In most organizations the leader forms the heart, the central part around which almost everything evolves. If you were to take this heart out unexpectedly, or without someone stepping into that space, the organization will probably struggle to thrive and even to survive.
It happens often that this person who is the heart of the organization, does not have a heart! Leaders in other organizations, colleagues and employees describes him/ her as "heartless".
It's amazing that you can find numerous websites on "How to have a cold heart", but practically none about how to become a warm hearted person! On how to become heartless, I have sourced the following:
1. Do not accept apologies from anybody about anything.
2. Focus only on the task at hand, not the people involved in getting it done.
3. Do not reflect on, or celebrate successes, always think and talk about what still needs to be done.
4. Be angry at everybody about everything.
5. Always be callous, curt and distant. Do not show any signs of affection or care.
6. Be unavailable and always too busy for talk about personal issues.
If you do this long enough, you will surely become a cold and heartless person. If that is what you want to be.... (I worked with a leader once who actually wanted people to fear him and to experience him as strict and curt!)
By far, most people are positive and enthusiastic about a leader (as well as a colleague or a friend) with a heart. -Rather than the opposite.
So: How do you become a person with a heart? I think the comprehensive answer would be this: Learn to appreciate and love people. -I say comprehensive, because to learn to appreciate and love people is certainly not simple. For some of us it is really not easy to show interest in people and not only in the tasks that needs to be done to reach the goals that we have set.
If you want to have a heart, you would have to work at this: Learn to listen to people, be more understanding and sympathetic. Be more compassionate. Bé a fellow human. Learn to show some emotion. Show grace!
Think on this: Is your heart for the people you work with growing or shrinking? -What would the implications of that be for you as a person? -And as a leader?
Friday, 22 June 2012
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Followership
We are all familiar with the saying that "everything rises and falls on leadership." I fully agree with this notion: The quality of leadership; the integrity of a leader; the pro-activity, or passivity. -In short, the type and level of leadership, is in direct correlation to the effectiveness, innovation and growth path of any organization.
Leadership is very important. In many ways we underestimate the impact of bad leadership, or the lack of leadership in the world. There is a growing need in an ever increasing scope of society for "better" leaders.
BUT: I think that we as leaders sometimes overestimate our importance as leaders, as being the primary indicator of organizational effectiveness and success.We tend to forget, or at least underestimate the importance of followers and what I like to call followership.
Without followers there will be no real leaders. Central to the understanding of the concept of leadership, is the fact that the leader leads somebody, or something. Without followers the person who thinks that he/ she is leading, is in fact only taking a stroll -and that could become a lonely solitary walk!
Followers are those people who support the leader. They believe in what he/she does, or endeavours to do. They are adherents and attendants, fans and some would say disciples of the leader.
I believe that there is a growing need for followers in the world: People who are really willing to follow the vision, passion and direction of someone else. People who will give their undivided support and loyalty to someone other than their own being. People who are willing to push aside their own agenda and ambitions for that of somebody else. -In a time of ultimate self-centredness, that is a scarce commodity!
The best leaders come from amongst the group of people who knows and understands what it means to be a follower. Leaders should intentionally place themselves in situations where they are required to be followers. -Only by experiencing and understanding followership, can you grow in leadership.
Would you be willing to follow the leader that you are? -Why should anybody else follow you?
Leadership is very important. In many ways we underestimate the impact of bad leadership, or the lack of leadership in the world. There is a growing need in an ever increasing scope of society for "better" leaders.
BUT: I think that we as leaders sometimes overestimate our importance as leaders, as being the primary indicator of organizational effectiveness and success.We tend to forget, or at least underestimate the importance of followers and what I like to call followership.
Without followers there will be no real leaders. Central to the understanding of the concept of leadership, is the fact that the leader leads somebody, or something. Without followers the person who thinks that he/ she is leading, is in fact only taking a stroll -and that could become a lonely solitary walk!
Followers are those people who support the leader. They believe in what he/she does, or endeavours to do. They are adherents and attendants, fans and some would say disciples of the leader.
I believe that there is a growing need for followers in the world: People who are really willing to follow the vision, passion and direction of someone else. People who will give their undivided support and loyalty to someone other than their own being. People who are willing to push aside their own agenda and ambitions for that of somebody else. -In a time of ultimate self-centredness, that is a scarce commodity!
The best leaders come from amongst the group of people who knows and understands what it means to be a follower. Leaders should intentionally place themselves in situations where they are required to be followers. -Only by experiencing and understanding followership, can you grow in leadership.
Would you be willing to follow the leader that you are? -Why should anybody else follow you?
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Leadership 101.5
In the world Cafe style of shared learning we sit around tables with cuppuccinos and lattes.
Some sit with their apple/-juice and we talk. We talk about talk. (Have you noticed how many times we tend to do that?)
Whenever there is talk about leadership some of the following questions and concepts are always part of the conversation: How does a person become a leader? Can leadership be learned?
Are we all leaders? Do you need a title (to lead)? What IS leadership again??
You can Google a 1000 definitions of leadership and we will still be talking and asking the same questions. This is because leadership is not static.It has many faces and facets. It can be personal, individualistic, dictatorial, corporate, collective, strategic, operational, + + +
-At is best leadership is situational and contextual.
One of the first definitions about leadership that I was exposed to, was the one by J.Oswald Sanders: "Leadership is influence." It still speaks to leadership on many levels.
The ancient Greeks used the word "strategos", or strategist and the Romans had the Latin concept of "imperator" to describe a military strategist. This later became "Emperor" or Ruler, wich is not what we generally have in mind when we talk about leadership these days.
The world is in need of effective leadership. Countries like China tries everything to lure talented people to the different levels of their leadership needs. "We can compensate for the absence of many skills and resources, but we struggle to overcome the absence of effective leadership".
-George Barna.
How much of this effective leadership lies in leadership skills? -The ability to think strategically,
to see a different future and to work at realizing it. How much of it lies in Emotional-, Spiritual-, Moral- and Social Intelligence? How much in character?
To paraphrase the former US Forces Commander and Chief, Norman Schwarzkopf: -Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. -If you have to leave one: Leave strategy.!
Some sit with their apple/-juice and we talk. We talk about talk. (Have you noticed how many times we tend to do that?)
Whenever there is talk about leadership some of the following questions and concepts are always part of the conversation: How does a person become a leader? Can leadership be learned?
Are we all leaders? Do you need a title (to lead)? What IS leadership again??
You can Google a 1000 definitions of leadership and we will still be talking and asking the same questions. This is because leadership is not static.It has many faces and facets. It can be personal, individualistic, dictatorial, corporate, collective, strategic, operational, + + +
-At is best leadership is situational and contextual.
One of the first definitions about leadership that I was exposed to, was the one by J.Oswald Sanders: "Leadership is influence." It still speaks to leadership on many levels.
The ancient Greeks used the word "strategos", or strategist and the Romans had the Latin concept of "imperator" to describe a military strategist. This later became "Emperor" or Ruler, wich is not what we generally have in mind when we talk about leadership these days.
The world is in need of effective leadership. Countries like China tries everything to lure talented people to the different levels of their leadership needs. "We can compensate for the absence of many skills and resources, but we struggle to overcome the absence of effective leadership".
-George Barna.
How much of this effective leadership lies in leadership skills? -The ability to think strategically,
to see a different future and to work at realizing it. How much of it lies in Emotional-, Spiritual-, Moral- and Social Intelligence? How much in character?
To paraphrase the former US Forces Commander and Chief, Norman Schwarzkopf: -Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. -If you have to leave one: Leave strategy.!
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Potential
They say: An apple a day keeps the doctor away. -Have you ever looked at the pips in an apple?
I mean really looked at them and realized that in every little seed there lies enormous potential....
Everybody has potential.It is something we are born with. The inherent ability to become more than we are and be all that we were intended to be. You are definitely not there yet!
One little apple seed has the ability to produce a tree full of beautiful apples, which in turn could produce more trees full of apples.... One can actually say that within one apple seed lies the potential to produce an orchard full of apples trees!
When it comes to us as humans, the possibilities are equally endless. You never know before the time what potential you, or someone else really has. When you buy a packet of seed, the name of the flower or vegetable, as well as a photo of what you can expect, normally gets printed on the outside. With humans, we have no clear picture and no description of possibilities before hand. We have no way to know for sure what we could become.
There is a limit to our potential, but why do we tend to limit ourselves? Why do we look at others and compare ourselves with what they have accomplished over the span of many years?
I remember sitting in the office of the leader of a big and successful organization in Singapore many years ago: He was explaining the structure and function of this institution to a small group of young leaders. While I sat there, listening eagerly and taking notes, my heart sank in my shoes as I doubted my abilities, wondering how I ever will be able to lead and develop something similar to what he was describing to us.
Just as I felt really down and discouraged, it dawned on me that what I was looking at was the product of many years of planning and growth! There is no way that I could start where this man was at that point!! He did not start there and he was not the same man that he was ten years ago when he started out either. I realized that your ability grows, according to your function and the level of responsibility that you are willing to take.
You need to take responsibility for your own abilities and possibilities. Only then will your potential be realized. If we do not take responsibility for our abilities, potential eventually dies - like a seed squashed, or thrown into the dustbin.
"The death of a seed, is the burial of a forest."
-Myles Munroe.
I mean really looked at them and realized that in every little seed there lies enormous potential....
Everybody has potential.It is something we are born with. The inherent ability to become more than we are and be all that we were intended to be. You are definitely not there yet!
One little apple seed has the ability to produce a tree full of beautiful apples, which in turn could produce more trees full of apples.... One can actually say that within one apple seed lies the potential to produce an orchard full of apples trees!
When it comes to us as humans, the possibilities are equally endless. You never know before the time what potential you, or someone else really has. When you buy a packet of seed, the name of the flower or vegetable, as well as a photo of what you can expect, normally gets printed on the outside. With humans, we have no clear picture and no description of possibilities before hand. We have no way to know for sure what we could become.
There is a limit to our potential, but why do we tend to limit ourselves? Why do we look at others and compare ourselves with what they have accomplished over the span of many years?
I remember sitting in the office of the leader of a big and successful organization in Singapore many years ago: He was explaining the structure and function of this institution to a small group of young leaders. While I sat there, listening eagerly and taking notes, my heart sank in my shoes as I doubted my abilities, wondering how I ever will be able to lead and develop something similar to what he was describing to us.
Just as I felt really down and discouraged, it dawned on me that what I was looking at was the product of many years of planning and growth! There is no way that I could start where this man was at that point!! He did not start there and he was not the same man that he was ten years ago when he started out either. I realized that your ability grows, according to your function and the level of responsibility that you are willing to take.
You need to take responsibility for your own abilities and possibilities. Only then will your potential be realized. If we do not take responsibility for our abilities, potential eventually dies - like a seed squashed, or thrown into the dustbin.
"The death of a seed, is the burial of a forest."
-Myles Munroe.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Strength(s)
There is a lot of people who generally believe that we should focus and work hard on improving the areas in which we are not strong. Be that our organizing or strategic planning skills, our ability to think ahead, or manage and do administration well.
While there is merit in trying to improve one's abilities, (we all could do better in whatever we are doing) -to mainly focus on your weaknesses and aiming at improving them, will most certainly lead to a situation where you are quite average in everything!
Should we not rather focus on determining and developing our strengths? -Without ignoring our weaknesses completely. How will our lives look if we would spend most of our time building it around our God given abilities and talents? Many of us do not know what out real strengths are.
Some are deluded by what we think our strength(s) should be. Others are blinded by a false sense of humility that leads them to believe that one should never acknowledge the things that you are good at. In the process many of us find ourselves doing things that we really are not good at. Many time we are either too proud, or just plainly too stupid to ask someone whose strength that particular ability is, to do it!
That is part of the whole team concept, (the direction that leadership seems to be moving) where like the different members of a body, each part fulfils a particular function that the other was not made, or equipped to do, but together they lead the body to be and do what it should effectively.
It is no use to spend time (like we sometimes do) worrying about who we're not and the abilities that we do not have. You should rather get to know who you áre and what you cán do and start living and working from that paradigm.
How would the world look like, if we all should focus and spend our time and energy to excel in the things that we are good at? How would that impact the organization/s that you are functioning in?
What do you have to do and to whom do you have to talk, to determine what your particular strengths are? -a Strength is the ability you have to do certain things exceedingly well over time.
Just remember: "Strength is not for status, but for service."
While there is merit in trying to improve one's abilities, (we all could do better in whatever we are doing) -to mainly focus on your weaknesses and aiming at improving them, will most certainly lead to a situation where you are quite average in everything!
Should we not rather focus on determining and developing our strengths? -Without ignoring our weaknesses completely. How will our lives look if we would spend most of our time building it around our God given abilities and talents? Many of us do not know what out real strengths are.
Some are deluded by what we think our strength(s) should be. Others are blinded by a false sense of humility that leads them to believe that one should never acknowledge the things that you are good at. In the process many of us find ourselves doing things that we really are not good at. Many time we are either too proud, or just plainly too stupid to ask someone whose strength that particular ability is, to do it!
That is part of the whole team concept, (the direction that leadership seems to be moving) where like the different members of a body, each part fulfils a particular function that the other was not made, or equipped to do, but together they lead the body to be and do what it should effectively.
It is no use to spend time (like we sometimes do) worrying about who we're not and the abilities that we do not have. You should rather get to know who you áre and what you cán do and start living and working from that paradigm.
How would the world look like, if we all should focus and spend our time and energy to excel in the things that we are good at? How would that impact the organization/s that you are functioning in?
What do you have to do and to whom do you have to talk, to determine what your particular strengths are? -a Strength is the ability you have to do certain things exceedingly well over time.
Just remember: "Strength is not for status, but for service."
Friday, 11 May 2012
Reputation, Perception & Legacy
What the people who work, live and play with us, says about us when we are not present builds our reputation. It is from what they "report" to friends, colleagues and family that a picture is created about who, what and how you are. What they report comes from their lived experience with us, the reality of who we are and what we are striving to become.
What people report about us, is based on their rapport with us. Rather than trying to manipulate perceptions about us -we should put our energy in developing healthy interpersonal relationships and growing our own character.
Some leaders buy into the old adage that perception is reality so much, that they spend enormous amounts of resources (time, energy and money) to create a favourable image about themselves, that ultimately is not real. What a waste of time! Firstly: The only reason why you would do that, is because in reality something is awry in your character and behaviour. Secondly: Reality "leaks" from your circle of colleagues, friends and even family. -In a very short time everybody knows the real reputation from the created perception. (And talks about it.)
That just adds negatively to your reputation.
Legacy is not just about how you will be remembered one day, or something you leave behind when you die. You leave a legacy whenever and wherever you leave! We are all busy living a legacy right now. I believe that in the long run, legacy is to a great extent the sum and culmination of your reputation.
Myles Munroe once said:"Let your life write the speech of your death." (Munroe M 1992. Releasing your Potential. Destiny Image Publishers)
Thursday, 3 May 2012
humility
To say that you are humble, destroys the very essence of what humility is all about. Striving to be authentically humble, is a commendable and expected characteristic of good leadership. The minute you start telling others just how humble you are, is the moment that you stop being that!
In my view humility is something that one should strive to be in thought and do in practice, but never say about yourself.
To be humble is not to think "nothing" or badly about yourself. Humility is sometimes mistaken for being the floor mat of friends, family and colleagues, or for allowing others to just walk over you, disregard and mistreat you. To be humble certainly does not mean that you have a low self esteem. -In many ways humility is the exact opposite of arrogance. (See post 11/04/2012).
Humility is a way of thinking, an attitude, a way of being with and about yourself, that reflects some understanding of your specific place and role in the bigger scheme of things. To be humble is to have a moderate estimation of your own importance, merits and abilities.
For me humility is all about appropriate smallness: -To know that you are not the answer to every problem, that you are not indispensable or irreplaceable and that you are definitely not the messiah for the situation! It is being conscious of the fact that there have been talented and sharp leaders before you, and that there will surely be other, may be even more effective and talented one's after you........... It is also about being responsibly aware of the fact that you have a role to play.
You have an unique personality and abilities that could make a real difference! You have something to add to the bigger picture. We all have. We should to the best of our knowledge and ability, diligently make the difference that we were called to make, but we should do so with modesty and in appropriate smallness.
"Let other people praise you -even strangers; never do it yourself." Proverbs 27:2 (Good News)
In my view humility is something that one should strive to be in thought and do in practice, but never say about yourself.
To be humble is not to think "nothing" or badly about yourself. Humility is sometimes mistaken for being the floor mat of friends, family and colleagues, or for allowing others to just walk over you, disregard and mistreat you. To be humble certainly does not mean that you have a low self esteem. -In many ways humility is the exact opposite of arrogance. (See post 11/04/2012).
Humility is a way of thinking, an attitude, a way of being with and about yourself, that reflects some understanding of your specific place and role in the bigger scheme of things. To be humble is to have a moderate estimation of your own importance, merits and abilities.
For me humility is all about appropriate smallness: -To know that you are not the answer to every problem, that you are not indispensable or irreplaceable and that you are definitely not the messiah for the situation! It is being conscious of the fact that there have been talented and sharp leaders before you, and that there will surely be other, may be even more effective and talented one's after you........... It is also about being responsibly aware of the fact that you have a role to play.
You have an unique personality and abilities that could make a real difference! You have something to add to the bigger picture. We all have. We should to the best of our knowledge and ability, diligently make the difference that we were called to make, but we should do so with modesty and in appropriate smallness.
"Let other people praise you -even strangers; never do it yourself." Proverbs 27:2 (Good News)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)