14Mar/14

Is Servant Leadership Right for You?

March 14, 2014BlogInstruction, Leaderhip Strategy, Management, Management by Walking Around, Servant LeadershipVictoria

The idea of the servant leader begins with a mindset. It is the idea that as a leader you are there to take care of the people who work for you. Success is possible because you are able to give your staff what they need (time, knowledge, help etc.) to get the job done without you. Ultimately, your job is to lead yourself out of a job.

There are two things necessary to be a good servant leader. The first is crucial for any type of leadership strategy: Know your people. I’ve talked about this before (click here) and I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to establish that one on one relationship with your team members. The second thing required is a deep seeded desire to serve others. You can’t fake this. If you don’t truly believe that you are there to serve your people – find another leadership model because servant leadership is as much about heart as it is about skills.

So what are the attributes of a servant leader? According to Boone and Mahkani a servant leader must be:

Authentic
Vulnerable
Accepting
Present
Useful

Be Authentic:The servant leader is real. This is about your credibility and how it ties into your belief in service. If you don’t believe it- your staff won’t believe you.

Be Vulnerable: Do your followers trust you? In order to be trusted you have to make yourself vulnerable. You people know you are human. Don’t try to pretend that you’re not.

Be Accepting: Along those same lines, realize that your team is made up of human beings. As you get to know them, not only accept them for whom they are but explore ways to use different perspectives, attitudes and values to find solutions.

Be Present: No one follows the absentee manager. Get up from your desk and make your presence known. Practice MBWA (Management by walking around). This is one of the most powerful management tools I have ever encountered. Put down the clipboard and just be out and about. Believe it or not your staff wants to see you. Give them what they want.

Be Useful: This is the heart of service. Be what your people need you to be. If they need physical help, don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty – lend a hand. You’ll be surprised at the return on investment. If they need counseling and instruction, provide it. It’s not about what you need from them; rather, it’s about getting them to a place where they are empowered and confident enough to get the job done without you.

Reference:

Boone, L. W., & Makhani, S. (2012). Five Necessary Attitudes of a Servant Leader. Review Of Business, 33(1), 83-96.

21Feb/14

The Dance

February 21, 2014BlogCommunication, Courage, TrustVictoria

Somewhere in the dark, the music starts to play with a low and steady beat. Slowly, two dancers make their way from the back of the room and walk to the middle of the floor. They dance here nightly and the audience gathers round with anticipation because they’re not sure how it will end tonight– they’re never sure. Slowly, Communication holds out his hand silently waiting for Trust to join him in the center of the floor. When she does, he takes her lightly about the waist and starts to glide in small, smooth circles feeling her relax in his arms but suddenly he trips; nothing sensational; just a small misstep which lasts but a fraction of a second but that’s all it takes. The mood is broken and Trust is not as willing a partner as she was a moment ago. She feels uneasy; she now has questions where there were none before. Was it foolish to let her partner lead her around without knowing if he even knew the steps? Trying not to think about it, she cautiously allows him to start again but this time both dancers are wary.

Neither knows what will happen next and Trust is one step away from retreating into the crowd, letting him take his chance with someone else. Communication feels the tension in her movements and tries even harder to guide her smoothly around the floor. The harder he tries, the more he trips. The more he trips, the more she tenses and on it goes until she attempts to retreat to the safety of the silent audience; once again safe in anonymity.

But tonight, an unexpected change occurs. Trust straightens her shoulders and walks back to the center of the floor firmly placing her hand in Communication’s. Her actions relax him, he knows that there will be no more missteps – the message was clear the moment she offered her hand. Slowly they start to glide across the floor and with each step Trust relaxes a little more. As she relaxes, Communication gathers the courage to let the music determine his moves assured that he will not let her fall. As the music ends the pair slowly leaves, passing through the parting crowd – knowing that tomorrow the dance begins again.

01Feb/14

Why Ask Why?

February 1, 2014BlogCritical Thinking, Growth, Planning ChangeVictoria

There’s a story about a mother and daughter making pot roast for dinner. As they prepared the dish, the mother cut off on both ends and placed them on top of the roast. The young girl looked at her mother and asked “Why do we always cut the ends off of the meat and put them on top?” Mom thought about it for a minute and finally said; “I don’t know that’s just how my mother taught me.” A moment later, she picked up the phone and called her mother. “Mom, why do we cut the ends of the pot roast and place them on top of the meat?” She heard a chuckle on the other end of the line right before her mother replied, “I don’t know why you do it but I did it because the pan was too small”.

This is an old story but it proves a point. How many times do you simply accept the way things are done is because they’ve always been done that way? If you don’t question the status quo things stagnate. Growth requires change; however, not all change results in growth. Before change can be meaningful you must know what needs changing and one of the best ways to understand the” what” is to understand the “why”.

I’m talking here about a deep down understanding. Don’t ask why one time and think you’re done. Take a look at these examples to see what I mean:

Example 1 [incomplete understanding]:

Person A: We need to schedule 3 hours to rearrange the supply room
Person B: Why?
Person A: Because the boss wants us to.
Person B: OK

Example 2 [complete understanding]:

Person A: We need to rearrange the supply room
Person B: Why?
Person A: Because the boss wants us to.
Person B: Why?
Person A: Because people are complaining that they can’t find things so we just keep reordering them. The boss is concerned that we are overspending our supply budget every month to buy things we already have. We need to make things more accessible to fix this. The supplies are here, they’re just stowed away in the cabinets and no one can find them easily so he wants us to rearrange things.
Person B: Maybe we need to take the doors off of the cabinets instead of rearranging the whole supply room. That should take about 20 minutes instead of 3 hours.
Person A: Great idea – We can try that first and see if we really need to rearrange everything. I’ll see what the boss thinks about doing that first.

This is a very simplistic scenario but the first example happens every day in organizations. I suggest that you answer each “why” with a “because” and question each “because” with a “why”. Eventually, your critical thinking skills will lead you to a “because” that (a) you can no longer question, or (b) leads you back to the original “why”. At that point you will have reached the AHA moment that drives the lasting, meaningful change you seek. Then, and only then, can you answer other questions that allow you to plan the change: Who will do it? When will it get done? What do you need? Where will it happen? How will it happen? But it all starts with “Why”.