effectiveness

Communicating with Clarity (Leadership Practice 7)

/ Justin Irving / 12 Comments
Communication, by Paul Shanks, Flickr

Communication, by Paul Shanks, Flickr

I’m in a series highlighting 9 Effective Servant Leadership Practices. Servant leadership is not just a good idea. It works! The 9 effective leadership practices highlighted in this series capture core leadership dimensions that are correlated with effectiveness in the team context.

The third grouping of servant leadership practices in the model emphasizes clear communication and the supporting of individuals toward outcomes for which they are accountable. This third cluster of servant leadership practices is focused on helping followers navigate toward effectiveness and include the following: (1) communicating with clarity, (2) supporting and resourcing, and (3) providing accountability. This week we take on Leadership Practice 7 — Communicating with Clarity

Practice 7: Communicating with Clarity

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of clear communication in the practice of leadership. Although all effective communicators are not necessarily leaders, all effective leaders must be effective communicators.

Effective Leadership Requires Effective Communication

In previous posts, I highlighted 5 Types of Leadership Communication and 7 Levels of Leadership Communication. As noted in these posts, leaders must attend to factors such as verbal and nonverbal modes of communication as well as diverse levels of communication from intrapersonal to organizational.

Sometimes leaders speak through their words. Sometimes leaders speak with their actions (or inaction). The question is whether or not the leader is being intentional in these various types and levels of their communication. Being intentional with effective communication practice will help leaders effectively guide their followers and teams.

Communication Basics for Leaders

As we consider how to help followers navigate toward effectiveness, the seventh effective servant leadership practice in this model is Communicating with Clarity. This leadership practice is about effectively communicating plans and goals for the organization, and research participants note several critical features of effective communication in the leadership role.

Key communication features noted by research participants included the following:

  • Honesty
  • Transparency
  • Authenticity
  • Clarity
  • Listening
  • Timeliness
  • Confidence without arrogance
  • Conciseness
  • Regularity and appropriately repetitious
  • Congruence of verbal and nonverbal messages
  • Use of a diverse set of communication media
  • Use of word pictures
  • Saying what you mean and meaning what you say
  • Avoiding emotionally laden and volatile communication overtones

Leaders: Communicate Often — Communicate Well

Leaders who learn to communicate effectively in a variety of contexts and through a variety of communication pathways are helping followers and their organizations navigate toward effectiveness. How are you doing on this front as a leader? What step can you take in the coming workweek to be more proactive in your communication approach with followers and teams?

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Related Posts for the 9 Effective Leadership Practices:

Cluster One — Beginning with Authentic Leaders

Practice 1: Modeling what Matters

Practice 2: Engaging in Honest Self-Evaluation

Practice 3: Fostering Collaboration
Cluster Two — Understanding the Priority of People

Practice 4: Valuing and Appreciating

Practice 5: Creating a Place for Individuality

Practice 6: Understanding Relational Skills
Cluster Three — Helping Followers Navigate toward Effectiveness

Practice 7: Communicating with Clarity

Practice 8: Supporting and Resourcing

Practice 9: Providing Accountability

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Note: For those wanting to dig a bit deeper, please check out my article entitled “A Model for Effective Servant Leadership Practice.”

Model what Matters (Leadership Practice 1)

/ Justin Irving / 11 Comments
U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program runner Capt. Kelly Calway of Fort Carson, Colo., finishes second among women in the 2010 Army Ten-Miler with a time of 57 minutes, 10 seconds on Oct. 24 at the Pentagon. U.S. Army photo by Tim Hipps, FMWRC Public Affairs, Flickr

All-Army runners take top trophy … U.S. Army, Tim Hipps , Flickr

Last week, I provided an overview of 9 Effective Leadership Practices. Servant leadership is not just a good idea. It works. The 9 effective leadership practices highlight various dimensions of servant leadership that are correlated with effectiveness in the team context.

Beginning with Authentic Leaders

The first grouping of servant leadership practices presented in the model emphasize the importance of beginning with authentic leaders who are able to foster collaboration. In this first cluster of servant leadership practices, leadership behaviors associated with effective teams include: (1) modeling what matters, (2) engaging in honest self-evaluation, and (3) fostering collaboration.

Practice 1: Modeling what Matters

In this post, we will spend time briefly unpacking the first leadership practice: Modeling what Matters.

Modeling what matters is similar to the leadership practices that other researchers have identified as well. Bass and Avolio engaged the concept of “idealized influence” associated with transformational leadership theory. Kouzes and Posner engaged the concept of “model the way” as a key practice exemplary leadership.

Inauthentic leaders can demand of followers what they as leaders are unwilling to do. Authentic leaders, however, must model what matters and be willing to “practice what they preach” when it comes to expected organizational behavior.

Actions Speak Louder than Words

On this point, research participants noted that modeling what matters “is the primary and most effective way to communicate the organization’s mission, values, and ethos,” and that “actions communicate much more loudly than words” when it comes to organizational values.

Reinforcing the importance of this leadership practice, Max De Pree argues that “clearly expressed and consistently demonstrated values” are often the most important factor in facilitating the important relationship between leaders and followers.

Model what Matters for Your People

While it may be tempting to just dictate or tell followers what to do, the best leaders understand the importance of action. Leader behaviors provide a powerful example for followers. Are we modeling what matters when it comes to expected organizational behavior?

Leaders don’t just use words in their communication. Leaders communicate, for better or for worse, through their actions. So leader, be sure to model what matters for your community. Allow your actions to provide a crystal clear message that is consistent with your words and calls followers to a higher level of engagement with your organization’s mission.

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Related Posts for the 9 Effective Leadership Practices:

Cluster One — Beginning with Authentic Leaders

Practice 1: Modeling what Matters

Practice 2: Engaging in Honest Self-Evaluation

Practice 3: Fostering Collaboration
Cluster Two — Understanding the Priority of People

Practice 4: Valuing and Appreciating

Practice 5: Creating a Place for Individuality

Practice 6: Understanding Relational Skills
Cluster Three — Helping Followers Navigate toward Effectiveness

Practice 7: Communicating with Clarity

Practice 8: Supporting and Resourcing

Practice 9: Providing Accountability

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Note: For those wanting to dig a bit deeper, please check out my article entitled “A Model for Effective Servant Leadership Practice.”

9 Effective Leadership Practices

/ Justin Irving / 15 Comments
Number Nine, by Mario Klingemann, Flickr

Number Nine, by Mario Klingemann, Flickr

Servant leadership is a good idea. The core of servant leadership is about leaders placing follower needs at the highest priority level. Most would agree this is a good idea. The question many do raise, however, is whether or not this good idea is also effective?

Thankfully social science research methods can help us. One of the benefits of social science research is its capacity to confirm the utility or effectiveness of practices that are inherently valid philosophically or biblically.

Good Ideas that Work

For instance we do not need research to inform us that humility is important for individuals and leaders; this is an argument that may be made practically, philosophically and biblically. The validity and importance of humility may be argued apart from research. However, research can come alongside logic and experience to confirm the utility or effectiveness of an idea like humility. This is what was found by Jim Collins in his research on Level Five Leaders. Not only is leader humility ethically-good and biblically-consistent as an idea—an argument that may be made biblically, philosophically, and practically—Jim Collins found through research that leader humility is also effective.

Servant Leadership: An Good Idea Whose Time Has Come

A similar argument may be made for understanding servant leadership. The importance and validity of servant-oriented leadership practices can be argued ethically, morally, philosophically, practically, and biblically apart from questions of its utility and effectiveness. However, it is powerful when leadership practices that are ethically-good and biblically-consistent are also found to be effective.

While servant leadership is a good and values-based model of leadership practice—and this alone is enough for leaders to utilize servant leadership practices—it is also helpful to know that servant leadership is effective. And indeed it is. Servant leadership is not only a good idea. It works.

9 Effective Leadership Practices

So what characterizes servant leadership? What leader behaviors are consistent with servant leadership practice?

Here are 9 core leadership practices that I’ve identified as not only good ideas, but also as effective.

Cluster One — Beginning with Authentic Leaders

Practice 1: Modeling what Matters

Practice 2: Engaging in Honest Self-Evaluation

Practice 3: Fostering Collaboration
Cluster Two — Understanding the Priority of People

Practice 4: Valuing and Appreciating

Practice 5: Creating a Place for Individuality

Practice 6: Understanding Relational Skills
Cluster Three — Helping Followers Navigate toward Effectiveness

Practice 7: Communicating with Clarity

Practice 8: Supporting and Resourcing

Practice 9: Providing Accountability

In the coming weeks, I’ll unpack each of these practices and provide reflections both on why they are important and how leaders may use them to effectively guide their followers.

For those wanting to dig a bit deeper, please check out my article entitled “A Model for Effective Servant Leadership Practice.”

Collaboration: The Benefits, Bottom Line, & Basics

/ Justin Irving / Leave a comment
Collaboration, by AJC1, Flickr

Collaboration, by AJC1, Flickr

In a previous post I focused on the importance of removing the “I’s” from teams. Certainly there are important barriers to effective teamwork that need to be addressed, but pressing through such barriers is worth the effort. Here is a quick overview of the benefits, bottom line, and basics of collaboration.

The Benefits of Collaboration

Engaging a related topic to teamwork—collaboration—a recent article in the Harvard Business Review highlights benefits to collaboration in the professional service sector. In this article, Heidi Gardner identifies collaborative work across expertise boundaries as a key path for addressing complex issues and increasing overall profitability. In this study, collaborative models were associated with increased margins, increased client loyalty, and increased competitive edge.

The Bottom Line of Collaboration

Emphasizing this point, Gardner writes: “For a firm, the financial benefits of multidisciplinary collaboration are unambiguous. Simply put, the more disciplines that are involved in a client engagement, the greater the annual average revenue the client generates.” Although there is a learning curve in moving toward collaborative practices, Gardner reminds readers that on this front “perseverance pays off.”

Although I see great value in the use of teams on multiple level, it is helpful to note that the collaborative edge of team practice also proves to be effective from an economic perspective.

The Basics of Collaboration

Gardner provides a few specific recommendations for those seeking to increase their use of collaboration.

  • Don’t squeeze your team members “…be fair to the partners you invite onto your team.”
  • Deliver what you committed to on time, without reminders.
  • Communicate openly.

While there are many factors that contribute to effective collaboration, these are helpful reminders. I appreciate the affirmation of collaborative practice in this piece by Gardner.

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How are you tapping in to the benefits, bottom line, and basics of collaboration in your work with others?

8 Practices of Effective Executives — From Knowledge to Action to Accountability

/ Justin Irving / Leave a comment

IMG_3087

What makes an effective executive?

Responding to this question, Peter Drucker wrote that great chief executives in history often did not have stereotypical leader charisma or similar personalities, attitudes, values, strengths, or weaknesses. Drucker argues that what they do have is commitment to eight core executive practices.

  1. They asked, “What needs to be done?”
  2. They asked, “What is right for the enterprise?”
  3. They developed action plans.
  4. They took responsibility for decisions.
  5. They took responsibility for communicating.
  6. They were focused on opportunities rather than problems.
  7. They ran productive meetings.
  8. They thought and said “we” rather than “I”.

At the heart of these practices put forward by Drucker is a commitment to getting the right things done in the right way. In order to get the right things done in the right way, effective executives need to:

  • Get the knowledge they need,
  • Translate this knowledge into action, and
  • Ensure accountability for this action across the organization.

If you are responsible for executive leadership in a community, Drucker’s eight core executive practices provide practical insight on moving from knowledge, to action, to accountability. How are you doing on these fronts? Are you refining these practices in a movement toward effective executive leadership?

Groups vs. Teams: What’s the Difference?

/ Justin Irving / 15 Comments
Working Together Teamwork Puzzle Concept, Scott Maxwell, Flickr

Photo Credit: Working Together Teamwork Puzzle Concept, by Scott Maxwell, Flickr

“A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself
and his contribution to praise the skills of the others.”
– Norman Shidle

Most people participate in some form of a team or group on a regular basis. This happens through recreation in the realm of sports and clubs. This happens on the job as people come together to get things done within organizations.

Although you likely have been part of both groups and teams in the past, do you understand the difference? What are the key distinctions between a group and a team?

Defining Teams

Larson and LaFasto describe three basic characteristics of teams.

  1. Two or more people
  2. Specific performance objective or recognizable goal to be attained
  3. Coordination of activity among the members of the team is required for attainment of the team goal or objective

Independent or Coordinated Effort

Larson and LaFasto’s third point is the key to answering our question.

  • Groups organize around individuals bringing together independent work in light of individual goals.
  • Teams organize around individuals bringing together coordinated work in light of collective goals.

Contrasting Groups and Teams

Groups

Teams

Independent Work

Individual Goals

Individual Accountability

Individual Evaluation

 Coordinated Work

Collective Goals

Mutual Accountability

Collective Evaluation

Valuing Both

I highly value teaming done well. However, there is a time and place for both groups and teams.

Groups are generally more helpful for quickly and efficiently getting things done in the context of a temporary working relationship. When individual and independent work can be brought together to advance the individual goals of multiple parties, then a group is an efficient way to work together. Many of the group projects and assignments I’ve completed over the years of my schooling fit into this group model.

Teams are generally more helpful for taking on bigger projects over a longer period of time. When the outcome requires coordinated work being brought together to advance collective goals that will be collectively evaluated, then a team is the most effective way to work together. Although teaming done well tends to take more time than working as a group, this extra time investment pays off in the quality of the team’s performance.

Speed or Quality

  • Groups are best when the stakes are lower and speed is the key.
  • Teams are best when the stakes are high and quality is more important than speed.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

– African proverb

This African proverb sums it up well. Though most of us want to go fast AND far, usually we have to prioritize one over the other. Groups help us go fast. Teams help us go far.

Enjoy the journey of working with others. I’d love to hear your experience of working with groups and teams!

Leadership & Management

/ Justin Irving / 2 Comments
Lead the Way

Photo Credit: 3D Team Leadership Arrow Concept, Scott Maxwell, Flickr

The conversation surrounding leadership and management is an important one. While management was a major emphasis in the 20th century, focusing on stability and control, leadership has come to the forefront later in the 20th century and into our current time. In contrast to stability and control, leadership emphasizes valuing change, valuing people, empowerment of people, and the central place of relationships in organizational life.

Leadership and Management Described

John Kotter provides a helpful overview of the distinction between leadership and management. Management’s orientation around stability and control is characterized by dimensions such as (a) planning and budgeting, (b) organizing and staffing, and (c) controlling and problem-solving. leadership’s orientation around people, empowerment, and relationships is characterized by (a) direction-setting, (b) aligning, and (c) motivating.

Processes vs. People

While management focuses on stability and efficiency of processes, leadership focuses on navigating people and systems toward change and insuring that the team or organization is focused on the right things. The language of processes and people is also helpful. Management tends to be more process and object focused; leadership tends to be more people and human resource focused.

Efficiency vs. Effectiveness

The temptation is to raise one of these as more important than the other. Organizations and followers need both stability (management) and change (leadership). Organizations and followers need both efficiency (management) and effectiveness (leadership). In contrasting the two, I think my natural tendency is to focus on the big picture and whether or not we are making progress toward the right goals for our community. Because of this, I need to regularly and intentionally ensure that the managerial side of my departments is not being lost in the leadership emphasis.

Pursuing Both in Your Practice

Whether we tend toward leadership or management, we need to remember that our organizations need both. Make sure that you know your tendency so that you may give attention to balancing this out in your own practice and through the diverse people brought onto your team.