Leadership Minute: Opportunity Awaits

opportunity

At times leadership boils down to this simple challenge: Will we rise to the opportunity placed before us? – Hans Finzel

Leadership is about seeing and seizing opportunities. The catch is being able to recognize it when you see it. Your opportunities won’t always look like what you might expect. It could come disguised to as opportunities to serve. It could look a lot like more work; and usually will be. Your opportunity could be found in mentoring a young person or coaching Little League. Don’t make the mistake in believing that the opportunity that awaits you is about you. Seize opportunities to empower others, meet needs, and let the expressions of your leadership be those that will outlast you. There will never shortages of opportunities to make a difference with your leadership. When you take the focus off yourself and place it on others you will see more opportunities than you will know what to do with. Will you rise to your opportunity?

Please follow and like us:

Leadership Minute: Do What You Can

serve

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. – Theodore Roosevelt

One of the great joys of leadership is giving. It’s about adding value to those around you and making your world a better place. It’s true; one person can’t do it all. But, one person can make a difference if he or she gets involved. Look beyond your own circumstances and consider what you can do. Through your words and actions you can be the answer to someone else’s prayer. Do you know of a colleague who has struggled this month? Why not write her a note of encouragement? Your local food bank could use some donations. Why not organize a food drive? There will always be needs and opportunities and leaders with a servant’s heart will always come through. You can’t change the world but you can change your world one random act of kindness at a time.

Please follow and like us:

Costa Rica Update

CR8CR9CR10CR2CR1CR4CR5CR7

I just returned from my second trip to Costa Rica. I helped chaperone a group of high school seniors from my daughter’s school. There were 11 of us in our group that went down with an organization that my brother operates called Mission Volunteer Partners (http://bit.ly/1iGOZeo) that has been sponsoring trips into Costa Rica on a regular basis for many years. Typical groups that go range from school groups, Rotary, university, church, etc. MVP has a great team in place in Costa Rica that serve as excellent hosts and guides.

During our five day visit we went into three schools to distribute books. More than just distribute books, our team stayed in each school up to four hours each to play with the children, visit the classrooms and teach lessons, and to absorb their culture and world.

To be sure, our team enjoyed the breath-taking beauty of this lovely country. From our splendid accommodations, the LaPaz Waterfall Park, zip-lining in the jungle, and so much more; this was a trip of a lifetime for so many of the students.

The work of Mission Volunteer Partners is making a huge difference in the country. From book and wheelchair distributions, and much more, it would be an ideal trip for you to take into consideration.

If you have interest in taking a trip with your business, Rotary, church group, or school I would be thrilled to talk to you and help you coordinate and plan a trip. I am looking to put a team together for later in the year to go back into some of the schools and I am looking for up to ten people who’d like to go.

If interested please email me as I will be looking to set a date for later in the year – perhaps in the summer. I promise you this one thing: it will change your life and change your perspective as you look into the eyes of these children. The trip would primarily be one of going into the schools with books. Of course you would be able to enjoy numerous excursions.

Contact me to express your interest in participating in a future trip. Email me at: [email protected]

 

* You can also find and ‘like’ Mission Volunteer Partners on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mission-Volunteer-Partners/314528795303168

 

 

Please follow and like us:

Service-based Leadership

You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service that you are now being paid for. – Napoleon Hill

In his book, Waking the American Dream, Don McCullough relates a story about Winston Churchill during World War II. England decided to increase its production of coal. Churchill called together labor leaders to enlist their support. At the end of his presentation he asked them to picture in their minds a parade which he knew would be held in Piccadilly Circus after the war.

First, he said, would come the sailors who had kept the vital sea lanes open. Then would come the soldiers who had come home from Dunkirk and then gone on to defeat Rommel in Africa. Then would come the pilots who had driven Luftwaffe from the sky.

Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in miner’s caps. Someone would cry from the crowd, ‘And where were you during the critical days of our struggle?’ And from ten thousand throats would come the answer, ‘We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal.’”

Needed within the ranks of your organization are team members playing to their strengths to make your business thrive. These positions cover the spectrum from high visibility to those with their “faces to the coal”, but nonetheless extremely valuable in their service and responsibilities.

Service-based leadership is the life-blood of your organization. In his best-selling book, The Fred Factor, Mark Sanborn writes, “The best Freds are true artists at taking ordinary products or job responsibilities and services and making them extraordinary. They are real-world alchemists who practice the art and science of ‘value creation.’” He is right. Do you have a culture of service within your organization?  Here are three tips to help you turn that picture of service-based leadership into a practice.

Re-create your culture. In a recent survey by Consumer Reports, consumers revealed their most irritating customer service gripes. Topping the list? Not being able to get a human on the phone, rude salespeople, many phone steps needed, long waits on hold, unhelpful solutions, and no apology for unsolved problems, just to name a few.

If you are going to re-create your current culture and transform it into a service-based leadership culture, you must change your point of view. This is done when you quit your navel-gazing ways and look at your operation through the eyes of your customers. Solicit their feedback and audit their responses and see how you measure up. Re-creating the culture within your organization begins when you shift the focus off yourself and onto those you serve.

Re-focus your priorities. Service-driven leadership begins with fundamental shifts in attitudes and actions. This is characterized by making sure that your core values are clear to everyone within your organization and practiced with everyone outside of it. If your values are not clear internally do not expect any help from those you serve because they will not know either.

The responsibility for service-based leadership rests with the leader at the top of the organization. Ken Blanchard said, “True success in servant leadership depends on how clearly the values are defined, ordered, and lived by the leader.” How clear are your organizational values?

Re-claim your purpose. What is the true meaning or purpose behind what you do? Billy Sunday said, “More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent.” He’s right. The secret of service-driven leadership is found in your purpose. When your purpose and passions are clear so is your mission.

Without purpose you may find yourself like Alice in the fairy tale Alice in Wonderland. In a conversation between her and the Cheshire Cat, Alice asked, “Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the cat. “I don’t much care where,” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,”
said the cat.

Which way you go matters.  Service-based leadership is deliberate, focused, and is crucial to your success. Service-based leadership is simply servant leadership principles lived out in the marketplace. In order for it to work, you must, like Churchill, paint the picture for others to see and put a plan into action. In order to get ahead you must be willing to serve.

© 2012 Doug Dickerson

Doug’s new book, Great Leaders Wanted! is now available. Visit www.dougsmanagementmoment.blogspot.com to order your copy today!

Please follow and like us: