None but a certifiable power junky would go with his own ideas and skills when someone more competent is readily available. Nonetheless, power junkies are more prevalent than you might think. You can find them mostly in the middle ranks but rarely at the top. Leaders do not get there by ignoring or overlooking expertise in others and especially not in people whose knowledge, skills, and resources can increase their chances for success. Skilled leaders take full advantage of whatever may give them the winning edge.

a proactive leader's reason for deferring to the expertise of others goes a little farther though. He truly values differing styles and opinions. Each person on the team has know-how, skills, and resources unlike those of anyone else. They all have their special areas of expertise. They also have their individual approaches, ways of thinking, and perspectives. This gives fullness and flavor to the team. Not to take advantage of this richness would be like ignoring the pilot when she suggests that you let her fly the plain this time. …

. . . . .

You already know a proactive leader has an organized mind and an uncanny ability to see problems before they are problems, opportunities before anyone else knows an opportunity is at hand. There is a value-added benefit of having a proactive leader that you may not know about though. a proactive leader deals with problems and issues as soon as he becomes aware of them. It is part of his do today's business today approach to everything. It also makes it easier for him to have an organized mind. The less there is to keep track of, the easier it is to keep it organized.

You know about how hectic things are the day after vacation. Stuff has not gotten done and work is backed up. Did you know there are people whose days are like that all the time? Sure, it may be due to having impossible jobs where they are always behind. That is a different matter they need to deal with. More typically though, the problem is caused by not doing today's business today, even though the opportunity is there to do it. They do the routine things but set the more difficult or unpleasant tasks aside. They want to think about it, will get back to it later, or do not feel like they have enough information.

a proactive leader has learned most all of these tasks are five-minutes-or-less activities and require a decision or response to a problem or issue. His rule here is simple.

First, delegate. Pass the problem or issue along to the person who has the needed information and the responsibility for the outcome. Please take care of this. Let me know by next Tuesday how you handled it.

Second, if you cannot delegate, the rule is handle it, now. Make the best decision you can, based on what you know right now. Trust your experience, your instincts, your well-tested judgment.

Third, if you cannot delegate and are not prepared to act, the rule is to trash it. A lot of unnecessary work is appropriately avoided by this simple step.

Less than 5% of the non-routine tasks outlive the previous three rules. This is at least much more manageable. a proactive leader's rule for this 5% is this.

If you cannot finish it today, assign someone to work on it with you. That person is responsible for developing a completion schedule, getting the needed information together, and bringing a recommendation to you.

When the recommendation comes back, start with the first rule and run the steps again. The most likely outcome is that you accept the recommendation and delegate the task to the person who has been working on the problem or issue. However you handle it, today's business has been done today.

I have been thinking about doing this episode of PPOV for a while now. The problem was that I seemed to be all thought and no talk. To get past that stuck place, I opened the mike and got started. The start was a little rough but it picked up as I got into talking about what I had just been thinking about.

 

I had been thinking about tariffs and all of the hoopla they seem to be generating recently. The main generator seems to be President Trump. I also notice that everyone I listen to seems to either be a cheerleader or a critic. The problem I am having is that I hear no shortage of opinion but very little in terms of supporting facts either way.

 

That’s what I focus on in this episode of PPOV. Have a listen and see if it rings any bells for you.

Drucker, Peter with Jim Collins. The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization. Third Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008.

Planning is frequently misunderstood as making future decisions, but decisions exist only in the present. You must have overarching goals that add up to a vision for the future, but the immediate question that faces the organization is not what to do tomorrow. The question is, What must we do today to achieve results? Planning is not an event. It is the continuous process of strengthening what works and abandoning what does not, of making risk-taking decisions with the greatest knowledge of their potential effect, of setting objectives, appraising performance and results through systematic feedback, and making ongoing adjustments as conditions change.

Another reason to encourage dissent is that any organization needs its nonconformist. This is not the kind of person who says, "There is a right way and a wrong way-- and our way." Rather, he or she asks, "What is the right way for the future?' and is ready to change. Finally, open discussion uncovers what the objections are. With genuine participation, a decision doesn't need to be sold. Suggestions can be incorporated, objections addressed, and the decision itself becomes a commitment to action. …

What is our mission? Such a simple question-- but it goes right to the heart of the fundamental tension in any great institution: the dynamic interplay between continuity and change. Every truly great organization demonstrates the characteristic of preserve the core, yet stimulate progress. On the one hand, it is guided by a set of core values and fundamental purpose-- a core mission that changes little or not at all over time; and, on the other hand, it stimulates progress: change, improvement, innovation, renewal. The core mission remains fixed while operating practices, cultural norms, strategies, tactics, processes, structures, and methods continually change in response to changing realities. Indeed, the great paradox of change is that the organizations that best adapt to a changing world first and foremost know what should not change; they have a fixed anchor of guiding principles around which they can more easily change everything else.

Customers are never static. There will be greater or lesser numbers in the groups you already serve. They will become more diverse. Their needs, wants, and aspirations will evolve. There may be entirely new customers you must satisfy to achieve results-- individuals who really need the service, want the service, but not in the way in which it is available today. And there are customers you should stop serving because the organization has filled a need, because people can be better served elsewhere, or because you are not producing results.

Need alone does not justify continuing. Nor does tradition. You must match your mission, your concentration, and your results. Like the New Testament parable of the talents, your job is to invest your resources where the returns are manifold, where you can have success.

Objectives are the specific and measurable levels of achievement that move the organization toward its goals. The chief executive officer is responsible for development of objectives and action steps and detailed budgets that follow. The board must not act at the level of tactical planning, or it interferes with management's vital ability to be flexible in how goals are achieved. When developing and implementing a plan, the board is accountable for mission, goals, and the allocation of resources to results, and for appraising progress and achievement. Management is accountable for objectives, for action steps, for the supporting budget, as well as for demonstrating effective performance.

When you have strong performance is the very time to ask,

Some children are more likely to exhibit this sign of relationship problems than others. For example, if a child has changed neighborhoods and schools, difficulty making and keeping friends is more likely; or if his life-experiences have not taught him good interpersonal and relationship skills, having the problem is nearly inevitable. A child who has low self-esteem and deals less well with the give-and-take of friends and the social scene likely have this problem to some degree.

Most children move out from a solid base at home into other relationships, enabling them to try many relationships while always having those at home. Children who do not have this solid base will certainly have this problem. Because of this, relationships they do find are more important to them. For example, they can easily become too possessive and smother the other person; or they may try too hard to please and to be part of the group, making them very vulnerable to mistreatment and exploitation.

Your child needs to be taught about friends and relationships. Approach your teaching task like this. "Getting a friend starts by hanging around with people who are like you want to be. Pick people who seem to value what you value. Next, talk and join in without being pushy. After a while, you'll notice you talk more with some of them than others. There'll be two or three you talk with the most. You and they are becoming friends. There're also some ways to keep friends and ways that turn them off. We can talk about that as time goes on." By talking to him like this, you are modeling an example of friendly behavior and are teaching him relationship skills. It is a slow but rewarding process. …

Be sure you also make a point to include him in family activities, at church, in the neighborhood, or in community organizations. This gives him a chance to see other healthy families and to make friends. Although child-only activities may be too stressful for him at first, family activities are safe and provide good opportunities to observe, coach, and support him.

De Pree, Max. Leadership Is an Art. New York: Currency, 2004.

One of the particular skills that leaders are required to exemplify in practice is the indispensable knack for building and nurturing relationships.

Authentic leaders see it as part of their calling to guide a group or organization in designing the kind of community they intend to become.

…the art of leadership: liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible.

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor. That sums up the progress of an artful leader.

The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?

Leadership is much more an art, a belief, a condition of the heart, than a set of things to do.

Who should be on the Leadership Team and what qualifies them for the role?

Not everyone on the agency staff or Board is a good candidate for membership on the Leadership Team, although most people think they would make effective Team members. For this reason, Team members are specifically recruited and not added on a volunteer basis. People are invited to join the Team, not simply asked to sign up.

Below is a series of questions to use when screening potential Team members. As we decide who to recruit, keep in mind we are not recruiting sales people or cheerleaders. We are recruiting people who can establish meaningful, stable connections with stakeholders and who can sustain those connections over the long term. Sales people and agency cheerleaders may meet these requirements, but their success with sales or cheerleading does not necessarily mean they would be successful Leadership Team members. Similarly, a person's position from the Management Perspective does not mean he or she would necessarily be an effective Leadership Team member. Successful leadership connections require a specific set of skills not distributed equally among those associated with the agency. Here are the questions, with comments about each. …

Is he or she culturally competent? "Cultural Competence is the capacity to respond appropriately to the various cultural environments in which we may participate, enabling us to strengthen our relationships and accomplish our mutual purposes. Cultural competence is both a value and an essential set of skills in our mobile, fluid society." Homan, 2008, page 14

Does he treat people the way we want agency stakeholders to be treated? Agency staff members treat clients and stakeholders about as well or as badly as they treat each other. Attention should be given to all of the potential Team member's relationships with other staff. Even if all but one or two of those relationships are fine, attend closely to the one or two that are not. A good Team member has effective, acceptable relationships with everyone associated with the agency. For any potential Team member, use his or her worst relationships as the reference point. If this is how he relates with stakeholders, is it acceptable? If not, he is not a good candidate for Team membership.

Is he consistent from relationship to relationship and situation to situation? Good Team members are consistent. Their behavior, attitudes, demeanor, and self-presentation change little from person to person, from situation to situation. They do not run hot and cold, on again off again. They are predictably themselves most anywhere we encounter them.

Is he friendly and interested in people? This does not mean all Team members are outgoing and extraverted. However, it does mean Team members are comfortable meeting new people and in being in new or somewhat novel situations. Also, they enjoy getting to know people and learning about their experiences and interests.

Does he take his good manners along everywhere he goes? This is not a minor point. There is never a good excuse for bad manners and behaving rudely, inappropriately, or insensitively are guaranteed ways to offend or otherwise alienate stakeholders. Effective Team members exhibit their good manners with everyone, every time, wherever they are. If a potential Team member exhibits bad manners or inappropriate behavior with anyone, anywhere, assume they will probably behave similarly with stakeholders, sooner or later. This is a risk not to be taken.

Is he helpful and cooperative? This too is not trivial. An important element of a leadership connection is the Team member's being seen by the stakeholder as helpful and cooperative. A goal of the connection is to support the stakeholder's success specifically as it relates to agency success but more generally as it relates to the stakeholder's interests and pe...

Welcome back audio tidbits podcast listeners. Tessa has tried to resist the temptation to torment our intrepid hunters but has finally given in. It is just too much fun for her. They think they are back in the jungle and the Great Mouse hunt is on again. Please join Tessa and the hunters.

Covey, Stephen M. R., Greg Link, with Rebecca R. Merrill. Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy and Joy in a Low Trust World. New York: Free Press, 2012.

… people innately know that the benefits of high-trust relationships, teams, and organizations are incomparably more productive and satisfying.

This is how we each can become part of the renaissance of trust. … We can choose to believe in trust. … We can start with ourselves. … We can declare our intent and assume positive intent in others. … We can do what we say we're going to do. … We can lead out in extending Smart Trust to others.

Welcome to the first episode of PPOV: a podcast where Personal Point Of View matters, at least it matters to you and me.

 

In this initial episode, I discuss the plans for the podcast. My plan is to discuss current events, ideas and concepts, and other notions on which most of us have a personal point of view. Usually this aligns with the popular point of view but sometimes does not.

 

I like to think about events, ideas, and popular points of view and wonder what it might mean if our ideas, opinions and the popular point of view were wrong. Are there other ways of understanding and thinking about the world around us?

 

In this episode, I use Roseanne’s getting fired as an example of the approach of the PPOV podcast. Was there a better way of responding to what even Roseanne agrees was a terrible lack of judgment on her part? I think there may have been.

 

I hope you enjoy this episode and that you choose to join me for future editions of PPOV. Please subscribe and share the podcast with a friend you think may enjoy my rather offbeat way of thinking about things.

Your child persistently feels very unhappy about his or her physical and sexual development:

Low self-esteem starts with worrying and fretting about failing. It grows into giving up quickly. This leads to shutting down and not trying. If parental or other adult reactions are too harsh, your child goes through the motions for fear of even harsher consequences. He or she simply plays the game. This is a very sad way for him/her to think and feel about success, achievement, and interpersonal participation. Nonetheless, low self-esteem can get still worse for your child. …

Your youngster feels incompetent and may have a low physical-sexual self-image as well. Most children have some uncertainty about themselves physically and sexually; but children with self-esteem problems have these thoughts persistently and feel them strongly. They think they cannot succeed, cannot achieve, and they are not accepted socially. They also may think they are not made right or well enough.

This poor self-image has nothing to do with how the young person actually looks or is developing. Your child believes it, no matter what the facts are or what other people tell him.

Resist trying to convince him his perceptions and feelings are wrong. That only strengthens his belief you do not understand. You can say, "I feel badly you think about yourself in such negative ways. You're a normal person and are fine physically and sexually. I know you doubt that even though it is true. I want to hear what you think and feel about it; but I'm not going to argue. You have a right to your feelings. Will you tell me how it feels to you?"