THE 6:8 LEADER GROUP
Act Justly | Love Mercy | Walk Humbly

Articles by David Rathbun

Trust Everyone, But Cut the Cards

A friend once told me he was concerned that his boss, the CEO, was not telling the Board of Directors the truth.  That is a terrible place to be in any organization, and one I would not wish on my worst enemy.

If you are a member of the Board, how do you know your CEO is telling you the truth?

“Well,” you say, “we trust him.”  Or, “We’ve known her for a long time.”  Or, “He’s my wife’s brother.”

Really?

I believe in the power of trust, and think it is the key to great leadership, but as a Director, you are accountable to the moral ownership of the organization, and the CEO is accountable to you.

So, how do you answer the question, “How do you really know your CEO is telling you the truth?”  John Carver in Reinventing Your Board, suggests three ways a Board can acquire accountability data:

(a) by internal reports, in which the CEO discloses compliance information to the Board,

(b) by external reports, in which an external, disinterested third party selected by the Board to assess compliance with board policies, and

(c) by direct board inspection, in which a designated member or members of the Board assess compliance with the appropriate policy criteria.”

The problem with Boards is it is easy to get lazy and only look at the internal reports–a report created by or under the direction of the CEO–and not look at the external reports and direct inspection that are needed to get a true picture of the CEO’s performance in achieving the “Ends” of the organization.

Carver reminds us that the “Board members and CEO are colleagues.”  The relationship is “collegial, not hierarchical.”  However, the Board’s desires must be clear, and the CEO response must be in compliance with those desires.  Both have a job to do and need to be “personally responsible” for the job they do.

They also need to be “cumulatively responsible,” or as Carver puts it, “accountable for the total contribution and compliance of his or her team, however extensive that team might be.”  How will you know if the CEO is accountable? Start using your entire accountability toolkit: internal reports, external reports, and direct inspection.

No Trust. No Team.

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image21017924We trust people when we are comfortable with how they respond to others and how they do their job.  Its is the blending of competence with character.  But it isn’t as simple as trusting and not trusting.  It is also how much we trust.  You see, there are some people we trust a little and only in certain situations.  There are other people we trust a lot, any where and any time.  The goal on a team is to develop a lot of trust not just a little.

Here are four things that contribute to high trust:

1. High trust means we understand one another’s job and potential contribution.  To trust a lot we need to take time to get to know one another.

2. High trust means we accept or approve of someone, even though that person may be very unlike us.  It only comes from shared experiences, a sense of mission, and success.

3. High trust means we respect others and show no partiality for one person’s role over that of another.  It means we show honor and esteem for the contributions of others.

4. High trust means we listen and respond to one another.  Don’t bully and don’t ignore.  Neither will get you what you want.

I’ve adapted the following from “The Performance Factor” by Pat MacMillan to show how everything the leader does is critical to building a trusting team.  Pat identified six keys to building a high performance team.  Each one impacts the amount of trust expressed on a team.  What Pat calls cooperation, I call trust.

1.Common purpose provided the reason for trust.

2.  Clear roles provide the strategy for trust.

3. Accepted leadership provides the structure for trust.

4. Effective processes provides the methods for trust.

5. Solid relationships provide the climate for trust.

6. Excellent communications provided the means for trust.

What you do as a leader, impacts your team.  And it can build the kind of trust others will envy.

Why Would Anyone Follow You?

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image1044168What leader has the most positive influence in your daily life today?  Take a few moments to think about this question if you need to.  Once you have someone in mind, list three words that you think best describe what this person contributes to your life.

From 2005 to 2008 Gallup conducted a study of why people follow a leader.  The question they asked is the same question just asked of you, “What leader has the most positive influence in your daily life?”  It was followed by, “List three words that best describe what this person contributed to your life.”

There was no list of leadership characteristics or categories to choose from, just an opportunity for followers to define how leaders make a positive difference for them.

At the end of the Gallup study, some of the most used characteristics of leadership from the leadership gurus were nowhere near the top of the list.  In fact, the most common responses were not purpose, wisdom, humor, or even humility.  The words that appeared most often were trust, compassion, stability, and hope.  With over 170,000 words available in the English language, to have these four at the top of the list is significant.

Trust

“The followers we surveyed also cited honesty, integrity, and respect as distinct contributions from the leaders in their lives.”

Compassion

“Caring, friendship, happiness, and love were other frequently mentioned words followers used when asked what leaders contributed o their lives.”

Stability

“The People we surveyed also mentioned the words security, strength, support, and peace.”

Hope

“Followers also mentioned the words direction, faith, and guidance when describing this basic need.”

It is interesting to note that none of the four characteristics listed above have anything to do with a person’s intelligence, or IQ.  Instead, they have everything to do with a person’s emotional quotient, or EQ.  What this means is the key to effective leadership is not “out their” somewhere, it is “in here,” inside ourselves.  The heart isn’t just a pump, it’s is the essential, active ingredient for building trust, integrity, empathy, resilience, and credibility.

Robert Cooper, in “Executive Leadership,” says this type of wisdom—from the heart, not the head—“is what ignites creative genius, keeps you honest with yourself, shapes trusting relationships, provides an inner compass for your life and career, guides you to unexpected possibilities, and may even save you or your organization from disaster.”

“People with high levels of personal mastery…cannot afford to choose between reason and intuition, or the head and heart, any more than they would choose to walk on one leg or see with one eye.”  Peter Senge

Open Your Gift for Goodness Sake

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image23398682Do you know your gifts?  Do you find opportunities to express them every day?  Your organization, your team, your family will only be at their best if you bring your best to the relationships each and every day.

You were created for good works.  Take time today to discover where and how you can open that gift and share it with your world.

The following comes from “Forming a Sense of Mission,” from The Path by Laurie Beth Jones.  It is a reminder of the importance of knowing what you bring to any relationship or team.

Great leaders know their gift is not…

…their job.  Your gifts are always larger than your work or your job.

…their role.  Your gifts are never defined by your role in life.

…their “to-do” list.  Your gifts are not the urgent, but the important.

Great leaders also know…

…they are already living it.  It is highly probable that you are already using your gifts.   Increase your awareness of them and use them to their fullest.

…they are important enough.  You can’t escape the responsibility—or the privilege of using your gifts.

…it doesn’t help a lot of people.  The most important gifts are often given one at a time, to one at a time.

…it isn’t full of suffering.  Your gifts should be a perfect “fit” for you—not a struggle.

…it isn’t like anyone else’s.  Your gifts are yours alone–stop all those comparisons.

…it is in a humble place.  Your gifts are not dependent upon where you were born or where you live.

…it is “out of the ordinary.”  Look out for imitations that look like, but are not, the real thing.

…it isn’t an accident.  Neither you, nor your gifts, were an accident.

What’s Love Got to Do with It?

dreamstime_xs_27050853 (2)“What’s love got to do with it?”  Tina Turner wasn’t the first to ask that question, and she won’t be the last.  For a leader, the answer is simple.  Everything!

If you are a leader, love is critical.  And I don’t mean the kind of “love” that is all about me.  You know the type.  “I want you to love me, because I like what I get.”  What I am taking about is the type of love that says, “I will show care, looking out for the interests of others because I simply decide to.”  I

t doesn’t mean I don’t love myself–if you don’t like you, you won’t like others.  It does mean I am interested in the lives and success of all the people who make our organization or business a success and in the lives of the people we serve.

Being a leader is not always easy.  Loving others is the same.  It may not be easy, but it is critical.  You need it.  Your team needs it.  The world needs it.  Lead with love and you will never lead with power or fear ever again.

The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace. —Gandhi

Four Pillars of Leadership

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image7435618“Leadership is defined not by the scale of the opportunity but by the quality of the response.”  Chris Lowney

There is one promise you MUST make as a leader, and it is the promise to lead.  That may sound strange, but many leaders have abdicated their primary responsibility of leading and have become self absorbed, self serving, and, dare I say it, unloving.

In 2003, Chris Lowney, a former Jesuit turned investment banker, wrote a great book titled Heroic Leadership.  A principle that showed up early in his book and continued to be a theme throughout was that “we’re all leaders and that our whole lives are filled with leadership opportunities.”   He goes on to say “We can be leaders in everything we do–in our work and in our daily lives, when teaching others or learning from others.”

If leadership is something we can all do and it is not just for those “atop companies” or “on stage at work,” then we all need to understand what it is, and we all need to make a promise to the people in our lives that we will be that kind of leader.

Chris Lowney’s “Four Core Leadership Pillars,” those principles that become the heart of our promise to lead, are as follows:

  1. Self Awareness: I will understand my strengths, weaknesses, values, and worldview.
  2. Ingenuity: I will confidently innovate and adapt to embrace a changing world.
  3. Love: I will engage others in a positive, loving attitude.
  4. Heroism: I will energize myself and others through heroic ambition.

You can never promise certainty.  However, you can always promise to live your values, and you can make the promise to be a leader.  Make that promise to your team, or your students, or your family today.

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