The Truth About Leadership - Part 6

The Truth About Leadership - Part 6

You Can’t Do it Alone

This statement is half true. First there is an understanding that leadership requires others to be lead. The definition of leadership says nothing about this. While it may be implied, who leads you when you choose to push harder or not push harder to achieve certain goals? It’s you. You are your own leader. Therefore, no one else is required to lead you. However, when we look at goals beyond the personal goals, then this statement is true. Without the 100’s of 1000’s of dedicated men and women who worked on the Lunar Moon Project with NASA, we would not have achieved that goal.

On page 62, the claim is made about leadership, “How do you know someone is a leader? […] The simplest way to know is just to look to see whether that person has followers. If you think you’re a leader and you turn around and no one is following you, then you’re simply out for a walk”. This is very disparaging for personal leaders to read; since it discounts the personal growth work they are doing to improve not only themselves but also the life of others around them, who may not even be aware of it.

There are silent leaders: people who work tirelessly behind the scenes without any thanks or congratulations or even knowing how their actions will affect other people, but hope that it will have a positive effect. These leaders are just as important and powerful as the visible leaders. Buddhist monks discovered this type of leadership 1000’s of years ago and call it, “Taking action without action!” Simply by virtue of being who they are, and doing what they do, regardless of whether or not others follow them, they demonstrate how a better future could look. If someone happens to notice, they may become curious and ask how they do it, and study under them. But at no time does the Buddhist Monk become attached to their presence, how good or bad they are at mirroring their behavior, or whether or not they have achieved the goal of “Taking action without action!” They are content in knowing that the human condition for another small part of the world has been improved every so slightly.

So much of this chapter is about the human condition:

Making a human connection

Hearing what people are saying

Uniting people to solve a shared problem

Making others feel strong, capable, and empowered

Bringing it out of others

On this last point, please refer to “Total Quality or Else” (1991) by Lloyd Dobyns and Clare Crawford-Mason, ISBN 0-395-57439-0, who discuss the history and lessons learned when Dr. Demming, the creator of Total Quality Management worked with the Japanese to improve their systems. Dr. Demming realized that every worker was seeing a part of the process and knew ways that their process could be improved. He utilized this information by aggregating it into larger Quality Initiatives to build better products, stronger companies, and product improvements.

So, what “Bringing it out of others” is referring to, is that you have to listen to the men and women on the front line who are making the parts, assembling the parts, polishing the parts, and using the parts for their ideas on how their part of the process could be improved. If you ignore this information, no one will care about your product or service. And, I do mean, “NO ONE!” How many people still use a typewriter today vs a word processor, today?

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN A BAD MOOD?

When I'm in a bad mood, I take time to journal about what has upset me?  I ask a series of questions ..

What is upsetting me?

What caused this upset to happen?

What should I do to resolve this upset?

How do I feel at the time of this writing?

Can I live with the upset and that which caused me to become upset?

What to do I gain by becoming upset?

What would I give up to stop feeling upset like this?

What would I gain if I stopped responding this way?

What do I want?

I then take a nap and fall asleep.  The questions, solutions, wants are subconsciously processed . New possibilities surface, and that which caused me to become upset ceases to upset me any more.

How deep does the lotus blossom's color run through your curiosity?

Dalai Lama

We need to understand the inadequacy of an educational system so slanted towards material values. The solution is not to give an occasional lecture, but to integrate ethics into the educational curriculum. To do this effectively requires a secular ethics, free of religious influence, based on common sense, a realistic view and scientific findings.

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I don't believe that this post is from the Dalai Lama. What stands out is that the Dalai Lama is making several judgments, which he would never do. The Dalai Lama projects a vision about what education could be. The judgments are: inadequacy of an educational system, slanted towards material values, not to give an occasional lecture, and secular ethics free of religious influence based on common sense. The vision of a better education system looks at the problem of getting young minds to engage in the process of discovery. For example, how does a lotus blossom's color come to be? What minerals are needed? How do these minerals move through the flower? What role does water, mud, sun, and surrounding environment play?What sounds are made as a lotus grows? What do cross sections of the flower look like if drawn by hand?  If the child were curious about just a flower and nothing else, how could this motivation to learn as much about a flower as possible be used to shoe horn in other subjects needed to study the flower .. like reading, writing, composition, comprehension, science, art, music, competition, ecology, and so on. The vision is to improve education. How then does judging and deeming it inadequate help? This creates two, separate, and unequal parts. It is better to point towards the flower, and say, "There is only 1, when two are of the same mind".  The master guides the student's curiosity and discovery.

6 Tips on How to “Partner” with a Corporation

Below are steps to consider, with suggested reading material, concerning building partnerships with corporations.  There are many more factors involved than are described here, which present themselves through the suggested reading material.  And for transparency, this post was influenced by another post ...

Safeway Foundation: 6 Tips on How to “Partner” with a Corporation

http://thirdsectortoday.com/2013/09/09/partner-safeway/#comment-19

Step 1 - Marketing - identifying your suspects, making your target audience aware of your organization's goals, through initial / personal contact letters. Those looking to understand in greater depth what suspects, prospects should read: - "Crossing the Chasm" (1946), Geoffrey A Moore, ISBN 0-88730-717-5. - "Little Black Book of Connections" (2006), Jeffrey Gitmoer, ISBN 1-885167-66-0. - "Online Marketing Research" (2001), Joshua Grossnickle and Oliver Raskin, ISBN 0-07-136114-6 - "Strategies for e-Business" (2005), Tawfik Jelassi and Albrecht Enders, ISBN 0-273-68840-5

Step 2 - Breaking the Ice - connecting with your prospect in person, and engaging in a discussion about what motivates / drives them. When where why and how do they choose to engage in an alliance, supporter role, sponsorship or a partnership with another organization. And most importantly, how can your organization help them with their fund raising and marketing efforts? - "The Art of Mingling" (1992), Jeanne Martinet, ISBN 0-312-08316-5 - "Questions that Sell" (2006), Paul Cherry, ISBN 978-0-8144-7339-9 - "Power Questions" (2012), Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas, ISBN 978-1-118-11963-1

Step 3 - ReUse, Rinse, and Repeat Step 2 again, and again in successive meetings. This builds familiarity and confidence in both organizations. "I can trust you can be there, you can trust that I will be there." Sales people loose patients. Marketers know that it takes 7 different meeting points before a suspect will become a prospect. Also, during this time you can "Qualify" your suspect - "Make sure they are a fit for partnership with your organization." You may find that they have a dirty little secret that could damage your organization.

Step 4 - Small proposals - Using information gleaned in Step 3, write a strong proposal for your prospect. Proposals describe the prospects current situation, desired results and benefits that will receive when they complete the project. Each proposals is tailored uniquely for a particular prospect. No two proposals are identical, since each client has their own set of hot button issues and evaluation criteria. Propose a small project to test how well both of you can work together. Can "YOU" co-coordinate a project? - "Writing Winning Business Proposals" (1995), Richard C. Freed et.al., ISBN 0-07-021924-9 Step 5 - The First commitment – To prepare, start by reviewing books on fund raising, project management, motivating followers and leadership. John C. Maxwell makes a good point in his book, "When you can lead a group of people who have no reason to follow you, you are a leader" - "The Everything Fund Raising Book" (2003), Rich Mintzer, ISBN 1-58062-953-9 - "PMBOK" (2004), Global Standard, ISBN978-1-930399-45-8 - "Organizational Behavior" (2007), Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A Judge, ISBN 0-13-189095-6 - "Motivating & Rewarding Employees" (1999), Alexander Hiam, ISBN 1-58062-130-9 - "1001 Ways to Reward Employees" (2005), Bob Nelson, ISBN 0-7611-3681-9 - "Leadership 101" (2002), John C. Maxwell, ISBN 0-7852-6419-1,

Step 6 - Joint rights and responsibilities - Who is responsible for what when where and how? Many of the books above will prepare you for who needs to do what, this is part of Project Management. One point here is that of Cross Marketing. The organization you are partnering with is helping you to raise awareness and/or funding for you, and you are raising awareness of how they are helping you, which will bolster their bottom line ... In other words, if you help them sell more product, you help them pay you more money. It's a simple reciprocal equation. - "Contracts" (2010), Richard Stim, ISBN 978-1-4133-1281-2

Step 7 - Meeting Regularly & Mixing It Up! - No one likes change, and no one likes repetition - it becomes stale, dull and boring. This is similar to Step 3 - ReUse, Rinse, and Repeat. Each organization's situation changes, and it is important to stay on top of these changes and how they will affect both organizations. You will need to continue using Step 3's wisdom to insure that Step 4's proposals are relevant.

Strategic Thinking

Why would General Mills, originally a single cereal manufacture, decide instead of creating new cereals, it would purchase other companies that are making cereals?  What was the strategic decision making process behind that decision?  

What I have found in my years of examining companies is that many people misunderstand three (3) parts of a companies objectives.  The first is the problem (business or personal) that the company is trying to solve for it's customers.  The second is the vision statement which demonstrates what a world would look like if this problem were resolved.  And the third is the mission statement, which describes how the company intends to achieve its objective.

It is the first part that most companies can't quite articulate, have missed articulating, or leave it assumed - we are in banking, what more do you need to know?  This however, allows the company to veer way off course due to a lack of understanding of the reason why the company started initially.  This like the United States Constitution provides a basis from which all decision are made.  And, when this problem is solved, so then is the company.  

A strategic decision then becomes a debate about, "What is in the client's best interest?"  Employees are encouraged to examine the client's problem from all perspectives, and determine how best to solve the problem.  All arguments require the client's business problem to be the central issues to be resolved, not an after thought.  

If new products or services are added to the business, then they in some part are there specifically to address either the client's business problem, or the daily business activities needed to support the business processes involved in solving the client's business problem.  This is what strategic thinking means to me.  Looking at the ship either in total or in part and determining what is the best course of action to help everyone work towards solving the client's business problem.  

Why is Intent Important?

My apologies, this blog article needs to be proofed.

Why is Intent Important?

Intent is an important thing in our world.  Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it's just a matter of how it's used that determines whether it's for good or evil.  But, to understand what an intent is and how it is used, this discussion is going to be rather lengthy.

What is an Intent?

The dictionary, or more precisely, Dictionary Dot Com provides a definition of intent.

Something that is intended; purpose; design; intention; 

The act or fact of intending, as to do something: criminal intent.

Law, the state of a person's mind that directs his or her actions toward a specific object. (objective or result)

Meaning or significance.

Intent though in leadership is not as black and white as the dictionary would lead you to believe.  Nor is intent like an onion, where layers of intent can be pealed back.  No, intent is like more like threads, bundles, knots, layers all tied together into a ball of yarn, or a ball of rubber bands.  

Intent, or intentions, are constantly bubbling to the surface and falling to the center like a lava lamp.  What drives their priority and expression is how easily an intent or set of intentions can be achieved and who can or should know them.  

How are intentions used?

For a leader, intentions are the hardest thing to manage. In order to understand the full extent of intentions, we need to look at a lot of different questions around intent from six (6) different perspectives. 

First the Perspectives:

The Leader

The Followers

The Non-Followers

The Observers

The Outsiders

And now the questions:

Why does intent need to be managed?

What affect do intentions have on others?

How do intentions affect choices, actions and outcomes?

How are intentions used, misused, and guided?

How do intentions give rise to circles of influence?

Why are there inner circles?

Why are some intentions shared while others are kept hidden?

How do expectations drive intentions?

How do needs, wants, desires and goals affect intentions?

Why does intent need to be managed?

Intentions, as described above are a twisted ball of knots.  Constantly bubbling to the surface and falling to the center like a lava lamp.  What drives their priority and expression is how easily an intent or set of intentions can be achieved and who can or should know them.  And, everyone has them.

The leader, followers, non-followers, observers and outsiders all have their own set of intentions.  Intentions give purpose and energy to individuals. They bind individuals together through emergent behaviors, "Birds of a feather flock together".  Intentions draws the lines that determine who the leader, followers, non-followers, observers and outsiders are.

The goal drives the direction that everyone wants to go in.  If the goal is to get to the top of a mountain, then a group is gathered together with different experiences to reach the top of the mountain.  However, the reasons why everyone wants to get to the top of the mountain is different.  These reasons are their intentions. Some of them are expressed, while others are held tight to their chest, heart, deep inside.

The leader guides everyone on the decision points and breaks the ties about different options concerning every detail about the climb.  From what gear to take, to which side to climb, to when to use specific resources.  A leader may be an experienced climber, or it may be the individual funding the climb.  

Those that wish to go on the climb, but don't want or can't handle the pressure that leaders have to make, are the followers.  Depending on their intentions or reasons why they are going on the climb, followers take on various roles.  They become lieutenants to rally the troops, specialists for different parts of the climb, trainers to prepare the climbers or pack mules to carry supplies.  However the roles are distributed, every task, every item, every decision that can be thought of must be thought of on the ground, and a plan of action and conditional plans of action must be accounted for.  Up until the point that they either succeed in reaching the peek or conclude that the climb will end in failure.

Non-followers are those that don't wish to make the climb.  They have their own reasons and express them. They may not be interested in climbing. They may have a fear of heights.  They may not like members of the group. There are a myriad of reasons why people choose not to make the climb. But for whatever reason they are associated with the group, and express their dissatisfaction.

Outsiders don't care about the climb at all.  This group of people are disaffected by those that want to climb and don't want to climb.  However, depending on how passionate the followers or non-followers are, they may be persuaded to side.  But, normally their focus in on other goals, so their energy and intentions do not become entangled in the outcome of others that wish to see the climb happen or not.

Observers are critics that comment everything about the climbing group.  They may be followers, non-followers, or outsiders.  They generally don't take sides and do try to remain independent. 

All these people either affect or are affected by the outcome of the climb. Therefore, the things they say about the climb, the group, the decisions before, during and after the climb affect the groups success, willingness, or even the success of the climb.  They can create an atmosphere of confidence, blind confidence, doubt, or even call off the climb even before it has started.  And that is just from people interacting with people.

So when it comes to managing intentions, a Leader really has to surround himself with individuals who's intentions are to reach the summit successfully. He has to know that their intentions are inline with theirs. And those, who's intentions are not inline with the climb, need to have their reasons brought to light, addressed, and set aside in order to keep the groups focus on achieving the climb.

What affect do intentions have on others?

Intentions expressed verbally or through action as mentioned above impact everyone involved with the climb.  The intentions of non-followers, for example, can cause doubt or confidence in the climbers depending on how the leader uses or deflects the non-followers intentions.

"Planting the seeds of doubt", or "Planting the seeds of love", which would you want planted? Leaders make choices in who can make the climb and who can't through a myriad of reasons, factors, choices, and decisions. And, how skillfully the leader can elaborate on these will determine the groups success. It also determines how much energy the leader has to expend to keep driving the group towards the goal.

When leaders share their intentions with followers, it invigorates them.  It feeds the followers belief that they share a common goal, and way of achieving it.  Campfire discussions are a wonderful way to bring everyone together and motivate them. Share the intentions, grow deeper bonds and share deeper intentions, other goals, and help followers share in a belief that there is a next goal.

When followers share their intentions with other followers, it also invigorates them. Gives them courage and confidence to try harder, go farther, be better, and so on.  It also allows the members to bond by learning additional pieces about other group members that allow them to explore common bonds outside the group.

When followers share their stories with non-follower and outsiders, either directly or through observers, this is known as a testimonial.  Testimonials are important to the success of future expeditions for many different reasons.  While much of the actual planning stage may be hidden from view, each follower shares their unique experiences, describing a particular event where the leader made choices that affected the member in a positive or negative way.

When non-followers share their intentions with followers either directly or through observers, they have a negative impact on the followers unless the leader knows how to use the non-follower's criticism to build a strong group.  For example, if a non-follower feels that the climb is not safe because the leader has chosen a specific path, then the leader can discuss the various choices the followers have, and which ones make the most sense based on various factors that affect the climb at that specific point.

The negative impact will occur if the leader cannot elaborate fully enough on why one path is better than the other. Or why specific precautions are not necessary when taking this path. Or by even ignoring the question entirely.  And, it is highly recommended that a leader never ignore a question concern the goal, course being taken, their experience, their intentions, or their integrity.  When a leader cannot address these questions, their experience is not complete.

Observers have the advantage of having followed many different groups through their quests to climb mountains.  While observers can be followers, non-followers, or outsiders, their experience lends itself to looking at the factors involved in the climb from an introspective, detached and scientific aspect.  As impartial observers, they can provide valuable insight into the leaders decision making processes when he cannot.

How do intentions affect choices, actions and outcomes?

While goals give direction, intentions give purpose and energy to people to join the cause.  Common intentions cause more energy to be given to the group than to other groups.  However, counter intentions can draw energy away from a group, just as easily.  

When a leader expresses an intention, followers, non-followers, outsiders and observers are given a chance to determine how that intention affects them.  The intention may be to climb the mountain  but using a specific rope climbing technique, or taking specific people with them, or being the first to take a handicap person up.  What ramifications do these intentions have on who can, wants, or needs to join this group in order to succeed in scaling the mountain.

When followers express their intentions to fellow group members, they can energize the group members, leave them disaffected, or have no impact on them.  It can also build a stronger bond between the group members.  For example, let's assume that a group member is handicap and wants to going the mountain climbing group.  Could this individual make a passionate case for his inclusion, and gain support from other group members to help him make the climb.  

While expressing an intention can motivate some members, it can demotivate others.  Some members could see the addition of a handicap member as an additional challenge they are willing to take on, while others see too many risks and are unwilling to take them. Or other members had intentions of doing something else during the climb that may not be suitable while a handicap individual is with them, so they may withhold their intentions for this climb.

Intentions can turn follower into non-followers and non-followers into followers.  It really depends on the words used to describe an intention.  Leaders, followers, and observers use phrases to describe the intention, like sound bites or new article titles.  "1st handicap to scale Mt AntHill", "Risky mountain climb planned!", "Leaders choice questioned!", or "Another 1st for Handicapped!"

Articles written by observers advertise the intent of the leader and the group, and can even bring outsiders into the fold to support or comment on the groups decision.  Support for helping a handicapped individual to a mountain peek could be a big thing. Maybe this even is needed to help motivate other handicapped individuals see their own potential to overcome obstacles. 

Thus the expression of intentions can affect the pressure various groups and / or individuals feel to support or with hold support. These intentions to make the leaders, followers, non-followers, outsiders and observers choices on how to act.  Which is why some members wait until a choice is made before acting.  Why act, until a choice on which options to take on executing an intention is made.  The wrong action can lead to resources being wasted.

How are intentions used, misused, and guided?

In order to understand this question we need to look at another factor concerning the types of leadership that can be expressed.  While there are followers, non-followers, outsiders, and observers, there are followers who have plans beyond the groups.  As mentioned in the question, "How do intentions affect choices, actions and outcomes?", it is possible for one group to tag into another groups goal and use that to leverage other goals.  

This can be a blessing and a curse to have other outside interests following a groups success. The blessing is that the group is receiving support to achieve its goals.  However, in achieving that goal is the group helping another group achieve its goals?  And what are those goals?  Are they inline with what the first group wants?

Intentions can be used, even misused in this fashion.  Let's assume that by having a handicapped individual traverse the mountain is a risky proposition.  The one group that is supporting the climb could just as easily play the odds to cover their losses.  For example, let's assume that bets are being placed in Las Vegas about the success of the climb.  The group is an insurance company that wants to raise public awareness about their products, but at the same time realizes that the risk to reward ratio is out of alignment. So they place a bet to insure that they make money either way.  They will loose the bet if the climb is successful.  They will win the bet if the climb is unsuccessful.  Now the game has changed, and the motivations for succeeding with the original goal to climb the mountain no longer is about climbing the mountain  but which bet will make the most money for the insurance company.

Intentions can also be used to guide.  For example, while the groups goal may be to take a handicapped individual up the mountain, the choice of which handicapped individual to take up, and why can be influenced by other intentions.  For example, if an outside group wishes to support such an effort and make a larger story out of the experience, then selecting the right handicapped individual would prove a better strategy, then using someone the general population doesn't know.

Unfortunately, these situations are why circles of influence exist around leaders.  Why lobbyists constantly talk to congressmen to find out what legislation is coming up and how it will affect their industries. 

How do intentions give rise to circles of influence?

While goals are the direction, intentions are the purpose and energy that drives individuals toward the goal.  The more people that know about a goal and the intentions the more complicated it can become. 

While the initial goal to climb the mountain was to take 5 people, one being handicapped, with additional influences now driving the decisions, these interest may start demanding that the group be accountable in some fashion.  For example, sending out photos and articles of how the journey is affecting the handicapped individual.  

As described above, the group may not be aware of what sponsors are doing, thus these sponsors may be taking both supportive and unsupportive. Observers watching these sponsors may find these actions out of line with the true intentions of the group.  The group and the sponsors risk exposure then.  So, a circle of influence is formed.

The circle usually consists of a tight nit group of followers that want to see the goal achieved. They agree to keep the intentions of the group as close as they can.  Thus, the term "Need to know" becomes a standard saying.  

While this tight circle interacts with those that they need in order to arrange the climb, they also control who knows what and when. The trade off for this method is that while the information is controlled and fed as they want, it can prevent their intentions from reaching a larger group that may support them, but it also allows them to have greater control over who interacts with them, and from an observers standpoint, could raise greater suspicions about what is really happening, if a plausible explanation about their intentions is unrealistic.

Why are there inner circles?

As explained above, inner circles are used to control the flow of intentions.  Those in the know, know the leaders intentions, and those not in the know don't or only know bits and pieces.  This makes for great fodder and mystery movies when a plan is executed and people want to understand how the plan came together and unfolded.

Another reason to use inner circles is to share intentions for a larger project beyond climbing the mountain, or bringing along a handicapped individual. It may be used for planning future expeditions. How the group can encourage others to follow. 

A third reason for inner circles is to keep detractors out.  These individuals are people who purport to be followers, but really are non-followers that constantly work to dissolve the group.

A forth reason for inner circles is to build strong bonds with the group members by always having a back room that members want to be part of.  It takes time to get up through the levels.  The more time they spend working through the levels, the more time the leaders have to learn about the individuals intentions.

Why are some intentions shared while others are kept hidden?

By now this should be an easy question to understand the answer to.  When intentions are shared there are followers and non-followers that will help and hinder the goal.  There are groups that will use the intentions to help the leader just as easily as they would hinder it.

Intentions can also inadvertently lead the group to believe or see the wrong thing. This can become a Public Relations nightmare. This is why larger groups discuss communication strategies.  Releasing an intention into the group needs to be seen as a positive move.

However, a non-follower who's intentions are to disrupt the group and who's integrity is incongruent, can cause disturbances within the group by sowing seeds of deceit.  While this individuals intentions are not shared, they will inject conjecture about what the intentions of the leaders and inner circle are.  If the true intentions where shared, the real issue could be dealt with directly.  And, usually the reason for this method of disrupting a group is usually focused on one of the seven (7) deadly sins.

How do expectations drive intentions?

Expectations are another form of intentions. Unfortunately, unlike true intentions, expectations are intentions that are held onto about the outcome of a goal. And they cloud the judgement of the leader and followers. The block the leader and followers from seeing the options that are available. And lead to the statement, "The end justifies the means!"

With the goal providing the direction, intentions providing purpose and energy, and options providing choices, why should a leader get caught in expectations.   And yet, expectations are a form of goal.  Maybe a form of short term goal, or way that the goal is to be achieved.  Leaders get stuck.

The growth of a leader or a group is not in establishing a specific pattern on how something should be done, but exploring the full range of how something can be done.  The more experience the leader and group is about doing mountain climbing the better prepared they are to handle unexpected circumstances.

How do needs, wants, desires and goals affect intentions?

Needs, wants and desires are goals, with expectations attached to them.  And, just to be clear, even a short term goal is not an intention.  A goal is an outcome of intentions.  So, the intent to reach a short term goal, is still an intention.  Until the goal is reach, it is not a goal, it's just an intention.

If you need something, like water, there are many options to choose from in getting the water, like: melting fresh snow, flowing streams, tap water, bottled water, and so on. Until you have the water, your intention is to procure water.

Thought, as mentioned, needs wants and desires come with expectations attached.  For example, while planning the climb, the leader and group may set specific requirements on what is needed to successfully scale the mountain.  These needs then drive the intentions to gather the materials specified.