I’ve been asked versions of this question, and this direct question, many times. Other than employee engagement I don’t think another topic dominates leadership conversations. But they’re very related. When employees are disengaged, culture isn’t going to be highly productive. Not for long.

Let’s begin with the fact that culture can be broken and it can also be fixed. And we must acknowledge that no matter what you do as a leader or business owner, a culture exists in your organization. I sort of approach this the way I do those stories our people create. We can give people an accurate, truthful story or they can write their own. Leaders can create a better, more accurate picture so why leave it to chance. Ditto on cultures. Leaders should be busy creating and fostering the most productive, high performing culture possible.

I’d love to give you some standard “I know this will work” kind of an answer, but I can’t. Without knowing the context of HOW a culture is broken or what a person means by “broken” – it’s impossible.

I once knew a CEO who was a lifelong autocrat. An autocrat is defined as a ruler who has absolute power or someone who insists on complete obedience from others. Autocrats are domineering control freaks. It’s all about them. Well, this particular autocratic CEO didn’t like the culture of his company in the least. He felt it was broken because people didn’t always do exactly what he wanted when he wanted or in the way he wanted. Sometimes they actually made decisions without him. How dare they? Talk about a bunch of hellions. Can you imagine employees who actually made decisions on their own?

Today let’s talk about the things that can ruin higher human performance inside your organization. These aren’t in any particular order. And it’s only a few things to get you focused on what may be hindering your organization from reaching new levels of higher performance. As leaders, it’s highly likely we could keep adding to the list all our lives. These are the constraints to high-level employee engagement.

Let’s start with selfishness or people who seek their own attention at the expense of the team or company.

As the leader, YOU should be concerned with the individual and what they most want. It’s important for you to figure out what your individual employees want, then serve them by helping them achieve it. Yes, you’ll want to foster their highest performance, which means you’ll do what you can to help them achieve what they want in the context of the organization. And if you can’t, then you’ll help them find success elsewhere. It’s the only way you can properly lead growth!

When individual people put themselves first, ahead of their teammates or the organizational objectives, then you’ve got selfishness. And that’s unacceptable. A culture like that will result in disengaged employees who seeking only their self-interests. Admittedly, it’s easier for that culture to exist where leadership doesn’t know or care what the individual employees want or need. That’s another reason why your leadership has to be scaled at the individual level. When leadership demonstrates genuine care and concern for people, they have no reason to be selfish. You can’t tolerate it.

Ineffective, unclear or ambiguous communication can ruin success.

Go back and listen to the prior episodes this week if you’ve not done that because I’ve already spent some time talking about how important it is for you to provide congruency. This particular constraint is often at the heart of that problem. Employees and team members have to understand and be in on what’s real. The truth matters.

More than anything this problem, which exists in too many organizations, fosters doubt, fear, anxiety, and wonder. And it’s not the kind of wonder that’s productive. It’s people who wonder what bad thing may be going on that they don’t see, or aren’t being told about.

You think you’re being clear. You think people understand. The problem are your blind spots. Sometimes your blind spots exist because you know more than the team. Those hidden facts or feelings provide context for you that they lack. This is why feedback – honest, truthful feedback – is critical. It’s also why you may not be able to merely ask, “Do you understand?”

When people leave the meeting and are busy talking among themselves trying to figure out what was just said, or what is really going on, then you’ve got a problem. That scenario is played out millions of time every single hour across the planet. Some leader stands in front of a small or large group, says what she feels she must say. Gives whatever directives she wants. Everybody nods knowingly, then the meeting ends and nobody has a real clue what was said, how it impacts them, or what they’re now supposed to do.

Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean you’re a clear communicator. You can learn it though. First, I suspect many leaders need to better understand their failings. Next, they need to learn how to improve. We’ll talk more about that later. For now, just make sure you’re shouldering the responsibility to be understood. And make sure what you say matches with what you do.

Yesterday we left off talking about congruency. It’s a very important topic because it’s a major disruptor of employee engagement. The story we tell ourselves – and the stories your employee are telling themselves – focus on trying to find agreement or congruency between what is said and what is done. It has a direct and monumental impact on people trying to figure out where they fit. Or how they fit.

You hear me constantly say, “You’ll figure it out.” I’m here to help you do that. My work – all my work – is focused on helping business owners, CEOs and leaders figure it out. I’m not here to tell you what to do or how to do it, I’m here to help YOU figure those things out for yourself. And to help you do it more quickly so you can accelerate your learning, understanding and growth.

So it goes with your employees. They’re working to figure things out, too. Mostly, they’re working to figure out how they fit, how they make a difference and some way to find positive meaning in being there. It’s congruency.

In a word, congruency is all about agreement. When you say one thing and do something different, something contrary to what you say, then congruency or agreement doesn’t exist. That creates tension and turmoil. Negative chaos.

People try to resolve it. They’re trying to make sense of it, to figure it out.

Today let’s focus on two things: communication and action.

That about covers it all, right?

I know of no leadership topic more popular than “employee engagement.” Across every sector leaders give some focus or lip service to it.

Organizations spend extraordinary amounts of money attempting to accurately measure employee engagement. Mostly, I see folks spend stupid money on finding out how engaged (or disengaged) employees are, then play darts trying to figure out if they can improve it. As I’ve watched this, especially for the last 10 years, I’ve been fascinated to see companies neglect doing things, but get very focused on measuring it. Employee engagement isn’t a number. It’s a real thing. A true emotion. A feeling. A way of thinking.

Let’s talk about PEOPLE because that’s the topic. Engaged people. High performing people.

Little Johnny is engaged, but he’s engaged while sitting in the basement eating Doritos and playing Fortnite. Maybe he’s a high performing Fortnite player. It’s not what we’re pursuing as leaders.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” in Psychological Review. He subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of innate curiosity. There are numerous problems with Maslow’s work and you can research those on your own if you care enough, but I’m using this as a starting place because it’s such a widely used model and many people are somewhat familiar with it. Plus, it does provide one big value – it focuses leaders on what people need. Your leadership may need to be refocused where it most belongs – on the people you’re attempting to lead. Great leaders don’t focus on themselves, except in the context of how they can serve the people they lead.

Changes to the original five-stage model included a modified seven-stage and an eight-stage model developed during the 1960’s and 1970s.

1. Biological and physiological needs- air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs- protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, etc.

3. Love and belongingness needs- friendship, intimacy, trust, and acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love. Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work).

4. Esteem needs- which Maslow classified into two categories: (a) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and (b) the desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige).

5. Cognitive needs- knowledge and understanding, curiosity, exploration, need for meaning and predictability.

6. Aesthetic needs- appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-actualization needs- realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

8. Transcendence needs- A person is motivated by values which transcend beyond the personal self (e.g., mystical experiences and certain experiences with nature, aesthetic experiences, sexual experiences, service to others, the pursuit of science, religious faith, etc.).

I tend to boil all this down into a more simple, straightforward approach.

What story are people telling themselves?

This question (and the answers) reveals the important things that directly impact employee engagement. It addresses the issue we all wrestle with. Where do I fit? How free am I? How flexible is my time? What’s my purpose? What’s my mission?  What do I most want to accomplish? Why?

It’s not just a self-centered engagement question. It includes others and the organization as a whole because the story we tell ourselves isn’t told in a v...

Thanks to all the listeners who emailed me their biggest leadership challenge. Quite a few sent me stories of dealing with change and helping their team members deal with it. So today, let’s mull this over.

The big component with dealing with change is TIME. It gives us binary options – we can deal with it gradually or suddenly. That’s also the nature of change. It happens suddenly, or gradually. The change may or may not dictate how we deal with it though.

Some changes may be best handled gradually. It can often be valuable to make the changes so subtle – so gradual – that people don’t even notice. Or they barely notice.

Some of the listener feedback I got was from leaders who wanted to make the changes happen more quickly. They expressed frustration in not being able to “get” their people to follow their lead more quickly.

Growth and transformation can take time. First, I’d suggest you consider the growth and transformation you’ve experienced in your life. Think soberly about it. Was it mostly sudden, or did it take some time? It likely took some time. You had to process things and make up your mind, then take meaningful action long enough for those actions to become a habit. Such things rarely happen suddenly.

Organizations can more easily accept some change when it’s introduced in smaller steps. It’s less disruptive to their current state. It doesn’t turn their world upside down, but inside makes subtle shifts along the way. Even when people perceive the shifts, they may be more open to accepting it when it has a minimal impact on their daily lives.

Not all changes work this way though. When the changes may be necessary, but unpopular or not fully understood this method may be ideal. Or when the changes may not be as critical to time.

Things like culture shifts take time. Employee engagement does, too. These are typically changes that demand a gradual approach. It’s like weight loss. You didn’t get fat overnight. You’re not going to get slim overnight either. It may be wise to temper your speed approach.

You’re driving down a road at 45 miles an hour. You’ve never been on this road before, but you notice a sign that shows a sharp almost 90-degree curve ahead. It comes up on you quickly and your speed is too high. You frantically hit the brakes to get your speed down. If you don’t slow down you’re liable to end up in the ditch.

Some challenges are like that, but most big changes – big improvements and growth initiatives – are not. They’re more akin to a slow, sweeping curve where the steering wheel doesn’t even appear to be moving, but you’re making a dramatic turn. It’s just that the curve is so long it’s almost imperceptible.

Your job as a leader is to determine if this change that you’re desiring is best handled slowly, gradually, or if it demands speed.

Sometimes you don’t have time to slow down. Speed is required.

It’s possible for things to demand speed, and that speed may create chaos that is unavoidable. Many companies operate comfortably one day but are turned upside down overnight.

Here in Dallas, last year the Dallas Mavericks NBA team experienced such upheaval. Turns out their top sales guy was behaving poorly toward the females in the organization. The press was blowing up. Suddenly, Mark Cuban, the owner had his hands full. Change was required immediately. It involved firing some top level people and Cuban hiring a new CEO of the business end of things. The behavior was so bad Cuban had no choice. This wasn’t an issue that afforded him to take things slowly and more deliberately.

If you haven’t yet emailed me your biggest leadership challenge, then do it right now. Just email me at RandyCantrell [at] gmail [dot] com. It’ll be anonymous. It’ll help me deliver more valuable content, especially this week while we’re focusing on leadership.

Let’s begin the week focused on how we think. Our leadership begins in our head. With what we believe. Specifically with what we believe about our business and how our business will go to market. In short, it begins with how we think about our organization’s place in the market.

Great leaders see the future first.

I’ve talked before about this book by Carolyn Corbin, circa 2000. Haven’t I? I think I have. I’ll credit that book with what may be my first encounter with that truth.

Carolyn’s opening sentence to the book happens to also be the entire first paragraph of the book.

“Leaders determine whether an organization succeeds or fails.”

It’s a strong statement. Another truth.

Carolyn was involved in research with IBM consulting. It’s easy to dismiss older books as being culturally irrelevant, but it’s a foolish dismissal. People are people. Our behaviors may change over time due to the influences of culture and society, but humans and leadership are predictably the same. We want the same things we’ve always wanted. Purpose, meaning, fulfillment. We want to be as engaged as possible in something meaningful. We want success and victory. We want to feed our families, provide some degree of security for today and for a hopeful tomorrow. We want to soar today and we’d like the opportunity to soar even higher tomorrow.

Leadership impacts every endeavor. Profit. Non-profit. Public. Private. Religious. Commercial. Creative. Sport. Industry. Family. Classroom.

Read older books on management and you’ll likely have a valid point if you dismiss some of them as being culturally irrelevant. That’s because the nature of work has changed very much over time. We manage the work. We lead people. So I’m willing to concede that old management tomes may have limited application in today’s world. But great leadership is fairly timeless.

What do you believe to be true?

This is going to be an exercise that requires you to make a commitment to learning, understanding and growing your leadership (LUG). If you’re unwilling to do that, then your leadership is stuck. You’ll find every excuse to avoid putting in this work. You’ll minimize the positive impact it can have on your leadership, which means you’ll be saying you disagree with Carolyn’s opening line of her book. “Leaders determine whether an organization succeeds or fails.”

The paradox is that leaders who do that tend to overly stress their own importance as leaders, yet they put in the least amount of work to grow as leaders. The very best leaders never stop working on it. They understand that their beliefs fuel their leadership so they carefully inventory how they see the world, what they believe and why. They foster constant curiosity to question themselves, not in some second-guessing way, but in a way to make sure they’re seeing things accurately. Clearly. Such inner debate requires a strength of character, and comfort with oneself, that most don’t have. That’s among the many reasons why great leaders are rare. Too few are fully committed to the quest.

Tactics don’t last. Strategies don’t either. Character does.

That’s why I’m starting with beliefs. A leader with questionable character can try to dep...

Powerful Leadership: How To Unleash The Potential In Others And Simplify Your Own Life was published in 2002. It was written by two professors of the business school at BYU. Early in the book, there’s a little section subtitled, “Managers Have Huge Blind Spots.” The authors write…

“One of the most distressing patterns in modern organizations is the apparent and long-standing view that managers fail to recognize that employees are human beings who may be suffering at their hands.”

Among the many blind-spot generators is forgetfulness. People promoted to leadership positions, or those who assume that role because they own the place, forget how important they felt it was to be heard. Or how important it was – and is – to have freedom.

Leaders incorrectly think their power and effectiveness is based on their ability to control. They work hard to control the work, the output. They work hard to control the people doing the work. They impose themselves on the employees and the work robbing people of their individuality, freedom, and flexibility. The result? Employees watch the clock, staring off into space, spending screen time with their phones and having low expectations to be engaged in their workday. Mostly, they may be driven to stay out of trouble by staying out of sight.

As we prep for some conversations next week on leadership I figured it may be wise to end this week by talking about our first mandate as leaders – to do no harm. Can we at least agree we should limit the damage or harm we do?

I know we want to find out how we can be leadership superheroes, but before we can take positive actions we first must stop the damage. Let me just give you 3 things to ponder as we prepare for deeper leadership discussions next week.

Step 1: Realize you’re doing some harm. 

You’re doing some harm. It goes with the role, but that doesn’t mean you should blindly accept it as a necessary evil.

Let’s define harm. Harm is simply inflicting some degree of suffering to the people you lead. You’re not going to get it right 100% of the time.

Too many leaders refuse to accept responsibility for the harm they do. Some just don’t recognize it’s happening at their hands. Others may not care.

The very best leaders embrace and crave responsibility and accountability. They accept the fact that they influence people. They face the reality that in spite of their best intentions, they can sometimes hurt people.

The big blind spot for leaders is to assume leadership makes them impervious to mistakes, errors in judgment, bad behavior or any other source of harm caused to people and the organization.

NOTE: Don’t be confused about harm. Conflict and correction aren’t harmful if done well, with honest intentions. The employee who is doing poor work must be corrected. To sit down and confront the poor performance isn’t causing harm to that employee. Refusing to do that IS. Allow the person’s poor performance to persist and eventually cost them their job – that’s harmful. Check your perspective.

Step 2: Be human. Remain human.

No matter how you came to be in charge, commit to remembering. This will vary depending on the length of your career and the depth of your experience.

I’ve spent decades operating businesses and leading organizations. I’ve got lots of memories. Many memories of colossal failure in leading. Many memories of miserable bosses I had early in my career. A few memories of great bosses I had. These all serve to help me today. Mostly, they remind me how much life has changed and how my humanity has not remained static.

Dr. Diane Hamilton has a new book coming out, Cracking The Curiosity Code.

“Curiosity is important in all aspects of our lives because it opens us up to our desire to experience things. As we become more curious, we find things that make us happy, energize us, and create new opportunities and experiences at home and at work.”     – Dr. Diane Hamilton

My friend Leo Bottary and I recorded a conversation last year with Diane about the power of curiosity. It is THE thing that can fuel our desire for growth, innovation, and creativity.

Curiosity has many enemies. Chief among them may be ego and pride. So many entrepreneurs are busy posing and fronting, hoping the rest of us think they’re all that and more. What with so many people tossing around the monikers “thought leader,” or “expert.” Self-appointed titles intended to impress depict the person likely unable to foster creativity because of their own self-importance. Smartest guy in the room syndrome and all that.

As I’ve worked with leaders over the last decade it’s become obvious to me that the most effective leaders just don’t roll that way. Instead, they’re often quick to point out the people on their team who they feel are critical to the organization’s success. Most often they naturally give credit to people they genuinely feel are doing what they often call “the real work.”

Additionally, these top-notch leaders pride themselves on finding, hiring and retaining people smarter than they perceive themselves to be. But there’s a reason behind it. They’re curious to know more. To know what they don’t yet know. To learn from others.

The curiosity that killed the cat could have been anything. Seeing a dangling electrical cord, unaware of the danger. Chasing a bird across a busy street, oblivious of the oncoming car. The curiosity of the cat isn’t likely driven by the quest to learn or grow, but rather for a more self-indulgent reason. To get what the cat wants. To serve self.

Entrepreneurs bent toward finding success and figuring it out are compelled by something more lasting. Something more powerful.

Learning. Understanding. Growth. 

LUG. Why not, right? You’ll remember it.

Victory as an entrepreneur requires high doses of LUG. And it takes time to accomplish. It’s not for the faint of heart or the impatient.

I realize every entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur wants the easy 30-day version of victory. We’d love to find the Rosetta Stone of business building. The key to unlocking the hidden fast secrets that can help us.

Truth is, learning takes time. Understanding, too. And growth? Well, growth, once we have learning and understanding, is hard because it involves doing something with what we’ve learned and what we now understand. That’s why curiosity is so crucial. Without it, you’ll stop. You’ll quit. You’ll think, “I’ve got this.” Or, “I know enough. No need to know more.”

It’s like saying, “Okay, I’ve lived long enough. I’m done!” (which I hope you’re not saying to yourself; if so, I’d urge you to talk to somebody right now because you’re not thinking clearly enough)

Curiosity isn’t some rampant discontentment. Rather, it’s an ongoing quest for its own sake. LUG is the process and the result. Like the mountain the mountaineer, you do it because you can.

Gender. Age. Geography. Education. There are so many variables that make us who we are, and how we view the world (and our place in it). This isn’t about figuring out if one way is right and another wrong. Culture is too busy doing that nasty work. No, this is about leveraging the power of perspective by understanding the power in our differences.

Safety In The Space

Nastiness is the order of the day because there are no safe spaces. Where do you feel safe to say exactly what you want? Where do you feel safe to express exactly how you feel?

Spaces aren’t safe because people aren’t listening. They’re not paying attention to anything other than headlines, which are mostly click-bait and often bold lies designed to deceive. Culture is fueled by our collective desire to spew venom from our mobile or computer keyboard. Anonymously.

Spaces aren’t safe because people aren’t open to understanding. It’s not so much a matter of being open to being converted to another point-of-view, it’s being open to just understand another point-of-view. Mostly, we don’t even care why people think or feel the way they do. We’re looking to render judgment in a nanosecond.

None of this is profitable in helping us grow and expand our business.

None of this is helpful as we pursue our own leadership growth.

None of this makes our lives better!

Understanding A Different Viewpoint Can Help Me

It’s not about changing your mind. This isn’t about converting you from one position to a different position.

It’s about expanding your mind so you can learn to understand how others can see things in a different way. Honestly, it’s about value to YOU.

Sure, it’s respectful and that’s helpful, but that’s not really the reason I’d urge you to consider surrounding yourself with people different from you. It’s because they will bring you the most value, provided the space is safe.

Let me paint a picture that’s unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.

You’re sitting with other entrepreneurs. There are men, women, young, old, grizzled veterans, newbies, northerners, southerners, easterners, westerners, highly educated, barely educated…it’s a very diverse group of people. Yet, in spite of all these differences, it’s a judgment-free zone. Nobody is allowed to be disrespectful or to express judgment by being combative. Everybody is free to fully express themselves. But everybody is also free to ask questions, but the questions must be aimed at trying to better understand. Not to fight, or argue, but to really understand what the person is saying. To make sure everybody gets it correctly.

That alone is expansive because it’s ridiculously unique. Such places don’t ordinarily exist.

For starters, we don’t organically find ourselves in such groups. Mostly, we find ourselves surrounded by people just like us. People who think like us, feel like us and agree with us. It’s comfortable. Often fun. It’s just not always profitable because we’re rarely pushed or challenged in positive ways by such groups. We’re there because it feels right, not because it’s profitable.

Additionally, we’re organically in such groups because it’s safe to express thoughts and feelings we know are shared by the group. We know nobody is going to disagree so we’re free to say whatever we please. It’s doesn’t provide us any opportunity to justify or explain how we feel or what we think though. Because nobody asks. They just nod in agreement. Lost is the debate that can foster growth or creativity or innovation.

Kindness.

Here’s the thing about aiming higher. It’s always time. Why not? And why not now?

Over the holidays I was watching the grandkids running on a Florida beach while I was reading and listening to the waves. It dawned on me that I needed to aim higher. The question I asked myself was, “Why not?”

With those waves crashing in the background I worked on answering that question as I sat alone, a safe distance from the noise of beach play.

Why not?

I played through all the usual excuses. Being realistic. Being practical. Trying to avoid delusion. And wrestling with the ever-present question, “Who do you think you are?”

After some minutes I had to admit I was without excuse to aim higher. Not to dream bigger, or wish harder. Those aren’t nearly responsible enough to suit me. They’re too passive to boot. They seem too vague. Aiming has a sense of application. More purpose and intention than merely dreaming or wishing. It also seems much more practical to me. Taking aim means it’s up to me because I’m the one doing the aiming. It also signifies that I’m only likely to hit whatever I’m aiming at. Sure, I may miss it. But I may hit it. It sure beats some willy-nilly shooting from the hip hoping you hit something. I’d much rather pretend to be a sniper taking careful aim at a target of my choosing.

Over the holidays I watched for the umpteenth time that episode of Parks & Rec where the group when hunting and Ron got shot in the back of the head. Somebody commented about people who may present a threat to the group with the admonition, “Shoot above their head.” Tom, hollered out how he was planning to shot below their head. It always makes me laugh. It also made me think of the value of aiming higher. It’s all in where you aim, right?

Late last year I begin to stir up some interest in forming just one (possibly two) professional peer groups aimed at serving small business owners. I define small not by the employee headcount or the annual revenue, but mostly by the flatness of the organization. Namely, how close ownership is with the work. I’m mostly interested in working with small business owners who are close enough to the work to impact it. Owners committed to making a meaningful difference for their employees and customers.

That’s still the aim, but now I’m aiming higher. I want to build this first group, but I’ve reconsidered what I thought I wanted. I figured two groups would be great, allowing me to deliver high service (and a life-changing experience) for 14 small business owners. There on the beach, I started thinking about that number. Fourteen. Why do you want to limit it to 14? Again, I had no good answer. Why not more? No good answer to that either.

I started thinking of my coaching practice and what I most wanted to do. The answer was always the same – positively impact as many lives of small business owners as possible. Fourteen owners represent lots of other people. They each will have employees, customers, suppliers and other partners. Each of these will have families impacted by the owners’ business. That’s multiple ripples in the ocean of influence. A big impact.

What if I double it? I asked. That’d be 28 owners, four groups.

What if I double it again? I asked. That’d be 56, eight groups.

Why can’t you do that? I asked. As with all the other question, I didn’t have a good answer against it. Rather, there was every answer to go for it. That’s when the aiming higher demon spoke up.

What if you fail?

I looked out over the ocean, taking in scenes not common to my everyday life in north central Texas.