|
The
Holy Grail of Performance Improvement
Purpose Centered Leadership
The Holy Grail of Performance
Improvement
ãIâve
spent hundreds of dollars on training and
consulting and Iâm still not getting
any more performance out of my people than
I did before I spent all that money.ä Or
maybe ãweâve gone to three,
count em three experience team building
sessions and they canât get through
one day of work without me having to separate
them and play referee during the fightsä.
How about ãwe have had every equal
employment opportunity, civil rights, affirmative
action and diversity class created since
the writing of the Declaration of Independence
and we donât seem to work any better
together at all. And we sure arenât
getting any additional profit from our
diversityä.
What
will it take too finally get a great performance
out of somebody? Anybody? Have you ever
heard these comments or even thought them
yourself? These are problems we see in
any and just about every organization.
Or are they? Is it possible that these
are only manifestations of the real problem?
The Real Problem
We
have for years felt that when people didnât
perform that the most effective way of
addressing the issue is to either provide
more management or more technical skills
training. If there is a member of the sales
team that isnât meeting her quotas,
letâs just send her off for some
additional training on how to close the
sale and when she comes back, we can expect
that her numbers will go through the roof.
And if itâs a member of the production
team, well just give him more management
attention and heâll fall in line
quickly. Now how many times have you
actually seen additional skills training
or additional management really work?
I
do a great deal of work in the prison
system. You might be amazed how much
skill training is available for inmates
who show any interest at all. I have
never worked in an institution that did
not have a life management skills program
that was available and sometimes mandatory
for inmates/ And as you can imagine,
there is a great deal of management attention.
And yet with all that additional skills
training and management attention, our
prisons seem to host the same people
over and over again. Maybe the real problem
is not a lack of skills training. Or
even a lack of management attention.
Maybe itâs
as simple as a lack of personal leadership
ability.
More
training in management simply will not
address a lack of leadership skill. I can
remember the first summer I was old enough
to get a job. Two of us had the same training
in the skills needed to get and keep a
job; but only one of us actually got a
job. Because after the management training
took place, only one of us had enough personal
leadership skill to pound the pavement
until someone said, we have a position
for you.
Increasing
management skill might provide a temporary
increase in effectiveness. But increasing
leadership ability will provide a permanent
increase in effectiveness. You must understand
that management means doing things the
right way. Leadership however means doing
the right things. Developing the skill
and experience to accurately decide what
are the next best things to do and then
do those things. Possibly the best example
of this was the experience of Lee Iaccocca
and Chrysler. Chrysler was experiencing
years of sub par performance. Chrysler
had risen to the challenge by several changes
of management and increasing the management
training of just about every employee in
the company. They only saw moderate temporary
improvements. Chrysler had plenty of great
managers and the company was still experiencing
a low level of effectiveness that was threatening
to put the company out of business and
thousands of employees out of work. Finally,
they hit on the right formula. They brought
in a leader. Someone who had the vision
to dream dreams but also to cause others
to dream. A leader who could with almost
unerring accuracy decide which were the
best things to do. By bringing in a leader,
Chrysler was able to turn around its fortunes.
Personal Leadership and Performance
Are Connected
Letâs
talk about how important personal leadership
skill is to your performance. Your effectiveness
can never be greater than your personal
leadership skill. John Maxwell in his book,
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,
indicates that it is the individualâs
leadership ability that determines their
effectiveness. The lower an individualâs
ability to lead, the lower his or her
effectiveness. Maxwell states that on
a scale of 1 - 10, if your leadership
ability is a 5, your effectiveness can
never be greater than a 4. I think Maxwell
is right on the money.
I
also believe that this law extends to
teams and organizations. The effectiveness
of an organization can never be greater
than the personal leadership skill of
the weakest link. If the leadership skill
of the weakest link in a team is a 5,
then the effectiveness of the team can
never be greater than a 4. This concept
became crystal clear to me while I was
a staff officer assigned to a tank battalion
in South Korea. One morning, we had an
alert, which meant everyone had to report
to the battalion area within 30 minutes
and be ready to roll out to combat positions.
To facilitate this roll out, the Battalion
S-4 officer needed to be in the battalion
area within 15 minutes. For this reason,
a jeep was always sent to pick up the
S-4. I liked that because I was the S-4
and without that jeep, Iâd
never make it to the company area in
time. Half way through my tour of duty,
my jeep driver changed and a new driver
came in. I explained his duties to him
and thought I had adequately explained
the importance of getting up and getting
to me in that jeep.
On
his first alert, he was slow. He finally
woke, but then took his sweet time getting
ready and making it to my location. As
a matter of fact, by the time he and I
met, I had already given up on him and
had covered half the distance between my
quarters and the battalion area in full
combat gear carrying a full duffel bag
and a sack of additional equipment. Because
of this little mishap, the battalion missed
its mark on getting to its combat position.
The failure ultimately was mine. I had
not impressed him with the importance of
his effort. So for the next month, I impressed
upon his mind and mine in the strongest
manner that we must both perform up to
standards. I called my own alert every
two to three days and times both of us
to see how quickly we could get into position.
The personal leadership ability of everyone
in the unit has an impact on the unit and
the unit will only be as effective as the
person in the unit with the lowest level
of personal leadership skill.
It
is important to recognize that everyone
leads at some point in time. Ever watch
a flock of geese in flight? They actually
rotate leadership. First one bird takes
the lead position and then when that
bird gets tired, he drops back to the
rear and another bird moves forward to
take the lead. So every bird must be
ready to lead. In military units, it
is recognized that in combat, leadership
may change drastically at a momentâs
notice. So everyone must be ready to
take charge.
What Is Personal Leadership?
There
are a lot of definitions for the word
leadership. In The West Point Way of
Leadership, Col. Larry Donnithorne defines
leadership as ãinfluencing
other people toward the achievement of
shared goalsä. Peter Drucker defines
leadership as ãlifting a personâs
vision to higher heights, raising a personâs
performance to a higher standard, building
a personality beyond its normal limitationsä.
Websterâs Dictionary simply defines
leadership as ãthe ability to leadä.
I like all these definitions, except Websterâs.
They all handle certain aspects of the
art. Yes, leadership is an art. And when
done well, its beauty rivals the art of
some of the worldâs masters.
Personally,
I like the definition of leadership presented
by Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf of Desert
Storm fame. At a Peter Lowe Success Seminar,
Gen. Schwartzkopf said leadership ãis
the art, skill, talent or ability to get
others to do those things they do not normally
or naturally want to doä. If this
definition is extended, then personal leadership
is Îthe art, skill, talent or ability
to get yourself to do those things you
do not normally or naturally want to doâ.
Personal leadership means your ability
to direct yourself to perform even when
you donât necessarily want to.
And that is incredibly important as you
can see from the jeep driver example.
A
friend of mine, Les Brown, indicates
to get yourself to perform sometimes, ãyou
gotta be hungryä. And nothing develops
hunger like purpose. Purpose is that
thing that you were created to do. It
is your life mission. It is the one thing
that gives you focus regardless of what
else is required in your life. Purpose
will help you decide which projects you
should participate in and which will
just drain off your time. Purpose will
get you going when fatigue has made a
coward of you. Yeah, you guessed it.
Purpose is, in my opinion, the Holy Grail
of performance.
Purpose ö The Center of Personal
Leadership
There
is an entire six-step process that can
provide the leadership needed to get
the kind of performance that every organization
is searching for. Letâs briefly
look at them.
Develop
the commitment to manifest greatness.
Recognize the simple fact that each of
us has an intended level of greatness
that extends into all areas of our lives.
Greatness, in performance terms, is defined
as closing the gap between your actual
level of performance and your potential
of performance. For example, if you are
involved in sales work and you have a
goal of closing 25 sales each month and
you complete 25 sales each month thatâs
pretty good. Unless you, have the inherent
potential to complete 30 sales each month.
Manifesting greatness is closing the
gap between 25 and 30. Performing up
to your true potential. The first step
in the application of Purpose Centered
Leadership is to develop the commitment
to close the gap.
Change
the things you think about all day long.
Emerson said, ãwe are what we think
about all day longä. But most often
we maintain those thoughts, values and
beliefs that hold us back and deter our
ability to manifest our intended greatness.
There is a scripture that I have an affinity
for that says ãbe ye not conformed
to the world, but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mindä. The
second step in Purpose Centered Leadership
is to review and evaluate your dominant
thoughts, values and beliefs and determine
if they are working for you.
Discover
and pursue your determined purpose. Step
three is to put in the work to discover
your Determined Purpose. There are all
kinds of instruments that can help you
finally figure out what you are supposed
to accomplish in this life. Purpose gives
you the kind of motivation that will wake
you up early and keep you up late. It is
the single most important factor in performance
improvement at either the individual or
organizational level.
Find
some synergy between your calling and your
vocation. We each have a calling and a
vocation. The calling is what we contribute
to others and our vocation is what we do
to pay the bills while we work in our calling.
When we can develop some synergy between
our calling and our vocation, we find our
selves moving in the same direction all
the time. No wasted effort. Your service
work also moves you towards the accomplishment
of professional goals also.
Develop
a plan. I found a great quote at my daughterâs
school some years ago. ãIf you plan
on being great, you better develop a great
plan.ä Most of us spend more time
planning our work days and vacations
than our lives. Our lives are the most
important, longest-term project that
we will ever work on. Most will earn
in excess of a million dollars during
their life times. And we go into the
project with nothing meaningful in terms
of a written, considered plan. Purpose
Centered Leadership requires that we
write out a plan for that most important
project. All of our activity falls into
four (4) general objective areas and
once we are organized, we can insure
that our goals and objectives are coordinated
to makes us as effective as possible.
Implement.
The final step in Purpose Centered Leadership
is to implement or act according to our
plan. Daily activity to move us ever closer
to accomplishing the milestones that lead
to objectives that lead finally to the
fulfillment of your determined Purpose.
It
sounds like a lot but it really is simple,
but it does require a great deal of introspection.
But the great benefit is that in the
end, youâll finally know who you
want to be when you grow up. And some
of the great manifestations of a lack
of leadership ability will fade into
your past.
Spent
hundreds of dollars on training and consulting
and still not getting any more performance
out of your people than you did before
you spent
all that money? Help them discover their
purpose. Gone to three, count em three
experience team building sessions and
still canât get through one day of work
without me having to separate them and
play referee during the fights? Help them
discover their purpose. Had every equal
employment opportunity, civil rights, affirmative
action and diversity class created since
the writing of the Declaration of Independence
and donât seem to work any better
together at all, and arenât getting
any additional profit from our diversity?
Help them discover their purpose. Purpose · the
Holy Grail of performance improvement.
It
was impossible in the limited space of this
article to fully explain the application
of these principles. If you would like to
receive an additional article explaining
how to apply these articles to improve personal
performance or the performance of an organization,
please feel free to contact the author at artjackson@usa.net.
Art Jackson is a performance improvement educator, consultant and professional
speaker. He is a recognized expert in the areas of leadership, team
building, diversity and inclusion and interpersonal skills.
He is a graduate of
the United States Military Academy at West
Point and Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Art is a member of the National Speakers
Association, and the International Speakers
Federation. Art
is the creator of the seminar series ãMounting
Up On Wings Of Greatnessä; and the
author of the recently released book 'Lions
and Tigers and Bears ö Oh My'.
|
