Who are your people? Part 2

"I don't know your people."

As many of you know, I have spent some time in the Cleveland Unit of the Texas State Prison system ministering to the men in the Prisoner Entrepreneurship Program (PEP).

I personally find the time I spend with those men refreshing. On several visits I have listened to men share their "story." There are two themes that run through theses stories. First, in almost every case these men grew up in homes where the father was absent - physically or emotionally. The men in the PEP program did not have a a strong male role figure in their life.

The absence of a father figure is probably related to the second theme. Absent a strong father figure, these boys sought affiliation with individuals and groups who would provide the acceptance and affirmation they weren't getting at home. And they chose the wrong people.

If you were to have asked these guys, "Who are your people?" the answer would not have led to a group of outstanding citizens. And those people had a profound, but negative impact on these young men. The consequences were devastating.

How might their lives have been different if they had an active father and were surrounded with the the right people?

Its easy to see these patterns in the lives of these men. But what about you and me? If we're not careful, we can surround ourselves with the wrong people, the wrong role models. If we're not careful we can have people in our lives that endorse wrong decisions and lead us to justify choices that we otherwise would not have made.

In just about every case of leader derailment that I am aware of, there are poor choices and bad decisions made by the leader. But, they are usually surrounded by people who endorse the behavior. In fact some of these people may even have told the leader they deserved, or were entitled to make the decisions that were made. In the worst cases, the poor decisions were actively supported. In the "best" cases, the people didn't challenge the decision patterns and allowed them to occur.

As followers we should be asking our leaders "Who are your people?" The answer could be telling. Who are the people the leader is surrounding themselves with?

As leaders, we need to evaluate "our people." Are they loyal enough to challenge me when they see me making mistakes or taking steps on a path that will lead to the wrong destination? Are "my people" willing to tell me no when I am wrong?

Who are your people?

Who are your people? Part 1

My son went hunting with some friends a while back. They took a break and went in to a nearby small town for lunch. Justin didn't have any cash with him and the bar-b-q place didn't take credit cards. However, they did accept checks and he happened to have his checkbook with him.

When he offered to write a check for his lunch, the proprietor turned him down, saying "I don't know your people."

Justin had never heard that phrase. But having grown up in West Texas and frequented small towns like Breckenridge and Stamford as a child, I recognized the statement.

In those environments everyone knows everybody, and everyone knows your family - your people.

The phrase is a good reminder for all of us: Who are your people?

Who are the people in your inner circle? Who are the people you go to for advice and counsel? Who are the people you allow to challenge you? Who can ask you "What is your motive?" without you becoming defensive.

As leaders, we need these people in our life. We should seek them and cultivate them.

Bohicans

In my last post I discussed the importance of creating a supportive environment where people can perform at their best: an environment where people flourish.

This type environment stands in stark contrast to toxic environments.

Toxic environments are created by those who practice the B-O-H-I-C-A style of managing: Bend Over, Here It Comes Again!

I thought I had worked for the last of the Bohicans when I left industry to return to graduate school in 1994. But I continue to run into pockets of Bohicans. They are a very resilient tribe!

Bohicans create toxic work environments that are characterized by negativity. These environments create fear, anxiety, and pessimism. Rather than expending energy on performing, people spend energy protecting themselves. Instead of committing to the organization's vision, mission, or goals, employees simply comply in order to avoid punishment.

Leaders who foster these environments drive people toward antagonistic relationships, anger, and hostility.

And good people leave.

When leaders create and perpetuate this kind of environment, the most talented employees will leave. Those who remain do so out of necessity rather than commitment and identification with the organization. This starts a downward spiral: As talent leaves, less talented people assume positions of authority. These people are often insecure and therefore perpetuate the bohica practices in an effort to assert their authority and keep people under their control.
They also tend to hire people who won't threaten them.

Toxic environments start at the top of the organization. Healing these environments requires a change at the top.

Either the leader needs to change or the organization needs to change leaders.

Lessons from Leland

When I first became a manager, my dad told me that my job was to create an environment where people could perform.

When I began teaching, my dad told me that my job was to create an environment where people could learn.

The parallel advice was striking: As a leader and as a teacher the fundamental task is to create an environment where people can perform, learn, grow, flourish and become all that God designed them to be.

How do we create that environment?

Here are some ideas:

• Get to know the people you are leading and teaching so that you can customize your leadership style to their needs. One style does not fit all!
• Identify their strengths, their giftedness, and their passion.
• Try to match their strengths, gifts, and passions with a job that will tap into those characteristics.
• Encourage and support them.
• Look for opportunities to stretch them.
• Use delegation as a developmental tool.
• Create the right environment by providing resources and opportunities.
• Create the right environment by removing organizational obstacles that get in the way of them performing at their best.
• Buffer them from the distractions of organizational politics and non-essential tasks.

As a leader, as a teacher, as a parent: "Create an environment where people can perform, learn, and grow."

Peter's Principles - Part 4

How should we follow?

We often discuss how we should lead, but today I want to address another question: How should we follow?

I have been discussing Peter’s principles for leaders. But he also gives us some insights into how we should follow. So let’s unpack what Peter has to say in 1 Peter 5: 5-6:

“You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”

As I read that passage I see three things that ought to characterize me as a follower, and as a leader:

Submission: “Be subject to your elders.” The “S-word” isn’t popular in our culture. We like to be independent and autonomous; yet, God calls us to submit. I think there are two dimensions to this. The vertical dimension involves submitting to God. The horizontal dimension involves submitting to others. Paul echoes this in his letter to the Ephesians when he says “Submit to one another.”

Humility: “Clothe yourselves in humility toward one another.” Submission and humility really go hand in hand. Its all about putting the needs of others ahead of your own. Its about serving others, rather than being self-serving.

Paul says a similar thing in his letter to the Philippians:

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.”

Let God do the Exalting: “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”

Peter no doubt learned this first hand from Jesus who said, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Personally, I get annoyed at watching athletes flaunt themselves after every big play. Isn't that what they are supposed to do? Isn't that what the pros are paid to do?

As leaders, and as followers, we do not need to promote ourselves. If we’ve got the stuff, if we are being used by God, people will notice and we will be promoted. We need to ignore the me-first, self-promoting, narcissism of the world and let God do the promoting.

Do your work with excellence and leave the results – and the rewards, and the exalting to God.

Legacy Logic Part 2

Each of us has had people who have invested deeply in our lives, in much the same way that Paul and his team invested in the Thessalonians. Just as Paul and his team put their stamp on the Thessalonians, we have had people who left their mark on us.

My list includes parents, teachers, coaches, professors, mentors, and my wife. Each of these people have invested deeply in me. I have tried to thank them in every way I can: in person, in notes and letters. Yet, every effort to thank them seems inadequate.

So I have decided that the best way to thank them is to be to others what they were to me. The best way to pay those who invested in me back is to pay it forward by investing in others.

Like the Thessalonians, we need to find models who are worthy of imitation. As we imitate them, we will then become an example for others to imitate. And as they imitate us, they become examples for others to follow. By doing so, they will perpetuate the process I call Legacy Logic.

I encourage you to express your gratitude to those who have invested in you. But if you’re like me, the best way to thank them is to pay it forward by investing in others.

• Consider the significant influences in your life. Who are the leaders you have been most influenced by?

• Thank God for placing them in your life.

• How could you thank that person?

• Send them a card or a letter thanking them.

• Schedule a lunch or dinner with them to thank them personally.

• Practice Legacy Logic: Now, … Pay it forward.

Legacy Logic Part 1

As I study the leadership approach modeled by the Apostle Paul, I see that the idea of imitation was an important and recurring theme for him.

He offers himself a model of leadership for others to not just follow, but to imitate:

“Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.” (1 Corinthians 4:16)

“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” (Ephesians 5:1)

The word translated imitators in these verses is based on the Greek word mimetai from which the English term mimics is derived.

In his first letter to the church at Thessalonica, Paul commends them for the fact that they had become imitators of “us and the Lord.”

“You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” (1 Thessalonians 1: 6-7)

Essentially, these followers were mimicking the attitudes and behaviors they had observed in Paul and his leadership team.

They took their mimicking to the next level because they became examples for others to follow. In the original Greek, typos, translated as example, refers to a seal that marked wax or a stamp that minted coins. The word originally denoted a mark made by a blow. The usage evolved and the word came to refer to any image whether stamped or not. The word has ethical significance when it is used as a pattern of conduct, or as it is in this text, as an example to be followed.

Paul and his team left their mark on the Thessalonians. Paul put his “stamp” on those he led.

Then, the Thessalonians followed this pattern and were leaving their mark – their stamp - on others.

Who are you leaving your mark on?

Who bears your stamp?