What Guidance Would You Give To A Leader?

What guidance would you give to a leader?

This guidence was given to "Anne Salisbury, PhD" after listening to her lecture on Fireworks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrqDGR042vg

In comparison to the lectures on meditation from SFZC.org, this lecture seemed very confusing, because it lacks two (2) key elements: the journey towards the goal, and how achieving the goal will enrich other's lives. Which, if held in thought correctly, sets up a positive feed back loop, that self motivates the individual to work towards the goal, even though it seems very far away.

An info graphic that displays this very closely, is of 10 guys sitting on a 10 case stairwell. On each stair the figure has an expression - emoticon and written expression - that describes his thoughts. At the bottom of the stairwell is exasperation at how much work he has to do. In the middle he is seeing some of the fruits of his labors. And at the top, he is jumping for joy that he has succeeded.

From a leadership perspective, with leadership defined as, "Guiding Intent with Integrity", this lecture on thoughts to meditate about would best be served by suggesting to the audience this guidance. "Think of a phrase that describes what you want to accomplish, and how you will feel when you accomplish it." Then, every time you reach a hard spot, remember to chant this phrase like a mantra. Don't allow any other thought to enter. Stay grounded and focused on this mantra until your mind clears and the solution to the problem in front of you becomes clear.

It is the readers intentions to achieve the goal they have set forth for themselves. It is the authors intentions to provide you with the best possible guidance given. As for the fireworks reference, I'm not sure what this was in reference to. Maybe it's the spark of joy that comes from reaching a goal, I guess.

As for integrity, this is the social contract between the leader and his audience. Are you in integrity by talking about meditation rituals that do not include a discussion on clearing the mind, or finding a path to permanent happiness, or even offering a clear example on how to bring happiness into your mind while it is clouded with frustration and anger?

Please take a moment to listen to the teachings from SFZC.org to understand my points. And contemplate the deeper meaning of what leadership is, and how it can enrich someone's life when applied correctly.

Hunting for the equation of a Tribal Leader

Michael Fuhrman

Sr. Software Developer

Hunting for the equation of a Tribal Leader by looking at existing and past tribes, to see how / where organizations are falling off the path, and getting lost.  Terence McKenna, says, "If the truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed."  Dave Logan's book on Tribal Leadership mixes many equations together. Two equations that I am looking at lately are:  1) Business - to solve a personal or business problem  2) Leadership - is guiding intent with integrity  An old day Tribe Leader was charged with taking care of his or her group: collecting resources, studying the problems, preparing, solving arguments and so forth. Whole cultures are built around this annual life cycle - Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall. Planting, cultivating, reaping, and resting.  Today's organizations, still follow the same cycle and still deal with the same humanistic life issues. We see product life cycles follow the same life cycle. We see people who go to school. We see farmers cultivating crops during the summer. We see young being born. We see elderly retiring, resting, and passing away.  Leadership is a hot topic because Dr. Deming clearly destroyed the old model of top down leadership that many US companies preferred. When asked to rebuild Japan, Dr. Deming demonstrated that self directed groups, tasked with a looking at a particular problem, could improve the production quality of any system. Expand these groups throughout the whole business, which P&G did, and suddenly it becomes a trade secret.  Right now in America, there is a fight being waged between the worker and the titled, "Leaders", of businesses. These leaders don't like letting go of their wealth, which for them translates into power. But in Japan, a CEO of an airline is being paid less than his pilots and decries what US CEO's are doing as bad business. What problem for a tribe does this cause when the Tribal Leader believes he is more important than his tribe, and therefore all the resources should belong to him?

Leaders Represent Followers to Non-Followers and Observers

One of the problems in leadership is the ability to represent their followers without being marginalized. In a corporate environment, this would look like, a leader representing his group as he reports to his superior. If the leader looses focus of the issues be dealt with - either through distraction, promotion, scope creep, or seduction - then the leaders ability to move both his superior and his followers lessons. Until the leader has no power what so ever because he is considered incapable by both his superior and his followers.

In essence, the leader has to remain independent of the issues in order to achieve the goals. And, the leader has to ask the followers the hard question, "What do WE need to change in order for us to get what we need?"

The problem is that the followers want everyone else to change, so that they can avoid the hardship of change. This however is unrealistic. In every piece of facilitation I perform, there is a point where the group has to acknowledge that: - they want something new, - they are getting something through their actions, and - they have to give up something to get what they want

Yes there is the emotional attachment to the familiar, but change requires leaders to think about new and creative ways to help people move from their current behavioral mind set to a new mindset, through a series of easy to follow steps.

For example, Steve Jobs held a belief that technology should help people do their work as a natural extension to their existing life. The iPhone was a natural extension to merging the Phone, PDA, iPod, Camera, and many other devices. Google Glass unfortunately was not a natural extension of a daily activity, and in fact got in the way of many people's ability to carry out their daily lives. However, while Google Glass may not have practical applications for the sited, it may hold many benefits for the blind.

This is how the issue remains center stage, while the leader represents the group of followers to the non-followers and observers to insure that their voice is heard, while holding the delicate balance of not becoming the issue.

Leadership Questions

So, I've been reading a lot of books on leadership and collecting questions on leadership.  Here are some of them:

How do leaders build relationships?

How do leaders coach followers to become leaders?

What methods are there when describing a vision to followers?

How do leaders ferret out the beliefs of their followers?

How do leaders empower their followers to make decisions?

Why do leaders praise their followers when they have succeeded at achieving a milestone and/or a goal?

How do leaders control the conversation? And why is this [ controlling the conversation ] important?

How do leaders respond to an observers comment a out their execution of a vision?

How does a leader respond when a follower's limiting beliefs affect their [ the followers] motivation and initiative?

How and Who should leaders solicit input from followers about their vision?

Does a leader need to be a planner or a do'er?

Does a leader need planners or do'ers as followers?

How should a leader respond when a mistake is discovered?

How should a leader discuss goals in order to come into alignment with their followers?

When should a leader step into a team dispute?

What sources should a leader take into account when building a vision?

Should a leader organize his followers based on guiding principles or the rule of law?

What should a leader keep from his followers?

When should a leader interact with other groups?

What habits should a highly effective leader have?

Should leaders reflect on their past leadership roles?

How does a leader determine who to reward when the vision is achieved?

How does Ego affect a leaders ability to lead followers?

How do leaders check in with followers on their progress, resources, and/or journey?

How does a leader think about his followers?

How does a leader build respect?

How does a leader delegate responsibility?

How does a leader take two opposing view points and create a third unifying view point?

Why does a leader face what he fears most?

How does a leader manage expectations?

How do leaders manage uncertainty?

How does a leader challenge the norm, and set the pace of change that followers can absorb?

How does a leader uncover deep seated and held beliefs by followers, non-followers, outsiders and observers?

How does a leader bring his followers to understand the benefits and trade offs associated with their desired outcome?

How does a leader start a conversation about a difficult subject?

How does a leader keep a conversation going until all the perspectives have been examined?

How does a leader deal with resistance to change from followers, non-followers and outsiders?

How does a leader deal with distractions from the vision?

How does a leader represent the followers issues to peers, non-followers, outsiders and observers?

What happens to a leader when he becomes the message, and no longer the messenger?

How can a leader help two groups change - his followers primarily, and the non-followers and observers. While, Outsiders are not affected by the issue initially, they may become affected through the proposed changes.

What questions should a leader ask his followers to determine how willing and able they are to change vs how much they require others to change?

How should a leader represent his followers issues to peers, followers, non-followers, outsiders and observers?

When should a leader step out of the drama he's playing in, and look at the play from an audience's perspective as well as a critics?

What should a leader do to monitor factions within his followers?

Should a leader monitor the factions in non-followers?

Should a leader build coalitions in peers, followers, non-followers, outsiders, and observers?

Should a leader empathize with the pain of change peers, followers, non-followers, outsiders and observers will feel as they strive for a goal?

What are followers willing sacrifice during periods of change?

Why, when and how do followers push back when they refuse to change?

What happens when a leader presents an issue before the followers are ready to deal with it?

Why is change necessary?

A leader is faced with two warring factions, usually over the separation of duties, he can side with one faction or the other, why would he choose not to?

Why would a leader choose to act like a facilitator and allow those working on a cultural problem to work it out among themselves?

What should you talk about with a Leader?

When you think about the question, "What should I talk about with my leader?", how do you plan the time you've arranged with them? Do you talk about stuff they already know? Do you provide them with information about what they don't know? Do you ask them to fill in information gaps?

What denotes a Negative Leader?

This is in response to:

Avoiding negative leadership practices

If leadership is guiding intent with integrity towards a goal, then negative leadership is one style of leadership among seven (7) styles : Great, Positive, Good, General, Bad, Negative, and Dark. While leaders also interact with five (5) other groups: peers, followers, non-followers, outsiders and observers.

The qualities of a negative leader listed in the article were: - tendencies to control everything, - interfere and dictate how the job should be done, - their goal is to hijack the glory of the good results, and - to absolutely refrain from any delegation.

Other qualities of negative leaders to consider are: - their type of guidance provided? - their intentions? - how they view the social contract? - what are their goals? - responses in decision making areas?

A leader's guidance can motivate their subordinates? Or, place them under greater stress to complete the project? Does the guidance imbue the subordinate to take initiative? How are subordinates separated from each other? What words does the leader use?

What are the leader's intentions? For himself, for his subordinates, his career, and so on. Does the leader intend to share success or keep it to himself? Is this just part of a larger project? How close is the leader keep their intentions? Why did the leader join this project?

How does the leader view the social contract between him and his subordinates? Is the contract a mutual one, or is there a 75/25 split? How often is the leader trying to break the contract? What methods does the leader use to break the contract? When and how are people removed from the group?

What goals has the leader may expressed? Are there other goals in mind. Many people usually see an opportunity as a stepping stone to another, what does this leader see this goal as?

Decision making is usually situation. Here are several categories that a leader will make decisions in. They are: communications, rules, roles, problem solving, issue identification and raising, reputation, human condition, integrity, intent, guidance, promotion, individualism, group membership, group management, task management, strategies, expressions, influence, security, networking, offensive actions, defensive actions, resource allocation and distribution, governance, observation.

Then there are the other people that they interact with, the: peers, non-followers, out-siders, and observers.

How does a negative leader interact with fellow peers? How does he talk about his subordinates? How does he talk about his projects? What issues does he raise and address surrounding his goals?

Non-Followers are those that dislike the leader usually. The message that the leader trumpets usually grates against them in various ways. Either through violations of integrity, or a knowledge or distrust of their true intentions. Or it could be that the guidance is so poorly worded that the non-follower recognizes the harness of the negative leaders speech and tries to stay clear.

Out-Siders are usually unaffected by the leaders actions, discussions, goals, or day to day interactions. However, if this group has something that a leader wants / needs, they may become a target for a larger strategy to acquire that resource.

And finally, there are the observers. These individuals live in all camps. They are peers, followers, non-followers, and out-siders, who watch the leader and take in his decisions and actions from a distance. They calculate his next possible move, and contemplate what his overall objective is and how likely he is to make it. In the end, observers play a vital role for keeping leaders in check, in either reminding them about how in-effective they are, to how effective they are being, or how over reaching they are.

So, as you can see, the discussion of a negative leader is much larger than originally described. I look forward to reading more about your thoughts and findings on the subject.