Tuesday at 2:00pm with Russ

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:

"The ultimate dysfunction is inattention to results. Great teams put the success of the whole above individual recognition." 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:

We're looking at the each of the dysfunctions that Lencioni describes in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

We looked at TRUST the first week, then we looked at the FEAR OF CONFLICT then COMMITMENT. Last week we looked at ACCOUNTABILITY and today we'll finish be talking about RESULTS.

We've done a quick walk through The Five Dysfunctions of a Team from Patrick Lencioni and I hope this has pushed you to dig deeper into the book.

His approach to results really made sense to me but I wish I had learned that years earlier!

My first job as a Youth Pastor back in the 80's was at a large church in Los Angeles. I was 21 years old, I hadn't been trained in youth ministry, but somehow I landed this job and was in way over my head.

I was invited to attend the Deacon & Elder Meeting and was encouraged to simply observe and learn how church leadership functioned.

I remember at that first meeting, no one mentioned the youth ministry of the church. They talked about everything else, but nothing was said about the Youth Group. I then set out to make myself known to the leadership of the church.

I became louder, I wanted to share my opinions about everything, I felt that I needed to defend everything that I was doing, and I got more and more frustrated because no one seemed to care.

Finally one of the Deacons pulled me aside and asked me why I was so frustrated, and I shared that it felt that no one cared about the youth group. No one was asking me questions, no one seemed interested, and no one seemed to value what I was spending my time and energy doing.

He looked at me and said this: "Russ, we're not talking about it because it seems to be going really well. The Deacons and Elders are working on things that affect the whole church and they're not concerned about the Youth Ministry because they believe in you and trust you."

Again, had I understood Lencioni's definition of results at the time it would have helped me understand this.

I was focused on MY AREA, MY ISSUES, MY JOB. I didn't understand that I also had a role with the whole church. My role was to see the church impact peoples lives, and the Youth Ministry was just one small part of that.

I began to understand this, but I'm sure I kept rolling my eyes at the meetings, I kept trying to be seen and I was always promoting what I was doing, but over time I learned to let the results speak for themselves and it wasn't my job to prove my worth to everyone.

Later in life I became much less selfish and looked at the big picture, not just my part of that.

This is what Lencioni is talking about with RESULTS.

The reasons people don't embrace the shared goals and results they're all working for is because as leaders, we're trying to:

  • Protect our Status. We want to look good and we want to be recognized for what we do.

  • Promote our Area. We want to operate in our own silo, ensuring that our area is getting attention first, then we'll look at the bigger goals.

We spend so much time taking care of ourselves that we forget that we're a part of something much bigger.

Oh to go back in time, but I'm so thankful to that leader for speaking truth to me. What I wish he would of said is "Russ, it's not about you!" It took some more years for me to finally learn that.

Think of a time that you were focused on protecting yourself so much that you forgot about the larger vision, the bigger picture. How do you feel about that today?

DEEPER STILL:

Here are some ways to build BUY-IN around Team Results:

#1) Don't Try To Address RESULTS Without Walking Through The Other 4 Dysfunctions. They build on each other, and a team that has TRUST is much better equipped to address this area of results than a team that is struggling.

#2) Build a Public Scoreboard. Identify some measurable outcomes that the whole team owns together and make them visible to everyone. Ambiguity allows for misinterpretation. Be clear on what you're focusing on together.

#3) Review the Outcomes Together Regularly. Make this a part of your ongoing conversation. Visit it frequently, evaluate how you're doing and give people the opportunity to contribute to these goals together.

#4) Call Out Silo Behavior. If you see a team member pulling back or not engaging together, call them out and address it immediately. Don't let it simmer and grow. Hold people accountable to their behavior.

#5) Reward the TEAM not the INDIVIDUAL. When the team wins, you all win.

#6) Celebrate Together, Celebrate Often. When you hit your target or significant milestones, create ways to celebrate those milestones together.

Which of these things are you currently doing well, which are you not? What can you do to address them?

 

Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:

Source: www.leadermundial.org