leadership – Page 6 – Doug Dickerson on Leadership

Leading Through a Crisis

Posted February 5, 2023
by admin

Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you’re in control, they’re in control. – Tom Landry

The wintry afternoon walk in the field out behind our house with my older sister started out like any other. I was about 10 years old. The field was a great place to play. There were plenty of trails to walk and ride our bikes. We built forts, shot our Daisy BB guns, and caught fireflies in Mason jars. This day, however, would be different.

As my sister and I exited the field before heading inside, I did something I’d done many times before with no thought. I pulled a tall weed out of the ground. But this time the weed didn’t budge. When the force of my pull met the resistance of the weed, it slit my finger open and laid the skin back.

As we approached the backyard my blue coat was already soaked in blood. I went to the water faucet and began rinsing my finger. “Don’t tell mom!” I shouted to my sister as I saw her run inside with no intention of following my command.

Once I went inside, my mother was already in a panic. She walked me up to the kitchen sink and told me to stand still. “I’ll be right back!” she exclaimed. Moments later she returned with a bottle of rubbing alcohol. “Hold your finger still”, she said. I was under the impression that she would perhaps pour just a little on the cut. I was wrong.

With the best intentions that a loving mother could conjure up at that moment, she emptied the entire contents of that bottle of rubbing alcohol onto my finger as I screamed. Which was just prior to my fainting on the kitchen floor.

My mother – God rest of her sweet, loving soul up in heaven, meant well. And in my moment of crisis, she did the best she knew how.

As a leader, there are two things you can be certain of – 1) You will face moments of crisis, and 2) Your people will be looking to you for confidence. So what do you do in a crisis? Here are a few practical ideas.

Stay calm

Remember, in times of crisis, your people will take their cues from you. From you, they need to see steadiness, resolve, and confidence. They don’t need to see you running for the doors. Or reaching for the alcohol.

Assess the situation

In times of crisis, you want to gather as much information as you can as quickly as you can. Gather your key people, ascertain what you know, separate fact from fiction, and start developing your action steps.

Communicate clearly

A good plan poorly communicated will only make matters worse. Click To TweetMake sure everyone knows the plan and everyone knows their role. Don’t assume anything.

Empower your people

Your people will gain confidence when you place your confidence in them. You can inspire your team by empowering your team. A time of crisis is not the time for a one-man show. Walk through the crisis with your people and you will make your team stronger.

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What Floyd Dean-Shannon Taught Us About Leadership

Posted January 23, 2023
by admin

In a world where you can be anything, be kind. – Unknown

Perhaps you saw the story recently on social media. It was one of those feel-good stories that just restores faith in humanity on many levels.

It begins with a post showing Delta Airlines flight attendant Floyd Dean-Shannon sitting in the aisle on a flight from Charlotte, N.C. to New York City holding the hand of a nervous passenger.

“I’ve got you,” he’s quoted as saying as he gives comfort and reassures the nervous passenger that everything was going to be fine. He took the time to explain every noise and bump as he held her hand.

The beauty of the moment didn’t go unnoticed by fellow passengers who were so touched by this act of kindness that they couldn’t help but capture the moment to share with the rest of us.

It’s probably safe to say that Floyd Dean-Shannon didn’t set out that day to be declared a hero on social media for his act of kindness toward a total stranger. He’d probably just say that he was doing his job. But I hope that the rest of us won’t soon forget it.

John Maxwell said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” And this is precisely what Floyd Dean-Shannon modeled. Here are a few additional leadership lessons we can learn from his actions that day.

Acts of kindness don’t diminish your leadership, it elevates it

We must never embrace the false notion that strong leaders don’t have the capacity for being kind. Not only did Dean-Shannon prove it, but judging by the response, it’s refreshing to see. In leadership, being kind is an asset, not a liability.

People are your business

Howard Behar, the former vice president at Starbucks said, “We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee.” And this is the leadership lesson found at this moment. It always has been and always will be about people and how best to serve them.

One person truly can make a difference

Perhaps the greatest lesson that Floyd Dean-Shannon taught us is that one random act of kindness by one person truly can make a difference. But when we couple random acts of kindness with intentional acts of kindness soon big changes are made.

Mother Teresa said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” As leaders, this is our challenge – to create ripples that make a difference. Thank you, Floyd Dean-Shannon for showing us how.

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What To Do With Disruptions

Posted January 11, 2023January 13, 2023
by admin

People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole. – Theodore Levitt

It all started innocently enough with a text from my daughter sending me a picture of a beagle puppy. “She belongs in our family,” she exclaimed. “Isn’t she cute?” she insisted. This was her subtle way of saying that this “cute” puppy didn’t belong in her home with her husband and her kids, but rather in mine. What could possibly go wrong?

Against my better judgment, this firehose of a puppy whom we named Lucy, came to live in our home. And just like that, disruptive forces were unleashed.

Perhaps my routines and settled ways of living were severely taken for granted, but suddenly everything changed – like sleep patterns, meal time, quiet evenings, etc. Lucy was and at times remains a disruptive force to be reckoned with.

In leadership, you will have times of disruption. There’s really no escaping it. And when it happens, how you handle it matters. When disruptions occur, perhaps you should invoke what I call the L.U.C.Y. approach.

Lean into the disruption.

Many variables are likely at play when disruptions happen in your organization or to you personally. Often, disruptions are simply manifestations of other underlying issues at hand. While there can be things you don’t see or choose to ignore, disruptions in leadership need to be assessed. Lean in and get perspective.

Understand the disruption.

Once you lean in and figure out what’s behind the disruption you’re experiencing, it’s now time to understand how and why you got to this place in time. The greater your understanding the better you can lead. But also know this – not all disruptions are bad and can actually serve a greater purpose if you allow it.

Clarify the challenges

Often in leadership, the root causes of disruptions are never addressed. Perhaps it’s just easier to look the other way or pretend the problem doesn’t exist. Obviously, that’s not good leadership, but it’s a default approach for many leaders. But in moments of disruption a leader needs to bring clarity to the situation, not denial. Once you lean in and understand the disruption that’s taking place you can now bring clarity as to how you’re going to handle it.

You set the tone

As a leader, you set the tone for your organization. Will disruptions within your organization occur? Yes. Will you have to contend with disruptive personalities? Yes. But as the leader, it’s up to you to set the tone that others will follow. Understanding your role and having this perspective at the forefront of your leadership mindset is critical to your success and the success of your team.

Final Thoughts

John Maxwell was right when he said, “There is strength in numbers, but organizing those numbers is one of the great challenges.” What disruptions are you facing today? How are you responding to them?

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What Lego Has Taught Me About Leadership

Posted January 2, 2023January 2, 2023
by admin

Creativity is seeing what everyone has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought – Albert Einstein

One of the Christmas gifts my wife and I gave to our oldest grandchild, Tyson, was a Star Wars lego set. I have to admit, it looked pretty awesome and at the age of six, I thought perhaps it would be more of a challenge for him to assemble.

Needless to say, he was very excited about this gift. And word back to us was that before the night was over, he had all but assembled it by himself. Indeed the force was with him.

We’ve come a long way from the early days of lego when I was a kid. Lego now releases more than 850 different sets each year.

I read a fascinating article at brickbucks.net about the production process for a lego set. It takes about 18-24 months for a Lego set to be produced which means sets that are released today were already in development long before they ever found out if the initial wave would be successful.

From a leadership perspective, I found this quite intriguing. Here are a few of my takeaways on leadership thanks to lego.

You have to risk failing if you want to succeed. Success is never guaranteed when you start out, but failure is a certainty if you don’t.
There are no limits to the creative forces of your team if you work together as a team.
Timing is everything. At lego, they are observing, anticipating, and preparing their releases that coincide with the release of movies, video games, theatrical releases, etc. Lego is out front with impeccable timing. Smart leaders understand the *law of timing.
Smaller can be better. A strategy that Lego has utilized in its marketing is appealing to smaller themes that might appeal to a particular audience such as Botanical themes, etc. The more specialized themes Lego makes available, the larger the audience becomes.

Think about your own leadership for a moment. In what ways can you afford to be more innovative? How well do you keep a pulse on your surroundings and how that impacts you as a leader? How well do you understand the significance of timing? Are you a catalyst for creative thinking and ideas or do you stand in the way of it?

These are the things that impact your leadership. And yes, often it’s the small things like a lego that can cause you to pause to think about such things. But if you’re ever stuck with your lego set, I know a kid who can help you.

Click here to read the Lego article
The Law of Timing – When to lead is as important as what to do and where to go. From John Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.

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The Centrality of Trust in Leadership

Posted November 30, 2022January 13, 2023
by admin

Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work. – Warren Bennis

There is an old story of a father who took his young son out and stood him on the railing of the back porch. He then went down, stood on the lawn, and encouraged the little fellow to jump into his arms. “I’ll catch you,” the father said confidently. After a lot of coaxing, the little boy finally made the leap. When he did, the father stepped back and let the child fall to the ground. He then picked his son up, dusted him off, and dried his tears.

“Let that be a lesson,” he said sternly, “Don’t ever trust anyone.”

While that’s a harsh way to teach a lesson about trust, the foundations of trust – what it is, what it means to be trustworthy, is something that needs to be taught at an early age.

An article in studyfinds.org found that the average American has five people in their life they have a strong relationship with and can lean on for anything. From finding someone who is trustworthy or a good listener to finding someone loyal, nearly three-quarters of respondents to a survey agree that strong partnerships help simplify the complexities of life.

While it may appear, at least on the surface, that most people have at least five people in their circle that they can trust or confide in – is the circle far-reaching enough to include the workplace and other areas critical to the success of a leader?

With trust as the focal point of your leadership, there is the potential for great opportunity and success. While trust does not guarantee this success, one thing is certain, there will never be success without it.

How then does a leader make trust the center point of his or her leadership? What does it look like? Why does it matter? Take these points into consideration.

Trust is an inside job first

In order to be a trusted leader, you first have to be trustworthy. Being trustworthy is an inside job. It’s the bedrock of your character and the needle of your moral compass. Trust is developed over time and is an integral part of your character development. Before you are a trusted leader externally, you first have to develop it on the inside. Click To Tweet

Trust is a validation

It’s commonly said that trust has to be earned. And while that is true in many respects, I see trust more as a validation that it’s been seen and observed over time, and has been recognized as a reliable character trait of the leader. When your trust has been validated by the people you lead, you now have the opportunity to lead them with a greater purpose.

Trust is verifiable

Making trust the central point in your leadership also makes it verifiable. Trust is validated not by your words but by your actions. As a leader, this is crucial. Nothing will cause your people to lose confidence in your leadership more than being unreliable and creating uncertainty in their minds about your ability to deliver on what you say. If trust is a validation of your leadership, it’s verified by your daily decisions and actions.

Trust is fragile

While no leader in good faith sets out to purposefully violate his or her trust, it must be handled with care. No leader is perfect and even the best mess up. Unrealistic expectations can be hard to manage, and trust is not exclusive to only the leader. Trust is a two-way street that all must be striving for and protect. The expectation of trust in the leader ought to be the standard for all. Click To Tweet

Final Thoughts

“Character makes trust possible, and trust is the foundation of leadership,” says John Maxwell. I agree. Trust is the glue that holds it all together and as a leader, it must take center stage in your leadership.

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Are You Listening?

Posted November 14, 2022January 13, 2023
by admin

There is a difference between listening and waiting your turn to speak – Simon Sinek

Dana Visneskie tells the story of a Native American and his friend in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening.

Suddenly, the Native American said, “I hear a cricket.” His friend said, “What? You must be crazy. You couldn’t possibly hear a cricket in all this noise.”

“No, I’m sure of it, the Native American said. “I heard a cricket.” “That’s crazy,” said the friend.

The Native American listened carefully and then walked across the street to the big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located the cricket. His friend was utterly amazed. “That’s incredible,” said his friend. “You must have super-human ears!” “No,” said the Native American. “My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you’re listening for.”

It was not surprising to read in a Business News Daily article that in a study, 64% of 675 professional workers in the U.S. and Canada who were polled said that “leaders making decisions without seeking input” was the biggest problem. If that were not bad enough, the article added that 38% of respondents said that “leaders dismissing ideas without exploring those ideas” is the second biggest reason why people don’t take initiative.

And herein lies the problem – the disconnect if you will, between leaders who do not listen and why people are not more engaged in their work. If those in leadership simply do not listen or dismiss ideas out of hand, where is the incentive to be more engaged?

Consistently in any employee engagement survey or reading on the topic, it will almost always identify listening as one of the major concerns on the minds of its respondents – and rightfully so. Until we can get this right, it’s going to be hard to make tangible progress anywhere else.

So how can a leader develop this important skill and increase their influence regardless of where they serve? I believe it comes down to a few key concepts that when put into practice can pay great dividends.

Be proactive

A good leader will always listen to his or her people. But a proactive leader will initiate the conversations. A proactive leader has his finger on the pulse of the organization and will not sit back and wait for people to come to him, but will move toward the people.

A proactive leader is essentially a proactive listener. Click To TweetThis means that the leader is actively engaged with his or her people and sees this engagement as a means to better serve the organization.

Proactive leaders are asking and listening to questions such as: What can we do to improve our product or service? What can we do to improve our culture? What resources do you need? What happens if we don’t change? How can I help you?

By asking proactive questions you keep your pulse on what’s happening, what your people are thinking, and how to best serve them.

Be present

Your ability to listen is predicated by your ability to be present in the moment. This is done by being fully engaged and removing all distractions. By doing this, your people will know that they are important and that you are genuinely interested in what they have to say.

Leaders who are present in the moment and are actively listening stand to gain a lot of insight that would otherwise be missed. Leaders who are present are asking questions like: Currently, what is your greatest challenge? If you could change one thing, what would it be? As a team, do you believe that we are moving in the right direction? What do I need to know that I don’t? What are your growth goals and how can I help you achieve them?

Be prepared

As a leader, you need to be asking key questions of your people and listening. It’s not something that you do to appease your people and give the impression that you care only to walk away and not act on it. Your people do not need or want your lip service.

Leaders who listen should be prepared to act on what they’ve heard. The only thing worse than not being engaged and listening to your people is to have those conversations and not act on them. Click To Tweet As a leader, you need to be prepared to listen and then act.

Final Thoughts

Bryant H. McGill said, “One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” And this will always be one of your greatest challenges as a leader. So make it a point to be proactive, be in the moment, and be prepared to act on what you’ve heard. You’ll be the better leader for it and your people will greatly appreciate it.

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Why Do The Bad Ones Stay?

Posted November 1, 2022January 13, 2023
by admin

Choose your companions before you choose your road. – Patrick Lencioni

In this space back in 2019, I wrote an article entitled Why Do The Good Ones Leave? In that article, I shared various reasons why good people leave organizations. Those reasons included: leaders with no boundaries, no vision, limits placed on potential and opportunities for growth, and no accountability, to name a few.

Since writing that article, we have continued to witness what’s being called “The Great Resignation” and its impact on business everywhere.

Writing in Forbes, Cindy Gordon states, “Employee disengagement and unhappiness is worrisome, and year over year, it’s getting worse, not better.” And herein lies the dilemma for the modern-day worker and employer.

Much research has been conducted as to why employees are leaving. Pew Research has excellent data citing many of the causes of this great resignation and where things are headed. I encourage you to read it.

It’s been said that people don’t quit organizations, they quit leaders. It’s a sad but true commentary on the lack of strong leadership skills desperately needed in the workplace.

There are consequences to poor leadership and as the research has demonstrated, employees will leave good jobs for less pay if it means being in a better working environment with stronger leadership. Here’s the sad reality: good employees leave bad working environments where weak leadership exists. Left behind is a weakened and demoralized team forced to pick up the pieces, share increased duties, and often with no additional compensation.

On the flip side of this dilemma is another issue that needs to be addressed. Why do the bad or toxic employees stay?

Often, it’s not the bad team members that leave that give you the most heartache and grief, it’s the ones who stay. Click To Tweet

Why would a disengaged employee – the one with little to no skin in the game, who instigates or is in the middle of every bad vibe in your organization still be around? Here are a few possible reasons.

Those in leadership have miscalculated that person’s value to the organization

Could it be that an employer had rather overlook bad behavior from a productive employee than cut them loose and face the headache of finding their replacement? With the worker shortage as we know it, this is certainly a possibility.

But it also comes down to ways in which leadership within the organization perhaps has overestimated the value of the employee in question. Consistent poor behaviors and actions can’t be glossed over simply because they are the best salesperson on the team. It means little to have an employee who is the biggest contributor to the bottom line of the company means little if they are also the biggest jerk in the company. Click To Tweet

Those in leadership have miscalculated the climate of their culture

Many in the workplace suffer in silence. They see poor behaviors and actions, see little to no consequence for it, and wonder why such actions and behaviors are tolerated. It’s demoralizing.

When those in leadership fail to see the residual effects and consequences on the culture of the workplace due to the bad ones staying then poor morale is going to always be an issue. You can’t expect the good ones to look the other way forever. They will leave if you don’t deal with it.

Those in leadership had rather try to “keep the peace” than rock the boat

Some in leadership simply don’t want to confront what everyone else sees. They had rather look the other way than just deal with the issue at hand. They just don’t want to rock the boat and deal with the fallout.

This is one of the worse decisions a leader can make. On the one hand, leadership side-steps and avoids the necessary confrontation that needs to take place with the bad employee in hopes that it will get better. As a result, morale continues to falter. The longer this goes on the worse things get. By trying to “keep the peace” with one another, you’ve made things worse for everyone.

Final Thoughts

It’s been said that what you tolerate, you promote. And this is especially true as it relates to why bad employees stay in your organization. It can be for any reason mentioned or any number of reasons not. But the end result is the same. The bad ones will stay until those in leadership decide it’s time for them to go and that the morale of the good ones and the culture of the organization is worth the sacrifice and worth fighting for.

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Leadership Lessons From Mr. Bates

Posted October 17, 2022January 13, 2023
by admin

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. – Matthew 5:5

In the hit television series Downton Abbey – and in the subsequent movie, there is a character by the name of John Bates. He is the valet to Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham.

When Mr. Bates arrives he is not exactly welcomed by all the staff. He’s given the cold shoulder and it proves to be quite challenging at times. The staff does not believe that he is up for the challenges of the job as he has to use a cane due to injuries suffered in the Boer War. These challenges include having to climb stairs, carry luggage, serve trays of food, etc. In addition to all this, the butler – Thomas Carson has hoped to be promoted to valet himself and is offended to lose the job to “Long John Silver”.

To make matters worse, the staff severely mistreat him and looked for opportunities to embarrass him. They were known to kick his cane out from under him causing him to fall, or encouraging him to carry a tray that he can’t carry – causing him to drop it. The staff did all that they could to make his life miserable. Despite these setbacks, Mr. Bates refuses to criticize them or defend himself.

Quite some time goes by before the rest of the staff learn that Bates is an old friend and served Lord Grantham in the war and is where he received his leg injury.

While these antics take place in a television drama, is it too far removed from the dynamics of organizations where the culture is marked by jealousies, rivalries, and turf wars? Does it sound like a place that you are familiar with?

There are a few leadership lessons to be learned from Mr. Bates’ character and I’d like to explore a few of them with you.

You can be confident in the face of adversity

For Mr. Bates, the adversity was relentless and at times cruel. But he didn’t allow the way he was treated to be an excuse for not doing his job or doing his best.

Facing adversity is the price you pay for being a leader and humility is your leadership superpower. Humility is about having the courage to show up and be your best when everyone around you is being their worst. Click To Tweet When the adversity you face comes from those who ought to be in your corner it can sting, but you can be confident that you will ultimately outlast it.

You can set an example or make excuses

Mr. Bates’ leg injury came about while serving in the Boer War. While he didn’t let it stop him from performing his duties, it did make it harder. Those around him tried to exploit his condition and did all they could it make his challenges worse.

In your leadership, you will face obstacles, challenges, and even those who will overtly work against you. And it’s in these moments that your leadership metal will be tested. And in these moments you have choices to make. You can be an example or make excuses. You can serve with distinction or be distracted. You can walk in humility or stoop down to their level. As far as it depends on you – be an example of servant leadership.

You can pull rank or pull your weight

A good amount of time went by before the rest of the staff learned that Mr. Bates was indeed an old friend of the Earl of Grantham. It was a knowledge that, if Mr. Bates had shared, could very well have spared him much of the adversity that he endured. But that was not the path he chose in the beginning. Perhaps he wanted to make it known that he was the right person for the job not because of a connection but because of his qualification.

In leadership and especially in times of adversity, it will be tempting to pull rank and “put people in their place”. It’s a quick fix that is beneficial in the moment, but what about how it serves you in the long run?

The longer you hang around in leadership the more you will learn that you take on more responsibilities and lay aside your rights. Click To Tweet It’s not about taking the path of least resistance, it’s about taking the path of responsible leadership.

Final Thoughts

Life in leadership will always be filled with challenges. Seek to be a leader that is confident in the face of adversity, one that seeks to set an example, and one that pulls your own weight. The world needs this kind of leadership now more than ever.

Note to the Downton Abbey enthusiasts and critics- the leadership lessons that I pull here from Mr. Bates’s character are not meant to either embellish his character or gloss over any character flaw.

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7 Characteristics of a Teachable Leader – Part Two: Are You Teachable?

Posted October 10, 2022
by admin

Happiness is always on the other side of being teachable. – Shannon L. Alder

In part one of this series, I shared the story of a master martial artist who asked Bruce Less to teach him everything he knew about martial arts. Bruce held up two cups, both filled with liquid. “The first cup” Bruce said, “represents all your knowledge about martial arts. The second cup represents all my knowledge about martial arts. If you want to fill your cup with my knowledge, you must first empty your cup of your knowledge.”

And this is, in part, the secret to being a teachable leader. The significant point is that you must make space for new learning and applications in an ever-changing world.

In review, in part one of this series, I shared the roadblocks that prevent us from being teachable. Here they are: you don’t place value on personal growth, you become defensive, you don’t listen, you don’t seek out wise counsel, you deflect and compare yourself to others, and you’re stuck and haven’t grown as much as you can.

Any combination of the above can be detrimental to being teachable as a leader and prevent future growth. Let’s now take a look at seven characteristics that make you a teachable leader.

You’re humble

This is one of the most important characteristics of being teachable. Arrogance will close your mind, humility will open it. Humility allows you to see yourself in realistic terms. It enables you to recognize your limitations while empowering you to rise above them.

Humility causes you to recognize that there is always something new to learn, that there is always someone to learn from, and that being teachable is a matter of possessing the right attitude. Click To Tweet

You’re curious

Your curiosity, perhaps more than anything else, will cause you to be teachable. With curiosity, there is no limit to your learning. So long as you embrace curiosity the sky is the limit to your learning.

Walt Disney said, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” What new paths are you on?

You’re proactive

There’s a big difference between the learning required of you – as in work-related continuing education- and the learning that you initiate. Part of being teachable is being proactive enough to see where you are and where you want to be and taking the initiative of the learning required to go there.

You’re open to correction

John Wooden said, “A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.” And the opposite is also true – a teachable leader is one who can receive correction without becoming defensive or resentful.

Being teachable is an act of humility and when received in the spirit in which it’s given (preferably done the right way), it can have lasting benefits to your leadership. Do you receive correction and seek to learn from it or do you resent it?

You’re OK with failing

Some might be surprised by my inclusion of failing on the list of characteristics of being teachable. But I think it’s a valuable piece of the learning and teaching process. Failure is the price of learning and much of our learning comes through failing. It’s the reason why we have to be comfortable with it.

We don’t embrace failure for the sake of making excuses and staying where we are. We embrace it because we are trying to move forward and be better tomorrow than we are today. Click To Tweet Being teachable is all about embracing those difficult moments and turning them into positives.

You’re discontent with the status quo

The more you learn and are able to translate that learning into practical workable applications to life, it will create within you discontent for where you are and it will increase your desire to learn even more.

This is an upside to being teachable in that you discover it has rewards and benefits that impact your leadership today and into the future. When you combine being teachable with being discontent it will take you to new places in your leadership.

You’re growing

This is the natural by-product of being a teachable leader – you’re growing. And your personal growth and development will translate into greater influence in ways you may never have imagined without it.

If you want to grow as a leader, increase your reach and impact, and become all that you were created to be, then you and I must always be teachable.

Are you a teachable leader?

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7 Characteristics of a Teachable Leader: Part One – Defining the Roadblocks

Posted October 3, 2022October 3, 2022
by admin

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts. – John Wooden

A master martial artist asked Bruce Lee to teach him everything he knew about martial arts. Bruce held up two cups, both filled with liquid. “The first cup” Bruce said, “represents all your knowledge about martial arts. The second cup represents all my knowledge about martial arts. If you want to fill your cup with my knowledge, you must first empty your cup of your knowledge.” And this is, in part, the secret to being a teachable leader.

And let’s be honest, it’s not so much about emptying your cup of everything you’ve ever learned about leadership. But the more significant point is that you have to make space for new learning and for new applications in an ever-changing world.

The challenge with new leaders is found in believing that in a short amount of time you think you know all there is to know. The challenge for veteran leaders is in believing that you do. Click To Tweet So the obstacle, on one hand, is arrogance in thinking you know more than you do, and on the other is complacency in thinking there’s nothing more to learn.

Winston Churchill said, “The most important thing about education is appetite,” and this is the challenge for all leaders – to have the appetite and curiosity to keep learning and to be teachable.

Before I identify the seven characteristics of teachable leaders, I’d first like to explore the roadblocks that prevent it. Why is it that we resist being teachable and what are the consequences? In order to be teachable, we have to know what attitudes, actions, or behaviors keep us from being teachable. I’ve identified six for your consideration.

You don’t place value on personal growth

If you don’t value personal growth you will not invest in it. In other words, you are content with the amount of knowledge and skill that you have believing that it will carry you. You will never rise to the challenge of leading others if you first don’t rise to the challenge of leading and growing yourself. Leaders lead by example and if you are not teachable then don’t expect it from your people.

You become defensive

In teachable moments that you have – especially with mentors and those with more knowledge and experience, one sure sign of not being teachable is that you become defensive. And what happens plays out like this: you defend yourself rather than listen; you justify your actions and behaviors rather than correct them, and you put up walls. So long as you are defensive and not teachable, you forfeit the opportunity for a teachable moment and to be a better leader.

You don’t listen

A big part of being teachable as a leader is found in listening. The greatest quality of being teachable is not found in what you think you need to say but in what you need to hear. Click To Tweet Part of our defense mechanism is that we tend to not listen and we interrupt (especially when we are hearing unpleasant truths) when the most beneficial thing we can do is to be quiet and listen. Being teachable is a humbling process that requires us all to realize that learning never ends and that sometimes the most prudent thing to do is stop talking and listen.

You deflect and compare yourself to others

Another sign of not being a teachable leader is that you deflect and compare yourself to others. What does this deflection look like? You might say things like, – “but this person is not doing…” or compare yourself by saying something like, “at least I’m not like this person…” And here’s the rub – it’s unhealthy and it prevents you from being teachable. The measure of your leadership is not found in how you stack up and compare to the person next to you. You never elevate yourself as a leader - ever - by putting someone else down. Click To Tweet You are responsible for your own growth and development and it doesn’t happen by propping yourself up by putting others down.

You don’t seek out wise counsel

In my years in leadership, there’s one undeniable truth that I confront on a daily basis and it’s this – there is always something to learn from someone else. The more we learn the more we realize how much we don’t know and in order to improve we have to intentionally seek out wise counsel.

You’re stuck and have grown as much as you can

This perhaps is the saddest indication of all that that you are not a teachable leader. You are living under a self-imposed lid on your potential. And until you are willing to change, you will never reach it. So long as you are not teachable you’ve grown as much as you ever will.

Final Thoughts

Being a teachable leader is one of the greatest compliments to your leadership. But arrogance and pride can be your demise if you’re unwilling to learn. Next week In part two, I will share seven characteristics of teachable leaders.

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