“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.!
In this “Be A Better Leader” series of website articles and podcasts, I am talking about a variety of attributes, characteristics, and skills that are essential to effective leadership, and discussing how they are reflected in practice. I have grouped these things into five categories of what a leader ought to be, which is why I am labeling them as the “Be-attitudes of Better Leadership.” These five categories are: “Be Genuine,” “Be Relational,” “Be Trustworthy,” Be Knowledgeable,” and “Be Excellent.” We have already looked at being genuine, being relational, being trustworthy, and being knowledgeable, and today in part 21, I am concluding our discussion of the fifth category, “Be Excellent.” More specifically, I am talking about the importance of being self-reflective.
Here is the link to the podcast.
In this “Be A Better Leader” series of website articles and podcasts, I am talking about a variety of attributes, characteristics, and skills that are essential to effective leadership, and discussing how they are reflected in practice. I have grouped these things into five categories of what a leader ought to be, which is why I am labeling them as the “Be-attitudes of Better Leadership.” These five categories are: “Be Genuine,” “Be Relational,” “Be Trustworthy,” Be Knowledgeable,” and “Be Excellent.” We have already looked at being genuine, being relational, being trustworthy, and being knowledgeable, and today in part 21, I am concluding our discussion of the fifth category, “Be Excellent.” More specifically, I am talking about the importance of being self-reflective.
I had been hired as a new administrator in a school, and after our first big event I gathered my leadership team together and said, “Ok team, let’s debrief.” There was a moment of complete silence, and then I could see strong emotion emerging on the faces of my team. I paused and asked what I was missing, and they began to explain how the previous administrator had used “debriefings” as a tool to rip apart the team members to such an extent that it left behind trauma. So the mention of the word “debrief” had become a trigger for them and prompted a strong response. So do you think I stopped taking time to debrief after events? No, I did not. I just changed the terminology to remove the connection to traumatic experiences. Why? Because it is an important practice to reflect on what has happened in the past in order to grow and improve in the future.
In his book, “Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher,” Stephen Brookfield points out the research-based premise that self-reflection is one of the primary tools for facilitating growth in a teacher. He identified several practices, but this was one of the key ones, explaining how self-reflection is one of the best means of growth. That premise is true for all of us (not just teachers), that self-reflection helps us get better, which therefore makes it an important practice in becoming excellent.
How does this apply to your personal process of being excellent? Very simply, if you are going to be good at what you do and get better at it, self-reflection needs to be a regular practice. At both specific junctures (like after an event or activity or circumstance) and at regular intervals, you need to be in the habit of pausing, reflecting on what has happened and what you have been doing, and intentionally seeking to learn from it so that you can be better. You won’t ever be perfect all the time (at least, not until we, as believers in Jesus, are fully sanctified and perfected in heaven), but we can and should be in the practice of perpetual improvement.
Did you ever get in trouble with your parents and hear them say, “You need to go to your room and think about what you did!”? That’s exactly what you need to be doing in your path to excellence: go to your room and think about what you did. Reflect on what worked well and should be kept the way it is, what was necessary and must be done each time, what was unnecessary and could be removed, what was missed that should have been included, what was good but should be changed to be better, and what was not good and should be eliminated. All of those things come out when you take time to self-reflect.
The bottom line is that self-reflection is an important piece in the process of becoming excellent. For that reason, make it a part of your practice. You probably already do this every year right around January 1, but make it a regular habit at other times as well. Schedule regular times throughout the year, and after major events, that are set aside for the purpose of reflecting in order to grow and improve. Said simply, to be excellent, practice self-reflection.
In this “Be A Better Leader” series of website articles and podcasts, I am talking about a variety of attributes, characteristics, and skills that are essential to effective leadership, and discussing how they are reflected in practice. I have grouped these things into five categories of what a leader ought to be, which is why I am labeling them as the “Be-attitudes of Better Leadership.” These five categories are: “Be Genuine,” “Be Relational,” “Be Trustworthy,” Be Knowledgeable,” and “Be Excellent.” We have already looked at being genuine, being relational, being trustworthy, and being knowledgeable, and today in part 20, I am continuing our discussion of the fifth category, “Be Excellent.” More specifically, I am talking about the importance of doing what works.
Here is the link to the podcast.
In this “Be A Better Leader” series of website articles and podcasts, I am talking about a variety of attributes, characteristics, and skills that are essential to effective leadership, and discussing how they are reflected in practice. I have grouped these things into five categories of what a leader ought to be, which is why I am labeling them as the “Be-attitudes of Better Leadership.” These five categories are: “Be Genuine,” “Be Relational,” “Be Trustworthy,” Be Knowledgeable,” and “Be Excellent.” We have already looked at being genuine, being relational, being trustworthy, and being knowledgeable, and today in part 20, I am continuing our discussion of the fifth category, “Be Excellent.” More specifically, I am talking about the importance of doing what works.
It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly but expecting different results. Sometimes it seems this definition characterizes companies and organizations, because they will continue to do something even though it doesn’t work. Perhaps it is because it is tradition, or because it takes too much work to change, or even because the leadership doesn’t recognize that it doesn’t work, but they keep doing it.
Motorola is great example of this. In the late 80’s and early 90’s they were a leader in the analog phone business. They were doing what worked at the time, but then something happened: digital technology was developed for cell phones, which completely changed the cell phone service industry. Analog phone technology would no longer be the technology that would drive cell phone production and use, but Motorola continued to invest in its analog technology, and as a result, ceased to be relevant in the cell phone business. They were no longer doing what worked, but continued to do it anyway.
Effectiveness depends on discovering what works and doing it. Often, it is at a micro-level within an organization that people figure this out. Edgar Schein describes it like this: “The general phenomenon of adapting the formal work process to the local situation and then normalizing the new process by teaching it to newcomers has been called ‘practical drift’ and is an important characteristic of all operator subcultures. It is the basic reason why sociologists who study how work is actually done in organizations always find sufficient variations from the formally designated procedures to talk of the ‘informal organization’ and to point out that without such innovative behavior on the part of the employees, the organization might not be as effective” (2010). In simple words, the people who are on the ground floor tend to figure out how to adjust formal processes and procedures in a way that works best, and they then teach it to new employees, which helps the organization to function better. In spite of what may be the written procedures, they do what works. An effective leader pays attention to this and maintains awareness and understanding of what is working and what is not, and will then use that understanding to help shape decisions.
Then, if it is working, keep doing it (as the old saying states, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”). This truth was evident in the research conducted by Collins & Hansen and published in Great by Choice (2011). They defined a SMaC (Specific, Methodical, and Consistent) recipe as “a set of durable operating practices that create a replicable and consistent success formula,” and then noted that highly successful companies “adhered to their recipes with fanatic discipline to a far greater degree than the comparisons, and . . . they carefully amended their recipes with empirical creativity and productive paranoia.” However, they also found that these companies “changed their recipes less than their comparisons.” Their research revealed that companies that were doing things well and were thriving tended to continue doing what was working without great change. They were not subject to changing with the wind, or panic, or the latest fad, but held to the practices that they knew worked.
This has been one of my personal frustrations in the world of education. In my years as a teacher and school administrator, it seems like I have seen countless new programs and initiatives established, often to have another new one rolled out the following year. They have always been communicated as necessary for effective education, but many times it has reminded me of “stage one economics” – there appears to be an immediate short-term gain or value, but in the long term it is more detrimental than it is beneficial. But before that becomes apparent, the world of education has moved on to a new program.
As leaders, we need to be intentional about doing what works (which is generally evident in the results). And we need to not be afraid of allowing the people who would know best to have input, so we need to give people a voice in the process. This does not mean we don’t periodically assess and analyze, because we do need to make sure it still works, and we can often make minor tweaks that bring improvement. It also doesn’t mean we need to be inflexible (in the last article and episode, I talked about the importance of flexibility, the complement to this week’s discussion of doing what works). Don’t change for the sake of change when what you have is working (but if what you have is not working, don’t keep doing it). Do what works. And keep doing it.
Collins, J., & Hansen, M. T. (2011). Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership (4th Edition ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
In this “Be A Better Leader” series of website articles and podcasts, I am talking about a variety of attributes, characteristics, and skills that are essential to effective leadership, and discussing how they are reflected in practice. I have grouped these things into five categories of what a leader ought to be, which is why I am labeling them as the “Be-attitudes of Better Leadership.” These five categories are: “Be Genuine,” “Be Relational,” “Be Trustworthy,” Be Knowledgeable,” and “Be Excellent.” We have already looked at being genuine, being relational, being trustworthy, and being knowledgeable, and today in part 19, I am continuing our discussion of the fifth category, “Be Excellent.” More specifically, I am talking about the importance of being flexible.
Here is the link to the podcast.
In this “Be A Better Leader” series of website articles and podcasts, I am talking about a variety of attributes, characteristics, and skills that are essential to effective leadership, and discussing how they are reflected in practice. I have grouped these things into five categories of what a leader ought to be, which is why I am labeling them as the “Be-attitudes of Better Leadership.” These five categories are: “Be Genuine,” “Be Relational,” “Be Trustworthy,” Be Knowledgeable,” and “Be Excellent.” We have already looked at being genuine, being relational, being trustworthy, and being knowledgeable, and today in part 19, I am continuing our discussion of the fifth category, “Be Excellent.” More specifically, I am talking about the importance of being flexible.
In the 1993 blockbuster movie Jurassic Park, actor Jeff Goldblum played a character named Ian Malcolm, who was a “chaos mathematician.” His character’s role was to apply the ideas of chaos theory to the operation of the dinosaur-themed amusement park, with the hope of being able to give approval so that the park could move forward. However, in his view, chaos theory purported that everything is unpredictable, because tiny environmental factors and influences mean that nothing ever happens the same way twice. The result was that he believed the forces that the Jurassic Park scientists were trying to control were, in fact, uncontrollable.
The reality is, life is unpredictable and constantly changing, and those changes are often uncontrollable. Sure, we can maintain some semblance of control with planning and structure, but there are always circumstances and factors that are unexpected and that we can’t control, like when you drive over a nail and get a flat tire, or you get in an accident caused by another driver, or when severe weather cancels your plans, and so on. These types of things force you to change in some way, but if you cannot adapt to change, you will live a life of eternal frustration. So, since you can’t avoid it, what you must do instead is learn to navigate it, by learning to become flexible, and there are three things you can do to help you with this.
First, relinquish control. It begins by accepting the fact that you cannot control everything that happens. It’s foolish to think that you can. This truth has been reflected often in the financial industry, where unpredictable events impact the value of stocks. Malcom Gladwell, in his book What the Dog Saw (2010), discussed this in one of the book’s articles, entitled “Blowing Up.” In this article he discussed the financial practice of investors, and suggested – according to his interview with one particular advisor – that you must accept that you can’t predict the unexpected event, therefore you must always be prepared for losses.
A number of years ago, I read a book by Peter Schwartz called Inevitable Surprises (2004), in which Schwartz made the claim that certain future surprises were actually inevitable, and therefore could be predicted and harnessed. One of his primary examples was the “inevitable” impending increase of retirees from the large baby boomer generation, which he then identified as a resource to be tapped into. However, what he could not predict was the change in longevity of life, combined with a later retirement ages, which meant that the expected volunteer force of retirees did not emerge (ironically, an increase in volunteerism occurred among the younger generation, not the older). The point is, you cannot control unpredictable events, and therefore you must be willing and able to accept that lack of control, in order to keep it from defeating you.
Second, be willing to try something different. If you know that some things will happen outside of your control that change your plans, you need to be willing to change your plans and do something different. This is a lesson I learned early in my administrative experience, in the first school in which I served as a headmaster. There was an expectation that I implement noticeable change, because the school had been struggling, and so I began to develop and initiate a strategic plan. However, as you might expect, some of my plans did not work well, because unexpected circumstances would influence the outcome, or people would resist, or it simply didn’t work the way I thought it would. I could tell that people were watching me to see how I would respond to these obstacles and unpredictable events, and so I got in the habit of saying, “If it doesn’t work, we’ll do something different.” This was not only for their benefit, but also for mine, to reassure both them and me that it wasn’t an end, only a change. It helped them to be willing to try something different, and in the process of trying something different, we learned, improved and found the best solutions.
Jim Collins, in Great by Choice (2011), addresses a similar idea when he talks about firing bullets then cannonballs. The idea, he explains, is that effective leaders spend a small amount of resources trying out a variety of ideas (firing bullets), dismissing the ones that don’t work well and pouring more resources into the ones that do (firing cannonballs). We often don’t know with certainty what is going to be effective and produce the desired outcome, and we also don’t know what unexpected factors will hinder our plans, therefore we ought to be willing to try ideas and test plans with the understanding that, for various reasons, it may not work (either at this time, or in this place, or under these circumstances) and so we need to be able to let it go, change, and do something different. It may mean changing the time, or place, or circumstances, or perhaps even throwing it away and starting over, but regardless, it means being willing to do something different.
Third, develop creativity. We are not all naturally creative in our thought process or in our expression, but we can all do things that help us to become more creative. When we develop creativity, looking for new ways of thinking, doing, and expressing, we begin to startle people (in a good way), helping us to get and hold their attention. I learned a little about this when I first became a history teacher. I felt like I had had history teachers in the past who were very boring, and so I wanted to get the attention of my students and make history an enjoyable and valuable class. I remember early in the year, in an American History course, when I was teaching on Christopher Columbus’ arrival to the new world, trying to explain what it felt like to be on his ship sailing across the ocean with a hope but not a certainty, when I suddenly leaped on top of my desk and yelled “Land ho!” as loud as I could. The class jumped, laughed, and then engaged in an active discussion. By being unexpected, I helped to develop an interest in the course.
Daniel Pink, in his book, A Whole New Mind (2006), discusses the value of creative thinking and its importance to leadership and progress. He proposes that those who can learn to think creatively will have an advantage in a global marketplace. He then offers six “senses” that are necessary for cultivating creativity, and provides practical advice on how to develop these skills. The main point is that creativity is skill that can be nurtured and grown, and is necessary for growth and leadership in the world of information and concepts in which we live.
We cannot ignore the fact that life throws curve balls, and that much of what happens around us and to us is unpredictable. Try as we might to prevent it or avoid it, change happens, and if we are not willing and able to have a degree of flexibility, we will be frustrated, disappointed, and defeated. To be an effective leader, then, you must be able to be flexible. Doing this will require that you are willing to give up control (specifically, over those things that you can’t control), willing to do something different with positive (not a defeated) attitude, and willing to learn to become more creative. Developing these characteristics will help you to have the flexibility you need, in order to lead well in a changing world.