I received an advanced copy of a book called How Full Is Your Bucket, by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton. Gallup Press (a renowned company that provides research and scientifically based educational materials) publishes this little gem of a book filled with nuggets of wisdom and inspiration.

In my early twenties I worked in retail sales for many years and had the misfortune to work under a bitter, negative woman. Over time, daily contact with her had begun to erode my self-confidence and self-esteem. Leaving that job to join a large retain chain, I found myself in a positive environment and rose to the position of office manager in less than six months. Being treated with respect and feeling appreciated for my abilities, restored my self-confidence.

That’s why I liked this book. It centers on a theme I have been practicing for years -focusing on what’s right about people instead of what’s wrong.

Below is an excerpt from page 15:

The Theory of the Bucket and the Dipper

“Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending upon what others say or do to us.

Each of us has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill each other’s bucket by doing and saying things to increase their positive emotions - we also fill our own bucket. But when we use that dipper to dip from other people’s buckets - by saying or doing things that decrease their positive emotions - we diminish ourselves.

A full bucket gives us a positive outlook and renewed energy. Every drop in the bucket makes us stronger and more optimistic. But an empty bucket poisons our outlook, saps our energy and undermines our will. So we face a choice every moment of every day: we can fill one another’s buckets, or we can dip from them. It’s an important choice - one that profoundly influences our relationships, productivity, health, and happiness. “

Pioneering research studies by Psychology expert John Gottman suggests there is a “magic ratio” of 5:1 (5 positive to 1 negative) in terms of our balance of positive to negative interactions. Meaning: While a single negative interaction can have a strong emotional impact, several positive interactions will refill your bucket.

Being emotionally positive does not suggest that every comment and action should be one of only praise and acknowledgement because dealing with mistakes and helping others to learn and grow is important. The authors say that ” positivity must be grounded in reality” or the result may be to create false optimism that is counterproductive and off-putting. But most people do not suffer from too much positive support. While we are not responsible for how people interpret our actions and words, how we deliver a message will affect whether it may be filling or diminishing someone’s heart.

According to the Gallup poll:

1. The #1 reason people leave their jobs: They don’t feel appreciated.

2. Bad bosses can increase the risk of stroke by 33%.

3. The cost of disengagement or extreme negativity: $250-$300 billion per year.

4. A study found that negative employees can scare off every customer they speak with - for good.

5. 65% of American received no recognition in the workplace last year.

6. Praise is rare in most workplaces.

7. 9 out of 10 people say they are more productive when they are around positive people.

The bottom line - sustaining negativity is costly to both business and personal success!

Examples of Filling People’s Buckets:

• Random acts of kindness
• Unexpected gifts
• A smile
• A compliment
• Praise
• Acknowledgement

Examples of Dipping into Other People’s Buckets:

• Blatantly or subtly criticizing others people mistakes or faults
• Poking fun at people (at the expense of the person)
• Attacking people’s insecurities
• Withholding positive emotional support

We are responsible for the amount of power we give to people to influence us. And we are affected by negativity especially when it is consistent.

· By recognizing and appreciating people’s talents/gifts, strengths and uniqueness, we increase positive emotions in our relationships, both personally and professionally.

· When we say and do things that evoke positive feelings in people, we also feel good about ourselves. People thrive when they feel respected, appreciated and valued.

· Approaching each interaction with the intent to help others feel good is a powerfull way to initiate new relationships and deepen others.

Want to know how you score in filling people’s buckets? Visit www.bucketbook.com to take the Positive Impact Test.

What kind of person are you? A bucket filler or dipper?

What would you change about yourself to be a more supportive person?

In what ways do you bring out the best in the people at work? In your personal life?

Exercise: Over the next 30 days, intentionally practice being a bucket filler to people in your world. Watch what happens!

Copyright 2004, Lorraine Cohen

Lorraine Cohen of Powerfull Living (http://www.powerfull-living.biz) is a Business Coach and Life Strategist and Team Member of Solo-E (http://www.Solo-E.com). Lorraine Cohen is a Business Coach & Life Strategist who brings more than 25 years of experience in life coaching, counseling, and sales. She helps people through career change, life transitions, and the process of breaking through FEAR and removing barriers to success.

Find more articles like this at http://www.Solo-E.com, the lifestyle-inspired online learning and connection community. Visit now to receive a free copy of our special report, The Four Secrets of Solo Entrepreneur Success, plus a complimentary 30-day membership.

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Years ago, a very wise, and often cynical boss of mine asked me for a definition of management. After reflecting on the question I proceeded to give him an intellectually careful and, I thought, accurate definition. He allowed me to complete the answer and then came back with his definition which was, “Management is just one darn thing after another.” After having a good laugh, I thought about his remark and concluded that he had basically identified what makes life so challenging for those in leadership positions. The flow of “things to do” never seems to stop.

How often have you gone home at the end of a day feeling frustrated because you had accomplished far less than you had planned? How many times has your “To Do” list grown by more items in one day than you marked off in a whole week? For most of us, this has happened far too often.

The larger problem is that the “To Do” list we make for ourselves gets longer because somebody else adds to that list…more often than not, our boss. Frequently that list seems to be growing by an endless number of tasks that have more benefit to someone else, and very little benefit to getting our jobs done. While the list grows longer with these less critical items, our own list of critical, mission essential items seems to get more and more delinquent.

Most leaders are faced with conflicting priorities and almost invariably somebody else is making the decision as to what our priorities must be. It could be a boss, but it can also be a customer, a vendor or even an organizational peer. In short, demands on our time come from many places, and all too often those demands appear to be less essential than our own priorities. The real tragedy, however, is that most of us also opt to complete the priorities of others before we accomplish our own. This is not irrational, but it is often the wrong choice.

One of the long-standing principles in economics is called Gresham’s law. It states that if two currencies are circulating in an economy—one a high-quality currency that everybody trusts and believes in and the other a poor-quality currency that everybody thinks has substantial risk—then “the bad currency will drive out the good currency.” This means that everybody will want to hoard the good currency and give the bad to other people whenever they can.

In leading, the same principle applies. I call it “The Law of Administrivia.” That Law postulates that… Required or less useful activity drives out desirable and useful activity. In other words, people will do the tasks that they think are easy, trivial, and required first, in order to get them out of the way. Then, with the time left over, they will do what is desirable or useful but not required. In short, people will do trivial administrative tasks (what I term “administrivia”) first just to avoid trouble with the boss. Then they concentrate on that which they know to be useful. Unfortunately this creates a dilemma since the amount of administrivia grows once the boss concludes you are able to handle what you have already been given to accomplish. That boss continues to pile on the work.

Eventually you do less and less of what you want or need to do and much more of the administrative work. Worse still, since administrivia is usually easy work, while being a leader is hard work, guess which work you end up spending more time on? The easy jobs. After a while, all that gets done is the required, the trivial, and maybe even the useless.

Of course, not all administrative work is meaningless or trivial. Indeed, much of the success in an organization rests on process and process controls. The science of modern management demands that we have process wrapped around the technical work. From Frederick Taylor and his scientific management to Peter Drucker and his focus on management as a profession, we have been told that all that Planning, Organizing, Controlling stuff is essential to success.

The hierarchy of every company needs to know what is happening and how the business is running, so even in the smallest of companies there will be a seemingly endless string of reports. These reports range from volume counts, to process controls, to the financial plans, budgets and actual performance measurements. In any given day, it often seems that we could literally spend most of the day completing reports.

If reports and other administrivia activities are all that a work leader has time for, then they will ultimately hamper the leader’s effectiveness. Every one of us who are responsible for “getting work accomplished” must spend time being a leader of the staff. This means spending “face time” with our associates, helping them understand what is expected of them and making certain that they are competent to achieve results. This is hard work and can be very time consuming, but it is essential work.

Bosses often forget how much time and energy real leadership really takes. Leaders who use planning, organization and control as effective tools to handle the work flow will have more time available for leader work. Those who allow the administrivia to consume their time and energy will have nothing left for leadership. If the administrative work is effective, then you will be free to lead. If it is not, then you will be a less effective leader.

Parts of the Law of Administrivia have been recognized for some time. Saul Gellerman wrote in 1968, “The simple fact is that most managerial jobs are already more than full-time jobs. The typical manager has more than enough to worry about. His typical solution is to arrange his problems in order of priority, deal with the ones he has time for, and just ignore the rest. In other words, that which is urgent gets done and that which is merely important frequently doesn’t.” What we are adding is that frequently the urgent is not essential to the mission but rather just easier to ask for or to accomplish.

Look at the activities you engage in and determine if they are critical to your efforts to succeed. If you are spending time doing tasks other than leadership actions, then you are wasting time. If your efforts to lead are frustrated because you are preoccupied with administrative tasks, then you need to find a way to break loose from the constraints of those activities. You will find leader actions need not be so time-consuming that you have no time for anything else. In fact, if you do the leader work well, you will have plenty of time for administrative tasks. The only way you are going to break loose is when you realize that leader work is the only way to achieve your goals and objectives. It is the “good work.” You must fight the natural and destructive tendency to be ruled by “The Law of Administrivia.”

Mr. Czarnecki is an experienced leader who engages, energizes and excites those who are “In Charge” to produce superior results. His work with the Deltennium Group is now largely focused on working with individuals and organizations to facilitate their success. He works with corporate boards and executive management teams from companies as diverse as Fortune 50 companies to early-stage, start-up investments. His advice and support is supported by the fact that he also is an investor in, and board member of, several public and private companies.

Mr. Czarnecki also speaks and conducts seminars on helping work leaders achieve peak performance. His term “work leaders” refers to those members of organizations who have the responsibility for people who do the work day-in-and-day-out and who, in many cases, are also doing the work of the business unit themselves. He works with first and second line management to “lead people” rather than just administer or manage processes. His most popular seminar, “You’re In Charge…What Now?” is based on his book by the same title.

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Everyone of us has the potential to successfully more through the unique problems that face us. Creating success often involves identifying the many ways in which we continue to think negatively — and the many ways we limit ourselves. The next step becomes acknowledging and releasing the fear beneath those limitations and replacing ineffective strategies with newer ways of thinking and newer ways of feeling about ourselves. Below is a shortened and condensed list of practices to continue moving forward on your own path. This list is in no way complete. But sometimes we all need brief reminders to get us back on track.

ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR WORTH
Spend at least five minutes each day listing (in writing and in verbal speech) your wonderful and unique characteristics. Calling yourself demeaning names will not automatically vanish one day. There is no magic formula that will suddenly transform you. Believing in yourself and learning to be your own advocate takes time, persistence and dedication. Get out your pad of paper. Look yourself in the eye in the mirror. Write and repeat statements such as these:

I am now accomplishing my goal of _______________.

I am beautiful.

I am lovable.

I can have what I want.

I deserve to feel good.

I allow myself to feel joy now.

I am filled with faith, certainty, and confidence.

I have faith in who I am and who I am becoming.

I am good enough right now where I am.

I forgive others and I forgive myself.

CREATE A LIST OF REASONS WHY
Instead of making excuses that allow you to continue your disordered eating pattern,create compelling arguments for why you can eat the way you want to. Monitor the excuses you are currently using. Observe how the thoughts you choose affect you emotionally.

EX:
I can eat until I am full and stop because I have a choice.
I can say no to that bag of cookies because I choose to feel better in other ways.

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

YES, I CAN
Use your words to create a belief in yourself. Notice how what you think affects your mood and your ability to achieve success. For instance, imagine yourself to be a competitive athlete. You wouldn’t motivate yourself by saying, “I’m never going to be able to do this. I should be so much better. I hate myself for not being perfect.” Instead, you’d create an inner dialog that was supportive and loving. Try these phrases on for size:

I can deal with this.

I don’t need to be perfect.

I’m doing this because it brings me joy to do so.

I am calm and centered.

I breathe and stay in touch with my gut and heart.

I am safe in the world.

Everything I need is already in my possession.

LET GO OF OLD TAPES
Become conscious of old tapes that no longer work. Think about what else you could say that would be loving and supportive. It’s a choice. Everything in life is a choice. You could continue to choose not to challenge the old tape. Or you could choose to courageously say no to the old tape and create a new one. Figure out the real reason you keep the old tape. Once you find out the purpose of the old tape (it keeps you safe, it keeps you in your comfort circle, etc.), you can choose something that is more effective.

BEST CASE SCENARIO
The worst will not always occur. Recognize catastrophe thinking. Here’s some wonderful advice I saw on a greeting card from the good people at Hallmark: “If I had to give up one sense, it would be my sense of impending doom.” Focus on problem solving and moving forward despite the presence of fear.

CHOOSE TO
Drop the words “should” and “try” and use empowering statements such as:

I choose to . . .

I now have . . .

I am able to . . .

It is my wish and choice to . . .

I am willing to . . .

I am now already . . .

BELIEVE
Believe in yourself.

Believe in your abilities.

Believe in your dream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helping people let go of self-destructive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors has been the life work of Dr. Annette Colby. Her fascination with the power of the mind, emotions, spirituality, and physicality has led her to become a leader in the field of personal growth and consciousness. She is a valued counselor, and an inspiring teacher, as well as an independent writer, mentor, and guide. She is a highly sought-after trainer with a unique ability to inform and inspire individuals to open their hearts, love more openly, and pursue their dreams.

Dr. Annette Colby, RD

Nutrition Therapist & Master Energy Therapist

Subscribe to our FREE content filled newsletter
and see why it’s been called the best e-zine on the net!

http://www.LovingMiracles.com

Miracles@AnnetteColby.com

972.985.8750

“Opening Creative Portals to Success”

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Have you ever wondered what type of person or personality makes the best leader? Most would consider the answer to that question to be the person that has the greatest success, the largest organization, or the best staff. Conversely, have you ever wondered how it is that a person with little drive or entrepreneurial skills ends up in a leadership position? You know the type person I am writing about, a person that couldn’t lead a dog on a walk, but has been given the responsibility of leading a large and well-established organization.

While I was in college I met a person that had skills and a personality type much different than I first thought. After serving in a very successful pastoral role for several years this person was offered the position of Bible Department President at Lee University. Part of his duties included teaching a full load of classes at the university. When he arrived to class on his first day he had a notebook for each student. A notebook full of outlines for lessons he was going to teach the entire semester. WOW! To say the least, I was impressed. I just knew that this person had to be the most organized person in the world.

Years later, however, I had the opportunity to work with his son, and I made the remark that he must have the most organized father in the world. His response was, “My dad is incredibly unorganized, but he makes up for it with his leadership personality. He knows the value of having a diverse team around him.” That statement, and learning experience, gave birth to this month’s edition of Footprints and Monuments.

Some people have an easier time developing their leadership skills than others. Most agree that certain personality types make better leaders. So the real question is, “What is your leadership personality?” Below are examples of different leadership personalities, as you read each one try to decide which best fits you.

• Powerful leader - this type leader is also known as the lion in the organization. He is a person that loves to be in the drivers seat. The strength of this leadership personality is good decision making skills, the negative is the tendency to be a morale killer. However, once people see his caring heart, they will learn to love and respect him, and will also grow from his challenges.
  Hot Tip! Because you absolutely, positively cannot lead others without them believing that, when they follow you, they will be doing the right thing. We know that motivating others to follow a vision is essential to leadership, and trust is the foundation.

• Perfectionist leader - this type leader is also known as the beaver in the organization. She is the type person that keeps all the “T”s crossed and the “I”s dotted. A person with this personality type can easily handle the details of day-to-day operations, but can let the small stuff get in the way. Rest assured however, everyone that she comes in contact with will learn and grow from her wisdom.

• Peaceful leader - this type leader is known as the golden retriever in the organization. He is by far the hardest to motivate, and will frustrate most of the other personality types. However, this type of personality possesses the greatest amount of compassion. So much so that it will be very easy for others to share their innermost feelings with him.

• Popular leader - this type leader is known as the fun-loving otter in the organization. She is always ready to have fun, and will create a fun environment if one is not there. Her leadership strength is the ability to rally the troops to achieve the organization’s goals. Everyone loves to spend time with this type personality, everyone except the beavers. Fun-loving otters will often overlook the details that are important to making everything balance at the end of the day; or so beavers tend to think.
  Hot Tip! We often think that leadership is rare, but in fact it is quite common. Leadership does not only happen in high-profile business environments, but in all sorts of contexts, such as within families and in social and charitable organisations outside work.

What type leadership personality do you have? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What about your leadership team, what are their leadership personalities? Next month’s addition of Footprints and Monuments will reveal how to have and evaluate the best leadership team around.

About The Author

Jeff Earlywine began his ministry career while working on his undergraduate Business degree. His experiences have led him to work in many difference areas that have all benefited the local church.

CONSULTANT - Jeff has spent the last fifteen years consulting with hundreds of different organizations all across the nation. Serving as a consultant at The Injoy Group challenged him to be his best while he worked with the best. Jeff has assisted many ministries in Vision Casting, Strategic Planning, and Future Planning.

EXECUTIVE PASTOR - Jeff’s unofficial title was, “Pastor of Organization,” and by this title you might know this is his greatest skill. That skill gave him the passion to organize many different ministries in the local church. That skill also developed a volunteer staff capable of growing each of these ministries. He did this by equipping them to fulfill their God-given potential.

Jeff’s passion is to come along side the local pastor and help him to identify and develop his dream, organize the needs of that dream, and then to train and equip leaders to fulfill that dream.

jeff@atlantayfc.org

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Let’s say you’re ready to change some aspect of your life — perhaps the way you eat or how much you weigh. If you’ve ever decided to create a permanent change in your life before, you know it’s going to take a lot more than simply acting (i.e. eating or dieting) differently. What’s required for permanent change is a shift in your old limiting self-talk and lots of positive energy.

To achieve permanent transformation, you’re going to have to tap into your own inner power. And this is where the energy of your words and thoughts comes in. Success is built on a solid foundation of positive thoughts and feeling good. Your words, thoughts, ideas and belief systems are the key players in building such a strong and solid foundation. They set the stage for the way you experience everything in your life.

Negative thinking habits, on the other hand, can have a devastating effect on your outcome. Negative thoughts continually create bad feelings and cause misery or upset over life circumstances. Here’s where the vicious cycle continues. You have negative thoughts, you feel bad, you find some way to feel better (eat, binge, anorexia, purge, drugs, alcohol, sex, drugs, shopping, etc.). The truth is, we’re designed to feel good. That’s our natural state and what we are always trying to come back to. Your overeating may in part be an attempt to feel better. There’s lots of ways to feel better. But if you can learn to speak gently to yourself in the first place, you can save yourself from feeling bad!

Negative thinking patterns are learned ways of thinking. The following lists some of the most common types of destructive thinking patterns that occur:

ALL OR NOTHING THINKING
Sometimes referred to as black and white thinking, or absolute thinking. This is the type of thinking that states, “I’ve already blown it. I might as well give up on the rest of the day.” If a situation falls short of 100% perfection, you see it as a total failure. For example, if you’ve binged for one meal, or didn’t exactly follow your plan for the day, you think you’ve blown it completely. This train of thought is easy to get caught up in and it can be very damaging to your success.

OVER-GENERALIZATION
You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat. This type of thinking uses words such as “always” and “never”. Though these two words seem harmless, they can distort your view of reality. If one negative event occurs, you might think, “It’s just my luck. Nothing good ever happens to me.” While this statement might be true some of the time, chances are there has been at least one exception to it. Holding onto this “always” and “never” attitude simply keeps you from seeing the truth as it really is. It’s negative and self-defeating.

CATASTROPHIZING AND MINIMIZING
This type of thinking does two things: It sees the positive results of your actions as smaller than they really are, and exaggerates the negative results of your actions. This thinking may also inappropriately shrink your achievements down until they seem insignificant, while you obsessively dwell on what is ‘wrong’ with you. Sometimes this is referred to as “making a mountain out of a mole hill.”

DISQUALIFYING THE POSITIVE
This is an extreme form of all-or-nothing thinking without the “all”! All the positive messages and actions are deleted or rejected. The positive experiences just “don’t count” and we only attend to the negative. You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it — discounting any other evidence to the contrary. This negative thought darkens everything else that has preceded. For example, you lost 30 pounds. But for some reason gained back five of those pounds. Negative thinking dwells entirely on the five gained back, darkening the entire situation. Discounting the positive takes the joy out of life and makes you feel inadequate and unrewarded.

EMOTIONAL REASONING
You assume that your emotions reflect the way things really are. This thinking states, I feel it, therefore it must be true.” In truth, it is most likely the old tapes that are playing in your head that is creating the emotions that you are feeling. This takes emotional reasons as evidence of truth. “I feel frustrated, I’ll never get through this.”

SHOULD STATEMENTS
You try to motivate yourself with should statements, such as, “I should be eating healthy”, “I should not eat that”, “I should have lost more weight by now.” “I should start exercising.” Often it is habit to use words such “should”, “shouldn’t”, “have to”, “must”, and “must not” in an attempt to create change. These are negative, action-stopping words. If you feel you should do something, then it’s something you don’t want to do but for some reason feel obligated to do.

You try to motivate yourself with should and shouldn’t, as if you have to be whipped or punished before you could be expected to do anything. The emotional consequence of using should on yourself is guilt - which tends not to be an effective long-term motivator.

LABELING AND DISPARAGING
Underlying labeling is the thought that if I hate myself enough, maybe I’ll change. Instead of describing your action, you judge yourself harshly. A label or insults are applied such as, “I’m a failure”, “I’m fat and ugly”, or “I’m such a stupid idiot.” Instead of describing your error, you attach a negative label to yourself. Judging yourself harshly never helps the process of self-awareness or understanding. These statements are likely to cause massive emotional swings of anger, frustration, and low self-esteem.

MENTAL FILTER
You concentrate so strongly on a single negative detail and dwell on it so exclusively that your vision of reality becomes darkened. An analogy is like the single drop of ink that discolors an entire beaker of water. Your automatic thoughts all deal with this one concern. If, for example, you ran out of time on a previous test, you may find yourself so preoccupied with the time limit that you have trouble concentrating on the questions.

PERSONALIZATION
You see your self as the cause of some negative external event, which in fact you were not primarily responsible for.

*Things you ARE responsible for:

your attitude
your behavior
your actions
your boundaries
what you say & who you say it to
if and how you express emotions
who your friends are
where you live
what you do for work
what you do for self care and fun
your values and belief systems
what family members you stay connected to
what self talk you allow to continue
Whether we do personal growth work or not
what you eat or don’t eat

*Things you are NOT responsible for:

what other people think of you
other people’s life decisions
other people’s thoughts / feelings
other people
your genetic body type
the past
life, just as it is
life is unpredictable
suffering
change is inevitable
grief and loss are inevitable
emotions are inevitable
certain people may or may not want to be with you
whether people are honest
intimacy requires risk and vulnerability

(* From Francie White, MS, RD Inner Escapes Workshops)

CONSTRUCTIVE SELF QUESTIONS
Only you can decide to alter your mental dialog. You alone are the pattern maker and breaker of your own existence. The first step is to explore (without judgement) what you are thinking. Are your thoughts encouraging and loving, or a depressing mix of fear, doubt, and punishment? Watch your thoughts and write them down on paper.

What am I thinking or dwelling on?
Am I seeing the whole truth?
How does this thought make me feel?
Which of the above thought patterns am I using?
Is it really true? How do I know?
Can I look at this another way?
What would I say to a friend in this situation if I was trying to help?
What am I needing right now to feel differently?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helping people let go of self-destructive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors has been the life work of Dr. Annette Colby. Her fascination with the power of the mind, emotions, spirituality, and physicality has led her to become a leader in the field of personal growth and consciousness. She is a valued counselor, and an inspiring teacher, as well as an independent writer, mentor, and guide. She is a highly sought-after trainer with a unique ability to inform and inspire individuals to open their hearts, love more openly, and pursue their dreams.

Dr. Annette Colby, RD

Nutrition Therapist & Master Energy Therapist

Subscribe to our FREE content filled newsletter
and see why it’s been called the best e-zine on the net!

http://www.LovingMiracles.com

Miracles@AnnetteColby.com

972.985.8750

“Opening Creative Portals to Success”

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What is more important, leadership or teamwork? Leadership or consensus management? Today we hear frequently about teams, team-building, and teamwork on the one hand and management by consensus on the other. Although both teamwork and consensus building are critical skills in a leader, neither are substitutes for capable leadership itself. Instead, both, as commonly practiced in business today, are an over reaction to past autocratic management styles.

What really is leadership? My working definition of leadership is: “Providing the capable oversight, guidance and governance necessary to direct a group a people in the successful attainment of a shared vision.” Note that neither the words team nor consensus are mentioned in this definition. This in no manner diminishes the importance of these two criteria for the leader, it merely reflects the reality of what leadership is and is not. Leadership is by nature both action and individual oriented. Leadership is not the function of a committee or even of a group, although the best organizations benefit greatly from having a group of leaders. There is a popular cliché: Leaders like eagles do not flock, you must find them one at a time.” Although this sounds catchy, it is not fully true. Leaders do not “flock,” but they are not “loners” either.

To return to our initial question … leadership, teamwork, and consensus are all important, all necessary. In order to have effective teamwork and productive, real consensus (not just everyone waiting for clues as to what the boss thinks before expressing their opinion), the organization must have a firm foundation of capable leadership. I would add, “strong capable leadership,” although I know that at hearing the “word” strong, some will immediately equate that to authoritarian or tyrannical rule. However, whether one sees a team of horses in a parade pulling a heavy circus wagon or a string of huskies pulling a dog sled, the lead animal does not dominate the others, but it does provide the essential function of leading the team. After all, someone must lead. Over my thirty plus years of business experience, I have participated in many, many management committees (teams), but in every case the effectiveness of the committee was determined directly by the apparent or de facto leader. There is an old axiom that is very true: “The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack!” No group outperforms its leadership, at least not for long.

Thus, effective and efficient leadership is provided by individuals, note the plural form of the word, but not individuals working individually. Rather, individuals cooperating in collaboration within a hierarchy. Now “hierarchy” has become another “dirty” word in modern organizational thought. However, the reality is that without some form of hierarchy, we have either chaos or stagnation. Due to the reactionary dismissal of hierarchy by many organizations today, stemming from a decades long disagreeable experience with corporate heavy-handedness, in many quarters no decision whatsoever can be made unless every team member and stakeholder is in unqualified consensus.

Is it any wonder we see such paralysis in the corporate world? Decisions that formerly required days or weeks to gather the necessary facts and reach a conclusion to action, now require months or even years, as the team waits to achieve “buy-in” by all parties, even where the facts point to an obvious and immediate conclusion.

More than twenty years ago, I worked as a director for a corporation in the energy business. We operated with a CEO and seven director level positions, all filled by strong individuals. It was not uncommon for our management meetings to become quite loud as those strong personalities vociferously championed their equally strong views. By the end of these boisterous sessions, we often had reached a natural consensus, but on occasion, we were more divided than when we had begun. In these instances, our CEO would make an executive decision, normally right then and there, based upon the facts as he had heard them forcefully debated.

Not everyone was happy with the outcome of such executive edicts, but we were never unhappy about the fact that he had made a decision, and more importantly, we all got behind his decision to get the job done as quickly and effectively as possible. Our form of reaching consensus in those instances was simple: full and open discussion, sometimes peppered with heated argument; a command decision; acceptance by all! As long as the issues and decisions do not compromise moral or ethical integrity, this remains the most efficient manner for organizations, especially businesses, to advance issues.

It is important to state that not all of the decisions reached in this way were right. Some over the course of time proved to be entirely wrong, as did an equal number of the decisions we reached through consensus of the entire management team. Contrary to popular belief, consensus is not a guarantee of optimal decision making.

This in no way means that good leaders act in a vacuum or as a “majority of one.” In fact, just the opposite is true. The reason our management team at the energy company worked together so well was that the CEO, although vested with final decision making authority, was not an autocrat, but rather a consensus builder. Effective leaders understand the value of collaboration, and they actively and continuously seek to develop avenues of collaboration within their organizations. One of the methods by which highly effective and successful leaders encourage and foster collaboration is through building cooperative networks, both within and outside of the organization, but especially within the leader’s own management team.

Leadership also requires vision, as I have said in the definition earlier, and vision is based upon aggressive, forward-looking strategy development. However, this too is a problem within our organizational cultures today, especially in America. A recent surveyi of 2,700 CEO’s in nine countries reveals that American CEO’s spend 22% of their time on strategic issues, 17% on fire-fighting crises, and 10% on work that they admit could be delegated. In contrast, their counterparts around the world are significantly more focused on the strategic issues confronting their businesses.

Today, more than ever before, our organizations need leaders who are flexible as to methods and techniques, but stalwart with regard to ethics, decisiveness, and vision. Such adept leadership will result in a collaborative organizational culture that in turn fosters teamwork and consensus.

Copyright 2005 by John Di Frances

John Di Frances is an internationally
recognized organizational
legacy expert and professional
speaker. www.difrances.com

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