Performance. Accountability. Terms used often in organizations and yet our actions as leaders send a message that our job is to fix people. A leaders job is to care for people and give them an opportunity to join the discussion.
As leaders, are we really in charge of what our people finish. Does the accountability discussion start with a question or a statement? Help people find a few key things, and they will finish.
Helping people define a future place/role they aspire to is challenging because the outcome takes time. Tyranny of the urgent makes these conversations hare, even though the questions to answer are simple. It takes great leadership and great followership to make these conversations and the outcomes happen.
Is it wrong to talk about great followership? We talk about great leadership. Here are five levels of followership that make people think and will drive the question to leaders “So what do you think.”
The Ford Rouge facility is a great example of how history should be used when talking about the present and future, but it should not control it. Great tour – but there are greater leadership lessons to be learned there beyond how to make a car.
So is the person failing because they are a rotten apple or are they in a rotten barrel? A question worth asking and some perspective on how it can be a powerful question for both leaders and followers.
We are a society that often looks for others to help us out. As employees, teammembers, and leaders we often lose sight of our role in making things better or doing the right thing. Making the most out of today, our jobs, or our relationships is largely dependent on us making that choice. Sometimes we just need a little reminder.
Mastery is “available to anyone who is willing to get on the path and stay on it-regardless of age, sex, or previous experience.” These were the words of George Leonard in a book he wrote called Mastery. Building on what Daniel Pink presented where attainment of Mastery takes 10,000 hours – Leonard reminds us that the journey is the key. So let’s talk about the journey and how organizations promote this journey.
10,000 hours translates into 5 years of doing something BEFORE you can be considered to have attained Mastery. So where did this number come from and what does it mean to people trying to attain it and leaders who are trying to grow and retain people that have this?
Mastery – Daniel Pink talks about it in his book drive and it is a key word in any discussion about individual development and being a leader that develops human capital (aka: your living, breathing, feeling people!). Pink did not invent Mastery as a significant part of the discussion of leadership and the motivation / development of people, but he does a nice job of highlighting the significance.