We Will Do That For You…

…Followed by a Firm Handshake.

One of my favorite gifts this past Christmas was a sculpture of a handshake, a gift from my sons. They know the handshake holds high value to me as a symbol of the right kind of leader to be. It is not an accident it is part of the RPC Leadership Associates brand. While difficult to trace the exact origin of the handshake, we can easily trace its origins back as far as medieval times when knights and royalty would shake as a gesture to let the other know there were no weapons present. In other words, it was a sign of trust. It is trust, which we as a culture continue to struggle with today.

We seldom go a day without seeing a headline or a story related to trust, typically a displayed lack of it. Whether in business, politics or sports names like Madoff, Blagojevich and Woods conjure up images of a broken trust between them and the relationships with the people who helped them succeed in the first place. So I believe it is here we should begin our discussion of trust by looking at what it means to have a meaningful relationship as a leader.

If we look at the buying process used by many in business for making a value based decision, we find it begins with the first thing people buy – you! It is through the strength of the relationship that starts the trust building process. Building trust is much like saving money in a piggy bank. Every moment of truth, every interaction with another person and every transaction in a relationship helps build the trust bank account. I heard it described recently as “we add trust to a relationship a nickel at a time, but we lose trust in that same relationship a dollar at a time”. If leaders are looking for trust in the relationships with their teams the first place they need to look is in the mirror. Are you the type of leader who is trustworthy? I spoke last month of the importance of self-awareness as the authentic leader’s greatest tool. This is crucial as it helps a leader’s ability to leverage candor and empathy as crucial elements to building trust. If people in an organization trust their leader as a person, they stand a much better chance of trusting their organization as a whole. A recent Gallup poll suggests only 30% of employees are fully engaged in their organization. What organization in this day and age can afford to have 30% engagement? Yet by disregarding the very elements that build trust within the culture of their organization, they may as well hang a sign outside their door stating “Employee Engagement Doesn’t Matter Here”.

Finally, a fitting quote from David Armistead I often use, “Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities for which they were previously unaware”. Are the trust levels in your organization high enough? Are you ready to discover new abilities to which you are now unaware? We will help you get there. Can we shake on that?

Lead Well.

Rick Lochner

To Be or Not To Be…

…Aye There’s The Point.

These famous and very recognizable words are from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act III, Scene I. I chose them to introduce this month’s topic and did so in what many consider the original, or in our case, authentic form. Authenticity in a crucial element in what I call Real Leadership defined as setting goals and achieving desired results. I also like the way Bill George, former CEO at Medtronic, stated in a Fall 2006 article for U.S. News & World Report titled Truly Authentic Leadership when he stated “The only valid test of a leader is his or her ability to bring people together to achieve sustainable results over time. There is no such thing as the “One-Minute Leader” because real leadership requires years of development and hard work.”

So what makes a person an authentic leader? We all know everyone has the ability to lead and we know we all carry some value set we’ve learned from early childhood. It is the influence from both areas that create the dimensions of authentic leadership listed below:

➢ I recently had the privilege of meeting Tim Sanders, author of Love is the Killer App. During his presentation he reinforced the notion of knowing and following our Purpose with passion. Without Purpose we tend to lose our way as leaders, especially in the face of change and uncertainty. Authentic leaders lead with Purpose.

➢ Authentic leaders live their Values. Many have heard me say “What we believe-we think. What we think-we do”. When we have congruence between our Values (what we believe), our Attitudes (what we think) and our Behaviors (what we do) we lead with authenticity.

➢ One of the individual assessments used in our coaching practice helps clients understand the relationship between how they think with their head and their heart. Authentic leaders lead with both.

➢ We live in a networked world. In large organizations, the informal network may hold as much sway in the overall success of the organization as the formal organization identified on the organization chart. Individually we use technology to help us create and maintain our ever-growing social networks. Authentic leaders effectively leverage their personal power to create and maintain connected relationships.

➢ Self-awareness is an authentic leader’s greatest tool. It only stands to reason then that self-discipline is a key characteristic of an authentic leader to help them stay the course and on purpose when change and uncertainty look to derail them.

As we approach the holidays, many if not all will take the time to reflect on the past, enjoy the present and plan for the immediate future. In doing so you may ask yourself if you are living your purpose and your values to help others in your networks succeed. After all, authentic leadership of ourselves and/or others is what we should want to be or not to be – isn’t that truly the question?

Lead Well.

Rick Lochner