The Scenario: An Unrealistic Demand

While working for a large, rapidly expanding non-profit, I was tasked with upgrading the organization’s technology. We anticipated doubling in scale over 12 months. Adding to the challenge was an already understaffed technology department, supporting antiquated technology. The task was daunting, but we had an amazing team.

My boss, the Chief Financial Officer, set lofty goals. However, a record of successes quickly built the organization’s confidence in our team.

As we neared a critical turning point in the year, an unrealistic demand was placed on me and the team for which I was accountable. The requirement was to replace the primary software tool of the company, in less than a month’s time. I was shocked by the expectation.

The already overburdened technology team had no bandwidth and the CFO would not accept changing priorities of other efforts. A replacement of such a critical tool would typically require months of planning alone. Yet I was being commanded to completely replace the system in a matter of weeks. I refused, insisting instead that we limped along on the antiquated system for one more season.

What Happened: Disaster – Fired

When I refused to support the initiative, I was given two options: do it, or lose my job. Unfortunately, my family was dependent upon my income. I saw no other choice and worked furiously to develop the best plan possible.

Those weeks felt like a scene from a horror movie where the victims run like crazy, but the slowly lumbering assailant remains steps away. I saw no way the project could end well.

As usage of the new system grew, failures increased. Eventually, the system failed completely – a result of poor planning, insufficient resources and inadequate training. Ultimately, I was called into the CFO’s office and asked for my resignation.

What I Learned: You Can’t Lead What You Need

I should have resigned the moment the CFO insisted on the project. I never would have though, given my family’s financial position at the time.

Had I volunteered my resignation at that moment there were two possible outcomes:

1. The CFO backed off his insistence: I remained employed there and we addressed the solution properly at a later time.
2. My resignation was accepted:  The organization had no one to lead the effort and would likely delay the replacement until a later date – when it could have been properly addressed.

For the organization, either outcome would have been better.

Three Lessons

It may have been the hard way, but I learned many lessons from this event, including:

1. You cannot lead what you need: If you feel you need the job you have, it will be much more difficult to lead in that role. Creating a sufficient savings to depend upon in times of crises, building a strong network and maintaining confidence in your ability to find alternate employment will help you lead more by needing less.

2. Build relationships at all levels: I also realized that I trusted the CFO to do what was right. However, he faced his own pressures. Ensuring strong relationships at all levels will help you avoid depending on a single individual (even your boss) in critical times.

3. Always have a backup: I knew the project would fail. Therefore, I should have invested more of the team’s effort in a back-out plan. As Mark Sanborn said in Up Down or Sideways:

“It is too late to add a backup chute once you’ve left the plane.”

This concludes the third and final post on My Great Failures and the lessons I learned. I hope you’re able to learn from my experience and save yourself some of  the same challenges.

Question: What other lessons do you see in my failure?

The Scenario: Overconfident

I was hired to deliver a new back office  software suite. Prior to my arrival, the project had struggled to get off the ground, so expectations were high. They placed a lot of hope in me and perceived me as the “hero” outside hire. What was worse, I knew and believed the hype (insert foreshadow music here).

After meeting with our customers, I compiled a business requirements document (to tell programmers what the software must do). Proud of myself and what I was delivering, I packaged the document neatly and handed it to our technical architect.

I felt like Moses delivering the 10 Commandments. These were gold. This was going to solve all the IT / Business conflict they’d experienced. I was overconfident.

What Happened: The Smack Down

We worked in an extremely open environment. Forget cubicles, we had desks in a giant, open room that resembled a warehouse. Therefore, as I stood before the architect, the team and many of our customers could see the entire interaction.

The architect (who was several years my senior), removed the binder, then briefly and silently skimmed the pages. I was about to head back to my desk, when suddenly the architect screamed, “These are not @$%#&*& requirements!” In a blast of flurry, the now loose-leaf stack of papers was flung in my face and fluttered into a pile at my feet.

I stood stunned, for what seemed an eternity, before getting down on all fours and collecting the mess of paper. As I gathered the sheets, I vaguely recalled the architect shouting directions about what a business requirements document should contain.

I spent the next several days nailing down every possible nuance the architect could desire. Then I studied hundreds of great examples of business requirement documents. A couple weeks later, I meekly approached the architect again, with a new version of the document.

Again, he skimmed it, this time with a growing grin. “Perfect” was all he said. I’d never been more happy to hear a one-word response.

What I Learned: Humility

Sometimes difficult situations and challenging people are needed for a lesson to really sink in. In this case, my greatest lesson was humility. I should have approached the architect for his expectations long before I submitted the document.

This was a new organization, new people and new technologies. Everything about the situation screamed I needed humility. Yet I rode the wave of hype about me. As a result, I failed to present the best solution.

Three Lessons

It may have been the hard way, but I received great lessons from this architect’s critical feedback, including:

1. Humility, especially in new settings, is important: Humility is a cornerstone of servant leadership. As the saying goes, “don’t believe the hype” – especially about yourself. The minute you start thinking you’re great, you’re setup for a fall.

2. Gather expectations from all stakeholders: I was so focused on capturing the business requirements, I failed to capture the requirements for documentation from the architect. Respect those who’ve been there longer – chances are they can teach you a thing or two.

3. Send a draft: Yes, that could have saved me from public disgrace. But in all seriousness, time and audience permitting, send a draft first. I say, “this is a first draft (or even outline), is it looking like what you expect?”

I hope you’re able to learn these lessons from my experience, before you make the same mistakes.

Question: What other lessons do you see from my failure?

Note: This post is the first of three on some of my greatest failures and the lessons learned. My hope, in exposing my scars, is somehow helping you avoid the same mistakes.

I recently received feedback that I am multitasking too much in meetings. The perception is that I am not engaged enough. This bothers me especially because multitasking during meetings has long been a pet peeve of my own. Therefore, I’m dedicating myself to fixing this. Here’s why:

A good leader serves their organization through active listening and full participation in meetings. To be a good leader, one really must be “in the moment”. Let’s compare and contrast the active listener with the multitasker in a meeting:

Jacob, the Multitasker:

Jacob is a rising star in the organization.  His seniors continue to give him demanding assignments and it seems he’s always juggling 100 tasks.  He enters each meeting, laptop in tow, blackberry out and bluetooth headset on.  He’s often late to the meeting and / or must leave early, because he has conflicting sessions.  As the dialogue progresses, he listens for keywords while he responds to email on the blackberry and, eventually, needs to pull out his laptop .  In the most pressing times, he’s even known to attend two meetings at once – on a teleconference with his bluetooth while attending another in person.

As the dialogue  progresses, it becomes clear to the team that Jacob has not been actively listening because he asks questions that were already answered.  At times, he’ll interject suggestions and comments based on a sentence or two he caught, but it seems disconnected from the broader topic.  The result is often a need for the group to rehash previous conversation and / or clarify the matter at hand for Jacob.  But Jacob does not care, he’s just “too busy” and expects this to be the response from his team and the broader organization – it’s only natural, because we’re all “so busy”.

Michael, the Active Listener:

In contrast to Jacob, Michael makes it a point to arrive on time, typically carrying only a notebook.  He urges the team to begin promptly.  He requests an agenda before each meeting and expects the team to stick to it.  The meeting coordinator often feels “under a spotlight” but knows they have his full attention.  On the very rare occasion when Michael must step out of a meeting and / or respond to messages in the middle of a discussion, the team is surprised and knows something serious must be up, so they pause, rather than repeating dialog following the distraction.

As the meeting progresses, Michael asks detailed questions on each slide and challenges the team’s assumptions.  Minute details they intended to glance over, Michael catches and asks for clarity.  Furthermore, Michael often repeats what he thinks he heard to ensure full comprehension.  Decisions made during meetings include a decision document. If decisions are not made during the meeting, a clear action plan is defined to achieve appropriate decisions.

Which meeting would you rather be in?  Which leader would you rather follow?  Which person is really leading through service?  I may not be as bad as Jacob, but it’s clear I have some work to do on this front.  I hope you will consider this issue for yourself, as well.

Questions: How does multitasking impact your team?

Much of what I practice in both leadership and technology roles, I first learned early in my career. In fact, the early years of my career formed the lens through which I view most of my professional perspectives. While I have grown, adapted and expanded many perspectives since those formative years, I was fortunate to receive outstanding guidance for my foundation.

Experience & Culture

After college, I joined the Career Development Program at Air Products & Chemicals. This program focused on the careers of the individual employee first, with the understanding that the company’s investment in them would benefit the company in the long run. Members of the program were expected to fill three different roles in the company over three years. The emphasis was on gaining a broad experience, enabling better management and leadership decisions. The result is an extreme investment in the employee and a well rounded future leader. My current employer, Whirlpool, has a similar program.

More important than the experience of these programs though, is the culture of the organization. Any company can design a similar program and still teach the employees terrible values or ethics. Fortunately, the investment in employees was genuine in my experience. In fact, Air Products was my first experience with servant leadership principles. If I had instead worked for a company with poor leadership I may have received an entirely different perspective.

Our Failures

My fear today is the number of students working for organizations with toxic leadership. These organizations do not focus on the careers of employees. Instead, these organizations preach abandonment of sustainable success in exchange for short term wins.  At these early points in their careers, young employees may perceive this is how business is done. They could not be further from the truth though: this is what is causing our businesses to fail. This is the failure of modern corporations to invest in our futures – our people – our next generation of leaders.

And if we do not invest in the next generation, who will?

For the Career Starter

Whether you are about to graduate or are simply early in your career, please consider this: the formative years are critical to your OUR success. So, please, invest those years wisely. If an employer does not value you and your peers in these ways, leave. Great companies, willing to invest in you, are out there. While the pickings may be slim today, it’s worth the wait and the investment to find the right employer.

For the Seasoned Professional

If you were fortunate to have a great experience, you owe it to those who served you, to pass it on. The fate of our future business success rests in the hands of those willing to serve the next generation of leaders. You are among them. If not you, who?

In contrast, perhaps you did not receive such a good experience. Perhaps you were trained in the dark arts of toxic leadership. Don’t worry. The very fact you are reading this means there is hope yet. We learn something from every leader we follow – either leadership we seek to emulate or leadership we refuse to proliferate. Your experience must be turned into the latter. Let the toxic chain stop with you. Raise the next generation of leaders with servant leadership principles.

I was one of the lucky ones. I landed a position with an organization that invested in me and my career. They taught me servant leadership. I wish you the same.

Question: What other components are important to someone starting their career?

When you feel like the answer is obvious, but nobody wants to listen, you are not alone.
When everyone else seems focused on their personal pestige, rather than serving stakeholders, you are not alone.
When you want to scream at the narcacisists entitled with executive job descriptions, you are not alone.

When it seems overwhelming and you don’t know Where to turn, you are not alone.
When you’re tired of watching people proclaimed “the greatest asset”, only to have performance reviews be an after thought, you are not alone
When you fought for the strategic investment only to have it cannibalized into a small, short-term gain, you are not alone
When you waste hours working with outdated tools because the organization does not value people’s time, you are not alone

When the economy is blamed for layoffs, while the company reports record earnings, you are not alone
When exploitation of the team seems an art form to others, you are not alone

When self preservation trumps doing what is right, you are not alone
When dirty politics is standard, on-the-job training, but leadership courses are few and far between, you are not alone
When trust is absent but fear and intimidation are your neighbors, you are not alone
When executives seem blind to the negative culture and declining results, you are not alone.

When leadership fails to serve and you alone, seem opposed to the toxicity proliferating your organization, you are not alone.

You are not alone, servant leader. We stand with you. We see the trending failure today and we seek to right it. We seek to fix what is broken. We seek to mend the broken limbs of our corporate cultures and set right what the toxic leaders of today have all but destroyed.

You are not alone. If you need resources or want to connect with other servant leaders, here are some resources:

Posts on Modern Servant Leader:

• Servant Leader Manifesto
• Why Servant Leadership is the Future
• Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For with Servant Leadership
• Situational Leadership? Try Consistent Leadership

Resources on Modern Servant Leader:

• Servant Leader Assessment
• Resources for the Beginning Servant Leader
• Servant Leadership Companies List
•  Servant Leadership Quotes

Other Servant Leadership Sites:

• LinkedIn Servant Leader Group
• Spears Center for Servant Leadership
• Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

Just what you need – another formality, process or roadblock, right? Wrong! Used in the right manner, a decision document can be informal, help you break through processes and speed up your initiative. So what exactly is a decision document and when and how do you use one to your advantage? Hold on to your britches, we will go through an executive overview of this tool and I’ll provide a template for you at the end.

What is a Decision Document?

A decision document is a tool for capturing the status of a current program, project, initiative or other investment which has come to a fork in the road. Now, an important decision must be made and the team of decision makers needs to be aligned on what options exist, make a selection, document why the option was chosen and by whom, for future reference. Used properly, it is not a CYA solution but a tool for providing clarity, expediting alignment and removing barriers to success. A decision document…

• Aligns key stake holders on current status, a particular issue or challenge and options to consider
• Explains each option, the relevant benefits and risks
• Documents which decision is made, by whom and when
• Provides a record of accountability and drives support by decision makers

When Should a Decision Document Be Used?

There are many scenarios in which a decision document may be useful. Some examples include when the decision to be made is not clear to those who must make the decision. For example, if the project is very detailed or technical in nature but the investment decision goes to a very senior level of leadership not familiar with those details. Another scenario may be in a fast-paced project where the leadership have little time to dig into the details. Furthermore, highly regulated or sensitive environments such as food and drug industries or security matters may benefit from regular use of this tool. Of course, these documents can be useful in highly political or confrontational environments to ensure support and alignment is maintained throughout as well.

What are the Primary Components of a Decision Document?

Each decision document may have its own terminology. However, in essence each document should include the following primary sections:

1. Decision to be Made

In this section, describe the decision that must be made. This should be very clearly stated, but succinct. This is an executive brief of what recipients of the document are being asked to decide.

2. Current Status

This section must include the who, what, when and where of the situation requiring a decision. You should also provide the history of how you came to the issue at hand. While your decision-makers need to understand the background, this requires a careful balance of providing enough history without going into exhaustive and unnecessary details. A good litmus test for content to be included here is to simply ask yourself, “is this information relevant to the decision?” In other words, would knowing the piece of history or current status detail influence the decision maker one way or another? If the answer is yes, then it is relevant enough to be included.

3. Options

Be sure to capture all relevant decisions, with an emphasis on the relevant part. This section is not to list every possible variation anyone could ever dream up. Instead, list genuine options that the decision makers could consider selecting. Depending upon the nature of your particular environment, you may want to include a section of “excluded options”. In this case, you would briefly list options that were quickly ruled out and a short statement of explanation.

For each option, explain the option in detail first. Then, in bullet or similar quick-reference fashion, highlight the positives and negatives (I prefer the position of “Benefits” and “Risks”) of each option.

4. Recommendation

This is the recommendation of the team or individual submitting the decision document for consideration. It should include a reference back to the specific option being recommended (Option #1, 2 or 3…). In addition, the reasoning for this recommendation should be captured. For example, you should explain why the recommended option is better than others. Logic such as lowest overall risk or cost are obvious reasons. Others may include a balance of risk and costs or time sensitivity.

5. Decision

Here, you document the decision the team agreed to. If you’ve done your legwork prior to submission, you may anticipate the chosen option. In this case, you may want to document the chosen option (anticipated) when presenting the document for signatures / approvals.

6. Next Steps

Based on the decision being made, what actions must happen next? This may not be required in all cases, but it is often helpful in ensuring the right actions happen in a timely manner. In addition, key decisions that require documentation like this often stem from a problem and include lessons learned or opportunities to avoid a recurrence. This section may also be useful for capturing this information.

7. Sign Off

If deemed necessary, here the decision-makers physically sign the document. Most of the time though, a simple email confirming approval and alignment is sufficient form the individuals.

Decision Document Example Templates

Below is a sample template of a decision document following the above format. I’ve provided it in Microsoft Word 2003, 2007 and Adobe Acrobat formats:

• Word 2003 (and earlier)
• Word 2007+
• Adobe Acrobat

Question: Have you ever used a decision document? How did it help you and / or your team?

You know that feeling, sitting in the meeting room, stunned by the attitude, demeanor and message from a leader who, just days earlier held an entirely different position and message. One day the leader is empathetic and reserved in their push for continuous improvements. The next day, that same leader would make Gordon Ramsay envious as he barks orders, demeans the team and threatens careers. Confronted about his varying styles and tactics, the leader proclaims, “I believe in situational leadership.” Situational leadership?! Please. Try a poor excuse for inconsistency and unpredictability. Too often, stating situational leadership as a philosophy becomes an excuse for simply being inconsistent and unpredictable. And inconsistent leadership can be the death of a team.

“Situational Leadership” is a philosophy that any given situation may require a different type of leadership. While I am a firm believer that in any given situation, a different approach, practice, action or message may be needed, the leadership principles should be consistent across the organization and time. For example, what you, as a leader, value and prioritize should be consistent. You can not say one day that you respect the personal time and values of your employees and then call them every night for non-critical items. You can not explain that the department’s top priority is quality improvement one day and spend the next week focused on delivering a higher quantity at any cost to quality. Instead, leaders should provide consistent leadership priorities, character and messaging. Here are three tips to better serve your team and avoid situational leadership confusion:

Communicate Changes Clearly

When changes are necessary, whether in a business priority or attitude, wrap those changes in clear communications. Remember, your team is not privy to all the same information you are. Therefore, the reason for any shifts in attitude or priority may not be as obvious to them as to you. When in doubt, assume your team will not understand the reason for your new focus and proactively communicate the supporting details. This can even be done after the initial change is communicated – provided it happens quickly:

Team,

This morning’s status update included a clear shift in priority from reducing costs to improving quality. I realize this may have come as a surprise to you. However, you should know that the latest consumer report, due out next month, is questioning our quality. As a result, there is a new directive from the CEO to improve quality scores by at least 5% before the end of the quarter.

Thank you

Avoid Surprises

As you know, managers do not like surprises. Guess what? Your team does not enjoy them either. Therefore, do not wait until everything is critical to raise the matter with your team. Get ahead of the shifting priorities by providing a “heads up” to your team that a change may be on the way. These warnings do not have have to be long and comprehensive. Instead, a quick note like this may do the trick:

John,

Just a heads up that I was just in a meeting with our VP of Finance. The budget approval for their project may be delayed another week as we shift our focus from cost control to quality improvement. I’ll let you know when I hear more.

Thank you

Provide Consistent Vision

Business priorities will vary over time. Quarterly focuses in the for-profit sector drive a number of near term investment decisions and non-profit corporations often shift focuses as different crises arise. However, the long-term objectives of the company should be unwavering or at least, not subject to the same, regular fluctuations. Therefore, to maintain consistency for your team, short-term changes must be framed within the long term vision. For example:

Team,

I know our new quality emphasis seems to conflict with our annual objective of reducing overall cost. However, it remains our vision to provide a quality product at the lowest possible cost point. In order to achieve this goal, we believe the initial investment in improving overall quality can reduce defects and support costs. The net result is anticipated to be an overall cost savings for the company.

Thank you

Control Emotion

Passion is good, frustration is bad. I wrote about this in Passion vs. Emotion for Leadership and Frustration as a Warning Sign for Leaders. Be certain you do not confuse your frustration for passion and consider a demeaning attitude acceptable. Instead, if you feel frustration, anger or another negative emotion building, take the time to calm down before communicating with the team. You can be passionate, just do not be disrespectful. To help ensure you maintain the passionate focus without offending the team, keep the focus on the future and opportunity, not the past and resentment:

Team,

I know our rising costs have been a great disappointment to our team and company. I am anxious to get our cost control measures aligned with global targets. As we also reflect on the poor quality scores we recently received, I think the answer to both issues is clearly before us: we must improve overall quality, with an emphasis on reducing maintenance costs. We may not see a cost reduction this quarter, but I know, as a team, we can ensure both annual objectives are exceeded.

Thank you

By communicating your changes clearly, avoiding surprises, delivering a consistent vision and controlling  emotion, you promote consistent expectations for the team. If you continue to focus on serving your team over the long haul with consistent leadership, they will know what should be practiced in any given situation, minimize surprises and drive the most sustainable success.

Question: Have you seen someone use situational leadership as an excuse? How do you ensure your leadership is consistent?

What questions do you ask to identify servant leaders during the interview process? If you ever ponder this question, you are not alone. In fact, I am often asked this question but never felt I had a great answer – until now. In Leading Without Power, Max De Pree relayed a Carl Frost story of questions a health care organization asked their employees. Upon reading these questions, the hairs raised on the back of my neck – finally, before me was the answer to that insistent question.

The following 5 questions can help an interviewer assess the servant leadership potential for a candidate in their organization. Each question includes potential variations and examples of good and bad answers.

Interview Question #1: “Do you know the company’s mission?”

Candidates are taught to research the company, so this should be a simple question. They do not need to recite the mission word-for-word, but express a clear understanding of it. More important, the interviewer should look for passion, understanding and alignment with this mission. If the candidate does recite it word-for-word with little intonation or enthusiasm, chances are they merely memorized it and do not truly know (understand) the mission.

Potential Variations:

• Why do you believe this organization exists?
• What would you say is the heart of the company?

What A Good Answer Looks Like: The candidate knows the mission, expresses an interest in it and expands upon why the mission excites them.

What A Bad Answer Looks Like: The candidate has no idea what the mission is or has simply memorized it.

Interview Question #2: “Do you understand the supporting data regarding this mission, and do you understand it as a compelling need to change?”

Most non-profit organizations (the emphasis of De Pree’s book), clearly define the supporting data for their mission. While this is less common in the for profit sector, I believe this is short-coming of the for profit sector. Regardless, there are variations that may be appropriate (see below) for other organizations. How ever you ask the question, it is critical that a candidate is able to speak to the supporting data behind your mission. Alternately, if they don’t have quantifiable data, they need to have a personal story or connection – some manner in which they can express their own sense of urgency.

Possible Variations:

• Can you explain why we are in the category / marketplace / industry we chose?
• What do you think would happen if we were not attacking our mission?
• Do you understand our market share and our relative growth (or decline) in recent years?

What a Good Answer Looks Like: The candidate has some quantifiable metrics to support their understanding of the mission. If they don’t have quantifiable metrics, then they have a story – ideally a personal one – to share. They should show an ability to personally relate to the mission.

What a Bad Answer Looks Like: If the candidate speaks in generalities, with no specific example (quantifiable or not) to support their understanding of the mission and why it is your mission.

Interview Question #3: “Do you accept what we as a community are embarked on?”

The core of this question is not a contractual agreement, but a covenant acceptance. The interviewer seeks to understand at what level the candidate is aligned to the organization’s mission. Is this something the candidate accepts at face value only or are they convicted to drive the mission from the essence of their heart? Does the individual see their role as part of a community, which transcends incorporation, in which they accept, counter and balance differences?

Possible Variations:

• If our organization were a family, what role would you best fitted to fill and why?
• How do you view your responsibility to counter the faults and weaknesses of other members of our organization?
• Describe for me a scenario in which you would feel it necessary to leave the company if you were hired?

What a Good Answer Looks Like: There is a sincere conviction by the candidate. They are not just seeking a job but a critical contribution role in a community. They’re willing to take the good with the bad to complete the mission.

What a Bad Answer Looks Like: The candidate may seem very committed, but only as long as the times are good. They caveat their answers and seem motivated more by title and compensation than opportunity and mission.

Interview Question #4: “Are you able and willing to change and to own your share of the problem?”

In asking this question, you set the tone of expectation for all servants in the organization. Some change will be necessary. There will be uncomfortable moments. Growth often requires discomfort. Ownership of the challenges the candidate will face includes the expectation that they will need to challenge the status quo.

Possible Variations:

• What changes are you not willing to make, to your career, approach or skills for this role?
• How will you own the responsibilities expected in this role?
• At what point would you no longer consider an issue your responsibility?

What a Good Answer Looks Like: The candidate understands that owning their part of the mission and their contribution to the community includes growth, change and challenges.

What a Bad Answer Looks Like: The candidate reverts back to their experience and defends how they would not need to change because they already have the necessary requirements according to the job description.

Interview Question #5: “What are you going to bring in terms of competence, contributions and commitment to this project?”

Too often, servant leadership is misinterpreted as soft management. Instead, true servant leadership includes a strong emphasis on accountability. The interviewer here needs to ensure the candidate knows the value they bring and at the same time, understands this expectation of accountability will be placed upon them.

Possible Variations:

• We see your skills and experience on your resume, what else do you have to contribute to this role?
• How would you respond if an expectation is placed upon you in an area for which you have no experience or skills?
• What does accountability mean for you in this role and how will you be accountable to your customer, boss and direct reports?

What a Good Answer Looks Like: The candidate is confident in themselves and their unique potential for the role. At the same time, they are confident that if they do not have the necessary skills or experience, they will find a solution.

What a Bad Answer Looks Like: The candidate fails to understand the accountability or reflects only on their strengths. The answers include no method of addressing their commitment – especially in a scenario that may require further development.

Of course, you will have to ask many more questions, specific to your organization, the role and the candidate in question. No set of interview questions will guarantee accurate identification of servant leadership attributes in a candidate. Furthermore, there are plenty of talented individuals with many skills that are not servant leaders. These individuals may not answer these questions int he manner above and yet they may still deliver value for you in the short term. However, if you seek sustainable success then you seek servant leadership principles in your team. If you seek servant leaders, then these questions will help you distinguish those who seek to serve others from those seeking to serve themselves.

Source: The 5 questions in quotes were adapted from “Leading Without Power, Finding Hope in Serving Community” by Max De Pree. Copyright 1997 by Shepherd Foundation.

Have you ever been frustrated by prioritization decisions that focused on a single, hard benefit in the return on investment (ROI), without looking at the bigger picture? If so, you’re not alone and the comprehensive return on investment (CROI) may be what you’re looking for. Too often, executives make decisions based on a single factor – often a hard financial benefit. Critical business decisions like the traditional, anticipated return on investment ignore the human factor and organization development opportunities. Consideration of the comprehensive return on investment may yield a very different investment decision.

In  my contribution to Business-Driven PMO Setup, I wrote about the importance of focusing on the Comprehensive ROI:

The complete return on investment for a project looks far beyond the cost savings, efficiency improvements or other direct benefits of the project deliverables. The servant-leader project manager recognizes that equally important are factors such as employee morale, staff development, sustainability of the solution and net impact to all stakeholders.

Unlike traditional ROI analysis, the Comprehensive ROI encompasses the full benefit.

Traditional ROI (Return On Investment)

Traditional ROI is calculated as follows: ((Profit – Investment) / Investment) and is therefore expressed as a percentage. For example, if you’re project nets a $500 increase in revenue and cost you $450 to complete, the ROI for your project is ($500-$450)/$450 or 11%. However, in focusing solely on the hard benefits, such as increased income, this calculation does not accurately reflect the Comprehensive Return On Investment. Traditional ROI does not capture the benefits from the effort of a project or investment.

Comprehensive Return On Investment (CROI)

A comprehensive return on investment assessment (CROI) includes the benefits from the effort when calculating the final percentage. For example, did the project team develop new skills during the design and development phases? If so, what would those skill have cost you to develop in the team, were it not for the project? What about employee engagement? Is your human resources team likely to document less turnover or decreased total costs through an appropriate investment and budget? On the other hand, if you choose not to invest properly for the project budget, are you accounting for the anticipated turnover, burnout and associated costs in your ROI?

A Comprehensive Return On Investment Example

Let’s look at an example of how reflecting the Comprehensive Return On Investment could impact your decision. You can follow along in this example with the attached spreadsheet (Excel 97-2003 or Excel 2007 format) and template. Pretend you are the project manager for an effort that requires the following investment:

The anticipated benefit is:

Therefore the net profit (Increased Revenue – Total Investment) would be:

Based on these numbers, your traditional Return On Investment would be:

$1,500 / $13,500 = 11%

Now, as a better educated, servant leader, you expand on this traditional ROI analysis. Instead of stopping at the hard benefits of the final deliverable, you recognize the additional benefits from the effort, such as:

• Project Manager Development: The skills developed by 3 different project managers during their efforts on this investment were equivalent to a $1,500 training course, each. As a result, you add in this benefit, valued at $4,500.
• Intern Leadership Experience: An intern on the project would gain exposure to other leaders in the organization and develop skills equivalent to a $1,500 leadership development course.
• Employee Engagement: In speaking with your human resources department, they also estimate a reduction in the hours they spend with employees on the project, because of increased engagement. So you add a $320 benefit.
• Productivity Improvements: You estimate 300 employees, saving 15 minutes, do to productivity improvements realized from the project. Assuming $80 / hour average rate, you add a $6,000 benefit.

You add these benefits from the effort of the project and investment to your original profit:

• Original Profit from Traditional ROI: $1,500
• Additional benefits from comprehensive ROI assessment: ($4,500 + $1,500 + $320 + $ 6,000) = $12,320
• Your comprehensive benefit is therefore: $12,320 + $1,500 = $13,820

The resulting, Comprehensive ROI is ($13,820 / $13,500) = 102% – a big difference from the 11% traditional ROI.

Understanding the Real Value

Too often, leaders will use a low ROI as an excuse not to take a risk. That’s not to say every negative ROI forecast that produces a positive CROI should be executed. However, a shift from a slightly positive ROI to a much more positive CROI may be a great case to pursue and convince otherwise hesitant executives. Regardless of the result, it is your role, as a servant to the organization, to ensure leadership is equipped with valid and comprehensive data when making decisions. The use of a comprehensive return on investment in addition to the traditional ROI analysis will ensure you are providing this full picture.

Question: Have you seen a traditional ROI assessment kill a great opportunity? Have you used a comprehensive ROI before to convince key decision makers?

From my servant leadership writing these past several years combined with following Michael Hyatt’s Blog, I’ve become familiar with the publishing industry. While I am no expert, it seems to me that publishing is evolving into an alternative to the advanced degree. Publishing, alone, will not replace advanced degrees. However, many authors  realize comparable benefits to graduates of advanced programs. These benefits include:

1. Publishing Quality Matters: There are cheap education options that border on “degrees for sale”. However, to attain a quality degree, it takes a lot of time and effort. It’s the same with publishing. Nowadays anyone can publish – which is both good an bad. Bad because there’s a lot of junk out there, but good because more quality is also exposed, through hard work and an investment of time.

2. Publishing Creates Opportunities: Good content is consumed, followed and shared. Good authors are therefore validated by their audience. For example, authors of recognized content are more likely to get an interview, meeting or other opportunity. It is the same with advanced degrees. If you have a quality masters or doctorate, you are more likely to get that interview, meeting or other introduction.

3. Publishing Availability: Advanced education was once only available to a privileged minority. Now, most of the developed world has this opportunity. Publishing followed a similar pattern. What used to require amazing content, the right connections and a hefty amount of luck, is now available to anyone.

Advanced degrees are in no danger of being replaced by publishing models. However, while educational institutions increase flexibility with online courses and evening schedules, more professionals are finding similar benefits from publishing. It is nice to know the variety of publishing options provided by advances in technology increases the opportunities for authors dedicated to quality content. Of course, it should be no surprise that the best results will obtained by those who achieve both an advanced degree and publishing success.

I recently received a great question through ModernServantLeader.com:

Is there a … particular job that one should look for as a servant leader?
- “Vince” via ModernServantLeader.com

Servant Leadership should be practiced in every career, industry and function for the most sustainable, positive results. However, there are certain industries, functions and organizations that are more receptive of servant leadership principles. The reasons for this proclivity toward servant leadership are as varied as the industries, functions and businesses themselves. Based on my research and experience, below is a list of industries and functions that are more receptive to servant leadership careers. For a list of organizations that practice servant leadership, you can review the resource list of these companies here.

Industries for Servant Leadership Careers

Education: The educational industry, at all levels, has a tendency toward servant leadership careers. The emphasis on the students and their development, is a motivation for these institutions to find servant leaders for their faculty and staff.

Government: Government employees are often under appreciated while playing roles that demand a great deal of service to their constituents. The attributes of humility and service to others are often highly sought by the government industry for these reasons.

Health Care: An emphasis on the care for the health of others aligns well with servant leadership careers. What makes health care attain this list and not complimentary areas like pharmaceuticals and insurance, is the direct contact. The personal interaction observed in health care seems to be increasing the awareness and adoption in this industry.

Ministry / Religion: Likely the most obvious, the very nature of most world religions suggests those who work in the industry are servants. For example, there are so many religious organizations listing servant leadership as a key principle that I had to exclude these organizations from our list of servant leader companies. There are simply too many to include.

Non-Profit (NPO): Similar to the education industry, non-profits tend to have such a core focus on their constituents that it is easy to say “we serve ____” – a specific stakeholder group. In addition, many NPOs require a degree of self-sacrifice (be it lower pay, poor working conditions, etc.) that they need team members who put the needs of others before their own.

Politics: This is a tricky one because so many politicians espouse servant leadership beliefs, just before being caught in an affair and addicted to controlled substances while committing fraud. Certainly this is not all politicians though. The simple fact is, all members of an elected office should be servant leaders.

Retail: Companies like Men’s Wearhouse, Wegman’s, 7-Eleven, U.S. Cellular, Starbucks and more, all on the list of companies, prove the interest and success of servant leader careers in the retail industry.

Services: Like the NPO, many companies in the service industry have such a strong focus on the consumer or recipient of their services that they recognize individuals with an other-focus make the best employees. Perhaps this is why Southwest Airlines dominates their industry and is recognized as an example of servant leadership in business.

Functions for Servant Leadership Careers

Back Office: Traditional back office functions, such as Accounting, Finance and even Information Technology lend themselves especially well to the tendency to serve.

Communications / PR: Most communication roles are responsible for helping one department or organization frame their messages for broad distribution, reception and comprehension. As a result, the role of understanding the challenges and needs of many fits well in public relations and other communication roles.

Customer Support / Service: A function whose focus is, after all, serving, naturally aligns well with our principles.

Environmental: Environmental affairs, analysts and similar functions require a great degree of servant leadership. In candidly assessing their organization’s possible negative impacts, minimizing damage while establishing policies and processes to protect the community, these functions require servant leadership.

Executives: Sadly, too many chief executives achieve their positions through alternative means. However, much like elected officials, all executives accountable for such large portions of their organizations, should be servant leaders.

Governance: Functions like legal counsel, security, privacy, audit and others that provide a governance function to the organization benefit greatly from servant leadership. These roles often require a degree of self-sacrifice and humility with an eye on securing and improving the overall institution.

Human Resources: When done right, human resource functions should align well with servant leader principles. Tip: If they call HR something like “People Services” as Herman Miller does, they are more likely to get this function right and be interested in servant leaders.

Project Management: Project managers have a unique challenge in that their teams are frequently changing, the tasks and expectations shift and they must work across some of the most cross-functional groups. As such, many recruiters appreciate the importance of servant leadership to the success of individuals in these roles.

Quality Assurance: Similar to the demands of environmental functions, QA professionals often have to make tough calls that are not popular in the organization. Yet these decisions are vital in the long term success of their company, customers and other stake holders. Therefore, many organizations seek servant leaders for quality assurance.

Exceptions Exist

The idea here is not to suggest the above are the only areas you will find or should practice servant leadership principles. Servant Leadership is the only authentic form of leadership for sustainable results and should be practiced everywhere possible. Instead, take this list for what it is – a compilation of areas where you are more likely to find and receive servant leadership principles already in action. Therefore, if you are a servant leader seeking a career in which your character and practices will be received and supported, the above list of industries and functions is a good place to start. Just remember, serve first, always, wherever and whenever your leadership services are needed.

Questions: What other industries, functions or businesses have you seen servant leadership principles strongly adopted and promoted? What industry function or business do you practice these principles in now?

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” – Max DePree

Max DePree: Former CEO of Herman Miller and Author of Leadership is an Art, Leadership Jazz and Leading Without Power

This quote, from Max DePree is among my favorite servant leadership quotes. This frames 3 roles every leader must fulfill: the roles of Realist, Praiser and Servant. In fact, I have this quote in my email signature at the office, so it may serve as a constant reminder to me and my colleagues, of these three critical roles. Here’s why:

Realist

Every leader should be a realist. Yes, to lead effectively, optimism is needed at times and you need to have Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals (BHAGs). You will also need to display vision. However, if a leader is not realistic, the followers may lose faith in them, their goals will become unobtainable and ultimately, that leader could set the organization up for failure. Instead, by being a realist, one can still display great vision, foresee opportunity and even set those BHAGs.

Examples of realities that are critical for leaders to understand include the operating norms of their industry, the capabilities of their organization and the financial standing of a company’s assets. Understanding of these realities and others does not inhibit, but in fact, empowers a leader to drive the greatest results. It’s not that the leader must always conform to realities, but they must understand the current environment in which they and their team must operate.

Praiser

A leader must thank their constituents. Anyone that supports a leader and their mission needs affirmation of that fact. This is especially true during difficult times and turnaround situations where fiscal means of recognition and awards are less common. While people may not do the work simply because they want to be praised, individuals working hard enough, long enough, without such praise, will soon work elsewhere.

Servant

I do love this quote, but if I were to make any modification to it, it would be to simply say, “Throughout, the leader is a servant” rather than in between. This may be splitting hairs. However, this would emphasize that a leader is, at all times, a servant to their stakeholders. I believe this was Max’s intention as well. A leader serves the constituents by being a realist, praising their efforts and by helping them and their community achieve more. A real leader is one who wants to serve others and realizes that the best way for them to be of service is through their leadership (Greenleaf paraphrased).

The next time someone asks you what roles a leader must play, keep this mind. I am sure you have some others to add as well and I encourage you to do so in the comments below.

Question: What other roles do you believe every leader must play? How do you fulfill these roles?

Actions express priorities -Mohandas Gandhi

Gandhi summed it up well when he said “Actions express priorities”. There is no more simple way to communicate what you do is more important than what you say. Yet, how often do leaders get too busy to conduct regular check-ins, follow up on concerns from their team or otherwise reflect a prioritization on the needs of their team? We say, “people are our most important asset”. We reflect, “people are less important than everything I have going on.” In order to best serve their team, leaders must express their prioritization of the people. As John Maxwell put it, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

I’m not perfect at this either. In fact, this has been a growing concern of mine: do my actions reflect priorities other than putting the team first? As a result, I developed a short list of actions to help reinforce the alignment of my actions with priorities:

1. Schedule Check-Ins: Schedule recurring meetings to check-in with your team. Then, do not move them unless absolutely necessary. Too often, these are the first meetings to be moved – again reflecting a lower priority on the people. Never completely cancel these meetings. Ask the team what frequency they prefer.

2. Schedule Work Time: Schedule time to actually get your own work done. While not directly tied to your people, failure to book time to accomplish tasks will minimize your ability to meet, listen to and support your team.

3. Ad-Hoc Communication: Don’t constrict your interaction with the team only to formal meeting times. Take time to stop by their office, give them a call or, at least a chat message. If you’re like me, finding time to do this is difficult, at best. Once again, scheduling time to actually take that stroll down the hallway and see what the team’s up to can help reinforce this objective.

4. Ask for Directions: Yes, I know us men have issues with this. But seriously, ask the team what more you can do and how you can help them. I try my best to end each check-in conversation with this question. The inquiry prompts each person to consider what you can help them with. I’ve gotten some great, sometimes even surprising, requests out of this question.

5. Listen: Do not listen only to formal communications, but to the chatter. I do not mean the gossip. However, casual conversations often include side comments or remarks that are flags of larger and/or growing issues. Don’t brush those comments aside – pursue them. A great leader always has her ears on.

I will continue to work on applying these actions myself. My hope is that you will too, or find other ways in which to ensure your actions match your priorities – especially when it comes to the people.

Question: How do you ensure your actions match priorities, especially when it comes to people?

I am fortunate to be guided by some of the best and brightest minds. My mentors include a sizable list of “who’s who”. For example, counted among my mentors are Michael Hyatt, Tony Dungy, Ron Edmundson, John C. Maxwell, Max Lucado, Marcus Buckingham, Jim Collins, Patrick Lencioni, Laurie Beth Jones, Max DePree and more. The best part is they can mentor you as well. In fact, they may have already started.

I am sure you’ve figured out that I am talking about mentoring through published works. Admittedly, this relationship is one-way. Therefore, this may not be considered by many to be mentoring. Yet, when you have input from so many of the greatest leaders, there is much to be said for even this one-way relationship. Social media and modern technology provide us a wealth of opportunities to learn from the leading experts in our fields and leadership development. Here are some tips for establishing and maintaining your own core of virtual mentors:

1.       Blogs: Subscriptions to blogs are an excellent way to receive regular updates, insights and ideas. These regular updates often include advice on current events and trending topics. Some of my favorite leadership blogs include:

• Michael Hyatt
• Ron Edmundson
• Seth Godin

2.       Networks: Using LinkedIn, Ning, even Facebook and other, more socially-focused networks is a great way of connecting with like-minded individuals in the same, or similar, fields and industries. Some of my favorite virtual networks include:

• LinkedIn (especially the Servant Leadership Group)
• Ning’s Servant Leadership Site

3.       Books: Naturally, reading books by thought leaders in your chosen field are a great source of information and guidance. There are too many favorites for me to list here.

4.       Audio: Generally speaking, I purchase the matching audio version of any book I like. This enables me to “freshen up”  up on some of my favorite content, This is particularly useful given a long commute and / or when something comes up and I remember, “that one author had a great point on this… let me find that again.” Alternatively, podcasts and many other audio formats are excellent for those who travel or during exercise.

5.       Search: Of course, there will be occasions when something comes up and you do not recall a reference to the challenge from your existing team of virtual mentors. When that happens, it may be time to expand your board of virtual advisors. Start with an online search and you may find an advisor focused on that particular niche.

So why aren’t you being mentored by these or other leading experts? Perhaps you are now – great! If not, I strongly encourage you and your teams to pick up some of these tips and start receiving advice and mentoring from the best in the field. It may be one-way, but in the end, one-way mentoring from the best and brightest is better than no mentoring from them at all.

Question: Do you have one or more virtual mentors? Who do you get your guidance and advice from and how?

The modern organization increasingly operates on a global platform. Advances in technology and communications simplify and empower the company that seeks to execute in multiple geographies. As a result, it is more common than ever for leaders to have direct reports in varying countries and even continents. Serving team members across time zones, continents and language barriers presents many unique challenges. As I’ve been fortunate enough to work in such an environment several times in my career, I thought it may help others to share what I’ve learned about serving direct reports around the globe. Below are my top tips for leading others in different geographies and cultures:

1. Serve First: Regardless of where your direct reports are located, it should always be your first objective to serve them and the organization you work for. As a leader, you are entrusted to make decisions and provide services afforded your role for the betterment of the organization. When in doubt, simply ask yourself, “how will this action (or inaction) help the organization?”

2. Be Flexible: I’ve sat on conference calls at 3:00 AM, not because I had to, but because it showed my willingness to support the team and our global operating environment. Certainly, regularly recurring 3 AM meetings is not the objective. However, accommodating different time zones and providing multiple options for meeting times, reflects your support of the team members in other locations.

3. Speak the Language: Speaking fluent Portuguese, Italian, French and a variety of dialects in Asia simply is not possible for me. However, I do make it a point to learn and use the more common words in the language of direct reports. Key words, such as “yes”, “no”, “please”, “thank-you” and / or terms specific to your industry reflect the leader’s effort and interest in the team’s local lingo. It also helps to use these words in written communications to broader audiences. Google Translate makes this especially easy. In so doing, you show that while you support the official language of your business, you’re also willing to borrow the best from others – Capisce?

4. Know the Holidays: Wikipedia has a great list of holidays by Country. You do not need to sit down and memorize all the holidays that every employee may celebrate. However, referencing such a calendar of global holidays can help. You should also maintain an open and interested mind. Remember, most countries celebrate more holidays than North America and regional cultures place a great importance on many celebrations. If you don’t know what a particular holiday represents – just ask. This will also reflect your genuine interest in the team and their cultural beliefs.

5. Be Inquisitive: Extending on point #4… whether it is learning the holidays, languages or any other new piece of information, I believe it is even better to ask the team member than to look it up. Having these conversations are a great way to get to know your team on a more personal level. In addition, this practice exposes your willingness to reflect some degree of vulnerability and your attention to continuous learning.

6. Learn the Environment: I’m still working on getting this implemented as a “requirement” with my current employer. However, I believe every manager should visit their direct reports in their working environments, at least once. This means a manager with a new direct report in another country should visit them shortly after the new reporting relationship is established. There are simply too many intangibles for anyone to understand over the phone or video conference. For example, many European cultures get serious work done around coffee station and several cultures place greater value in passion or emotion than others.

7. Know the Law: Ideally, you will have a Human Resources (or “Employee Services”) department to help you with this point. In essence though, you need to know what key variations exist for managers to know about in each region. As you serve the organization, you must know the legal guidelines and regulations set by governments in each region. For example, some regions have unions for different levels and not others. Some countries have strict guidelines on what certain words mean and do not and therefore may establish legal agreements. If you do not know these key variations, seek them out online and / or with your people services support. Once again, Wikipedia’s Labor Laws page is a good starting point.

8. Serve First: Yes, I mentioned this twice – because it is the basis for the rest. Employees located in field offices, remote locations or anywhere other than your headquarters are at a natural disadvantage. As such, they will seek support from you. The greater your emphasis on serving them and the organization, the greater they will respect and appreciate your efforts.

Above all, be genuine. I learned these “tips” because I was truly interested in the global team and their cultures. Therefore, I genuinely wanted to support them. In many cases, such as the language and holidays, my intrigue was the primary motivation. In others, such as learning the laws and maintaining a flexible schedule, I was primarily motivated by pursuing servant leadership principles in supporting our team. While these tips may help, practice only those you are genuinely interested in. That way, your team will perceive your interest and hopefully respond appropriately. Either way, you will ensure your greatest ability to serve and support your team and your organization.

Question: What additional tips do you have for working with teams spread across multiple geographies?

October is Cyber Security Month and a great opportunity for organizational leaders to educate the company on, promote implementation of and demonstrate their commitment to computer security. I can tell you from experience, this is an incredibly important topic for all organizations in the 21st century. Here are some ideas on how you can, in October or anytime, help promote best practices in information technology security.

Educate

Most serious data theft incidents are executed not by criminals with excellent programming skills, but by individuals convincing employees to offer up their passwords or by finding account information in the trash, on post-it notes or through similar, “low-tech” means. This is typically attributed to poor awareness of those employees. Believe it or not, comments like, “I never knew I should not keep my login and password on a post-it note attached to my laptop” are quite common. Here are some ideas for leaders to help educate their employees:

1. Posters: Eye-catching posters alerting employees to basic security practices can quickly communicate best practices to the team.

2. Flyers: Leave flyers at each employee’s desk reminding them of concepts like strong password tips, when to update anti-virus packages or other tips.

3. Login Prompts: You can have your IT department post reminders about security when each person logs into their PC. This is a good, constant reminder.

Promote

Promotion of important security practices is a great way to leverage Cyber Security month. Here are some ideas for leaders to directly promote IT security best practices.

1. Announce: Send out an announcement to the company. Include in this a list of the team members responsible for computer security and how much you appreciate their efforts. Ask those members to provide you with statistics on the number of threats blocked in the last year – their answers may surprise you.

2. Fair: My current employer does a great job of this – though it usually requires larger organizational resources. Try hosting a computer security fair. This includes bringing in security vendors to set up stands and discuss common issues with your employees.

3. Example: Chances are, you’ve experienced a computer security incident in your past. Whether it was a simple virus or a major breach at a previous employer. Share these examples and what you learned with your team. This real-world experience will help drive the point home and make the matter more real.

Demonstrate

Of course, as the leader, it is important that you lead by example. Here are some basic ways to ensure you’re not caught executing poor computer security practices:

1. Ctrl+Alt+Del: Lock your PC every time you step away. Leaving yourself logged on to a computer not in your sight, is like walking away from a safe holding all your corporate secrets with the door wide open. Lock it up every time.

2. Update: Make sure your software is up to date – especially your anti-virus application. Software updates often include security improvements to new and increasing threats. Software updates help you close these vulnerabilities.

3. Backup: While not directly a security concern, it sure would be embarrassing if your PC is ruined by a virus or other incident and you lose important information. As the leader, you should be sure you are treating the company assets you hold on your computer as the valuable items they are.

If you’re not familiar with these IT security issues or other computer safety trends, take this opportunity to speak with the IT leader in your organization accountable for security. Then, take the opportunity to educate, promote and demonstrate the important of IT security in the company.  Believe me, this small investment in computer security is well worth it!

Question: What other tips do you have for promoting computer security awareness in organizations?

Admit it, you’ve done this too – sat through a meeting, spending most of the time reading email and typing responses.  You thought, “just one more message, then I can focus on this meeting”.  But as you’re typing, you suddenly hear your name or a keyword that peaks your interest.  You look up and either jump in with a completely irrelevant comment or have to ask clarification on what’s happening.

This is often a bigger problem than we recognize, especially if you’re the boss in the room.  Regardless of the appropriateness of your response, the team may not always question your decisions or guidance (symptoms of a bigger problem, but that’s another post).  Worse, they may assume you know something they do not and receive your comments as marching orders.  In contrast, the best leaders ensure the success of their team and their own careers, by being present in the moment.  Below are some important reasons that great leaders, as servants in the organization, must ensure team meetings have their full focus:

1. Ensure Clarity

If you’re not hearing all the concerns, you may easily miss the most important point.  For example, you may think the greatest problem faced by the team is a shortage of staff to complete on time.  Therefore, when you peak up from the Blackberry after a comment about a particular person’s time constraints, you assure the team you will adjust the necessary priorities to get all the resources they need.

What you missed was that the Project Manager just said, prior to you’re full attention, that the budget was going to be overrun by about 50% to hit the launch date.  In addition, there was one person whose time was too tight.  However, after you clarified you would adjust priorities to get the PM the resources she needs, she’s off and spending to acquire the staffing necessary to hit launch date.

2. Be Empathetic

Employees and followers want leaders that truly understand their challenges.  The casual fly by to say hello and exclaim you know “just how hard everyone’s working” is not empathy.  In contrast, the manager that listens into the specifics of meetings and can recite case-after-case of specific challenges their employees are facing while caring – that is empathy.

The leader that serves their organization can sit in a meeting and challenge the team member that sheepishly agrees to accepting a new task.  The empathizing leader recognizes that this person is pressured into accepting responsibility, but also knows their bandwidth is too tight to be successful. Such a serving leader may respond, “Mary, I saw your hours last week exceeded 70, for the third week in a row – can you really take this task on top of the Accounts Payable project you’re leading?”

3. Deliver Support

Side-comments are often made in meetings that great leaders recognize as red flags.  These moments are invitations for the leader to understand where problems may be arising. Such opportunities are not listed on the formal agenda, they’re not always tracked as risks either.  Instead, asides may be assumed known by the leader, but in reality, require the presence and thorough attention of the leader to ask the right question.

If you’re too busy reading your iPhone and miss the comment the team leader makes about “Marketing pulling all our resources”, you may not even be aware of the major risk just raised.  You’re team believes you saw the email that requested this and so believe you’re on board.

Now, I’m no fool and I’m no saint.  There remain times when I feel obligated to check my Blackberry during the meeting.  Production issues,vital budgeting times and similar high priority concerns may require our attention throughout the day.  However, I’ve learned to ask my team to call me on it. When I seem too distracted, I want the team to say so.  In addition, you may find it helpful to make sure they understand why you are distracted before the meeting begins and ask them to call your attention to key concerns.  Ultimately, it is important that your team meetings include not only your physical presence but your full mental attention as well.  Otherwise, your team will quickly see you as a figure head and not someone there to serve the best interests of the team and the company.

Question: What tips do you have for ensuring your team has your full focus, especially in meetings?

Early in our careers we typically seek formal training and request feedback openly and frequently. Yet, later in our career, it seems we tend to cease these practices or at least, hide them. By hiding, I mean we’re not as outwardly open about it. I recognized this challenge in myself recently, as I pushed direct reports to give me a list of their desired training for the upcoming years, received few results and discovered my own lack of training. Worse, as I pondered it, I realized I had not proactively sought feedback, outside our formal 360 process, in months.

Instead of going to training classes, we attend conferences. Rather than request feedback on our performance from peers, superiors and others, we privately discern what they’re doing right. It seems we’re afraid that asking for training or feedback could be perceived as weakness or worse, we think we don’t need these continuous development items. However, by no longer proactively seeking these opportunities to grow as individuals and as leaders, the secret learner hurts themselves and the organization they serve.

Hurting the Leader

1. Slowed Growth: Studying other leaders, attending conferences and other secretive means of learning still help the individual grow, but they take longer to pick up new skills. When one is learning through observation vs. direct, dedicated and bi-directional educational settings, there is a greater time investment to absorb the lessons.

2.Missed Opportunities: We don’t always know what we don’t know. Without continuous development, you could miss out on opportunities you never realized existed.

3. Hypocrisy: If you want your team to continuously grow, you must practice the same. Instead, the lack of a pursuit of regular feedback and / or formal education while asking direct reports to do so may present the perception of hypocrisy to your team and damage your character.

Hurting the Organization

By not openly revealing our desire to learn and develop, I think we also hurt our organizations in the following ways:

1. Air of Superiority: The team may perceive leaders learning in secret as individuals that do no believe they need further training. This can impact the team’s opinion of that person and ultimately decrease the leader’s influence.

2. Discourages Development: As teams discern how leaders act, seeking to replicate the successful, they may determine training and development to be a reflection of weakness or otherwise undervalued. As a result, the growth and development of the organization suffers.

Go Public

Here’s a couple ways I can think of and plan to pursue myself, to break the cycle of secretive learning:

1. Seek Regular Feedback: Beyond your standard performance feedback channels and cycles, ask others for their input on your performance. To achieve the most candid feedback, I like to question how “they think others might perceive me”. This frees them up a bit to say it may not be what they think, but how they believe others may perceive you.

2. Training Plans: Before asking your team to provide you their requested training, have your own training scheduled (ideally) or at least planned and share those plans with your team. This changes the conversation from a “tell me what you think you need to improve” to a “We all need to continuously improve. Here’s what I am doing about it, what are you going to do and how can I help?” I’m still working on this one myself.

I’m still a ways away from getting this one right, but I think I’m on the right path. I hope you’ll join me by asking yourself, “am I learning in secret?” If the answer is yes, try going public. I think it will help you and your organization.

Question: Are you learning in secret? If not, what does your training plan look like?

You know the feeling – that frustration when you can not convince a particular “blocker” to get on board. I’d been going back and forth in my head for weeks, trying to figure out how to get a message through to a particular blocker, so they would support the initiative. “Everyone else got it, why didn’t he?!” kept racing through my thoughts. Then it occurred to me: the problem was not his, it was mine. I had not been focused on serving them, but on my need to move the project forward.

The frustration was my big, red flag. I stopped to try and understand why I was frustrated. Was it really because they would not budge or was it because I was unable to move them? The latter was true. Was I frustrated because we could not meet the needs of the  broader organization or because he was blocking my ability to attain a personal goal? Again, the latter was true. As I dug through my frustration, it was clear I had not approached the problem from a perspective of serving.

To clarify, here are a couple definitions for frustration:

• “the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals” (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn; 2010.06.26, emphasis added)
• “Frustration is a common emotional response to opposition. Related to anger and disappointment, it arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of individual will. The greater the obstruction, and the greater the will, the more the frustration is likely to be. …” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustration; 2010.06.26, emphasis added)

As the emphasis highlights, frustration is a sign that you may be focused on yourself and not the needs of others. Therefore, as a leader in you organization, frustration should be a warning sign to you as well. When you feel frustrated, remember your calling as a leader to serve those you lead, first.

After recognizing the source of my frustration, here’s how I altered my own approach and suggest those in similar circumstances consider:

1. Return to Listening: What is the source of the problem causing your frustration? In this case, I needed to meet with this person and commit myself to only listening to their concerns. I could not present any alternatives, contradictions or disagreements in this meeting – just listen. Your situation may be broader than a single individual, listen all the same.

2. Find the Gap: What was the gap you identified after listening, that created the frustration? In my case, the objector had a need that could not be met, immediately, by the proposed solution. In your case, there may be more than one gap, define them. I found actually writing out the gaps helped clarify the picture.

3. Meet the Need: In your role as a servant to those you lead, you must meet their needs. If you’ve listened effectively and identified the gap(s), you can meet the need. In my case, it was a simple matter of timing. Over time, we could meet the needs of the objector. Therefore, we made a plan that provided objective traceability on our progress to that need. Define your own way to meet the need of the gap(s).

Now, I am a realist and understand this will not resolve every source of your frustrations. These simple 3 steps will not create world peace or cure cancer. However, it is important for servant leaders to recognize frustration as a warning sign of poor priorities. The next time you are frustrated with a situation, ask yourself “am I focused on serving this person, organization or situation?”

Question: Is there something frustrating you now that you may need to change your priorities on?

I’ve seen passion get a bad rap too often by being mislabeled as “emotion”. You’ve probably experienced it too. It may be in a budget meeting when funding is being debated and someone passionately voices their opinion. Or, it may be during cross-functional staffing assessments when one leader vehemently disagrees with another’s reflection on a person.

Passion

Whenever it occurs, passion reflects an individual’s commitment, strong opinions and dedication to their position. In other words, passion may be described as a person’s unwillingness to maintain their composure. With a particularly strong belief in the matter at hand, passion is often the byproduct of someone deeply engaged in serving their organization. Therefore, I believe passion is a great characteristic to have in your team members.

Emotion

In contrast, emotion often stems from a person’s inability to maintain their composure. This is not necessarily a bad thing, depending upon the circumstances. For example, someone receiving negative feedback in a performance review may reveal their disappointment in tears. In addition, frustration from an inability to effectively influence others often results in anger – too often in public settings. While unfortunate, the former emotional scenario is somewhat understandable and, particularly given the confidential nature, generally acceptable. In contrast, losing one’s temper as a result of their own ineffectiveness is not acceptable. Either way, because emotion is generally perceived as a reflections of one’s inability to control their reactions to given situations, emotion is generally considered negative characteristic.

Call me crazy (or passionate), but I want people on my team that believe deeply in those they serve and therefore may reflect their passion through strong words and actions. Yes, I want people on my team who have the ability to maintain their composure.  However, if someone is passionate enough about their commitment to serving a person or group and therefore not willing to maintain their composure all the time, I’m okay with that. Provided, of course, they know when those right times are.

Question: Have you seen passion confused for emotion? Do you like having passionate people on your team?

If your leadership were a business, would your employees be paying customers? The war for talent means your best employees ‘choice of employers is broadening. They have leadership options from which to buy and definitely conduct product comparisons. Whether it is the degree of late nights you ask of them, the extent of which “stuff” is allowed to roll down hill or amount of training received, your employees pay a price for your leadership product. Other leaders, either within your organization or elsewhere, offer different options at different price points. Therefore, leaders should ask themselves, “why do my employees pay for my leadership, why should they continue paying for it and how do I find more of the right customers for my leadership?” Based on this perspective of leadership as a product purchased by followers, below are three good practices I’ve seen for improving your leadership product.

1. Evaluate Competitor Products: Within your company and beyond, what are the most admired leaders offering as a part of their “product”? Look at the managers within your organization with the best 360 feedback scores. Also, look at some of the greatest leaders outside your company – those highlighted from Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For or similar studies. The leadership products offered from these competitors are ones you should consider adopting features from for your own leadership product offering.

2. Conduct a Market Study: When was the last time you conducted a survey of your team’s reflection on the quality of your leadership product? 360 Feedback is great, but consider going beyond the standard HR processes and policies. One of the greatest tools I’ve seen is an anonymous Q&A session. In this process, employees on the team submit their questions to a human resources representative. The HR representative filters the questions, rephrases them into their own words to ensure anonymity, then asks the leader these questions live, in an open dialog with the team. Why not conduct your own, similar, marketing study?

3. Invest in Research & Development: Over time, the best products evolve through investments in R&D. Your leadership product should be no different. To maintain the interest and support of your team, you should continuously improve your leadership skills. Invest time with mentors and perhaps even a professional coach. Devote time to personal development and reading the latest leadership books and industry periodicals. If you fail to evolve your leadership product over time, your competitors will become more attractive while your product remains stagnant.

Your leadership is a product purchased by your followers. The team invests time, effort and creativity into your organization, at least in part due to your leadership. Therefore, as you serve the organization, it’s employees, customers, investors and other stake holders, you owe it to them to develop your leadership product. Failure to continuously develop this product could be more costly than failures in your organization’s end product and services.

Questions: What other ways do you invest in your leadership Product? How does your leadership develop their product?

Note: This post is the fifth in a series of Servant Leadership Lessons from the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast 2010.

John Maxwell has an amazing ability to connect with you – whether you are one member of an audience of 65,000+ (as we were this day) or one-on-one. This is appropriate, given that his latest book is entitled, “Everyone Communicates, Few Connect.” This was the main topic of his presentation – Connecting with Others. The best leaders serve their organizations in many ways, but one critical attribute is through their ability to connect. Highlights of Maxwell’s comments on serving and connecting follow:

• “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.”
• Definition of “Connecting: the ability to identify with and relate to people in such a way that it increases our ability to influence them.”
• “Some of my best thinking is done by others.”

It’s Not About Us

• “Connecting is all about others… It’s not about us”
  • “If you help other people get what they want, they’ll help you get what you want.” – Zig Ziglar
  • “You put other people first”

It’s Not Lonely At The Top

• Some people say “it’s lonely at the top” but that’s not true.
• “If you’re up at the top all alone, nobody’s following you.” It’s not lonely at the top.
• What real leaders do, is they get off of “the top”. They go to where the people are.

• Then they bring the people (followers) to the top, with them.

Selfless

• When someone thinks of themselves first, they’re immature. They’re selfish.
  • That’s okay when you’re a small child.
  • However, it’s not okay when you’re 35, 45, 55, and you haven’t figured out that it’s not about you yet!
  • “When you become a leader, you give up your right to think about yourself first. Leadership is always about others first.”

Connecting Requires Intentionality

• “Connectors understand if they’re going to connect, they’re going to have to give it a lot of energy.”
  • “It requires intentionality, it requires energy to connect.”
  • Who is that person you need to expend energy to connect with.
  • Find Common Ground
  • “What makes connectors effective is they are constantly looking for common ground.”
  • Make time. Walk slowly through the crowd. Let people connect with you.
  • “Anybody that’s kept at a distance won’t hurt you, but they won’t help you either.”

More From John C. Maxwell

Website: http://www.johnmaxwell.com/
Latest Book: Everyone Communicates, Few Connect
Free Download:

• Give it Time PDF

The Power of Motivation MP3

Note: This post is the fourth in a series of Servant Leadership Lessons from the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast 2010

Mark Sanborn had many great phrases and memorable leadership quotes. In fact, Mark’s website includes the subheading, “Leadership doesn’t make a difference, it is the difference.” How true that is, at every level of the organization. His presentation focused on leaders as story builders, improvers and tellers. Below are highlights from Mark’s presentation:

Making a Better Story

• “Leaders don’t just tell a better story, they make the story better.”
• “We want leaders who can help us make our stories better than they would have been.”
• “…Consider your life (to be) a non-fiction book on the shelf of the bookstore of the world.”
• “Are you a better person because of your manager?”
  • The above is a question Sanborn asks employees of managers confidentially
  • Are you treating your employees like a WIP or WAC?
    • WIP= Work In Progress – how we often view ourselves
    • WAC=Works Already Completed – how we often look at others.
      • “Why do we treat them (those we meet) as foregone conclusions rather than a future possibility?”
      • “…it’s called Leadership not Controllership”
      • “The antidote to ‘stuck’ is hope.”
      • “You, as a leader, might have to resell people on their own value… You might have to renarrate their story…You might have misinterpreted your own story”
• “Reenergize people by giving them hope… Hope is having something new try and be willing to try.
  • • A future that is different than the one they currently occupy
    • “Refocus people from current struggles to future hopes.”
• “Redefine Failure”
  • “Failure is something that happens to you, not something you are…Failures are indicators you are making progress”
  • “Your resume is current until the day you retire. Your legacy will live beyond you.”
  • “We as leaders need to pay attention to how our stories are affecting others.”

C.R.A.F.T. Model

• Catch
  • Catch the other person’s story
  • Requires slowing down, make space to catch the other person’s story

• Respond
  • Don’t reject the story
  • People have no reason to change until we accept them
• Ask
  • Ask questions
  • What is your greatest hope here (at organization / business)?

• Feel
  • Listen with your heart.
  • A cynic is a passionate person that doesn’t want to be disappointed with you.
• Tell
  • Tell your Story
  • That’s where you find the connectivity
  • The focus is not on you or what you learned – but on how they can be better (their story can be better) because of what you learned in your story

I am grateful to Mark for his participation in the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast and especially enjoyed his CRAFT model. I see great alignment here with servant leadership principles.

More From Mark Sanborn

Website: http://www.marksanborn.com/
Latest Book: The Fred Factor
Free Download:

• Be The One – 13 Strategies for Self-Motivation PDF

Note: This post is the third in a series of Servant Leadership Lessons from the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast 2010.

Mark Sanborn interviewed Tony Dungy in a pre-recorded meeting. Dungy’s story and success in both the NFL and life read like a case-study in Servant Leadership. If you’ve not read them, I highly suggest his books, particularly the first, “Quiet Strength”. Below are some of the highlights from Tony Dungy’s Chick-Fil-A Leadercast interview:

• Q: How do we get people “unstuck”?
  • “Energize them…Show them the potential they have… what they are truly capable of.”
• Q: How do you get others committed to your vision and mission?
  • You need to explain, “It’s about more than us, the big picture, the whole team, the whole community… Even more than teamwork, the ultimate goal that all of us can strive for. That’s what you have to sell.”
• Q: What if they’re struggling before they see progress?
  • “You have to talk about perseverance…Show the examples that may not be obvious. Explain that this is not the time to give up, we’re close… Let them know we’re in it together.”
• Q: You have a Mentor-Leader book coming out in August, can you tell us a bit about it?
  • “The Mentor-leader helps people get where they want to be” (vs. pushing them).
• Q: You have a very different coaching style than the stereotype in the NFL, can you explain why / how?
  • You must “be yourself, you have to lead in your own way, don’t imitate others”
• Q: You’ve flagged players in the NFL as “DNDC” – What does that mean?
  • “Do Not Draft Because of Character…”
  • They had the talent, but something in their makeup would not make them a good addition to the group or team
• Q: Do you think Character is taught or caught?
  • A little of both
  • You need to take people w/ potential and build those character traits in
• Q: How do you avoid the “big head” syndrome after success?
  • His mother taught him “it’s important to understand where your success comes from, and it comes from the Lord.”
  • He also referenced a poem from John Wooden, given to him by Dungy’s High School coach:

Talent is God Given; be thankful

Praise is man given; be humble

Conceit is self-given; be careful

• Q: Sometimes you must mentor and sometimes discipline as a coach, how do you handle this?
  • “All coaching is mentoring and disciplining is part of it”
• Q: How do you ration your time and energy?
  • That’s always the dilemma for him
  • “You want to be the best at what you’re doing…people at work are depending on you…people at home are depending on you… Family has to come first – that’s who’s going to be with you the rest of your life.”
• Q: Any other thoughts you’d like to leave with the audience?
  • “God’s put you where you are for a reason. You are impacting a lot of people, whether you know it or not.”
  • “The biggest thing you’ve gotta have is perseverance”
  • “You can make an impact today, right where you are.”
  • Look inside you, figure out what you can do and you can be the one.”

Again, I highly recommend Dungy’s books as they are packed with Servant-Leadership material. It sounds like his forthcoming book this Summer, The Mentor Leader, will continue down this path. My gratitude to Tony for his continued support and promotion of servant leadership principles.

More From Tony Dungy

Website: http://www.coachdungy.com/
Latest Book: The Mentor-Leader (08.03.2010)

Note: This post is the first in a series of Servant Leadership Lessons from the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast 2010.

At the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast, Connie Podesta focused on connecting our personal and professional lives. She also covered a range of topics including some humor (and interesting facts) surrounding the common differences between male and female communication styles. However, the servant leadership themes I took away from Connie included: leaders should align work and personal lives and they must remember that everyone is always leading by example (my words, not hers). As leaders serving your organization, aligning your personal lives with work lives and not attempting to balance the two, is something I wrote about here. It’s also critical for the serving leader to remember they are always on stage – setting the example for others, as their teams are for peers. Below are some highlights from her talk, aligned to these themes:

Work / Life Alignment, Not Balance

• “There is no separating your personal and professional life”
• Leadership is a 24×7 job
• When consulting, clients often suggest there is not enough time to address the employee’s personal lives and interests, but she finds that is the most important part and necessary.
• “When it comes to material possessions we need to focus more on what we need and not so much on what we want.”
• If you think you need your job, you’ll never be happy at work.

Everyone Is Always Leading, By Example

• You’re on stage every single day of your life
• Your kids, clients, family, employees, church congregation, etc. are all in the audience – they are watching you and trying to decide how you are going to influence them
• “There’s not a human being in your life you can make happy”
• Leadership has changed from 20 years ago, employees and children have not.
  • Employees and children have always looked to leaders and parents, taking their cues for how to behave from them
  • “Character is defined not by how you are when life is going good… Leadership comes out when your life is so far from what you had planned, that you can barely breathe.”

Before leaving, she asked the audience if they are happy with the personal choices they’ve made. Then, are they happy with the professional choices they’ve made. She let it hang there, before exiting.

More From Connie Podesta

Website: http://www.conniepodesta.com/
Latest Book: How to Be the Person Successful Companies Fight to Keep
Free Downloads:

• Change Habits PDF
• Be #1 In Leadership PDF