The longer I lead and manage people, the more I realize that the most important element in leading and managing people is….

Have you forgotten that principle?

Leadership is about people. It’s relational. It depends on learning how to interact with people, how to encourage them, how to have healthy conflict, how to recruit them, and how to keep them informed.

You get the idea.

That’s not new information, but the problem is that every decision a leader makes impacts people. Some make the leader popular. Other decisions make the leader unpopular. Therefore, it’s easy for many leaders to become people-pleasers, trying to make sure everyone is happy. Other leaders go to another extreme and become a controlling leader; never allowing anyone input into the leader’s life or the decision making process.

One solution for me has been to do a stakeholder analysis of the situation. When I consider the person’s interest and power or influence in the organization, it can help the way I respond in making the decision, who’s involved in that process, and help us stay focussed towards the mission, while still valuing people.

This diagram shows a typical stakeholder analysis model:

Thanks to MindTools.com for this diagram. You can ever read more about how to use this tool HERE.

If you have an individual on your team with high interest and high power, such as a passionate key leader, you may react differently to their concern over an issue than someone who has little interest in your church and never intends to be a part of the church. As an example, the one-time guest who criticizes your music program may not be the voice you listen to most, but you probably should consider the voice of an elder.

I realize some may see this process as cold or even uncaring, but actually, I see it as a paradigm by which to apply wisdom to a circumstance. Ultimately I think our goal as a leader should be to bring the best people to the table, eliminate obstacles involving people, value people, and yet protect the mission of the organization. Doing a stakeholder analysis may help with that.

What do you think?  Could this be a helpful tool?

Have you seen the need to analyze the stakeholders in making decisions?

A couple of young guys made an appointment and came to my office recently to pitch me an idea for a new ministry they hope to start. They had been told I have a passion to empower people to follow their dreams and callings. I instantly loved their heart and the new ministry, but what intrigued me was how nervous they were making the presentation. I understand, because any kind of presentation like can be nerve-racking, and we are a large church, but I’m also their pastor. It made me wonder if I had ever done anything to make them nervous about approaching me. I concluded that it was just the situation, and not our relationship, but it caused a healthy reflection for me for other areas of my leadership.

It forced me to ask how the people on our staff…the people I work with everyday…the ones I call a “team” feel about approaching me with an idea, an issue, or even a criticism or concern. That’s one reason I periodically ask our team this question as part of an annual evaluation process. (Read about that process HERE.)

In my opinion, if you are a leader, the way the people you lead approach you says much about the quality of that leadership.

Here are 7 questions to consider about the way people approach you as a leader:

• Do they feel the need to gather support from others before they approach you?
• Have they begun to expect an immediate “no” answer?
• Are they overly and obviously nervous during the approach?
• Do they lose sleep the night before talking to you?
• Do they make a dozen disclaimers before they tell you what they have to say?
• Do they only tell you part of the story?
• Do they think they have to barter with you for your support?

Granted, there will always be tension when approaching “the boss”, but one of our roles as leaders should be to level the playing field enough and build healthy relationships with the people we lead so they are comfortable approaching us when needed. It provides accountability, healthy environments, and keeps us from becoming egotistical.

Reminder: That type relationship doesn’t develop overnight or simply by telling people not to be nervous. It develops over a season where trust is earned and respect is warranted.

Are there any other questions you would add to my list?

(Don’t be afraid or nervous to add to my questions…)

Every organization and team has times where everyone is stretched, stress abounds, and even times where it seems things are going backwards for a while. During those times good leadership is more critical than ever.

In times of stress, here a 5 things a leader must respond with:

A level head - A leader must display a calmness in the midst of crisis. Trying times test a team and the leader doesn’t need to be the one causing panic.

Steadfastness – There will always be temptations to give up under stress. A leader walks by faith and keeps the team moving forward. (You can read the hard lesson I learned about this issue HERE.)

Integrity - Character is tested during stressful times. A leader must remain unquestioned in his or her integrity for the health of the team and organization.

Strategic-Thinking – Decisions are harder to make but more important during stressful times. The leader must think strategically for the organization. (Read a post about thinking strategically in the moment HERE)

Personal balance - Leaders must remain healthy personally in order to continue to lead the organization. During times of stress, the leader must continue to exercise, eat well, and be disciplined.

Leader, have you ever had to lead during especially stressful times?

Are you there now?

What would you add to my list?

As a leader, or even as a team member, we constantly have to make decisions. Great leaders understand the power of decision-making and learn to use this power wisely.

In simple terms, leaders should consider two methods of decision-making. Some decisions can be arbitrary decisions and others need to be calculated decisions. Knowing which type of decision making to use at a given time will help you be a better leader.

I know leaders who make very quick, instant decisions only to grow to regret them. (This leader being one.)

Here are 7 characteristics of each type decision-making process: (Behind each word is a definition of that word compliments of dictionary.com)

Arbitrary - based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system

• Few people affected
• Limited life to the decision
• Low cost or impact expected
• When the decision-maker is the implementer
• Requires less thought
• Has been made many times
• Only one person needed to make decision

Calculated – done with full awareness of the likely consequences; carefully planned or intended

• More people affected
• Long-term implications
• Higher cost and impact potential
• When other people are the implementers
• Requires more thought
• Has been made few times, if ever
• May require the wisdom and counsel of others

Next time you have to make a decision, consider which method you should use for the occasion.

Do you see the difference?

Have you been guilty of making a arbitrary decision when you should have made a calculated decision? Please share an example.

Some of the best leaders on your team…

• Have yet to be recruited…

 

• Will have to be asked…

 

• Are anxious to serve…

 

• Need this in their life as much as you need them…

 

• And they may not even know it…

It’s your move…

Go get ‘em…

(Not sure where to look? Read THIS POST.)

Recently I gave our staff this exercise. This is a preference assessment. Basically, if you could only choose one option, which would you choose from the four figures shown?

So you can understand the diagram…

There are four different options…indicated by the number 1 through 4. The solid lines represent “structured” and the dashed lines represent “unstructured.” The outer square represents the organization and the inner circle represents the individual team member. A solid line indicates a desire for more structure and less flexibility in an organizational environment or in the way a member personally responds in his or her role.  A dashed line would indicate the opposite preferences. For example, a solid-lined square and a solid-lined circle, that would be an individual who prefers to be structured personally and prefers to be in a structured environment. A dash-lined square with a solid-lined circle would represent an individual preferring to be personally structured, but work within a less structured, organization.

Make sense?

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(Update: You can read the results of this post HERE.)

If you have read my blog for more than a year, then you know that one of the personal leadership development tools that I use is the process of allowing our team…that I lead…to anonymously evaluate my performance as a leader. You can read the post on last year’s evaluation HERE. In the related posts, you can see some of the previous year’s posts on this process. I share this process here to encourage this step of leadership development and for accountability and transparency purposes as a leader.

Well, it’s that time of year again. The team is currently evaluating me. I always get nervous about the responses, but perhaps this year more than ever. It’s been a crazy year personally and professionally, so I’m anxious about what they may say, but we have a great team and so I know they will be gentle.  (Hopefully they read this blog! HA!) My only encouragement to them is that they consider the differences of those on the team and how that alters my leadership and that they are helpful, not vindictive, in their answers. I do it anonymously through Survey Monkey to help them be more honest in their answers.

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In any relationship, there comes a time where it’s necessary to say things which are difficult to keep the relationship strong and make it better. This is also true in a healthy team environment.

For me personally, that often involves having a hard and challenging conversation with a team member…someone I love being on the team, but know they need correction in an area that is affecting the team. These are always discussions I’d rather not have, but I know are necessary for the continued health of the relationship, the team, and the individual.

Over the years, I have had many of these issues which required “tough love” to address them, but dealing with problems like this have included me having to say things such as:

• You’re too controlling as a leader…
• You can be perceived as a jerk to people…
• Your personal life is dragging down the team…
• You have body odor…
• You’re making unwise decisions…
• You are non-responsive…
• You don’t know how to take constructive criticism…
• You are moving too fast…
• You are moving too slow…
• You are uncooperative…

I should note that not all of these have been said with my current team…for example, to my knowledge no one on my team has body odor…thankfully, but through my years in leadership, I have had to say each one of these statements to someone I was supposed to be leading. Those conversations, as awkward and uncomfortable as they were, always proved to be good for the team and the team member. There have been times when someone needed to have similar “tough love” conversations with me and those discussions always made me better, as difficult as they were to receive at the time.

I have learned 5 principles for dealing with those times as a leader:
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Leaders create capacity in an organization so the organization and people can grow…

That’s what leaders do…

Great leaders:

Paint the void – Allow others to see what could be accomplished…

Empower the team – Give the tools, resources and power to accomplish the task…

Release – Let go of the control so others can lead…

Repeat - As often as possible…

If you are always the doer and never the enabler then you are not a leader. More than likely you are simply an obstacle of all your team could accomplish if you got out of the way.

When the leader leads the way for others to lead, the organization and the people in the organization increase their capacity to grow.

Are you leading or are you in the way?

Healthy teams allow every idea a chance to live…

The healthiest teams don’t contain an idea killer…

Healthy teams:

• Brainstorm
• Analyze
• Test drive
• Push back
• Critique
• Debate
• Challenge

Every idea…

But healthy teams remain open-minded about an idea until it’s proven to be a bad idea…

It could be a short process or a long process…

But healthy teams give every idea a chance to live…

Knowing that…

There is value in the collection of ideas on a healthy team…

And…

Some of the best ideas are killed before they have a chance to shine…

Have you ever worked with an idea killer?

Are you one?

(This post contains a main idea…feel free to Brainstorm, Analyze, Test drive, Push back, Critique, Debate, or Challenge.)