Building The High Road To Greatness

Editor's Notes

• #6: Married 5 children – show family on slide 45 years old Bachelors from BYU and Master from IU, CPRP Three years in Japan teaching English 20 years in parks and recreation, over 5-years in Mason (show slides) Prostate Cancer message to men 40+ years to get PSA checked
• #7: This is our community center- partnership with the school district- we own the property and operate the community center and the school district owns the building. 158,300 sq. ft. Mason is second fastest growing City in Ohio- when I started in Mason our population was around 22,000 now we estimate it to be nearly 30,000. Our department had about eight full time employees (less than $$million budget operating and little capital) Currently we have 21 full time employees and over 160 part time employees with a 2006 budget of over $6 million operating and $7 million capital. Per capita spending of $475
• #12: To insert this slide into your presentation Save this template as a presentation (.ppt file) on your computer. Open the presentation that will contain the image slide. On the Slides tab, place your insertion point after the slide that will precede the image slide. (Make sure you don't select a slide. Your insertion point should be between the slides.) On the Insert menu, click Slides from Files . In the Slide Finder dialog box, click the Find Presentation tab. Click Browse , locate and select the presentation that contains the image slide, and then click Open . In the Slides from Files dialog box, select the image slide. Select the Keep source formatting check box. If you do not select this check box, the copied slide will inherit the design of the slide that precedes it in the presentation. Click Insert . Click Close .
• #18: A national study on the confidence of leadership done by Harvard University was presented in the October 31, 2006 edition of US New and World Report. The news was not very encouraging. Americans are highly critical of the state of leadership. We have all heard about the President and lack of confidence in Congress. But, according to the confidence index listed in the article the confidence level of local and state government leaders is the next lowest. (show graph confidence level) Next to government leaders the next lowest confidence level is the business sector. The highest was the military. Let me provide you some other sobering information.
• #19: A representative sample of 1,374 adults were asked their views on a range of leadership questions.   When the question was posed “ In your view, do each of the following phrases describe or not describe most leaders in this country today? “Are out of touch with the average person” – 73% of survey respondents agreed. “ Have been corrupted by being in power” – 64% of survey respondents agreed. “ Cannot be trusted ” – 61% of survey respondents agreed. “Are the best we can do” – 28% of survey respondents agreed.
• #20: Another question asked was “Compared to 20 years ago, do you think we have better leader today or worse leader today?” Better – 29% of survey respondents agreed. Worse – 55% of survey respondents agreed.
• #21: Another question asked was “Unless we get better leaders, the United States will decline as a nation” “ strongly agree” – 34% of survey respondents agreed. “ agree” – 38% of survey respondents agreed . A total of 72% agreed the US will decline without better leaders!   Respected leader consultants John Maxwell, Jim Collins, Stephen Covey, Warren Bennis and Ken Blanchard have all stated that “ everything rises and falls on leadership”
• #22: Let me ask all of you a question. “How many agree that the vast majority of the workforce in your organization possesses far more talent, intelligence, capability and creativity than their present jobs require or even allow?”. A few years ago the Harris Poll polled 23,000 US residents employed full time within the private and public industries.
• #23: Only 37 percent said they have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why It seems many of the employee workforce feels that they are in a rut, want to surrender (slide)
• #24: Only 15% felt they worked in a high trust organization Only 1 in 5 workers said they have a clear “line of sight” between their tasks and their organization’s goals – they keep spinning their wheels.   For individuals and organizations, effectiveness is no longer merely an option – survival requires it. But to thrive, excel and lead in today’s age, we must move beyond effectiveness to greatness.
• #25: According to Stephen Covey in his new book “The 8 th Habit” explains how to move from effectiveness to greatness by finding our own voice and inspiring others to find theirs. It is by finding our voice that we can come up with the solution to deal with all of the problem (pain) that I described and work on that path to greatness. This is true for both individuals and organizations. Finding your voice and inspiring others to find theirs. What is voice? Voice is a unique significance made up from your body, heart, mind and spirit. A paradigm for a whole person is body, heart, mind and spirit. (per a dim) What is a paradigm- I see it as a map or clear example to a new way of thinking. Framework. You can look at this paradigm for voice and apply it both to individuals and organizations. Voice is your talent (mind-what are you good at?), passion (heart- what do you love doing?), Need (body- what need does it serve?) and conscience (spirit) What is life asking of me? What should I contribute in this situation? (sense of calling). When you engage in work that taps your talents and fuels your passion, therein lies your voice. For the mind – use me creatively For the body- pay me fairly For the heart= treat me kindly For the spirit- in doing, in serving human needs in principled ways. Let’s look at the four attributes of great achievers. Follow with me and see how this follows the whole person paradigm.
• #26: This is how we successfully express our voice- Great achievers develop: Mental energy into vision (Mind) sense of your own destiny Physical energy into discipline (Body) willpower Emotional energy into passion , conviction and drive (Heart) Spiritual energy into conscience ( Spirit )          moral sense of right and wrong and their drive toward meaning and contribution  This is how you gain moral authority. These are the character attributes of great leaders. It is moral authority that makes formal authority (your position) work toward positive ends. Hitler had vision, discipline and passion, but was driven by a mad ego. Lack of conscience was his downfall. By taking these four character attributes and placing them into the whole person paradigm you get the following…………..
• #27: Personal greatness, which is character full of vision, discipline, and passion that is guided by conscience.
• #28: The decision to inspire others to find their voice takes you right into the thick of the four chronic organizational problems (those things we just talked about). Look at this chart of chronic pain-
• #29: The antidote to the four chronic organizational problems (see chart) are the positive manifestations of mind, body, heart and spirit in an organization. Realistically, how do you solve these four chronic problems? Where there is low trust, we focus on modeling trustworthiness to create trust Where there is no common vision or values, we focus on pathfinding to build a common vision and set of values. Where there is misalignment, we focus on aligning goals, structures, and processes to encourage and nurture the empowerment of people and culture to serve the vision and the values. Where there is disempowerment, we focus on empowering individuals and teams. These four roles are called the 4 roles of leadership. Not leadership as a position, but leadership as a proactive intention to affirm the worth and potential of those around us in an effort to increase the influence and impact of an organization.   The four roles of leadership are simply four qualities of personal leadership   Modeling (conscience): Set a good example Pathfinding (vision): Jointly determine the course. Aligning (discipline) Set up and manager systems to stay on course. Empowering (passion) Focus talent on results, not methods, then get out of people’s way  
• #30: Let’s talk about what makes an organization great. What do you think? A great organization is one that delivers superior performance and makes a distinctive impact over a long period of time. Overall, in our field of parks and recreation, performance is usually assessed relative to mission and unique significance. At times depending on the type of business you are in (such as a golf course or community center) it can include financial returns/ net returns.
• #32: According to Jim Collins author of Built to Last and Good to Great “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.” It is disciplined people and disciplined thought that leads to greatness. It is an inherently dynamic process, not an end point. Look at your handout “Good to Great Framework – Concept Summary” This outlines the greatness path as outlined by Jim Collins.
• #33: Building the Road to Greatness Leaders Their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves. This type of disciplined leadership can be called servant leadership or in some of the leading books its called Level 5 leadership. Covey uses the term “leadership greatness” which includes all four roles of leadership. I will use the terms servant or level 5 leadership interchangeably in my presentation.
• #34: Whenever we come across a Bright Idea slide in my presentation – you will want to spend close attention to this idea or set of questions in your own time. To determine how you might assess possible servant level leadership for yourself or others in your organization you can take the assessment in your handouts. This handout “assessment of leadership qualities” can also help you rate and identify a potential leader. I don’t necessarily believe that a great high score will automatically determine you are a servant leader but it should at least tell you if you have the right seed – the characteristics. The other handout “organizational growth” will help you determine if your organization is dedicated to developing leaders and the climate that provides growth opportunities.
• #35: One of the most surprising results of the research of great institutions (businesses, non-profits and governments) was in the discovery of the type of leadership required to turn a good organization into a great one. One might think that such companies in the business sector are led by high-profile leaders with big personalities, those who make headlines and become celebrities.   Yet, those leaders who seek and thrive in the spotlight do not have what can be termed level 5 leadership behaviors (the term Level 5 refers to the highest level in a hierarchy of executive capabilities as shown on the power point slide). Leaders of this type – those who combine extreme personal humility with intense professional will – shun the attention of celebrity, channeling their ambition toward the goal of building a great institution. They exemplify living the four roles of leadership- Modeling, pathfinding, aligning and empowering.   Level 5 leaders sit atop a hierarchy of four more common levels – and possess the skills of all four. Level 4 – leaders commit to a vigorous pursuit of a clear compelling vision. Can you move from level 4 to level 5 – if you have the level 5 “seed” within you. The right conditions for level 5 seem to be two things-   Self –reflection - Covey material Profoundly transformative event – such as a life threatening illness   These type of things stimulate the seed to sprout. Discussion item - which level are you?
• #36: Let’s look at some of the qualities of a level 5 servant leader In your handout – find your student guide ( section one) to follow the presentation and fill in the blanks. This slide is not included in your handouts so you will want to pay close attention and write in the correct answers. A servant leader is: READ SLIDE They are courageous, honest and credible. They are compellingly modest. They make sure the right decision happens – no matter how difficult or painful. They set up successors for even more greatness in the next generation. – Built to Last 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Law of Legacy – “Succession is one of the key responsibilities of leadership”
• #37: Let’s look at some of the qualities of a level 5 servant leader In your handout – find your student guide to follow the presentation and fill in the blanks. This slide is not included in your handouts so you will want to pay close attention and write in the correct answers. A servant leader is:
• #38: Perspective – See beyond their own vantage point. Good Leaders – When things go well…. Look in the mirror and take credit. GREAT Leaders – When things go well….. Look out the window and credit others. Good Leaders – When things go bad…. Look out the window and blame others. GREAT Leaders – When things go bad….. Look in the mirror and take responsibility.
• #39: Take a moment to think of someone you know who is a level 5 leader. What do you learn from them?
• #40: One of the things most people assume they will find when studying great organizations is a compelling new vision or strategy. The truth is quite the opposite. Leaders, who ignited transformation to greatness did not first figure out where to drive the bus, then get the people to take it there. Instead, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off) and then figured out where to drive it. “Who” questions must come before “what decisions – before vision, before strategy, before organization structure, before tactics. READ SLIDE   The main point of this concept (from the book Good to Great) is not just about assembling the right team- that’s nothing new. It’s about getting the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus before you figure out where to drive it. Begin with “who” rather than “what” then you can more easily adopt to a changing world. If people join the bus primarily because of where it is going, what happens if you get ten miles down the road and you need to change direction. You’ve got a problem. But if people are on the bus because of who else is on the bus then it’s much easier to change direction. If you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction; you still wont have a great organization. Great vision without great people is irrelevant.
• #41: If you take anything with you away from my presentation, please make sure that you understand the following simple truths which great leaders understand. If you begin with the “who” rather than the “what” you can more easily adapt to a changing world. If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away. If you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction – you still won’t have a great company. Great vision without great people is irrelevant.
• #42: Great institutions tend to have rigorous cultures. To be rigorous means to become rigorous with hiring and people development. Its not ruthless but rigorous – unyielding or inflexible When in doubt don’t hire – keep looking. Hiring an employee is like skydiving: once you’ve jumped out of the plane you’re committed. Before you hire a new employee your options are nearly limitless. Once you have made the hiring decision, your options are few. In government and social sectors, where getting the wrong people off the bus can be more difficult than in a business, early assessment tools turn out to be very important. The City of Mason has a very high success rate with the assessment tool that we have been using. It helps us determine if the person is the right “fit” or will be the right person on the bus. The assessment tool is called either “The Guardian” for support staff positions or “The Achiever” for supervisory positions. I will pass out example copies of this assessment. You can get detailed information on these assessments from their website www.virtualhrcenter.com. They basically measure mental aptitudes and personality dimensions. It helps you determine those hard to find but “true” character traits and innate capabilities that you need to know if you have the right person. Yes, skills, education and experience are important but character and personality traits will be the ones to help you decide where you are driving the bus. We have the candidates take the assessment tool on line and then have it available to review before the interview. Two great things to share with you about this process. First, the assessment will recommend interview questions that you can use to deeply probe your candidate. Second, you only pay for the assessments that you want to view. So, if you have 200 people apply for a position and decide that you only want to interview four then you only pay for four. It is completed in real time, no waiting for the results. If the City of Mason determines that the person is the right fit for the position then our next step is for that individual to take a psychological test and a lie detector test along with a full background check. It is truly a rigorous process!!
• #43: When you know you need to make a people change act. The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The law of Priorities in the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership states you need to spend 80% of your time with only 20% of your people. It really comes down to do you want to be a counselor or an equipper working on the strengths of your people. Develop an effective employee evaluation system – focus on strengths and not weaknesses- Mason uses a merit evaluation- you will receive an increase in salary based on your performance. We have a COLA and a merit based program.
• #47: Values Exercise Script Go through your cards and make two piles- not counting. One pile are the values very important to you. The other pile are good values but really not you. I want you to discover what your values are. Do this with your family. It helps to know how your children are thinking, your spouse, your inner circle If you focus on your people’s interests/values then you are discovering their keys You motivate people best based on their values. Now take the values very important to you and reduce them to six cards So its now the six cards most important to you. This is not easy- they all might be important Now those cards that are not part of your six you need to put away With your six cards reduce them down to three Your top three values - you are saying this is tearing me up getting down to the bare essence of your values. The three cards you did not choose - put away Hold your hands up if you are now down to three cards Holding the three cards you finally made it OH Oh can you see it coming. I am going to ask one more time. This is the last time. No, you don’t have to take out two, just remove one until you have your top two values- put the one away. The person beside you should have different cards. Look at the person’s cards on your left and right. Let them see your cards. Here’s the big question- how many of you had at least one card different than the person to your left or right. Raise your hand. See how we have different values. Did the person beside you have the same card (value). Then you know they are a great person. Oh my- I found greatness beside me. I encourage you to do this same type of exercise with your staff, with your family If you are interested in a copy of these values be sure to give me your e-mail address Begin to find the values of others because when you find the values of others then you are going to know how to lead because you lead people according to their values. So, if family is a value to your employee and you are always trying to pull them away from their family, can you see the conflict you are going to have in your job relationship. This can become a very worthwhile huge exercise for you as a leader to know what your employees love, to know what they value. It is amazing when we focus on the interests/values of your employees. You begin to know the keys to their lives.
• #48: Recognizing the unique talents of your employees is probably the single most important thing a manger can do according to Marcus Buckingham. He has written three bestseller books on how to develop the strengths of your employees. His book “Now, Discover your Strengths” shows you how to develop your unique strengths and those of the people you manage. The best part about this book is that it provides you an assessment that you can take on line to learn your own top 5 strengths. I did the assessment and was impressed with its results. Give away the book “How Full is your Bucket” this book is great for “modeling”
• #49: GO to your workbook- READ SLIDE Yes, you need to make sure you have the right person on the bus but you also need to make sure you have them in the right seat. The means not that great leaders ignore shortcomings, but that they focus on the talent and work around the shortcomings. Change jobs – Marty as an example of customer service and weakness If after training is provided to develop skills and there is no change in performance, the individual simply lacks the necessary talent. Your options are either to focus on fixing the problem (not fixing the person) or asking the person to get off the bus.
• #50: Go to your workbook— The next two slides review the “modeling” role of leadership - Build trust by modeling character and competence.   Consistent character Involves: ·        Integrity. Your actions are based on principles and natural laws that govern the consequences of behavior. ·        Maturity. ·        Abundance Mentality- Rather than seeing life as a competition with only one winner, you see it as a cornucopia of opportunity and resources. You don’t compare yourself to others: you are genuinely happy for their success.   Consistent competence Involves: ·        Technical competence- is the skill and knowledge to accomplish a particular task . ·        Conceptual knowledge is the ability to think strategically and systematically ·        Awareness of interdependency and the connectedness of all life is important for organizations concerned with the loyalty of customers and associates.   “ Ninety percent of all leadership failures are character failures. Just as trust is the key to all relationships; so also is trust the glue of organizations”. -- Stepehn Covey   John Maxwell – “Law of Solid Ground” - “Trust is the foundation of leadership”
• #51: Emphatic listening comes through trust and communication . - the most important skill in life. We spent years learning how to read and write, years learning how to speak. But what about listening? Seek first to understand, then to be understood. This is also one of Stephen Covey’s Habits – the 5 th habit. 2. Requires one to listen from within the other person’s frame of reference. You see the world the way he or she sees it, you understand how he or she feels. How about as a parent with our children? This statement does not mean that you agree necessarily, simply that you understand his or her point of view. Key is ability to be vulnerable – because your integrity to your value system makes you secure. You can afford to be open to other influences, to be flexible, and to search without knowing where you're going to end up. Here is a true story – see what could happen if we don’t practice emphatic listening. Lighthouse Story.
• #52: It was a dark and stormy night, “Captain Captain, Wake up! What is it? “Sorry to waken you sir, but we have a serious problem.” “Well, what is it? “There is a ship in our sea-lane about 20 miles away and they refuse to move!” “Tell them to move!” “Sir, we have!” “They won’t move!” “I’ll tell them!” Signal goes out! “Move Starboard 20  at once!” The signal returns! “Move starboard yourself 20  at once!” “I can’t believe this! “I mean I’m the captain! Let them know who I am. I am important!” Signal goes out! “This is Captain Horatio Hornblower, the 26 th commanding you to move starboard 20  at once!” Signal returns! “This is Seaman Carl Jones the III commanding you to move starboard 20  at once!” “The arrogance! Who is this Joker? I mean we are a battleship! We could just blow them up! Let them know who we are!” A signal goes out! “This is The Mighty Missouri, Flagship of the 7 th Fleet!” The signal returns! “This is the Lighthouse!”   That’s a true story by the way. It’s found in the Naval Proceedings Manual where they literally interpret a lighthouse to be a ship! But I liked the story because it helps me introduce this subject, that there are laws of nature or lighthouse principles that govern life. We think we govern it! We may let our values govern our behavior but the consequence of that behavior is governed by those lighthouse principles. One of which is that there are four parts to our nature. Our body, our mind, our heart and our spirit and that all four parts represent four capabilities, four needs, four intelligences, 4 dimensions that need to be honored and respected and integrated.
• #53: NEXT SLIDE – Idea – STAG then read below How do you involve people? One idea that I have come up with is to involve your employees in STAG. In your handouts you have a five page section titled STAG. This is the approach our department has taken to pathfinding. STAG stands for Strategic Thinking Action Group. It was developed by our employees based on the concepts by authors Jim Collins and Stephen Covey. It includes discussion items that you can use for your own organization to develop your own STAG of employees who will analyze your path finding process. This is a process that takes many months of preparedness and strategic thinking. Also, included a handout from the Foothills Park & Recreation District in Colorado It’s a handout that the employees from the District made up themselves They called this (not STAG) but the Vision Quest Initative - I like the term initiative because it suggests that the did this on their own.
• #55: In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins presents three overlapping circles which represent your main strengths. He calls pathfinding the Hedgehog Concept. The parable of the Hedgehog is also in your handout. Show the circles – these circles identify three questions What drives your resource engine? – Body What are you deeply passionate about? - Heart And third, what you can be best in the world at?- Mind The nexus between these three circles represents the foundation of your values. Values that will assist you with vision and mission.   If we were to add one more question, What does your conscience counsel? We would have a whole person approach defined by Stephen Covey as mind, body, heart and spirit. The body is the resource engine; the mind is what to be best at; the heart is passion and spirit is conscience. The overlapping of all four areas is “the fit” or where your voice is to be found. This can be applied to an organization finding its voice.   Pathfinding is the toughest undertaking of all because it takes some time and you deal with so many personalities, agendas, trust levels and egos. This underscores why servant leadership (modeling) and its qualities and skills of trust building are the most important roles or steps that have to be taken first before you get involved with pathfinding. In the original Good to Great book its talked about how the resource engine is an economic engine. Rethinking the economic engine without a profit motive provides you with a resource engine instead. So for the reason of the type of business we are in- I changed it to a resource engine. It’s made up of two components- time and money. Time refers to how well you attract people willing to contribute their efforts for free or at rates below what their talents would yield in business (First Who concept we talked about earlier). Money refers to sustained cash flow – what are people wiling to pay for? Another way at looking at this circle is what are your customers and taxpayers willing to spend time and money for? I see this as both general fund tax money and fees and charges.
• #56: Empowerment is employees doing work they love and doing it in such a way that they take pride in their hard work. Their voices blend. Its basically service and meaning on the job. Its taking a job as a responsibility and not just a “job”. This is a picture of our parks maintenance employees. They are a whole person in a whole job cutting grass, cleaning restrooms, emptying garbage cans, working on projects and a variety of other duties. During the past four years, the maintenance supervisor has given them more responsibility for the planning, doing and evaluating of their work. They test our new equipment and make recommendations. They examine cleaning schedules to determine how much attention should be given to each park. The best part is that they have taken on ownership of their own park. Each person is responsible to make sure that they maintain their park to a high maintenance standard as outlined in our parks maintenance plan that was developed by these employees. They are very proud of our park system. Little by little, these maintenance workers took over many tasks so that their best thinking was tapped- body, mind, heart and spirit. The net effect is that the quality of our parks has been maintained as the demand placed upon them has quadrupled. Initiative, diligence, quality and job satisfaction has increased. They are basically leading and managing themselves according to the criteria they helped develop.
• #57: The case of our parks maintenance workers is a good reminder that people make choices in their work based upon how well they are respected and engaged. As you can see in the left hand column in this slide, each choice is made in response to a deeper motivation that ranges from anger, fear, and reward to duty, love and meaning. Duty, love and meaning are the highest sources of human motivation and will always produce the greatest and most enduring achievements. Servant leadership draws on the highest of all human impulses. Managing people like things reduces human beings to their lowest instincts (the acute pain I spoke about). Empowerment clears the path to greatness. On graph- The essence of LEADERSHIP is moral authority . On my wall – it’s action not position Management is formal authority or position.
• #58: Flywheel- a heavy wheel for opposing and moderating by its inertia any fluctuation of speed in the machinery with which it resolves. READ Slide then People want to feel the excitement of being involved in something that just flat works out. When they begin to see tangible results- when they can feel the flywheel beginning to build speed – that’s when most people line up to throw their shoulders against the wheel and push.
• #59: Let’s tie all of this together. Here is the paradigm on the path to greatness or mediocrity. In today’s world, this lower road leads to mediocrity at best. It straightjackets human potential. We discussed a little about this in the beginning of my presentation- it has the people at the top making all the important decisions and have the rest basically “wielding scewdrivers”. What an enormous waste! Hopefully, I have provided you a mind-set and skill-set to constantly look at the potential in people and the higher road that leads to greatness. It’s the kind of leadership that communicates to people their worth and potential so clearly they come to see it in themselves. To do this, we must listen to people. We must involve and continually affirm them by our words and most importantly, through all 4 roles of leadership. Show all four roles by clicking mouse. Fragmented person is a victim, competitiveness Cultural Software is a metaphor just as computers can’t operate outside their software organization, people can’t operate outside their cultural norms beliefs Creative Force is to rise above cultural influences- people become a creative force of their lives
• #60: How to begin – questions to ponder First, you must have the desire (be resolved) to take on these principles and make a difference Start small, make small promises, keep them and then you circle of influence and your public advocates will increase You have a wealth of information that you are taking away from this school that you have found helpful, uplifting and inspiring. To know and not to do is not to know. You might be temporarily inspired but unless you apply them, you will not know them. The key is to take the material, teach it, discuss it, and try to institutionalize it by building the fundamental principles right into the daily process of how the daily works gets done and how people get rewarded. Then it will take. Maybe you feel that your responsibility is not for the whole bus but you can always start with a mini-bus. Everyone has a circle or pocket of influence around them. If you can’t start by making your entire organization great then you should think of taking the responsibility for your own mini-bus. Maybe you are in a situation where you need to decide “I’m going to create a pocket of greatness and I’m not going to worry about the entire organization”. My last big message- take responsibility to make great what you can make great and built to last. If the entire organization can’t do it, you can’t change that, but you can take responsibility for your own area. THANK YOU QUESTONS