Dave Anderson's Blog, page 8
May 23, 2017
Ten Courage Tests For Leaders
Tests come in all shapes and sizes. There are homework quizzes, pop quizzes, exams, and finals. When it comes to tests of Courage, many leaders believe they can wait for finals and pull out a passing grade or even an “A”. But if we have we have never taken those preliminary tests, how can we be so sure we will pass the final exam?
Tests are really progress checks. They check to see how much we have grown since our last test. The results of those tests give us some indication of what we need to work on moving forward as well.
A leader’s Courage is tested regularly. A leader in combat, law enforcement, or any other first responder situation, may see their Courage tested frequently in life or death situations. But for most of us, our Courage is tested in more subtle ways.
The tests may seem like no big deal, like a pop quiz, but how we do on those tests predicts how we will do when the final exam rolls around.
Small Tests of Courage for Leaders
The list that follows is a list that mimics the smaller tests we take in school. They may not be final exams, but they predict our performance when those big tests come. Do we have the Courage in the small tests?
Homework Quiz: Admitting your mistakes to your spouse or your child.
Exam: Confronting a difficult peer about his/her attitude.
Homework Quiz: Letting your son suffer the consequences for his actions.
Pop Quiz: Correcting someone who gives you too much credit for your team’s success.
Exam: Stopping a friend from driving after they had 3 drinks at happy hour.
Exam: Retracting a lie you told earlier and asking for forgiveness.
Exam: Tell your boss what you really think about her idea versus staying quiet.
Pop Quiz: Calling your boss about a mistake before he finds out on his own.
Pop Quiz: Taking immediate action when a difficult employee causes a problem.
Exam: Admit you haven’t done a good job on these and other test of Courage and commit to making progress.
The Bottom Line:
The final exams in life are the big tests of Courage that determine whether you and the people you lead pass or fail. Many of us spend a lot of time thinking about what we will do when the final exam comes around. But, it is the small tests of Courage that prepare us for the finals.
Most of us would not tell kids that homework, quizzes, or exams are unimportant. Our experience has proven to us that the better we do on those smaller tests, the better we will do on the final exams.
We should stop justifying our lack of Courage by telling ourselves the small tests are no big deal. Every time our Courage is tested, it is a big deal!
Our preparation in the small tests will determine if our Courage is ready when that final exam rolls around.
Question:
What are some other Courage pop quizzes that a leader faces?
The post Ten Courage Tests For Leaders appeared first on Dave Anderson.
May 16, 2017
Leader Development – The Right Stuff
Just because we hand somebody a new set of tools, it does not make him a carpenter. Many corporate initiatives in leader development do the same thing. They hand out good tools and wonder why the people aren’t becoming better leaders.
The Global Leadership Forecast, conducted every two years by PDI found that despite an increase in spending and increased focus on leader development, leaders in the business world are not getting any better.
Perhaps we are focusing on the wrong things or at least focusing on the right things in the wrong order.
“What the heart desires, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.”
– Thomas Cranmer
The Wrong Stuff in the Wrong Order
The majority of leader development focuses on management skills. MBA programs focus on understanding organizational structures, financial management, and marketing among other things.
Corporate training get’s closer to the point when they focus on employee engagement, coaching techniques, and team building exercises.
We spend a lot of time focused on what the leader does to other people in order to get the people to do the things the leader wants them to do.
The problem is people don’t follow leaders because of what they can do. People follow leaders because of WHO THEY ARE – their Character.
When a leader fails, it is rarely because they didn’t know what to do or how to do it. The failure occurs when a leader has a choice between the harder right and the easier wrong and they choose the easier wrong. That is a failure in Character.
But we spend minimal amount of time discussing who the leader is as a person – THEIR CHARACTER.
Until leader programs dedicate time and effort towards the #1 reason leaders fail and the #1 reason people follow, the leader development efforts of most companies will be ineffective.
The Right Stuff in the Right Order
If you want to accomplish something you have never accomplished before you need to start doing things you have never done before. If we want to improve our leaders, we need to change how we approach leader development. We must increase our focus on Character and make it the first thing we talk about.
Instead of starting with the brain, we need to start with changing the heart. It has to do with the structure of the human brain.
In his best selling book, Start With Why?, Simon Sinek makes the case that appealing to someone through reasoning does little to change their behaviors. You must engage their emotions first (the limbic system) and then their reasoning will follow. Here is a link to his TED Talk on this subject:
To truly improve the impact of our leader development efforts, we must start with Character – WHO WE ARE. Unless we start with with what the leader needs to change about themselves, we will probably continue to see marginal impact of our leader training programs.
The Bottom Line:
Don’t start developing leaders in the middle of the process. Start at the begining. Start with the #1 reason people follow leaders and the #1 reason people fail as leaders – CHARACTER.
We need to start with the development of the individual Character of the leader before we start handing them the tools to be a manager. The tools we are handing out are not bad tools, we just need to be sure we are giving them to the right person with the right character.
Trust me, I have a set of tools in my garage, but you do not want be coming over to fix your back porch!
Until we address Character, the leader development efforts in most organizations will continue to be handing good tools to people who are not prepared to use them properly.
Question:
What topics of character do you believe need to be discussed in leader development programs?
Dave Anderson is coauthor of the Amazon Best-Seller Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home with his father General James L. Anderson (USA Retired).
You can order Becoming a Leader of Character on Amazon by clicking here:
You can also find Becoming a Leader of Character at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and other retailers.
The post Leader Development – The Right Stuff appeared first on Dave Anderson.
May 9, 2017
Leadership and Vision – Am I Enjoying The Ride?
Reactionary, stressed out, short-fused, and negative – when I am like this it is usually because I have lost sight of my vision. I am focused on the short term and forgot how to enjoy the ride I am on.
A leader without vision, is doomed to fail at work and at home.
Enjoying the Ride
There are times when I love to drive. Long drives on open roads are some of my favorites. I like to have my music turned up and my seat pushed back. I enjoy uninterrupted views for miles.
But, there have been those moments when the ride is less enjoyable. Like when I drive into a bank of fog – everything changes.
A Good Ride Ruined
When the fog rolls in, my joy ride ends. A few things happen instinctively.
I Slow Down: I automatically begin tapping my brakes in anticipation of potential problems.
I Tense Up: My grip tightens on the steering wheel and my shoulders roll forward.
I Turn Down The Music: When I can’t see, the music becomes a distraction.
I Change My View: I lean closer to the windshield – as if those extra few inches will keep me from hitting that armadillo (I live in Texas). My focus changes to everything happening just a few feet from the hood of my car.
I Feel Every Pothole: The impact of an unexpected pothole feels like a crater in the road.
Without Vision
I use this illustration with people to describe what it is like to be a person or an organization without vision. Without vision, the same things happen to our lives or our businesses as what I described on my car ride.
I Slow Down: Without vision, I automatically move slower and focus on what might go wrong.
I Am Tense: Without vision, stress and tension are an everyday occurrence for me.
I Push Away Passions: Without vision, my family and/or my hobbies can become annoyances.
I Focus On The Immediate: Without vision, I focus on only the immediate, day-to-day tasks with little attention to the future.
My Challenges Are Craters: Without vision, even small problems feel overwhelming and threatening to me.
What Vision Gives Me
When I am able to focus down the road, when I keep my eyes on the horizon and on my destination, everything changes. Vision changes the ride.
I Speed Up: With vision, I can move forward at the maximum allowed speed.
I Am Relaxed: With vision, I am confident in my ability to handle what is next. My view is clear, and my confidence grows.
I Enjoy My Passions: With vision, the things I love (family and/or hobbies) are not distractions. They add to the journey.
I Focus On The Future: With vision, the immediate day-to-day tasks lose their grasp on me. I am focused on my destination and preparing for the opportunities down the road. Thus, I move from a reactive existence to a proactive life.
I Keep The Challenges In Perspective: With vision, the challenges I hit stay in perspective. I see them coming and either avoid them or drive through them, maintaining my speed and confidence.
The Bottom Line
A personal vision or an organization’s vision is like the North Star. It is that guiding principle that you always keep in sight but can never quite reach. Like the ancient sailors who used the North Star to guide them, you will never be lost if you can see your North Star.
A vision for an individual or an organization is a far-reaching ideal. It is always on the horizon guiding our journey and keeping us on a path towards our ideal.
Personally I like a simple Vision Statement that adheres to three rules:
It must be one sentence.
A 12 year old must be able to understand it.
It can be recited at gunpoint.
Without this type of simplicity and clarity, individuals and individuals in organizations will have a hard time using it as a guide.
My Personal Vision:
To lead good people to become the great people God designed them to be.
I will never be able to say I have completed my vision. It will always be there. I strive to achieve my vision both inside and outside of work.
If I keep my eye on my vision it will guide me and keep me on track. The challenges in life will seem like potholes and not craters.
With vision, my life will not be reactionary. I will enjoy the ride. I am enjoying the ride! How about you?
Question:
What is your vision? Is it a good North Star for your or your organization?
The post Leadership and Vision – Am I Enjoying The Ride? appeared first on Dave Anderson.
May 2, 2017
Three Keys To Growing as a Leader
“I know what I am doing now.” That is what I thought after a few years leading sales teams. I thought I had arrived. But each time I allowed myself to think that, I was proven wrong.
It took awhile, but I finally realized becoming a leader has no end point.
Unfortunately, some leaders fall into a rut and stop growing. To be a lifetime leader, leaders need to never stop growing. If leaders stop growing, over time people will stop following.
Three Keys To Growing as a Leader
There are three things leaders need in order to embrace a lifetime of growth. Without them, leaders are unlikely to grow beyond who they currently are. With them, leaders will grow and flourish throughout their lives.
1. Openness
If we are to grow, we must be open and honest with ourselves. We must truly believe that we need to get better.
Without that type of vulnerability, it is unlikely that we would ever spend time examining our weaknesses. Our ego would reign, and we would rarely ask others for help.
2. Humility
Openness and humility are tied together. But just being open is not enough. Many people believe they are open to new ideas or criticism, yet they rarely take the iniative to change.
It takes openness to recognize growth is needed. It takes Humility to be willing to try something new even if it makes us to be uncomfortable.
The pride we carry for our past accomplishments can often cause us to ignore a new strategy or idea that would force us to grow. Our pride can keep us in a comfortable place. When in fact we need to be uncomfortable in order to grow.
It is like exercising. If we never get uncomfortable and break a sweat during a workout, are we getting any stronger? Are we growing when we are comfortable?
3. Focus
Once we are open and humble enough to grow, we need to focus. We must focus on growing in areas that will have the most impact on us as leaders.
I know there is a laundry list of things I need to improve upon. If I asked the people I work with daily or my family, that list could probably double.
But what are the one or two areas that will do the most to improve my ability to positively influence others?
Here is a list of things I have worked on over the years:
Eliminating gray areas and half-truths
Saying what needs to be said, when it needs to be said.
Praising good performance
Being the last to speak in meetings
Listening longer than I want to
Focusing on priorities
Avoiding sarcasm
Following through on commitments
I did not work on them all at once. These are things I focused on over the last 25 years. What’s next for me?
Serving others when it is inconvenient
Notice I am only focusing on one thing. I believe this is probably the most important thing for me to improve upon if I am going to continue to grow.
We cannot achieve focus by diffusing our efforts across multiple tasks or strategies. Diffusion and focus do not go together. I wrote a blog on this topic: Focus Requires Elimination
The Bottom Line:
Once a tree stops growing, it starts dying. As a leader, if we are not growing, our influence is likely dying as well.
To be a leader who grows we must first be open to my need for growth. Then we need to be humble enough to risk our comfort in order to grow. Finally, we must maintain our focus on growing the 1-2 aspects of our character that will improve our impact on others.
Becoming a leader is a never-ending quest. None of us have achieved the potential we have inside of us and we never will.
But, being open, humble and focused will help us stay on the path and grow to become the leaders we are capable of being – no matter how long we have been leading.
Question:
What prevents you from taking positive steps towards growing?
Dave Anderson is coauthor of the Amazon Best-Seller Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home with his father General James L. Anderson (USA Retired).
You can order Becoming a Leader of Character on Amazon by clicking here:
You can also find Becoming a Leader of Character at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and other retailers.
The post Three Keys To Growing as a Leader appeared first on Dave Anderson.
April 27, 2017
Leadership: What’s In It For Me?
Often when I find myself dissatisfied with being a leader, I trace it back to one question, “What’s in it for me?” This may be a natural question many of us ask as we evaluate options, but it is a recipe for dissatisfaction and a bad attitude for leaders.
Don’t get me wrong. I love leading. But the benefits of leading are often intangible versus the tangible answers we are looking for when we ask, “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM)
WIIFM is the Wrong Attitude
WIIFM is the acronym we used to use when I was in sales. That was the question we always tried to answer. Because whether they said it or not, our customers wanted to know, “What’s in it for me?”
As a leader, a WIIFM attitude is a selfish attitude. The role of a leader is not to get everything he wants. The role of a leader is to add value to others. In the military we used to say, “Mission first, people always.” Nowhere is there a line about the leader getting what he wants.
The WIIFM attitude may boil down our view of the world. Many people believe that if they do something, they deserve something in return. It’s like a contract: “If you do this, then I will do that.”
“If I am a good leader or do the right thing, then I should get something, a reward, a thank you…something!”
With this attitude, a leader will almost always be disappointed. The only way to be satisfied as a leader is to focus all my efforts on helping other people achieve their goals. A WIIFM attitudes focuses me on what feel I deserve.
Be Okay with The Intangibles
If I want to be happy in leadership, I need to be satisfied with the intangible benefits being a leader brings. Here are a few of the intangible benefits I get from leading:
Coaching someone to do something outside her comfort zone and seeing her succeed.
The phone calls for advice I get from people I used to lead.
The satisfaction of knowing I helped someone grow closer to his potential.
The long term relationships with the people I led 10, 15, and 20 years ago.
The problem with intangible benefits is they are not immediate, and they are hard to measure. But to be happy in leadership, I have to be okay with that.
The Bottom Line:
More often than not there are no tangible rewards for being a good leader. The rewards come in intangible ways. But they are much more gratifying.
If a leader focuses on the tangible rewards that a WIIFM attitude promises, that leader will be disappointed more often than not.
The best way to fight the disappointment of a good deed going unrecognized, is not to place value on the recognition, but to place value on the deed itself. To do that, we need to get rid of the WIIFM attitude and adopt a WIIFMC (What’s in it for my character) attitude.
Selflessness in a leader builds our character and creates committed followers.
Question:
Where can you change your expectations from WIIFM to WIIFMC?
Dave Anderson is coauthor of the Amazon Best-Seller Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home with his father General James L. Anderson (USA Retired).
You can order Becoming a Leader of Character on Amazon by clicking here:
You can also find Becoming a Leader of Character at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and other retailers.
The post Leadership: What’s In It For Me? appeared first on Dave Anderson.
April 25, 2017
Would You Follow You?
We spend a lot of time complaining about our leaders. Whether its politicians, supervisors, or coaches, most of us dwell on the shortcomings of others. Stop and ask yourself: Would you follow you?
Pause for a second and look in the mirror. We can’t control those other people, but we expend a lot of energy on them. Do we spend as much time worrying about our own ability to lead as we do the leadership of others?
The Survey Says….
Most people know what they want out of a leader. We did a survey that identified the traits that make great leaders. We asked the questions:
Who is your leadership hero?
What do you admire most about that leader?
We received over 620 responses and the answer was overwhelming. The results tell a story. 87% of the responses described a character trait in their leadership heroes, not a skill or capability.
Here are the Top 10 responses:
Caring
Compassionate
Courage
Faith
Honest
Honesty
Humility
Inspirational
Integrity
Passionate
Wisdom
People don’t follow us because of what we can do.
They follow us because of WHO WE ARE – our character.
Our character is made up of the sum total of our habits. The good habits and the bad habits. The survey shows that a leader’s Habits of Character determine whether people want to follow them.
Now look in the mirror and ask yourself this question again:
Would you follow you?
If you are unsure where your Habits of Character are, there is a simple way to figure that out. Click on the following link:
This 5 minute self assessment is private and you will receive instant feedback on the current state of your character. Based on the results, ask yourself again:
Would you follow you?
The Bottom Line:
It is easy to point fingers and complain about another person’s lack of leadership. It is human nature to judge others and proclaim them unworthy of leading.
Are we willing to turn that around on ourselves and ask those same questions? Growth starts with recognizing our own need to grow.
We can’t control others. We can control ourselves. Our Habits of Character are 100% in our own control. Nobody controls our Habits of Character but us.
People don’t follow us because of what we can do.
They follow us because of WHO WE ARE.
Nobody determines WHO WE ARE but ourselves.
The world would be a lot different place if we spent as much time focused on WHO WE ARE instead of who other’s are. If we do this, we will be taking the first step in becoming the Leaders of Character we all have the ability to become.
Question:
If you do not want to take the time to look in the mirror at yourself, ask yourself why?
Dave Anderson is coauthor of the Amazon Best-Seller Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home with his father General James L. Anderson (USA Retired).
You can order Becoming a Leader of Character on Amazon by clicking here:
You can also find Becoming a Leader of Character at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and other retailers.
The post Would You Follow You? appeared first on Dave Anderson.
April 20, 2017
The Three Criteria Before You Fire Them
“I will do everything I can to help you be as successful as you want to be…right up to the point I realize I am working harder at it than your are.”
I believe everyone I work with deserves my best. But at times, my desire to help them goes way beyond their desire to improve. Is it time to fire them?
I developed the following criteria as a result of hanging on to employees for too long.
I always use three checkpoints before I make the final decision to fire someone. If these three criteria are met, it is best for everyone – my company, my team, the individual and myself – to fire them.
Criteria 1: Is It A Pattern?
I always want my people to be trying new things. I want them to find a better way to achieve their goals and deliver on even the most mundane tasks. With that attitude, I must be willing to allow them to make mistakes. I don’t fire people for mistakes.
Mistakes are a great indicator of innovation. Mistakes become an issue when someone repeats those mistakes. When a pattern of negative behavior arises, that is my first checkpoint. We may have a problem because they are not learning from their mistakes.
Criteria 2: Have I Done My Job?
When I see a pattern of behavior, I must first look in the mirror. Have I done my job? Have I given this person what they needed to succeed?
Did I provide clear expectations?
Did I provide clear coaching after each mistake?
Did I demonstrate what good looks like?
Did I insure understanding by asking them to repeat back my coaching?
If I cannot answer, “Yes” to these questions, then I may be the problem. I need to be sure I am doing my job, before I blame them for not doing theirs. I don’t fire people for my failures.
But, if I can answer, “Yes”, I know I have fulfilled my promise to do everything I can to help them be as successful as they want to be. The problem is theirs.
Criteria 3: Are They Able To Make The Changes?
Some people may be in jobs that are over their heads. Their skill sets may not match the job requirements. If that is the case, then again I do not fire people for my failures.
I am the one who put that person in position to fail. I need to find them a place where they can succeed.
I may try to find them a position inside the company that better suits them. If none is available, I will take an active role in helping them find a job somewhere else that is better suited for them.
When To Fire Them:
But if I am dealing with a pattern of behavior, if I have done my job, and if they are able to make the changes I have asked them to make, then there is only one explanation left:
They are unwilling to change.
If they are unwilling to change, why in the world would I keep paying them?
Read a Related Blog: Coachability: A Window To Character
The Bottom Line:
If someone is unwilling to change their behaviors, there is absolutely no reason I should be willing to keep paying them their salary. These are the type of people who are a cancer to the organization.
If I am working harder at someone’s growth than they are, I am dealing with a character issue inside that person. When someone is not coachable, when they refuse to change after repeated opportunities and good faith coaching, it is time to cut my losses.
I find that when that person is finally let go, the whole team breathes a sigh of relief. Productivity increases. Morale goes up. Plus, I get the opportunity to start a new person in that role, who will be eager to learn and grow.
Ask yourself, “Am I working harder to make this person a success than he/she is?” If the answer is yes, then it may be time to use these criteria to evaluate your next steps.
Question:
Is there a good reason to keep someone around who is unwilling to change?
Dave Anderson is coauthor of the Amazon Best-Seller Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home with his father General James L. Anderson (USA Retired).
You can order Becoming a Leader of Character on Amazon by clicking here:
You can also find Becoming a Leader of Character at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and other retailers.
The post The Three Criteria Before You Fire Them appeared first on Dave Anderson.
April 18, 2017
The Guts To Be a Leader of Character
Leadership if not for the wimpy. The challenges leaders face at work and at home will test your mettle. You will have to make choices of all sizes. Fear and discomfort are part of leading. Facing that fear and discomfort displays the guts it takes to be a Leader of Character.
The choices leaders face come in all sizes. For simplicity I am going to break them into Small, Medium, and Large choices.
Small Choices take Guts
Try a new food or workout routine.
Start a conversation with a new person.
Do something new that you are uncomfortable doing.
Follow through on a punishment you warned your child about.
Be honest when you are late and say, “I didn’t leave the house on time.”
Medium Choices take Guts
Challenge a co-worker who uses inappropriate language at work.
Coach a subordinate who is not meeting the team standards.
Let your child fail at something instead of fixing it before he/she fails.
Speak out against a strategy that causes people to work in the gray area.
Accept responsibility for your own failures and the failures of your team without making excuses.
Large Choices take Guts
Stand up to your boss if he/she is demeaning to you or to others on the team.
Fire a high performing employee who ignores the behavioral standards of the team.
Allow your child to follow their dreams instead of doing what you believe is the sensible thing.
Refuse to implement an unethical or immoral strategy even if you could lose your job.
Admit to a major failure by you or your team even if you could lose a major client or even your job.
Size Doesn’t Matter
The size of the choice does not matter. It takes guts to be a Leader of Character whether you have to make small, medium, or large choices.
The small choices prepare us for the larger choices to come. In fact, there are no small choices when dealing with our character. They are all large choices.
The more often we face our fears the easier it gets in the future. Over time, in the small choices and the large choices we begin to demonstrate the guts that will make us a Leader of Character.
The Bottom Line:
A leader’s willingness to take action is a window into that leader’s character. The Courage of the leader is on display in all of his/her choices.
It takes guts to take action, to speak out, to respond to moral challenges, to take responsibility, and to accept the possibility of failure.
If a leader chooses to do someting else or to do nothing at all, that leader is not a Leader of Character. That is a leader who allows fear and comfort to make the decisions.
It takes guts to to be a Leader of Character.
The gutsy leaders, the Leaders of Character, have practiced Courage more than other leaders. They make regular choices, large and small, to face their fears.
Courage takes practice. It is time to practice!
Question:
What are some other examples leaders face that require guts?
The post The Guts To Be a Leader of Character appeared first on Dave Anderson.
April 11, 2017
Leaders – Who Sets The Standards?
My boss had some pretty high standards. In fact, he often bragged that his standards were higher than those of his peers.
When I came onto the team, I liked his approach. I truly believed that a leader who set high standards got more out of people and had better teams. I was wrong, and he was wrong.
Unfortunately, I learned that my view and his view of standards were too simplistic. That team was average despite his high standards. Why? His high standards were not the team’s real standards.
Who Sets The Standards?
Leaders do not determine what the team standards are, the worst performing team member does. The old saying applies:
“A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link.”
Just because I say I have high standards does not make it so. Just like claiming to be a man of integrity does not make me one. The key to both is my actions.
If a leader leaves the weak link alone that weak link sets the real standard for the team. Just like a man’s willingness to lie when he is late for work proves he is not a man of integrity.
What actions should I take to ensure my standards are in fact the team’s standards?
Defining Standards
Standards are not goals. Standards are minimums. They are the lowest bar someone must clear to be a productive part of the team.
I must be sure my team understands this point and doesn’t settle for less.
Set High Standards
Wherever the bar is set, people tend to clear it. In the Olympic high jump competition, even the world’s best jump only as high as they need to clear the bar.
Set a low bar and they clear it. Set a high one, and they clear that as well. But, it is the high bar that wins them the gold!
Communicate The Standards
Standards are not like self guided missiles. You don’t shoot them and forget. When a leader sets standards, those standards need to be over-communicated and clarified frequently.
Enforce The Standards
This is often the biggest shortfall for leaders. Standards without enforcement default to the performance of the lowest common denominator – the weak link.
Without enforcement, the formerly high standards of others on the team will begin to slip as well. Even if they do maintain their own high standards, the top performers will resent the inconsistency of the leader.
The leader will lose the respect of his best people because he is unwilling to hold his weakest people to the minimum expectations. Does anyone else see the futility in that scenario?
Coach The Standards
When a person is not performing to the standards, it is the leader’s responsibility to coach that person to get them up to speed.
A leader who ignores either situation is not doing his job. The leader’s job is to strengthen the weak link. If the team has a list of 5 team standards and a person is unwilling or unable to perform all 5 to the standards the leader sets, then the leader must act.
The leader should provide both the training and the motivation until he realizes he is working harder at them achieving the standards than they are. Then it is time for the next step.
Fire If Below Standard
Once the leader realizes the person is unable or unwilling to meet the standards of the team, the leader has a responsibility to the team to fire the weak link and hire a stronger one.
The Bottom Line:
Claiming high standards is only the first step in leading a team with high standards. The leader must have the Courage, the determination and the Integrity to ensure the standards are his and not those of his weakest link.
As a leader, I must own my standards and take responsibility for the people I hired who are failing to meet my standards. If I am not willing to do that, I am allowing my poorest performer to do my job! The weakest link is setting the standards, not me.
Question:
Have you ever seen a weak link bring down the standards of a high performing team?
Dave Anderson is coauthor of the Amazon Best-Seller Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home with his father General James L. Anderson (USA Retired).
You can order Becoming a Leader of Character on Amazon by clicking here:
You can also find Becoming a Leader of Character at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and other retailers.
The post Leaders – Who Sets The Standards? appeared first on Dave Anderson.
April 6, 2017
Multi-Tasking Your Way to Mediocrity
The idea that multi-tasking makes us more productive is a lie! “But, I’m good at multi-tasking!” We all think we are. But 97% of us are wrong.
When we jump back and forth from a project, to emails, to quick conversations with co-workers, we are multi-tasking our way to mediocrity.
Study after study have now proven that multi-tasking makes us less productive not more productive. If you read Harvard Business Review, Forbes, The New Yorker, Psychology Today…all of these publications point to one thing:
If you want to be more productive, do less multi-tasking.
The Survey Says…
Here is just a quick snapshot of some of the data:
97% of people get worse at completing individual tasks when they do them simultaneously versus back to back.
There is a 40% loss in productivity when people multi-task.
We lose 6 productive hours a day due to switching back and forth between tasks.
It takes 20 min to get back to same level of productivity after we pause to answer an email.
Considering all the distractions we encounter everyday, it’s amazing we get anything done whatsoever!
Control What You Can Control
In today’s world of smart phones, multiple computer screens, and open office floor plans there are some distractions we can control and some things we can’t.
Can’t Control
Customer interruptions.
Conference calls, video meetings, live meetings, etc.
The boss’s interruptions based on his/her needs and whims.
Open floor plans that create noise and visual distractions.
Can Control
Prioritizing your tasks.
If everthing is a priority, then nothing is. What is the most important thing to accomplish today? What is the most critical project I must advance?
Where you spend your time.
If you know the answer to the questions above, then you must allocate your time accordingly. This is about self-discipline now that you know what your priorities are.
Email, text, and phone calls.
These are rarely as important as your current priority. Don’t be like Pavlov’s dog each time the phone buzzes or a new email pops up. Shut them down while you work on your priorities.
How you schedule your time.
Block out chunks of time each day for your priorities. 95% of emails can wait an hour so you can focus on your priorities. Close the door. Shut off the phone. Close email. FOCUS.
The Bottom Line:
The majority of us think multi-tasking helps us get more done. It doesn’t – unless your in the special 3% that surprised the scientists. The majority can’t be in the top 3%. It’s mathematically impossible.
It’s like going to Alcoholics Anonymous – the first step is admitting you have a problem.
Implementing every suggestion from me or those publications is not necessary. Getting control of just a few things will improve your productivity.
What if you just got 50% better?
That would mean a 20% increase in your productivity and 3 fewer hours of wasted time each day. Just because you admitted to what the scientists have already proven about you!
Question:
When do you do most of your multi-tasking?
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