Black Belt Productivity

Having dealt with a couple of situations at the office in the last day or two, and having had to address an issue with one of my own children at school, I have had the difference between hearing and listening fresh on my mind.

Unfortunately, it is becoming more difficult to communicate today. Part of the reason is that we are being pulled in so many directions that we do not take time to listen. Some of us also spend a significant part of out time formulating our answer or rebuttal instead of processing the information we are being given.

I had already made a note in my Circa today while sitting in a meeting to draft a post on PowerPoint dependency. Needless to say, I had glazed over while a co-worker was diligently attempting to hold my attention with slides jammed full of info that 1) I did not even understand, and 2) took longer than 2 minutes to read per slide.

Tonight, however, Marc Orchant posted an entry about Tim Sanders…and his PowerPoint epiphany.

He states the case better than I could.

- Jason

One of the things that we at Black Belt Productivity have written about from time to time is communication.

Friend of BBP, Ian McKenzie, posted some great tips on managing body language when communicating.

It goes to show that when you are communicating…whether you are sharing a vision, pushing an idea, or even communicating information in a staff meeting, your body language communicates as much about your passion and attitude as your words.

What we will talk about today is something that we all know, but sometimes forget when the pressure is on. John C. Maxwell in his book The 360° Leader tells us that we must model the behavior that we desire in our organizations.

Consistency is key to establishing the culture you desire in your organization.

Here are several things to think about when establishing a culture in your organization.

- Your behavior determines your culture
- Your attitude determines the atmosphere
- Your values determine the decisions
- Your investment determines the return
- Your character determines the trust
- Your work ethic determines the productivity
- Your growth determines the potential

Today we turn the page to a different perspective. In John C. Maxwell’s 360° Leader, we begin to talk about leading down. If you have employees who look to you for leadership, this is for you.

The first lead-down principle is to walk slowly through the halls. To understand what John is speaking of here, you must first understand that leadership is a business…of people. Leadership is not always about the bottom line. It is often about the people and motivating them to make your business a success. Building sound relationships with those whom you lead makes all of the difference in tough times.

It is very difficult, when you are a leader who is honestly trying to advance, to see yourself in a meeting that you had thoroughly prepared for, only find your idea gets trumped by the idea of another. The discussion goes in a completely different direction than you anticipated. Your idea gets discarded, and with it, your hopes of some great exposure.

According to John C. Maxwell in his book The 360° Leader, it is better to let that idea win, than to fight for your idea when it is not the best one. Good ideas are the lifeblood of an organization. Without them, an organization cannot survive.

Lead up principle #5 in John C. Maxwell’s book The 360° Leader is to expand your circle of acquaintances. the word “expand” for many of us is naturally an uncomfortable word. When something expends, it stretches. Stretching something typically requires at least some discomfort. However, expanding our circle of acquaintances, though sometimes uncomfortable, can be very rewarding.

Doing this can have a couple of benefits. First, an expansion of our comfort zone can expose us to knowledge and experience that we would otherwise have not experienced. It opens out mind to new ideas and helps us think about things from another perspective.

As we continue in John C. Maxwell’s book The 360° Leader, we are talking about leading across. Lead-Across Principle #4 is to avoid politics in the office.

Anyone who works in an office with more than two levels of management, and more than 10 people knows about office politics. We have all been sickened by it. And in spite of that fact, some of us have participated in it..sometimes unknowingly.

In John C. Maxwell’s book The 360° Leader, lead-across principle #3 is Be a Friend.  This is an interesting principle.  Work can be a very competitive environment.  However, in recent weeks, we have discussed how teamwork and working together with other leaders is vital to an organizations health.

One of the key elements of leadership is relationship building.  For may of us, work is not necessarily the place that we spend a lot of time building relationships.   Most of us just want people to leave us alone and allow us to do what we are paid to do.  If you want to develop influence, you must be willing to build relationships.  People will not follow unless they can trust you and they know you have their best interest in mind.

In John C. Maxwell’s book, The 360° Leader , lead across principle number 2 is to put competing fellow leaders ahead of competing with them.

Healthy competition in the workplace can greatly benefit the organization. However, there is a fine line between healthy competition and a cut-throat culture. The line has been crossed when the competition damages organizational motivation and morale. Are you taking the actions you are taking for the purpose of getting ahead, or pushing the organization to its goal?

Maxwell contrasts by using the terms “Competing vs. Completing”.