Leaders Challenge the Process – Part 1 What Leaders Do In their classic book, “The Leadership Challenge,” James Kouzes and Barry Posner set forth the five fundamental practices of exemplary leaders. When they are at their best, successful leaders: Challenge the process. Inspire a shared vision. Enable others to act. Model the way. Encourage the heart. Our next Leadership Letters will briefly examine each of these five practices. 1. Leaders challenge the process. Good leaders are pioneers. They continually search for new opportunities to do what has never before been done. They are not content merely to maintain the status quo. Peter Drucker said, “Results are obtained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems. All one can hope to get by solving problems is to restore normalcy.” Neither do they wait for circumstances to lead them in change, but they are initiators of change. Furthermore, they desire significant change. They want to turn around a failing business or dying church, or start up some new radical entrepreneurial venture, or develop an original product line or service, or revolutionize an existing process. They want to mobilize others in the face of strong inertia or resistance. They may not change the world, but they passionately pursue making a significant difference. Leaders want to transform; they are not content merely to maintain. This is one of the primary differences between leaders and managers. Leaders lead. They go first. They begin the quest for a new order. They plunge into new, sometimes dangerous, and always unpredictable territory. They take us to places we’ve never been before, and probably could never find on our own. Managers, on the other hand, maintain the existing order. They organize, and establish necessary processes and controls. As agents of change, leaders will: a. Treat every job as an adventure in an unexplored wilderness. If leaders want to inspire the best in others, they must find or create opportunities for people to outdo themselves in exploring new ground and reaching difficult goals. Furthermore, they must make work responsibilities enjoyable and exciting. Researchers have found that “appropriate” humor can lead to cohesion and bonding between team members. b. Treat every new assignment as a start-over, even if it isn’t. There is always some new way to improve any organization. Moreover, the talent and resources for excellence are already present; they need merely to be unlocked. Leaders see opportunity everywhere – especially in their own people. c. Question the status quo, and kill the sacred cows. Obviously, some standard practices and policies are critical to the organization’s success. But many are simply traditions. Leaders ruthlessly examine everything in their organizations. “The way we’ve always done it” is insufficient. Is there a better way to do it? Is there even a better thing to do in the first place? d. Harvest new ideas – both inside and outside their organization. Many times the people who have been doing something for years have conceived of new and better processes. But no one has ever asked them for their opinion! Moreover, there is a great harvest-field of innovative ideas outside the doors of every organization. Leaders continually explore – even in unrelated and entirely dissimilar fields. e. Find something that needs fixing. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” often doesn’t cut it for a true leader. It may work well, but can it work better? Naivete can be a leader’s best friend in a new assignment. His dumb questions are tolerated as he uncovers needed improvements; and his fresh, uninstitutionalized approach can yield the conceptual breakthrough necessary for quantum leaps in organizational effectiveness. f. Assign their people wisely. Organizations frequently commit the error of assigning their best people to deal with problems. Leaders, on the other hand, assign their people to opportunities. Naturally, problems must be dealt with, but opportunities are the life-blood of our organizations. Solving a problem contains and prevents damage, but seizing an opportunity produces growth and new life. g. Renew their teams. Even the best teams get stale and need to be revived. Bringing new people on board adds fresh perspective and energy. Leaders also force their people to interact with others and to listen for new ideas. h. Lead their people in continual learning. We all need to keep adding to our resource and skill bases – through reading a book, taking a course, attending a seminar, subscribing to a journal. Good leaders, and those who follow them, are lifetime learners. i. Look for opportunities to glorify God. Christian leaders, above all, should seek opportunities to glorify God and accomplish His purposes with excellence. http://www.leadershipletters.com/1998/10/30/leaders-challenge-the-process-part-1/ =========================================================== Leaders Challenge the Process – Part 2 What Leaders Do The last Letter began to discuss research on leadership by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. Their book, “The Leadership Challenge,” describes five fundamental practices of exemplary leaders. They: Challenge the process. Inspire a shared vision. Enable others to act. Model the way. Encourage the heart. 1. Leaders challenge the process (continued). Since leaders are forever venturing into uncharted waters, they are, of necessity, risk-takers. In their quest for the new and the better, leaders are open to ideas. They are willing to listen to others, and they try untested approaches, accepting the risks of failure that accompany all experimentation. Without constant innovation, an organization will atrophy. Even the loosest of organizations adopt practices that become traditions. These traditions impose ways of thinking that become constraints, making it impossible to solve new problems or to exploit new opportunities. The leader is the organization’s primary change agent. Thus, it is his responsibility to identify these barriers and to lead his people in breaking free from self-imposed limitations. This “beyond-the-boundaries” thinking always involves risk. You will never succeed unless you are willing to fail – and to be willing to fail is to assume some risk. This doesn’t mean “selling the farm,” necessarily. “Prudent” risk taking should be the norm. One of the significant differences between the leader and the bureaucrat is the leader’s inclination to encourage others to step out into the unknown rather than play it safe, and to learn from the mistakes that are the inevitable price we pay for innovation, change and learning. As lifelong learners and risk-takers, leaders will: a. Set up little experiments. Leaders experiment with new approaches to old problems, and it is cheaper to do this in the early stages of innovation. When you have a new idea for a new product, or approach, try it out soon. Don’t wait until you’ve perfected it. b. Make it safe for others to experiment. The leader sets the tone for the organization’s creative climate. If you expect those you lead to venture out and take chances, you must make them feel safe and secure in doing so. As much as possible, reduce the costs of failure. Invite innovation and provide the resources necessary to nourish and sustain it. Furthermore, leaders encourage others to take risks by doing so themselves. c. Eliminate firehosing. It’s way too easy to put down new ideas. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the mantra of those who cling to familiar territory. “It’s too hard.” “It’ll never work.” Like firefighters hosing down a fire, these people douse innovation and extinguish enthusiasm. Leaders must discourage this draining negativity, and help people to see the possibilities that change is full of. Members of one organization agreed that anyone heard firehosing should be required to contribute 25 cents to a fund. Team members then policed each other on a daily basis, morale improved noticeably, and so did the number of innovative ideas! d. Work even with ideas that sound strange initially. The lifeblood of any organization is a continual flow of new ideas. New innovations rarely appear fully created and ready to implement; they usually require nurturing. Give every idea at least a chance. If you are too quick to reject new ideas, you will lose good ideas in the process and you will also discourage people from offering future ideas through fear of rejection. People who know their ideas will receive a considered and balanced evaluation will be more likely to continue submitting ideas. e. Honor their risk takers. This boosts morale and reminds people of the need to take risks. Moreover, good attempts must be rewarded, not just successes. f. Debrief every failure as well as every success. Most innovations fail. Although it’s tempting to let painful memories slide, the lessons are too valuable to be ignored. Especially learn from the failures of others – those are the cheapest mistakes! Ask the following questions: What did we do well? What did we do poorly? What did we learn from this? How can we do better the next time? g. Rely on God. Pray that God will lead you to new paths of opportunity to fulfill His purposes. He is the greatest Innovator of all! http://www.leadershipletters.com/1998/11/27/leaders-challenge-the-process-part-2/