Maxwell’s Leadership in Action

 

Maxwell’s Leadership in Action

Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author. He is the founder of INJOY, Maximum Impact, The John Maxwell Team, ISS and EQUIP, an international leadership development organization working to help leaders. Maxwell speaks annually to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and organizations as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point and the National Football League. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell was one of 25 authors named to Amazon.com‘s 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Three of his books, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader have each sold over a million copies. In May 2014, Maxwell was named the #1 leadership and management expert in the world by Inc. Magazine.[

Management (Production skills, order and consistency) Organizing, staffing & providing structure Developing incentives Allocating resources Controlling & problem solving Setting agendas, timelines, & deadlines Planning and budgeting Hiring & taking corrective action

What is a leader? Are they born or developed? The answers vary. A better question might be what is the difference between leadership or management?

Leadership (People Skills, change and relationship building) Setting strategies and communicating goals Seeking commitment and creating vision Building teams Empowering employees Satisfying unmet needs Motivating, inspiring, encouraging Modeling the way

 

 

Notes about the 5 Levels of Leadership

• You can move up a level, but you never leave the previous level behind.
• You are not the same at every level with every person.
• The higher you go , the easier it is to lead, but the more time and commitment is required.
• Moving up a level occurs slowly, but going down can happen quickly.
• Being stuck at the first level limits you, your employees and coworkers.
• You cannot climb the levels alone.

 

Level One-Position

As a positional leader you are a new supervisor or manager. People follow you because they have to. You are the boss. Your authority is recognized. This is your opportunity to grow as a leader. You have an opportunity to grow personally and to shape and define your leadership tools and abilities.

However; positional leadership can also be a difficult starting point and the learning curve can often be difficult and unpleasant. In short, being in this position can promise more than it can deliver. Often leaders who are stuck in this position create low morale because their goal is to actually move up to the next level as quickly as possible. Often because of their own insecurities about being a new supervisor or manager, leaders end up making employees feel threatened or small. Leaders at this level tend to feed on office politics.

Often leaders stuck at this level focus on control and remind employees often that they are the boss. They work to create little empires and look to add more titles, change titles to their advantage or work to expand their staff or budget. They inadvertently create departmental rivalries; they often play the “boss is always right” card.

For an employee under this kind of leadership it is like working in a mind field. There are often unwritten rules, hidden agendas and new policies or procedures that seem dictatorial. These leaders quickly develop a sense of entitlement and often expect their employees to serve them. This leadership level is very lonely and most often employees start to look for other employment. Employees under this leadership tend to be clock watchers, mentally absent and there is a high rate of absenteeism.

Leadership Mindset Let’s work together. I’ll come with you. What do you think? Together we can. I’m here to help you. I believe you can do this.

Positional Mindset I’m the boss and over you. Fake it till you make it. Never let them see you sweat. You’re here to help me. I determine your future. Do this or else.

Tips to move on to the next level:

Leadership is continually earned there needs to be a shift of one’s focus to building relationships with employees and earning their trust. As a leader you need to move away from your position on things and move towards your employees. You shouldn’t wait for them to come to you , you should be actively seeking out their thoughts, ideas and perspectives. You need to willing and able to leave your comfort zone.

Good leaders know that titles don’t give the job a purpose. The purpose is to create a positive change and impact for the organization. Good leaders know that the employee is the companies’ most valuable asset. They recognize that they do not have all the answers that collaboration with their employees makes for the clearest answers. Good leaders always include others.

Level Two-Permission

                This level’s main focus is on relationships. People follow a leader at this level because they want to do so. The positive aspects of this level are that foundations have been built and so work is done on a “want to” not “have to” basis. Every effective leader knows that good relationships create positive outcomes. People do their best when they think that the leader wants the best for them. The key to success is two-way communication. “You can care for people without leading them, but you cannot lead them effectively beyond level one without caring for them.” (Maxwell, 2011). At this level trust is the building block for the foundation.

Self-trust is when the leader recognizes that they are truthful and honest and model that behavior with others. They are courageous and look out for the good of others. Their character is obvious to their employees. They are known as fully competent and this is obvious by the high level of their skills, abilities, talents and knowledge. They stay relevant in their field and run with their strengths as leaders. They take responsibility for their actions and results. They have a strong expectation for themselves that they can lead a team to win and to finish strong.

Relationship trust is where you model to others your character and competence. You declare your true intent by talking straight and not having hidden agendas. You consistently demonstrate respect by being fair, kind and civil to others. You admit your mistakes and offer a true apology. You promise results and then deliver them. You clarify expectations and practice accountability to yourself and others. You listen first and try to really hear and understand others before you try to diagnose or advise; but most important is that trust is extended to others. Some other kinds of trust are organizational, market and societal trust. If these kinds of trust are shaky then the actions of a few can affect the many. The organization can very quickly become toxic.

One of the main challenges at this level is that a leader may be viewed as too soft or weak by some people. They may find it hard to make decision and they may not always have buy in from everyone. Kindness is sometimes mistaken for weakness and boundaries are often not respected.

Many of these issues can be resolved by becoming a people-oriented leader. The best way to do this is to listen, learn, lead and have an open-door policy. Treat people the way you would like to be treated. When people feel respected it dramatically and quickly changes the work environment for the better.

Level 3-Production

At this level, leadership takes off and shifts to a higher gear. This level serves to separate true leaders from people who just occupy the leadership position. Good leaders make things happen and get results. One of the dangers at this level is that often you think you’re being a leader when really you are not. There is a difference between being a producer and being a leader. Often producers make things happen for themselves but they end up ignoring and demoralizing the team. Being a leader at this level requires continual attention to relationships and requires making difficult decisions. As a leader at this level one needs to accept responsibility for personal results and admit mistakes quickly and humbly.

To be successful at this level, one must be willing to be a change agent. Progress in an organization requires change and it takes positive leadership to make a positive change. People resist change when it doesn’t serve their purpose, the reason is unclear, there is a fear of failure, the leader isn’t respected, or the rewards don’t match the effort. In order to fully institute change there needs to be a common ground for vision, values, relationships, attitudes and communication.

Level 4-People Development

                At this level you as a leader are doing a lot for yourself, your department, your organization and your employees and others. Your employees success becomes your success but only if they are loyal to you and the organization. This is the level where you are training and equipping your employees with the tools they need to succeed and prosper.

Level 5-Pinnacle

                This level is called the pinnacle because at this level you have attained what many leaders never mange to acquired: respect. At this level people follow you, “because of who you are and what you represent. “ (Maxwell, 2011). Maxwell thinks that one of the best ways to achieve this respect from others is to start with respecting you. He feels that this can be attained by some self-discipline. Other helpful tips to achieve this goal are:

ü  Be honest and supportive

ü  Pay attention to detail

ü  Possess strong ethics and integrity

ü  Value people

ü  Be consistent

ü  Never stop improving yourself

Maxwell admits that many of these things seem difficult and in all actuality they do involve lots of hard work, but the bottom line is that if you want to be a successful leader in your organization, then you need to focus on these five levels. The pay off in the end in huge!

 

 

From Me to We-Collaborative Learning

Effective Collaboration training is offered by the Professional Development Center and was taught by Chance Eaton, Ed.D, Educational Leadership, M.S. Psychology, M. B. A., P.G. Cert. The course is built on the foundation of character and the resulting trust gained from one’s team and team mates. The intent of the course is to really provide participants with the approach to leadership and team motivation offered in Dr. Stephen Covey’s book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The basic habits introduced were:

Habit 1- Be Proactive

Habit 2-Begin With the End in Mind

Habit 3-Put First Things First

Habit 4-Think Win/Win

Habit 5- Understand Before Being Understood

Habit 6-Synergize

Habit 7- Sharpen the Saw

Covey (2011) views a habit as, “the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire.” He feels that, “habits constantly express our character and they determine degrees of effectiveness. “ (Covey, 2011). Habits take a long time to change and require persistence on our part to make that change become permanent.

Before we can become a leader, we must be confident that we can lead ourselves. We need to be able to achieve personal and professional goals while developing sound relationships and streamlining our work flow to become more efficient.

Covey feels that the most important element is that of trust. We need to have it in our employees and we need to be able to model it as leaders. According to Covey (2011), “trustworthiness leads to trust.” So what makes one trustworthy? Covey feels that it is our character. This refers to our basic principles. Additionally, we need to look inside of ourselves and take an honest look at our own skills, talents, desires and abilities. Once we have honestly evaluated ourselves, we are then able to know how effective we are as a leader.

Here is the rub. We may have thought we were honestly evaluating ourselves, but in reality we see ourselves and our position in the world from our own perspective. We layer our own value system on this perception of the world. We all want a healthy, productive workforce that is effective, but effectiveness is a direct result of creating a balance between (according to Covey) production and production capability.

Covey believes that this balance is achieved when as leaders we help our employees move through three stages of development:Dependence- We depend on others-if you do something for me, then I’ll do something for you. Independence- We begin to take care of ourselves and start to make our own decisions. Interdependence- We cooperate with others to achieve what can’t be achieved by us. We form effective teams and work for the good of the team.

An example of this dichotomy is that production (or the desired result) can be improved if as leaders we push the team to do more. We know that we need to lead the team to do more so we figure that this is the way to do it. We can threaten, cajole, reward, and dangle carrots all day long, but if we push and drive the team too much, then we could see production actually drop. Examples of this include high turnover, low engagement and unhappy co-workers and eventually burn out. So what is the key to success? Balance.

The best way to create balance as a leader is to start with our own personal balance. We can’t lead others until we lead ourselves. Covey (2011) asserts that, “[a] balanced attitude is also about balancing one’s own personal courage and assertiveness with cooperation and consideration of others.” When this balance occurs, then it is easier and safer for everyone to acknowledge others ideas, opinions and feelings and everyone has the chance to speak.

When someone feels that their voice is stifled, for instance they are spoken over, interrupted or disagreed with they tend to back off, shut down or stop speaking all together. The opposite of this is many leaders often interrupt others, use dismissive body language, express exasperation with deep sighs or facial expressions and may talk over others or even multi-task when interacting with others.

Covey’s over arching philosophy is that until leaders learn to lead themselves and master their own progress from dependence to interdependence they will never become effective as a leader. He feels that reinforcing positive habits until they become changes is one way to do this. He views these attempts as learning to walk before we can run. Overall he feels that until we develop self-mastery before leading others we will never be effective as leaders.