My First Presentation

I still remember my first presentation as a professional consultant. I had only been on the job for a few weeks and we were doing a strategic planning project for a large energy company. I had done a key part of the analysis that needed to be shown to the client, so my manager asked me to give the presentation. Our consulting firm had a particular style for presentations, so my boss did quite a bit of editing and reformatting of my slides. No problem. I thought that I was ready ... until I gave the presentation. I stumbled through it. And I  realized afterwards that even though it was my analysis, it was my manager's presentation. I had never really "owned" the final version of the slides. Leaders are regularly faced with a version of this temptation to "fix" someone else's work, especially when the leader is also the owner. The risk is that in doing so, these leaders take “ownership” away from the staff members who have spent considerable time on the task or project up to that point. That can be demoralizing. But even worse than that, it can also lead to less than satisfactory results. Staff members may fall short when the work is given back to them because they don't understand the "improvements." Or the leader is forced to stay over-involved when he or she should be working on other things.

I don't want my opening illustration to be misunderstood. My manager's changes truly did improve the presentation. It communicated the right information in a much more meaningful way. Some of the fault belonged squarely on my shoulders for not spending more time practicing with the new slides so that I was comfortable with them. But the question remains for every leader: how can you accomplish your goals and meet your standards for excellence and at the same time, allow staff members to retain a sense of ownership?

Lead with Love

The conclusion of Kouzes and Posner’s The Leadership Challenge has stuck with me for years. The authors quote one of the exemplary leaders from their research, who said, “The secret to success is to stay in love. Staying in love gives you the fire to ignite other people, to see inside other people, to have a greater desire to get things done …” Kouzes and Posner acknowledge, “’Staying in love’ isn’t the answer we expected to get” in their extensive research on leadership. Then they conclude: It finally dawned on us how many leaders used the word love freely when talking about their own motivations to lead. Of all the things that sustain a leader over time, love is the most lasting. It’s hard to imagine getting up day after day, putting in the long hours and hard work it takes to get extraordinary things done, without having their hearts in it. … Leadership is not an affair of the head. Leadership is an affair of the heart.

Let me suggest three ways that you can let this challenge your leadership:

• Love your staff. It’s tragic if those who work for you don’t feel loved by their Christian Love is at the center of the gospel. Sure, those staff members aren’t perfect. They make mistakes. So do you. No matter what challenges you face, they need to know that you love them.

• Celebrate the ways that God has blessed your organization. Another frequent leadership mistake is the failure to celebrate. Celebrations should give credit to God and demonstrate how much we love the work that God has called us to do. In your rush to achieve the next strategic milestone, don’t forget to be thankful for your past successes.

• Reflect on the depth of your love. If love is the secret to leadership success, then make the time during your summer vacation to think about whether you love your leadership role. Do you love the people, the mission, and your unique role? If leading is more of a burden than a passion, then it may be time to work on a transition strategy.

I hope your summer will be filled with love, and I hope that it will overflow into every aspect of your leadership.

Different Coaching

By most standards, I had a very good athletic career. In high school, I was one of our state’s top runners in the one mile, and I later set my college's record for 1500 meters. But I wonder if I could have done even better with different coaching. I had a good coach, but I also had a problem. I was the best on our college team (at the time) at 1500 meters, but I didn't have enough speed to be the best in our conference. The next longer race, the 5000 meters, was never my favorite to run, plus I had two teammates who were All-Americans at that distance. Perhaps a different coach with more specialized workouts could have improved my speed, or would have pushed me toward the 5000. I'll never know.

What I do know is that leaders need to constantly grow and improve, and doing so is often facilitated or accelerated with someone else's help. That someone might be a wise mentor, a trusted peer, or a professional coach. The label is less important than the benefit that you're receiving.

Can you articulate the top area(s) where you need to grow as a leader? Perhaps you need to improve at managing people or articulating a clear vision or dealing with criticism. How could that growth help you move to the next level? How could it help the organization that you lead?

If you’re not growing, don’t expect growth from those that you’re leading. And if you’re not sure how to grow, it may be time to seek the help of a coach. Even if you have a coach, it’s fair to assess whether he or she is the right person to help with your current needs.

Looking back, I can see how my running career might have benefitted from different coaching. Of course, switching wasn’t easy once I committed to a college, but you don’t face the same constraints. So what kind of coaching do you need, and where will you find it?

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Mike Bonem is a Convene Chair who began his business career as a consultant with McKinsey & Co. and subsequently served in senior leadership roles for two mid-sized environmental service companies. He also served for over a decade as the executive pastor of his church, and has continued to serve Kingdom-minded organizations as a strategy and organization consultant and coach. 

Passing Backwards

I coached each of my kids’ soccer teams from about ages 5 to 12. As the kids got older, we shifted from simple skill development to learning positions and strategies. But one concept that I never could get across was the value of passing the ball back. You see, when a soccer team is moving down the field on offense, sometimes their best move is to pass the ball back to a teammate who can redirect the flow of the attack. For kids, it’s counterintuitive to purposefully kick the ball in the opposite direction from the goal. But doing so is often exactly what a team needs in order to improve its chances of scoring.

Sometimes the best move that a leader can make is to pass the ball backwards. This is often just as counterintuitive for the leader as for a 10-year old soccer player. Here are three reasons why soccer players pass back, and why you should consider it as well:

• You pass back when you’ve encountered opposition. It’s better to pass back and lose a few yards than to lose the ball completely. As a leader, you may be able to press forward in the face of difficulties, but at what cost?

• The person receiving your pass can see the field much better. Since this teammate isn’t surrounded by defenders, he or she has a clearer perspective. In the same way, you need colleagues who can offer a different point of view.

• Redirection may yield better results. Passing the ball back isn’t a retreat – it’s a chance to shift the offense’s attack. You may also need to try a different approach to accomplish your ultimate goal.

If you feel like you’re running into a brick wall with your current efforts, is it time to pass the ball backwards?

Accelerator and Brake

Would you buy a car that didn't have an accelerator? How about one that didn't have a brake? In truth, these are pretty senseless questions, aren't they? Even race car drivers occasionally have to tap on the brakes to avoid a collision. Even though you know that the accelerator and brake are both essential in your car, you may not have the same view when it comes to leading your business. "Accelerators" are the classic visionaries. They're the people who never run out of ideas but are often short on patience. The ink may not be dry on one initiative before they're dreaming about the next one. "Brakes," obviously, are detail and process-oriented. They are the people who always seem to be saying, "We need to slow down and think this through."

You probably readily identify yourself either as an accelerator or a brake, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's how God made you. But there is something wrong if you consider the other type of person to be a nuisance to be tolerated, or even worse, an unnecessary obstacle to be removed. It's that other person who may keep you from making a rash decision or from getting stuck in indecision. It's the two of you working together (or a team that mixes these temperaments) that can put together bold plans that will actually produce results.

So the next time that you feel the frustration building as you work with a person who is wired differently than you, consider taking a short drive to cool off. Maybe using both the accelerator and the brake will remind you that you need each other.