On Leading Well

Author: Ken

  • What to Write About

    Sometimes I’m not sure what I want to write about, or if what I write will really make a difference. During these periods I’m learning a simple lesson: Write anyway.

    Anyone who has mastered a skill, a sport, an instrument, painting, speaking or writing will probably offer you the same advice: Stay at it. Research streams consistently tell us that it takes about 10,000 hours in a complex activity to become an expert. That’s roughly five years of working 40 hours per week at something. OK, inhale. Exhale. My experience shows that depending on the complexity of the task and how deeply ingrained I want it to become a habit, it will probably take three to six months to get over the hump, then another year to really feel like I know what I am doing. This has proved true for changing my diet, learning a new job, making a new exercise program a part of my life, doing doctoral level research, and leading teams.

    This morning I was in a conversation with someone who wants to start blogging. I offered him the same advice I had received three years ago when I began writing www.OnLeadingWell.com. I knew I wanted to blog regularly but feared I would lose motivation. These three questions helped me focus:

    1. What am I passionate about? This must be something I naturally think about, read about, live out and and discuss with friends late at night.

    2. What am I knowledgeable about? I have more than a handful of blog posts in my head on this topic AND I could write about it regularly.

    3. What do I want to focus on and continue to learn about, perhaps to a point of mastery? I will add value for my readers only if I provide them with ideas, inspiration and resources that they might not have the time, perspective or connections to find on their own.

    The best blogs, the ones I find myself returning to over and over again, seem to share these characteristics. So, if you’re wondering what to write about, find a blank piece of paper and answer these three questions. Make some notes. Jot down random ideas. Draw a few pictures. Then put it aside for a day and come back and stare at it. You’ll find what you’re looking for.

    Here are two great links on overcoming inertia when trying to write blogs (by Michael Hyatt) or books (by Matt Mikalatos).

    So, what do you want to write about?

  • How to Engage Younger Leaders

    I just hung up the phone with a senior executive who asked me this question: How do we engage younger leaders?

    It’s a great question, one that is repeatedly asked as the Millennials (born between 1980 and 2000) reshape our churches, companies and organizations. Here are some tips that I have learned from others or from my own experience in positively engaging younger leaders over the past decade:

    1. Give them a piece of the action. This generation is not willing to wait 5-10 years in a job to start making a difference or having a voice. Institutional loyalty is low, but willingness to work hard is very high – if the vision is compelling. Look for ways to appropriately engage them in setting direction.

    2. Entrust them with real responsibility and chances for achievement. Pay and working conditions are probably far less important than the work itself. This generation (like most younger generations throughout history) really wants to change the world. Will we let them?

    3. Mentor, don’t mother. This generation aspires to lead and has the horsepower to do so. Having grown up in online social networks, many already possess the knowledge, intellectual flexibility and the social awareness of emerging leaders. Their desire to exert influence doesn’t mean they want to stage a coup of older generations. Most long for a mentor – a stable, trusted elder relationship that doesn’t focus on “the good old days” but dreams about the future together.

    4. Provide sufficient structure by limiting options. Option overload has brought this generation to brink of analysis paralysis. I was in a leadership workshop last week when the topic of structure and constraint came up. Some people hear the word “structure” and envision a prison cell in which all movement is stifled. Others view constraint in a more positive way, like riverbanks that give shape to a mighty river instead of allowing it to flood everywhere. Focus brings power and fruitfulness.

    How do you like to be engaged?

  • What Is Shared Leadership?

    Leadership is hard work. Good leadership is really hard work. Today’s dynamic, rapidly changing knowledge economy provides an ever-shifting landscape that requires multiple perspectives to navigate well.

    Exit the know-it-all, do-it-all leader.

    Enter the self-aware, in-touch connector that can share leadership by pulling people, resources and ideas together to get the job done.

    What is shared leadership? Marshall Goldsmith describes it this way in an excellent post: “Shared leadership involves maximizing all of the human resources in an organization by empowering individuals and giving them an opportunity to take leadership positions in their areas of expertise. With more complex markets increasing the demands on leadership, the job in many cases is simply too large for one individual. Sharing leadership isn’t easy, but it’s definitely possible, and in many cases, highly successful.”

    Goldsmith suggests ways to share leadership and maximize talent. Here are a few:

    • Give power away to the most qualified individuals to strengthen their capabilities.
    • Define the limits of decision-making power.
    • Cultivate a climate in which people feel free to take initiative on assignments.
    • Give qualified people discretion and autonomy over their tasks and resources and encourage them to use these tools.
    • Don’t second guess the decisions of those you have empowered to do so.

    As leaders, our job is to constantly move those people our organizations touch from strangers to acquaintances, from acquaintances to friends, and from friends to partners in our common mission. Sharing leadership usually provides the best pathway to true partnership.

    How are you learning to share leadership?