8 Questions You Do Not Want to Ask About Your Leadership (but probably should anyway!)

The quality of answers we get in life depends on the quality of questions we ask! If you have been following my blogs these last few weeks (http://outloudinc.blogspot.com/), you know I have been proposing that the only way we are going to turn around toxic and unsafe workplaces, hospitals, schools, non-profits, etc. is if we ALL adopt a Servant Leadership lifestyle. When we do so, we will drastically reduce the negatives such as bullying, harassment, and discrimination and increase the positives such as motivation, quality, and innovation.

So how do you know if you are really a powerful Servant Leader? That got me thinking out loud that I should provide some key questions that we (and especially me!) should continually ask ourselves and others about our leadership. We probably do not want to do this because we may not like the answers we receive but for the benefit of others and our own improvement, we probably should anyway!

Adopted from John Maxwell’s newly released book, Developing the Leader Within 2.0, which I will highlight further, he proposes 8 powerful questions in the chapter The Heart of Leadership: Serving People. For the purpose of this blog I have amended somewhat and divided them into two categories: 1. Questions we should ask ourselves and 2. questions we should ask others.

4 Questions to ask YOURSELF

RESULTS = What can I do to ADD VALUE to Others that will help us obtain the RESULTS desired?

(As I have written about previously, Servant Leadership is focused on results but ones that are mutually agreed upon and stated clearly and continuously. Leaders that add value to others do with great intention. When is the last time you sat down and thought about what opportunity, gesture, praise, etc. you could provide to a member of your team or a co-worker?)

STRENGTHS = What do I do BEST that Allows me to SERVE Best?

(Trust me, I know you do a lot of things well but what are your strengths that really makes an impact in the life of others? Think about what you do best that gives you outstanding results in terms of leading and serving others. Everyone one of us has gifts and talents but they are of no use until they are given away.)

EXAMPLE = Does my Service to Others INSPIRE them to Serve Others?

(One of the best ways to know if you are effectively modeling Servant Leadership is to look around and see if others are copying your example. Look around this week, what do you see? The greatest gift you can give someone is living example of what it means to be of value to someone.)

EVALUATION = How do I KNOW I am Serving Others EFFECTIVELY?

(As Robert Greenleaf would often share, one of the best metrics to determine if you are serving others effectively is to determine if their lives are better, more fulfilled, more successful, etc. as a direct result of their interactions with you! Again, take a look around. Are the people around better, wiser, or happier with you in their life?)

4 Questions to ask OTHERS

ADDING VALUE = What can I do to help you SUCCEED?

(You may have some very good ideas about this, but people define success differently which is why you should be asking this and all these questions to not just those that work for you but to colleagues, supervisors, and other stakeholders. What do they need from you that will make their lives better, easier, or less stressful?)

EVERYDAY = What do You Need from me DAILY?

(As much as anything, leaders need to be consistent in their habits, attitudes, values, and expectations. There is nothing worse than having the type supervisor where you never know who you are going to get that day! I am sure my own team members would wonder if they are getting Crazy Bill or Even Crazier Bill each day! Seriously, Servant Leadership is not a “one-off”. Everyday, we need to affirm to others that our desire as leaders is to help them succeed.)

IMPROVEMENT = What can I WORK ON that will Help Me Serve You Better?

(Even the best Servant Leaders can improve. In that the hallmark of effective Servant Leaders is that they work to expand their capacities so that they can lead, work, and serve to their highest potential! Leadership is not a one-size fits all proposition. The people you work for, with, or work for you deserve your best so work to be your best!)

BLIND SPOTS = What is it LIKE to Work with Me?

(Wow, what a great question John Maxwell proposes. I “double dog” dare you to ask the 360⁰ circle of influence around you this question. In fact, I would love it if you would email me the date, context, and reactions your get when you ask folks around you this question. This will take a lot of moral courage but the results you obtain will be worth it. In fact, I will bet that even asking others this question will propel your leadership to a whole new level in their eyes!)

Without a doubt, these are some tough questions. But in the asking and listening to the answers, you can change the trajectory of your life and leadership. Ann McGee Cooper and Duane Tramwell in their article, From Hero as Leader to Servant as Leader, share that the heroes of the new millennia will be servant leaders, quietly working out of the spotlight to transform the world. The world is desperate for heroes and role models. I encourage you to ask these tough but revealing questions and use the answers to be the leader we all wish we had!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact. Also, as an independent coach, speaker, and trainer for the John Maxwell Team, I am authorized to provide training and/or a 6-week virtual mastermind study of Developing the Leader Within You 2.0. This new work from John is a significantly updated version of the first title and one that I assert is probably the best general purpose Leadership Handbook currently available. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of service to you!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

The 8 Qualities of Powerful Servant Leaders that You ALREADY Have!

Recently, I have been on my soapbox about the disease of toxic leadership that has become epidemic in our businesses, agencies, and organizations but that the cure was a pivot to a revolutionary style of leading others called Servant Leadership. This got me thinking out loud that perhaps if I described what the qualities of a Servant Leader were, then you may be more inclined to embrace Servant Leadership since chances are you already are one! Or, that you can be if you are strong enough.

Based upon Robert Greenleaf’s ground-breaking 1977 book, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, I believe there are eight essential qualities that differentiate a Servant Leader from a traditional, top-down or transactional leader. Further I believe the YOU have them inside of you, but you have to release and further develop them. I have modernized (or Billified!) some of the terms, however, based upon Greenleaf’s work and some of my observations, the eight qualities include:

Self-Awareness – Servant Leaders have keen insights as to how they are feeling and responding at any given time. They are very aware about their areas of strength and talent as well as those that need to be developed. This allows you to everyday implement, what leadership expert and professor Ken Blanchard labels, a recalibration of both your motives and actions toward the advantage of those you lead. Leaders who lack such self-awareness are prone to be self-obsessed and self-deluded.  

Listening (Present) – Greenleaf states that great leaders listen to others. I call it being present with them which goes beyond simply listening but really understanding the person or people you are leading. Such understanding could include their hopes, concerns, motivations, eventual life and career goals, etc.

Growing Others (Equipping) – I believe that one of the most important jobs of a leader is to equip others to do and be their best. In fact, Greenleaf stated for any organization to function at its maximum, it must develop its members and then release them to do important work. Equipping can cover many things but must include the attitudes, knowledge, and skill sets team members need in order to be successful in your specific organization.

Empathy (Proximate) – Servant leaders lead with a great deal of empathy which I define as understanding with action. Servant Leaders get proximate to their stakeholders so that they can not only understand their hopes, fears, and aspirations but then also actively act upon that understanding to make people and situations better. In order to do so, Servant Leaders know they cannot lead from behind a desk. They know they must talk face to face with those that they lead in their natural habitat, not some nice quiet office.  

Stewardship (Resource Management) – Servant Leaders are great stewards of the resources they have available to them. This certainly includes the human wealth in their organizations but also the facilities, equipment, reputation, and other assets. Servant Leaders value all of them and “spend” them strategically in the service of others.

Conceptualization (Defining the Reality) – leadership expert John Maxwell often shares that the primary job of a leader is to define reality. This essentially means that leaders very clearly articulate the vision, mission, purpose, and values of the enterprise and understand they can delegate many things but not those. Further, Servant Leaders do not hold back in sharing the good, bad, and ugly of the current status of an organization even if it may be costly to do so in terms of reputation, market share, and morale. Servant Leaders understand you cannot be anything you are not, but you can always be more than you are!

Foresight (Vision) – Servant Leaders are visionary leaders but I that is why many people believe they cannot be an empowering leader because they lack some grandiose vision for their organization or their part of it. The simple truth is that having a compelling vision does not have to be some earth shattering epiphany. In fact, a compelling vision can be as simple as making sure one classroom has all the supplies it needs for a year. One community has safe drinking water. One child is saved from human traffickers. One business is big enough to give someone else a job. All is takes is for you to develop the habit of seeing “more and before” others do according to author, John Maxwell. That “more and before” often takes the form of what you believe to be the preferred future state for your organization and those that it serves.

Persuasion (Influence) – it is my firm belief that if you start to master the above qualities, you cannot help but be persuasive and incredibly influential. I know that that the term “persuasive” carries the baggage of really meaning “manipulative” but Greenleaf did not see it that way. He shared that effective leaders use their persuasion to convince rather than coerce. Such a style of leadership is what researcher and author Jim Collins refers to as a Level 5 Leader. A leader that is both incredibly humble and incredibly competent because they are so tuned into their people and their talents that she leverages those for the success of the organization or enterprise. People do not have to follow Level 5 Servant Leaders, they want to!

Now I know that all of the above is much easier described than done. Trust me, there is nothing easy about being a Servant Leader. It takes incredible focus and intention to be one. You see it’s easy to bully but it’s harder to serve. It’s easy to push others down than to lift them up. It’s easy to lead in the old way because it takes significant moral courage to lead in a more empowering way.

Here’s the thing. I KNOW you have these qualities with you! You can master all of this. You just have to make the decision to develop them. Leadership has been described in many ways, but I have often heard it said that leadership is a choice. You and you alone can determine the type of leader you will be. So what’s it going to be? Are you going to embrace the qualities described above or are you going to lead using old and outdated methods and attitudes? That choice will not only define your leadership, it will define your entire life! As pastor and speaker Andy Stanley shares, if your leadership is all about you, it will last just long enough to be someone’s bad example. On the other hand, if your leadership is all about others, its positive effects will last long after you are gone!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact. I am also pleased to announce the launch of my first book, Leading Out Loud: Strategies for Raising Your Leadership Voice! available on Amazon.com. Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

What you think you know about Servant Leadership is probably wrong, and that presents a problem.

In my last blog, I highlighted Simon Sinek’s work on how toxic and negative workplaces are taking a significant emotional and physical toll on employees all over the world. The solution I stated, was a new and better kind of leadership. That kind of leadership is Servant Leadership. The idea of Servant Leadership has been around in one form or another for millennia but its lack of adoption has me thinking out loud about why so few leaders, managers, CEOs, owners, and supervisors are willing to adopt this incredibly powerful and empowering approach. The reason, I believe, is that too many people do not know what Servant Leadership really is and that ignorance perpetuates unhealthy leadership and organizational cultures.

Originated in the 1970s by corporate icon and later college professor, Robert Greenleaf, Servant Leadership is still today, a radical but desperately needed alternative to traditional top-down leadership methods. I will take us on a deeper dive into Servant Leadership in later blogs but essentially Servant Leadership flips the traditional organizational pyramid from where the leader has historically been on top with managers, staff members, then clients/customers on the bottom to where the leader is on the bottom elevating team members and the eventual end-user to paramount importance. Sounds pretty good, huh? The problem is that when most people think about Servant Leadership, they have the wrong idea about what it really means and is intended to do. Below I have outlined some of myths of Servant Leadership and the reality this life-changing leadership paradigm presents us all.

Myth #1 – Servant Leadership Means Subservience – even according to Robert Greenleaf himself, this is NOT the case. Servant Leaders still have to lead in powerful and decisive ways, the difference is they lead by putting the needs of others before their own. I think leadership guru John Maxwell says it best when often shares that high performing leaders do not think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less!

Myth #2 – Servant Leadership Lacks Expectations and Results - Sinek describes in the 

culture of the United States Marine corps where the most junior enlisted eat first at meals and the most senior, general officers eat last. These high-ranking officers still lead and expect results at incredibly high levels, they just know that in order to complete their mission the team members in their charge must be taken care of first, even if that means they must go hungry, lose sleep, etc. in order for that to happen.

Myth #3 – Servant Leadership is an Abdication of Responsibility – nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, Greenleaf stated that one of the most telling metric of whether or not someone is a powerful Servant Leader is if the team members in their care are better, wiser, happier, and better equipped to use their talents and skills to their maximum ability. In addition, one of the most important roles of a Servant Leader is to cast a powerful and compelling vision for a better future. That kind of leadership takes an incredible amount of ownership and responsibility. Simply put, Servant Leaders know they are responsible for the people and situations they lead, NOT the other way around.

Myth #4 – Servant Leadership is Differential to the Group – Servant Leaders intentionally discover and know the strengths and abilities of those they lead and put them in roles where their talents can be leveraged to meet or exceed the vision for their enterprise. I cannot tell you how many horror stories I have heard in my practice and networking conversations about horrible bosses who guard their positions tightly and intentionally limit the potential contributions of their team members so that they will not be eclipsed. Servant Leaders on the other hand, are incredibly mature and emotionally secure individuals. They recognize the skills of their teams and set them loose! This is not easy to do in current organizational climates but those that are fearless enough to lead in such innovative ways experience tangible and hard-dollar results such as increased productivity, lower staff turnover, increased client/customer satisfaction, and greater market share. Servant Leaders do not differ to the group, they empower the group!

Myth #5 – Servant Leadership is Morally Relative – once you start to read Robert Greenleaf’s book, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, you quickly learn that this approach to leadership requires certain moral imperatives. Servant Leaders carry the values of the organization and make sure they are embedded in EVERYTHING it does. Again, this requires Servant Leaders to exhibit moral courage as much as competence, business acumen, risk taking, etc.  Servant Leaders must be willing to hold themselves accountable along with everyone else associated with the enterprise whether it be a business, hospital, school, college, non-profit, or government agency.

Here’s the thing. Except in some of the most disturbed and insecure individuals, most managers and leaders do not consciously decide that he or she will be a bad boss that day. Trust me, there have been a number of times in my career where I exhibited selfish leadership and it was not until after some intentional soul searching and reflection that I discovered how poor it was. I did not intend to be a bad manager, it was just they way I thought one did things or what the culture of the organization demanded.

But here’s the other thing, just like the mantra of my company, we can and have to Get Better and Be Ready! Once I finally gained insight into my negative leadership behaviors, I make the personal investments and changes necessary to get better and do a better job next time. This required me to take a good hard look at my leadership and decide I wanted to be ready to lead better regardless of the prevailing culture of the organization. This does not mean I get it right all the time, it just means I know there is a better way of doing things and treating those in my care and that I constantly work to improve as a Servant Leader.

As I mentioned, we will talk more about Servant Leadership in next few blogs but when we avoid adopting the powerful approach of Servant Leadership because we lack a clear understanding of what it is and is not, that presents a problem. It causes a problem in our relationship with bosses, colleagues, and our own teams. It causes a problem in obtaining the results we are after because we are too busy cleaning up after our mistakes. It causes a problem for those we lead because they have to bear the burden of poor leadership. This eventually leads to the entire enterprise being hampered because we are so busy dealing with internally issues that we are not focusing on growing our enterprise. This is what Stephen M. Covey calls the “Trust Tax” on our efforts in that when leadership is ineffective, it creates additional costs to our organizations in terms of staff turnover, low employee engagement, etc.

The bottom line is this. Servant Leadership is not for the faint of heart. It requires a whole new level of emotional, physical, spiritual, and cognitive energy that we have never had to expend before. Are the results worth it? Yes, they are. Who does not want a more energized workforce or better served customers, patients, citizens, and students? Who does not want to part of an organization that is truly of value and that it is valued by everyone attached to it? I hope you will follow along with me for the next few weeks where I will share more about Servant Leadership and how some of the best leadership thinkers and doers are getting incredible results.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact. I am also pleased to announce the launch of my first book, Leading Out Loud: Strategies for Raising Your Leadership Voice! available on Amazon.com. Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Better Leadership Through Chemistry!

The human body is wonderous in its creation. In fact, according to leadership researcher and author (not to mention YouTube sensation!), Simon Sinek, leadership is not only a social phenomenon, it is a biological one as well. He goes on to identify the body chemistry that has direct impacts on how we lead and function in organizations. This has me thinking out loud about how we as leaders not only have an emotional impact on those we lead, but a physical one as well.

In his book, Leaders Eat Last, Sinek describes the 5 key substances the body produces in response to various situations. The personal effectiveness chemicals are endorphins, which provides us the ability to work hard and persist, and dopamine, which allows us to set goals and incentivizes accomplishment due to how it makes us feel. The group effectiveness chemicals are serotonin that provides a sense of well-being when we please others and oxytocin which helps us experience love and affection for those we work and live with.

Whereas all the above is great, the positive effects can be negated by the release of cortisol. Cortisol is released when we experience a threat or fear. It provides us with that boost of adrenaline that powers our “fight or flight” response. The problem is that cortisol is not designed to stay in our system due to the stresses it causes on the body and its eventual health.

So, what does all this have to do with leadership? Essentially this all has to do with SAFETY or what Simon Sinek calls the Circle of Safety! Leadership guru John Maxwell shares that the first job of a leader is to define reality. I agree but I believe the second job of leadership is to help the people you lead feel safe. Safe from harassment and bullying. Safe from prejudice and intolerance of different cultures, races, genders, and beliefs. Safe from unreasonable and humiliating job demands. Safe from unhealthy competition and toxicity in the workplace. Safe from feeling jobs will be lost over inconsistent and arbitrary criteria.

You see, when those negative conditions are present, we are constantly in a state of fear and anxiety that triggers a continual drip of cortisol that hampers the release of the positive chemicals and compromises our immune system. So, for you toxic leaders that think its funny to degrade a co-worker for your own advancement or pit team members against each other under the mistaken impression that such a strategy will get bigger and faster “results”, you are literally slowly harming others. When leaders and managers allow or create a toxic environment they unleash emotional and physical consequences that impact the health and emotional well-being of others.

Now I am sure most of us understand the ethical and legal reasons why we should have safe workplaces, but I bet few of us have ever considered the physical reasons of why that is such a good idea! I know I did not. But I certainly know now that as leaders it is our job to create a Circle of Safety where the only threats we experience in our organizations are external and definitely not internal. In light of that new understanding here are some suggestions to ensure the more beneficial body chemistry is flowing in the workplace or your organization.

Provide Safety – as I said, this is job two of a leader. As leaders, we need to make sure the environment is not only physically safe, but mentally and emotionally as well. This is accomplished by stating clear and mutually agreed upon expectations in terms of job performance, interpersonal interactions, positive recognitions, investment in team member success, etc. along with clearly stating what negative behaviors are not acceptable and will not be tolerated in the organization.

Provide Connections – as much as we love to promote our own unique identities, biologists tell us that we are still at our core a tribal species. The cooperative practices that have allowed us to survive in our early hunter/gatherer groups are still hard-wired into us. People have an innate need to be around others. As a leader, make sure to provide social time among your teams. This is so important that Gallup in their Q12 assessment has found that having a close friend at work is a primary indicator of a positive and engaged work place. Even if you have part of your workforce telecommuting, make sure they are getting face-to-face time and not just SKYPE time!

Provide Support – there have been a variety of studies that show that emotional support and connections have a more powerful impact on employee retention than money alone. If your people mess up in a non-malicious fashion, help them work through it. As Campbell Soup CEO Douglass Conant shares, when errors occur, he is tough on the issue but soft on the people! When team members know that they can fail sometimes without harsh censure, they will be free of the fear of trying something new or innovative.

Provide Reasons – nothing unites a group of people more than accomplishing something hard. Something, as Simon Sinek describes, that “outsized” their resources and assumed capabilities. Nothing gets the right chemicals flowing than when a leader tells their teams over and over again how their individual contributions make a difference in the life of an organization and, more importantly, in the lives of others.

To make sure all the above is present, it requires a different kind of leadership that I will be discussing in future posts. A type and style of leadership that I believe is not well understood but has the potential to transform the very fabric of families, schools, businesses, and communities.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact. I am also pleased to announce the launch of my first book, Leading Out Loud: Strategies for Raising Your Leadership Voice! available on Amazon.com. It may just help you get the right juices flowing! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc