It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
Greetings to you!
Each week I send out a short leadership blog that's called "Tuesday at 2:00pm". The purpose of this is simply to provide a brief thought on leadership that you can read and think about in just a few minutes. I send it out every week at 2:00pm (PST) and encourage you to make an appointment with yourself to pause and think about the thing I'm writing about.
Russ...
LEADERSHIP QUOTE:
"If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time." Patrick Lencioni
What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.
A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:
I led a short workshop for a local non-profit team this week, so I spent some time revisiting a workshop I've shared over the years from one of my favorite Patrick Lencioni books, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
I remember the first time I read this book back in 2002 and I immediately tried to put it's principles into play in the organization I was running at the time as well as 2 Boards I was serving with and leading.
Lencioni talks about 5 things that high functioning teams have to address and it was so practical, it immediately made a difference in the way I was leading. Of course, it's taken another 25 years of practice, failure and then trying again, but I can honestly say that this book had a huge impact on my personal leadership and on every organization I've been a part of since.
This month, I'm just going to share some thoughts from this book, but I encourage you: If you haven't read it, GET IT AND READ IT. If you have read it, PICK IT UP AGAIN AND REFRESH. If it's sitting on your shelf and you flipped through a couple of pages, I challenge you to STOP AND READ IT.
Lencioni builds his entire model on a foundation of TRUST. He talks about how important it is to build trust but then to maintain trust over time.
He talks about the quickest way to build trust being VULNERABILITY. He actually wrote a book that he titled, GETTING NAKED (which got a lot of attention), but the entire book is about the importance of vulnerability in leadership.
In this book, Lencioni identifies 3 reasons why people in leadership aren't vulnerable and real:
First, THE LEADER FEARS LOSING BUSINESS. We're afraid that if we show our real selves, they won't like what they see and they'll go someplace else. We live with this constant fear.
Second, THE LEADER FEARS BEING EMBARRASSED. We worry about what people think so we want to project something that is often not what is real! We don't want people to see any weakness in us!
Thirst, THE LEADER FEARS FEELING INFERIOR. We are the leader and we like it when our team puts us up on a pedestal to some degree. Humbling ourselves might make us look less qualified.
We buy into these lies, and Lencioni argues that the opposite is usually true.
When we show our true selves, people are drawn to us.
When we show our weaknesses, we become much more relatable.
When we're not afraid of being embarrassed, we take more risks and often show more of our true leadership.
Which one of these three is something you have dealt with as a leader?
DEEPER STILL:
I've shared this story before, but years ago, a new friend traveled from Manila to visit me and the organization I was running in Ecuador. He had been sent to see the impact of a healthy team and a high impact team.
When he arrived, I spent a few days basically showing him all the great things me and our team were involved in. I showed him the great programs, the great people, the impact, the results, the success. We weren't perfect, but at the time there was a lot of momentum and really good things happening, so I focused on those things.
The last night of our time together, as we were sharing a final dinner and we were revisiting all that he had seen over the days with our team, I had a moment of vulnerability. I'm not sure what compelled me to go this way, but instead of talking about all the great things, I chose to share some personal struggles, some things I was dealing with both as a leader and as a husband and as a father. We spent most of the final evening together in a deep conversation that I would classify as a "vulnerable moment".
The next morning, as I drove him to the airport I asked him what was the most significant thing he had seen during the entire trip, and he shared simply, "Our dinner last night was the most powerful time." He went on to explain that for much of our time together he couldn't relate to all of the things we were doing, the size of our team, our budget, the momentum we were experiencing, but as we shared that final meal, he realized that I was a leader who had struggles like him, who wasn't perfect, who had issues to deal with. He said in that conversation he felt encouraged, he felt hopeful and he was going back to the Philippines with a renewed vision for his own leadership and for his team.
I remember driving home after dropping him off and realizing the power of simply BEING REAL.
I'm happy to say that Joshua and I have built a long-term friendship based on that shared experience, and we've had the privilege to share life, do life, and to continue to encourage each other as leaders, not because we're perfect, but because we're not. We need each other!
As I think about my own journey, I am blessed by the number of people who have led with vulnerability in front of me. Their willingness to be honest, to show their pain and their weaknesses, and to share their journey has encouraged me to not only do the same, but to embrace vulnerability.
How have you seen vulnerability build trust in a team you're a part of or in your own leadership relationships?
Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:
Patrick Lencion Books: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team & Getting Naked
I'm re-reading this book by Chip & Dan Heath, The Power of Moments. Really great reminders on creating "experience" that matters.
OK... Gina got me completely addicted to this game. Amaze Go! The hours of life I've lost in my pursuit of little lines with arrows is astounding. They promote it as something to help you fall to sleep. With us, it's had the opposite affect! Be careful!
I found this great quick inflator by ETENWOLF on Amazon. It worked great to inflate a large, inflatable piece of pizza for a 4-year old birthday party this past weekend!
Shout-Out to my friends Justin & Scott at Likewise Worship. Not only is this organization impacting the lives of worship leaders around the world, they also show-up to support their partners. I along with the Barnabas Community thank you for your friendship, your impact and your lives! Check them out HERE.