The Priority of Potential — Spotting Talent for our Organizations

August 11, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Potential!, by Miles Goodhew, Flickr

In a previous post I highlighted 8 Core Leadership Abilities. In the same HBR article, Claudio Fernández-Aráoz engages the important theme of how to spot talent in the 21^st century.

A History of Talent Searching

Over the centuries and years, diverse approaches have emerged for identifying leadership and managerial talent. Fernández-Aráoz identifies this progression around four movements:

Focus on Physical Attributes — Those who were fittest, healthiest, and strongest.

Focus on Intelligence and Experience — Those who were the most intelligent, most experienced, and those with the best past performance.

Focus on Testing for Competencies— Those who possess the right set of characteristics and skills associated with predicted job performance.

Focus on Potential — Those who are ready to engage the VUCA environment of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity.

Why Potential

In the VUCA world of increased volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, there are new demands on prospective talent. Fernández-Aráoz discusses the factors of globalization, demographic shifts, and challenges to the talent development pipeline. The talent development pipeline is significantly stretched due to increased competition in this changing environment of the 21st century. These factors are forcing organizations to focus on identifying potential (not just track-records of success), and then developing and retaining this talent in the years ahead.

What to Look for When Looking for Potential

So, how is potential spotted? What qualities are the hallmarks of such potential? Fernández-Aráoz identifies the following hallmarks for spotting talent and potential in the 21st century:

Motivation — “…a fierce commitment to excel in the pursuit of unselfish goals.”

Curiosity — “…a penchant for seeking out new experiences, knowledge, and candid feedback and an openness to learning and change.”

Insight — “…the ability to gather and make sense of information that suggests new possibilities.”

Engagement — “…a knack for using emotion and logic to communicate a persuasive vision and connect with people.”

Determination — “…the wherewithal to fight for difficult goals despite challenges and to bounce back from adversity.”

How to Develop those with Potential

Because spotting potential is quickly becoming the new norm, developing this potential talent in our organizations is becoming the highest priority. How are motivation, curiosity, insight, engagement, and determination built upon so that individuals with potential translate into individuals with performance?

Fernández-Aráoz identifies the priority of stretch development. On this point Fernández-Aráoz notes, “when it comes to developing executives for future leadership assignments, we’re constantly striving to find the optimal level of discomfort in the next role or project, because that’s where the most learning happens.” Finding stretching assignments, where those with potential don’t immediately have all the answers, is one of the chief pathways in moving individuals from potential to performance.

______________________________

How are you identifying potential around you? How are you developing this potential into performance?

Cease Striving — Calling Leaders to Rest

August 10, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / 1 Comment

Photo Credit: Rest Here, by Esther Simpson, Flickr

“Cease striving and know that I am God.” – Ps. 46:10

Getting Things Done

As leaders, we tend to be achievers. We tend toward making things happen… toward work… toward activity… toward doing… toward performance… toward striving.

Of course, these characteristics have some very positive dimensions to them. Things tend to get done. Teams tend to perform. Organizations tend to run well. But can there be too much of a good thing when it comes to this leadership tendency?

Too Much of a Good Thing…Cease Striving

For Christian leaders, it is important to remember that leadership does not just happen by human effort and work. The reality of God’s existence changes the leadership equation for our lives as leaders and for our organizations. Christians believe in a God who does not simply sit back and watch His people work. Rather, Christians believe in a God who not only watches, but He is also engaged in the work itself.

The verse quoted above calls us to be still, to cease striving, and to know that God is God (Ps. 46:10). We are called to trust that God is at work even when we are not. We are called to trust that God is in control even when we feel we are not. We are call to take the attention off of ourselves and our striving, and transfer that attention to God who is actively engaged in our lives, organizations, and world.

He Gives to His Beloved Even as They Sleep

Beyond Psalm 46, there are many other passages in the Bible that remind us as leaders that striving is not always the answer. Sometimes the answer is resting rather than striving, because God is at work even when we are not.

One of my favorite passages on this point is Psalm 127:2…

“It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.”

What a powerful reality. God gives to us, even when we sleep. God works while we rest.

Some versions translate the end of this verse as “he grants sleep to those he loves.” The reality is both concepts are true and powerful. He gives us sleep. He gives to us and our communities while we sleep.

Resting in the One Who Works

As leaders who work hard during the day, we should take time to “cease striving” and to rest. We should cease our work and go to sleep in peace knowing that:

God grants sleep to his beloved, and
Even in our sleep, God is still working on behalf of those who are resting in Him.

Good Theology = Good Rest

What powerful theology for those in need of rest. As leaders, we need to be able to shut down and rest. We need to be shut down and spend time with friends and family. We need to be able to shut down and sleep.

Leaders who believe the entire story of leadership success is written by their own effort will struggle to find the rest and restoration they and their people need. As we trust that God is at work, even when we are not, then the rest we need as leaders will be found by relying on the one who graciously works on our behalf.

Are you finding your rest in the Lord? Are you waiting on the one who is able to work for you? Are you finding refreshment by resting in the one who gives to His people even while they sleep?

Why I Blog: Fostering Healthy Leadership

August 8, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Be the Change, Feggy Art, Flickr

“Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.”
– James MacGregor Burns

James MacGregor Burns’ quote resonates with most of our experiences. We see leadership occurring all around us, but rarely take time to reflect in a systematic way on what makes this leadership helpful or unhelpful—effective or ineffective. Further complicating our observations, at times we see people leading well who have no formal positions of leadership within our organizations, and at other times we see people in positions of leadership who really are not providing the necessary leadership direction for our organizations as we move into the future.

Lingering Questions

And so we come back to Burns’ comments: Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth. But must it be this way? Is leadership simply a mysterious reality? Is it something that we simply know when it is going well or poorly, but will never really understand what makes it work? Or might we be able to provide some basic descriptions of the form and shape of good, helpful, and effective leadership? Might we be able to get at some minimum factors that characterize both what helpful leaders and leadership look like?

Leadership Can Be Learned

Part of my vocational calling is providing thoughtful responses to such questions. I believe leadership can be described and studied. I believe it can be learned. Not every person is wired to be a capital “L” Leader. However, just about everyone embedded in an organization, group, or family can grow in and learn how to positively influence and guide the people around them.

This is the heart behind why I’ve started blogging at purposeinleadership.com. Although I’ve been observing leaders in action most of my life, I’ve spent the last 15 years in focused study on the topic through various degree programs, organizational roles, research agendas, and teaching opportunities. I want to start sharing some of these lessons learned with a wider audience.

A Passion for Ridding the World of Bad Leadership

Harvard Business Review’s editorial mission is “to rid the world of bad management.” I have a similar passion in the area of leadership. Though I won’t be able to personally rid the world of bad leadership, I’d love to make a dent in this ambitious agenda. I want to spread a message…

…that leadership is more about serving others than being served,
…that people are the priority even in profit-driven sectors,
…that leaders need to create organizations and societies that are not only productive, but also are fit for human beings,
…that purpose in leadership is of central importance,
…that leadership is vital in organizations that create value for those they serve,
…that people will endure great hardship and sacrifice when they believe in what they are doing and feel their work and leadership has meaning and purpose,
…that leaders have a God-given responsibility to care for the people they lead,
…that core leadership characteristics and behaviors can be described,
…that leadership is vital in working toward human flourishing in organizations and societies.

Thanks for Joining Me in this Pursuit

Although I don’t believe that everything rises or falls on leadership, I do believe that the pursuit of effective and healthy models of leadership is a first-order priority in our day.

Thanks for joining me on this journey toward good, helpful, and effective leadership. Our organizations and the people we serve as leaders deserve our very best!

Chaos, Creativity, and Connectedness: Learning to Embrace the New Organizational Story

August 4, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / Leave a comment

Photo Credit: From Chaos to Order, Sebastien Wiertz, Flickr

I enjoyed reading Margaret Wheatley’s book Finding our Way: Leadership for Uncertain Time recently. Wheatley discusses at length the important shift from old stories to new.

The Old Organizational Story

The old organizational story that Wheatley emphasizes is a mechanistic story in which a desire for predictability and consistency is pursued. Wheatley notes, “We want a story of simple dimensions: People can be viewed as machines and controlled to perform with the same efficiency and predictability.” As efficient as this goal or desire seems, Wheatley notes that there is one major problem with it: “people never behave like machines,” and when we try to have them act like machines we “ignore the deep realities of human existence” and “take the complexity of human life and organize it away.”

The New Organizational Story

In contrast to this old story, Wheatley is calling for a new story that is a tale of life…one where the complexities of human life are embraced and welcomed rather than controlled and managed away. Wheatley notes that, “Life seeks organization, but it uses messes to get there. Organization is a process, not a structure.” When we, as leaders and managers, simply try to mechanistically structure organization, we often work against rather than with the larger patterns of organization at work in the world.

On this point, Wheatley notes, “Self-organizing systems have the capacity to create for themselves the aspects of organization that we thought leaders had to provide. Self-organizing systems create structures and pathways, networks of communication, values and meaning, behaviors and norms.” In such a model, Wheatley is arguing for the importance of both creativity and connectedness in the life of the organization.

Pursuing Creativity and Connectedness

Pursuing creativity and connectedness feels messy and can feel at odds with the need for stability and consistency. This is one of the largest challenges. As leaders and organizations, are we willing to let go of perceived order pursued through mechanistic means in order to find deeper and more authentic order through more organic means?

Organizations and Chaos Theory

Chaos seems to be a threatening concept for many organizational leaders, but Wheatley reminds us that sometimes the deepest order is found in the midst of self-organizing systems that seem quite unorganized. In Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World, Wheatley points to realities in our world such as fractal and spiraling structures that manifest deep order from what seems chaotic at first glance. Although seemingly at odds with our desire to pursue organizational structure through mechanistic means, Wheatley challenges us to look for order where we typically see chaos.

Pursuing Meaningfulness—What Matters Most

One final point: I love Wheatley’s emphasis on creativity being found through meaning. “As soon as people become interested in an issue, their creativity is engaged. If we want people to be innovative, leaders must engage them in meaningful issues.” Rather than having to prod and production followers through extrinsic means in the mechanistic model, tapping into what is meaningful allows us to pursue creativity through intrinsic motivation of opportunities that are meaningful in a more organic model.

_______________________

How do you respond to Wheatley’s arguments? Looking to the new story and themes surrounding chaos, creativity, and connectedness can feel uncomfortable at first, but I encourage you to give it time and thought. Sometimes the most power insights come to us in unexpected ways.

Follower Motivation and Leader Humility

August 3, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / 2 Comments

Humanity, Love, Respect (B.S. Wise, Flickr)

Photo Credit: Humanity, Love, Respect, by B.S. Wise, Flickr

The challenges leaders face in developing motivation and empowerment among followers are many.

There may be challenges in the interpersonal or dyadic relationship between individual leaders and followers. There may be challenges within the team or group environment at any of the forming, storming, norming, or performing stages. There may be challenges at the level of organizational systems within which leaders and followers are embedded. Or, there may be challenges external to the organization such as a difficult economic environment straining follower and leader expectations of performance.

Beginning with Leader Self-Reflection

While each of these levels may be challenges to motivation and empowerment, leaders should begin by considering their own role in leadership challenges. In a previous post I argued that Effective Leadership = Effective Self-Leadership. When leaders face challenges in motivating and empowering followers it is important to first look to themselves as leaders—to begin seeing how they personally may have contributed to demotivating followers. The Bible makes this priority personal: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).

As a leader,
are you prone to look first to the proverbial speck in a follower’s eye,
or the log in our own eye?

Avoiding the Fundamental Attribution Error

In challenging times it is easy to look to others or our environment and assign fault to them. This tendency is described by some as the fundamental attribution error or actor-observer bias. But thoughtful leaders are self-reflective leaders. They resist the fundamental attribution error and consider how they personally may be contributing to a problem and how followers may be impacted by their environment. They are leaders willing to look first to their contribution to a situation and work out from there to other relevant contributing factors.

Desiring Personal Humility

In light of such logic, we might argue that the greatest challenge to motivating and empowering followers is me and you. It is about self-reflection and self-leadership first. Jim Collin’s notes this point in his book Good to Great. At the heart of Collins’ work is the concept of level five leadership. Collins describes Level Five Leaders as having a unique blend of both professional will and personal humility. With such a blend, a leader has the self-confidence and self-efficacy to own that they do not have all of the answers and that they have less control than they may have originally thought. They also are willing to look into the mirror and see what their contribution is to the lack of motivation among followers.

Pressing Forward with Personal Humility and Follower Motivation

As leaders engage in personal reflection, embrace a spirit of humility, and acknowledge their own contribution to challenges … powerful result emerges. Rather than thinking less of leaders, followers generally grow in their respect for leaders who demonstrate authenticity and a willingness to own their part in challenges. Along this path, leaders begin by truly recognizing where actual power lies—with the wider organizational membership and not just leaders. From this place, leaders are able to motivate followers in authentic and meaningful ways. This motivation may take the form of genuinely valuing and developing people. It may also take the form of channeling followers to orient their attention on vision and performance that matters to them and the organization.

_______________________________

Leader self-reflection and humility is a key starting point in making such motivation and empowerment come to life. Have you seen positive examples of leader humility in your organizations? What impact did this have on the community and the overall motivation experienced by organizational members?

Beauty from Ashes

July 17, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Justin A. Irving, purposeinleadership.com

We are on our trip to the Pacific Northwest this summer. As I look at the beauty surrounding us, I’m in awe once again of the majesty of God’s creation. We are staying near where I grew up in the foothills of Mt. Hood and there are breathtaking views all around. Here is a glimpse of what I’m enjoying:

As beautiful as this place is, I’m reminded that much of this beauty God created through massive upheaval, disruption, and even eruption.

One of these eruptions happened during my childhood on May 18^th, 1980. This was the day Mount St. Helens erupted. I recall much of the community walking around with masks in the aftermath. I remember countless stories told in the days leading up to and the days, weeks, months, and years following. And, I remember particular things, like playing in the fallen ash from the eruption on my elementary school playground.

These memories—being back home, seeing the beauty of this region, remembering the ash of Mount St. Helens—remind me of the work God is up to in our lives. God is in the business of creating beauty from ashes and joy from sorrow.

The gospel is not about bringing our beauty before God. The gospel is about bringing our dead ashes before the One who is able to bring life from our death…beauty from our ashes.

May you rest in the One who is able to make all things new.

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. (ESV)

Right Vision…Right Time — Are You Ready for Change?

July 16, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / 3 Comments

Photo Credit: Justin A. Irving, purposeinleadership.com

Change is all around us. We experience it personally. We experience it interpersonally with those closest to us. And, we experience it at macro levels organizationally, societally, and globally. Some changes happen to us—changes that we do not have much say over. But many other changes are ones we do have a say over…when they will be initiated…when they will be implemented…how they will be implemented.

One of the overarching themes in Peter Drucker’s writing was the importance of balancing continuity and change in organizational practice. Organizations need time-tested practices in the form of organizational continuity, and organizations need innovation in the form of organizational change. A core job of leaders is to know when to hit the accelerator to advance change and when to hit the break to reinforce organizational continuity.

Navigating Readiness for Change as Leaders

In discerning when to stop and when to go, the following model may be useful in discerning whether you and your organization are ready for change. The model is structured around two core questions: Is it the right vision? Is it the right time?

Is it the right vision — …for you as the leader? …for the members of the organization? …for those you serve as an organization?

Is it the right time — …are you ready for this change as a leader? …are the organizational members ready? …are those your organization serves ready?

Irving Change Readiness Model

Answers to these two driving questions point leaders to four traffic signals that may be used to guide their decision about whether or not it is the right season of change for you and your community.

Traffic Signal #1 — Do Not Enter … Wrong Vision / Wrong Time

Traffic signal #1 is “Do Not Enter!” When it is both the wrong vision and the wrong time, as leaders we need to hit the break on change and stop. Pressing for change when it is the wrong vision and the wrong time will lead to FAILED CHANGE.

Traffic Signal #2 — U-Turn Required … Wrong Vision / Right Time

Traffic signal #2 is “U-Turn Required!” When it is the wrong vision but the right time, leaders need to find a safe place to pull over and turn around. Pressing for change when it is the wrong vision but right time will lead to MISGUIDED CHANGE. Leaders who recognize this unique situation of organizational readiness and misfit vision will have the courage to make a U-turn and get the organization headed in a new direction with a new vision.

Traffic Signal #3 — Yield … Right Vision / Wrong Time

Traffic signal #3 is “Yield!” When it is the right vision but the wrong time, it is time for leaders to see and respond to the yield sign. It is recognizing that while the vision is right, the organization and its people may not be ready. This is often the hardest signal for leaders to follow, because waiting for the right time is difficult. However, pressing for change when it is the right vision but wrong time will lead to a FORCED CHANGE. Forced changes often result in failed change. Leaders in this situation must exercise patience and put people before goals.

Traffic Signal #4 — Green Light … Right Vision / Right Time

Finally, traffic signal #4 is “Go…Green Light!” When it is both the right vision and the right time, as leaders it is time to hit the accelerator and navigate through a planned path of change. When it is the right vision and the right time, this is a moment of OPTIMAL CHANGE READINESS.

So, are you ready for change? Following this change readiness model based on vision and timing will go a long way in guiding leaders toward the proper season for enacting change.

Rooted & Relevant – Leading with Grounded Relevance

July 15, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / Leave a comment

Photo Credit: The Old Chinese Banyan HDR, by Lip Jin Lee, Flickr

We often feel the tension between being relevant and rooted. For academic leaders, this is a tension between theory and practice. For business leaders, this is a tension between production and marketing. For ministry leaders, this is a tension between biblical faithfulness and cultural relevance.

Grounded Relevance

The answer, of course, is not picking between rootedness OR relevance, but rather being rooted AND relevant. We might label this middle-ground of both-and as Grounded Relevance. This is a place that holds in harmony and tension the need to be both rooted and relevant in our approach to leadership and thoughtful practice.

Theory-Informed Practice

For example, as a leadership professor, I desire my students to engage significant theory and research, but I equally desire students to translate this into leadership practice. Theory without practice is often irrelevant. Practice without theory is often misguided. Students and practitioners of leadership need both—they need theory-informed practice.

Biblically-Grounded & Missionally-Relevant

Ministry leadership from a place of Grounded Relevance is rooted in Christ: “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). It is also rooted in a commitment to God’s word and follows the Ezra-like example of treasuring God’s word as a ministry foundation: “Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statues and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).

But Grounded Relevance is also about missional relevance. Grounded Relevance is about connecting an eternal message to temporal people in specific times and specific places. Christian leadership that responses to its times by walking the pathway of Grounded Relevance will not be content with business as usual but rather will take seriously the call to engage culture both authentically and missionally.

Rather than leadership that reacts, reflective Christian leadership that is Grounded and Relevant takes seriously the whole of God’s Word and provides the basis for engaging culture with the power of the Gospel. Such leadership holding to the path of Grounded Relevance can, in the words of Henri Nouwen, be:

“flexible without being relativistic,
convinced without being rigid,
willing to confront without being offensive,
gentle and forgiving without being soft, and
true witness without being manipulative”

This is the call for Christian leaders in our day. It is a call to be so rooted and grounded in Christ that we have the capacity to be relevantly engaged with the world around us. It is a call to be Rooted AND Relevant.

Perspective on Prosperity for Leaders

July 9, 2014July 10, 2014 / Justin Irving / 1 Comment

“DO NOT BE OVERAWED WHEN OTHERS GROW RICH“
Psalm 49:16

To be a leader today often means learning to be comfortable around people from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds.

Psalm 49:16 provides a helpful reminder for leaders to “not be overawed when others grow rich.” The Bible targets the human tendency in our hearts to inordinately admire—or envy—those who are wealthy. Why is this tendency dangerous? Why is this warning especially relevant for leaders? Here are three observations to guide our response to such questions and provide some perspective on prosperity.

Looking to the Heart

First Samuel 16 records the events surrounding Samuel’s anointing of David as the future king of Israel. Upon Samuel’s arrival he saw Eliab, son of Jesse, who possessed the physical appearance and stature that Samuel expected of a king. Samuel saw Eliab and thought to himself that surely this was the Lord’s anointed; God gently corrected Samuel:

“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7).

Similar to Samuel’s error, it is easy for leaders today to become focused on the outward appearance. God’s correction is as much for us as Samuel. God’s gentle redirection is clear—look primarily to the heart and character of people and not to external measures of socio-economic status.

Finding No Place for Partiality

James 2 provides an additional reminder for today’s leaders. In light of the temptation to become “overawed when others grow rich,” James reminds us of the importance of not showing favoritism toward those who are rich. Reminding us of the second greatest commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (James 2:8), James provides a clear warning to his readers: “if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (2:9). We are called to not show favoritism toward those who are rich; honoring the rich and poor with equity begins at the attitudinal level through not being over or under awed by those we encounter.

Setting our Hope on God

Finally, Paul offers a call for Christian leaders to provide a direct challenge to those who are wealthy. Paul writes: “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). There is a tendency in many to put our hope in externals like money and possessions. Paul reminds us of the danger of the uncertainty of riches and calls us to something greater. For Christian leaders to effectively and compassionately serve the rich by calling them to trust in God rather than riches, these leaders must first learn the art of seeing people for who they are and not be “overawed” by uncertain externals.

_____________________________

When leaders possess the ability to not be “overawed when others grow rich,” they begin to possess the Christlike perspective that enables them to look at the heart of a person. Such perspective will enable leaders to not yield to favoritism and to provide care for the rich and poor alike by calling to them to a wholehearted trust in God.

Purpose in Leadership

Learning to Lead, Work, & Serve on Purpose

Uncategorized