31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader

Day #27: Managing Time

Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days. –Zig Ziglar 

This is a funny title, because we can’t manage time! We can, however, manage our use of time. We all have the same amount of time every day. Not all of us use it wisely or even to our best interest.

My definition of a leader is a 3-part definition. A leader is a person who:

Here’s my list for getting more done in your normal day:

Stick to your goals

After all the time and energy you spent defining goals and then setting monthly milestones, please honor those as commitments to your own success.

Manage priorities 

In the book The Tyranny of the Urgent, by Charles Hummel, we learn now ordinary and unimportant tasks become urgent. It’s better to manage urgent things as important items in life, rather than tending to unimportant things that have become urgent because we didn’t prioritize them. Set priorities to be able to tend to important items with your full attention when they are not urgent and stressful.

Define what not to do

You have created a plan for your work in the system I have defined in this series of podcasts. If you know what you are supposed to be doing and understand the importance of those accomplishments, then active the word “no” for yourself and others. This leaves time to deal with unexpected priorities that come up from time to time. It’s interesting, however, that fewer unexpected urgent things come up when you are managing the priorities.

Use your calendar

Plan activities on your calendar when you need to be physically present, including the to-dos in your office. Those are the “nows” of the day. Those don’t include the time between each “now” and the time after each “now” to take notes and time-activate decisions and actions. Plan your day in 25-minute segments with a 5-minute break to move your body. Sitting all day is deadly for your health.

Eliminate distractions

Playing music in the background is a major distraction for me. I am a musician and the music grabs my attention. When conducting a musical ensemble, I have realized that when I move my hands in conducting, even that ordinary, necessary, and expected movement takes brain power. I lose about 40% of my ability to hear because some of my brain is focused on the movement of my hands.

Some leaders claim that they can get work done in a coffee shop. I find the people very distracting. I do my best work in a quite place with no views to tempt my imagination. When taking frequent breaks, I can enjoy a view, cup of coffee, or exchange with others for stimulation.

Learn the art of delegation and USE it

I have already spoken about delegation. I have not suggested strongly enough that it is essential for any leader. When leading a nonprofit, engage volunteers. They have a passion for what you are doing, so let them realize that passion and help you achieve the organization’s goals. 

Have an accountability partner

This is not your spouse or best friend…Find a person who will tell you what you need to hear and not just be nice.

Care for self

Be sure to get plenty of sleep and exercise. An alert mind is a high-functioning mind and one that’s less tolerant of time-wasting activities. Pace yourself and schedule breaks to walk around. You must move. Sitting is not healthy.

Next: Day #28 - Managing Stress

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Day #26:Hiring Staff and Consultants

Having the wrong person is worse than not having a person at all. - Hugh Ballou

It’s possible that I took the above quote from someone, but I can’t find a source for it. It’s so true, however. We hire someone for a position because we need someone by a certain time, and we hurry the process, making a quick judgment without the proper attention to the process and to the signals they send. We need to listen carefully with our eyes and ears to precisely worded questions.

The person working with us or our organization represents our organization. The brand image is at stake with each person representing us. We hire for skill and skip over checking to see if that person fits the culture we have so carefully nurtured. A proper search process takes time and energy and requires focus on the critical success factors.

Here are some basic concepts for finding the right person:

This is a very important process that many organizations have not mastered or even developed a sufficient level of competency in applying to the decision. 

Next: Day #27 - Managing Time

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Day #25: Evaluations

If you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, then the group will address poor performance and attitudes. - Henry Cloud

Evaluations are how we examine the progress or value of a program or activity and/or job performance. Frequent evaluations help to determine whether or not we leaders and our teams are on track for a predetermined objective.

Evaluations serve many purposes and show up in many forms. The leader must decide what to evaluate and the meaning of that evaluation. Once the evaluation is done, then the important decision is what to do with the data.

What to evaluate:

First, the leader decides:

Here’s a simple format for use in group evaluations of themselves, events, plans, or activities:

Next: Day #26 - Hiring Staff and Consultants

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Day #24: No Job Descriptions

A job description is a form invented by HR departments to validate their job. It has taken form as a list of tasks, which is a form of micromanaging.- Hugh Ballou 

I love to borrow the quote from a colleague of mine that the Job Description is an invention of the HR department, which is the department of Human Remains. That’s not very flattering. HR professionals are important watchdogs for compliance in organizations. In fact, organizations without this department are in jeopardy of breaking the law. So, it’s really not a joke. It’s just bad practice.

Having no document is worse than having a bad document, however, not much worse. Having a checklist of tasks is the document I have mostly seen. It’s not a document that inspires high-performing team members to do their best.

A new best practice for my teaching is developing a “Position Description” for a specific job or position within an organization. The elements of this document are also the checklist for hiring employees, consultants, or board members. It’s a description of an area of performance with specific exceptions clearly defined.

Here are the elements for a Position Description:

What’s important here is that a person has a performance track. You, as the leader, guide them on that track. The role and responsibility might be “to create and implement…” or “to manage…” It’s a very specific track for their work, but not defining every single thing they are expected to do in that job. If the right person has been engaged for the right match in performance, then let that person define how he or she will accomplish said deliverables over time. Point people to end results, and not to activity.

Next: Day #25 - Evaluations

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Day #23: Avoiding Micromanaging: Coaching and Mentoring 

A coach has some great questions for your answers; a mentor has some great answers for your questions. - Anonymous 

The most deadly activity I see, and the most common as well, is micromanaging. It’s the “BOSS” syndrome. Telling people what to do isn’t effective in today’s world. Learning to delegate is one of the most difficult skills for today’s leader to master. We have seen others show up as BOSS and command the space by telling everyone everything to do. Once the BOSS leaves, people typically do whatever they please and accomplish just enough to get by. What happens when the leader isn’t present is the test of true leadership.

My definition of BOSS: when you spell is backwards, you get “Double SOB!” This doesn’t inspire a high-functioning culture.

Delegate and assist in the completion of the tasks. Here’s what’s required for effective delegation:

• Clearly define the desired end result.
• Provide information for achieving that result.
• Provide needed information along the way when asked.
• Respect the individual.
• Mentor as necessary for subject matter expertise you have.
• Set time-activated report times with specific results.
• Get out of the way.

Don’t confuse coaching with mentoring. 

• Coaching is mostly asking questions and assisting the team member in increasing their own leadership skills. A coach never provides answers or tells anyone what to do.
• Mentoring is providing specific information and skills for achieving something. The mentor is a subject matter expert and knows not only what they want accomplished, but also the information and skills to do it. The mentor is primarily a teacher.

If you didn’t notice, the last bullet point in delegation is … “Get out of the way.” Leaders often get in the way and limit the performance of team members.

Next: Day #24 - No Job Descriptions

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Day #22: Flash Meetings

The longer the meeting, the less is accomplished.  -Tim Cook

Flash meetings are a methodology that I didn’t invent, like most of the stuff I teach, and is likely not a common enough practice for many people to be aware of either.

A flash meeting is like the name implies - it’s short and, hopefully, over in a flash. Many times, the meeting is conducted with everyone standing. People are less prone to wasting time when standing.

The purposes for the flash meeting methodology are the following:

• For you as leader to stay apprised as to what’s happening at all times;
• For the different group members, company leaders, committee chairs, etc., to stay connected with others in the organization to maximize effectiveness;
• To expand a shared responsibility in the culture;
• To set a pattern for regular communications;
• For you as leader to have a chance to connect any variances in performance before they get too far out of control;
• To manage expectations, lowering the potential for unnecessary conflict;
• To lighten the workload for each team member by realizing others bring value to the work of every other team member;
• To build relationships within the team.

Here’s the basic pattern for a regular (I suggest weekly) flash meeting:

• Start promptly at the time scheduled (don’t wait for latecomers to arrive);
• Have a visual posting for proceeding with the set of deliverables scheduled for review;
• Set the reporting order and move directly through that order;
• Ask each person to stick to reporting and not providing lots of data or discussing minor details, unless those details add value to the report;
• Each person acknowledges the completion of the previous set of deliverables, or asks for assistance in solving problems that prevented the completion of those deliverables, and then shares the deliverables for the next meeting;
• Share what’s needed from others on the team and ask what others need;
• Rotate through the entire group with the same reporting pattern;
• Once the reports are complete, set individual meetings between group members or yourself and others to manage details or to mentor. Don’t provide harsh or major corrections in the group; save that for individual conversations.

Flash Meetings:

• Keep them short and frequent - daily or weekly, if there’s enough to accomplish. 
• Have a visual with deliverables posted and to record new deliverables.
• Lead the meeting by letting team members report.
• Let the accountability for results reside with the group members; if that isn’t effective, then meet individually with people not performing up to exceptions. 
• Keep the work focused on the organization’s goals and monthly milestones.
• Enjoy the relationships and celebrate success whenever appropriate.

Meetings are focused on outcomes, build relationships, create team energy, and build the influence of the leader.

Next: Day #23 – Avoiding Micromanaging: Coaching and Mentoring

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Day #21: Team Action Planning

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. -Confucius

This is the step for making things happen. It’s the integration of strategy into performance. The team goes into action with the steps they have created, that they now own, you have approved, and all is transparent.

In this step, the accountability mechanism isn’t you. The accountability now rests with the team members themselves. Peer-to-peer accountability is stronger than top-down process management. You can have both, but you don’t need to be the daddy or mommy of the group. Let them manage the mutual accountabilities. It’s their performance that matters.

If the team doesn’t perform, it becomes quite evident as to where the problem lies and with whom the issues rest. In this model, everything is transparent.

Here’s the process:

Tips:

Using the process empowers the team for action, sets accountabilities, highlights opportunities for coaching, and creates momentum.

If the team sets the action items, there should be action dates each week moving toward the milestone. The weekly reporting exposes uncompleted tasks that limit your progress.

By the way, keep your name off of any action that someone else can do so you can supervise.

Now, get out of the way and let them perform.

Next: Day #22 – Flash Meetings

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Systems

Day #20: Meetings

Meetings are at the heart of an effective organization, and each meeting is an opportunity to clarify issues, set new directions, sharpen focus, create alignment, and move objectives forward. - Paul Axtell

The Agenda is the enemy of productivity in meetings.- Hugh Ballou

Bad meetings are a killer of team empowerment. - Hugh Ballou

Here’s the module where I explain why a meeting agenda is the enemy of productivity. The agenda is a checklist of activities. I already have enough activities in my life. I’m looking for results in every activity. Therefore, focus on outcomes. Meetings either empower teams or kill team energy. It’s our choice which one we support.

Instead of using the old tried and untrue pattern of creating a meeting agenda, choose to define the desired outcomes for the time together using “deliverables.” The deliverables are specific achievements, or goals, for the session you are conducting. As Steven Covey has defined, “Begin with the end in mind.” In this case, define what you want to walk away with having completed in the time of the meeting.

Here’s a pattern for planning a meeting:

Overall Purpose– If you have an ongoing project or are meeting continuously, define the ultimate objective of the team and/or organization. This helps the group to keep perspective for the journey.

Deliverables for This Session– Define what you will accomplish in this one meeting. Be specific. When you come to the end of the time, everyone knows that the goals for this time have been reached.

Off-Limits for This Session– Groups get into the weeds or go down a rabbit trail that isn’t productive. It’s important to define what will be accomplished in this session and it’s also helpful to define what the group will not do! For example, to define the details of any initiative would be appropriate when setting major directions or defining projects. Do the details between meetings and report back.

Background– List the “givens” or the facts surrounding what you are working on. Do not assume that everyone has the same data. List things that you think are obvious, even if those facts are just perceptions. This helps to eliminate time wasted debating things.

Learn to facilitate group process, especially running meetings. Leaders influence others. Leaders ask good questions. Leaders let others on teams utilize their expertise. Leaders build high-performance teams. Effective meetings create a “New Architecture of Engagement™”that defines the culture.

Next: Day #21 - Team Action Planning

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Day #19: Team Performance Covenant

Making covenants is an expression of a faithful heart; Keeping covenants is a expression of a willing heart. - Bonnie D. Parkin

What a covenant is:

Merriam-Webster: a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties, especially for the performance of some action.

It’s important to create an operational profile of how team members function within this particular leadership container. To set up this process, ask team members to think about another group they were a part of, and to think specifically about what challenges they experienced in that group, such as how they wasted time, what set up conflict, whether each member had a chance to weigh in on ideas, if it was a safe place to disagree, or other factors causing dysfunction or limiting effectiveness. They can also identify systems or customs from other teams that worked really well. People must have a vision of how they work together that’s specific to the team, and that we don’t assume anything is normal. Each team has some different patterns.

Here are my process steps for creating a team covenant:

This is different from the list of guiding principles. Principles are what we apply to decision-making. Covenant is how we function together.

Next: Day #20 - Meetings

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Day #18: Getting Team "Buy-In"

Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses and their concerns without fear of reprisal. - Patrick Lencioni

Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team:

• Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust
• Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict
• Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment
• Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Team Accountability
• Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Team Objectives

To have a high-performing team, each member must have buy-in. All of the five dysfunctions above can be addressed with the following steps.

The buy-in begins with strategy. The leader (that’s you) holds and communicates the vision. It’s also your duty to forecast the future by defining the long-term strategic objectives. Now it’s time for the team to be engaged with the planning process.

It’s the notion of the leader (remember, we’re been taught things wrong and have inherited systems that aren’t working) to do all of the planning, and then hand out the plan with implementation details to the team.

Here’s where we cut them off at the knees…they have expertise, they have value in skills and as a person, they can solve problems and think creatively, they are subject matter experts, they have varying implementation skills…and so forth. So, why in the world do you think you have to create the entire plan in a vacuum? 

When team members create the plan they own the plan and they bring accountability to the plan. 

Develop Healthy Process:

Relationships becomesProcess

Process createsTrust

Trust formsCommunity

Community buildsRelationships 

Team process:

• Guidelines - Let the team define their own rules of engagement or working process guidelines.
• Goals - Set team goals for productivity and satisfaction.
• Action Plans - Create action plans to support the company goals as a team.
• Consensus - Learn and teach consensus.
• Power Meetings - No more boring meetings, which is the number one killer of power teams (Day #20).
• Communicate - Communication is based on relationship and not on data.
• Celebrate - Set aside time to celebrate milestones accomplished.
• Lead, lead, lead - That’s you.

Next: Day #19 - Team Performance Covenant

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