The SLOW Movement for Leaders

Yesterday I faced some challenges.  They were solved, but the process dishonored my own character.  At the root - my impatience.  I want to 'git 'er done', and right now. But at what cost?

Got me thinking about advice I gave to myself and others in a blog I wrote back at the dawn of 2013.  I re-read it for myself and decided I needed its lesson of practicing deliberate SLOWNESS.  Perhaps you do too.  Here is it, edited for 2016

For 2016, join the SLOW movement for leaders.  There are already movements around slow living, slow eating, slow art, slow travel and even slow beer brewing!  Did you know there is also a World Institute of Slowness?

But who among us have ever considered the benefits of being a slow leader?  Isn’t that an oxymoron? 

Consider the habits and talk of leadership in our culture:

The words leaders like to use (especially about themselves) include:

o   Progressive – advanced – forward looking – cutting edge –radical – avant-garde – revolutionary - innovative

We are constantly inundated by leadership fads and systems:

o   Dressing & presenting casual like Steve Jobs did

o   TQM

o   Six Sigma

o   Ropes courses and other ‘team-building’ activities

o   7 Habits of everything...

Ever notice the fad of printing leadership books with a bold RED jacket?  In this case it’s not about STOP, but about action.  RED now symbolizes a topic that MUST be read, NOW

“Speed of the leader, speed of the team”.  This of course assumes a high rate of speed!

The latest book, seminar, or other ‘fad’ can serve to drive interest and discussion, but rarely does it drive effective change.  Why?  It drives leaders into bad decision-making out of a falsely perceived need to be ‘on the cutting edge’.  If being cutting edge is your raison d’être for being a good leader, you are going to bleed a lot!  No sooner will you get a grip on this ‘new thing’ and then another comes along. 

Who wants to always be on the cutting edge?  It’s bloody painful there!

Remember that dog in UP?  Every once in a while his attention was distracted…”Squirrel”!  Our culture contributes to a collective ADD.  Sound bites, advertising, fast-paced movies and fast food are the surface elements of a deeper distraction.  Innumerable and cleverly marketed leadership theories, systems and certifications prove my point.

You are likely thinking about advancing your leadership in 2016. Excellent.  But before you get carried away with plans and ideas:

• What’s’ the true benefit to speaking the latest lingo or possessing the latest certification?
• What’s the rush to be on the front edge? 
• Does it have to be done NOW? 
•  Where & how will this latest ‘thing’ actually show up and benefit your organization? 
•  Who does it serve for you to be ‘trendy’?  I suspect it serves YOU more than your client or your constituency.  There is a lot of narcissism among leaders, even spiritual ones.  We are driven by our grandiosity more than we think.

Frankly I don’t believe a client or constituency cares if you are cutting edge and trendy.  They care whether you deliver on what you/your organization promises.  I suggest to you that their loyalty and support deserves leadership than can weather the elements; that is resilient in a chaotic environment; that has a stronger foundation than what group-think provides.   In other words, they look for leadership that is DEEPLY & FIRMLY GROUNDED rather than acting like wing-nut, leadership theory groupies.

I contend that leaders need to slow down, take longer walks and stop looking only to the future.  They serve others best when they include a 360 degree perspective on the way they perceive their world.  The enduring values of a culture and its' history, along with present needs and issues must also be included in the leaders’ point of view.

Recently our long-tenured Prime Minister experienced an electoral defeat. He was a capable man, but had lost perspective.  He viewed the future of our nation primarily in economic terms. While our economic status was envied globally, domestic social issues and values were left largely ignored and proved to be the swing factor in a change of government. He and his party suffered an evident lack of 360 degree leadership perspective.

The nomadic leader is inherently open to change.  They have to be.  But neither are they battered by every wind of change or fad.  2 questions to reflect on before impatiently running toward a change or fad:

1. "What is the actual purpose for this change?"  
2. "What values will this change serve?" 

The answers may help slow you down.

Effecting the right kind of change requires leaders who have created a personal foundation of habits, attitudes, behaviours and values they deem necessary for leading others into quality living. Leadership isn’t just about navigating change.  It’s about navigating to a place of purpose, prosperity and meaning!

So, join me in the SLOW LEADERS movement. 

• No sign up.  
•  No marketing strategy. 
•  No time frame for fulfillment or recertification! 

Make a choice to slow down and anchor yourself in the timeless habits, attitudes, behaviours, and values that comprise a foundation for enduring leadership.

Here are some self-coaching questions for you.

For questions that ask you to rate yourself, use this scale:   
1 = least important, to 10 = critically important

1.       How often do you think about the foundational anchors that define your leadership?

     Score_____

2.       When you think about your answer, how important is this to you?

     Score_____

3.       How important do you want it to be? 

     Score_____

(If the gap between the answers to # 2 & # 3 is wider than 2, keep going...)

4.       Describe 3 anchors you provide as a leader to your organization/family/team.

5.       Take each one and rate them in 2 ways:

• To what extent do I actually demonstrate these in my leadership activity?

     Score_____

• Where on this scale would I truly like these to show up?

     Score_____

6.       What is my plan to address the gaps? (Contact me if you need some help – harvey@visiontracks.ca)

Jesus Christ told a story of 2 men who built their houses on various foundations – one on shifting sand and the other on rock.  Which one do you think endures stormy and unpredictable weather? 

Choose a foundation that endures.  Then start building. 

Migrating Leadership

If ever the concept of leadership was in flux, it is now.  

Leadership is migrating from institution-centric to the perimeter. 

Some say the driver is the merger of the Gen Y/Millennials coming of age, globalization and social networks, combining to fuel this leadership revolution. Those are significant drivers but I would also add leadership is migrating because of the frustration with the distance between institutional leadership and ground level reality.  And it really doesn’t matter whether that’s in the political, business or even religious institution realm.  No longer can any leader hope for a safe distance from grassroots issues to allow them to cocoon for extended periods of  status quo management.  Contemporary ubiquitous access to knowledge, high values of justice and activism, impatience for geological-time administrative processes and increasing access to funding sources to create change outside of institutions means people will go around you!

Leadership is not synonymous with authority.  Many of the grassroots leaders in the social movements we have observed over the past 2 years did not have formal positions of authority but they pursued organizational changes that challenged the status quo of their institutions.  Not all were successful.  But just wait – many have tasted and seen the potential for change.  They won’t shrink back for long.

I have been part of institutional leadership internationally and nationally.  Funny thing is that before I entered an international position, I remember thinking about my leaders that it seemed after 5 years they should get out for a while because it seemed after that period of time they started to lose touch with the ground.  After being on the “inside” I now see that it’s not the 5 years which is the issue; it’s the distance you can create between yourself and the very reason for which your institution exists. 

How can we avoid that as leaders?

Acknowledge that leadership exists throughout your organization.  They exist among those who are employed and those who volunteer.  How will you identify them?

Engage them.  Leadership input ought not to be restricted to your hired team.  Gather the people who are not in positions of authority and engage them in developing/examining the core purposes and practice of your organization.

Recycle yourself and your leaders out to the ‘field ‘.  Not just some ‘site visit’ scenario, but a significant portion of time where they invest working energy in the places you work and products you produce.

Loosen the reigns. I have often advocated for organizational leaders to “centralize the questions and decentralize the answers”.  In other words the leadership task is not to declare your vision and create appropriate structures where everyone can achieve your dream.  Instead, gather the formal and the grassroots to develop the core questions & values.  From there, release your people to innovate on the answers.  

Float through your organization– remind, recognize and reward the efforts made in accordance with agreed upon core questions and values.  We have heard it many times, but redundant communication is critical – but in this case you are reminding them of the outcome of their collaboration, not what you declared in your ‘grand plan’.

Bring them back – like Pulsars (rotating Neutron stars) which emit pulses of light in short, regular intervals, create the same regular impulse of expansion (releasing them to act) and contraction (bringing them in to reflect and recalibrate where needed).  This keeps your leadership knowledge current and their input valued.

Bottom line:  If you don’t acknowledge the migration of leadership thinking and power to the grassroots and engage it accordingly, those leaders will simply migrate to a new location. 

The Nomadic Leader!

That Messy Middle

 How long will you give it before you give up and throw out the F-Bomb (Failure-bomb)?

This is the quintessential question for anyone involved in some sort of start-up venture or project.  Whether it’s a business, non profit or a personal project, the difference between seeing the light at the end of the tunnel or the oncoming headlights of failure is your willingness to persevere.

The most dangerous and vulnerable stage of any vision is the middle.

At the beginning it’s all about the energy of the vision.  One reason for that energy is because ideas are free; free of commitment, cost, and sacrifice.  That’s why the initial stage of launching a vision is so invigorating!  Everything is possible and all obstacles are surmountable in that fluffy, untested world of the future vision. 

Once you get near the end you may be tired from the journey but you can now see the tangible outcomes emerging.  That sight-line renews your energy to complete the climb.

The problem is the messy or miserable middle.  It’s where:

·         Team members or initial proponents begin to leave

·         Criticism over ‘production’ starts to surface

·         The initial ‘master plan’ is facing regular re-think moments in order to adjust to realities

·         You doubt yourself

 

Do you stick with it or abandon ship and walk away with your degree from the School of Disappointment? 

Here are 12 guidelines for deciding when to quit and when to persevere, as posted by Rosabeth Moss Kanters’ blog in the Harvard Business Review of Oct 23, 2012:

1. Are the initial reasons for the effort still valid, with no consequential external changes?
2. Do the needs for which this a solution remain unmet, or are competing solutions still unproven or inadequate?
3. Would the situation get worse if this effort stopped?
4. Is it more cost-effective to continue than to pay the costs of restarting?
5. Is the vision attracting more adherents?
6. Are leaders still enthusiastic, committed, and focused on the effort?
7. Are resources available for continuing investment and adjustments?
8. Is skepticism and resistance declining?
9. Is the working team motivated to keep going?
10. Have critical deadlines and key milestones been met?
11. Are there signs of progress, in that some problems have been solved, new activities are underway, and trends are positive?
12. Is there a concrete achievement — a successful demonstration, prototype, or proof of concept?

If your answers are mostly yes, then press on!  If not, then it may be the right thing to fold up and move on.  Better to give up on something that cannot work rather than something that could have worked.

Just because the middle is messy, it’s not a good reason to give up.  Press on!

Harv Matchullis

harvey@visiontracks.ca

www.visiontracks.ca

When Are You Ready?

A challenge lies ahead.  An opportunity emerges.  A prompting to act pokes at your soul.

How long do you wait?   When are you ready to act?

In this blog I want to reflect on a Biblical example with both spiritual and leadership implications.  It is a classic scenario faced by nomadic leaders: 

Moving ahead without knowing all the facts or outcomes

The story is from the book of Acts chapter 10 & 11 and describes the Apostle Peter about to face a sea-change in his views.  He’s a good, solid Jewish boy who now follows the way of Jesus.  But Peter still held on to a deep-seated view of the separation of Jews from other peoples (‘the Gentiles’).  That was about to be challenged.

Through a pretty disturbing (to a Jew) vision, Peter was challenged by the God of all nationalities to start opening up his attitudes and relationship to non-Jews.  This sea-change in his views probably made him a little sea-sick!   Like many of us I am sure Peter would have preferred some time to retreat & study this ‘proposal’.  Then he could create a strategic plan and think about further preparation.

He did not have that luxury – and that isn’t a bad thing.

2 phrases in the Bible from Acts 10 reveal how at times it’s better to start acting without all the plans, strategies and understanding in place:

“While Peter was still wondering about the vision...”, one piece of the puzzle stood in front of him.  Representatives came from a non-Jew of significant standing to invite Peter to come for a visit. It was like a bridge to somewhere was opening up.  But a bridge to where, exactly?

“While he was still thinking about the vision...”, an internal confirmation/conviction came from God which convinced him to take action and go to meet this non-Jewish person.  He went still not sure of the result and perhaps a bit skeptical.

Still wondering, still thinking, still unsure, but convinced something important was in play he acted.  Once he met with this man, it became quite clear to Peter that his long standing convictions about the separation of peoples and cultures was no longer valid.  Furthermore now that we can look back in history, this discovery had global implications!

What have you missed by waiting for everything to make sense based on your current knowledge?

I am not advocating the reckless pursuit of whims, but a re-tuning of ourselves to the dynamic that many times we will not know more unless and until we choose to move with the little we know.

In this story it was only as Peter got up and went, based on the little information at hand and his growing conviction, that further knowledge became available to him.  Getting up and getting moving brought more clarity than further thinking.

In spiritual terms – it is often better to obey than to wait for all of your understanding, theologizing and planning to align. 

In leadership terms, it is not always possible or desirable to have every step planned out ahead of time.  Stepping forward without full knowledge but with the courage of your convictions, is the supreme act of leadership.

Sometimes you just won’t KNOW until you GO.

Harv Matchullis