Missed your connection?

 This story is all too familiar: Pastor takes church; pastor fails to motivate congregation; pastor gets frustrated; congregation becomes ambivalent; pastor moves on; the story repeats until one day a new pastor takes over and then WOW! something wonderful happens.  The congregation gets excited, the church seems to come alive, grows and one good thing after another happens.

There is, perhaps, a very spiritual explanation for all these mini-failures.  The previous pastors were not called, maybe they weren’t listening to God, maybe they were called but not too that church. Of course there may be at least a little truth to these broad brush strokes, but as with all generalizations, getting to “reality” requires peeling back the layers and digging a little deeper.

In previous blogs we  have examined the dual components of vision:

• paint a picture of a new future
• leave some room for followers to add their part to the masterpiece

What we are talking about here are the pure mechanics of leadership. Casting of Vision being one of the 4 foundations to true leadership, however it is important to understand that the Character/Credibility combination  is so closely connected to the power of Vision Casting that they cannot be separated. 

There is an old adage that when you first take over an organization you should be careful not to make any changes in the early going.  When you do decide to act, any changes made should be incremental. The generally accepted wisdom is that “people resist change,” but that is only partly true.  Allow me to explain the adage and offer small  insight into why so many “called” people fail to make an impact after assuming the leadership role.  

 Most called people are energized by what they believe God has given them as a mission.  They arrive at their first pastoral assignment (or other organizational assignment) full of excitement and enthusiasm. The natural next step is to begin to frame the new group according to the leader’s vision, right?  Insisting on this approach will ultimately be seen as foisting that vision upon the established group, and will create natural resistance.  English novelist, Arnold Bennett commented, “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.” Even if the established group believes the vision may be the correct one; awareness of the difficulty of change produces natural cautiousness.  Often, this subtle, or sometimes overt, resistance to a new vision is viewed by the fledgling leader, as resistance to God’s Himself.

What then is the answer to this dilemma?  First, remember that even a new vision is not without context.  The context is provided by the established group, and therefore the new leader must make a connection with that group for vision casting to be effective.   The only way to establish that connection is to tap into the deeply held beliefs of the established group.  Richard Daft, noted organizational researcher, points out that the beliefs of an organization will be reflected everywhere in their language, artifacts and rituals of the established culture.  While there are a broader set of beliefs that all Christians might hold, the social, cultural and intellectual beliefs are very group specific. Those beliefs are also deeply influenced by the combination of corporate history and current events

This means that the leader must learn more about the group, what they care about?; what community do they live in?; what cultural and social structures that have shaped their beliefs?    It is almost impossible for a new leader to cast effective vision for a group without that information.  The leader may hit upon it by accident, but is more likely to miss, offend and appear to be disconnected. Knowing the group is like knowing your travel itinerary. Imagine for second the futility of attempting to influence a plane that has already taken off.  You may have a ticket to Denver, but if you are in the New York terminal and the plane has left, your ticket (vision) doesn’t mean much.  You might be able to get on another plane, but that connection is lost.

When we say someone “connects” with us, we are literally saying, “they know me, they understand what makes me tick.”   If the new leader understands this, he/she finds a way to connect their personal calling with the deeply held beliefs of the group,  and is able to cast an effective vision for the future.  That vision is molded by the leader and given life and energy by the followers.  Leaders create followers, and they do so by connecting with them at a deep, almost subconscious level.  They understand their lives, what is important to them and how the new vision might play out in the role they play within the organization.

A great example of this happened in the corporate world about nine years ago.  Two executive scandals rocked CMS Energy, one of the largest energy companies in the world.  One was a round-trip trading scandal where energy futures were being bought and sold between two companies with the sole goal of inflating sales and transaction numbers.  Another, was blatant misstatements in the company’s prospectus that were overlooked by the cozy relationship with the auditing firm.  When the scandals broke almost simultaneously the resulting aftermath sent stock prices plummeting, and employee 401k’s lost half their value overnight.  The executives responsible were released with golden parachutes numbering in the millions, and the employees took the brunt of the damage.  These employees were not disloyal, but the  situation seemed to reward unethical behavior and caused serious distrust of executive staff.  The new interim CEO had a daunting task. He had been appointed by the board to take the reins of a company with disengaged employees, low stock values and wary investors.  Essentially, this was a company poised for disaster.

After taking the time to understand the situation, he held a series of town-hall style employee meetings.  There he announced the creation of ethics based policy changes.  He cast a vision for a new direction of the company based on honesty and integrity: with the market, with employees and with customers.  Employees responded to this effort with  agreement and intense effort, and the company began a turnaround which resulted in a restoration of most of its former value.  He managed to create a vision that was not based on profit or growth, because he believed by following the right path both of those things would result.  It was the deep distrust of the executive staff he addressed, and was building a vision of the future that was based on integrity. By doing so he reached out to the general populace and made the right connection.

Is There No Vision?

Is There no Vision?

I have to admit I have an almost fanatical curiosity about the way organizational plans play out.  Whenever I find a textbook scenario playing out before my eyes I will stop what I am doing and observe the players, the play and try to figure out what the intended goal is.

Such was the case just recently when heading out for one of my yearling hiking/mountain climbing trips. 

 

Here is the scenario:

 This year the destination was Colorado.  So as usual my brother David and I running behind, and Atlanta is one of the busiest airports in the world.  Add to this equation what anyone paying attention knows; airline companies are in serious trouble.  9/11, the world-wide recession, skyrocketing fuel prices, reduction in travelers have created the perfect storm.  So you would think that in order to ensure travelers on any certain airline, customer service has to be number one.  Ok, one more variable. We have not flown American’s regional partner before so it is all new to us.

When we arrive we see the normal setup for Atlanta: there is the normal Self-Service Kiosks setup, but you still have to bring your bags to the check in agent to get them on a plane.  Now even though it is very early the line is seriously backed up.  When I scan the front counter I note that 4 ticket agents are working on one man’s problem.  At first I think, AHA! They understand, but another second glance and I can see they are actually ignoring the customer, who is becoming visually agitated.  They clearly do not know how the system works, and while they joke and laugh with each other the line is becoming longer with anxious travelers.  Now I note that they clearly think this is funny, and I wonder how long the 4 of them will continue, ignoring what is happening right in front of them.  Please keep in mind that I am not angry.  Something fascinating is happening here, and the absurd contradiction of what should be happening has me mesmerized. 

 Through some miracle they manage to get the tags out of the machine, and 2 agents go back to work while the other 2 disappear into the back. Thankfully, the line begins moving again.  When I step up the agent says gruffly without looking up, ” So Mr. Gray you missed your plane?”  I look at her nametag, and reply “Mary, as far as I can see the plane has not started boarding yet, and most of us in this line are on that plane. We have been waiting while you folks worked on the machine.”  To which she replied in the same gruff voice, “Well you didn’t put your bags in the kiosk, they are not in the system.”  With a broad smile (because I had already discussed this with my brother why we paid $15 extra for a single bag) I reply “Yes, ma’am I did but if it didn’t show up let’s go ahead and do it now.” 

For the sake of the story I think you get the idea.  This sort of treatment was repeated one customer after another; the plane was late, connections lost etc.  The reason I bring it up is because what happened at the counter was a direct result of what these employees believed about their job.  There is no doubt in my mind that many of those customers vowed never to fly that airline again.  However, if you were to ask the employees working the counter that day if they felt they gave excellent customer service, there is equal assurance they would enthusiastically reply, YES! 

Culture Contradictions

This apparent contradiction is made the more fascinating by how obvious it is.  Organizational culture does not happen overnight. It is precious when it is great and should be defended by every member. When it is bad, it takes the energy akin to escaping earth’s gravity to change it. 

I wondered as the plane finally took off for Houston if the folks at the top realized how the vision they cast for the company, if any, was being carried out in the most important spot: the check-in counter.  Where there is no vision the organization perishes!  Where the vision is not adopted the same thing happens. 

Ask yourself this question: What happened?  Something is wrong here and whatever leader-followership gap exists, it has allowed a culture of customer neglect to foster.  If you do not believe that leadership is important, this example shows the principles of leadership have a direct impact on the bottom line.

Casting Vision

Leaders are responsible to cast vision.  It must be simple and carefully crafted.  It also must be strategically ambiguous (more on that later).  This is not just a vision problem, it has a thread that runs through all the foundations of good leadership: communication, team-building, culture and environment.

Still think about this: Does your church give newcomers the cold shoulder? Do people steal from the till? Do employees seem not to care about what happens to the company? Is it hard to get people motivated to do a great job?  That starts with a vision, which is a leadership issue.  Recreate that scenario where excellent customer service is identified, believed in and carried out at the counter.  Can you cast vision for that? If you can you are well on your way to developing leadership skills.

Are You Credible?

So we asked the question: what is leadership really?

       Think about two powerful, yet paradoxical historical persons: Mother Theresa, humble nurse to the dying and destitute of Calcutta, and Adolf Hitler, tyrannical dictator, master of the blitzkrieg and angel of death to the Jewish people.  What do they have in common?  At first blush it would seem that they have nothing in common right?  But let’s look a little closer:  Both of them, whether intentionally or not, influenced their followers, cast a vision for change and got the attention of the entire globe.  In the classic sense both led their followers; one did so for evil and one for good.  Upon their death the world celebrated one and villified the other.  The essence of  how they created  influence helps answer the important  question we have been asking.

     When a leader (whether titled or not) casts a vision, or promotes and idea  there are two key elements that create followership. The first is whether or not the leader is credible, the second is whether or not the follower can own a little piece of the vision for themselves.  

    Credibility has to come from somewhere, and there are many sources a leader might use to establish it: perhaps it is positional or what is called institutional authority, they may be an expert in a certain area, it be established by appealing to a higher power, maybe they have enough charsima to overcome doubts about expertise .  What is fascinating is that having an official position doesn’t gaurantee credibility, it simply provides a platform to establish or lose credibility.  The downside, of course, is that credibility is always judged by the potential follower, and must be demonstrated by the leader.  

    So when you walk in on day one as the pastor of a new church or start a new organization how will you establish credibility?  Perhaps you are a great communicator.  Can your ability, your connection with truth show that your vision is the right one, for the right time?  Will your followership  embrace the ideas you propose, and believe in what you believe in? Will they believe that you can take them to a new level, and that they experience a better place?   

So let’s ask a new question.  How do I become credible? The answer is a little surprising.  See you next blog.

What is leadership anyway?

If you were to be asked about the idea of leadership you probably think you have a  pretty good general idea if not completely detailed notion of  ”what” it is.   But when asked to define it could could you really describe what leadership truly is?  Have you ever asked yourself what does it really take to get someone to follow you?  A wise person once observed that a leader with no followers is simply out for a walk.

We are a people that tends to worship heroes; solo performers who by the strength of will and power of their own intellect overcome impossible odds.  However truly powerful movements; transformations, whether in business or the church are actually accomplished by people working together.  Leaders and followers alike are galvanized around a single or set of ideas that lift the corporate entity beyond individual capacity.

So how does leadership happen? In what setting does it occur? Where does leadership authority come from?

John Maxwell (2007), noted author, speaker and leadership consultant declares that leadership is influence;  nothing more, nothing less. Stephen Covey (1989)  observed in his groundbreaking book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, that leaders are not just those with the right map, but are able to indicate the correct direction.  One thing is clear, leadership involves some sort of transaction between leader and follower that inspires both to accomplish a shared goal.  The leader demonstrates some sort of authority, and the follower believes in the source of that authority enough to supply energy and effort.

Think about this for yourself: What does it take to get someone to follow you?  The corrollary question is, of course, what makes them stop following? There is no single answer to the first question, but the answer to the second lies in the way leaders draw authority, and thus exercise leadership.  Uncovering the the many facets of leadership illicits a mosaic of ideas and principles that rise to nearly an art form. Yet it is an art that can be learned, imitated and developed.  In the next blog, we will discuss the sources of leadership power and the ways each are used or misused.

Until then ponder the question: What is leadership anyway?