1. Leaders: Born or Bred Jeanne Stuntz and Karen El-Tawil
Synergy Conference
October 1, 2014

2. Leadership Goes Beyond..
Career Backgrounds: Karen and Jeanne come from very different industries.
Skills needed to lead an organization regardless are universal.
Mentoring over the years.
Jeanne

3. Disclosure
Nothing that we are going to share with you today is new information. We have compiled the information from many published leadership theories and our own and other’s personal experiences. These principles apply to each and every leadership role you are privileged to serve in. There is many resources available to supplement our time today and we suggest that you seek out resources continually to enhance your path to be an exceptional leader
Jeanne: At the end of the presentation there is a list of resources that were used in this presentation.
We acknowledge that your presence here today means that you have leadership responsibilities or you want the opportunity. We look forward to learning from your experience as well.

4. Management vs. Leadership
Management is something you do with things
You manage a budget, your inventory, your checkbook, your resources but you do not manage people
Leadership is something you do with people
You lead a team or organization, you lead others not things
Jeanne: Many companies use theses terms interchangeably. I will challenge you to see them separately and to strive to be good at both.

5. Leadership Defined: The art of mobilizing others to want to
struggle for shared aspirations
Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner
“ The Leadership Challenge”
Jeanne:

6. A skill is simply a learned or acquired ability
Leadership Defined:
The skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically towards goals identified as being for the common good
A skill is simply a learned or acquired ability
Jeanne: A skill is a learned behavior and although there are people that are born with a natural tendency to lead it does not mean that a person willing to learn the skills necessary for leadership is capable -----it is a decision.
anyone with appropriate desires as well as actions can learn the skill

7. Leadership is a Responsibility
People in your organization are entrusted to your care
Employees spend approximately half their waking time working and living in the environment that you create
The employees are counting on you for financial security
To be successful at leadership is a personal decision to develop the skill of influencing people
Jeanne: Many people spend time thinking about the rights they get with a promotion to a managerial and leadership role…. They should instead they should be pondering the awesome responsibility. It is not something that should be accepted lightly.

8. Leadership is About Influence
The skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically towards goals identified as being for the common good
How do we develop influence with people?
How do we get people to do our will?
How do we get people engaged in the vision of the enterprise?
How do we get their ideas, commitment, creativity and excellence?
Jeanne: It is all about Influence. Getting people to commit to the purpose and to share the goal is voluntary for each worker….You can’t demand them to want the company to succeed. AS an employee they simply have to perform their duties in a satisfactory manner. A true leader wants more for their team.

9. Power vs. Authority
To understand Influence you must understand the difference between Power and Authority
Power : The ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your position. Power can be bought and sold, given and taken away.
Authority : The skill of getting people to willingly do your will because of your personal influence . Authority can not be bought or sold, given or taken away. It is about who you are as a person, your character and influence that you have built with people.
Jeanne: Most of us understand power – Do this or I will fire you! In the global political situation the US tells countries to stop their actions or we will bomb you. As a parent we tell kids to do their chores or they will get grounded.
Authority is very different than power. Notice that Power is about an ability and Authority is about skill. Authority is when someone takes action because of who asked or why they asked. I
It doesn’t take brains of skill to exercise power. But building authority with people requires a special skill set. If you are willing to work at developing that skill set you will be able to influence people and become a leader
Individuals can have power without authority and authority without power.
Why not just go with the power that we have given…for example …..you tell your son to take out the garbage or he will be grounded. it gets done right? But what about when he grows up and fights back? Instead if you influence your son to understand that everyone needs to help to keep the family flowing
Power erodes relationships. Power works for a while but after a few seasons it damages the relationships involved. Think about non-profit organizations that are dependent on volunteers. Volunteers will only respond to authority and not power. Remember that your employees voluntarily choose to follow a leader.
There are times when you must exercise power but a true leader will reflect on why power was necessary. Your resort to Power when your Authority breaks down or worse, we didn’t have any in the first place.
Examples of famous people that had no power but were able to change the world through authority and influence.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”
Nelson Mandela: “I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.”
Mahatma Gandhi: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Mother Teresa:  “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.”

10. Think of someone who has authority (not power) in your life!
Honest
Holds People Accountable
Caring
Positive
Respectful
Committed
Trustworthy
Jeanne: This is someone for whom you would want through walls. Now think of the quality of character these people have.
How many of these Character qualities does the person you thought about have?
All these traits are behaviors and ………. behaviors are a choice
How many of these traits do you have??
Many of these traits are often developed early in life and become habitual. Some character traits continue to evolve and mature while others change little from adolescence. Major changes in your life sometimes challenge you to develop traits further. Think of when you got married, or had kids….what about the first time you supervised people or became the captain of a team
As a leader we need to pick the traits that we need to develop and challenge ourselves to change our habits. That requires a choice and a lot of effort but the result is people out there will think of you in the same respect love and admiration as the people you thought of just a few minutes ago. In addition your business, family, team, group, enterprise will thrive.
Selfless
Good listener
Good Role Model
Enthusiastic
Encouraging
Thankful

11. Leaders Have Good Followers
All leaders have followers.
Do you have followers?
Are your followers good for the organization?
Your responsibility as a leader is to interact with the followers to ensure they’re working in the direction of the goals of the organization.
In any position in an organization you have both a leader and follower role.

12. Eight Lessons in Leadership
Karen: In my time in leadership roles, I have barrowed, utilized and developed (with the help of my mentors as well as individuals I have mentored) 8 lessons in leadership. I hope that these wlll aid you in understanding and developing the skills necessary for effective leadership.
It is a starting place.

13. # 1 - Be a Driver Not a Passenger
The transformation from Manager to Leader
Getting your drivers license was a major step in your life
But driving is a big responsibility and it changed the way that you travel
You were now responsible for others
Your actions could impact other lives
Karen: Before you had your drivers license you could read a book, mess around with other passengers and even sleep. Once you get your license you lose some of the freedoms and rights previously enjoyed.

14. # 1 - Be a Driver
As a Leader you take on new responsibilities and lose some freedoms as well
It is your responsibility to fix problems. Use all resources available.
You cannot openly complain about the company. You will never earn the respect of your staff.
You cannot blame others for a problem within your group. You must take responsibility for everything that happens.
You lose the right to some of your time because you have to share your time with your staff.
You lose the right to be liked by everyone, instead you seek to be respected by everyone.
Karen: Fixing problems – As a driver you are the one determining the path and adjusting to obstacles. You need to get your passengers to their location safely and in a certain time frame. As a leader you have a similar responsibility. You need to identify, understand and acknowledge obstacles in front of your staff. It is your job to minimize or remove these and you will need to use all resources available to you. Rarely is your problem unique. Seek advice - peers, boss professionals, networks, mentors, books..etc. No one knows everything and seeking advice is a sign of maturity and strength not weakness. Likewise the people that believe they have all the answers are ignorant in their roles as a leader.
Complaining – this can be done with your boss and your peers if it is done in the effort of fixing a problem and not bad mouthing another. Once a decision is made (even if you don’t agree with it then you need to support that decision as a member of the management team.
Blaming – When you blame others you build a culture of fear. No one wants to admit to errors and the focus is on the past and not fixing the future. You should blame your peers for things in their departments either. That undermines your peer’s authority with your staff. Mutual respect is critical to success.
Accepting responsibility and placing blame are direct opposites. A leader fixes problems instead of finding someone to blame. This doesn’t mean that you don’t invesitgate to improve procedures and eliminate the future risk but not in a frame of blame. Relate story of telling a staffer that I had her back ……
Sharing your time – you need to plan this into your day because your employees need to be heard and just like when you are driving they may be able to prevent an accident if you are listening to their concerns.
Wanting to be liked by the ones that you lead is natural. It is part of human nature but being respected for the right reasons is much more important than being liked. Sometimes doing right thing is not the thing that will make everyone happy. Remember our discussion of wants and needs. If the leader who wants people to like him/her cannot not be successful if that is their objective when making the decision. A leader doesn’t need to eliminate personal relationships with people that they work with but a leader doesn’t let the relationships get in the way of doing the right thing.

15. # 2 - What is the Main thing?
The Main Thing is the mission of an individual group.
It should be as easy as 2 to 4 simple bullet points.
Teams/employees that underachieve often don’t know or focus on their main thing.
It is the leaders responsibility to get buy in from their boss on the groups main thing.
Karen: “First Things First” Steven Covey. The Main thing of a department can be different than the mission statement of a company but it should support the mission statement of a company. The main thing for your department may change from time to time. If the main thing changes …Did you communicate it to the group? Is everyone clear?
Relay an example of when the main thing changed over time. I have one but a good example from Jeanne would help.
When the main thing is clearly defined it helps to everyone in the department make decisions in the daily work.
As leader you must get buy-in from your boss on the main thing. Agreeing with your boss on the main directive is a unifying factor and helps to form the basis for a positve relationship and sound decision making.

16. # 2 – What is the Main Thing?
How to determine “The Main Thing”
Start with the goals of the group. If you don’t have written goals then write some.
Meet individually with your staff and solicit their input to what is the main function of the group.
Meet with your boss or superiors and get buy-in on the Main Thing.
Communicate the main thing with your group. Make sure that you get total alignment .
Use the main thing to prioritize and focus activities. Help your staff prioritize their efforts to ensure success.
Jeanne: How to identify and clarify your main thing is critical. If you don’t know what the main thing is then your staff clearly wont and your chances of success are limited.
Start with your departmental goals. If your company doesn’t participate in written goals and objectives then I suggest you implement them in your group.
Once you have clear understanding of your main thing - go to your staff individually. Ask them what they think the main think is. Unless you openly talk about it your staff will have different perceptions on what the main thing is. I think that the staff’s responses will surprise you. You can’t get angry or frustrated at their misconceptions because remember …you are responsible for everything in the group and if you didn’t clearly communicate the main thing. That is easy to fix. Adjust your main thing as necessary because remember you can learn from everyone even your staff.
Meet with your boss and get buy-in on the process. If he didn’t provide or participate in the goals setting get him to sign off on those too. Adjust the main thing with input from the meeting. As a leader you must take the time and initiative to manage your relationship with your boss. Your main thing must support the Main thing of the bigger organization and only upward communication will ensure that.
Communicate the Main Thing. This can be done in many ways. You will get a feel for how aligned the staff is when you talk to them one on one. You may be able to communicate in a meeting or it may be necessary get buy in and one on one meetings would be better.. Once you have buy in……remind people all the time. Make a poster of the main thing. Put a sign up in the hall that says “’what is the main thing’? Ask the question of staff when they are trying to problems solve an issue. Make sure that their solution addresess the focus of the group.
Relate a story of a person in a group who wasn’t aligned with the main thing.
Soon you will see your staff using the phrase with each other and there will never be confusion regarding the main thing again.

17. # 2 – What is the Main Thing?
Remember
When you or your staff is feeling overwhelmed …. Go back to the basics……

18. # 3 – Escaping from Management Land
Management Land is the overly political office place
Simple things become complex
Game playing is more important than success
Employees are rewarded for telling the boss what he/she wants to hear
Egos are large
Truth is hard to determine
Problems are not dealt with promptly
Karen: It is frustrating and confusing for the whole organization when you operate in management land. Employees are unclear if they should tell their boss what they want to hear or the truth. It is also very difficult to break out of this behavior and convince an organization to change.

19. # 3 – Escaping from Management Land
Many good companies have leadership with the will to succeed but that lacks modesty. This creates a culture where:
Employees tend to feed the ego of the leader.
Employees do not feel part of the success or appreciated
The company breeds a culture of individualism
To escape from Management Land:
Strive to be a servant leader by focusing on the task and not self
Always be honest with your team – even when it is hard
Stay in close touch with your people to ensure you are getting clear and honest input.
Karen: This refers back to the Good to Great study by Jim Collins. And Level 5 leadership.
By seeing and expressing the success of the company as a team accomplishment rather than an individual one you inspire the team. Everyone owns the success and it builds a drive for them to continue to succeed . Everyone wants to be on a winning team but it more fun to be on a team where it is a true team effort and not a superstar doing all the work. The other players feel overlooked and tend to go to another team where they feel they will be able to contribute and be valued.
To escape:
Be the servant leader that we spoke of earlier. The leader is someone who identifies and meets the legitimate needs of the staff, one who removes barriers.
You must be completely honest. If you look up the definition of Honest (verb) it says; to be upright and fair, truthful, sincere, but most importantly it says free from deceit or fraud. In addition Honest people stick to their word and follow through on their commitments. If you are honest, stick to your word, and work to remove the obstacles that your staff has, then staff you will earn their respect. One lie from the leader will wipe away respect that sometimes takes a long time to build.
This doesn’t mean that you need to tell your staff everything. It means what you must never deceive them or give them wrong information. It means that you must address problems and issues with individuals and groups instead of avoiding them.
If you stay close to your people and understand their challenges and needs then they will feel more free to be honest with their input. As a leader you can react to their input in a variety of ways but if you tell the employee that their input is wrong then they will not give you input again. Instead, ask questions regarding their comments.
“have you thought about?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Can you give me an example?”
“how would you do it differently?” and finish with and acknowledgement –
“thank you for that input”
“thank you for being honest with me”
“I hadn’t thought about it in that way before and that was helpful”
“lets continue this discussion the next time we are together”
This interaction will encourage them to engage when they have input.
In addition Honest people stick to their word and follow through on their commitments.

20. # 3 – Escaping from Management Land
Managing For Performance
Consider a team composed of:
Super Stars – knowledge, desire and experience
Middle stars – adequate knowledge and reliable or previous superstars who lost their motivation
Falling stars - doing as little as they can get away with
ASK YOURSELF
What is the minimum acceptable level of performance and Is falling star behavior acceptable to you?
Are you rewarding falling stars by giving them less work and letting them stay onboard?
Falling Stars breed Falling Stars!!!
Karen: Managing for Performance can be one of the most difficult parts of leadership and honesty is imperative. You must have a process and a plan to deal with low performing employees and this process must be consistent and allow for the employee to adjust their star. Short term goals, milestones and follow-up is critical to success.
As a leader, it is our responsibility, desire to developing superstars. This is critical to the companies success. We also need to take responsibility for falling stars. Either we hired a person without knowledge or experience they need to do the job, we haven’t provided them with adequate knowledge or experience or the most difficult to face – we have not inspired them with the desire to succeed or for the company to succeed.
Everyone in the group generally knows who the individuals that are not pulling their weight. If you pile work on the superstars to compensate for falling stars, the super stars wont stay super. You can not ignore poor performance and expect the super stars to stay around.
Would you rather lose a falling star due to imitating a performance approval process or disciplinary action or would you rather lose your superstar for having ignored the problem. to get by on doing less work it is demotivating to the superstars.
Don’t misunderstand me….I don’t support regular layoffs or the old Enron/IBM practice of cutting the bottom 10% each year…. I take responsibilty for falling stars and see it as one of my failures. As a leader I am advocating for addressing performance issues early so that they do not become problems. I suggest you work hard to improve the employees performance and if that is not possible you let them. They need to find someplace else where they can add value.

21. # 4 – Do the Right Thing
Suppose your superstar violates the company code of conduct and no one knows but you. What do you do?
If you terminate the superstar the performance level will drop. Don’t we want to raise the performance level?
Karen:
A Leader must focus on raising the performance level for
long-term sustainable success

22. # 4 – Do the Right Thing Integrity is doing the right thing even when
no one is watching - C.S. Lewis
Doing the right thing is always right, even when it is hard
Doing the right thing is always right, even if it causes short term problems
Doing the right thing is always right, even when you are the only one that knows
This sounds easy in theory but can be very difficult in reality
Karen: If your company doesn’t have a code of conduct or a statement of values then you should develop one. Each employee should know exactly what the company’s values are and how they are expected to conduct themselves. This will also help you to get the right people on the bus…opps …..I am skipping forward. Unless you define right and wrong for your company then you can not hold your employees to a right and wrong standard.
The problem with a superstar may be hypothetical to you but it is one that I have actually experienced. To do the right thing meant not meeting our quarterly and possibly annual goals. Our company worked on a company wide bonus structure so it meant that each employee would make less money for the year. The company was publically traded so it also impacted the shareholders….. All of that didn’t change the right thing and the employee was terminated. I will also stress that in this situation you allow the employee to leave with dignity. The employee was asked to resign and the actual reason for his leaving was limited to those that needed to know. If I was to disgrace the employee in the process then I would lose trust with the remaining group.

23. # 4 – Do the Right Thing
Having contingency plans and conducting risk analysis before you get into trouble will help you stay on course
It is healthy to ask “what if?” or “what could go wrong?”
Contingency plans help you do the right thing when faced with a challenging situation
Develop the plan before you get into crisis
Everything counts when it comes to Leadership
You need to guard your personal integrity as if it is your most valuable leadership possession.
“To know what is right and not to do it is the
worst cowardice” - Confucius
Karen: Without losing track of the main thing… dedicate resources to create contingency plans and succession planning. Risk analysis will help in prioritizing issues and focus your efforts. It doesn’t have to be all tackled at once. Address a few issues at a time or a year and in no time you will have plans in place for you biggest potential problems you will face.
Everything counts when it comes to leadership. When there are problems on a team we as humans have a tendency to cover them up rather than face them. In leadership, if you ignore a problem your team will see it. This will define what type of leader you are to them. This puts your personal integrity at risk which jeopardizes trust and your ability to lead a team.

24. # 4 – Do the Right Thing Accountability
If you as a leader have made a mistake then you must recognize it and apologize for it
Holding staff accountable for behaviors or actions is difficult and must be handled properly
Holding yourself and team accountable for their behavior, actions, and performance is critical to create a culture of leadership
“It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the
consequences of one's acts.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
Karen: When we think back to the list of characteristics of a leader, many will say that the characteristics are soft. Selfless caring, encouraging, positive, thankful are all nurturing traits and some believe that they make a leader soft. But when you combine those with honest, accountability, commitment it creates a leader who is strong.
Accountability is the right thing to do. Everyone must be held accountable for their actions including you

25. # 4 – Do the Right Thing Holding Each Other Accountable
Each individual must be responsible to act in line with the company code of conduct or value statement
Each employee should have clear and written goals of performance
Addressing accountability issues with staff should always be done promptly, privately and in a positive manner
If accountability issues persist then a written plan for improvement should be use and clear definitions of the potential consequences
Regular follow-up is imperative to correct the behavior
Karen: If you address the issues when they are small they rarely become big. It is uncomfortable to do but will get easier as you develop the skill.
Example of an employee that was consistently negative about a task or individual. Ask them to coffee and tell them that you are concerned about the negative comments that they have towards the topic/person. Ask them why they feel that way. Let them talk and hear their issues because you may be able to help. Ask them how they think that can improve the situation. Let them know that their comments are affecting others in the group. Give them suggestions to see the positives in the situation. Ask them to be a role model and avoid the negative discussions. Ask for their commitment to try to improve.
We will talk more about job performance in the next lesson but if they are not performing to the standard you expect then the employee shouldn’t have to wait till the next performance review to find out. If you are doing your job as a leader/ manager they should never be surprised at an annual review.
Can you hold others accountable if you are not in a management role? What about our peers, our boss, friends or family? Remember that leaders don’t need to have power to lead. The best way to influence others is to lead by example. Take accountability for your own actions. Apologize when you make a mistake or act inappropriately. Ask others to make an effort to be positive or help them to problem solve the issue. Listen to them.
Remember that holding people accountable should always be done in private and without anger. If you publically address this the individual may feel embarrasses or disciplined. Other staff members may fear a future public correction. It only takes a short time to address improvement in many cases and the entire team will benefit from the corrective action.

26. # 5 – Hiring the Right People
Getting the Right People on the Bus!
The right people are your most important asset
Finding employees and putting them in the right roles is the most important job of a leader
Work diligently to get the right people on the Bus and the wrong people off the bus.
If you hire tough then managing gets easier and if you hire easy then managing gets tougher.
Karen: This is the most important role a leader had to build a sustainable future and ensure success.

27. # 5 – Hiring the Right People
What can we do to hire the right people?
When you know in your heart that you need to make a people change on your team – act promptly
Be rigorous not ruthless in the selection process
Never lower your standards just to fill a position quickly, you may pay dearly for that later
Be prepared for the interview
Use your time to evaluate character (work ethic, ego, energy) and intellect.
Karen: Prolonging people changes only draws the problem out. If you have addressed the performance issues and given the person an opportunity to improve and it hasn’t worked then you need to make the change. Sometimes the person has strengths in another areas that can still be valuable to the company but you wil have to adjust their position.
Tell the best sales guy doesn’t always make the best sales manager story….
The selection process should include internal and external candidates if we are doing a good job at developing people and leaders than ideally all the positions would be internal but not everyone develops at the same rate and sometimes you need to bring in outside candidates to help develop the team.
If you move too quickly just to fill the position and get the wrong person in the job you could lose a year or more of getting the right person on the bus. Each new hire will take time from other staff to train. The cost for hiring the wrong person is high and it adds frustration for the entire team. If you have doubts
Then do not hire and keep looking ..it is better to lose a month than a year. Follow your contingency plans in the mean time.

28. # 5 – Hiring the Right People
The interview process
Don’t get hung up on looking for people with the exact experience the job requires
Look for people who can step up to the opportunity and grow. They will be a more satisfied employee
The “right person” usually has more to do with the character traits and intellect that previous experience
Karen: The interview time should not be a time for regurgitating the candidates resume. Ask questions lots of questions. Ask for examples of teams they worked on that were most effective and least effective. Ask them to describe their idea boss. Ask them about the boss they have had in the past that they struggled with. Ask them to describe a success that they had in a previous role that they feel good about. Ask them to describe their weaknesses. Remember that you are building a culture of integrity so everyone has areas that they can develop. If they have no weaknesses they are not self aware! Ask how they learn. A leader learns their whole life.
Don’t be afraid to hire people with more experience than you have. If your focus is the team other than self you will not be threatened and likewise if you build the best team than your leadership will be visible through your team.

29. # 6 – Do Less or Work Faster
Time management
Leaders can feel that their time is not their own
This can be a huge source of stress
A leader must be able to set their own agenda and take control of their time
Working harder can sometimes help but working smarter always helps
The trick is to look for small increments
Karen: There is only a finite amount of time, we all want more but we have all there is, so we only have two ways to improve time management: either do less or work faster.
Jeanne: Time in houses being purposeful

30. # 6 – Do Less or Work Faster
Think about lesson # 2 What is the main thing?
Have the discipline to say NO when it is not part of your main thing
Work Faster
Prioritizing and organizing :
Use the 80/20 rule to focus your team.
Have a daily plan and prioritize what you want to accomplish
Question the value in department reports and only produce what has value
Control the vacuum
Batch like activities
Do less -
Use the main thing as a test to eliminate time spent on unnecessary issues. Are you making commitments to do things that are not productive for the group?
Saying No. Some times you are asked to do things that are outside your groups responsibility. It is great to help but if you aren’t getting your own work done or you are killing yourself to get it done then sometimes you need to say no when it is not part of your main thing. Support your group memebers when they need to say no as well.
Work Faster
20% of the teams activities usually deliver 80% of the value. Focus on the 20% first and then start working on the 80%
Set aside minutes each day to plan your day. Include time for staff interruptions they will happen I did my planning t night before I left so it was clear in my mind and came in each morning ready to go.
Sometimes we create report after report that no one seems to really use any more. By eliminating reports or consolidating like reports you can save yourself a significant amount of time on a go forward basis.
If you read and respond to at each delivery then you will be interrupted all day. Set aside 2 or 3 periods of time each day to deal with . Make sure your staff knows how to get a hold of you if an urgent issue arises but not through .
Batch like jobs avoids you starting and stopping all the time. Eliminate as many nonproductive transitions as possible. Example perormance reviews. Accounting issues, necessary reading.

31. # 6 – Do Less or Work Faster
Limiting interruptions:
Create strategies to mitigate interruptions
Stand during the interruption instead of sitting
Schedule one on one sessions with team members that habitually interrupt
If there is something that needs quick attention get all the right people involved at the beginning
Communicate your time plan with others especially when there are critical tasks pending
Ask your staff what you do that wastes their time
Work Faster
Limiting interruptions.
Interruptions is one of the most difficult things to manage. As a leader we need to be available to our people and we need to be willing to listen to them to reduce the obstacles in their goals but sometimes they can take up a huge amount of time. There are ways to listen and be available while protecting your time.
For one week keep and log of who is interrupting you and for how long. You will notice trends and patterns that will help you create a strategy to minimize them.
Ask the employee hat is in your office 10 times a day to have a daily meeting with you. Each time they enter your office simply say can we add that issue to our meeting? Soon they will be keeping a list of things to talk to you about for the time that is set aside. Be clear that the meeting needs to be brief.
You don’t want to repeat the same information over and over again. Ensure the right people are involved in the discussions to avoid duplicate effort and communication. This can save hours of time.
You can set up rules for your time with staff and still have an available to your staff. Open door policy does not mean you can’t close your door occasionally.
My door was rarely closed but when it was my staff now that I was working on something important and could not be disturbed. You have to plan time in those days to come out of the office and walk in the group to give them the opportunity to talk with you and to clear your head to refresh you to go back to the important tasks.
You may be surprised … what you are doing to waste your groups time. If you get a report each month that gives you numbers you need but instead of lookigna t the report you want in to the report makers office to ask them the information. Protect your time and your staff’s time too.

32. # 6 – Do Less or Work Faster
Managing meetings effectively:
Meetings should be productive and short with a specified time period
Beware of perpetual meetings
Prioritize the agenda and cover the most important items first
Ensure appropriate attendees
Do not stop and re-cap to bring the late attendees up to date
Summarize action items and the responsible parties that arise from the meeting at the end and identify
Schedule a follow-up meeting before adjourning.
Work Faster
Managing meetings
The ideal meeting is productive but short. It should always have a start and stop time. This helps keep the meeting on track as well as allow you and your group to manage the remainder of the day.
If the meeting has been going on forever - question it’s worth. All meeting should have specific purpose. If the information can be provided through a report then the meeting is not necessary.
You will have a start and stop time and you should not exceed that. If you prioritize the most important issue and put them first then if the meeting stops without completing the agenda you know the most important issues have been covered.
Make sure the relevant people attend to avoid repeating information in the future.
Recapping the meeting to date rewards those who come to the meeting late and wastes the time of all the other attendees. If a recap is necessary it should take place after the meeting is over. Then only two peoples time is wasted. Habitual late attendees will likely change their behavior if you adhere to no re-cap. If they don’t then as leader you need to address the situation with honesty.
If action items were determined from the meeting then they should be summarized at the end of the meeting to ensure everyone knows what they are supposed to do. If additional meeting on the topic need to be scheduled then set the date and time while every one is present to avoid scheduling delays.

33. As a Leader you are the chief bucket filler
# 7 – Motivation
Filling Buckets
Imagine that each employee carries a bucket that holds their motivation
We want all buckets full
But some buckets leak and need to be refilled
Each employee also has a dipper and can empty their own and others buckets
Dippers = cynicism, negativity, stress, confusion, complaining, doubt and fear
Leaders personal score card is based on what your people achieve. They are your productivity
You need your team more than they need you. They collectively accomplish more than you do
There are huge returns in getting your team to work at higher levels
As a Leader you are the chief bucket filler

34. # 7 – Motivation
The best way to fill buckets is with excellent communication
Communicate the team score card
Provide feedback – sincere, specific, and timely
Provide recognition
Tailor recognition to the individual
Involve them in making major decisions
Take time to know them personally beyond the task at hand
Demonstrate compassion when they go the extra mile.
Provide hand written thank you notes
Assign top performers to mentor junior people on the team
Make one on one time available to spend w/every person on the team
A leader with direction and focus fills buckets. A leader who creates confusion and inconsistency is a dipper.
Make sure that everyone knows the teams score – performance against objectives. People are motivated by feeling that they are making a meaningful contribution to a winning team. It is important for them to understand how their contribution impacts the team.
Everyone needs feedback and once a year is not enough. If you wait too long the bucket will be empty before you get around to it.
The purpose of motivation is to let individuals know that you care about the job that they are doing and the results that they are achieving – their contribution
Individuals are driven by different things try to understand what is important for each employee to ensure maximum affect
Involving employees in decision making empowers the employee and provides new insight and idea flow
Take time to know them personally – It is important to understand difficulties and challenges that employees may have external to work because those could be dippers as well ----tell story of employee in process of divorce. If an employee confides in you – you must keep their trust. You are the leader.
Not only demonstrate compassion but as much as possible share in the pain. Examples salary cuts, stuffing envelopes, bringing meals, thanking the families through gifts, etc.
Thank you notes go a long way for some employees. A personal note with sincere appreciation is powerful bucket filler.
Junior people will enjoy spending time with the successful members of the group and the top performers will be honored to be asked to help bring new talent along. This activity can fill two buckets at one time.
Depending on your level in the organization it may be impossible to meet with everyone but you should be able to meet with your immediate team on a regular basis. Take and employee to lunch once a week or meet for coffee. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount of time but just a check up. How are things going for you? Is there anything that you need from me?

35. # 7 – Motivation
Bucket filling is contagious. The more you fill the more you will find that your own bucket is full.
Create a culture of bucket filling – routine ways to celebrate
Ensure that there is a balance between fun and intense effort
Allow yourself to be apart of the fun as well as the effort
Support and celebrate individuals
Provide opportunity for employees to connect with each other – fill each other’s buckets
Company events
Newsletter acknowledging departments or individual success
Team lunches
The more you fill buckets the more others will fill buckets. It is contagious and builds a wonderful work environment. In any organization that is successful there needs to be time to celebrate. For every group that works hard they take time to blow off steam. Draw analogy to sports teams.
Incorporate celebration in the culture. Public Elvis story
When the team has been under pressure you not only need to acknowledge their effort and sacrifice that but provide an avenue of release. Don’t be afraid of doing something silly… find example
Support and celebrate individuals at work and in their personal life.
Create a program where employees can nominate each other for awards or for managers to do immediate awards for good performance
Celebrate and provide support for employees personal life. Baby gifts, sympathy cards, wedding wishes, get well wishes. They will know that you truly care for them id you go out of your way to acknowledge what is going on in their life.
Get others to fill buckets too. Find ways for employees to connect with one another.

36. # 8 – Be the Servant
A leader removes the barriers so that their team can serve the customer or others.
A leader must respect and honor those that do the “doing”
A leader must provide the avenue for the team to meet the vision
A leader must SERVE the team
A leader identifies and meets the legitimate needs of their people. This is very different from meeting the wants of their people. They want may want to make a million dollars but what they need is long-term sustainable employment at a competitive wage. Slaves meet wants … Servant meet needs. Servants choose their jobs and slaves have no choice.

37. # 8 – Be the Servant A Servant Leader
Believes that everyone has a deep human need to contribute to a personally meaningful enterprise
Listens, hears, provides feedback and takes action
Is a life long learner – learning from everyone and everything in their life
Is committed to the growth of others
Views leadership as being a host and not a hero I they share the difficulty as well as the success.
Is aware – general awareness and especially self awareness
Builds community
Everything we have talked about up until now included portions of Servant Leadership but is important in this 8th lesson to really accept your role a “servant”. As a leader you have been entrusted with a company, a group , a family, team and your job is to make them successful. We all know that we can’t do that by our selves and many of us learned that by trying. We must serve the team so that they can be fruitful. That is when you group will flurish.
Everyone wants to do well. Rarely does a person get a job and say … I am going to be bad at this. You have to assume that everyone want to succeed and see it as a part of job to allow that to happen. Sometimes the person is in the wrong job for this success but that doesn’t mean that they want to fail.
You will have to practice listening skills… this can be hard in a busy job – but a servant listens and understands what needs to be done. A servant problem solves to find solutions.
Everyone makes mistakes … including the leader. Acknowledging mistakes (taking accountability and learning form them is the best lesson that you can demonstrate to your team.
A leader wants to build an organization that can operate after they are gone. The servant leader nurtures the growth of the team like a parent nurtures a child so that they can be successful
A servant Leader is humble. They don’t seek out attention of enjoy the spotlight. Many times a good servant leader is acknowledged due to the success of the company but a good servant leader prefers to let the employees or company shine… tell stories of sharing the tough times.
A servant leader is aware of what is going on around them. They are always looking for cues from their opinions and decisions. They are rarely fooled by what is going on.
Lets go back to the people we listed that had authority but did not have power. They are all examples of servant leaders.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”
Nelson Mandela: “I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.”
Mahatma Gandhi: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Mother Teresa:  “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.”
There is a lot of information available to read more on servant leadership. I suggest you do further learning ….

38. Leaders…Born or Bred?
There’s a difference between management and leadership.
There’s a difference between Power and Authority
Leadership defined: The art of mobilizing others to want to struggle toward shared aspirations.
Leaders exist in all parts of the organization. Leaders have good followers.

39. Leaders…Born or Bred? Eight lessons: Be a Driver
What’s the Main thing?
Escaping Management land
Do the Right thing
Get the right people on the bus
Do less or work faster
Filling Buckets
Be the SERVANT
A leader identifies and meets the legitimate needs of their people. This is very different from meeting the wants of their people. They want may want to make a million dollars but what they need is long-term sustainable employment at a competitive wage. Slaves meet wants … Servant meet needs. Servants choose their jobs and slaves have no choice.

40. Leaders…Born or Bred?
Born: Existing from the time of someone’s birth. Natural or instinctive.
Bred: To develop by training or education

41. Resources “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
“Built to Last” by Jim Collins
“Leadership” by Brian Tracy
“The Servant” by James C. Hunter
“Five Levels of Leadership” by John C. Maxwell
“The Right to Lead” by John C. Maxwell
“How Full is your Bucket?” by Tom Rath, Donald O. Clifton 
“Jesus, CEO” by Laurie Beth Jones 
“Servant Leadership” by Robert K. Greenleaf
“The Servant Leader” by Kenneth H. Blanchard, Phil Hodges, J. Countryman
“Accountability: Becoming People of Integrity” by Wayne Schmidt, Yvonne Prowant 
This is a list of the books that I used when compiling this talk and the 8 leadership lessons. It is not exhaustive and

42. Resources “The Servant Leader” by James Autry
“The Leadership Challenge” by James Kouses and Barry Posner
“Principle-Centered Leadership” by Stephen Covey
“Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey
“The Transparent Leader” by Herb Baum
“First Things First” by Stephen Covey
“Built to Last?” by James Collins 
“Encouraging the Heart” by James Kouses and Barry Posner
This is a list of the books that I used when compiling this talk and the 8 leadership lessons. It is not exhaustive and