Are You a Halloween Leader?

Photo by William Warby

Leader / Manager Masks

Many managers and leaders show up each day in disguise. Here are just a few examples of the masks we wear. Do they look familiar?

• The Boss [Because I'm the boss - that's why!]
• The Hulk [Don't make me angry - you won't like me when I'm angry.]
• The Royal Bureaucrat [I haven't got time for your petty concerns - what I'm doing is important!]
• The Indulgent Parent [There, there, it doesn't matter - I'll take care of it for you.]
• Mr. Perfect [I've never made a mistake in my life - did you??]
• The Mystifying Manager [I'll talk gibberish until they're confused and leave.]
• etc etc.

When we wear masks with our teams it's often because we either feel like we have to in order to be effective or because we just don't know what else to do.

But wearing these masks lessens your credibility. They keep people at a distance - which may keep you safe, but it doesn't help you lead. It really is about credibility - the people you're leading are real and they need you to be real too. 

Effective leaders bring their authentic self to every situation.

Take Off the Masks

Here are a few ways to take off some of the masks we wear:

• Explain the reasons for requests. Invite people to participate in your vision.
• If you experience frequent outbursts of anger with your team, talk with a trusted coach, mentor, friend, or therapist.
• Make time to talk with your team and find out what's important to them. If you really can't meet with someone when they ask, make an appointment with them and honor it.
• Treat mistakes as learning opportunities, focus on next time, and reinforce the need for results.
• Periodically share some of your own learning journey. When you screw up, admit it.
• Speak clearly and to be be understood. If you can't say something because it's confidential, either don't bring it up in the first place or else, be direct, and acknowledge it is not something you can talk about.

Authenticity doesn't mean throwing out wisdom - of course you don't share everything all the time. But in every situation, you bring your real self and are present with the people around you.

What other leader/manager masks have you seen (or worn yourself)?
How do you practice authenticity?

David M. Dye

If you know someone who would benefit from this post or the entire blog, please retweet, like, share, +1, or email it on. Thanks!

Subscribe today or join the discussion at: http://davidmdye.blogspot.com/
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David shares twenty years experience teaching, coaching, leading, and managing in youth service, education advocacy, city governance, and faith-based nonprofits. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Colorado UpLift and enjoys helping others discover and realize their own potential.

15 Tips Every New Leader Needs

Photo by cobalt123

If you're new to leadership or a veteran looking to build on a strong foundation, here are 15 tips to get you started. Each of these is something I learned early in life and I hope they are helpful to you on your journey!

1. Your first job is to build your replacement

Leaders invest in others. If your goal is to change the world, you simply can't do it on your own. Leaders build leaders. In addition, you cannot assume more responsibility if you're the only one who can do what you're doing.

2. Never believe your own press release

Success can easily turn sour if you start to assume all the good things you hear about yourself or your organization are automatic...that things will go well because they have in the past. Enjoy accolades when they come, but remember the work it took to get there. That work usually takes place where no one sees it.

3. People don't argue with their own information

It is critical to involve stakeholders in problem solving. We are all more likely to implement solutions into which we've had input.

4. All of us are smarter than one of us...(sometimes)

Crowd-sourcing has demonstrated this one in many ways. No one person has all the answers or knows all the facts. I say (sometimes) because crowds can also make pretty dumb decisions. Your job as a leader is to set clear criteria and a vision of what we can accomplish. Leaders help all of us to be smarter than one of us.

5. The greatest are the least

Humility is fundamental to leadership success. Humility can take many forms, but at its core:

humility says "we are both human beings with value"
humility says "I know enough to know I may be wrong"
humility says "I'm here to help"
humility says "Come and do this with me" not "go do this for me".

People intuitively know if you think you are better or more valuable than they are. No one follows that.

6. We, not I

Leaders say "we", not "I". It's not about you, it's about the team.

7. Bring people with you

Once I was leading a group of fifty or sixty people from outside an arena through doors, around the concourse, and down to a bank of seats on the arena floor. We each put a hand on one another's shoulder and I set off. When I got to the chairs, however, only three people had made it with me. I had gone too fast and the entire team did not arrive. I was a great scout that day - I found the chairs. But leaders take people with them.

8. No responsibility without authority

This one I learned very early in life. I was the oldest of six and was asked to make sure the house was clean by the time my father returned home. I was given responsibility...but I was 12 - not a lot of authority there. Effective leaders try only to take responsibility where they also have or can create authority. Likewise, leaders do not give responsibility without also giving authority to go with it.

9. Say Thank You

No one has to do anything for you.

They choose to.

Acknowledge it!

10. Apologize

When you're wrong, own it, apologize, and make it right.

11. Flowers bloom in their own time

As a child I would be so eager for the first spring roses or peonies to bloom that I sometimes "helped" them along. I would pry open the green leaves covering the blossom and try to coax the interior petals into the semblance of a flower.

Of course it ruined the whole thing.

Flowers bloom when they are ready and you cannot force them. People also have natural seasons and you can frustrate or lose good people by moving too quickly. Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast.

12. Honey, not vinegar

An early leader of mine was fond of saying, "you can catch more flies with a teaspoon of honey than a barrel of vinegar". Generally, encouragement and kindness (honey) are more effective leadership tools for drawing people in and helping them to grow. Criticism and anger (vinegar) are effective for tearing something down.

13. Learn everything you can in the time available

You'll never know everything about anything...but effective leaders use the time available to get as much relevant information as they can before making a decision.

14. Protect people's dignity

Extend worth to everyone. Celebrate their contribution to the world. Do not partake with those who detract from another's dignity.

Even in difficult situations such as ending someone's employment, extend dignity. There is never a reason to belittle or make someone feel small. If you do, you will lose credibility as well as lose the person and their network.

15. Stay healthy

Your health - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social - is the foundation from which you lead. If you are not leading yourself, you cannot effectively lead others.

Most of these are lifetime practices - some I've made a habit and others I continue to work out each day.

Be patient with yourself and focus on just one thing at a time - don't try to pry open those flower petals!

Take care,

David M. Dye

Know someone who would benefit from this post or the entire blog?

Please retweet, like, share, +1, or email it on. Thanks!

Subscribe today or join the discussion at: http://davidmdye.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @davidmdye

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmdye

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David shares twenty years experience teaching, coaching, leading, and managing in youth service, education advocacy, city governance, and faith-based nonprofits. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Colorado UpLift and enjoys helping others discover and realize their own potential.

Get Out of Your Way

Photo by Jeffrey Beall

Secrets. Of. The. Universe.

When I taught high school students, we often talked about "secrets of the universe" - those enduring, but not always well-known, principles of success. You can ignore them if you want, but they're still out there.

One such "secret of the universe" goes something like this:

Causes produce effects. When we focus on effects, rather than causes, we trip ourselves up.

Some examples of this principle include:

• You gain respect by being respectable, not by focusing on others giving you respect. (Cause: being respectable, Effect: respect)
• You become trusted by being trustworthy, not by focusing on wheedling secrets out of others. (Cause: being trustworthy, Effect: trust)
• You pass classes by truly learning the content, not by focusing on grades. (Cause: learning, Effect: grades
• You make friends by being a friend, not by focusing on how many friends you have. (Cause: being a friend, Effect: friends)
• You live by savoring life, not by focusing on being not-dead. (Cause: living, Effect: life)

Effective leaders and managers understand that real influence requires credibility and that real credibility is developed through authentic commitment to people, competence, and results.

Many leaders limit their effectiveness because they focus on the effects of leadership: achievement, influence, reputation, image, power, accomplishment, respect, security, etc.

However, all of these are effects. They are outcomes of an authentic focus on being a role model, sharing vision, building a team, encouraging others, and solving problems. Leaders cannot lead effectively while focused primarily on their own image.

In the short term, authentic leadership can feel risky...when faced with an opportunity to invest in their team or to immediately look good to others, many leaders take the path of immediate gratification. In the long run, however, when the problem is too big they won't be able to rally a skilled and committed team.

This is a basic life lesson, but one it is easy to forget in the middle of leadership and management challenges.

How do you maintain your focus on "causes" and not get caught up in "effects"?

For more on this topic:  It's Not About You

David M. Dye

If you know someone who would benefit from this post or the entire blog, please retweet, like, share, +1, or email it on. Thanks!

Subscribe today or join the discussion at: http://davidmdye.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @davidmdye
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmdye
****
David shares twenty years experience teaching, coaching, leading, and managing in youth service, education advocacy, city governance, and faith-based nonprofits. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Colorado UpLift and enjoys helping others discover and realize their own potential.

Book Review: The Leadership Challenge

Today's book review is The Leadership Challenge written by James Kousez and Barry Posner.

I have owned several copies of this book and continually lend it out. Sometimes those loaners are returned, though often they are not - and I can't blame the person for hanging on to it. The Leadership Challenge is a standard of leadership develop texts and is a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to grow in leadership. It is used by many companies and organizations (including my own) and with good reason.

The authors' approach to leadership is not complicated. Leadership is influence. Effective leadership relies on the leader's credibility. Alone, these concepts are not new. What sets The Leadership Challenge apart is its focus on five leadership practices through which we grow our influence and credibility. These practices are easily grasped and can be learned by anyone. They are explained with ample real world examples. These are not abstract theories - the five leadership behaviors described are accessible, practical, and can be implemented by those serious about increasing their influence.

It is also important to note that these practices center around authenticity. This is not a road map for shortcuts to power. This is a set of practical real-world behaviors that help us invest in ourself and in others. Learning the practices takes a day or two. Mastering them and incorporating them into our everyday behavior is the work of a lifetime.

Kousez and Posner have expanded the Leadership Challenge library to include a version students, a faith-based version, a workbook, and books specific to some of the practices. These are good resources as well for those who want to learn more. However, The Leadership Challenge is the place to begin and one of my strongest recommendations for anyone wanting to grow as a leader.

Happy Reading!

David M. Dye

Subscribe today or join the discussion at: http://davidmdye.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @davidmdye
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-dye/b/a08/82
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David shares twenty years experience teaching, coaching, leading, and managing in youth service, education advocacy, city governance, and faith-based nonprofits. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Colorado UpLift and enjoys helping others discover and realize their own potential.