In your mind, picture for a moment your perfect dream house. Imagine that you are able to build the perfect custom home of your dreams. Complete in every exact detail and way you would like. Think about how many rooms you would have. Would it be one-story or two-stories? Will your house have a circle driveway, a pool? Will it be made of redbrick, or stone? What will be special or unique about your dream home?
Ok, now that you have that picture perfect dream home in your mind. How do you go about making that home a reality? Well, I often think about building a dream home in a similar way that I conduct project planning and long-term strategy for my organization.
Strategy is defined as a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. I often equate my dream home to a desired state or positive outcome I am looking for in my organization.
Over the past few months, I have encountered multiple situations where I was discussing strategy or project planning at my organization, so I felt compelled to write a blog post using this “dream house” analogy (credit is also due to Mr. Trey Hudgens at DBU, without whom this wonderful analogy would not be possible):
5-Step Process to Building a Dream Home (aka Strategy):
- It starts with a Vision – Picture your dream home! In the end, what is the desired state or goal you are looking for at your organization? It starts with a clear vision of the desired result that you are looking for at your organization. You can’t even begin to build your dream home, or begin working on a project or strategy until you first know what the end or vision will look like. To read more about Vision, check out the blog titled: Exceptional Leaders Know How to Share their Dreams
- Draw up your Blueprint – Once you know what you would like for your dream house, or desired end goal at your organization, it’s time to start drawing up your blueprint plans. You would not dare begin building your house without first having a set of good blue prints. This goes the same way for executing a project or strategy for your organization; you simply can’t move forward without a plan.
- Identify Resources – Specifically, think about who and what you will need to actually build your dream house. Using the dream house analogy, this means identifying your general contractor, your electrician, concrete works, framers, and so on. For your organization, this means taking time to identify the people (or stakeholders) who will be involved in the strategy, project, or task. Think about who needs to know about this plan, and spend time to include them early on in the planning process.
- Stick to the Plan – A dream home does not come overnight. It takes time and usually a specific order of tasks that need to occur for the home to be properly built. Using the house analogy again, you first need to pour your concrete foundation, let that dry, put up your wooden frame, roofing, draw wall, and so on. For us guys, one thing is for certain, we will all have a 55” inch high definition plasma TV hanging on the wall of our living room, complete with a custom-made surround system. However, as cool as this TV will be, we would not dare try to hang it up until the walls are up, roof is completed, and the house is ready. Stick to the plan, identify the step-by-step process you need to successfully build your dream house, and do not get ahead of yourself!
- Buy Insurance and Maintain the Home – Once you complete building your home, the first thing homeowners do is buy insurance. Incase of flood, fire, or other disaster, they want to be sure their house is protected. Furthermore, the homeowner will take great care to maintain their home to keep it in the best shape possible. The same way, a good strategy is maintained and reviewed periodically. Sometimes the environment around you, or within your organization will change. You will need to have a good sense of this to determine if you need to add on other elements to your strategy, or decide to start building a second lake-house. Strategy is continual, just like maintaining and protecting your dream home.
I hope this was a helpful reminder for you. God Bless in building your dream home! Also, remember Joshua 24:15 – For me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Over the past few months I have been reading the book 30 Life Principles by Charles Stanley with my Thursday morning men’s bible study. This is an excellent book and I would highly suggest checking it out. This past week, I read a section of this book which had good application for leadership and professional development that I wanted to share: Life Principle #25 – God Blesses us so that we may Bless Others.
I work at Dallas Baptist University, where we talk a lot about Servant Leadership. Reading through this book, and reflecting on the concepts of Servant Leadership, I wanted to share a couple of important ideas of why it is vital for leaders to be obsessed about serving others:
1) God gives each of us all unique abilities and resources.
You may feel that you don’t have much to offer people, or you may be confused about what your talents, abilities or purpose is. Realize that if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, God gives you a tremendous gift that you can use to bless others. That is a promise!
1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Romans 12:5-8 says, “In Christ, we have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
2) These Abilities and Resources have been given to us in order to bless others and build His kingdom.
We need to realize that the reason God has given us such immense blessings (abilities and resources) was so that we would use them for His glory and for the furtherance of the gospel. God’s gifts to you were never meant to be hoarded. They were given to be used wisely as you serve others through the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
We are most effective as leaders when we intentionally use our talents and abilities in our work, our ministry, and all other aspects of our lives to serve others.
Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service”. Romans 8:28 tells us, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
3) We have a choice whether we are going to encounter God to discover these abilities, then use them to bless others and honor Him.
Our love for God and others motivates us to serve, it inspires us to give freely so that others can be blessed and one day come to know salvation and enter into a relationship with Him. However, we have a choice as to whether we are going to our abilities for our own purposes, or bless others.
Only you can stop God’s goodness, the abilities he has given you, from flowing through your life and into the lives of others— and you do it by hoarding His gifts.
Acts 20:35 says; ” In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Luke 12:32-34 tells us, “It is our Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom … a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:32–34)
4) Are you using your gifts in a way that honors God and blesses others?
I used to selfishly use what God has given me to pursue after money, power, recognition, and personal gain. I can promise you these pursuits will not end well. You will be left empty, without meaning, and alone. You will end up with a perpetual state of chasing after stuff the rest of your life. I do not want that for you! Purpose and meaning is found alone in Christ.
Therefore, look for opportunities to use your talents and resources to love and serve others. Then watch how God works. Soon you’ll see that it truly is much more blessed to give than to receive.
As leaders, we need to model the way, using our talents to invest into others through mentoring, and showing that through our words, actions, and decisions we truly desire to serve others. We need to take intentional opportunities to help others find what their abilities are and how they can practically demonstrate their love for others through their calling to bless others.
We are told the only thing that will last the test of time is the gospel and the church. I don’t know about you, but I want to build something that lasts forever!
Cited Source: Stanley, C. F. (2008). 30 life principles: Study guide. Nashville, Tenn: Thomas Nelson.
There has not been a shortage of criticism for the millennial generation and their recent entry into the workforce. Heavily entitled, lacking communication skills, as well as critical thinking abilities, many believe the millennial generation wanders into the workforce unprepared, and lacking motivation to perform at expected levels. Millennial, if you want to know what I am talking about, check out the blog titled: The Top Job Skills Needed for Future Graduates.
As we look at the state of the workforce, and the development needs of our millennial generation, I believe a primary reason for this lack of preparedness in the millennial is due to a gap between their purpose (or) personal meaning, and a connection of personal meaning to their vocations.
The Millennial Difference
Today the millennial generation focuses much of its attention on careers that have a strong sense of meaning, fun, or exciting work, as well as opportunities for personal, professional, and intellectual growth. For the millennial, compensation and security does not hold the same powerful motivation to perform at one’s job as it did for their parent’s generation. For the millennial it is much more about the adventure and the impact!
Second, the millennial generation wants to feel a part of their organization, many times they want to be a part of a community. The millennial wants to do work together, they want to know they are valued, and they want to know you will be alongside them through the journey. For an example, read the previous blog titled: Let’s do War, Together.
This is very interesting to know, because if you are an organizational leader with a millennial team, then you cannot utilize the same development and motivation techniques used with previous generations. The way to motivate the millennial subset of the workforce is vastly different than the generations ahead of them, IE: the baby-boomers, generation x.
Mentorship
I have found that directly mentoring a millennial worker is an excellent source of motivation and increased job performance. Specifically, I suggest having intentional conversations on purpose, meaning, personal self-discovery and their future outlook.
I have found that when the millennial identifies a purpose for their life (or at least begins that self-exploration journey), and then connects that purpose to their vocation, their job takes on a relevance and personal meaningfulness that might otherwise lack. As a result, job performance sky-rockets. In this way, purpose can serve as an important source of achievement motivation.
As the millennial generation continues to become of age and enters the workforce, we as organizational leaders must take the opportunity to engender trust and motivate this new group of workers by aiding them to the discover their purpose (or) meaning and connect that to their organization and their job. This connection of purpose to an individual’s job responsibility resonates heavily to some of the values that the millennial generation holds to be of critical importance. IE: sense of meaning, exciting work, personal and intellectual growth. In fact, the millennial is willing to constantly job hop in order to find these things.
In short, give it a shot to mentor the millennial. Have regular, intentional conversations. Take “teachable moments” to show them new ideas or something valuable they do not know (you may even learn a thing or two yourself). Help the millennial find purpose in themselves and their work. I promise you will not be disappointed!
You will find many definitions for what exceptional leadership looks like. In fact, exceptional leadership can often times be relative to the environment of the leader. However, I have noticed that there seems to be three trends which are present with exceptional leadership. First, exceptional leadership begins with a Purpose, being the foundation. Second, exceptional leaders have a timeless Vision, or communicating dreams into reality, and third exceptional leaders inspire great Action, which are the results of a purpose being fulfilled through a timeless vision.
I would like to take a few moments to talk about what Purpose in leadership looks like:
Purpose
Having a well defined Purpose is a critical foundation for exceptional leadership. Purpose is defined as “the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists”. In other words, this is your “WHY”. When you relate purpose to yourself or to your leadership, the question is “WHY” are you here? “WHY” do you even bother? “WHY” do you lead? The answer to this questions is far beyond just making money, or having a secure job. We are not talking about management, this is exceptional leadership. Exceptional leaders are compelled by something greater that just monetary gain. Exceptional leaders are compelled by a clear, well define Purpose.
To expand further, exceptional leaders possess three key elements when it comes to purpose: (1) a greater than average sense of purpose in life and meaning; resulting from a heightened level of self-awareness, (2) a strong understanding of what their organization’s purpose is and, (3) a belief that they are fulfilling their purpose in life which fits with the identity of the organization they are leading.
Without having a clear understanding of your purpose in life, you will not be able to grow to the most exceptionally leader that you could be. Let me give you a few examples; Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Steven Jobs, Ghandi, Mother Teresa and countless other authentic leaders were each driven by a deep understanding of what they or their organization was trying to do. They were led by their deep sense of purpose, which was communicated through their vision, and put into action by their decisions.
The first step for taking your leadership to the next level, and even understanding “WHY” you yourself exists, is defining your purpose in life.
This past year, I began a new journey in my life when I started my doctoral program in organizational leadership. As I interacted with other leaders from across the country, I ran into a powerful idea … Purpose. Throughout my coursework, I grappled with and researched further as to what purpose meant for leadership. My results were compelling, almost all of the leaders I perceived to be exceptional, had a well defined purpose in life. Furthermore, their purpose was timeless and was not motivated by extrinsic rewards (such as money, recognition, or power).
What I also found to be interesting was; Leaders who lead with a strong purpose, and also aligned to the organization’s mission that they lead, tend to perform to greater extents than others that do not.
Praying through these ideas, seeking guidance from God and others I trust, I established my own purpose statement which is a reminder for me on my purpose in life. Here is what I believe to be my purpose in life:
Model the example of Jesus Christ in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord for my family and circles of influence, consistently serve others by influencing them to find their purpose, excel in their callings, and point them toward God.
I will accomplish this by:
- Modeling Jesus Christ’s example, and letting everything that I say, do, touch and have influence over be honoring to God.
- Helping others to find their purpose life by mentoring and developing them to become more effective in their vocations.
- Leading within Higher Education, helping institutions become the most effective environment to teach others How to Think and to Choose for themselves and developing others to have the ability to tell the difference between a groundless argument and one based on fact or logic.
- Building Trust relationships.
- Growing in Transformational leadership.
- Transforming others into a life with Jesus Christ.
- Passion is something that I will pass on …. I will do it with God’s love!
My purpose for writing this is so that you can spend time in front of God asking him to reveal your purpose in life to you. I pray that God can use you to authentically lead with Purpose and Vision to produce extraordinary Action for His Kingdom!
One of the important ideas that we discuss on this website is the concept of Vision, or what I call communicating dreams into reality.
This past Friday I had a great conversation with Timothy Watts, one of my colleagues and Director for International Admissions at Dallas Baptist University. Tim and I were discussing our new international marketing plan, specifically some of the communication challenges (or) opportunities we could encounter with the launch of this new initiative. During our discussion, we realized that an important component for success in this program would be the group’s cohesiveness to the goals of the marketing plan. We needed to be sure that everyone knew, and clearly understood, including why and how we were moving forward with this program. We realized it was all about our team buying into the Vision!
In his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell writes, “Nearly anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course… they see the whole trip in their minds before they leave the dock. They have a vision for their destination…”
For leaders, I consider this one of the most important and critical areas that we need to get right. I have found that exceptional leaders have the ability to clearly communicate, in a contagious way, the goals and direction for an organization. In other words, they know how to “steer the ship”. Furthermore, they know how to do it in a way that is exciting, so much in fact that their ship is packed with passengers wanting to come along for the ride. I believe that this can be accomplished through communicating the leaders’s vision, or sharing their dream!
When you are establishing and communicating your vision, I think it is important to consider a few things:
1) Find your Dream – This one may be a bit obvious, but it starts with finding your dream. Ideally, a dream rooted with your timeless purpose that you are compelled to see completed. As a suggestion, start with the end in mind, and then work backwards.Ask yourself, what is important to you or your organization? What will actually bring valuable benefits to those that you have influence or responsibility for? Think about what you would like to see happen, and then work backwards, step by step to see what it will take to get in done.
2) Elicit Advice – Once you have your dream, it will be important to test it by electing the advice from others. Feedback is important. This means sharing the idea with your trusted colleagues and advisers. This will help you to vet your thoughts and establish whether your vision is indeed timeless and adds value for your purposes. Coincidentally, this will also help determine if your vision is indeed “contagious” by testing it on your trusted colleagues. Remember, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” ~ Proverbs 15:22
3) Share it – Here’s the fun part, starting sharing your vision! In fact, don’t stop talking about it. I have found this to be one of the “arts” of exceptional leadership. Specifically, exceptional leaders can enable followers to action by sharing their vision in an emotionally expressive manner — IE: leveraging their emotional intelligence to get people excited about being apart of the vision. Great leaders can draw you in through their use of emotional intelligence and interpersonal skill; connecting you together with the vision.
4) Reflect on it – Take time to step back occasionally to see how your dreams are coming into reality. Repeat #2, and elicit more feedback and thoughts from others. In the end, you’ll want to be sure the plans you have set in place are actually being accomplished and provide value to your purposes. As discussed, a vision is worthless if it does not have a timeless purpose that brings lasting value and benefit to others. You will most likely want a benchmark (or metric) to measure value; such as more sales, higher morale, greater client satisfaction, etc.
Leadership is such a privilege. The opportunity to share your dreams with others through a vision is an important responsibility. Do not loose your head in this. You have the privilege to take others, your organization, and it’s project where you believe God wants to go!
About a week ago I was attending a conference on international education in San Diego, California. Universities and educators from all over the world, all together more than 10,000 people, came together to talk about the development and internationalization of higher education. During one of the sessions I was able to listen to the thoughts of Jeffery Selingo, author of the book College Unbound, where he spoke about the future of higher education and what it means for students and internationalization.
There were many interesting points that Selingo made, but one particular point stood out to me that I was compelled to share with you here. Do you know what the top job skills are that employers want out of graduates from college?
Over the years, both as a student and also as a higher education administrator, I have heard many people ask this question; “What do I need to learn in order to get a good job?”. It comes in many forms, but in the end it always has to do with the student’s (and their parents for that matter) desire to land a job after they graduate.
Well, without further a due and based on plenty of research, here are to the top job skills that employers are currently saying they want from the graduates coming out of college:
Top Job Skills Needed
1) Written & Oral Communication – Communication is central to the world of work, when communication is poor or inadequate, the quality of that work – be it a product or service – will suffer as a result. This skills involves being able to demonstrate the ability to write concisely and with clarity to convey information and ideas in a logical and clear manner. In addition, you must have the ability to converse in a confident and effective manner with others from a wide range of backgrounds, emotions and prospective.
2) Managing Multiple Priorities (Time Management) – This skill involves the ability to “juggle” the urgent and the important within a world that is constantly moving. Managing busy workloads with heavy deadlines and lots of pressure is though, but it is an important requirement for being effective in the workplace.
3) Collaborating with Others (Ability to work in Teams) – This skill requires a great deal of interpersonal ability and emotional intelligence. You must have the experience and ability to work well with a diverse group of people, each with differing opinions/beliefs, and can successfully find commonality to work effectively in order to complete tasks on-time, within budget and based upon the desired deliverable.
4) Solving Problems (Conceptual Thinking) – This is the ability to understand a situation or problem by identifying patterns or connections, and addressing key underlying issues. You must understand the integration of issues and factors into a conceptual framework, experience, creativity, inductive reasoning, and intuitive processes that lead to solutions or alternatives that may not be obviously related or easily identified.
* Attention College Students – If you want a good job after you graduate, you had better be developing these skills and getting plenty of practice doing it! What is the hardest job skill for you to learn?
Over the past month I have been involved in a study to examine the leadership styles for a variety of senior-level administrators at different higher education universities around the United States. The goal of our research group was determine if there are particular types, or styles of leadership that are most prevalent at the American higher education institution.
The results of our findings (from the group of senior-leaders we interviewed) indicate that all leaders display characteristics from a particular approach to leadership, described as Transformational Leadership.
So, what is Transformational Leadership?
Transformational Leadership is a approach to leadership that ehances the motivation, morale, and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower’s sense of identity and self to the project and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them and makes them interested; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that enhance their performance (Bass & Avolio, 1994).
Transformational Leadership can be additionally described by the following four elements:
1) Idealized Leadership
- Being role models; modeling the way
- Considers the needs of others over his/her own need
- Is consistent and shares risks with follower
- Does the right things and demonstrates high standards of conduct
- Avoids using power for personal gain
2) Inspirational Motivation
- Provide meaning and challenge to follower’s work.
- Display enthusiasm and optimism.
- Involves followers in envisioning desired future states.
- Arouses a team spirit.
- Clearly communicate expectations and goals.
- Inspires a shared vision.
3) Intellectual Stimulation
- Employees participate in decision making and are encouraged to be innovative and creative by questioning assumptions, re-framing problems and trying new approaches to existing problems
- Does not publicly criticize for mistakes.
- Does not criticize an employee’s opinions if different from the leaders, rather rewards “out of the box” thinking.
4) Individualized Consideration
- Pays attention to their employees’ needs for achievement and growth through coaching and mentoring.
- New learning opportunities are created in a supportive climate.
- Individual differences are recognized and accepted.
- Communication effectively and practices “management by wandering around”
- Sees the individual as a whole person, not an employee.
- Delegates tasks to assist in developing others.
- Monitors to provide support and direction, not to check up on people.
Another great model describing some practical examples of Transformational Leadership can be found from the authors Kouzes & Posner: The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership Model
This research study got me to thinking, is this coincidence, or did these administrators, from all different parts of the country mind you, stumble upon a leadership style that is truly most effective? Moreover, do leaders that embody these characteristics seem to make the greatest contribution to their organizations and onto others? Is this is why they have risen to the ranks of senior-leadership at these institutions?
My conclusions have lead me to the belief that this is not coincidence. I believe these leaders all identify with this particular approach to leadership because it is most effective. Additionally, each of the leaders we studied all have a “timeless purpose” they are committed to. This purpose helps to define their meaning, a meaning in which they believe that they are creating a “life changing” impact on the people, communities and world around them. I believe this is why Transformational Leadership seems to resonate the strongest from these leaders.
So, the last question, are you a Transformational Leader?
This past week I traveled to Sydney, Australia to visit Hillsong Church and Hillsong International Leadership College. For those of you who are not familiar with Hillsong Church, they are a mega-church with 12 campuses throughout Australia and 13 international church locations throughout the world, with over 30,000 people attending service each week.
Out of Hillsong Church we have seen Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United, and most recently Hillsong Young & Free emerge as some of the most influential Christian worship bands today. If you would like to see more, take a moment to watch the video “Awake” from Hillsong Young & Free here (or click on the image below):
Each year all Hillsong Church locations come together for Vision Sunday, which is a special time over three days to share the “vision” of what God is doing with Hillsong Church. The theme of this year’s vision Sunday was “Pioneer Again”. Hillsong Church continues to be committed to changing, moving forward, and keeping the pioneering spirit alive. They shared future plans for growing the church and are continuing to develop other global campuses. It truly is amazing to see what God is doing at Hillsong Church!
From my trip, I have been overwhelmed and greatly encouraged and wanted to share a few observations from my trip that have application for leadership:
1) Relationships Matter – As you walk in the front door of each Hillsong location, you will notice the words “Welcome Home” over the entry way.
Hillsong calls themselves a “large church” with a “small community”, emphasizing relationships and family. Over and over again I heard that relationships matter at Hillsong Church. Well, they live this in each and every part of their Church and College. Walking into the various church and college locations at Hillsong, I felt a real sense of community and closeness.
As an organizational leader, I see the powerful importance for establishing and building an environment where relationships flourish and people feel welcome, comfortable and encouraged.
On a side note, one of the things I’ve learned about the Australia is that “sarcasm” is really seen as a “love language” here. If someone gives you a “hard time” in public it really communicates that they like you and have a friendship with you.
2) Culture is Critical – Hillsong is not something you are taught, it’s something that is caught.
There is a strong sense of culture and identity at Hillsong. Just as relationships are important, having an empowering culture for a church, company, or organization is critical. Throughout the week I noticed how people “fall in love” with what is happening at Hillsong Church. There is a connection of culture to timeless value and vision which makes this place attractive, exciting and transformational for those who are there.
3) Visionary Leadership – Senior Pastor Brian Houston communicates vision constantly to Hillsong Church and the Leadership College.
Having heard Senior Pastor Brian Houston multiple times this past week I noticed a few important trends. First, Jesus Christ is proclaimed and given glory in each and every sermon or speech he gives. Second, Pastor Brian speaks with powerful vision. Those that work closely alongside him describe Pastor Brian as a “visionary leader”.
Visionary leaders are uncommon, but they share many characteristics. The qualities of visionary leaders include openness, imagination, persistence, and conviction.
I was told once that “Vision” is putting dreams into action. Vision enables followers to feel and see where they are going and actually visualize themselves as being there. Vision is a powerful motivator and enables people to grow, achieve and transform into great things!
4) A Sense of Destiny and Purpose – What God has put in you is far too important to keep it inside and not use it.
I heard comments like this throughout this entire last week at Hillsong Church. As I continually study leadership and observe organizations where great things are happening, I keep seeing this idea of “purpose” and “meaning”. I do not believe this is coincidence, but rather it is a building block for God to build upon and use in us to do extraordinary things.
God has given us each a purpose in this life. We each have meaning and value while we are here on earth. As a student, working professional, family member, or friend, we each have so much talent, so many skills and unique abilities. Use them for a life of purpose and impact on others. Realize that God has a hope and a future for each of us!
As a leader, you are only as influential and effective as the team that you have around you. Deciding who gets into your department, as well as what they do, and how far they go, is completely up to the leader. For the leader, hiring is the most important thing you will do!
This past weekend I spent 19 hours in the car driving from Dallas, Texas onto Pittsburgh, PA. During this time, I had a lot of time to think and reflect on this past week. One specific experience that came to mind was a great interview I had with a young DBU student named Bree. We were considering Bree for a part-time student worker position in our International Office.
Bree was well-spoken, warm-hearted, and energetic. Bree’s happy attitude and positive character was contagious. I left the interview feeling encouraged to finish the rest of my day. I remember thinking; this is the type of person I want to have on our international team.
As I drove through Memphis, Tennessee I remember thinking about how important it is for a leader to create a good team around them. I remember the words of Dr. Stephen Mansfield, President and CEO of Methodist Health System in Dallas, who said that as a leader, “You are the Keeper of the Culture”.
When you hire great people, and they get into the right place, wonderful things can happen. In contrast, when you do not hire great people, and you don’t get them into the right place, then disaster is possible. So, it’s important that you take time and care through the interview process.
Over the years, there are a couple of important items that I think about when making a hiring decision:
1) Hire for Character first, Energy second and Competence third.
You may have heard this in different ways and possibly even in the reverse order. I have found that hiring for character first, energy level second and competency third is the best criteria to hire new team members. You can teach a smart, determined, energetic person anything. However, character traits such as honestly, trust, hard work, and empowerment are incredibly difficult to create in another person. It is best that your hires embody strong character traits first and have a strong, positive energy level second.
I am not saying that your hiring decisions should not be competent. In fact, I think the contrary, if you are hiring for your “A-team”, then each person should be extraordinarily competent. However, this should not be your first motivation.
2) Will this person be a good fit for this position?
As we have discussed in previous blogs, a person’s skills/abilities, personality/behaviors and passions/desires really do come together in a unique way to form who a person is and ultimately points them totheir distinct purpose in life. During the interview process, it is up to you and the interviewee to determine if this position, department and company is a good fit.
As I get more and more experience in the hiring process, I have learned to use a variety of assessment tools such as the Myers-Briggs, DISC profile, Strength Finder and others to help answer the questions about a person’s character, energy and competencies. I have listed many of these assessments tools that I have used in our Finding Purpose section of this website.
With all of these assessments, as well as the interview questions I ask, I am looking to feel confident that this person might be a good fit for the position they are interviewing.
At the end of the day, this is where the “art of leadership” comes in. It’s about using your discernment, based upon the interview questions, assessments and “gut feeling” to make the best hiring decision possible. In the end, if you have a good team, you will see pretty quickly whether the person is a good fit or not.
3) Will this person make your team better or worse?
This is great question to ask; does bringing this person onto your team make it better or worse? In order to answer this question, it is important to include your team members in the interview process.
During this time, have 1 or 2 of your “star” team members meet with the potential candidate. I suggest this take place at the second or last interview. Sit back and watch the interaction between the job candidate and your team members. Watch the interactions, the energy level, and the progression of conversation. You are looking to see if new ideas, positive conversations and chemistry forms with everyone.
This will not only insure you are potentially hiring a good candidate who will connect with your team, but also further encourages ownership from your current team with the new employee you are bringing on board.
4) Will this person be encouraged to develop at a personal and professional level by this position?
Part of putting people in the right place is also about seeing to their personal development and professional growth. As you hire, you will want to be sure that your interviewee has the potential to grow and develop in a positive way based on their experience in your department or company.
Remember, in order to thrive at work, people need two things (1) a sense of learning or growing and (2) a feeling of being energized and vital about what they are doing. We all need to make sure our hires can thrive at work and have valuable tasks which will usually lead to opportunities for personal growth and professional development.
During the interview process, I will usually ask questions like “What do you see yourself doing in 10 years from now.” The purpose of this question is to (1) learn where the person sees themselves, and to make sure there is purpose in job they are interviewing for and (2) learn their personal vision and ideas for their future. When people have purpose in their job, or a set of activities that hold consistent value, as well as positive ideas for their future, they tend to be happier and perform to higher levels.
It is all about creating a great team. Great leaders build great teams of people who share the organization’s vision, see value and benefit in the work they do, and possess the energy to carry it out.
Remember, you are the keeper of the culture. So, make the culture great with hiring and developing great people!
We each have a unique story to tell. Our authentic story, lived out in a real way, gives us tremendous influence to make a lasting impact on others.
Think about this for a moment.
As individuals, God has equipped each of us with a unique mix of skills & abilities, a distinctive personality & behavior, and certain passions & desires. These things have been given to us as a “tool belt” by God to use in this life. Our “tool belt” equips us with the tools necessary to accomplish our purpose in life. In addition, the “experiences” we encounter also give us a very unique perspective in order to share our stories with others. The good, bad and even ugly experiences in our life come together to help shape our authentic story.
Romans 8:28 and Ephesians 2:10 from the bible remind us that God works for good in all things for those who love him, and also that we have been created in Christ Jesus long ago for His purposes to do good works.
By sharing our authentic story or “experiences”, as well as the wisdom learned from them, we find a valuable way to influence, inspire, develop and serve others.
Our “tool belt” and “experiences” come together to shape who and what we are under Christ. In fact, we really are a mix of these elements; it is the combination of these items that shape our authentic story. The trick is to understand these things in an intimate and vulnerable manner. This is what it means to be Self-Aware. Self-Awareness, or the understanding of one’s self to an intimate and vulnerable extent, is the beginning to authentic, influential leadership.
As a young professional growing up, many times I tried to mimic others whom I perceived to be successful in life or business. I found that while this process revealed a wonderful amount of insight and knowledge, I always seemed out of place. Often times I found this was a mistake, I would end up mimicking something that I was not. I felt like I was constantly trying on clothes that did not fit quite right.
What resulted was a realization that I needed to spend time focusing my efforts on understanding “Who I Was”; this included an intimate understanding of my “tool belt” and what my life “experiences” meant.
God has created each of us to be unique. When we try to act as how we see others, the result will not be authentic. In fact, when your leadership is perceived as unauthentic, the results will not build trust, nor will it provide meaning and purpose for your life.
There are two important concepts which are vital for leaders to understand: (1) Unauthentic leadership does not last, and (2) Self-awareness is the beginning for discovering authentic leadership.
Authenticity is a key trait for developing as an influential leader. Now, as a higher education administrator, and someone who spends a great deal of time with college students, I intentionally encourage others to discover and understand who they are.
Taking time to discover your “tool belt” and “experiences before God will lead to a greater understanding of “Who you Are”. Furthermore, this will lead you to help discover what your purpose in life is, which is tied to your authentic and unique story that you can share with others.
One of the reasons for building this website and blog was to encourage others to discover their “tool belt” as well as what life “experiences” make up who they are. When we use our “tool belt” and “experiences” in the way they are intended, God will use our life in a tremendous way to influence others and for making a lasting impact.
I would like to invite you to take check out our page: Finding Purpose
This page offers a variety of different assessments which have been put together to aide you in discovering your “tool belt”. Complete these assessments and then record your personal results from each of them. Additionally, I suggest taking time to map out the major experiences encountered in your life. These are all breadcrumbs from God which can assist you to discovering your purpose in life.
We each have an authentic story to tell, what’s yours?