WHEN LEADERS DON'T LEAD

#40 - What happens WHEN LEADERS DON'T LEAD?  Nothing demoralizes a team more than a leader who won't lead, or one who doesn't know how to lead.  You must model good leadership within your area and with the team you lead.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Keys For New Leaders, a podcast Serving Leaders Serving Others.  This is your host, Dr. Charles Boyer, but I’m just Charlie to you, my friend.  Thank you so much for listening.  Serving Leaders Serving Others is what we’re all about.  In this series of podcasts, my goal is to serve you, the new leader, helping you serve others through sharing ideas, helpful hints, suggestions, inspiration, insights, encouragement and sometimes a laugh or two to lighten the load along the way.

If you haven’t already done so, please click on the subscribe button on your podcast platform so you won’t miss any new episodes.  As always, if you stick around to the end of the episode, I always ask a few questions that are just for you to think about and answer for yourself.  And, I also include a Special Key for you as well to highlight the main points of this podcast . 

This is Episode #40 – that’s quite a mile marker, and I have you listeners to thank.   Someone asked me awhile back when the podcast ends.  Honestly, I don’t know.  There are always new topics to consider, and new problems for leaders that pop up.  I guess when listeners stop listening, it will be time to hang up the mic for good.

Episode #40 is about what happens (or doesn’t) When Leaders Don’t Lead.  When Leaders Don’t Lead?  Did you hear that right?  What kind of statement is that?  One that’s all too true, I’m sorry to say.  Leaders Who Don’t Lead are all too prevalent these days, and they sure do tend to gum up the works, as the saying goes.  Nothing demoralizes a team more than a leader who won’t lead, or one who doesn’t know how to lead.  I am guessing that most of us have been on the receiving end of poor leadership sometime in our lives – am I right?

Poor leadership can run the gamut from the clueless “Dudley Dooright” model to the tyrannical “General Bullmoose” model.  One doesn’t have a clue what to do, and the other has all the answers – just ask him…or her.

In between these two extremes are some types of leaders you may have encountered in your lifetime and you probably can relate a personal experience with one or more of these types:

·      The incompetent leader who perhaps means well but is simply unproductive and incapable of providing good leadership

·      The insecure leader, who tends to think that everything is about them, and takes most things (especially criticism) personally

·      The status quo leader, who can’t imagine any other possibilities than what’s happening right now

·      The visionless leader, who can’t see beyond the end of his nose, let alone provide direction or motivation to others

·      The weather-vane leader, who changes directions with every change in the breeze.  

·      The political leader, who just wants to get ahead at any expense – usually yours.

·      The gotcha leader, who hides in the background, just waiting for a chance to jump in and tell you that you’re wrong.

·      The control-freak leader, who has to manage every little detail because nobody else can do it well enough.

Working with any of these types of leaders can be an enormous challenge to anyone.  I wouldn’t pick any of the above as examples of good leaders, but they are out there, and I’ve run into most of them during my lifetime.  Somehow, I survived - and so must YOU, my friend!

What happens when leaders don’t lead?  Here are some of the things that people do to survive and maintain their sanity:

·      People tend to create their own agendas and begin to go their own ways.  The team becomes less of a team and more a group of individuals or cliques, each with their own idea of a goal and how to get there.

·      Uncertainty begins to cloud everyone’s good judgment when important decisions are delayed or avoided by the leader.  When “don’t rock the boat” becomes most important, ideas get squashed and growth goes on hold.

·      Low morale can quickly set in when good people feel undervalued or unsupported.  This can result in a high turnover rate as good people begin to search for a better work environment.  Remember that old saying:  People tend to avoid what they’re hit with.

When Leaders Don’t Lead – what can you do about it?  It’s important to remember that many leaders don’t receive adequate training or mentoring to develop their leadership skills.  Good leaders don’t just happen.  Leadership skills require continuous learning and practice.  I like to think of good leaders as “becoming” rather than “being.”  That is, say to yourself, “I want to become a better leader.”  What that says is that you don’t just arrive at be, you are always seeking to become better.  There is always more to learn, more skills to practice and put into practice.

Let me try a musical example here:  practicing the notes is a must, but the notes are only a place to begin to make music.  The music begins to come alive only after the notes become a part of you through lots of practice.  The same thing happens with leadership skills.  It’s only when those skills become a part of you through lots of practice that good leadership begins to happen.

Change doesn’t have to start at the top.  You can – and you must - model good leadership within your area and with the team you lead.  One of the most important things, writes John Maxwell, is to maintain your own credibility through self-management.  You – and only you – can manage your emotions, your time, priorities, energy, and the most important of all, your personal life.

Better still – become the leader who leads and who others want to follow.  John Barrett wrote about three things great leaders don’t do, but then he went on the describe what they actually do.  New leaders, here’s your chance to pick up and practice a few of those all-important notes:

1.    They Don’t Just Hear, They Listen.  Hearing sounds that are all  around us all the time is one thing.  Many leaders hear but they don’t listen.  Truly listening to others requires a lot more energy, attention, and commitment from us.  You might like to check out Episode # 4 of this podcast.  It’s all about listening.

2.    They Don’t Just Talk, They Speak.  Words are like seeds, Barrett writes, seeds that can produce sweet fruits or bitter roots.  Think about what you say before you say it, and think how what you say will be received by those who are listening to you.  To put it bluntly, “put mind in gear before opening mouth.”  What you say and how you say it can make a huge difference in the success or failure of a person, team, or project.

3.    They Don’t Just Look, They See.  You must observe, ask questions, and take time to reflect.  Slow down and see what is really happening.  Look for root causes, not just the immediate symptoms.  Your long-range vision as a leader is one of the most important qualities to develop and maintain.  In sports analogy, that means keep your eye on the ball – and the goal!

Merely having a title, position, or authority doesn’t make someone a leader.  Action does.  Your leadership must be felt, experienced, and understood by others.  Leading is always a choice, and not every leader makes it.  YOU be the one to make that choice, my friend!

And now, here are three open-ended questions for you to think about and answer for yourself.  No, it’s not a test, and the only right answers are the ones that are right for you.  Here they are:

1.    Think of a time you have encountered one of the poor leadership types described in this podcast.  How has this experience affected your own views of serving others as a leader?

2.    What is one example of good leadership you can think of that you would most like to become?

3.    Which of the following leadership traits do you consider your strongest?   Listen … Speak … See.

The Special Key for this episode is the Key of B for Become.  Become the leader that others want to follow.  It’s a long and never-ending journey, my friend, because there is always more to learn and more to practice.  But serving others as a leader is a journey well worth taking.

In our next episode, I’m going to challenge you to Be the Coffee Bean.  There’s a provocative book by Damon West that gave me the idea for the title.  West writes about his incredible life experiences that steered him towards being a change agent rather than a victim of his circumstances.  It’s a book I highly recommend to you.   

Until then, my friend, stay safe and well, and … become that leader who leads and that others want to follow.