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SA Leadership Podcast Episode #082

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Significance Begins HERE

Making the shift from Position to Permission is one of the first real steps of transformation into leadership. People who rely on their positions to move people rarely develop influence with those they are leading.

When a leader learns to function on the Permission level, everything changes. People do more than merely comply with orders – they actually start to follow them. They do so because they want to. WHY? Because of the leaders influence. People will go along with people they get along with.

In Jeffrey Gitmore’s book, The Sales Bible gives us an analogy that describes the importance of relationships

Relationship is more powerful than price

Relationship is more powerful than delivery

Relationship is more powerful than quality

Relationship is more powerful than service

Consider these five upsides to Permission level of leading

Leadership Permission Makes The Work More Enjoyable

Level 2 leading focuses upon from me to we – not the other way around. Permissional leaders like people and want to help them. They desire for others to succeed.

Leadership Permission Increases The Energy Level

What happens when you spend great amounts of time with people you don’t like? The energy level drops! Good relationships on the other hand, increases energy by giving people’s interaction a positive tone. Taking the time to get to know people pays off in greater energy, because desire to go above and beyond.

Leadership Permission Opens Up Channels of Communication

On Level 2, top-down leadership is replaced with side-to-side relationships. Jack Welch former CEO of General Electric describes the ideal leader this way; …somebody who can develop a decision of what they want their business unit, their activity to do and be. Somebody who is able to articulate to the entire unit what the business is and gain through listening and talking, and sharing in discussion an acceptance of the vision.

Said another way, Level 2 leadership listens and operates from a different comprehension position of people’s needs. Consider:

  • EARS – I hear what you say
  • EYES – I see what you are saying
  • HEART – I feel what you are saying
  • UNDIVIDED ATTENTION – I value who you are and what you say

Only when we do these things do we ever build positive relationship and persuade people to follow us.

Leadership Permission Focuses On The Value of Each Person

You can care for people without leading them. But you cannot truly lead people without genuine care! In the non-profit context most of the people that enter your doors feel undervalued, insecure, and lost – it is your job to change that.

There is a common thread that runs through business government, education and religion – People need to be valued and respected!

Leadership Permission Nurtures Trust

People who move from Level 1 leadership to Level 2 stop trying to impress others to maintain their position and start developing trust to maintain their relationships.

Trust is the foundation of Permission. If you have integrity with people you develop trust. The more trust that you develop the stronger the relationship becomes. The better the relationship, the greater the potential for the leader to gain permission to lead. It is a building process that takes time, energy and intentionality.

Retired Admiral James Stockdale said, “When the crunch comes, people cling to those who they know and trust – those who are not detached, but involved.”

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

 

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Purpose

Significance Begins HERE

Why am I here? What is my purpose? What am I supposed to be doing?

These are ageless questions. Some people don’t believe there is a purpose and that doesn’t mean they won’t find their purpose, it only means it will take a little longer for them.

To learn what your purpose is, you must first remove all the chatter from your mind. Most of us were taught false purposes or worse yet that we have no purpose. Having an open mind will allow this process to work more quickly. It is as simple a process as you make it to be. The more resistant you are the longer it will take to unearth your purpose.

To find your purpose:

  1. Gather a blank piece of paper and a pen (or use a computer)
  2. Write at the top of the paper – My true purpose
  3. Write the first answer that enters your mind. It doesn’t matter what that answer is and it doesn’t matter if it is a complete thought – just start to write.
  4. Repeat this process with every answer that enters your mind until you reach that one answer that moves you to tears. That will be your true purpose.

This process is simple. And the more open minded you are the faster you will uncover your true purpose. For some it will be quick – for others it may take hours or days. For most, the first 20 minutes will simply be your mind clearing of clutter, then the magic begins. Your answer will be coming from the source. This source will be beyond you. It will be what moves you to clarity.

There may be times during this exercise that you want to quit. You may have written 100 different answers and think you will never get to the true purpose but trust that you will. Stay at it. If some answers conjure emotion – highlight them but keep moving forward. Don’t stop until you come to that one true purpose and you will know it when you write it.

You will find that uncovering your purpose will be the easiest part. Living it is what will define you. This is a very powerful exercise that has the ability to change your life.

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SA Leadership Podcast Episode #081

Best Behaviors of Level 1

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Significance Begins HERE

If you have been leading on Level 1 and relying on your position or title to keep things going, are you destined to stay there forever? Absolutely not! All leaders can learn to lead differently and move through the various levels of leadership. The million dollar question is “How do you make the most of your leadership position while shifting from positional to permissional leadership? Here are three insights that I want to explore with you

Stop Relying on Position to Push People

So that I am not misunderstood, there is nothing wrong with having a leadership position. It is the beginning place for all leaders. The gross error is in having a “Positional mind-set.” To become effective as a Level 1 leader you have to push away from title and start leaning into toward people.

The action steps in pushing toward people involves leading before you are the leader. This action involves good questions that does not tell people what to do, but rather asks more personable questions such as…

  • How can I help you?
  • What are some of the challenges that you are facing in your position?
  • How can we collaborate together for an effective solution to this problem?
  • I am interested in how you do this, can you teach me?

Positional leaders push people, thinking this method is effective leading. Nobody likes to be pushed around. The responses from a positional only leader are usually poor. Consider the following concepts of a positional mind-set:

  • Top-down: “I’m over you”
  • Separation: “Don’t let people get close to you”
  • Image: “Fake it till you make it”
  • Strength: Never let ‘em see you sweat”
  • Selfishness: You are here to help me”
  • Power: “I determine your future”
  • Intimidation: “Do this or else”
  • Rules: “The manual says…”

Now contrast how high-level leaders think differently. Pay close attention to the difference in sound.

  • SIDE by SIDE: “Let’s work together”
  • INITIATION: “I’ll come to you”
  • INCLUSION: “What do you think?”
  • COOPERATION: “Together we can win”
  • SERVANTHOOD: “I’m here to help you”
  • DEVELOPMENT: “I want to add value to you”
  • ENCOURAGEMENT: “I believe that you can do this”
  • INNOVATION: “Let’s think outside the box”

Trade Entitlement for Movement

Political Philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli stated, “It is no the titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.” He understood the nature of leadership and the true weakness of titles. If you want to make the most of your position at Level 1 and to honor whatever titles you possess, then do not rely upon them to lead others. Do not exercise your rights. Do not become possessive about your perks. Above all – never believe that you deserve the position.

Leave Your Position and Move Toward Your People

People who rely on position mistakenly believe that it is the responsibility of the people to come to them for what they need. Good leaders understand that it is the responsibility to move toward the people – Leaders are initiators!

Greek philosopher Socrates stated; “Let him who would move the world, first move himself. ”You need to get off of your throne in the high places and come down to where the people dwell. In order to do anything meaningful in life you will need to leave your comfort zone. When you accept the challenge to stretch yourself and grow into new ways – your comfort zone enlarges.

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

 

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Progress

Significance Begins HERE

Every few weeks or so, my children hand me a progress report. It tells me how they are doing in school, what their strengths are and if there are areas that need improvement. Imagine if you could get a progress report every few weeks or so on how you are doing in life! Wouldn’t that be helpful?

If I could special order a report on my progress, I would want to know how I was doing with my relationships specifically with my spouse, my kids, my extended family, my workmates, my friends, my neighbors and my acquaintances.

Then I would want to know how I was doing with my job. How was I progressing in my career and how could I improve. Some jobs do check ins and annual assessments but imagine knowing more often. That would be so helpful for me to receive that feedback.

After that I would want to know how I was doing with my goals. How was I hitting my financial goals? How was I hitting my personal development goals? How was I hitting my health goals and so on…? You get the point.

This would be so helpful to receive a progress report like my children do. So I was brainstorming with my mentor and he suggested I create such a progress report and he would gladly fill it in as often as I needed it. What a thought!! So we did. And it has been an incredible asset to me to see how I am progressing through those things I hold very important in my life. Those things I want to improve upon. Those things I have hit spot on and now I can create new goals and targets.

Progress always seemed scary to me in the past because to progress, you must change and I was like a lot of people, afraid of change, happy with status quo but I really wasn’t. My fear of change, my fear of progressing superseded my desire for change.

Now I can add my progress report to my overall life map. Now I have those frequent check-ins to review which helps me tweak my behavior. Now I know I will hit my goals faster and more efficiently because I am receiving that feedback that is helping me progress to the next level.

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SA Leadership Podcast Episode #080

The Downside of Position

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Significance Begins HERE

True Leadership Isn’t About Position!

The easiest way to define leadership is by position. Once you have the title people will recognize and identify with it. However, positions can be misleading. Positions always promise more than they can deliver.

It is a known fact of life and leading that you can be the chairperson and hold the gavel, but in fact another member of that Board or Committee may in fact be the leader – they hold the influence! You can have title, but that alone does not make you the leader!

Let’s consider eight significant downsides to Level 1 leading with Title only.

Having a Leadership Position Is Often Misleading – This is true because title tends to define leadership as a NOUN instead of a VERB. It becomes who I am and not what I am doing. Leadership is action – not position!

Leaders Who Rely on Position to Lead Often Devalue People – When this is true, a title leader attempts to hold on to their position often times above everything they else they do. Their position becomes more important than the work they do, the value they add to their subordinates, or their contribution to the organization.

Positional Leaders Feed on Politics – When positional leader value position over the ability to influence others in a positive manner, the environment tends to become very political.

Positional Leaders Place Rights Over Responsibilities – Inevitably, positional leaders who rely on their rights develop a sense of entitlement. They expect their people them, rather than looking for ways to serve others.

Positional Leadership Is Often Lonely – The phrase “It’s lonely at the top” must have been uttered by a positional leader or someone with a personality disorder. Positional leaders are often lonely if they misunderstand the functions and purpose of leadership. If you have others alongside you, it is hard to be lonely.

Leaders Who Remain Positional Get Branded & Stranded – Leadership is about INFLUENCE! You give time, influence, modeling, resources, and opportunity. Here is an observation: When you give little assistance to potential leaders, they still succeed because they are talented. If you give all that you have to mediocre leaders they still do not succeed because they lack the ability to establish themselves as a good leader.

Turn Over Is high In Positional Leaders – High turnover is always the result when you rely on position. People quit people, not organizations. Good leaders leave when they have to follow bad leaders.

Positional Leaders Receive People’s Least, Not Their Best – Can you name one organization that gets the least from its people and is the best at what they do? Can you name one coach who gets the least from the team and wins championships? Can you name one married couple who gives their least and has a long-term relationship?

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

 

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Practice

Significance Begins HERE

Malcolm Gladwell stated that to become an expert, you need to have 10,000 hours invested. Those 10,000 hours are repeated acts of practicing a craft. Thomas Edison tried 2,000 times before he perfected the filament in an incandescent bulb. Failed attempts at something are merely practices for that victory.

Look at a baby taking her first step. Wobbly legs and lack of balance coupled with lots of falls. That baby is determined to walk. There is an innate desire to walk. An insatiable desire to walk. She practices holding on to tables, chairs, anything to stabilize as she moves about and then finally she takes that first step only to fall back onto her bottom. She gets up and tries again. Many days and weeks and even months pass and then she picks up the pace and turns those steps into runs. Have you observed a toddler running for the first time? He usually stumbles over his feet and loses his balance and falls again. And gets up and tries it over and over. Some take it to the next level and run as sport and then run professionally.

Take running a marathon as an example. You can’t get up one day and say you’re going to run a marathon this weekend without training for it. Your body will shut down early on depending on your physical capabilities. Marathon runners train for weeks and weeks on end slowly building up their stamina and distance in preparation for the big day. They practice. They practice a lot!

Look at your goals. Look at your passion and purpose in life. Are you practicing for that victory? Are you working every day to achieve that life you desire? Are you focused on the end goal?

Success is met with a lot of failures. Those who succeed persevered through the failures continually practicing for that success. Look at your life and write down those acts that you perform on a daily basis and have or are in the process of perfecting. This could be forgiveness, your profession, a hobby, guilt, love, whatever it may be – look at those things you do on a regular basis and then look at your purpose, vision and goals in life and see if they match up. If not, then make a conscientious change today to practice what is going to move you to your goals.

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SA Leadership Podcast Episode #079

Level 1 - Position

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Significance Begins HERE

People follow you because have to!

A leader position is usually given to people because they have leadership potential.

Most of the time when people enter a leadership position they do so because someone has granted authority to do so. The best leaders promote people into leadership based upon leadership potential and nothing else.

A leadership position means authority is recognized.

Some sort of power and authority come with leadership. At this early stage authority is limited and that is OK. Potential leaders need to prove themselves with a little before much is given. In 1954 in the Infantryman’s Journal there is a great quote: “No man is a leader until his appointment is ratified in the minds ad hearts of his men.”

A leadership position is an invitation to grow as a leader.

There should always be a relationship between receiving a leadership position and fulfilling the requirements demanded by it. Often when asked what is the one thing you would change in this company, most people respond by suggesting – policies, pricing, procedures, process, and people. Rarely will anyone suggest they are what should change to improve this company. Good leaders are always good learners. If you are a leader, you should accept this an invitation to grow. If you commit to becoming a life learner you will greatly increase your influence and you potential.

A leadership position allows potential leaders to shape and define their leadership.

Once you have accepted a leadership potential you get to decide what kind of leader you want to become. Understand that leadership is much less about what you do and more about who your are – Fransis Hesselbein.

Who am I?

Good leadership begins with leaders taking the time to know who they are. In the book, It’s Your Ship, the author Captain Mike Abrashoff states that hard experiences teach you that real leadership is about understanding yourself first then using that to create a superb organization. Successful leaders work hard to know themselves.

Knowing yourself is not an easy or short process. Some of it is not particularly fun. But it is necessary if you want to become a better leader. Self knowledge is foundational to effective leading.

What are my values?

Your values are the soul of your leadership, and they drive your behavior! With so many devastating illustrations in banking and politics you have come to see that a bad value system affects more people than yourself.

What leadership practices do I want to put in place?

Herb Keller former CEO of Southwest Airlines talks about his early leadership lessons. He stated that he learned the greatest lessons when he was a trail lawyer. He observed two of the best attorney’s in San Antonio. Both were polar opposites in terms of style, One was quiet and the other was a hell raiser in the court room. He learned that people with different personalities, different approaches, different values can succeed not because one set of values or practices are superior, but because their values and practices are genuine.

To be an effective leader you must not only know yourself and define your values. You must also live them out.

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

 

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Plan

Significance Begins HERE

Imagine taking a trip without a map. Imagine building a structure without blueprints. Imagine going through life without a plan…

Do you drift through life letting life happen to you? Does it give you angst when you know you have a higher purpose but don’t know where to start?

Let’s get out of that existential funk and begin to craft the life we want to live.

Crafting a life plan is not a simple task and will not take an hour to complete. You will need to commit to writing, meditating, contemplating and soul searching and expect this to take time. If you have the ability, go somewhere for a weekend alone and work on this – camping, hotel, man cave… however you can be alone to work on your life’s plan.

Begin to define who you are. List out your roles – husband/wife, boss, worker, sister/brother, volunteer, citizen, friend, etc.

Prioritize these roles to determine which are most important. Identify which roles cause the most stress and which are the roles you want to explore or give highest priority to. By identifying these roles you will uncover patterns and those roles you want to eliminate.

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SA Leadership Podcast Episode #078

A Game Plan For Life

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:28 — 17.8MB) | Embed

Significance Begins HERE

Insights Into The 5 Levels of Leadership

You Can Move Up A Level But You Never Leave The Previous One Behind

You Are Not On The Same Level With Every Person

The Higher You Go, The Easier It Is To Lead

The Higher you, The More Time and Commitment Is Required To Win A Level

Moving Up Levels Occurs Slowly, But Going Down Can Happen Quickly

The Higher You Go, The Greater the Return

Moving Farther Up Always Requires Further Growth

Not Climbing The Levels Limits You and Your People

When You Change Positions or Organizations, You Seldom Stay at The Same Level

You Cannot Climb The Levels Alone

Good leaders do not lead everyone the same. Every person is different and you are not on the same level of leadership with everyone in the same way. Effective leaders leaders interact with followers based on:

  • Where they are with that specific follower
  • Where the follower perceives the leader to be
  • Where the followers are in their own leadership development

I believe that every person has the ability to improve in leadership!!

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

 

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Persistance

Significance Begins HERE

If you knew what 500 of the world’s wealthiest people knew – would you do as they do?

Napoleon Hill dedicates an entire chapter to Persistence. Your paradigms will shift when you consistently feed your mind with repetitive information.

Hill describes the four steps that lead to the habit of persistence as:

A definite purpose backed by a burning desire for its fulfillment.

A definite plan, expressed in continuous action.

A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances.

A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.

These four steps will also lead to the mastery of fear, discouragement and indifference. Persistence is one of the common threads in the 500 wealthiest people’s repertoire – make it part of your daily practice.