Category Archives: Work

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Millennial Leadership Lesson #1- Execution trumps Examination

Leadership Lesson #1 :  Execution trumps Examination

(Implementation over Intentions & Inspection)

If all you do is identify solutions to the problem, but never implement steps to solve the problem, then you are part of the problem.

Every organization, every team and every set of relationship is going to have problems. The questions is not “Do we have problems?” But, rather, “How do we solve this particular problem in a way that we don’t have to repeat it?” The key is execution over examination. Examination is needed, but it’s easy.

Execution is the hard thing and hard things need hard hats! (Well get to that analogy in a moment).

The challenge in many of our organizations is that we have given the millennial generation new titles, new responsibilities, new salaries and new authorities, but we haven’t taught them how to solve old problems. We’ve created a culture of constant feedback, which devolves into a bunch of solutions with little to no implementation. A bunch of discussion never solved a problem, but a bunch of people might. Thus, it is critical to bring your people into a progression that leads to more implementation, not more discussion. Solutions are only solutions if they lead to results, otherwise, you’ve created more examination without execution. Don’t miss this, there is a time for a examination, but examination never solved a problem. Identification is not execution. Be careful in your leadership that you don’t mistake assessing the problem as correcting the problem.

A solution without implementation only creates more frustration.

Organizations have learned that Millennials need feedback like no other generation before. This has contributed to more meetings, more discussion with fewer results. Healthy organizations avoid round-and-round discussions that don’t lead to implementation. Unhealthy organizations, teams and groups come up with constant solutions from frequent discussions that lead to action but no traction.  This is more than coming up with a list of action items at your next meeting. Implementation requires a problem, a priority, a plan and implementation. You can have action without implementation.

What is Implementation?

Implementation is traction. Implementation is execution. Implementation is not an idea. Implementation is the process by which a plan is executed. Implementation requires intentional and definitive steps. These steps lead to points of no return. Until a leader, an organization and a team determines that collectively “they will not go back,” then implementation is not a reality.

Implementation is a serious commitment by those involved in the direction, activation and accountability of the organization to address a problem and execute a plan to correct the issue.

Inspectors vs. Hard Hats

Leaders are not inspectors, they are hard hats. A hard hat is someone on a construction site who has a tool belt, tools and the knowledge to “go to work.” Hard hats wear their hat every day, because they are going to place themselves in a potentially dangerous place to make progress and execute the building plans. Hard hats see the difficulty and address the solutions in reality that produces a stable outcome.

Leadership is hard work, thus it requires a hard hat.

Inspectors are around the work, but not in the work. Inspectors like to walk around job-sites to examine how things are going to be done. Remember, implementation is not examination, it is execution!

A good construction supervisor or general contractor will do such an efficient and effective job on his job that the inspector has little to see or do. Inspectors don’t get dirty, they simply identify problems, address what code is unmet, and then, talk about solutions. It is up to the hard hats to go to work and get it done. Leadership meets and exceeds the standard. Leadership is more than talking about solutions, it is getting results. This is the same mentality that leaders in any organization must take in order to implement real solutions to real problems. Inspectors love to diagnosis problems and dream up solutions. Hard hats love digging in and getting dirty to solve the problem. Only math problems are solved on paper, every other kind of problem is solved by real people who actually implement a solution.

Many organizations correctly diagnosis a problem and identify a solution, but then fail to actually implement that solution to completion. A construction project is not finished until the “punch list” has been checked off and the job completed. Too many leaders leave unfinished work for someone else to come along and try to solve. Leaders who fail to implement their solutions are immature, weak or lazy. None of which inspire confidence in their followers.

Leaders who fail to follow through will ultimately fail to keep followers.

If you read this article and you realize that you don’t have as much trust from senior leadership in your organization or no one ever implements your solutions, then most likely you are largely ineffective as a leader. You are carrying the clipboard of an inspector, instead of strapping on your tool belt of a hard hat and getting the job d0ne.  A leader, by definition, has influence and can influence others toward a goal or result. If you are constantly frustrated by the lack of others’ willingness to embrace your ideas and solutions, then you probably need a healthy dose of self-examination.

 

“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.”

Peter Drucker

 

 

(c) Alex Vann. 2017.

 

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How to Select Better Talent: The Key is Chemistry

Do you need help selecting the right people?

Are you struggling to land the best people you can for the best position possible? Are you finding it difficult to determine if a candidate really will work well for you and with you. People selection is one of the most critical and difficult tasks for any leader on any team or in any organization. There is a war for talent and this clouds and confuses the talent selection process because there is more pressure to make the right selection than ever before. 

The Challenge  

Let’s assume you and your HR team have done your home work and you are looking at multiple candidates that are all qualified. You are debating with your team and with your self about if and who would be the “right” fit for the position. Let’s further assume you’ve hired or promoted some people in the past that either didn’t work or were just complete disasters. This fact is putting extra pressure on you to really get this selection right.

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The Chemistry of Selecting People 

Selecting people is like chemistry. Electing people is like politics. Both can be explosive. But chemistry is more predictable. Think of your selecting like chemistry. In chemistry, you don’t just pour a bunch of random chemicals into a beaker and hope for the best. If you do that you will create a potential poison gas or an explosion. Rather, you select chemicals that will react well and compliment one another. This is predictable. There is an art and a science to selecting people. Get in your mind that hiring and promoting people is a selection, not an election.

The Tool: Chemistry Checklist

I have developed a quick checklist when I get down to the final decision that will help you decide if the chemistry clicks. When you get down to the end of the process, review these things to make sure you are not going to mess up the chemistry in your organization. It, literally, just takes the wrong element at the wrong time to bring instability and tension to your chemistry.  These four elements were actually from a series of conversations that I had with my brother who is a very successful senior manager of a large corporation. He and I are in different organizations, but are really both in the talent acquisition business. Those who excel in talent acquisition are good at people chemistry.

Chemistry that Clicks Checklist:

#1 – Led: (A willing follower) The first thing I am going to examine is whether or not I believe that this candidate has a willingness to be led by me, the immediate supervisor and the organization.

Ask yourself, “Will this person follow me? Does this person have a willingness to be led?” 

If a candidate comes in to exert their efficiency, expertise or knowledge, then I can expect chemistry concerns from the very beginning. A person that can be led is potentially a person that can lead. People that don’t follow don’t belong in your organization. Everyone is led by someone. In your final selection process make a determination whether or not you believe this person can be led by you. I’m not suggesting you are looking for unmotivated, uninspired people (that should have already been determined or you shouldn’t be to this point). I’m suggesting you examine the motivations of the candidates ticker. What makes them tick? What drives them?

A person that can be led by you can be fed by you. This is a key component in developing people in your organization.

#2 – Listen: (A good listener) The next element of chemistry I am looking for is to discern how good a listener this candidate is. People who are poor listeners typically are good talkers. Good talkers need to be heard. Beware of a need to be heard. You should have already determined that this person has been able to communicate their ability and you believe them. Ask them questions to asses their ability to listen.

Ask yourself, “Is this person someone I can see really listening to me?” 

Good listeners make good learners. It’s impossible to listen if you are distracted or doing all the talking. Beware of people that “don’t come up for air” when they are speaking. Basically, these people have not learned to read the person (in this case you) that they are communicating with. Poor listeners are often poor people readers. Poor listeners often have very poor emotional intelligence. Good chemistry always has a basis of good communication.

#3 – Loyalty: (A strong bonder) The longer I work with people, the more I have learned how valuable and irreplaceable loyalty really is for an organization or a relationship. Loyal people are harder and harder to come by. I think, however, there is some confusion as to what loyalty really is. To be loyal is to be faithful. This is a deeper understanding of loyalty. Loyalty is where integrity meets faithfulness. Faithful people are loyal people.

Ask yourself, “Do I see this candidate as someone who will be loyal to me and my team? Will this person stay on my team or become a team of their own?” 

In an age where commitment is at an all time low, uncommitted and unfaithful people mess your chemistry up. Why? Because disloyal people are inconsistent. Inconsistency causes those in the organization or in the team to question both the motivation and the sincerity of the individual. Inconsistency causes instability. Loyal people bring stability to the team. Loyalty is an element in a selection that will actually help bond your relationship, team or organization together. Strong bonds make for strong teams. Loyalty makes good glue in people chemistry.

#4 – Like-ability: (a good friend) This is the simplest one of all the elements. This comes from your heart to their heart. You, as a person, not the boss, not the leader, not the manager, just you, are wondering if you really like this person or not. I have found that if I am going to select people, I don’t want to have to convince myself that I like them. I don’t want to change my own chemistry to get their element to fit with my chemistry. Remember, you are in the position in your team or organization for a reason and you were there first. You are a leader for a reason. Leaders must protect the chemistry. This means, you get the first right of refusal. Sometimes, you just don’t “like” the candidate more than you like the one you just met with. This is fine. Don’t talk yourself into liking a candidate, this almost never works. If something in you doesn’t connect with something in them, then move on because you are in danger of messing up your chemistry.

Ask yourself, “Do I connect this person? Do I like this person? Will I like them more or less in the next couple of months than I do now?” 

I write this from more than 20 years experience of selecting people. Sometimes, you can’t explain it. You look at the candidate, you look at their resume and everything looks good, but you just don’t connect with them on any level or more importantly on the deepest levels. Don’t make yourself connect with them. You are a human. Most likely, if you’ve read this far in this article, you work with other humans. Not all humans like each other. Some chemicals react negatively with other chemicals, just like some people react negatively with other people. That’s okay. Don’t bring people into your sphere of influence if the chemistry doesn’t click from the beginning. Remember, in this discussion, they have already been proven to be qualified, so you aren’t trying to make an unqualified person fit into a position they aren’t qualified for.

Here’s why like-abilty is so important to you as the selector: you will be more patient, more forgiving and more understanding of the growth and development or the mistakes of a person that you like than one you don’t like. 

To like in chemistry literally means to attract, to draw together or agreeable. It’s like a good meal or a bad meal. A good meal reacts well with your body chemistry and you are relaxed and satisfied. A bad meal reacts poorly with your body chemistry and upsets your stomach.

Conclusion:

Think about your organization, your team as a chemistry lab. You have lots of elements present, but not all of them will mix well together. Your job as the professor in this lab is to match the elements well. When the chemistry in your organization or team is matched well you can expect peace, greater results and greater efficiency.

The right people for you will have a chemistry that meshes well with what is already existing (unless you are trying to change the chemistry, but that will have to be an article for another day!). The right people will be led, will listen, will be loyal and you will like them.

Get the Chemistry Right and You will Start Getting the Right Results! 

Chemistry that Clicks Checklist:

1-  will be Led – This person is a willing follower 

2- will Listen – This person is a good listener 

3- will be Loyal – This person is a faithful companion 

4- I will Like them – This person is an agreeable friend 

 

 

 

(c) 2016. Redwall Leadership Academy

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How to Set Your Kids Up for Success in Tomorow’s Workforce

Parents, your mission is to not only prepare but train your children to be PRODUCTIVE members of society. This starts when they are young. If you wait until they are teenagers, then they will absolutely reject your authority in this area.

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1- Start training them when they are young. The earlier training begins, the better. Don’t buy this nonsense that “happy” kids are free from responsibility. Responsibility paves the way for productivity. Irresponsibly produces passivity.

Parent, your job is to produce a responsible adult, not a happy adult, a needy adult or an adult that thinks or acts like a child. This means an adult who can pair their reason with their responsibility which yields productivity.

You don’t train babies, but you don’t let babies train you. Too many young parents who had helicopter parents think that their baby needs everything. A baby appreciates affection, protection, nutrition and a clean diaper. They don’t appreciate thousand dollar birthday parties or five hundred photos posted to Instagram or Facebook.

Toddlers are trainable. No, it’s not easy. Digital media and Pintrest are like the seven real super parents that actually exist on the planet at one time, the other 700 million are just pretending to look good or trying to capture the one good memory they have. Training toddlers is hard work. Your priority of your toddler is not absolute obedience (Good luck with that!), but rather the ability to mold their will.

Dr. Dobson says, “your objective as a parent is to shape the will of your child while leaving his spirit intact.” The spirit is the place of creativity and sensitivity. The will is the seat of decision or defiance. There is a difference. You don’t want to crush your child’s spirit, but you do want shape their will. Their will is the place where they will chose obedience or disobedience. The will is the switch that will submit to authority or rebel against authority. If you want your children to be prepared for the workforce, then they must absolutely know how to submit their will to authority even when they think they have all the answers (especially when they think they have all the answers!).

Teach your child that YOU are the Teacher. They are the student.

2- Ask them questions. Then, allow them to answer. Too many parents operate from the position of “I have all the answers AND I’ll ask all the questions.” This is a mistake. Yes, your position is the place of authority (don’t forget this), but it is imperative for you to allow your child to work through their thought process. By asking them questions and listening to their responses, you do two things: (1) allow the child to feel a part of the process and (2) help align their thought process. Yes, their thought process is skewed, because they have a limited world-view or perspective. If you only ever enforce your perspective on them, then when they are teenagers or college-age, then there is a strong possibility they will outright reject your perspective. But, if you allow them to arrive at your joint perspective, then it the chances of this lasting beyond their preteen years is much stronger. Teach your children to think better thoughts.

Better thoughts produce better decisions.

You don’t just want “smart” kids. Not everyone is blessed with intelligence, but every child can get wisdom. Every child can get understanding. Teach your children, not to pursue intelligence (knowledge entrenches pride in their life), but to pursue wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge born of experience and truth. This will pay huge dividends as they engage with tomorrow’s workforce.

Teach your child to get understanding. Workers who understand better and quicker go farther than their contemporaries. They have to “get it.” Too many in our workforce just don’t “get it.”

3- Read to them and have them read good books. The sooner they fall in love with reading the better. Especially, read the Bible. The greatest source of wisdom and instruction that I have ever had in my life started as a toddler when my mother would read to me and my five siblings the Bible almost every night. We would read two books: a book of our choice and the Bible.

This actually did several things for us as children. First of all, it taught us that reading was fun and a family affair. My mother would always ask lots of questions (which is probably why my reading comprehension was off the charts as a child). Secondly, her process of asking us questions, made us think about what we read and then how we would or could apply what we learned to our lives. Thirdly, it instilled a discipline of reading as something that was normal and ultimately something I looked forward to doing. Fourthly and most importantly, she watered our lives with the words of God found in the Bible. I slept soundly as a child when my mother read us the Bible and prayed over us at bed time.

Reading makes you think. The key to decision-making is your thought-process. So, in order to make better decisions, teach your kids to think better thoughts.Thinking, literally, means that we need to “set our minds.” A child that can think through his or her decisions, will be a great asset to an organization in the future. The right thoughts produce the right action. The wrong thoughts produce the wrong actions.

When you ask your child, “What were you thinking?” and they respond,”Uh, nothing…” That’s not entirely true, they are just afraid to tell you they simply “wanted to see what would happen” or “followed an evil impulse” or “wanted to do the opposite of what you told me.”

Readers are learners. Teach your child to be a life-long learner, these are the real movers in the workforce.

4- Fellowship with families of high moral character and conduct. First of all, be a family of high moral character. Sadly, this is something that is rapidly spiraling out of control. Just because you have community relationships with people at the ball field or school or gymnastics or swim or choir doesn’t mean your family should hang out with them. Just because your family associates with people at events or activities, doesn’t mean you should allow them greater access or influence over your children. I have seen too many parents who lack strong moral convictions, expose their children to the families and lives of families with even lower moral convictions.

When I was young, my parents never allowed us as children to associate with families that didn’t share the same values as ours. My parents wanted to teach their children high moral character and they believed “bad company corrupts good morals.” They wanted their children to be around other adults and children that practiced admirable conduct. Just because someone says they are a “Christian” doesn’t mean they have “Christian” conduct.

Families of high moral character practice accountability. There is behavior that is unacceptable and behavior that is acceptable. These families allow their children to be corrected or held accountable by adults of like conduct and character. This is very healthy for your child. There are no perfect children on earth, not mine and not those on Facebook. The goal is not to raise perfect children, but raise responsible, productive adults with high moral character. The highest moral character that I have ever found is in Jesus Christ. How he lived and what he taught is worthy of total life emulation, both for you and your children. I am not training my children to be like me. I am training my children to be like Jesus.

The other piece is that Milennials and Generation Z are lacking in emotional intelligence. They know how to be social, but they don’t know how to build a relationship. The new understanding of being “social” means you don’t offend anyone’s preference at the expense of your own. This is actually gross foolishness.

Teach your children how to communicate with words and eye contact and manners. Teach your children that “connecting” means more than “liking” someone and a “network” is more than the system that keeps you connected digitally. Your kids desparately need social skills. It’s your duty to socialize them. The internet, televison nor the DVR does not socialize your children.

Teach your children to have high moral character.

5- Make them work–hard. Teach your children it’s okay to sweat. Teach your children that hard work is good. Teach your children that working hard means not complaining about working hard. Teach your children that there is great fulfillment in hard work.

Here is a secret: Celebrate your child’s hard work. Few things reinforce the value of hard work like celebrating the finished task. Don’t celebrate before its over or celebrate that it’s over. Celebrate completion, then rest. Then, praise your child for working hard. No, they can’t work was hard as you yet, but don’t punish them for their genetic composition. I have found that many, many in our society today have a poor view of working hard means. Hard work builds great things.

Working hard means maximum effort combined with attention to detail until the task is fulfilled into completion. If you don’t demonstrate this, why would you expect your child to model what they have never seen?!

This means you teach your children to never quit. Retiring is not quitting. Resting is not quitting. Quitting is the intentional abandonment of a responsibility. Commitment is the intentional maintenance of a responsibility. Chores teach your children commitment. You teach your children commitment. If you are always complain about your job or talking about finding another job, you are wearing your child’s capacity for commitment. Children need models of commitment. You, the parent, are your children’s greatest model of commitment or the lack thereof.

Teach your children to work hard. The world needs more hard workers. When all fails, the hard workers always rise to the top. Why? Everyone else has quit. Celebrate completion.

 

 

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The Curse & Cure of Stubbornness

Being stubborn can be more of a curse than a blessing.


Some people are born stubborn. They come from a long line of stubborn mothers or fathers or both!  Stubborn babies are being born everywhere, everyday. But, healthy adults don’t stay infantile and juvenile, they mature! Being born stubborn or having stubborn parents is no excuse for you to stay stubborn.

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The word “stubborn” most likely derives in Old English from the term “stiff-bourne“; meaning “born with a stiff-neck” (which was not a compliment). It meant full of pride, blinded by pride. 

“When you are full of pride on the inside, it makes you stiff, stubborn and creates strife with others” John C. Maxwell


The following are reasons why stubbornness is a curse and will cause immaturity to reign in and over your life causing you to miss promotions, opportunities and relationships.

The Curse

1. Stubborn People are often Stagnant People. Being stubborn is a cap to your personal growth and development. Unless, you are like 90 to 100 years old (they’ve earned the right to be stubborn!), your stubbornness is most likely causing you to stagnate. Stagnation is literally you becoming dull. Your stubbornness can dull your skill set, dull your heart, and dull your mind. Your light grows dim.

2. Stubborn people are often Ear-Plug People. Basically, your stubbornness causes you to be a bad listener. Stubborn people aren’t quick to draw conclusions, because they’ve already drawn the conclusion before you speak! Ear-Plug People don’t want to hear it, don’t want to discuss it and can’t fathom that there could be a view point that has value other than their personal bent.

3. Stubborn People appear to others as Pompous People. Because stubbornness leads to poor listening, others draw conclusions based on stubborn behavior. These conclusions from others often view the stubborn one as aloof, arrogant and or pompous. Pompous people are filled with plastic and shallow relationships. Authentic, transparent people stay away from the pompous.

4. Stubborn People are often viewed as Stupid People. Stupid in the sense of “being slow to understand, as in a haze or fog.” Listen, you may not be the most intelligent person in your circle, but, your stubbornness only exacerbates the appearance that you are even less intelligent–literally, stumbling through the fog with no clear sense of direction! Stupid literally can mean “of no understanding.” When stupidity births stubbornness everyone involved looses.

5. Stubborn People become Forgotten People. They are not forgotten in the sense that they aren’t remembered (in fact, just the opposite, they are memorable for the wrong reasons). But, forgotten in the sense that when the organization moves forward they are left behind. Competency aside, this often explains why stubborn people don’t get promoted, don’t get selected or don’t get invited when they feel they are fully deserving–others don’t!

 

The Cure 

The Key to overcoming stubbornness: Sensitivity. You can be a person who holds to strong character and conviction, yet still has a willing spirit and the ability to yield. You won’t be viewed as stubborn, rather as reasonable, yet, with deep convictions. Sensitivity leads us to love or love produces in us a sensitivity towards others that is often lacking when stubbornness rules. Without such sensitivity the stiffness of your heart, neck and life are heading for unwanted brokenness and loss.

“Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” Psalm 32:9

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What Picking Cucumbers Taught Me!

What Picking Cucumbers Taught Me!

I remember picking cucumbers as a boy in the fields of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina in the summer. It was hot. The kind of hot where the ground sweats and gives off steam. I have no pleasurable memories of this experience! Except, that a good memory doesn’t have to be a pleasurable memory. Infact, this singular experience of picking cucumbers with my two elder brothers taught me, perhaps, one of the most valuable lessons about work I have ever learned…

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In fact, if memory serves correctly, my two elder brothers (Aaron and Elliott*) and I worked for over 8 hours and picked over 1100 lbs. of cucumbers—just the three of us. Black sap tar covers your hands, insects, humidity, sweat dripping in your eyes, dirt, rotting cucumbers, vermin, more insects, bending over all day, sorting under prickly leaves barely begins to describe how hard it is to pick cucumbers. However, that day probably marked my work ethic more than any other single day in my life.

Why?

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Work hard, rest well and worship God

 

 

Working hard only guarantees you will become tired. It does not guarantee that you will be successful, attractive, more well-liked or even get what you were working for.

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I have found that we should work hard. It is Biblical (in fact our punishment and a form of generational penance from Adam’s sin) and it is practical. More is said in the Bible about not working hard (sloth and laziness) than working hard.

There is a fulfillment that comes through hard work. Tiring yourself out physically demands that your body needs rest. Rest is needed to recover, rejuvenate and restore.

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Can’t Stay Motivated? Few Can, Here’s How…

It is easy in a world full of takers to “run out of gas” or get “burnt out.” The solution therefore lies not in the fuel, not in the fire, but in the…spark! What and where do you get this spark to maintain longer, sustain stronger, and finish well?

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Deeper than Energy

When you are unmotivated it is not your energy level, your enthusiasm or your passion that needs to be examined. It is something else, something deeper. Thus, to motivate by definition means “to provide (someone) with a motive for doing something,” therefore, that which is deeper is in fact your actual motive—your reason. It’s what I call your “why?”