Book Review: Love 'Em or Lose 'Em

In sales, there is a saying that keeping an existing customer is worth far more than attracting a new customer.

It is often the same with personnel. Every team, every organization relies on skilled and motivated people.

The first key to assembling a great team is to keep the great performers you already have. Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans tackle how to do this in: Love 'Em or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay.

Marketing copy on the top of my edition lists Love 'Em or Lose 'Em as "the bestselling employee retention book in the world." While I can't say whether or not that is true, I can definitely tell you that the principles in Love 'Em or Lose 'Em are very sound.

Kaye and Jordan-Evans lay out their 26 engagement strategies in sequence of the English alphabet. For example: (A) Ask what keeps you? (B) Buck stops here. (C) Careers - support growth. (D) Dignity - show respect... You get the idea.

Additionally, Love 'Em or Lose 'Em begins with the a fictionalized, but realistic, memo from an performing employee who decides to leave. The employee give an overview of the reasons they chose to depart. The book then reviews its 26 engagement strategies by starting with a segment of the resignation letter.

For beginning managers and business leaders, it is important to understand that money might initially attract someone or keep them from leaving, but it does not motivate. Newer managers are often surprised by this. But it isn't too surprising if you reflect on your own behavior.

We do our best work when the work is meaningful, we are engaged and share values with the people we work with, we feel valued, and we feel we are making a contribution.

When these things are absent, we might not leave...but, organizations are full of people who have "quit" without leaving.

Love 'Em or Lose 'Em discusses these principles and others with readable and practical suggestions you can begin implementing immediately. Kaye and Jordan-Evans provide straight-forward advice to help you keep your performing staff.

But this isn't a book of shortcuts. Real relationships are built on authenticity and integrity, not on manipulative tricks. You won't find those in Love 'Em or Lose 'Em. At its heart, this book means what it says, if you legitimately care for your team members - including making hard decisions like helping or removing those not carrying their weight - your team is far more likely to stay, be engaged, motivated, and productive.

I recommend Love 'Em or Lose 'Em for any leader or manager. Even if you're a pro at taking care of people, you'll likely find one or two good reminders here.

Happy Reading,

David M. Dye

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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

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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

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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.

Book Review: Management

The Book

A book with a one-word title like Management had better be the end all authority on the subject.

The subject of today's book review, Management by Peter Drucker, is exactly that. It has been hailed by many as the management bible. When he taught his university executive management courses, Drucker used this book exclusively for the entire course.

Such a weighty resource (608 pages!) is difficult to do justice in a single book review and I'm not even going to try.

I write this blog to help new and developing leaders and managers to grow in their skill and effectiveness. The entire text of Management is more than a beginning leader or manager needs or would find helpful. 

However, there is one section that I believe can be a huge benefit to all emerging managers. The section is listed as:

Part X: New Demands on the Individual

Chapter 45 Managing Oneself
Chapter 46 Managing the Boss
Chapter 47 Revitalizing Oneself
Chapter 48 The Educated Person

This is the best I have read when it comes to practical material on being effective at what you do.

Managing Yourself

Drucker begins this section by addressing self-knowledge. Who are you? What are your strengths? How do you work? Based on those answers, where do you belong? What are your contributions? How can you take what he terms "relationship responsibility"? 

Of particular interest is his discussion of whether you are a listener or a reader. There are so many practical applications of good self-knowledge...this may be the most valuable chapter in the entire book!

Managing the Boss

However, if one chapter is possibly as valuable - it is the very next chapter about managing the boss. In a compassionate turn of the golden rule, Drucker suggests we work with our supervisors in ways that play to their strengths, keep them informed, and protect them from surprises. 

After all, we would desire the same courtesy (and our supervisors are key to our own effectiveness).

In some organizations it may seem like a distant dream, but Drucker envisions a workplace where managers know themselves well and help others to work with them in their strengths AND the manager in turn learns the strengths of their team and supervisors and treats them according to their strengths. 

The idea is that everyone knows and works with the strengths of the other, regardless of position on the organization chart. It is a practical outworking of servant leadership principles in a management context.

Remaining Effective

The final chapters are also worth reading - they focus on the process of remaining effective over many years of knowledge work, through changes in technology, culture, and environment. Drucker shares stories from his own life that taught him principles of self-revitalization and can help us remain effective as the world around us changes. He concludes by underscoring the importance of being educated and helping our society to educate its members.

Overall, Section X is a great introduction to Drucker's magnum opus. If you are a serious student of management, purchase Management - you will read the remainder some day and it's inexpensive on Amazon. If you want to maximize your own effectiveness today, borrow this one from a library and read chapters 45-48.

More Resources

• If you are interested in more Peter Drucker, check out: The Effective Executive
• For more on servant leadership, check out: The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle

Happy Reading!

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

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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.

Book Review: Salsa, Soul, and Spirit

I hope that each of us eventually comes to that dawning moment where we realize that the world is a much bigger place than we ever realized. When it comes, it can be very humbling as we come to understand that our way of doing and thinking isn't everyone else's way, that our own personal history isn't entirely accurate, and that there is so much more to learn than we ever before realized.

If we are willing to listen and work at understanding, we enrich ourselves, can live more fully, and can become far more effective leaders. Today's book review subject, Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age - New Approaches to Leadership from Latino, Black, and American Indian Communities by Juana Bordas is one tool to help growing leaders along that journey.

A little transparency: Years ago, when I first picked up this book, I was concerned that Bordas was committing a blunder in reductionist labeling. After all, none of my brown-skinned friends reduce simply to a label of "salsa" and some of my african-american friends would not take it well if you assume they've all got "soul". However, I would encourage the reader who is concerned about simplistic stereotyping to move past these conventions. They are simply useful concepts for representing generalized culturally-relevant concepts. After reading Salsa, Soul, and Spirit, I do not for a minute believe Bordas would commit or countenance such stereotyping.

With that out of the way, let's talk about the book. Salsa, Soul, and Spirit is about effective leadership. Bordas describes her own life journey moving from Nicaragua to the United States and her experience growing up in the United States, learning the ways of her new home, and succeeding while remaining close to her own roots. Throughout the book, she draws out leadership values from various cultural traditions. At the top of the list are principles such as:

• Real leaders serve their community, not just themselves
• Leadership credibility derives from the people being led
• Effective leaders learn from the past and honor the values of those they lead
• Effective leaders value generosity, hope, thankfulness, and forgiveness
• Effective leaders work with the collective of which they are a part (the collective does not work for the leader)

Each of these concepts is examined through the lens of a cultural tradition where it is particularly valued and practiced. Put together, the list is not just a list of good multicultural leadership - it's good leadership, period. These are characteristics of true servant leaders. In fact, while the book's title describes these as "new" leadership approaches, they're not really new as much as neglected.

I recommend Salsa, Soul, and Spirit for any leader or manager who wants to lead effectively and particularly for those from any background who are just starting to realize how big our world really is.

For more on servant leadership, read: The World's Most Valuable Leadership Principle

For more on a practical application and the value of teams, read: Help Is Available!

Happy Reading - and here's to that journey!

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

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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.