More Thoughts on New Leaders

Last weekend, I wrote about Do-Nothing Leaders. This post will expand on that leadership notion from last weekend by adding some new thoughts from an experience I had this weekend. Many of you know that I was in Boy Scouts growing up and both of my sons are in Boy Scouts now. My oldest son and I are in an honor society of scouting known as The Order of the Arrow. This society is almost as old as scouting itself and is comprised of only those scouts who are elected by the scouts in their troop for their work in living the Scout Oath and the 12 Points of the Scout Law. As OA members, we are committed to living the Scout Oath and Law, providing cheerful service to mankind and taking our ideals and experiences back to our troops to make them stronger. 

My son is currently Chief of our local OA chapter meaning he is our youth leader. He is learning much about leadership in this role. He and I spent this weekend at Conclave which is a gathering of scouts from the Del-Mar-Va region and was held at our local summer camp in northern Maryland. In addition to fun activities, meeting new people and having some great fellowship, Saturday morning was spent in training sessions. Most were for our youth, some were for both youth and adults and one that I attended was tailored just to adult advisers. 

As with all things in scouting, OA activities are meant to be youth planned and youth led. Many "scouters," as adult leaders are referred to, cannot help themselves and take too heavy handed an approach to their leading. In OA, the youth are older as you have to be First Class in rank to be elected and the "youth" designation is extended from 18 in Boy Scouts to 21 in OA. Many of the youth leaders in OA are 17 years old or older. For that reason, the youth who asked the person to lead this training session gave him the message of "OA is youth led so you need to tell the adults in your session to butt out!" That didn't exactly happen, but he did give us some nuggets that dovetail into my message from last week. The italicized phrases are directly from my notes from this training sessions. 

Failure is learning. In CSI, as in scouting, we should provide our new leaders with a controlled environment where failure is okay. We are a non-profit so there are not many financial penalties to failure, other than that which the individual chapter or region invests. In our chapter and region, we primarily rely on our sponsors, so we must always be mindful that it is their investment and they need a minimum return on that investment in terms of access to other construction professionals or advertisement of their brands. However, activites can be structured to allow for well-controlled failure to minimize financial impact. 

Many organizations choose leaders who have failed & test them in no win situations to gauge reactions. A well-known government agency was used to illustrate this point. Whether that is true or not, it is an interesting notion. If you have never failed, you may not know how to act or how you will react to that failure. This is the problem with helicopter parents. They have shielded their children from any adversity to the point where when the children are in high school or college and face real adversity and even failure, some are unable to handle that adversity and the cycle of parental over-involvement is perpetuated. 

The same can be true of new leaders. In Silicone Valley, there is a culture of failure and learning that should be respected, if not replicated. In CSI, our new leaders need to be given the latitude to fail so that when they reach higher positions of authority in their careers, they know what happens when they fail and can control their actions and emotions accordingly. 

The other interesting notion of the previous italicized note is the idea of putting new leaders into no win situations to see how they react. I'm not suggesting that anything as bold be performed on our new leaders in CSI, but by stepping away and perhaps allowing some adversity to occur, seasoned leaders can help new leaders learn and therefore learn how they will react to adversity. These become coaching moments that can be greatly beneficial to the new leader.  

Create an environment where success can happen - but let new leaders lead and ultimately determine level of success or failure. As a parent, I tell my children all the time that my job is to put you into a position to succeed. Whether in school, extra-curricular activities or learning to drive, I must always help you succeed, not put you in situations to fail. The same is true of me as a leader in CSI, in scouting or in my firm. Our new or young leaders need to be put into a position to succeed and then be allowed to determine their level of success or failure through their own actions. 

Don't allow other people to define your role or define your new leader's roles. This may seem a funny thing to say as I'm giving advice on leadership development, but the point made by the trainer is that everyone has an opinion but only you can determine what is right for you and for the leaders that you coach and mentor. I think the unspoken portion of this idea is that you should also not define your new leader's style. There are many kinds of leaders and each person must find their own natural leadership style. Success is determined not so much by style of leader, but by execution of leadership skills. 

Deflect - don't let people or situations have a negative impact on new leaders - no Eeyores. This may be the most important notion and the best continuation of my last post. Those of you who are familiar with the Winnie the Pooh stories know what Eeyore was the donkey with sad face and floppy ears who was always slow and usually had a negative attitude. Eeyore can be of particular concern to new leaders: the sadness, slowness and negativity can be deflating to new leaders. 

If you are developing new leaders, you must deflect the do-nothings to allow only positive people and positive situations to assist your new leaders. That's not to say that new leaders should not be exposed to negative people and negative situations, they should. However, as the seasoned leader, you are in the best position to use that negativity as a teaching moment on how to handle it and also as a moment of positive reinforcement. 

Another point made in this training session was about coaching and mentoring. I've written on those ideas in this blog and on the Baltimore Chapter CSI's blog, Felt Tips. You are never just a coach or just a mentor to young people and new leaders. That role can change as often as the weather. However, by being present, engaged and thoughtful, you can make a difference in the lives and careers of young people and new leaders. That maybe the most important lesson of all. 

Leadership: Do Something

Blogger Note: Its been awhile since I posted. I've been busy! Seriously, I did take an intentional step back as I joined the Board of Directors for CSI, but I have 2 ideas in my head and 3 drafts on the dashboard, so look for an onslaught!  

Also, on this Mother's Day, a very Happy Mother's Day and a huge "Thank You" to the moms out there, especially my own mom and the mother of my three wonderful children!

~ MK

I recently retweeted a tweet by Dan Rockwell, The Leadership Freak. He's a great follow on Twitter @leadershipfreak. Dan said, "Do-nothing people tell do-something people to slow down!" My comment on the retweet was, "Volunteer leaders should think on this." I think there are several ideas to unpack from this simple statement on leadership. 

We all run into "do-nothing people" in our daily lives. They are either in jobs that they are not passionate about or their passions lie elsewhere. They float through their days doing just the minimum effort or trying to hide and just get by. That is fine in some instances. I had a boss once who said, "we need worker bees, too!" Every firm cannot be filled with leaders no more than every person can be a leader. In our AEC industry, we need folks to produce the work as well as leaders to lead them. However, when the minimum effort is provided, minimum compensation and limited room for growth follows. Not all do-nothing people get that and they crave more than they are willing deliver in the workplace. 

These "do-nothing people" can come to occupy leadership positions in our volunteer activities. Their "provide minimum effort at work" attitude leaves them behind in the work place so they try to get ahead in their volunteer activities. I've seen it time and time again: the idea that "its my turn" to lead because I'm next in line and I've paid my dues. 

This is a terrible way to pick leaders. It can lead to lack of organizational focus, inability to recruit other leaders and even to recruit or retain members. I recently served a three year term on my church parish council. We were supposed to help our pastoral director lead the parish. I encountered a number of "do-nothing" people on that council and felt they were looking for a social outlet not a strategic leadership opportunity. I spent one year as chair of that council and for the first time in my life, left a leadership position feeling that I accomplished nothing. 

As a leader, anytime you have to use words like "voluntold" to get people to help or "it's time someone stepped up," the leaders of that organization need to take a long look in the mirror. There may be things that you are doing or saying, there may be ways that you conduct your business that are causing smart, passionate and talented individuals to not help out. It does not have to be merely you as a person or a personality; it can be as simple as making new thoughts and ideas unwelcome.  

The biggest harm comes when, as Dan points out, the "do-nothing people" slow down the "do-something people." If your firm does not have an entrepreneurial spirit in its leadership, that is okay. Many firms simply do the work they have always done and do not look to move ahead. If you seek entrepreneurship in business and are a "do-something" person, the "do-nothing" leaders of that firm may cause you to find another firm to work with.  

Similarly, in our volunteer activities, these "do-nothing" people can cause "do-something" people to leave the organization or to certainly not seek other leadership positions. I left our parish council because I was not able to use the resources of that council to make our parish better. They "do-nothing" members did just what they do, nothing, and I could not change that.

As a leader, if your first response to a new idea is "we tried that and it didn't work" or "we don't do things that way" then you are a "do-nothing" leader and you should step back and let others lead your organization. If you feel that no one wants to help you and you have to "voluntell" people to do things, you should probably step back and let others lead. 

I've said a million times that I am in a leadership position in our firm because of CSI. Ten years ago, my chapter needed leadership and me, along with many others, took control and led our chapter out of a very uncertain period of time. I worked hard, I made mistakes, but I learned from those mistakes. CSI offered me a friendly and nurturing avenue to learn how to lead. 

I have sense moved on to lead CSI at the national level but I always try to let our chapter leadership make their own decisions. They value my opinions and input, but I try to make clear that this is their chapter and they should lead it as they believe is best. It is that notion of the friendly and nurturing environment that "do-something" people need. CSI can be great if the "do-something" people are given an environment to test their ideas, make their mistakes but also to learn from those mistakes. We need entrepreneurs in CSI, not obstructionists.