Leadership Shorts – Identify and Develop Successors

Posted on July 13, 2011 by willieryder

A leader should not only be concerned with the success of their team, organization, and company while they are there.  They should also be focused on making sure they are setup for success after they are gone.  The best way to do that is to have a solid succession plan.

Identify one or two people that display the potential to possibly succeed you.  Meet with them to make sure they are interested in a future leadership role.  Discuss ideas for development, provide appropriate resources (training, books, mentoring), and find them some stretch opportunities.

You cannot wait until you are ready to leave to worry about who will replace you.  Sometimes that is out of your control.  The best leaders are always looking for and working with those that will come behind them so they are setup for years of future success.

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Leadership Shorts – Hope

Posted on July 13, 2011 by willieryder

When things are not going well and everyone is struggling it’s easy to be overly critical, wanting to complain, and looking to blame others.

In these circumstances what you need most from your leaders is hope, the hope that no matter how tough it gets that you are capable of overcoming any challenge, that they will be right there with you, and the belief that things will get better.

The best way to do that is by making yourself available and visible, listening to the concerns of others, and being open and honest with them even when what you have to say is not popular.  It may even call for you to do so with little to no support from anyone else.

To be a leader you must have the courage to be the candle in the night, especially when it’s darkest.

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Leadership Shorts – Develop Others

Posted on July 13, 2011 by willieryder

The greatest leaders are always looking to help develop others.

They make their selves available to those wishing to grow and improve.

They honestly answer any questions and provide advice when appropriate.

They are a welcome source of support and encouragement to those that need it.

They share what they know and offer the experiences gained from their past successes and failures in order to help someone else learn.

They give their time, knowledge, and support for nothing more than to lift someone else up and help them on their journey to becoming the person they are meant to be.

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Leadership Shorts – Communicate Effectively

Posted on July 13, 2011 by willieryder

In order for a Leader to gain support and get the best from their people especially during challenging situations they need to be able to Communicate Effectively.

To Communicate Effectively you have to start off by stating where the team/organization/company is today (Reality), where you want it to be (Vision), and how to get there (Direction).

Reality – A current status update along with the results of recent past efforts to include both the highlights and lowlights.

Vision – A very clear and vivid description of what their capable of accomplishing and convey the belief it’s possible.

Direction – Some ideas and examples of what it would take to get there.

The Leaders reality must display empathy, the vision needs to be compelling, and the direction needs to be plausible.  Throughout you must also show the support and desire for additional input and ownership from everyone involved.

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Leadership Shorts

Posted on July 13, 2011 by willieryder

Recently Walk the Talk decided to develop a new handbook on Leadership.  To help gather content they solicited ideas from the many subscribers of their popular mailing lists.  If your idea was selected to be included your name would be listed in the book and you would get a certain amount of complementary copies.

I have been a subscriber and fan of Walk the Talk ever since I learned about them a few years ago and would recommend them to anyone interested in growing as a person, professional, and leader.  I receive and read their daily inspirational quotes each morning, have read several of their books, and watched many of their motivational movies.

Being a fan of the work they do and someone with a passion for leadership, working to become the best person I can, and trying to help others grow and develop I decided to submit a handful of ideas.

I really enjoyed documenting some of my ideas and offering them for others to read and hopefully learn from.  I also liked how they limited the amount of information that could be provided in each submission.  I thought with the format used that it was short, easy to consume, and made it more likely for others to take the time to read.

After submitting my ideas I decided I wanted to continue my effort to produce information on leadership in the same format and make it available for others.  So I decided to create a new category on my blog site titled “Leadership Shorts” where I will be making short postings containing some of my ideas on leadership.

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The First and Last Words

Posted on May 4, 2011 by willieryder

I believe I am a creature of habit.  My likes and dislikes, hobbies, and people I spend my time with are pretty predictable if you know me.  I usually go to the same restaurants, eat the same foods, read a certain type of books written by the same authors, listen to the same radio station, watch only a handful of tv shows, and shop at the same stores.

I am so predictable even the thoughts I have and the words I say at times will be the same one day to the next.  Especially when talking to the ones I care about the most.  With my wife and kids I have formed a kind of pattern that repeats itself each and every day.  There are usually 4 different statements or questions they can count on hearing from me almost every day.

In the morning I ask them what they have going on for the day, I tell them I love them and hope they have a great day, in the afternoon/evening I ask them how their day has been and what did they do or learn, and each night before I go to bed I go to each of their rooms, tell them I love them, and hope they have sweet dreams.

These statements and questions may seem pretty basic to most people and appear to be small gestures.  However, to me I think they are extremely important and do my best to not let a day go by that I don’t voice them.

Asking my wife and kids what they have planned for the day lets them know that I value what they have going on in their lives outside of our time together.  It also opens up the opportunity to ask them if they have properly prepared for the day.  If my kids have a test then I ask them if they are ready and if they have they studied enough.  The same if they have a project or big assignment due.  From their response I try to gauge if they are confident or nervous and will do my best to encourage them and wish them good luck.

If my kids have school then I usually take my daughters and drop them off.  As their getting out of the car I tell them that I love them and hope they have a great day.  Sometimes I will even repeat it.  I guess that is my way of trying to increase the chance that they will have a great day and my hope that no matter what happens throughout the day they will remember that I love them.

My wife usually brings my son to school so the last thing I do before I leave the house is to give him and my wife a kiss and let them both know I love them and hope they have a great day as well.  Again sometimes I will repeat myself, especially if they are upstairs when I leave.  I will go up to say goodbye in person and then as I am about to walk out the door I will scream up and tell them again that I love them and hope they have a great day.

If my kids don’t have school and I have to go to work then I will go by each of their rooms and wake them up to give them a kiss goodbye, let them know I love them, and hope they have a great day.  I feel guilty waking them up just to say goodbye but I cannot leave the house without doing so.  They mean the world to me and I want them to know that.

The first time I talk to each of them after work I will ask them how their day has gone so far.  For my kids I will sometimes ask them what they have learned or how a particular event went if it is a school day.  If they did not have school and spent the day at home or with a friend I will ask them what they did and if they had fun.  For my wife I will ask her how work went or any other activity she is involved in.  For them it probably feels like a lot of questions, but I think it is important because I care about them and want them to know that I am interested in what they are up to and how they are doing.  It also helps me to try and identify if one of them is having a bad day or struggling with something.  That way I can ask the appropriate questions to find out what may be bothering them and try to make their day better.

Each night it is next to impossible for me to go to sleep without tucking my children in.  Even on the nights they come by my room to say goodnight to me.  I still have to get up and go by each of their rooms to give them a kiss, tell them I love them, and wish them sweet dreams, even if they are already asleep.  Sometimes I will wake them up, but that is ok because me telling them these things is important to me and hopefully to them.

If they are staying over at a friend’s house or out of town for a school trip or visiting relatives I ask that they always call before going to bed so I can tell them that I love them and to have sweet dreams.  If not then I worry about them.

I try to communicate with wife and kids as much as possible and I am sure there are times I go overboard or may not communicate enough.  It is definitely something that takes effort.  But I think regular communication is very important especially if you want to have a good relationship with the people in your life that you care about the most.

There are plenty of things we talk about that I have not mentioned here, so much that I could not possibly list them all.  These four statements and questions are just the ones that I do my best to communicate no matter what happens each day.  The two most critical ones for me though are in the morning when I tell them I love them and to have a good day and right before bed when I tell them I love them and to have sweet dreams.  There is not a day that goes by where I don’t do these two.  They are almost always the first and last words I say to them each and every day.

You may ask what about the days where they have done or said something wrong and have upset me.  On those days we have some very tough conversations.  However, regardless of how tough they are or how upset they might make me I still follow through on this, especially my first and last words to them.  Because no matter what I love them with all of my heart and I always want them to know that and that I will always wish them the best.

If you have someone in your life that you care for deeply make sure you let them know and communicate with them as much as possible.  Identify the things you want them to know and make your first and last words to them ones they will always remember and hopefully cherish.

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Thinking and Acting Like a Child

Posted on August 5, 2009 by willieryder

“WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GROW UP AND START ACTING YOUR AGE!”

 

Wow!  Can you imagine being on the other end of that conversation?

 

Sadly enough, I am pretty sure most of us can.

 

Even sadder is the fact that those of us that are parents have probably said that or something very similar to our own children at some time or another.  The version I tend to use goes a little like this. 

 

“How old are you again?”  “Are you sure?”  “Then why did you just do that?”  “What were you thinking?”

 

 A little different, however the same affect I am sure. 

 

Usually when we make a statement like this, one or more of our kids have done or said something we consider to be immature and we feel obligated to let them know.

 

What if you said or did something and one of your children said to you, “When are you going to start thinking and acting like a child?”

 

 As we get older we start to think and act differently than we did when we were children.  Of course in the act of getting older we have learned and experienced a lot as well as being saddled with responsibilities you just don’t have as a child. All of which helps us to grow and mature into the adult versions of ourselves.  However, at the same time do we also tend to lose something special as well?

 

A few years ago I was driving my then 9 year old daughter Elysa to school when all of a sudden she started telling me about this amazing idea she had.  For the life of me I cannot remember what the idea was, however I do remember thinking that it was very unrealistic.

 

 Just when I was ready to tell her that it wasn’t possible, it would never happen, or she was just being silly, I stopped myself.  You see I know what it feels like to share your ideas and thoughts with someone just to get that sort of response.  I was a kid once and I had a very active imagination.  Plus who was I to tell her what’s possible or not.

 

Instead I said “you are a very creative young girl and have a real imagination.” 

 

You never know, with a little support and encouragement she may just change the world.

 

I have an older daughter named Alex who is now 16 years old.  One Saturday when she was around 10 we decided to spend the day shopping at the Mall.  During lunch we were in the middle of the food court eating when all of a sudden she decides she wanted to sing.   I could not believe it.  I stopped eating and immediately asked her “what are you doing?”

 

“Singing.”

 

“Yeah, I understand that.  But why?” 

 

“Because I want to.”

 

“Aren’t you worried that other people might hear you?”

 

“No, not really.”

 

Then she stood up next to the table and started dancing to go along with her singing. 

 

“Aren’t you worried about embarrassing yourself?”

 

 “No, not really.” 

 

And she continued singing and dancing until she was done without a care in the world. 

 

To her she was just having fun and really wasn’t concerned with what other people thought.

 

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all think like this?  Could you imagine the risks that we would be willing to take if we weren’t afraid of failing or embarrassing ourselves?

 

 Anything could be possible.

 

My youngest child Andrew is just 5 years old.  Even though he is very young he teaches me a very important lesson every single day and that is the difference that a smile and a few kind words can make.   He smiles more than anyone I know and always has a kind word or two to share with others.  No matter what type of mood I am in it always raises my spirits when I see his little face light up and hear the kind words he has to share with me. 

 

A couple of weeks ago I came home from work and he greeted me as usual.  He ran to the door with a smile on his face, gave me a hug, and said.

 

“Hi dad, I am glad you are home.  How was your day?”

 

“Hi buddy, I am glad I am home too.  I have had a pretty tough day.” 

 

I then proceeded to walk up stairs to put my stuff down, turned around, and there was Andrew.  He had followed me up stairs.  He immediately grabbed hold of my leg and said.

 

“I am really sorry you had a bad day.”  “I hope it is better now.”

 

The value of something so small and easy as a smile and a kind word or two is truly amazing and at times could mean the world to someone.

 

I believe that thinking and acting like a child can make a huge difference in how we live our lives and how happy we are.  Because when you are young there is a certain degree of innocence that allows you to have a bigger imagination, be more creative, believe anything is possible, forgive and forget easier, and just have fun.

 

There is so much that we can learn from our children if we would just pay attention.  From my children I have learned to dream big, take risks, and love whole heartedly.  

 

I will leave you today with a single question.

 

“When are you going to start thinking and acting like a child?”

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Find Your Voice and Share It

Posted on July 9, 2009 by willieryder

Imagine its Monday morning.  You just pulled out of your driveway and you are on your way to work.  The radios playing in the back ground and you are cruising along through traffic just like any other day.  As you are driving your mind begins to wander and you start thinking random thoughts.  All of a sudden one of them seems pretty interesting to you and grabs hold of your attention.  It’s an idea for a change that you feel would be good to implement at work.  You consider it in detail to include who needs to be involved, the actions to take, and the overall benefits for those in your organization.  As you pull into the parking garage at work you find yourself smiling and excited to be there.  You get out of your car, walk up to the building, go through the door, make your way to your desk, and start to work.  Just like any other day.  Your great idea put on hold until later, which sadly may never come. 

 

Why is it so common for us as human beings to think up a lot of what we consider being great ideas and then fail to follow through on the majority of them?  Maybe the same reason we find ourselves hesitant to share our ideas with others.  Or why we don’t speak up when a thought comes to mind during discussions with others whether it is one on one or in a meeting with a group of people.   

 

I believe there are several contributing factors to this and for each of us the reasons are probably different.  Today I am going to spend some time discussing some of the factors, offer some ideas on how to overcome them, and hopefully impart why it is so important that we each find our own voice.

 

The first factor I will talk about is the one that I myself struggle with the most and that is having enough time to follow through on all of the ideas I have.  I enjoy thinking of ways of solving problems and making things better for myself and more so for others.  I get a real excitement when I know I have made a positive impact on someone else.  I regularly find myself reflecting on how I can try to improve things at work, home, Toastmasters, and with the kids I work with in a local youth Basketball  league just to name a few.  However, I tend to over extend myself to such a degree that many of the things I think of never come to fruition. 

 

In order to overcome this I need to be better at making sure that I am focusing my energies on the things that I care about the most and being better at recognizing when I am close to over extending myself.  To help me with this I must be clear about my personal values, personal mission statement, the legacy I hope to leave and use these when deciding the challenges I will take on and where my voice is needed the most.

 

The next factor I will discuss is the struggle that some people have articulating themselves.  In their minds they know exactly what they want to share and why it’s important to them and others.  However, they really struggle with finding a way to share it in a fashion that others understand or can follow. That forces them to hesitate in sharing or acting on their ideas unless it is something they can do completely on their own without help or approval from anyone else.  Unfortunately the bigger the idea the more likely others have to be involved in order for it to be successful. 

 

To help in overcoming this I would recommend trying a few different approaches.  One would be to write your ideas down in detail and then read what you have written to make sure it makes since to you.  I would also get a mentor that you trust that you can share your ideas with and gather feedback.  Lastly I would find a venue that offered you the opportunity to practice presenting your ideas, one option being a Toastmasters club.  Hopefully the more you discuss your ideas with others, answer questions, and get feedback you will be able to make your message clear enough to where you can easily share it with others.  This can help you to gain the support your voice needs once you start communicating your ideas.

 

The last factor I will talk about today to me is the most critical one.  It is the fact that some people feel that what they think or have to say does not matter and so they don’t speak up and they have no voice at all.  There are several reasons why someone may feel this way.  They may have tried to speak up in the past and their ideas where dismissed.  They may have been ridiculed or treated badly for their ideas or just for speaking up in general.  Or maybe they were just never asked their opinion so they decided what they thought or had to say was not important.  Regardless of the reason it is wrong.

 

Each and every one of us is unique in our own very special way and has a lot to offer those around us.  We deserve a chance to share our ideas and to be heard.  By not speaking up when we have an idea that we feel can improve a situation we might as well be adding to the problem.  Reflect on the reasons you have for not sharing your ideas and work to find ways to overcome them.  Be proactive in your approach and let your voice be heard.

 

There are numerous reasons why we don’t always follow through on the many ideas we have.  It could be due to a lack of focusing on what we care about the most, we may need to work on our ability to clearly communicate what we are thinking, or possibly we just need to believe in the value we bring to ourselves and those around us.   

 

Whatever the reason may be, Find Your Voice and Share It.

 

Because the next time you’re driving to work and a great idea grabs your attention I want you to be able to pull into that parking garage, get out of your car, walk through that door, confidently share your ideas with those around you, and make that day like no other.

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Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Way

Posted on July 9, 2009 by willieryder

"Pack up your stuff, you’re out of here, you’ve got orders to another duty station." 

 

"What do you mean I got orders, I don’t want to change jobs, I love this job.  Does the Colonel know about this?" 

 

"Of course he knows, who do you think gave you the orders."

 

"What do you mean he was the one that gave me the orders?  I thought the Colonel liked me."

 

"He can’t stand you.  Whatever would make you think he liked you?

 

"Every time he tells me to lead, follow, or get out of the way, I listen and I get out of the way.

 

"You idiot, that is not what you’re supposed to do."

 

The scene I just described was taken from a movie I watched a few years ago.  It was a conversation between two members in the military.

 

I can personally relate to it because I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps and during that time I heard individuals say to Lead, Follow, or Get out of the way on several occasions.  Sometimes to me and sometimes to others. 

 

When you hear someone say to Lead, Follow, or Get out of the way you have to ask yourself.  What is the right thing for you to do and do you have a choice.  When I was in the Marines I tried very hard to be the best Marine and Leader I could be.  At the time in order for me to do that I felt I had no choice and my only option was to lead.

 

Was I right?  Did I really have a choice?  If not, was my only option to lead? 

 

After I got out of the Marine Corps I went to work for Microsoft.  Around 3 or 4 years after I started working at Microsoft I got the opportunity to attend a special advanced training course in Redmond, Washington that was created for the top people in my field.

 

One night after we were done for the day all of the individuals attending the training course along with the instructors decided to go out to dinner.  While we were out the lead instructor posed a pretty interesting question to the group of us. 

 

He asked us "who’s in charge." 

 

At first we didn’t understand the question so he elaborated.  He asked if we had figured out who was in charge of our class yet.

 

One of the students almost immediately responded stating that the instructor was of course.  However, this was not the answer he was looking for.  The instructor then stated that there were fourteen students in the class and he was interested in knowing who we thought the leader amongst us was.

 

Apparently the previous classes had a leader that everyone else looked up to and followed.  He expected our group to be no different by the time the class was over.

 

Now that we knew what he was looking for a few people responded with various names. 

 

In my heart I felt they were all wrong and made the comment that I believed it depended on the situation at hand and would not always be the same person. 

 

You see I felt that we were all leaders or we wouldn’t even be there.  I believed the person with the most experience to handle a given situation would step up to lead and the rest would follow.  Then when the task changed so would the role of the leader.  The person now most qualified would step up and lead and the rest of us would now follow them.  To include the previous leader.

 

Was I right?  As a leader should we sometimes lead and other times willingly follow someone else?

 

After changing jobs from an individual contributor role to one of a people manager I soon realized I did not have enough time to be involved in everything. There were many different initiatives in my organization that were owned and driven by various small virtual teams.  For some of the virtual teams I was responsible for being the leader, for some I was on the team but not the leader, and others I was not involved at all. 

 

At some point I found myself wondering, is this what it means to Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Way?  Could all three be a valid option depending on the situation? 

 

Most recently I have found myself wondering if you could actually choose to do more than one of these or possibly all three at the same time in regards to a particular situation.

 

For a little over a year I have been mentoring and coaching a member of my team to become a manager.  To help him in his growth and development I put him in charge a new team of contractors. 

 

In this role one of the responsibilities he had was to build the team.  I gave him full responsibility of the interviewing and hiring of the individuals that would be on this team.  Initially I led the first couple of interviews to make sure he knew what I expected, I then observed while he ran a couple, and then I quit going to them all together. 

 

After all the interviews were done I asked him who he wanted to hire and why? 

 

We hired each of the individuals he chose and they all did a great job while they worked for us.  The team was very successful.

 

Throughout the time I have been mentoring the individual I have felt that my role has had to change several times.  Sometimes I have to lead by giving him direction and feedback, other times follow by supporting the decisions he has made and the actions he has taken, and at times just get out of the way and let him do the amazing work he is capable of.  

 

Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Way!  Is there a single right choice?  I don’t think so.  I believe it depends on the situation.

 

To step up and lead especially when faced with a challenging situation requires courage, to willingly follow someone else when you’re used to leading shows respect and trust in another leader, and to just get out of the way and allow someone else to shine by doing what they are capable of with little to no input from you is a sign of faith in them and their abilities.

 

To be a truly great leader you have to know when to step up and lead, when to follow someone else, and when to just get out of the way.

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