Notes from the Queen Mum

So, its been a busy week. My apologies for not being around.. sometimes it happens!

Next week, we'll continue talking about servant leadership and soon be finishing the "ten week series" (just spread out a little longer than that!) on this leadership style.

For now, as a Friday treat, I want to share with you a video that a friend of mine shared with me yesterday. As I watched this, I literally caught my breath... what a wonderful, wonderful example of what GREAT things a company can accomplish when we pay attention to our employees, when we encourage them to be brilliant and successful, and when we trust them to do their job and know their stuff!

The video is less than three minutes long and truly -- its kind of life changing, folks. So take a five minute break from the last bit of your Friday workday and get some inspiration from the legendary Steve Jobs! May he rest in peace!

I mentioned in my post Monday that stewardship is the idea that you are caring for something in trust for someone else. A good steward sees whatever he has as for the good of everyone and so carefully manages it to ensure that it benefits the majority, sometimes even to the detriment of his own self-interests.

Servant Leaders tend to practice good stewardship when it comes to how they lead and run their organization. They do not make decisions solely for their own benefit, but rather for the benefit of everyone.

No where is this more important than in a nonprofit organization, where the leaders literally are stewards of the organizations assets and charged with the duty to use and distribute them to benefit those who receive the services of the organization.

However, this is also an essential leadership quality in a for-profit company, as any leader should know that his success is largely due to the success of his team... and if he makes choices that do not benefit his team, he will lose their trust and loyalty.

How do you view your organization, division or team? Do you see it as a vehicle for your own success, or as a vehicle for the success of all who work there and who benefit from the products and services of your company? Have you made choices that predominately benefit yourself and cut benefits from your team? Where can you improve in your organization to make it more of a benefit to your staff and to those you serve?

This week, we are going to talk a little about stewardship. Stewardship is the idea that you are caring for something in trust for someone else... servant leaders view their organizations in this way -- as a something for the all rather than just a something for themselves.

Before we dive deep into the concept of stewardship, I thought it might be good to get a little perspective from some oldtimers. While Robert Greenleaf coined the term "servant leadership" in 1970, its been something that's been happening throughout history, and most often with positive effects. Many noted philosophers in history have encouraged the concept of servant leadership to those they teach:

This is taken from the 4th century B.C. Indian work Arthashastra by Chanakya, which details the charactistics and requirements for a Rajarshi - a good and virtuous king: "In the happiness of his subjects lies the king's happiness, in their welfare his welfare. He shall not consider as good only that which pleases him but treat as beneficial to him whatever pleases his subjects"

Lao Tzu, in the sixth century B.C Tao Te Ching, gives the following advice: "A leader is best when he is neither seen nor heard, Not so good when he is adored and glorified, Worst when he is hated and despised. "Fail to honor people, they will fail to honor you." But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, The people will say, "We did this ourselves."

Plato states in Republic: "No one in any other kind of authority either, in his capacity as ruler, considers or enjoins his own advantage, but the advantage of his subject, the person for whom he practices his expertise. Everything he says and everything he does is said and done with this aim in mind and with regard to what is advantageous to and appropriate for this person."


Christ says to his disciples: "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." (Mark 9:35-36 NKJV)

US President Calvin Coolidge stated: "No enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need, it performs some great service, not for itself, but for others; or failing therein it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist."

Martin Luther King, Jr. stated: "Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

Throughout history, great leaders have been imploring us to lead by service. They were great leaders for a reason - they practiced what they preached! Take a dose of their ancient perspective and try it out for yourself!

I said earlier that in order to develop good foresight, you also have to develop other key servant leadership characteristics, specifically empathy, listening and awareness. These three characteristics help you to assess what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present, so you can accurately predict what will happen in the future.

Listening. Listen to your employees. Listen to what they like and don't like. Why did the project last year fail? Because the team didn't feel motivated to be successful. Listening to your team and their thoughts helps you predict how they will react to the next goal. Whether that potential reaction is negative or positive doesn't necessarily matter here -- the point is knowing the reaction, so that you can work toward making it positive by addressing concerns ahead of time.

Empathy. If you know how your employees feel, then you will better plan for their success. If you understand their needs, their desires and their goals, both within and outside of the office, you are better equipped to put together a plan that incorporates those needs, encourages their successes and helps them reach their goals while helping you reach yours. When your employees see the benefits they can reap from reaching the goal, they are more motivated to reach it with you.

Awareness. Understanding your own strengths and weaknesses is important, as is understanding what your team is capable of doing and what tasks will require outside resources. If you fail to acknowledge a gap in your skill level, you will run into problems reaching your goal. Accurately seeing yourself and your company for what it is, capitalizing on the strengths and shoring up the weaknesses, will make reaching your goal far more feasible.

Prepare yourself with these three skills. Learn to gauge the road ahead and prepare for the potential roadblocks. The more prepared you are, the more successful you will be.

You’ve heard people say this before, right? When you realize what could have been done to change a negative outcome AFTER the negative outcome has already occurred. Basically, its easy to know what would have worked after you know what didn’t!

Anyone can see 20/20 in hindsight. It takes skill to have 20/20 foresight. Some leaders have this skill naturally, but many develop it over years of working in their business, and learning from the mistakes and successes of the past.

Imagine if you could see the future and know every potential roadblock and problem that lies ahead, so you could actively work to resolve it, perhaps even before it ever became an issue.

The reality is that you can do that! Maybe not in the magical, omnipotent sort of sense, but certainly, with practice, you can become adept at identifying the potential hazards and roadblocks in your journey ahead and accommodate for them in your initial plan, so as not to let them hang you up when they inevitably arrive in front of you.

This is the nuts and bolts of the “paving the path” we talked about last week – having a keen foresight will allow you to avoid potential problems and smooth the way toward your goal.

How do you develop this? Well, as I mentioned last week, these characteristics don’t exist in a vacuum – they depend on each other. The key to developing foresight is to develop the other servant leadership characteristics, specifically empathy, listening and awareness. We’ll talk more about how those characteristics work together to help you develop fantastic foresight in the coming days.

Its great to have a concept, but the real skill is the ability to actualize it and make it a reality. How do you do that?

First, you need to understand that your concept is a goal -- it is the point you would like to reach. Its unlikely that this is something that is a step or two away, so you need to see it as a destination in the distance and your implementation strategy is the path you build to get there.

Yesterday we talked about how imperative it is to be aware of who you are now, in order to begin to see how you can become who you want to be. Here is where this characteristic of self-awareness is key: you must know from where you are starting in order to plan how to reach your destination (your goal). You have to be brutally honest here -- inflating who you are is only going to cause pitfalls in the path ahead.

Once you know where you are (self-assessment) and where you want to go (concept/goal), design the best path to get there. Just as you would look at a roadmap and consider all the factors of travel when planning a trip (distance, time, ease of travel, traffic congestion, etc), so you must consider every factor as you plan your roadmap to your goal. Who do you need to help you make this a reality? What resources do you already have available? What resources are available outside of your organization that might assist you or make your pathway more solid and secure? What combination of resources will produce the best end result?

Finally, but certainly most important, prepare your team for the road ahead. Help them see the goal as clearly as you do, and understand how it will collectively benefit the organization. Show them the clear pathway to the goal and encourage them to come along with you. Give them a clear understanding of the benefits of reaching the goal and a clear pathway to reach the goal, and they will come along with you on the journey and help you attain the goal.

See the destination. Clear the path. Show the way. Help everyone reach the destination.

It can't be any easier, folks. Try it!

The thing about servant leadership is that you can't really talk about one characteristic of this leadership style without somehow incorporating at least one or two more. The great thing is how all of these characteristics work together to create a successful team environment.

Such is true with the idea of conceptualization. In order to be successful at conceptualizing, you need to be skilled in other areas, such as awareness, listening and empathy.

In order to conceptualize where you want to be and how to get there, you first need to truly understand where you are and who you are as an organization. Lack of awareness will lead to lack of conceptualization. You must know first what you have and what you need before you can determine how to get it.

Once you know where you are, its important to listen. Listen to what your employees are saying about your company and learn where they feel you need to grow and improve. Listen to the outside world and find out what is out there that you can utilize to become more successful. The more you listen and keep an open mind about the information you hear, the more you will have to work with as you build your vision of the future.

Finally, empathize. Remember that your staff is your vehicle to any change, to any improvement, to any success, and without them, you are certain to fail. Keep their concerns in mind, as they are the implementers and you need their support. If you aren't concerned about what effects your team, how can you expect them to be concerned about your vision for the future?

In order to form a concept of what you can be, you must first know who you are, know what resources you have and know what resources you can obtain outside of your organization. To ensure the success of your concept, you must ensure your team is supported and feels that you value their input and concerns, so that they will come along with you and help you make your vision a success.

What is your vision for the future in your leadership role? Have you developed a concept? How will you turn it into a reality? A great leader knows the way is through caring for their team and getting them on board. Conceptualization, while key to a servant leader, is only successful when one is mindful of all the other servant leadership characteristics and is utilizing them appropriately.