Structured Flexibility

Structure and flexibility may seem to be at opposite ends of a continuum, and yet for organizations to thrive leaders have to foster both approaches. One provides stability, the other fosters growth, and you want both of those things, right? So how exactly does one go about building both structure and flexibility into your organization? 

For starters, it is good to think about how you are wired as a leader. Do you lean toward structure or flexibility? Not sure? Ask your people. They know. And before you start second-guessing yourself, being pre-disposed to either structure or flexibility is not a bad thing. Both are needed, in different quantities at different times. Knowing your tendencies, however, can help you make sure there is a counterbalance of perspectives on your team.

So if structure and flexibility are at opposite ends of a spectrum, can they both exist in an organization at the same time? Absolutely. Organizations have found lots of ways to do this — through R&D, pilot projects, or departments/divisions focused on innovation while the rest of the organization follows more tightly structured ways of operating. With today’s increasingly volatile environment, however, it has become more and more important to incorporate both approaches into your daily operations. One way of doing this is by implementing a “guard rails” approach.

Guard rails provide boundaries of functioning. Think of it like bowling bumpers you might put in place for small children. There are lots of ways the child can get the ball down the lane, but the bumpers keep the ball from going too far in either direction and ending up in the gutter. In your organization, guard rails may take the form of budgetary constraints, timelines, and/or outcome expectations. Beyond those structural guard rails, however, you can provide maximum flexibility for how the ball gets down the lane. The structure is in the what, the flexibility is in the how. This is where things can get uncomfortable for the structure people . . . just because we have done things a certain way, with successful outcomes, for many years (the how), that doesn’t mean continuing in that vein will help us achieve our goals in the future. The pain point for the flexibility people can be the “width” of the guard rails, which may feel constraining when they are pursuing a totally new approach that may not fit with “old” ways of thinking. 

Based on a leader’s style, he or she may have a natural tendency to sympathize with one end of the continuum or the other. Don’t settle for an either/or. It is possible to find a productive balance. All it takes is a bit of structured flexibility.

Finding Leadership Inspiration on the Bookshelf

I am a reader. Like pretty hard core. I have a library in my home, along with large bookcases in both my work and home offices, all filled to overflowing. Yes, I know I could get e-books or audio versions, and have, but there is nothing quite like holding a book in your hand and uncovering just the nugget of insight you need to address a current situation. Because of the value I place reading and learning, I am often asked if I had to suggest just one or two books to someone, what would they be? Hard question. Depends on the person and the situation. There are a few authors, however, whose ideas and approaches have made me a better leader.

Jim Collins

Good to Great is his classic, and should be required reading for any leader. Two of his concepts that are especially important for organizations are the hedgehog concept — what are you passionate about, what can you be the best in the world at, and what drives your economic engine. Do that. The second is the Stockdale Paradox, which is to be brutally honest about your current sitation AND have an unwaivering faith that you will prevail. He has also written a corresponding monograph on Good to Great in the Social Sectors but that should be read as a companion piece to the book, not a stand alone. If you’re not a big reader, Collins also has numerous articles and podcasts (as well as other great books) where he shares his insight.

John Kotter

Like Collins, it is hard to pick just one Kotter book to recommend, however Leading Change is definitely high on the list, primarily because 70% of major organizational change efforts fail. Yep, 70% — that’s not a typo. Kotter takes you through eight steps that bolster your chances of success. It seems so easy when you see it in print, and yet so hard to be patient with the process when you are in the midst of it. One big takeaway — we tend to under communicate by a factor of 10! Just because you think you have “said it” a lot (probably to lots of different groups who each have heard it one or two times . . . when they may or may not have been paying attention) doesn’t mean the message is clear. If you’re not in the midst of a change initiative, pick up What Leaders Really Do, which is a master class on the difference between leadership and management — both of which are critical for success, but require different skills and abilities.

Max DePree

Leadership is an Art is my favorite of DePree’s books, perhaps because it was my first exposure to his approach to servant leadership. Unlike Collins and Kotter, who are scholars and researchers, DePree was chairman and CEO of Herman Miller Inc., widely recognized for it’s innovation, management and a best company to work for. DePree’s view on leadership is that “the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must because a servant and a debtor.” And also, “In a day when so much energy seems to be spent on maintenance and manuals, on bureaucracy and meaningless quantification, to be a leader is to enjoy the special privileges of complexity, of ambiguity, of diversity.” 

These three barely scratch the surface of my recommended reading list, but they are a great place to start. What books brought you important nuggets of leadership insight? There might be just a bit more room in my bookcase . . .

The Courage to Continue

Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” Now, it is easy for wordsmiths like me to tout such pithy phrases during challenging times, but when you tease out Churchill’s words they are instructive to all of us who would hope to lead.

Success is not final. So celebrate it NOW. Don’t wait for the big giant wins. Acknowledge the daily steps forward — both yours and those of the people you lead. You can hold people accountable for reaching their goals while still encouraging and thanking them, along the way. What “mini-celebration” is in order today? Ice cream for the team . . . a written thank you note . . . a heartfelt compliment for someone’s novel solution to a unique challenge.

Far too often, we don’t even take time to celebrate the big wins, much less the small steps forward. Success in one area merely becomes a blip on the screen toward the next goal. Maybe we think we’ll come back and celebrate it once we complete the entire project. Except we won’t. Even when it feels like we have reached the peak, there will always be other mountains to climb. Success is not final — so give yourself and your people permission to take a moment to smile, to pat each other on the back and and acknowledge your good work . . today. Success is not a destination. It is a feeling generated by the leader each step of the way.

Failure is not fatal. Yes, it may feel like it at the moment. And the more you cared about the project at hand, the worse it hurts when you come up short. So give yourself a moment to catch your breath and feel the pain of the situation (notice I said a moment, not a month), honestly ask yourself what you learned from the experience, and then dust yourself off and take a step. Will people trust you, will they believe you know what you are doing after you just failed? That all depends. Have you built a culture that recognizes that experimentation and making adjustments are part of the process? Can you acknowledge where you came up short and ask others to help you find a different solution? Are you overwhelmed by what you can’t control, or are you able to identify what you can control and start planning from there? You have the power to decide if failure is fatal, or serves as a launchpad to future success.

It is the courage to continue that counts. Or to use another Churchill quote, “When you’re going through hell keep going.” Leadership is hard. There are days when the successes are fleeting and the weight of failure feels unbearable. Take a step. It doesn’t have to be huge or especially noteworthy, but move. Keep going. Failure infects the stagnant. So don’t be stagnant. Take a step. Consider it an act of rebellion if that helps . . . a refusal to let failure win. 

Lots of people can follow a clearly identified path. But when those best laid plans go awry? That’s when you need a leader . . . not a perfect one who has never failed . . . simply with the courage to continue.

Worth the Long Haul

This week, I celebrated by 36th wedding anniversary. I have been at my current organization for 28 years, and I completed my Ph.D. when I was 56 years old. I believe in the long haul. If you listen to popular media, you might think that type of commitment to long-term achievement is “old school.” Headlines tout the trends dujour, the new and improved north stars we are told we should strive for if we want to succeed in “today’s hyper-competitive, ever-changing (insert your own adjectives here) environment.”  I don’t buy it. 

Perhaps some people confuse long-term commitment with an unwillingness to change. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Deeply-seeded goals are the “what.” The actions you take to get there are the “how.” Most big goals take a long time to achieve and are going to require that you change your approach from time to time. That is entirely different from changing your goals because things got hard, or didn’t turn out the way you had hoped.

I don’t know of any important goals that don’t have hard seasons, where you question whether you should stick it out, whether it is worth the effort. Sure, it might seem trendy or even ambitious to jump from one opportunity to another. But without a long-term goal to guide those opportunities, you may end up with a series of quick wins and seeming progress . . . but to what end? Appearances? Accolades? Both are as fleeting as the next opportunity.

“Staying power” is what separates the truly successful from those who are constantly chasing the next big thing. What are you passionate about? Not what are you good at . . . I am good with numbers, but none of my long-term goals are about numbers. The only way to make it through the hard stuff to the rewards on the other side is to be passionate about the destination you are working towards.

As one year draws to a close, and you look toward the weeks and months ahead, I encourage you to take a few moments to consider what long-term goals you want to work toward . . . at a gut-deep level . . . through the muck and hard days as well as in the sunny times filled with progress. Maybe it is marriage and family, a professional mission that you are uniquely gifted to impact, a drive to continually learn and grow in a particular vocation, or a commitment to be a bridge-builder who brings people together.

Life is too short not to focus on goals that make your heart sing . . . through the good days and the bad. In the new year and always, my wish for you is to find and pursue a purpose that is worth the long haul.

Roll On…

I have held positions of leadership for more decades than I would like to admit, and have multiple advanced degrees in leadership. If there is one thing I have learned through all the lectures and readings, research and hand-on experience, it is that leadership has very little to do with the position you hold and everything to do with the passion you pursue. I was reminded of that fact in recent weeks when a young leader in our community, Clayton Roll, embraced a leadership opportunity in a big way. His actions provide a example to many of us with far more years of “experience” than he holds.

Clayton wasn’t asked to step up, he simply saw a need and decided he was going to do something about it. Clayton’s parents were foster parents for our organization (and amazing ones at that!) so Clayton and his brother grew up with a heart for kids who have had hard starts to their lives. In addition to his “full time job”, Clayton also owns a dumpster and equipment rental business. So last year at Christmas he decided that he wanted to fill a dumpster, dubbed the “Red Neck Sleigh,” with gifts for the kids served by Chaddock. He did Facebook live posts, got permission to park his “sleigh” in retail parking lots, and I’m sure lots of other things we aren’t even aware of, and the results blew us all away. People from all over the country reached out with gifts to support the project. 

Image courtesy of Clayton Roll

In true leader fashion, Clayton felt the need to up his game this year so he upgraded the Red Neck Sleigh to a shipping container. That’s right, a shipping container! And in the middle of this exceedingly busy time of the year, Clayton again spent evenings and weekends making sure our kids knew that people all over the country were thinking of them during what can be a very difficult time of the year for our youth.

All of this extra effort is not going to win a promotion for Clayton, there is no raise coming as a result of his impressive results. He simply stepped up to make something he felt passionately about happen. And you can, too. Maybe gathering Christmas gifts for struggling children isn’t what tugs on your heart. Maybe it is the arts, or helping people experience nature, or strengthening your community. Maybe it is helping the elderly or disabled, changing legislation, or creating a product that makes someone’s life easier. It could be part of your official job, or something on the side that makes your heart sing. We all have individual gifts and graces — unique ways that we can have on impact on this world. What is yours? If you are not sure, the end of the year is a great time to reflect on how you want to lead in the coming year — position or no.

The world needs more leaders like Clayton Roll — and like you. How will you step up in the coming year?  . . . Roll on my friends!

Tend the Forest

Forest scene; Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash
Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash

You can’t see the forest for the trees.

It’s one of those phrases that we all have heard, and yet we fail to heed its warning time and again. We spend so much time addressing the crisis du jour, our ever-growing to-do list, today’s opportunity or our competitors most recent actions that we lose sight of the big picture . . . the forest . . . if we were ever really clear on the big picture in the first place. 

Here’s the thing. Individual trees can get struck by lightning. A bigger tree might block the sun and so the one in its shadow may never grow to its full potential. Or you plant a seed with great confidence, only to be disappointed that it doesn’t seem to take root like you expected. If your primary focus is on the tree, such set-backs can send you into a tailspin, scurrying around to respond to this crisis or that. 

When you step back and focus on the forest, however, you recognize that not every tree will be a majestic oak, and that’s okay. You don’t have to turn yourself inside out for every project as long as you are keeping your eye on the well-being of the whole. You can acknowledge that some seeds germinate at a slower pace — or maybe not at all, but it is still worth the effort to plant them.

Keeping your focus on the forest doesn’t eliminate the day-to-day challenges of leading, but it does help keep them in context so you can focus on the end game. From a big picture perspective, it is easier to recognize that some of your best laid plans may not work out the way you had hoped, but one particular “tree” is simply that . . . one tree in a whole forest of pathways and opportunities. 

The biggest challenge comes when you have not clearly defined the forest. What are the three or four big goals you are working toward? Not 57 . . . that’s tree counting. You have to push past seeing every project — every tree — as an end unto itself. Define the forest.  Arriving at that kind of focus is harder than you think. But when you get there, it is much easier to step back and find a different path to your destination when things don’t go as you had hoped. And they won’t. 

If you are having one of those weeks where you feel like you are simply running from tree to tree, stop. Take a deep breath. And tend the forest.

Spring Rains

spring white flower in the rainHave you ever noticed that in the Springtime, entire landscapes can change in a day? One well-timed rain shower can make entire hillsides come to life, blooming with energy and possibilities. Of course, that only happens if the seeds for that growth were already there. Sure, they may have been dormant during the stark cold winter, but they were in the right place, just waiting for the Spring rains.

Nature is patient. We leaders . . . sometimes not so much. We want to plant seeds — in terms of our people, our plans, our vision — and then have them immediately germinate and bloom. Unfortunately, that is not the way it works. You have to plant bulbs in the fall, before the frost and gray skies of Winter, if you want them to flower in the Spring . . . or cultivate seeds in the Spring to reap the harvest in late summer or fall. But it is Springtime, after the brown and sometimes frigid Winter, that the transformation is most obvious.

What does a “Spring rain” look like in your organization? Perhaps a major opportunity comes your way that you are positioned to take advantage of because you have been preparing your people and organization for just such a situation. Some (i.e. those who didn’t plan ahead) will label such opportunities as a lucky break. Seneca described that kind of luck as a situation where “preparation meets opportunity”. The Spring rains bring the opportunity. You as the leader are responsible for the preparation part.

Preparing for the Spring rains means you can’t just focus on this week’s weather forecast. Yes, you have to be aware of it for other reasons, but this week’s weather has little to do with what the next season holds. As a leader, you have to adapt to the current storms, but ultimately you also have to plant the seeds for the subsequent season. And then you have to wait. That’s the catch, isn’t it? We are so accustomed to instant gratification, immediate return on investment, focusing the next quarter’s outcomes, that investing in the long term can seem like a quaint but unrealistic concept. Maybe the unrealistic part is not the concept, but our expectations as leaders.

The Spring rains will come. Perhaps not exactly when you want them to, and sometimes to a greater or lesser degree than you would ideally like, but they will come. The question is whether you have prepared your organizational landscape to blossom and burst with new life when the time comes. For those leaders who recognize their critical role as a patient cultivator . . . who have experienced Spring’s beauty . . . nothing is more satisfying than sitting back and watching it rain!

Ugly Christmas Sweater

About ten years ago, my son asked if he could borrow one of my Christmas sweaters. There was a basketball game that evening, and the student section was all going to wear ugly Christmas sweaters. I said sure, and showed him the storage bag where I kept my sweaters. After digging through a bit, he pulled out a festive cardigan and said, “This is perfect!” Somewhat surprised by the sweater he picked, I commented that his choice was not an ugly sweater. I can still see the somewhat pitying look in his eyes as he said, “Yes, Mom. It is.” Oh…

Here is what I have decided about my Christmas sweaters — which I purchased to look festive, not to draw snickers from my children or their friends . . . Long after my initial purchase, I was still seeing the sweaters with the same eyes I used when I bought them. Styles may have changed (a lot), but I still saw that cute Santa sweater as a fun way to celebrate the holidays. 

Hmmm . . . maybe as this year draws to a close, it is a good time to review our leadership strategies to see if there are any ugly Christmas sweaters hidden (at least to our eyes) in plain sight.   

Are you still getting feedback from your people in the same way you did 10 years ago? Or in the way that is most comfortable to you? Have you asked your people how they would like to share their ideas so you can build maximum engagement?

  • Are you clinging to a level of formality, or rigidity, or hierarchical structure that might need a refresh? Especially after this past year, when so much in our lives was turned on end, are there adaptations that it would be helpful to retain in the long term?
  • Are there “sacred cows” in your organizations that may need to be held up to the scrutiny of today’s variables and realities — to be viewed with a fresh lens?
  • Are you willing to ask your people what practices need to be adapted, or ended altogether, in your organization? Chances are, your people will see opportunities, or ugly sweaters, that you simply aren’t seeing.

I’m not suggesting that you need to totally upend your leadership approach, or act on every idea that is offered to you. However, the exercise just might help you see some of your practices with new eyes.

By the way, this week I received my annual picture of my now adult son donning my (now his) ugly Christmas sweater. It is good to know that it continues to bring holiday cheer to others, years later and miles away.

Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday season . . . ugly Christmas sweaters optional.

Know Your Batting Order

Have you ever been stressed out by trying to keep too many balls in the air, and all at once you run across something so simple and so profound that it stops you in your tracks? Yep, me too. In fact, I was recently reading a blog post by Anne Lamott when three little words jumped off the page . . .

“Grace bats last.”

I love that! First and foremost because I count on receiving a measure of grace in my own life, but also because those three words provide so much guidance to us as leaders.

If you are in a position of leadership, sooner or later (or both) you will be called on to make a difficult decision — one that is not popular, and maybe even has a negative impact on someone else. That’s part of the job, but how you carry out such decisions can make a huge difference in how you are perceived as a leader.

I think far too often, we get the batting order mixed up. We start out by being overly flexible, willing to negotiate expectations, trying to be patient and accommodating at all costs . . . until we reach the end of our rope, we’re done, we draw the line, and we’re the bad guy. What if, instead, we set clear guidelines/boundaries/expectations at the beginning, and consistently held people accountable to those. When that happens, you separate out those situations that are never going to work from those that really could. And if a situation that looks promising needs a bit of a concession, a measure of grace, you will still have the energy and ability to accommodate a special circumstance.

Even when you have to make a decision that will be hard to some to accept, I believe the best leaders find a way to offer a measure of grace in the process. Make the difficult decision, yes, and then carry it out with great kindness. Be more generous than you have to be in the process. Sure, some will think you’re soft, but most will see you as fair, and someone they want to work with . . . You know, the whole Golden rule thing . . .

Lastly, we may occasionally need to remind ourselves that grace bats last for us as leaders, too. Our impact is more than the sum of a single decision or action. Too often, I’ve seen leaders afraid to swing at an opportunity because they fear they may strike out based on a single action. While I suppose there are circumstances where that could happen, in most cases, we will be judged by the long view, by the total sum of our actions.

So take that swing, do what you know you need to do, and then let grace bat last.

Note: Originally posted on July 15, 2015

The Choice is Yours

Concept of choice with crossroads spliting in two waysI have a tendency to get frustrated with people in positions of leadership who, when faced with a difficult situation, default to telling their team that, “We don’t have a choice.” You always have a choice. You may not like the choices before you. There may be a high cost for a choice, financial or otherwise. You may wish you weren’t the one who had to make the choice. But, you always have one.

You are the leader. People are looking to you to see how they should respond. Even when you have to choose between the lesser of two evils, make the choice. Don’t default and let “them” make the decision for you. (You know, them . . . those people who are telling you that you “have to” do whatever it is you would rather not do.) There is a confidence, a sense of control, that comes when you consider all the options, good or bad, and pick one. No one is doing it “to you”. You are not a helpless bystander in someone else’s plan. The choice is yours.

Even when you find yourself in the midst of a situation, not of your making, you can still choose how you respond. You can wallow in the midst of it all, proclaiming that it is not your fault (which it very well may not be), or you can put one foot in front of the other and walk your way out of the situation. You’ll likely have a lot of company in “ain’t it awful land”, but people want their leaders to chart a course to a better place. And the best way forward is usually to decide to take a step . . . and then another. You can always course correct along the way if you need to, but momentum favors the person who is moving. Sometimes, the best solution comes three steps in, and you never would have seen it if you didn’t choose to move forward.

I am a big believer in plans, and yet sometimes perfecting the plan can become a way to avoid making a choice. “Oh, we will (fill in the blank) as soon as soon as we work out all the details.” So work them out. Make a decision, even a small one, that moves your effort forward. Leaders need to lead. That means choosing a destination, making the hard decisions if you need to, and then helping your people find a way forward. You are a leader. That’s what leaders do.

The choice is yours.