20Nov/13

The Road to Leadership 2: Inspiration- Paving the Way

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Road to Leadership

The Road so far:
Part One: Vision Defining the Dream [posted 11/08/13]

The great American writer Jack London said, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” I get it – I’m just not sure that I agree with it 100%. Yes it’s true that inspiration requires action but it doesn’t mean that it always has to be overt. Inspiration is as much about subtlety and tact as it is about beating the drum.

My previous article showed you how to define your dream – the vision. Today we’ll discuss how we can inspire others to join our journey. The first step on the road  is to believe. Not only in your dream or in the absolute certainty that it can be done but you must also believe in yourself. From the start you have to believe not only that you can do it but that it cannot succeed without you.

Put yourself first:

When you defined your dream, you figured out what you wanted to do and why. Now you have to determine if it’s worth it. Is it worth the time, money, and sweat equity you have to invest to make it happen? If it is, great – If not, back up to the first road and  redefine your expectations. Repeat this until your dream and your resources are in alignment. If you don’t, your personal inspiration will turn into frustration which could spell trouble.

How to convince others?

Tap into what excites you and make sure other know it. One caveat: don’t expect everyone to be excited to the same degree that you are. Until you can inspire them to come along, it’s your road alone – not theirs. Just because they want to share a part of your vision does not necessarily mean they want to stick with it from cradle to grave. That’s OK. Help them identify parts of the program they can personally champion. Need brochures? Have a local art student design them. Find out what excites them and get them to do it for as long as you need.

Make it fun

Nobody wants more “work” – even if it is for a good cause. Your dream doesn’t become theirs until they can contribute, feel good about doing it and have fun in the process. in short, they have to “own it”. Use words like, interesting, ownership and even fun to create energy and enthusiasm.

Turn energy into synergy

Try to talk to more than one person at a time. The enthusiasm will catch like kindling and start a life of its own. You now have the responsibility of fanning the flames without losing control of the fire. Celebrate early (and often). Once you have people on board and things start to move, you job is  to keep them inspired. An easy way  is to celebrate the milestones; big and small. All of necessary permits have been approved? Bring in doughnuts. Celebrations don’t have to be huge affairs, just an acknowledgement that things are proceeding according to plan can work wonders.

Previous: The Road to Leadership: Vision

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08Nov/13

The Road to Leadership : Vision – Defining the Dream

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Road to Vision
This week I had the privilege of speaking before The Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, an organization dedicated to developing strong leadership and civic engagement skills in young Latinas in our community.  I wanted to start with a typical definition of leadership before presenting my thoughts and found this:  A process of social influence whereby one individual elicits the aid and support of others towards a common task. That’s a lot of words that but it doesn’t help me explain leadership. To me, that sounds like someone in charge who may, or may not be a “leader”.  I had to come up with something that had relevance to my audience.

Think of leadership development as a journey; start with a clearly defined destination (the vision). Add the people you need to convince to come along (inspiration) and then start taking the necessary steps to get there (action). Today, I’d like to talk about the first part of that journey: vision

Vision is about what can be; it’s about how to affect change and how to make a difference.  Understand that your final destination may look completely different than in the beginning but that’s OK. A vision must be massaged and molded until you are clear about what you are trying to accomplish.   One way to be clear is by answering the five W’s.  Who will you need to help you? What resources do you have or will you need? When do things need to happen and in what order? Where will you concentrate your efforts and resources? And most importantly, why are you doing it?

Who:

Recruit your dream team but don’t leave it at that. Make sure their talents and skills align with the mission’s needs. Understand that not everyone who wants to help can or should be on the team.  If you have some of these folks around, train them, reassign them or let them go.  It’s not about how nice they are, it’s about what they can contribute. Think of your vision as a bus ride.  You are the driver so you get to decide who comes along.   Once you know who’s there you can determine how they fit into your plan or how your plan fits your fellow travelers; adjust accordingly. For example, is your envelope stuffer actually a CPA who could better serve the as organization treasurer? Make sure you not only have the right people but they are in the right seat.

What:  

Now that you know who is on board and that they can contribute, it’s time to figure out what resources are available. This step will help how big you can dream. Big dreams require major resources; if the resources aren’t there yet – take side trips.  Just make sure you’re still headed in the right direction

When:

Is your vision tied into a local or large scale event or do you plan to go it alone? If you want to join others, you may have to change the timeline which may, in turn affect your overall plan. As the leader, you have to decide which road to follow. Remember though, a side trip is not your ultimate destination – keep heading toward your original plan

Where:

Is your dream based on a local or wide scaled objective? The ultimate size of the project may affect what you can actually accomplish. Make sure you have the correct perspective.

Why:

As you look at who, what, when, and where, affects your vision, it will start to evolve from an idea to a possibility.  That’s OK.  A fully developed vision rarely stays unchanged from its beginning.  But now that you know what’s possible it’s time to take a hard look at what you can do and tie that into why you want to do it.  Does the reality of what you want to do match the reality of what you can accomplish? If it does, your journey has a chance to succeed.  If not, start over, identify what needs to be changed and change it. Keep tweaking your dream until it is clear to everyone what you are doing and why.  Repeat as many times as necessary until everyone on the bus sees the same road ahead. When that happens, you’re on your way.

Many thanks to LCSV – it was a pleasure to join you.

Want to learn how to create your vision? Check out our services here

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18Oct/13

Courage: Why You Should Believe You Can Fly

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Photo showing courage -shadow of person standing on waves with arms outstretched imitating bird flying aboveThe Challenge

At the age of 40, I had mustered up the courage to apply to law school. When I received the acceptance letter,  my emotions started to run all over the place. I had no intention of practicing law but I wanted to challenge myself in one of the toughest arenas around. I knew there were be less stressful, less expensive ways to challenge myself but this was the one I chose.

When I prepared to become a fulltime student, my doubts and fears became unimportant – all because of a song.  The song was  – “I Believe I Can Fly”  As the words poured out “I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky” I started crying like a newborn.  At that moment, my self-doubt disappeared because I truly believed.

The Power of Belief

As managers, finding courage means we must believe that we can fly.  I suggest that it becomes part of our job description and that it apply to not only managers, but to anyone who is facing a challenge. If we believe that we can overcome obstacles, we take the first step to solving the problem. That first step is crucial because that is where we begin to figure out the how. This is where we develop our vision, sharpen  skills and test theories.  We cannot be  afraid of failure because it gets us closer to the answer and we begin to see results. In July, I wrote about three different types of managerial courage: the courage to fail, interpersonal courage and moral courage (click here to read).There is another type of courage equally if not more important than the first three – intrapersonal courage.

Finding Courage

Intrapersonal courage dictates self-talk which in turn becomes the basis for everything we do. Anyone can memorize and recite company mission statements but if we don’t truly believe that we affect the mission – our success will be superficial at best. To be truly successful, we must inspire others to believe in the mission.  When we do it shows up in everything we do and everything we say.  It becomes contagious. It encourages and motivates others.  They begin to  welcome challenges and refuse to accept the status quo. There is a fundamental belief that there is a solution and folks will  keep trying until the best answer presents itself. This is when greatness happens because it creates a synergy that cannot be stopped. But the first step is to believe.

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