Hey my on-line friends, it's the Skipper asking for your support and assistance. For those of you who don't know me, my first book: "The Art of Detachment: Breakthrough Principles to Transformational Leadership" is due out on 1 August 2007. After speaking with over 100 publishers (turned down) and 130 emailed publicists (no luck), the project was finally picked up by Kendall Hunt Publishers in Dubuque, Iowa. This project is my life's work, part motivation/part leadership-organizational behavior for individuals and organizations to move their personal and professional leadership abilities into greater levels of achievement.
At present, the leadership community is populated with icons such as Blanchard, Covey, Drucker, Maxwell and others. This list, however illustrious (I am a student of them all and a big fan), are reasons for successes at all levels of humanity and will continue to inspire greatness in people and organizations around the world. God knows, I am very grateful for each of them in my quest for knowledge, growth, and inspiration. I believe that there is a market for yet another published works to inspire greatness as well. That marketplace is within the African American community (including all others) by one of its own from the Philadelphia area. During one of my pitch meetings for the project, I was told that there's really no more room for a new author regurgitating the lessons from the outstanding authors named here (WRONG; they obviously did not read the manuscript!). They said that I was proposing a book that won't do well in the retail market because no one knows my name. And believe it or not, one of my colleagues from my own community told me that I should remove any reference of my ethnicity if I wanted the book to go main stream.
I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE TO HELP ME TO PROVE THEM WRONG.
The book culminates three years of grueling research on my behalf and has withstood a very tough defense from a board of collegiate professors to ensure the information can stand strong on its findings with its proposed readership base. The Art of Detachment introduces a new discipline of leadership, "Democratic Leadership," using math and science to support its development. Imagine taking the rigors of leadership and character training from the United States Marine Corps, the discipline of Organizational Behavior "OB," and the lessons of an entrepreneurial minority startup that failed more times than it would experience a successful benchmark. Now, place all of this into a blender, mix it up and pour it into a glass for drinking. Once the lessons are in your system, the outcome is a leader who is willing to go the distance for something he/she believes in without worrying about the words spoken in and around popular culture. In other words, you learn to find your voice while inspiring and encouraging others to find theirs!
For some of you, this book is the ingredient that you have been searching for. For others, it will be the tipping point to move you into greater levels of achievement in your personal and professional commitments. I hope that it will become a gift from some of you to another person who may be searching for their voice in life – much like a gift from a friend in 2005 to me that became the stimulus for this project. During my darkest moment, I was inspired to read the John C. Maxwell Leadership Bible, Psalms 91. I have yet to put the book down and it began a completely new chapter in my life that has become the second part of this project titled, "The Art of Detachment for the CHRISTIAN Leader." And by the way, I still read Psalms 91 today.
Our publisher will only get behind it if this book sells well. Please pre-buy multiple copies and gift them to anyone who is growing in their personal and professional life. The project is dynamic for "Executive educational" purposes within all realms of business and organizational leadership. The book is currently available through our publisher Kendall Hunt Publishers http://www.kendallhunt.com/) at a pre-sale price. Please pre-buy and FORWARD THIS E-MAIL to others and ask them to pass it along as well.
The Art of Detachment (ISBN: 978-0-7575-4360-9), I promise, will change the direction in your life and provides the needed tools to achieve your "Victory" from the "Defeats" in your life. It's not always about the dollars; most of the time, its only about achieving your dreams. When that happens, the rest will come anyway. Please continue to follow the Blog series. It gleans insight from the lessons outlined in the book. I hope that you enjoy the reading.
Thank you so much for all of your support,
Damian D. "Skipper" Pitts
Notice: If you don't have the John C. Maxwell Leadership Bible, I strongly encourage you to get it! It is fantastic, and I think that it will change the course of your life due to its firm understand of how we are built to live and lead others to do the same.
Coming to AMAZON.com and other online retailers in August 2007
E-mail me at: BookRequest@ArtofDetachment.com
Website: Http://www.ArtofDetachment.com
Training: (LeaderShaping) Training@ArtofDetachment.com
Assessments (Breakthrough TTI) BTTI@ArtofDetachment.com
Resources: Tools@ArtofDetachment.com
Monday, May 21, 2007
Monday, May 7, 2007
Try the Morale Constructs Strategy to Build Great Teams – Part III
As we continue on with the series, “Building Great Teams using the Morale Constructs Strategy,” part three goes into the “Law of the BENCH (Balance, Enforce, Navigate, Challenge, and Hone).” This law is used for adding depth in teams for all stakeholders seeking to influence greatness. So far, we’ve examined the key element that binds through trust and credibility. Then we examined the six characteristics, which allow the blood to flow that also lends value to trust and credibility. Now, it is important to discuss the nature of depth. It is defined as intensity or a degree of deepness and for the sake of the context that we are speaking; I am referring to the depth of leadership’s ability to influence a shared-vision within the construct of the team environment. The Law of the BENCH focuses on goal orientation and expectation of behavioral perspective from the individuals and the team as one unified front.
Let’s be clear; goals are choices made in the scope of shaping the future and offer a competitive posture to achieve purpose and objectives. It is almost impossible to make sense of a community’s ability to grow within its scope and posture without first possessing a strong sense of knowledge of its goals. Consideration of goals ultimately leads to a few central questions to be asked by everyone involved in building great teams. Here are a few:
- What does leadership expect its team unit(s) to achieve?
- What are the benefits, features, and expectations from its stakeholders and team unit(s) at large?
- What are the timelines expected to meet changing paradigms?
- What type of differentiation are they hoping to achieve?
- What degree of customer (internal and external) satisfaction and value are they seeking to provide the environment influenced by their actions – in what ways are they hoping to become a good citizen for others to follow?
These and other questions are just the beginning for defining goals for a well constructed team. Each team unit(s) has an explicit or implicit hierarchy of goal orientation that involves some mixture of marketplace, finance, technology, or other factors to take into account. In building depth (balance, enforcement, and navigation) that goes into trust and constructing a shared-vision (the ultimate goal of any team working towards a common objective), four levels of goals need to be considered: (1) strategic intent/ the vision to impact environmental circumstances; (2) strategic thrusts; (3) objectives (mission strategy), and (4) operating goals (mission execution). Allow me to discuss the four briefly, as they all attribute to the development and characteristics for adding depth within a team.
Leadership requires goals at each level of strategic intent that defines the vision of the team to impact environmental circumstances. They are used for examine short and long-term conceptualized modeling to change what a community is hoping to achieve in terms of client relationships. Everything is based on relationships; whether people, systems, organizations, or more. In some cases, the intent or vision embodies a goal of reshaping and reconfiguration of the means for achieving expected outcomes. Reshaping and reconfiguring (navigation) identifies goal orientation by expressing a fresh IDEA. Ideas influence your paradigm of choice that adds spark to ignite your paradigm of change. It is important to that everyone across the team to fully understand the critical importance for becoming a “Champion of Change” for reshaping and reconfiguring process and protocol that graduates effectiveness to greatness.
When this occurs, everyone involved gains a feeling that their voice is considered for navigating a balanced direction that wins the challenges that determines the enforcement of actions and behaviors from the team. The outcome to the environment becomes significant, as the experience “sharpens” the community’s vision for taking on the responsibilities to lead the way that ultimately inspires greatness. Fresh ideas are honed for efficient and effective integration as a model for reproduction using the idea(s) as the required modeling to learn, teach, and lead into the future. Ideas can easily become the model that motivates intent or vision within a team and it is critical that the participants become fully aware that their voice is significant for influencing greater outcomes by expressing their own ideation. Let’s examine how an “IDEA” can be developed into a model for leaders to examine and articulate a valued dimension within the reshaping and reconfiguring process:
I – Instruct a shared-vision by influencing trust through balance.
D – Demonstrate by example the benefits and features found in success.
E – Experience the glory after executing process and procedure flawlessly.
A – Assess all areas of reshaping and reconfiguring to ensure success.
Ideas can easily be construed as a model of investment. It will be the ability of the team leader to ensure that the applied strategies have been influenced by all stakeholders. Ideas that are successful add value and depth to a community and environmental circumstance. Here’s something to consider as you look to use the Law of the BENCH; “why change something that works if the influence creates a dynamic stimulus across a community and the
leadership behaviors that demonstrates high levels of competence for achieving a win?”
Now, well look at Strategic Thrust. Strategic thrust refers to the significant investment commitments that a team has decided on (the buy-in) or plans to undertake to realize its intent or vision. Some examples lead to a high level of competence to include an investment through alliance or collaboration. Selecting the proper alliances and collaborating relationships adds value to all teams seeking a competitive edge. This selection requires a significant
level of competence in human behaviors and attitudes. The time that it takes to gain the competencies requires a significant commitment and investment from all participants within the team.
Competencies are classified as leadership gifts that others tend to watch and glean insightful ideas to improve their own abilities. Without ever knowing it, success is influenced across a team by each leadership attribute. Individuals selected within the team or chosen to collaborate with a team will seek to answer four specific questions based on knowledge, desire, ability, and trust. Each question addresses strategic thrust as it relates to an individual’s competencies as an investment made on behalf of the team. They are:
1. Knowledge: Does a leader within the team know where he is going and how he is going to get there?
2. Desire: Do others seek to journey in the direction of the team leader?
3. Ability: Does the leader have the ability and competence to get his/her teammates where he is heading?
4. Trust: Does the team leader trust him/herself first, then the ability of his/her teammates for influencing a responsible journey into the future?
One way to answer to the four outlined questions that goes into the development of depth within a team environment is the use of a Five Paragraph Order. This dimension is derived directly from the United States Marine Corps. It specifies instruction across a team as they are preparing to engage a mission. It provides a structure for the unit to be able to understand and execute the mandates within a mission established by each leader within the team –
everyone! It is different from other instruction of higher authority in that it could be given orally instead of being issued as a written order. Officers and non-commissioned Marine Corps officers also use it informally in order to communicate relevant information prior to non-combative movements (e.g. administrative travel/convoy, field exercise movements, weapons instruction, liberty, etc).
So why am I referring to this element of the Marine Corps for teams to add balance for shaping future actions to influence greatness through change? For the simple fact that it offers unwritten protocol, discipline, accountability, execution, and tactical excellence for teams to win.
The characteristics within a Five Paragraph Order further articulate collaborative methods for building great teams on the individual level. For the sake of time, I’ll only examine the quintessential characteristic and trait oriented perspective for teams to use the “order’ for influencing positive change within the heart of each participant leader. Possessing the right amount of both – characteristic and trait –heads off personal conflict and combative engagements that stunts personal growth within team environments and other relationship building measures.
The characteristics and traits can be commonly referred to and remembered by the acronym SMEAC. When applied within a team members own life, it defines a pragmatic approach, guided by practical experiences for them to make decisions for future successful behaviors and actions. They also add depth across a team as each person increases their own capacity to lead effectively. They will ultimately result an individual achieving strong personal character and the necessary traits instilled for promoting excellence for the teams benefit. This simply means that a Five Paragraph Order can and will become a significant part to a persons individual makeup for achieving successful growth – day in and day out. The acronym can be defined as: “Situation, Mission, Plan and Method of Execution, Administration and Logistics, and Command and Signal Information.”
The characteristics and traits are used as 14 distinguishing qualities that each individual on a team should possess as critical leadership traits. As a unified, shared-vision (buy-in) is achieved; the team will lead solution-centric qualities across any environment that they are responsible to lead. SMEAC is also used for establishing a clear message for building depth in trust and credibility by everyone that has a stake in the team’s performance.
Five Paragraph Order Traits
1. Bearing. This is the greatest attribute that all U.S. Marines learn early in their career: general appearance, carriage, deportment and conduct. It is the foundation for the individual seeking a change to look, act, and speak like a leader through a state of flawlessness. It is an essential element in a leader's effectiveness and should be cultivated by maintaining impeccable personal appearance, avoiding the devils tongue, remaining true to your word, holding your temper, speaking clearly, and walking upright.
2. Courage. This is a state that enables recognition and fear of danger or criticism, while still allowing calm and firm action. It exists in a moral, as well as physical sense. Moral courage means knowing what is right and standing up for it in the face of popular disfavor. At a time that the individual accepts his call of higher purpose, accepts his/her wrongs, he accepts blame and full accountability for his actions – good and bad.
3. Decisiveness. Assessing your personal situation requires you to have the courage and professional bearing to make decisions promptly; gathering all of the facts, weighing one against the other, then calmly and quickly arriving at the best decision established by best practice. Decisiveness is largely a matter of practice and experience growing out of self-confidence and competence.
4. Dependability. This allows the owner to assign specific tasks with a full level of confidence that your personal talents will complete the tasks influencing maximum effort. Once a decision has been made, the owner must be prepared to give it their best effort, supporting personal conviction and policy, to achieve the highest standards of performance.
5. Endurance. This attribute is akin to courage. It is the mental and physical stamina which is measured by the ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress, and hardship. Subordinate Marines may view a lack of endurance in combat situations as cowardice. When this occurs, leadership types must display an acceptable, if not superior, level of endurance. In the same light, individuals seeking proactive and positive change must stand firm on the decisions that directs forward movement. Endurance and stamina should be developed by regular participation during strenuous mental activity.
6. Enthusiasm. This attribute is the display of sincere interest and zeal in the performance of duties. Displaying interest and optimism in performing a task greatly enhances the likelihood that the task will be successfully accomplished. Enthusiastic leaders are optimistic, cheerful, willing to accept the challenges of their mission and profession, and determined to do the best job possible. Enthusiasm is contagious. Nothing will develop it more than past success.
7. Initiative. This attribute allows you to take action in the absence of written direction from another person. Leaders who meet new and unexpected situations with prompt action instill respect and trust in them and in those that their actions influence. Closely associated with initiative is resourcefulness – the ability to deal with a situation in the absence of normal resources or methods. To aid in the development of initiative, individuals must remain alert at all times, recognize the task that needs to be done, and then accomplish it with caution, judgment, discretion, and flawlessness.
8. Integrity. The uprightness and soundness of moral principles and the qualities of truthfulness and honesty comprise integrity. An upright individual places honesty, sense of duty, and sound moral principles above all else. Nothing less than complete honesty in all dealings with superiors, subordinates, and peers is acceptable.
9. Judgment. This attribute provides the ability to weigh facts and circumstances logically in order to make decisions. Anticipation of situations, avoidance of the "easy" decision, and the application of common sense are characteristic. Tacit Knowledge,’ the science of learning by doing frequently plays an important role, as well. Individuals that make sound decisions either have personal knowledge essential to solving a particular problem or have the presence of mind to confer with experts.
10. Justice. A just individual gives reward and self punishment to themselves according to the merits within the circumstance at hand. Impartiality is exercised in all judgment situations, and prejudice of any kind is avoided. Because each decision is a test of fairness which must be observed the decision maker must remain fair, consistent and prompt. Individual consideration should be given in each case.
11. Tacit Knowledge. This attribute defines the science of learning by doing – acting on your faith through experience of prior actions. It then becomes a range of one's information, including professional knowledge. Individuals are required to develop programming to remain abreast of current developments relating to their specialty, personal conviction, and circumstance. Individuals must be leaders of self first.
12. Loyalty. This attribute is required to keep the individual loyal to themselves. It is the quality of faithfulness to a mission, which should be reflected in every action. An individual’s good reputation becomes widespread when it is based upon actions taken to protect and secure from flip-flop decision making or “personal abuse.” Individuals seeking greatness do not allow personal opinion to interfere with a mission, nor do they give the impression of indecisiveness along the journey.
13. Tact. This attribute provides the ability to deal with others in a manner that will maintain good relations and avoid offense. During conditions of stress, the use of tact becomes challenging when delivering personal criticism to self or to those influenced by your actions. An inexperienced person who may not be used to dealing with conflict on their own may feel that politeness implies softness. On the contrary, a calm, courteous, and firm approach usually
will bring a cooperative response without unnecessary unpleasantness to those around your employ. Consistently treating yourself with the highest level of respect and courtesy regardless of conditions or true feelings is a sign of maturity required of leaders.
14. Unselfishness. This final trait is the avoidance of providing for one's personal comfort and advancement at the expense of others. The comfort, pleasure, and recreation levels should be placed above everything. Looking out for the needs of others is the essence of ‘self-leadership.’ However, keep in mind that accomplishment of any mission has priority – and that priority is to the mission and those influenced by the outcome first and foremost. Individuals that see themselves as flawless leaders give themselves lowest priority and share the dangers and hardships with those affected by their decisions.
At this point, it is critical to examine objectives and operating goals combined. Objectives refer to goals that transform strategic thrust into action programs. They tend to specify results that embrace a time horizon and represents benchmarks or broad targets and milestones that a team strives to achieve. For example, as the CEO of my organization, our strategic thrust to penetrate new markets were guided by objectives such as: program launch within the chosen markets based on focused timelines to achieve a specific market share for the organization and our ability to achieve average gross margin established by the planning team. Operating goals are short-term targets that are measurable, specific, and detailed. They are viewed as significant accomplishments that contribute to the achievement of objectives.
Typically, operating goals include (using the context in the example above): achieving a particular market share for each market or, for different specific client relations, improve planned margins by significant amounts to enhance client satisfaction based on scale and measurement.
In closing, goals make sense within the actions of a team using the Law of the BENCH to influence levels of trust within the depths of its accomplishments. When you think about an explicit or implicit hierarchy of goal orientation, we must take into account how goals facilitate coordination of what otherwise might be disparate and conflicting activities. They motivate and stimulate a team’s ability to rationalize its actions so that each stakeholder can contribute to a winning cause.
Achieving goal orientation, individuals within a team environment must be prepared to undergo the seven “D’s” of courage. This approach is also defined as the “balance of time” affect. This dynamic is similar to a heavy weight fight night. The win requires preparation through the successful execution of a desire to achieve a dream (shared-vision) with the required decisiveness that dares a dedicated direction that is dependant on individual and collaborative skill, leadership, and competence to achieve success. Use them wisely, as a team who works as one through “choice” of becoming a force of one, is a team who wins in battle by never striking a single blow to its competing force.
1. Desire: Become a champion of change; a major part of a solution.
2. Dream: Achieve a preferred future picture with just leaders.
3. Decisiveness: Recognize the process of trust, competence, and influence to encourage and inspire a journey to find your voice.
4. Dare: The courage to act outweighs the fear to not!
5. Dedication: Remain committed to fulfill the responsibility within a call.
6. Direction: Achieve a clear plan of influenced and proactive change.
7. Dependence: Rely on achieving greatness – not effectiveness.
More on the Morale Constructs Strategy can be seen in the publication, the “Art of Detachment.” Part 4 in this series, the Law of SPACE (Community), provides additional value to the subject of building great teams and should not be missed. More on the Law of the BENCH can be seen in the upcoming publication release, the Art of Detachment, published by Kendall Hunt Publishers (ISBN10: 0-7575-4360-X and ISBN13: 978-0-7575-4360-9).
Let’s be clear; goals are choices made in the scope of shaping the future and offer a competitive posture to achieve purpose and objectives. It is almost impossible to make sense of a community’s ability to grow within its scope and posture without first possessing a strong sense of knowledge of its goals. Consideration of goals ultimately leads to a few central questions to be asked by everyone involved in building great teams. Here are a few:
- What does leadership expect its team unit(s) to achieve?
- What are the benefits, features, and expectations from its stakeholders and team unit(s) at large?
- What are the timelines expected to meet changing paradigms?
- What type of differentiation are they hoping to achieve?
- What degree of customer (internal and external) satisfaction and value are they seeking to provide the environment influenced by their actions – in what ways are they hoping to become a good citizen for others to follow?
These and other questions are just the beginning for defining goals for a well constructed team. Each team unit(s) has an explicit or implicit hierarchy of goal orientation that involves some mixture of marketplace, finance, technology, or other factors to take into account. In building depth (balance, enforcement, and navigation) that goes into trust and constructing a shared-vision (the ultimate goal of any team working towards a common objective), four levels of goals need to be considered: (1) strategic intent/ the vision to impact environmental circumstances; (2) strategic thrusts; (3) objectives (mission strategy), and (4) operating goals (mission execution). Allow me to discuss the four briefly, as they all attribute to the development and characteristics for adding depth within a team.
Leadership requires goals at each level of strategic intent that defines the vision of the team to impact environmental circumstances. They are used for examine short and long-term conceptualized modeling to change what a community is hoping to achieve in terms of client relationships. Everything is based on relationships; whether people, systems, organizations, or more. In some cases, the intent or vision embodies a goal of reshaping and reconfiguration of the means for achieving expected outcomes. Reshaping and reconfiguring (navigation) identifies goal orientation by expressing a fresh IDEA. Ideas influence your paradigm of choice that adds spark to ignite your paradigm of change. It is important to that everyone across the team to fully understand the critical importance for becoming a “Champion of Change” for reshaping and reconfiguring process and protocol that graduates effectiveness to greatness.
When this occurs, everyone involved gains a feeling that their voice is considered for navigating a balanced direction that wins the challenges that determines the enforcement of actions and behaviors from the team. The outcome to the environment becomes significant, as the experience “sharpens” the community’s vision for taking on the responsibilities to lead the way that ultimately inspires greatness. Fresh ideas are honed for efficient and effective integration as a model for reproduction using the idea(s) as the required modeling to learn, teach, and lead into the future. Ideas can easily become the model that motivates intent or vision within a team and it is critical that the participants become fully aware that their voice is significant for influencing greater outcomes by expressing their own ideation. Let’s examine how an “IDEA” can be developed into a model for leaders to examine and articulate a valued dimension within the reshaping and reconfiguring process:
I – Instruct a shared-vision by influencing trust through balance.
D – Demonstrate by example the benefits and features found in success.
E – Experience the glory after executing process and procedure flawlessly.
A – Assess all areas of reshaping and reconfiguring to ensure success.
Ideas can easily be construed as a model of investment. It will be the ability of the team leader to ensure that the applied strategies have been influenced by all stakeholders. Ideas that are successful add value and depth to a community and environmental circumstance. Here’s something to consider as you look to use the Law of the BENCH; “why change something that works if the influence creates a dynamic stimulus across a community and the
leadership behaviors that demonstrates high levels of competence for achieving a win?”
Now, well look at Strategic Thrust. Strategic thrust refers to the significant investment commitments that a team has decided on (the buy-in) or plans to undertake to realize its intent or vision. Some examples lead to a high level of competence to include an investment through alliance or collaboration. Selecting the proper alliances and collaborating relationships adds value to all teams seeking a competitive edge. This selection requires a significant
level of competence in human behaviors and attitudes. The time that it takes to gain the competencies requires a significant commitment and investment from all participants within the team.
Competencies are classified as leadership gifts that others tend to watch and glean insightful ideas to improve their own abilities. Without ever knowing it, success is influenced across a team by each leadership attribute. Individuals selected within the team or chosen to collaborate with a team will seek to answer four specific questions based on knowledge, desire, ability, and trust. Each question addresses strategic thrust as it relates to an individual’s competencies as an investment made on behalf of the team. They are:
1. Knowledge: Does a leader within the team know where he is going and how he is going to get there?
2. Desire: Do others seek to journey in the direction of the team leader?
3. Ability: Does the leader have the ability and competence to get his/her teammates where he is heading?
4. Trust: Does the team leader trust him/herself first, then the ability of his/her teammates for influencing a responsible journey into the future?
“Waste no time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” – Marcus Aurelius
One way to answer to the four outlined questions that goes into the development of depth within a team environment is the use of a Five Paragraph Order. This dimension is derived directly from the United States Marine Corps. It specifies instruction across a team as they are preparing to engage a mission. It provides a structure for the unit to be able to understand and execute the mandates within a mission established by each leader within the team –
everyone! It is different from other instruction of higher authority in that it could be given orally instead of being issued as a written order. Officers and non-commissioned Marine Corps officers also use it informally in order to communicate relevant information prior to non-combative movements (e.g. administrative travel/convoy, field exercise movements, weapons instruction, liberty, etc).
So why am I referring to this element of the Marine Corps for teams to add balance for shaping future actions to influence greatness through change? For the simple fact that it offers unwritten protocol, discipline, accountability, execution, and tactical excellence for teams to win.
The characteristics within a Five Paragraph Order further articulate collaborative methods for building great teams on the individual level. For the sake of time, I’ll only examine the quintessential characteristic and trait oriented perspective for teams to use the “order’ for influencing positive change within the heart of each participant leader. Possessing the right amount of both – characteristic and trait –heads off personal conflict and combative engagements that stunts personal growth within team environments and other relationship building measures.
The characteristics and traits can be commonly referred to and remembered by the acronym SMEAC. When applied within a team members own life, it defines a pragmatic approach, guided by practical experiences for them to make decisions for future successful behaviors and actions. They also add depth across a team as each person increases their own capacity to lead effectively. They will ultimately result an individual achieving strong personal character and the necessary traits instilled for promoting excellence for the teams benefit. This simply means that a Five Paragraph Order can and will become a significant part to a persons individual makeup for achieving successful growth – day in and day out. The acronym can be defined as: “Situation, Mission, Plan and Method of Execution, Administration and Logistics, and Command and Signal Information.”
The characteristics and traits are used as 14 distinguishing qualities that each individual on a team should possess as critical leadership traits. As a unified, shared-vision (buy-in) is achieved; the team will lead solution-centric qualities across any environment that they are responsible to lead. SMEAC is also used for establishing a clear message for building depth in trust and credibility by everyone that has a stake in the team’s performance.
Five Paragraph Order Traits
1. Bearing. This is the greatest attribute that all U.S. Marines learn early in their career: general appearance, carriage, deportment and conduct. It is the foundation for the individual seeking a change to look, act, and speak like a leader through a state of flawlessness. It is an essential element in a leader's effectiveness and should be cultivated by maintaining impeccable personal appearance, avoiding the devils tongue, remaining true to your word, holding your temper, speaking clearly, and walking upright.
2. Courage. This is a state that enables recognition and fear of danger or criticism, while still allowing calm and firm action. It exists in a moral, as well as physical sense. Moral courage means knowing what is right and standing up for it in the face of popular disfavor. At a time that the individual accepts his call of higher purpose, accepts his/her wrongs, he accepts blame and full accountability for his actions – good and bad.
3. Decisiveness. Assessing your personal situation requires you to have the courage and professional bearing to make decisions promptly; gathering all of the facts, weighing one against the other, then calmly and quickly arriving at the best decision established by best practice. Decisiveness is largely a matter of practice and experience growing out of self-confidence and competence.
4. Dependability. This allows the owner to assign specific tasks with a full level of confidence that your personal talents will complete the tasks influencing maximum effort. Once a decision has been made, the owner must be prepared to give it their best effort, supporting personal conviction and policy, to achieve the highest standards of performance.
5. Endurance. This attribute is akin to courage. It is the mental and physical stamina which is measured by the ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress, and hardship. Subordinate Marines may view a lack of endurance in combat situations as cowardice. When this occurs, leadership types must display an acceptable, if not superior, level of endurance. In the same light, individuals seeking proactive and positive change must stand firm on the decisions that directs forward movement. Endurance and stamina should be developed by regular participation during strenuous mental activity.
6. Enthusiasm. This attribute is the display of sincere interest and zeal in the performance of duties. Displaying interest and optimism in performing a task greatly enhances the likelihood that the task will be successfully accomplished. Enthusiastic leaders are optimistic, cheerful, willing to accept the challenges of their mission and profession, and determined to do the best job possible. Enthusiasm is contagious. Nothing will develop it more than past success.
7. Initiative. This attribute allows you to take action in the absence of written direction from another person. Leaders who meet new and unexpected situations with prompt action instill respect and trust in them and in those that their actions influence. Closely associated with initiative is resourcefulness – the ability to deal with a situation in the absence of normal resources or methods. To aid in the development of initiative, individuals must remain alert at all times, recognize the task that needs to be done, and then accomplish it with caution, judgment, discretion, and flawlessness.
8. Integrity. The uprightness and soundness of moral principles and the qualities of truthfulness and honesty comprise integrity. An upright individual places honesty, sense of duty, and sound moral principles above all else. Nothing less than complete honesty in all dealings with superiors, subordinates, and peers is acceptable.
9. Judgment. This attribute provides the ability to weigh facts and circumstances logically in order to make decisions. Anticipation of situations, avoidance of the "easy" decision, and the application of common sense are characteristic. Tacit Knowledge,’ the science of learning by doing frequently plays an important role, as well. Individuals that make sound decisions either have personal knowledge essential to solving a particular problem or have the presence of mind to confer with experts.
10. Justice. A just individual gives reward and self punishment to themselves according to the merits within the circumstance at hand. Impartiality is exercised in all judgment situations, and prejudice of any kind is avoided. Because each decision is a test of fairness which must be observed the decision maker must remain fair, consistent and prompt. Individual consideration should be given in each case.
11. Tacit Knowledge. This attribute defines the science of learning by doing – acting on your faith through experience of prior actions. It then becomes a range of one's information, including professional knowledge. Individuals are required to develop programming to remain abreast of current developments relating to their specialty, personal conviction, and circumstance. Individuals must be leaders of self first.
12. Loyalty. This attribute is required to keep the individual loyal to themselves. It is the quality of faithfulness to a mission, which should be reflected in every action. An individual’s good reputation becomes widespread when it is based upon actions taken to protect and secure from flip-flop decision making or “personal abuse.” Individuals seeking greatness do not allow personal opinion to interfere with a mission, nor do they give the impression of indecisiveness along the journey.
13. Tact. This attribute provides the ability to deal with others in a manner that will maintain good relations and avoid offense. During conditions of stress, the use of tact becomes challenging when delivering personal criticism to self or to those influenced by your actions. An inexperienced person who may not be used to dealing with conflict on their own may feel that politeness implies softness. On the contrary, a calm, courteous, and firm approach usually
will bring a cooperative response without unnecessary unpleasantness to those around your employ. Consistently treating yourself with the highest level of respect and courtesy regardless of conditions or true feelings is a sign of maturity required of leaders.
14. Unselfishness. This final trait is the avoidance of providing for one's personal comfort and advancement at the expense of others. The comfort, pleasure, and recreation levels should be placed above everything. Looking out for the needs of others is the essence of ‘self-leadership.’ However, keep in mind that accomplishment of any mission has priority – and that priority is to the mission and those influenced by the outcome first and foremost. Individuals that see themselves as flawless leaders give themselves lowest priority and share the dangers and hardships with those affected by their decisions.
At this point, it is critical to examine objectives and operating goals combined. Objectives refer to goals that transform strategic thrust into action programs. They tend to specify results that embrace a time horizon and represents benchmarks or broad targets and milestones that a team strives to achieve. For example, as the CEO of my organization, our strategic thrust to penetrate new markets were guided by objectives such as: program launch within the chosen markets based on focused timelines to achieve a specific market share for the organization and our ability to achieve average gross margin established by the planning team. Operating goals are short-term targets that are measurable, specific, and detailed. They are viewed as significant accomplishments that contribute to the achievement of objectives.
Typically, operating goals include (using the context in the example above): achieving a particular market share for each market or, for different specific client relations, improve planned margins by significant amounts to enhance client satisfaction based on scale and measurement.
In closing, goals make sense within the actions of a team using the Law of the BENCH to influence levels of trust within the depths of its accomplishments. When you think about an explicit or implicit hierarchy of goal orientation, we must take into account how goals facilitate coordination of what otherwise might be disparate and conflicting activities. They motivate and stimulate a team’s ability to rationalize its actions so that each stakeholder can contribute to a winning cause.
Achieving goal orientation, individuals within a team environment must be prepared to undergo the seven “D’s” of courage. This approach is also defined as the “balance of time” affect. This dynamic is similar to a heavy weight fight night. The win requires preparation through the successful execution of a desire to achieve a dream (shared-vision) with the required decisiveness that dares a dedicated direction that is dependant on individual and collaborative skill, leadership, and competence to achieve success. Use them wisely, as a team who works as one through “choice” of becoming a force of one, is a team who wins in battle by never striking a single blow to its competing force.
1. Desire: Become a champion of change; a major part of a solution.
2. Dream: Achieve a preferred future picture with just leaders.
3. Decisiveness: Recognize the process of trust, competence, and influence to encourage and inspire a journey to find your voice.
4. Dare: The courage to act outweighs the fear to not!
5. Dedication: Remain committed to fulfill the responsibility within a call.
6. Direction: Achieve a clear plan of influenced and proactive change.
7. Dependence: Rely on achieving greatness – not effectiveness.
More on the Morale Constructs Strategy can be seen in the publication, the “Art of Detachment.” Part 4 in this series, the Law of SPACE (Community), provides additional value to the subject of building great teams and should not be missed. More on the Law of the BENCH can be seen in the upcoming publication release, the Art of Detachment, published by Kendall Hunt Publishers (ISBN10: 0-7575-4360-X and ISBN13: 978-0-7575-4360-9).
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Try the Morale Constructs Strategy to Build Great Teams: Part II
As we continue on with the series, "Building Great Teams using the Morale Constructs Strategy," part two goes into the "Law of CARE: (Communication, Affirmation, Recognition, and Examination)." This law also examines the difference between management and leadership. Leadership is not management and most of all; good managers don't always make great leaders. Leadership and management skills are two very distinct and different paradigms, but they each possess complementary capabilities. In some cases, environments are faced with difficult challenges as they affect the individuals who are a part of the team and environment, but the success on both the individual and organizational level depend greatly on the ability of 'leaders' to manage and 'managers' to lead. The Law of CARE allows us to examine the effects of leadership, management, and the individual within a community.
Challenge: There seems to be a serious disconnect in the way individuals are chosen to lead. As we look at the Peter Principle, it examines how individuals are promoted throughout a system until he/she has reached a level of incompetence. This presents a classic demonstration of the inherent difficulties for individuals to manage and/or lead a system into greatness. In most scenarios, people become upwardly mobile based upon their past experiences. This can be seen as recognition for a job well done. The problem lies in the grooming factor. Under the Peter Principle, the very skills that allowed for growth will only lead to an individual's demise as they move into greater levels of their careers.
The Law of CARE has four characteristics that both increase and/or limit anxieties when the human endeavor experiences growth and becomes responsible for influencing others. One of the significant benefits of the law is trust and credibility. The law places all of its focus on the individual aspect as we look at building great teams that lead with excellence and manage with discipline. The individual element is the quintessential component that drives teams into greatness. This is the main reason for identifying this law, which looks into the depths and the heart of a true leader. Understanding the difference between leadership and management helps individuals to keep the blood flowing throughout a community.
Traditional management ideologies focus on the hard skills of business (accounting functions, operations, sales, marketing, etc). Management is both quantifiable and tangible and has significant processes to instruct on ways of executing protocol. However, leadership places a focus on the soft skills (team building and development, multiculturalism, corporate responsibility: aligning trust with the vision and mission, etc). These skills are qualitative and intangible and are difficult to place a rate of return on the investment.
This is an absolute misnomer for people who have not come to the realization that great leadership improves upon the results that are based on the tangible and quantifiable processes. Great leadership creates new perspectives to influence change; overcomes tough, complex, and uncertainties across the environment; develops positive organizational behaviors; increase competency levels and strategy execution to inspire a shared-vision; encourages individuals to remain on a continuum for achieving professional development; creates a bridge between the "what" (theory) and the "how-to" (practice) of organizational dynamics; increases communications, critical thinking, project management, and solution-centric processes to stimulate growth; and makes the "impossible" "POSSIBLE." So, as you can see, the potential to increase revenue while decreasing losses (not always relating to financial gains and losses) can be achieved at greater levels through leadership and not management. Although some people may be born with the required talents to lead effectively, others have to be taught. Without practice, training and discipline, the talent to become a great leader remains dormant. Leadership, therefore, is an active rehearsal of skill that can be learned.
The Law of CARE introduces six characteristics, known as the 6C's, which goes into the constructs of great teams from the individual leadership perspective. They help to transform the talents of a leader into capabilities that they can and will rely upon in critical situations. They seem to offer common sense and subjective anecdotal experience that reveals how without practice, they are not so common in a leaders daily functioning. The characteristics are also used to outline best practices for great leadership to follow: They are outlined as:
- Consistency
- Courage
- Conviction
- Commitment
- Contrite
- Captivating
They are essential to the behavioral and attitudinal approach taken and experienced by everyone within the community. They make it perfectly clear to themselves and to other individuals that leadership is "being" before "doing." To some, this simply means that leadership is the absolute meaning and defining attribute for achieving objectives. For others, it is a road map that lays the direction to excellence. Either way, each characteristic clarifies a means for growing individually and as an organization. They are key components that establish how people deal with one another. Increasingly, how we service each others needs is a powerful source of differentiation for all types of behaviors and attitudes. Indeed, people are very different in their approach for getting things done and how they seek to be treated. As time goes by, the circumstance in their personal lives and professional careers cause for service levels to constantly be adjusted.
The six characteristics can also be looked at as a form of technical assistance experienced in service calls when dealing with the people that make up a community. Education on the outlined characteristics makes clear an individual's reputation, character, and relationship functionality (behavior and attitude). The level of education and quality of information expressed through its learning makes clear how the community will react to changing paradigms that lends to specific growth.
Democratic Leadership uses the six characteristics as the quintessential essence found within the Law of CARE. They are simplistic in nature but conforms behavioral and attitudinal perspective for dealing with people over a period of time. Achieving the six characteristics builds a Democratic Leader's level of trust and the four core disciplines that also increase credibility.
1. Consistency. Individuals steadily act to influence greatness. Achieve all accomplishments through collaboration by fostering a warrior culture and the ultimate obligation of a winner rather than an uninspired drive that results significant under-achievement.
2. Courage (Challenge the Established Processes). Individuals must never run from doing what is right. Individuals must be prepared to step out on faith, removing themselves outside of popular culture, while searching for the courage and understanding to win over failure. This characteristic is where the rainmakers reside.
3. Conviction. Individuals communicate their convictions boldly.
4. Commitment (Model the Way). Individuals understand that the only thing necessary for the triumph of greatness is for the chosen to fail at not trying! Allowing your walk to mirror your talk demonstrates by example "what" should be done and "how" it must be done to execute task and responsibilities flawlessly.
5. Contrite (Encourage and Inspire the Heart of a Winner). Individuals know when to be humble and willingly demonstrate ability for being flexible in their way of thinking, hence transformational thought. Be prepared to recognize, appreciate, and celebrate the contributions from all persons involved in the winning process.
6. Captivating (Inspire a Shared-Vision). Individuals are tactical in their ability to positively influence a journey within the community that helps the stakeholders to find their voices. Individuals must envision the future picture that includes a sense of vitality and creativity that appeal to the desires of all stakeholders who act and contribute to the realization of an established vision.
The characteristics found within the Law of CARE help individuals to become the maverick conformists that stimulate a community's ability to change a perspective to current reality if needed. As time matriculates as a changing paradigm, so does a vision and the expected outcomes within an environment of trust. An individual in a position of leadership asserts or affirms positive influence that culminates excellence to others in their dealing with each person in the community. In doing so, recognition is achieved at all levels and places individuals on a continuum for future examination of proactive change.
What Leadership Is, but Is Not!
Although the six characteristics are considered to be soft skills, the failure to utilize them in leading individuals into greatness yields bottom-line results in decreased productivity, increased customer complaints, high attrition rates (retention difficulties), poor selection of team associates (recruitment defects), a reactive (rather than proactive) approach to the development of team-centric environments, and limitations within the development of a learning organization that possesses creativity and innovative ways to grow. Leadership is not about the touchy-feely aspects of human interaction, while management focuses on the serious issues.
Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler and an American industrialist, best known for his ability to bring failures back into greatness, is universally recognized for his outstanding leadership skills and most widely recognized as the top businessman in the world in the 1980's. Mr. Iacocca would never be known as incapable for addressing the serious issues plaguing modern business. He recognized that to achieve organizational greatness, and its corresponding high stock value and market share, requires overall commitment from his teams. He knew that the main ingredient for being the best pitch man for his brand required the knowledge of knowing that the individuals within Chrysler were fully committed to his vision. If they were not, the organization and the individual aspect would fail. Anyone can look back and see that his leadership became a credo at Chrysler and catapulted the company and its leading executive into greatness not passable performance, but truly great, transformational performance. He truly understood the Law of CARE and its importance to his style of leadership and to Chrysler as a whole.
But what is leadership? And how is it different from management? Leadership focuses on the long-term, but management places its focus on the short-term. Leadership keeps their eye on the horizon, while management keeps their eye on the bottom-line. Leadership will tolerate failure or missteps as long as the direction provides instruction toward the goal for both the individual, and the organization to learn from the failure. Failure, therefore, is viewed as a significant opportunity to learn. It is therefore safe to say that when thinking about how individuals comprehend an ability to influence environments to become successful at meeting their objectives, it would be OK to acknowledge the current state of leadership does not fit into a single mold.
The Law of CARE points out to its user that leadership, by its very nature, is an entity of influence through choice and changing environmental reality. As we think about popular culture and its belief for what leadership may be, the conclusion would bring most individuals to the conclusion (and not an assumption) that there is a greater state that achieves leadership itself. The six characteristics outlined by the law develop abilities for individuals to achieve a state of understanding, prediction, and management of human behavior in and out of the organization. They lay foundational structure for leaders to no longer just give words to lofty, ethical values; now they are required to walk the talk and deliver at high performance levels with significant implications for effective results.
Leadership must reinforce the values of the mission outlined by positive organizational behavior. Because all actions are based on internal and often unexpressed motivation and behavior, leaders recognize that achieving buy-in from their associates is the way to success. In contrast, management focuses exclusively on the actions and behaviors of their associates with little or no interest in the reasons behind those actions. One of the greatest attributes for effective leaders is that they are unafraid of looking vulnerable to their peers when they don't have the answers that others are seeking. In the same light, some managers when they don't have the answers to the information seeks tend to place emotional distance between themselves and those seeking information. Leaders will listen to the people around them, knowing that they may learn lessons from their peers. Managers will talk at the people thinking that they can not learn from people who may not be on their level. Leaders quickly and effectively learn to openly embrace diversity and multiculturalism, while managers might try to encourage traditionalism. Effective leaders inspire the heart of a winner, while a manager may focus exclusively on the mind of a player. Leaders will courageously embrace change if they feel that change is eminent for the system to experience growth.
Managers will have a difficult time overcoming resistance to change and might hold the reins tightly to preserve the status quo. Great leaders inspire and develop emotional bonds to the mission at hand, but managers will tend to create compliance issues and stick closely to the status quo that might lead to a commanding perspective. Leaders create, inspire, and support ideation within their peer groups, while managers dictate based on the inflexible approach to leading.
Leadership, therefore, is crucial in creating exceptional performance. Leadership and management skills are complementary. Leadership combined with management creates synergistic opportunities and engage the mind, body, heart, and soul of the associates influenced by the actions of a winning team of great leaders of positive influence. Success in the 21st Century requires not only leaders who can manage, but managers who can lead systems, people, and environments into greatness.
This being the case, Democratic Leadership eliminates opportunities of enlisting archaic perspectives, offering a body of knowledge that channels enthusiastic initiatives without stifling potential for greater human and operational endeavors. Democratic Leadership offers a collective commitment for winning, using educational leadership as an everyday event; a state with "fluidity," ongoing and always in motion and the "vitality" within a system through its vision (and common orientation point) that finds a "voice." This discipline of leadership works to develop an intense, custom learning experience that enables top executives and managers to increase their leadership ability – personally and professionally; then how to applying new knowledge paradigms and tools within their workplace.
Democratic Leadership helps individuals to drive fundamental change and to achieve communal commitment by applying unified frameworks that wins! Democratic Leadership inspires and encourages a shared-vision that wins great behaviors and attitudes for building dynamic teams. The Law of CARE presents a theoretical underpinning for achieving such an accord.
As we continue on with the series, "Building Great Teams using the Morale Constructs Strategy," part two goes into the "Law of CARE: (Communication, Affirmation, Recognition, and Examination)." This law also examines the difference between management and leadership. Leadership is not management and most of all; good managers don't always make great leaders. Leadership and management skills are two very distinct and different paradigms, but they each possess complementary capabilities. In some cases, environments are faced with difficult challenges as they affect the individuals who are a part of the team and environment, but the success on both the individual and organizational level depend greatly on the ability of 'leaders' to manage and 'managers' to lead. The Law of CARE allows us to examine the effects of leadership, management, and the individual within a community.
Challenge: There seems to be a serious disconnect in the way individuals are chosen to lead. As we look at the Peter Principle, it examines how individuals are promoted throughout a system until he/she has reached a level of incompetence. This presents a classic demonstration of the inherent difficulties for individuals to manage and/or lead a system into greatness. In most scenarios, people become upwardly mobile based upon their past experiences. This can be seen as recognition for a job well done. The problem lies in the grooming factor. Under the Peter Principle, the very skills that allowed for growth will only lead to an individual's demise as they move into greater levels of their careers.
The Law of CARE has four characteristics that both increase and/or limit anxieties when the human endeavor experiences growth and becomes responsible for influencing others. One of the significant benefits of the law is trust and credibility. The law places all of its focus on the individual aspect as we look at building great teams that lead with excellence and manage with discipline. The individual element is the quintessential component that drives teams into greatness. This is the main reason for identifying this law, which looks into the depths and the heart of a true leader. Understanding the difference between leadership and management helps individuals to keep the blood flowing throughout a community.
Traditional management ideologies focus on the hard skills of business (accounting functions, operations, sales, marketing, etc). Management is both quantifiable and tangible and has significant processes to instruct on ways of executing protocol. However, leadership places a focus on the soft skills (team building and development, multiculturalism, corporate responsibility: aligning trust with the vision and mission, etc). These skills are qualitative and intangible and are difficult to place a rate of return on the investment.
This is an absolute misnomer for people who have not come to the realization that great leadership improves upon the results that are based on the tangible and quantifiable processes. Great leadership creates new perspectives to influence change; overcomes tough, complex, and uncertainties across the environment; develops positive organizational behaviors; increase competency levels and strategy execution to inspire a shared-vision; encourages individuals to remain on a continuum for achieving professional development; creates a bridge between the "what" (theory) and the "how-to" (practice) of organizational dynamics; increases communications, critical thinking, project management, and solution-centric processes to stimulate growth; and makes the "impossible" "POSSIBLE." So, as you can see, the potential to increase revenue while decreasing losses (not always relating to financial gains and losses) can be achieved at greater levels through leadership and not management. Although some people may be born with the required talents to lead effectively, others have to be taught. Without practice, training and discipline, the talent to become a great leader remains dormant. Leadership, therefore, is an active rehearsal of skill that can be learned.
The Law of CARE introduces six characteristics, known as the 6C's, which goes into the constructs of great teams from the individual leadership perspective. They help to transform the talents of a leader into capabilities that they can and will rely upon in critical situations. They seem to offer common sense and subjective anecdotal experience that reveals how without practice, they are not so common in a leaders daily functioning. The characteristics are also used to outline best practices for great leadership to follow: They are outlined as:
- Consistency
- Courage
- Conviction
- Commitment
- Contrite
- Captivating
They are essential to the behavioral and attitudinal approach taken and experienced by everyone within the community. They make it perfectly clear to themselves and to other individuals that leadership is "being" before "doing." To some, this simply means that leadership is the absolute meaning and defining attribute for achieving objectives. For others, it is a road map that lays the direction to excellence. Either way, each characteristic clarifies a means for growing individually and as an organization. They are key components that establish how people deal with one another. Increasingly, how we service each others needs is a powerful source of differentiation for all types of behaviors and attitudes. Indeed, people are very different in their approach for getting things done and how they seek to be treated. As time goes by, the circumstance in their personal lives and professional careers cause for service levels to constantly be adjusted.
The six characteristics can also be looked at as a form of technical assistance experienced in service calls when dealing with the people that make up a community. Education on the outlined characteristics makes clear an individual's reputation, character, and relationship functionality (behavior and attitude). The level of education and quality of information expressed through its learning makes clear how the community will react to changing paradigms that lends to specific growth.
Democratic Leadership uses the six characteristics as the quintessential essence found within the Law of CARE. They are simplistic in nature but conforms behavioral and attitudinal perspective for dealing with people over a period of time. Achieving the six characteristics builds a Democratic Leader's level of trust and the four core disciplines that also increase credibility.
1. Consistency. Individuals steadily act to influence greatness. Achieve all accomplishments through collaboration by fostering a warrior culture and the ultimate obligation of a winner rather than an uninspired drive that results significant under-achievement.
2. Courage (Challenge the Established Processes). Individuals must never run from doing what is right. Individuals must be prepared to step out on faith, removing themselves outside of popular culture, while searching for the courage and understanding to win over failure. This characteristic is where the rainmakers reside.
3. Conviction. Individuals communicate their convictions boldly.
4. Commitment (Model the Way). Individuals understand that the only thing necessary for the triumph of greatness is for the chosen to fail at not trying! Allowing your walk to mirror your talk demonstrates by example "what" should be done and "how" it must be done to execute task and responsibilities flawlessly.
5. Contrite (Encourage and Inspire the Heart of a Winner). Individuals know when to be humble and willingly demonstrate ability for being flexible in their way of thinking, hence transformational thought. Be prepared to recognize, appreciate, and celebrate the contributions from all persons involved in the winning process.
6. Captivating (Inspire a Shared-Vision). Individuals are tactical in their ability to positively influence a journey within the community that helps the stakeholders to find their voices. Individuals must envision the future picture that includes a sense of vitality and creativity that appeal to the desires of all stakeholders who act and contribute to the realization of an established vision.
The characteristics found within the Law of CARE help individuals to become the maverick conformists that stimulate a community's ability to change a perspective to current reality if needed. As time matriculates as a changing paradigm, so does a vision and the expected outcomes within an environment of trust. An individual in a position of leadership asserts or affirms positive influence that culminates excellence to others in their dealing with each person in the community. In doing so, recognition is achieved at all levels and places individuals on a continuum for future examination of proactive change.
What Leadership Is, but Is Not!
Although the six characteristics are considered to be soft skills, the failure to utilize them in leading individuals into greatness yields bottom-line results in decreased productivity, increased customer complaints, high attrition rates (retention difficulties), poor selection of team associates (recruitment defects), a reactive (rather than proactive) approach to the development of team-centric environments, and limitations within the development of a learning organization that possesses creativity and innovative ways to grow. Leadership is not about the touchy-feely aspects of human interaction, while management focuses on the serious issues.
Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler and an American industrialist, best known for his ability to bring failures back into greatness, is universally recognized for his outstanding leadership skills and most widely recognized as the top businessman in the world in the 1980's. Mr. Iacocca would never be known as incapable for addressing the serious issues plaguing modern business. He recognized that to achieve organizational greatness, and its corresponding high stock value and market share, requires overall commitment from his teams. He knew that the main ingredient for being the best pitch man for his brand required the knowledge of knowing that the individuals within Chrysler were fully committed to his vision. If they were not, the organization and the individual aspect would fail. Anyone can look back and see that his leadership became a credo at Chrysler and catapulted the company and its leading executive into greatness not passable performance, but truly great, transformational performance. He truly understood the Law of CARE and its importance to his style of leadership and to Chrysler as a whole.
But what is leadership? And how is it different from management? Leadership focuses on the long-term, but management places its focus on the short-term. Leadership keeps their eye on the horizon, while management keeps their eye on the bottom-line. Leadership will tolerate failure or missteps as long as the direction provides instruction toward the goal for both the individual, and the organization to learn from the failure. Failure, therefore, is viewed as a significant opportunity to learn. It is therefore safe to say that when thinking about how individuals comprehend an ability to influence environments to become successful at meeting their objectives, it would be OK to acknowledge the current state of leadership does not fit into a single mold.
The Law of CARE points out to its user that leadership, by its very nature, is an entity of influence through choice and changing environmental reality. As we think about popular culture and its belief for what leadership may be, the conclusion would bring most individuals to the conclusion (and not an assumption) that there is a greater state that achieves leadership itself. The six characteristics outlined by the law develop abilities for individuals to achieve a state of understanding, prediction, and management of human behavior in and out of the organization. They lay foundational structure for leaders to no longer just give words to lofty, ethical values; now they are required to walk the talk and deliver at high performance levels with significant implications for effective results.
Leadership must reinforce the values of the mission outlined by positive organizational behavior. Because all actions are based on internal and often unexpressed motivation and behavior, leaders recognize that achieving buy-in from their associates is the way to success. In contrast, management focuses exclusively on the actions and behaviors of their associates with little or no interest in the reasons behind those actions. One of the greatest attributes for effective leaders is that they are unafraid of looking vulnerable to their peers when they don't have the answers that others are seeking. In the same light, some managers when they don't have the answers to the information seeks tend to place emotional distance between themselves and those seeking information. Leaders will listen to the people around them, knowing that they may learn lessons from their peers. Managers will talk at the people thinking that they can not learn from people who may not be on their level. Leaders quickly and effectively learn to openly embrace diversity and multiculturalism, while managers might try to encourage traditionalism. Effective leaders inspire the heart of a winner, while a manager may focus exclusively on the mind of a player. Leaders will courageously embrace change if they feel that change is eminent for the system to experience growth.
Managers will have a difficult time overcoming resistance to change and might hold the reins tightly to preserve the status quo. Great leaders inspire and develop emotional bonds to the mission at hand, but managers will tend to create compliance issues and stick closely to the status quo that might lead to a commanding perspective. Leaders create, inspire, and support ideation within their peer groups, while managers dictate based on the inflexible approach to leading.
Leadership, therefore, is crucial in creating exceptional performance. Leadership and management skills are complementary. Leadership combined with management creates synergistic opportunities and engage the mind, body, heart, and soul of the associates influenced by the actions of a winning team of great leaders of positive influence. Success in the 21st Century requires not only leaders who can manage, but managers who can lead systems, people, and environments into greatness.
This being the case, Democratic Leadership eliminates opportunities of enlisting archaic perspectives, offering a body of knowledge that channels enthusiastic initiatives without stifling potential for greater human and operational endeavors. Democratic Leadership offers a collective commitment for winning, using educational leadership as an everyday event; a state with "fluidity," ongoing and always in motion and the "vitality" within a system through its vision (and common orientation point) that finds a "voice." This discipline of leadership works to develop an intense, custom learning experience that enables top executives and managers to increase their leadership ability – personally and professionally; then how to applying new knowledge paradigms and tools within their workplace.
Democratic Leadership helps individuals to drive fundamental change and to achieve communal commitment by applying unified frameworks that wins! Democratic Leadership inspires and encourages a shared-vision that wins great behaviors and attitudes for building dynamic teams. The Law of CARE presents a theoretical underpinning for achieving such an accord.
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