Management vs Leadership

Click here to listen to the Coaching U Podcast of Tom Flick

http://tomflick.com

I listened to another great podcast last week from Coaching U.  Tom Flick is a former NFL player and one of the most sought after speakers in the country. Here are a few thoughts from his podcast.

Our natural tendency is to manage.  Most organizations are over-managed and under led by a 3:1 ratio.  We need to understand that management and leadership have completely different functions and actions as seen below.  To be an effective business or team there needs to be a balance of management and leadership.

Management is about...
budgeting, staffing, problem solving, controlling.
making the complex simple.
avoiding hazards.
who and how.
what you know.

Leadership is about...
communicating vision and strategy.
motivating action.
getting buy in.
moving barriers.
taking complex systems and people and creating an evolution of opportunities and growth.
the what and why.

It is important to remember that people are creatures of habit. We spend 90% of our day gathering information to support our past and our present. A leader needs to create a sense of urgency in order to move their organization forward or through change.  Creating change in people's behavior and their mindset to create new or better habits takes time and discipline.

Excellence

Excellence can be achieved if you...
risk more than others think is safe,
love more than others think is wise,
dream more than others this is practical,
and expect more than other think possible.
-Unknown

Goal Setting

http://keithferrazzi.com/products/never-eat-alone

Every year you should set new goals and your goals MUST BE IN WRITING! Post your plan where you can see it everyday. Share your goals with others.

Down below is some ideas to help you create your goal sheet and action plan from Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone.

What’s your Mission?

Every successful person has a zeal for goal setting. The more specific you are about what you want to do, the easier it becomes to develop a strategy to accomplish it. 

Step 1 – Find your Passion

¨      Before you start to set your goals, you’d better know what your dream is.  Not what you “should” be doing but rather what you “want” to do.  Look inside yourself & outside to others to find your passion.  Ask others what they think your strengths and weaknesses are.  What do they admire about you and what areas do you need help in.

¨      Create a list of dreams and goals but you have to be able to set aside the obstacles of time, money, and obligation.  In the next column, write down all the things that bring you joy and pleasure: achievements, people, and things that move you.  What activities excite you that you don’t even notice time moving.  Now connect those two lists looking for intersections that sense of direction or purpose. 

¨      

      Step 2 – Create a Relationship Action Plan (RAP)

o   1. Development of Goals

§  Be specific and believable

§  Goal must be challenging and demanding 

o   2. Connect the goals to people, places, things

o   3. Determine best way to reach out to people who will help

RAP worksheet:

§  In 3 years I would like to accomplish _________________

o   A goal:

o   B goal:

o   People who can help with these goals

·      In one year

o   A goal:

o   B goal:

o   People 

·      In 9 months

o   A goal:

o   B goal:

o   People

·      In 6 months

o   A goal:

o   B goal:

o   People

·      In 3 months

o   A goal:

o   B goal:

o   People

Step 3 – Create a Personal “Board of Advisors”

               People who will hold you accountable.  Now you have a mission and list of people who can help you achieve your mission.

Players First

http://www.coachcal.com/about-cal/cals-books/

Players First is a good read about how John Calipari runs a player driven program.   Down below are some great nuggets I took from the book.

• A great exercise is to list the meaning and higher purpose of your job as a coach.  Calipari's list was: nurturer, protector, challenger, teacher, promoter, and father. 

• From my exercise: I believe my purpose is to lead, teach, mentor and motivate.  And included in that is developing leaders and problem solvers.

• To get players to change you must first get them to accept what they are not good at.

• Calipari and his staff use the term "surrender" as a way to teach players how to be less selfish.  They want their players to surrender: to instructions, to physical conditioning, their ego, to being in the present and not in the future, and letting coaches define the player's game and trust that coaches have their best interest in mind.

• Players are best when they play with a calm demeanor.  They can still play full of passion and intensity but they can not be fueled by anger, hate, or rage. Anger, hate, and rage leads to  playing out of control.  

• Make sure you are spending time developing emotional maturity and rewarding your players when they are calm under pressure. Remember players feed off their coach, so make sure you are modeling the same behavior you expect from them.

Core Values

http://www.coachwooden.com

The foundation of your philosophy is based on your principle core values.  

Values are defined as broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes.  

They should reflect a person's sense of right and wrong or what "ought" to be.  

Down below is a great exercise to prioritize your core values.  

First, do the exercise thinking about yourself personally and

then do the exercise again thinking about your program.

Value Sort Exercise

1. Cross out the values that do not apply to you.

2. Select your top 10 values

3. Narrow your list to 5.

4. Prioritize your top 5 with #1 serving as your most important value.

Servant Leadership

Podcast Episode 78 - Why Leaders Eat Last with Simon Sinek

Had the opportunity to listen to a great podcast.  You can check it out at the link above.  Here are a couple of takeaways.  

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more.  You are a leader.  John Quincy Adams

In physics the definition of power is the transfer of energy.  Leaders and organizations should operate in this same way.

When marines run a marathon in full gear and they feel like they want to quit they don't say "I can't."  Instead, they scream out to others, "Motivate me."  What a great mindset!

Take Action

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear.

Action breeds confidence and courage.

If you want to conquer fear,

don't sit at home and think about it.

Go out and get busy!"

Dale Carnegie

Respect

"Leadership is communicating people's worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves."  Stephen R. Covey

Respect is one of the guiding principles of leadership. When we treat people with respect, we help them gain confidence and reveal their inner potential.  Everyone has something they do well.  Find it in them and if they don't know make sure you tell them.  We all need someone to believe in us.  Take the time to show others respect and you may change someone's self esteem or help them reach their true potential.

"Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be."  Johann Goethe

Team

"A team is defined by the quality of its relationships and the commitment to its cause.  Every team has a common purpose, performance goals, and objectives.  In addition, every team has a mutually accountable work ethic and is built on trust, respect, and integrity of every team member."

From InSide Out Coaching by Joe Ehrmann

Trust

Ask any coach what they want from their staff and you will hear trust, loyalty, dependability, initiative and hard working.  These are all great qualities but are not easy to identify from afar.  That is why most jobs are filled based on personal recommendations and experiences and not on your resume. People want to hire people they can trust and that starts by trusting their friends recommendations.

Trust is something we all want but is a little hard to define.  In The Speed of Trust Stephen M.R. Covey explains, "Trust means confidence.  The opposite of trust--distrust--is suspicion.  When you trust people, you have confidence in them--in their integrity and in their abilities.  When you distrust people, you are suspicious of them--of their integrity, their agenda, their capabilities, or their track record."

Think about someone you trust and how you would describe that relationship versus thinking about your relationship with someone you don't trust.  One makes you feel good and the other does not.

Trust is the foundation of every relationship.  If I trust you I am going to be more open and vulnerable. If I don't then I am going to be more closed and guarded.

In order to build trust with me you have to know that I value actions more than words.  Don't tell me what you are going to do, show me.  If I see you following through with your promises that means a lot more to me.  Everyone has great ideas, it is the follow through that separates a lot of people.

"People don't listen to you speak, they watch your feet." Anonymous 

"Trust is established through action..."  Hank Paulson

I highly recommend the book be added to your reading list.  Check out this link to see a quick overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CciecbzzH-g

Here are a few other great nuggets from the book:

"Low trust creates a hidden agenda, politics, interpersonal conflict, rivalries, win-lose thinking, defensive and protective communication--all of which reduce the speed of trust.  Low trust slows everything--every decision, every communication, and every relationship." Stephen R. Covey

"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behaviors."

"Trust is a function of both character (integrity, motive, intent) and competence (capabilities, skills, results, track record)."

"Trust is one of the most powerful forms of motivation and inspiration.
People want to be trusted.
They respond to trust.
They thrive on trust.
Practice establishing, extending and restoring trust as an effective way to relate and work with others.  Trust is the most effective way of getting results."