Bridging Leadership Lessons from the Workplace and Those Experiences Shaping Today's Youth and Tomorrow's Leaders
 One of the biggest challenges I face in my coaching practice is to avoid being a solutions provider. To offer up the answer or even a possible answer. I’ve spent a lifetime addressing the challenges before me and now I need to put it aside, because the simple truth is coaching is not about me.
Providing an answer or pathway forward to the client doesn't make an impact. It might satisfy my need to feel like I am making an impact, but in reality, in the long run, it could make matters worse for my clients. My job is to listen and ask questions. To use the input from the client to help guide the client toward their OWN answers. Below are 3 areas I am focusing on improving so that I can Be Better Today than yesterday. Overcoming the Urge to Advise It’s understandable why we go here. We have a natural desire to help. So, to change, we need to rewire our mindset and build some new habits. Self-Assessment After each session reflect on moments when you gave advice or was tempted to give advice. What triggered the urge? (e.g. their frustration, your experience, and obvious solution?) Pause & Reflect During the session, when you feel the need to give advice, just shut up. Instead, change the focus from YOU answering to what you can do to help THEM discover an answer. They are the Expert You must remind yourself that they are the experts in their own life and you are there to guide, not solve. Your role is to unlock their wisdom, not provide yours. Embrace Open-Ended Questions Often, a spark is needed to help your client explore deeper into their situation. Open-ended questions don’t only open the door; they create a launching point to multiple pathways. Create a Question List Write down questions that you can use to create connections with your client. Find questions that fit your style and work for you. Look for questions that can be reflective (e.g., “How do you see this aligning with your values?”), exploring (e.g., “What else could you consider?”), and action-oriented (e.g., “What is 1 thing you could do today?”) Practice Use your conversations with family and friends. Gaining experience on how you ask questions will only strengthen those relationships. Focus on questions that start with “what”, “how”, or “why.” Ask for Feedback Explain to peers, mentors, friends, or family how you are trying to improve. Show vulnerability by recognizing an area to improve. This way you are more aware, and others can reinforce when you ask good, open-ended questions as well as highlight when you are advising. Active Listening This is the foundational component to coaching. Are you focusing on them or yourself? Are you listening to understand or to answer? By learning about how you can better focus, it will help you become a better listener. Becoming More Aware There are many ways to improve mindfulness such as prayer and meditation. Apps such as Headspace & Calm can walk you through the process. As I write this, I have the White Noise app playing Brown Noise to help me focus and drown out distractions. Paraphrase not Parrot Summarize a key point they made. Don’t repeat it back word for word, but show you understand by restating in your own words. Verify that you understand the perspective and intent of what they said. Help them Empty their Bucket Often, a point that is brought up is not really the point they want to make. Ask questions that help them and give permission to delve deeper. These are my 3 focus areas. What are you focusing on? What are you doing to Be Better Today? By focusing on these 3 areas, I know that I will improve my listening skills and that will improve my impact as a coach, Beyond Today.
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 Ownership has been a central theme of my blog and leadership sessions since the beginning. Recent interactions during coaching, team development sessions, and in my personal life has me thinking more about the importance and the power of ownership.
For me, there are 2 key parts to ownership. I’m not sure if you would them components, outcomes, traits or qualities, but I see these 2 things:
Show Initiative When you show initiative to step-up and take ownership of a situation, you are displaying critical traits of leadership. One of my all-time favorite books is Liz Wiseman’s, Impact Players. Liz writes that while High Contributors are important because they do their job, it is the Impact Players that drive the value because they do the job that needs to be done. People who treat an organization as if it is their own and care for others as if they are family, show an awareness and commitment that is typically only shown by those who own a company and reap the greatest rewards. But Impact Players are selfless leaders, thinking of the impact they can make on the whole versus themselves. I focus on ownership heavily in my 3rd Pillar of Impact, Empowering Others. I have raised the significance of ownership in this section to aid those who are not formal leaders to understand the intent of empowering is for others to take ownership and not to wait to be told what to do. Ownership vs Control There is a fine line between taking ownership and taking control in regard to action, but there is a huge chasm in regard to the impact it has on the team. It might be better to change the phrases to be “showing ownership” and “taking control.” It comes down to taking a servant leadership approach versus being an autocratic leader. Treating a situation as if you are the owner helps you with the recognition that something needs to be addressed and the willingness to take the steps to rally the team to push forward. Choose to take ownership and be the leader your team deserves. Be the person who steps forward so that others will follow. Taking control can be viewed as when the passenger in the car grabs the steering wheel. The action may be required in an emergency, but they shouldn’t keep driving for the entire journey. It’s how you take initiative and the purpose of taking initiative. It’s recognizing something needs to be done and it might as well be you. Versus only I can do this, and I will tell you what to do. Leading vs mandating. Aligning vs controlling. Show Integrity This is more about how you respond to a situation. Will you step up and own your actions, your choices, and your results? If you show initiative to move forward and the results are not as you desired, will you take ownership of your actions or will you blame others? Will you be transparent and learn from your mistake or will you justify it because “something had to be done and nobody else was doing anything.” Qualities of leaders who can be transparent and not only show vulnerability but foster a culture where it is celebrated and supported, is where integrity can be found. A culture of trust because there is no fear of retribution for showing initiative. We treat the failing as opportunities to grow and develop. Lessons learned that will help us Be Better Today than yesterday. Those people who have the courage and conviction to own their situation, seem to stand a little taller, to garner a little more respect, and have a little more impact. Show Ownership So, I challenge you to show ownership when it is needed. Not an invader or aggressor, but the servant leader that helps shepherd people forward, creating momentum, to move the team towards their vision. Step up and be bold, acknowledge your shortcomings and demonstrate your desire to grow from the lessons that life brings to all of us. Take ownership of your growth by controlling what you can about your own actions and impact others in a positive way. Showing ownership is the impact that is needed, Beyond Today.  In my last two blogs, I have focused on the importance of moving from a Dream to a Goal and then having a reality check by reviewing your strengths to reinforce the importance of Committing to your goal. Now, we must move from the classroom to the lab to create the action.
Growth happens when you work to overcome a challenge. You hone skills, create habits, and recognize that cause and effect doesn’t always occur in the same timeframe. With Next Level Impact we move from the preparation and assessment phase to the skill development and action phase. From mental training to physical training. Based upon your Goal and the assessment of your strengths and weaknesses alignment to that goal, we introduce focused workouts made up of drills that are designed to help you grow in those areas that are necessary for you to hit your goals. We already converted your dream into a goal, and now we are taking what you hope to achieve into an executable plan to get there. The Plan Foundation There will be a variety of workouts that will build certain aspects of the skill sets needed to get to the next level. When we finish the workout, we then work with you to create a customized workout plan to reinforce where you are already excelling and shore-up those areas that could be preventing you from hitting the next level. We are not just helping you understand WHAT you need to do, but WHY you need to do it. Each drill has a WHY built in, so it connects with a desired outcome, not just something to do to pass the time. Once the specific workouts have been identified, we then focus on making it happen with how you do it and when you do it, so you have a document Next Level Impact Workout Plan to help you hit your goal. WILL over WANT Way too often, kids just want things to happen. They want to win. They want to be good, but what are they willing to do? It is action and not emotion that leads you to results. How you get there is up to you. Do it on your own. Use a skill development trainer like Wands Skills Academy. Establish accountability partners for follow-up. As I have shared in previous posts, parents are willing to do a lot but none of that helps your kid grow through the process. This is what we have found, the WILL has to be in the kid, not just the parent. Reinforcing that They Own The Goal Next Level Impact helps the player understand what is necessary but also helps them decide on which goal is right for them. The beauty is that when they are done, they are confident that they have created a plan, and they know the process to follow to help them achieve their goal. What a life lesson for them, that will pay-off tenfold throughout their life. Remember, a dream is not a goal, and hope is not a plan. By creating understanding and then aligning what it takes to hit your goal, that is what will make a Next Level Impact for your goal, Beyond Today. To find out more about Next Level Impact, CLICK HERE and register your player for the next event.  In my last post, I wrote about the importance of helping your athlete create goals. Specifically, we were talking about goals related to achieving their potential in the game of basketball and how Next Level Impact can help. In this post, I will expand on this concept by focusing on how Next Level Impact will help create that Next Level Commitment Plan to hit your goals. When basketball players are struggling to hit their goals, they often get advice from parents and coaches that they need to work harder. If they are already spending time on their craft, should they spend more time? Should they sweat more, jump higher, run faster? Again, what is your goal? Let’s look at it differently. If I want my lawn to look good, working harder on my lawn may be all it takes. Mowing every week versus every other week. Pulling weeds, fertilizing & your typical care and maintenance will go a long way. But it still doesn’t match my goal of a beautiful lawn. Should I mow faster? Push harder? Mow more often? Will any of that matter if I don’t sharpen my mower blades? Or if my tire is flat? Or if the grass I am cutting is just weeds? What if the real issue is that in my mind, the perfect lawn is a botanical garden with flowers and shrubs, with a landscaping waterfall and I have been spending my entire time “working harder” trying to cut the grass. Working hard on the wrong things will not help you achieve your goals. So, knowing your goals is the first thing, as we talked last time, to make sure we are not chasing a dream. Dreams vs Goals As a kid, I dreamed of playing in the NBA. I also dreamed of being an astronomer who discovered other planets. I dreamed a lot, but none of those dreams came to fruition. Establishing SMART Goals is a great way to move from a dream to a goal. The acronym SMART stands for:
When you set a goal by following this criteria, you know you are on your way to having a crafted goal that is attainable. While Martin Luther King Jr’s, I Have a Dream speech is a powerful, inspiring vision, it was not a goal. It was something to inspire people of what the future could become. It was a way to paint a vision of the future that could be shared and embraced by others. The Goal is where the work happens. Where the sausage is made if you will. This is the “how you got there” that only shows up in the powerful stories, where the commitment to a goal, followed with actions to support the goal, can then allow you to live out your dream. A Goal Must Be Attainable The “A” in the SMART goal is the one that is the most critical, especially in today’s society where EVERY team is a “SELECT” team to make sure the kids feel special. I’m not telling parents to squash your kids' dreams, but you darn well better help them set a goal so they can have a chance at success instead of living with regrets chasing a dream that was impossible to achieve without a plan. I’m not telling you that if your son is 5 '3 " that you can’t have a goal to play in the NBA. But for every Muggsy Bogues, there is the rest of those kids who were cut from their high school team. So, if you do have a far-reaching goal, then you better have a plan to get there. For all of you parents that don’t want to crush little Billy’s dreams, let’s be clear… hope is NOT a plan! With Next Level Impact, we have established a framework to put things in perspective for basketball players looking to achieve their goals. Players and parents need to hear tough conversations that can help put things in perspective if you want to create an achievable plan. Providing a Reality Check If your goal is to one day be the best 3-point shooter in the NBA, you probably should be the best in college, probably a top one in high school as well, and at the bare minimum the best on your high school team. If you are not, then it doesn’t mean your ultimate goal needs to change, but we probably need to change your focus and create a plan to make you the best on your team and conference first. Let’s hit the first milestone before jumping to our destination. Statistics don’t lie but they can be used to tell a story. What we have done is establish criteria for standard player stats for typical starters at the high school and various levels of college basketball. We did this for the purpose of providing clarity and understanding of where you stand currently. It’s not to destroy your dreams, but to provide a reality check, establish the right goals and create a plan to achieve those goals. A Little Honest Self-Reflection We have each of the players identify their strengths using our iSWOT analysis. This can be tricky for them because to be a strength, it has to be in comparison to others to give you an advantage. If it is the price of entry to get on the court, then it isn’t a strength. It has to set you apart. You can be the best 3-point shooter on your team, but if you only shoot 30% chances are that is not a strength compared to those in your conference and certainly not at the next level. Having this honest conversation, in the Player Self-Assessment and putting their stats down on our Stack Up sheet, the gaps between where they are currently and where they want to be rise to the surface. While this part can be frustrating and even deflating, it is the point where the true journey begins. It is at this point they determine if their goal is actually a goal, or just a dream. At this point, we have their commitment, that they have the WILL and not just the WANT and that will lead to the Next Level Impact Commitment Plan. In the next post, I will write about how this leads to hitting the hardwood for workouts on specific skill areas that will leverage their areas of strength as well as improve those areas of challenge for the player in an effort to provide a well-rounded skill set to help them achieve their goals. Dreams are something you feel, and goals are something you achieve. To hit your goals, it will take commitment to achieve Beyond Today. To find out more about Next Level Impact, CLICK HERE and register your player for the next event.  At some point in adulthood, you have established goals to help you navigate through life. Whether as part of your job, a member of a volunteer organization, setting up retirement plans or simply setting a budget to buy a new car. We’ve all done it and have seen the value.
So why do we not teach our kids to do the same thing? It seems that as parents, we forgot this lesson when it comes to our own kids, especially when they are involved in sports. The last couple of blogs that I have shared, I wrote about parents who are trying to live out their child’s life and the negative impact that can have when the goals of the parent don’t align with the passion of the child. Because of the challenges I have described, you find kids that are not prepared for next level basketball, let alone life. They haven’t had to do an assessment of where their actual strengths reside - not what the parents, friends or wannabe AAU coaches are saying, but looking at the data to see where they stack up. Introducing Next Level Impact To help high school basketball players understand the importance of goals, understanding strengths, and uncovering what is needed to get to the next level, I partnered with Kobe Wands of the Wands Skills Academy to create Next Level Impact. Next Level Impact takes a foundational leadership development approach to help players define goals by performing an iSWOT to understand where they stack compared to players at the Next Level. We then use those findings to identify areas to improve as well as the sweet spots that we need to leverage and then match that up with specific skill development to enhance their strengths and address the challenges. Benefits of Next Level Impact The result of going through Next Level Impact will be that your player has moved from having a DREAM to having a GOAL. From HOPING to get to the Next Level to having a PLAN to get to the Next Level. When they leave this 3-hour session they will have:
Establishing the Next Level Impact Process The basic skills or critical thinking, creating a goal, and building a plan are not taught in school. Sadly, as parents who are trying our best to help our kids, we are not teaching them to do this at home either. Then we wonder why they struggle to do things on their own. That’s why we created Next Level Impact. Establish a goal setting process using self-reflection and some tough talk to make sure they understand their starting point. There is no one-way ticket to Easy Street. You can’t ask Siri to tell you how to get there or find it on Tik Tok. It takes work to earn things in life. But more than work, it requires you to work on the right things, in the right way, at the right time to make sure you are working towards the right goal for YOU! If you have a player that has dreams of playing at the Next Level, then you need to reach out and let us help them create their plan - not your plan, not the other guy’s plan, but the plan that is customized for them. Having a dream won’t get you to the Next Level. Having hope won’t get you there either. But creating the right GOAL and executing the right PLAN are the steps for your player to get to the Next Level, Beyond Today. To find out more about Next Level Impact, CLICK HERE and register your player for the next event or DM me to start a conversation.  As adults, with a lifetime behind us, we have a tendency to believe that things come naturally to us. We don’t recognize the processes that we have gone through to learn, grow, and develop the skills that we now practice without a second thought. Being a leader isn’t always natural. Especially as a young person where practicing some leadership skills can result in backlash from their peers. They can be seen as a try-hard, sweat or whatever word kids use now to describe a brown-noser. While some of that stigma still exists, there is also an increased awareness in this generation. Especially with student-athletes where social-media isn’t just to watch highlights but also has a network of influencers sharing positive coaching and leadership examples. Here are 5 proven strategies that can be applied to sports, work or life in general to help you become the leader your team needs. Consistently engage your team members away from practice / game Create a group chat. Send out texts prior to the game as a reminder about potential or key focus areas identified by the coach. Do the same for practices - not every practice, but when there is a big game coming up, or when there are new plays being introduced. Post game, highlight things that went well and those areas that as a team you can continue to improve. Focus on the positive future state - the potential of the team. Be an additional voice and a different voice for the coaching staff. Notice that I didn’t say a different message, but a different voice - a different way of delivering the same message. Build personal connections with your team members Take the time to high 5 or fist pound all of your teammates before practice begins. Provide encouragement to lock-in and to make it a good practice. Identify people that need some extra encouragement and take the time to have a personal conversation. It needs to be sincere and intentional; you can’t go through the motions as if you are working through a checklist. Understand what the individuals not only like, but what they fear. Help them understand their strengths and how they can play to them, as well as what they can do to avoid the challenges that they fear. Ask questions to show that they are part of the team. Do the same thing at the end of practice. Steve Nash, a two-time NBA MVP, averaged 239 touches per game during the 2009-10 NBA season. He knew that connections mattered to the unity of the team and that a team’s unity gave them a better chance of being successful. Be the voice of encouragement Show you have confidence in your teammate by words and actions. Be a positive voice and not a critical voice. Focus on what they can achieve going forward instead of dwelling on the past. Don’t focus on mistakes, but on potential. We use encouragement as a form of motivation, but not just to create action. We want to use encouragement to change the mindset of the teammate so that their belief system changes and is driven to achieve. We want to help inspire our team. Stephen M.R. Covey in his book, Trust & Inspire, discusses how inspiration is an internal, intrinsic drive rooted in belief and purpose, while motivation is an external force, like rewards or punishments, used to prompt action. Challenge them to reach their potential This goes hand-in-hand with encouragement and ties back to the 2nd Pillar of Impact, the Courage to Challenge. It’s how you challenge as well as creating an environment where it is okay to challenge. We are not talking old-school confrontation where you rip their butt’s thinking that will light a fire under them. But to respectfully challenge them to Be Better Today than they were yesterday. As a leader, you use the previous 3 strategies to help establish trust to prepare for a discussion where you may have to challenge them. To help build that trust, you need to show vulnerability by sharing your own challenges. By asking for feedback on where you can improve. Reveal areas that the coaches have provided instruction to you. When you challenge, you need to point out their potential future state and help them envision what they can become. You encourage them to get there by reinforcing your confidence in them, but the challenge comes from helping them see the pathway that they have to travel to get to that future state and that pathway, isn’t always easy. Be inclusive It’s much easier to spend time with the people you enjoy. Your friends, your classmates, the starters. As a leader you are the leader for the team, not just the starters. You are a leader for the larger program and not just the players. The freshmen must feel as connected to the team as the seniors. The managers, trainers, video personnel all deserve the same respect as the All-Conference performer. As a leader, that is your challenge, to be a rising tide to lift all boats. To engage and connect all members of the team so that they see themselves from the larger team perspective. A successful leader Engages. A successful leader Connects. A successful leader Encourages. A successful leader Challenges. A successful leader Includes. A successful leader is one who is willing to do these things to impact the future success of the team as a whole and as individuals, to establish a culture of success, Beyond Today. If you are interested in growing the leadership abilities of your captains, reach out to discuss bringing an IMPACT Leader workshop to your University, High School or Club sports program.
 There are teams everywhere - in sports, in business and in social settings. But just because you are part of a team, it doesn’t mean it’s a good team. From your own experiences, you probably would struggle to name a good team you have been part of in your past let alone a great team. Then, the very few are able to be part of an IMPACT Team. In the mess that currently exists in collegiate sports due to NIL and the transfer portal, building team chemistry is almost impossible. It typically takes years of kids playing together to build connections through repetition and comradery that allows a great team to be built. But with the new era of hired guns, it’s an uphill battle to get people to move from focusing on themselves to focusing on the team. But it can be done. But it requires you to first spend your time in the classroom with players learning how to be a team before putting the time in practicing what a team would look like on game day. While the importance of impact on teams and individuals is something that I spend a lot of time on in my 3 Pillars of Impact sessions I first introduced the IMPACT Team to this Blog just a couple of months ago. From my studies what I found is that IMPACT Teams all place an emphasis on these 3 things:
IMPACT Teams Communicate It’s not enough to recognize that communication is essential, but IMPACT Teams focus on HOW they communicate with their teammates. They recognize that communication is a two-way street and that your intention for communication isn’t always how it is received or perceived by others. IMPACT Teams know that individuals will be more willing to flex their communication style to match up with the style of others, when a foundation of trust has been established. It’s essential so that teams can be open and honest with each other and trust that they are communicating to help and not to harm. IMPACT Teams Have Roles Many times, you see a team made up of stars or high achievers, but the teams never seem to reach their potential. A common failure point in those situations is that the team has taken the time necessary to define the roles of the individuals. It’s not always easy for people to adjust to fit a role that is needed, but not one that they see themselves filling. Because this can be a laborious process and one where you can easily lose the person, we spend a lot of time on the Communication process above so that we go beyond WHAT we are saying, and focus instead on HOW we are saying it. Having that Communication structure in place we turn our attention into the Shared Vision that we can utilize to establish a ground zero. It can’t be the Coach’s vision or the Boss’s vision alone. It must be a shared vision that the entire team can get behind and become aligned. Once we have agreement, we start breaking down the roles that are required and through our KARS Process, we build a framework that shows the value every member of the team rings to move them toward the Shared Vision. KARS Process
We cap that off by bringing out what i call the “I SEE YOU’s” where we show respect and appreciation for our teammates by publicly recognizing the value that each brings. IMPACT Teams Grow Finally, all of this leads to the growth of the team and the team members. Even though you know, accept, respect and star in your current role, it doesn’t mean that you don't desire a different role or that a different role will be required of you in the future. We will break down your skills and abilities and look at where they can be leveraged for growth. We identify your challenge areas and either try to “de-risk” them or find ways to overcome your challenges through individual IMPACT plans. The reality of the Transfer Portal forces Coaches to look at the players differently. While players may be willing to work hard on their skills and game, are they willing to work with the same commitment and passion on their personal growth as a teammate? This is what will change the recruiting landscape. Ultimately as we grow as individuals and grow in our understanding of the needs of the team, our team will grow. This is the process to become an IMPACT Team, Beyond Today. If you would like to find out more about bringing IMPACT Teams to your program reach out and let's talk.
 One of the incredible things about March Madness is witnessing the good teams that have made it to postseason play. As a leadership junkie, I revel in the back stories, interviews, and interactions you see on the court with players and coaches. While all these teams are good teams, not all of them are great teams… with even fewer being IMPACT Teams.
A few weeks back, I wrote about IMPACT Teams and the importance of the KARS process and is the differentiator between great teams and IMPACT Teams. KARS is a method of making sure that the team embraces and honors the roles necessary for a group of individuals to move from a good team to a great team. KARS stands for: K – Knowing the Roles A – Accepting the Roles R – Respecting the Roles S – Starring in the Roles I talk about this now because with March Madness dominating the airways, it provides real time case studies to see the results in action. If you happened to watch the opening round match-up between the #6 seed Missouri Tigers and the #11 seed Drake Bulldogs, the impact of the KARS process was on full display. David vs Goliath You can read about Drake’s improbable year with a head coach who came from the NCAA DII level and brought 4 DII players from the program with him. To be fair, all they did at DII Northwest Missouri State University was win - as in four National Championships. That is what they kept doing at the DI level knocking off Power 4 opponents such as University of Miami, Vanderbilt, Kansas State, & eventually, Mizzou. Drake was able to defeat Mizzou, 67-57, despite everything stacked against them.
The Power of the Team How was Drake able to defeat Mizzou? It was the classic Team vs Individuals. Mizzou was the odds-on favorite. They competed in the vaunted SEC with 14 teams making the tournament. They had size, athleticism, speed, and length. Mizzou had 6 players who actively played taller than 6’8” versus 1 for Drake. Coach Gates, for Mizzou, has been coaching at the DI level for 21 years, the last 6 as a Head Coach. Coach McCollum of Drake is in his first year of DI coaching. Mizzou’s team consisted of players from Duke, Iowa, Iowa State, Indiana and South Carolina. Drake had 4 DII players from Northwest Missouri State University, 2 players from Wyoming and a juco player. It should have been a beat down… on paper or with the eye-test. But it wasn't. One team became an IMPACT Team which was the difference. The KARS process builds upon the first part of IMPACT Leadership where you focus on recognizing the value that everyone brings, and you build trust by improving how you communicate within the team. Moving forward in the KARS process, it is about aligning the team and individual goals to create and pursue a shared vision. This is the centerpiece of the process. Embracing the Role Drake was made up of Role Players with lone player Bennett Stirtz, who emerged as a superstar. As a sophomore he was a 2nd Team All-Conference performer for his DII school. Fast forward to this year and he was the Missouri Valley Player of the Year and an Honorable Mention All-American. Mitch Mascari, Drake’s long-range sniper, is a graduate student who also came from the DII program and upon securing a job after graduation, chose to put his Finance Career on hold for one more year to play with his teammates. Mizzou on the other hand is loaded with future professional basketball talent. Where each game is an audition for the big stage. They come to the team with stars and national rankings, with established NIL deals. While the Mizzou players also Know their roles, in watching them play this year, I’m not sure how Accepting they are of their roles. For instance, Drake is limited by the number of 3-point shooters that they have on their team. Non-shooters, if you will, are not putting up 3’s for them. But for Mizzou, the bigs know that the NBA likes bigs that can shoot, so they have a tendency to step out and put up the low percentage shot. Mark Mitchell, the Duke transfer, is a dominant inside player that should have and could have had a field day over the smaller Drake post players. But during the game, he kept floating out to the perimeter where he was considerably less of a threat to score. This isn’t meant to bash or criticize a team but to highlight the process and importance of Knowing, Accepting & Respecting the roles of individuals on a team. Then, once those 3 things are established, you can Star in your role. And sometimes, because of how you have embraced the KARS process, you will have the opportunity, because of the trust built through the process, to take on the role of the star when it is required. IMPACT Teams know that individually you need to improve and be the best you can be for you and the team. But what sets apart IMPACT Teams is the trust built through the process that allows the impact of the individuals, through the strength of the team, to be much greater than anything they could achieve on their own. Through being part of an IMPACT Team is how an individual creates a legacy of IMPACT Beyond Today.   A common theme I write about is being the leader that you need to be and not the leader you like to be. Because leadership is NEVER about you!
Last week, I wrote about 4 Leadership Assumptions to Avoid. I mentioned IMPACT Leadership as a way to flex your leadership style to what is needed by your team members. Today, I’m going to break down what IMPACT Leadership is all about. Leaders Have to Flex When I was a new manager, I was introduced to Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership™ which focused on changing your leadership style to match the willingness and the ability of the employee. I really connected with this concept, but the quadrant tool and verbiage were clunky and did not translate well to the newer generation. So, I adapted this approach to my own teachings in the 3 Pillars of Impact and it evolved into IMPACT Leadership. To drive home the importance of a leader flexing to the needs of their team, we start with self-reflection. With which style are you most comfortable operating? Which is your preferred approach. Which has the least amount of stress. The Four Leadership Styles All four leadership styles are needed and have value. Each style has a time and place depending upon the team member. Many times, people will try to choose the one they THINK they should be instead of being honest with themselves about how they like to lead. Regardless of your comfort or preference, it’s not about you. Failure to recognize what is needed by your team member can lead to disengagement, toxicity, and turnover. That’s why we look internally first, to confirm our style, before looking externally at our team. Knowing Your Team Unlike the Leadership Styles, we use a Readiness Level to assess the team member. They are listed below in order based upon whether they have the necessary skills as well as the confidence or willingness to move forward. While there is a progression to their readiness level, it is not an all-encompassing categorization of the team member, it is associated with specific tasks and responsibilities. So, a person could be at a certain readiness level 90% of the time, but for a specific task they may drop or rise to a different level. Newbie - Lacking the skills, confidence, & willingness Typically, new to the team and lacks experience. Also, they may be familiar to the team but are gaining new responsibility. Think about a technical expert that gets promoted to a supervisory role because of their success. They have never been a manager and are not sure what to do. They have been an individual contributor and spent most time working alone. Growing - Lacking the skills but is confident & willing May not know what to do, but they are not afraid. Excited for the opportunity but need some guidance. Crossroads - Has ability but may lack confidence or willingness I use this to think about people that are being asked to take on an expanded role that may be out of their comfort zone. They may not feel that they have the ability, but you know they do. Also, found in people that are coasting and may be getting too comfortable in their role. Impact Player - Has ability, is confident & eager Get out of their way! These are the stars that you need to make sure have alignment on the purpose and then make sure they know that they are appreciated. Be the Leader Your Team Needs This is not one size fits all. Your leadership style needs to be adopted to the person AND the situation. In my very first management role almost 30 years ago, I wanted to be the empowering leader… I had read books! But, when it was a new team that didn’t have experience or confidence in the roles that were being asked of them, they struggled. They didn’t have clarity, nor did they know how to move forward. I failed them as a leader. I was the leader I wanted to be and not the leader they needed to be successful. Awareness is the unsung hero of great leaders. It is absolutely critical that a leader has self-awareness and awareness of those around them. You must understand the needs of your team - when they need temporary “micromanagement” to help learn skills and gain confidence, and when they simply need the encouraging words and validation that they are moving in the right direction. To be the leader your team needs, you need to lead them how they need to be led. Having alignment on why you are using that style is very important to help them with their own self-awareness. Your ability to flex is what will help your team continue to grow Beyond Today.  During some of my IMPACT Coaching sessions last week, I saw a pattern where experienced leaders fell into the Assumption Trap. You know what happens when you assume… that’s right you make an A$$ out of U and ME. But it is so easy to fall into the Assumption Trap, probably even more so for the experienced leader.
We will take a look at four common assumptions made by leaders. Assumption 1: Because I said to do it, they will do it. In your best imitation of Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation you told your manager what you need and finish with a “Make it so…” and it doesn’t happen. It’s easy to get comfortable with your team. You know each other. They do a great job. They are proactive. We are on the same page. Then, on some days, they nod at you as if they understand and it never gets put into place. A Leadership Tool I use to help in this area I call Connecting the Whys. It is an essential tool used in creating a shared vision but also one essential in IMPACT Teams and Engaged Leadership. We will touch on Connecting the Whys as we look at the next two Leadership Assumptions that are typically buried in this first one. You need to Connect the Whys. Assumption 2: They understand what success looks like. Did you verify with them that when you said “Make it so” that they understood what “SO” means? Is their picture of “SO” the same as your “SO”? Did you deliver a suggestion or possibly a nice to have? Did you explain it was urgent or something that can happen when they get around to it? Did you explain the WHY? Just because it is clear in your mind doesn't mean it translated the same way to them. In my 3 Pillars of Impact, the 2nd Pillar is Expect Excellence in yourself and others. One of the activities we do is to identify, in detail, what success looks like for each of your team members. It’s amazing how when you ask a leader if their team member knows what success looks like they say yes, but when you follow that up with if I ask them to put it down on paper, without you in the room, will they say yes… they get quiet. You need to create understanding. Assumption 3: Since they say they understand, then we must be aligned. Just because they understand doesn’t mean they agree. Just because they may agree with you doesn’t mean that they are aligned on what needs to happen and how it needs to happen. Back to the Picard reference, even though you both understand what the “SO” means, it doesn’t mean you are aligned about how to make “SO” happen. As a leader, you need an understanding first on the importance of how the “SO” looks. If it’s not that important, then you must be prepared to accept their “SO” even if it doesn’t look like your “SO.” If it is important, the onus is on you to make sure you have alignment on what is “good enough”. You then must verify that expectations are established, understood and that there is clarity around the end-result. You need to make sure you have alignment. Assumption 4: Because you know each other well, you don’t have to change how you lead. “They know me." "They know what I mean." "They know how I operate.” Sound familiar? When we get comfortable with relationships or with positions, it’s easy to think things will move forward with momentum. That we have it all under control and that we know what we are doing. But that is the biggest Leadership Trap of all… we think we arrived, and that leadership comes naturally. In IMPACT Leadership, we remind people that Leadership is not about you, but about those you lead. You need to flex your leadership style based upon what is needed by your team member. (Next week, I will talk more about IMPACT Leadership) It’s not about how WE like to operate, it’s about what they need to be successful. Sometimes they simply need to be empowered to get it done. Other times, when they lack confidence because something is new or they lack some critical skills, we need to be more directive with our leadership approach. Leadership is not a one size fits all approach. Leaders need to flex their approach to what is needed to help the team succeed. Leaders need to be on the lookout for the Assumption Trap… it happens to new and experienced leaders alike. As a leader, you need to be vigilant so that you don’t make an A$$ out of U and ME, Beyond Today. |
AuthorTom Brown - a husband and a father who is simply trying to make a difference. Using my experience as a Manufacturing Executive to connect leadership from the boardroom to the hardwood to help teams grow and develop to make a difference in the lives of others. 
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