of one member but of many” 

– 1 Corinthians 12:14

 

(c) Alex Vann

 

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Getting the Lag out of Your Life

Lag is the difference between where you should be and where you actually are. 

Lag isn’t what makes us lazy, but it is the condition that perpetuates procrastination, sloth and habitual tardiness. Lag is the distance between what you are doing and what you should be doing. Very rarely, lag is intentional. Most often lag is unintentional and it is the reason that we don’t get more done, see more results and take more calculated risks. 

Principle: Until you get the lag out of your life, lag will lead your life. 

Lag is inefficiency. 

Your life, your leadership and your relationships don’t benefit from unintentional lag. You are living an inefficient life. You don’t have a fuller or a richer life when there is an abundance of lag in and around your day, your habits and your thoughts. Lag actually allows your life, your thoughts and your decisions to become more complicated and often confused. This is because lag creates unnecessary space between the thought & decision and the intention & the action. It is easy to believe we all need more space, but this is not true. Where there is unintentional lag, there is waste. A lagging life is often a wasted life.

Lag is not a reaction of rest, but a result of comfort.

The opposite of lag is margin. Margin is positive space that you create or generate because of your simplicity, efficiency and intentionality. Lag is negative space that is created and generated when you are unintentional, lackadaisical, and often too emotional. Efficient people create margin. Efficient parents create margin. Efficient students create margin. And efficient leaders create margin. Margin creates the opportunity for innovation, growth and development.

Margin is where we take new territory, innovate and expand our thinking. 

Lag doesn’t kill margin. Lag is the absence of margin. Lag is the presence of deficit in your life. Lag means you are behind. Many people don’t realize they are behind or rather, they don’t realize how far behind they are. When you allow lag to dominate your life, your thinking and your activities, then you will waste resources, energy and opportunity. Lag is an opportunity killer. The expression, “the early bird gets the worm” is true in this regard. Those who lag are those who lose out.

How to get rid of lag in your life:

  • Meet with enthusiasm
  • Take a risk
  • Shun comfort 
  • Stop dreaming and make a decision 
  • Don’t look back 

Meet with Enthusiasm. This simply means you need to direct the level of energy straight into the lag: get up earlier, work longer, make a better list and attack with energy. Enthusiasm means all your energy. There are two reasons we have so much lag and so little enthusiasm: (1) we waste our energy on the wrong pursuits & (2) we are half-hearted in our attempts. Learn to say “no” more often. Every time you say yes, you are committing your energy. When you say yes to the wrong things you waste and misdirect your energy. Don’t go unless you can give all your heart. This means don’t show up with one foot in the door and one foot at. Be all in when you are present. 

Take a Risk. Value what you can gain over what you can lose. It’s better to have risked than lost, than sit and fade. Risk is what keeps us sharp. For a Christian, there is no faith without risk. Risk causes us to tighten up and reduce the lag. You face risks everyday wether you see or experience them. So be prepared and make a bold move. Sometimes all your life, your relationships and your organization needs one, little bold step. Sometimes this is the catalyst to kill lag and cause margin. 

Shun Comfort. Comfort is a lag reinforcer. Production doesn’t come through comfort. When you think, live and relate toward comfort you will never get to where you need to be. You will live in the land of lag. You will never quite understand why things don’t quite work like they should for you. So, you say “Why try?” “Why risk?” and you grab another doughnut and watch the world go by. 

Stop Dreaming and Make a Decision. Laggers are those that are characterized by indecision. No one follows an indecisive leader…for long. There is nothing good about being a dreamer who never sees a dream come true. Spend less time dreaming and more time making decisions. Dreams don’t take you places, decisions do. Dreams describe places. Decisions make places. Too much dreaming with too little doing reinforces lag in your living. 

Don’t look back. Looking back longingly is a trait of laggers. There is a difference between a glance and a stare. Staring at the past will never promote your future. We stare at the past and as if we could bring it closer to us. This increases the lag in your life. The world doesn’t stop moving. But when you do, you get left behind. This is one reason why we fail to innovate and create and take risks, we are stuck looking back pining for the good ole days. They may have been good, but they are gone. 

You cannot be an effective leader if you live and operate in lag. There is a season for slow, but slow is not lag. There will be times where you need to slow the ship down or dock into the harbor and wait. That is not lag. Lag is missing a turn, getting left behind and missing your port of call. Leaders must lead with enthusiasm not only being in front of their team, but with and behind. A leader must move through the organization to ensure that no one part is lagging behind. Laggers are losers. Get the lag out. Leaders get the lag out.

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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You are not a Leader if …

You are not a leader if you aren’t developing others. 

“The growth and development of others is the highest calling of leadership”

~Harvey Firestone 

Leadership is about development: both self and others. You can’t remain the same and still develop better people. Better people come from a better you.  People are like gardens, they need development–they need a gardener. I’ve changed my title to “People Developer.” This is my daily reminder and my public accountability that as the chief leader in my organization that one of the most critical roles I serve the people in my organization is to see myself as a developer and to facilitate opportunities for development.

Promote Growth & Develop Maturity

To develop simply means “to promote growth” or “encourage maturity.” There are many leaders who are hindering growth and discouraging maturity both their own and others. No one ever develops simply by showing up. Development takes intentionality, instruction and care. Even if you are not the primary leader in your organization, find someone to develop, someone to pour into–to promote growth and encourage maturity.

Becoming a Ruler instead of a Developer

If you are in a leadership position but not developing anyone else, then all you are is a ruler. The world has been full of rulers and is full of rulers. They look like leaders, but they aren’t. They rule others when they should be reaching out to others. To rule means “to exercise control over.” Rulers are more about control and dominion they are about construction and development. They seclude themselves when they should show themselves. They feel important instead of making others feel important. Rulers see themselves above those they lead, instead of seeing themselves beneath them.

A ruler, pure and simple, means you have the responsibility of the position and the authority it offers, but if you aren’t reaching back, with significant effort to see that you are personally engaging and facilitating development opportunities in the next generation of potential leaders. 

Rulers have subjects. Leaders have followers.

Most of modern leadership is simply rulership. A ruler has subjects. A subject is a person who is ruled by another. If you show up and just rule people, you will never produce anything but more jaded rulers that come after you. You will not create anything anyone wants to emulate. You will only create something that another will want to annihilate. Leadership is a practice of serving others in a manner that is emulated by those that follow you. Rulers are filled with fear. Leaders filled with faith. Rulers have subjects. Leaders have followers. Subjects serve you. Followers are served by you.

A ruler is a leader without a legacy. 

The only way to truly have a legacy is to pass on and pour into the generation that comes behind you and will go beyond you. This does not mean that they will be more or less successful than you. It simply means that you are personally seeing to it the the next group of future leaders has been prepared for their time, for their season. You are preparing them for or presenting them with an opportunity. The greatest legacy you can ever leave is to fully impact the lives of those that follow behind you.

Life is a series of taking turns. Leadership is preparing others for their turn.

Jesus prepared his followers for their turn. He spent an inordinate amount of time with them in close proximity sharpening them, encouraging and developing them. He walked with them, talked with them and ate with them. Leaders must spend quantities of quality time with those they will develop. A random meeting sporadically isn’t a pattern of effective development. Development is a series of observations and interactions that are intentional and frequent.

How effective are you at preparing those who come behind you?

The way to be truly effective is to keep one eye on the clock and one eye on the crop. You will not lead or last forever. This means you have one eye on the clock. But neither will you always have access to all the resources you have currently, this is one eye on the crop.

You can’t develop others without stepping out of the way. This does not mean you abdicate your authority, but rather release some of your authority. Authority like cheese is best served in slices. Eating a whole block of cheese isn’t good for anyone! 

The Lesson of the Bucket and the Cup 

I spend the majority of my time thinking about the development of those I’ve been entrusted with. They are not “my people,” they don’t belong to me. I am simply a steward. This means that some people are impossible for me to develop. I want those entrusted to me to achieve greater and better than me. My true success is in the production of their lives. Leaders are more concerned with the production of another’s life than being recognized for their own.  This is stewardship. And as a steward, it is my responsibility to draw the best out of them and prepare them best that I can.

Authority is like a bucket of water. I have the bucket and they (those I am developing) have the cup (God has the river). If they aren’t willing to receive what I am pouring into their cup, then they are unwilling to be developed by me. If they want a bucket before they learn how to hold and handle a cup, then they don’t get my bucket. Teach others how to hold and handle a cup (small amounts) before they get the bucket (large amounts).  The reason you get a cup before a bucket is that we spill water. When we spill we waste. Spilling from a cup wastes far less than spilling from a bucket. Cup before bucket.

Leadership develops Friendship

Jesus said, “As you are going, make disciples (learners).”  Your job as a leader is not to make a kingdom, a cult or a cast of characters, but a learner. The only way to make learners is to share your learning.

The most effective way to make a disciple or develop a future leader is to (a) teach them what you know and (b) give them an opportunity to demonstrate it. This can only happen as you take them into your confidence. They can’t handle hearing everything, but they need something. 

I regularly take my leaders into a closed door room and share my heart, my frustrations or my joys. Then, I get their feedback. I let them hear how I arrived at decisions. I ask them how they feel about things, then I tell them how I feel. See, I’m not only trying to develop others, but becoming friends. I’m allowing them into my heart and my mind. This is transparency. Rulers have friends by right. Leaders have friends by relationship. Some of the greatest joys of my entire life have been those that have worked for me to really work with me as friends and peers. This is the model that Jesus set:

“No longer do I call you servants [subjects], for the servant [subject] does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” 

~Jesus 

You are not a leader if you aren’t developing others. 

(C) Alex Vann, 2018