Steve's Thoughts on Building Leaders

We are a builder species, put on this earth to grow, create and build things. This is a great way to consider our walk in life. In the old days when colonies were smaller and technology not so advanced, teamwork was a must. Communities relied on one another for harvest, building and to a greater extent raising children. In order to survive, communities relied on building strong relationships, helping each other out and working for the greater good of the community. There was no way a farmer was going to get his barn roof raised without most of the town, helping out in the build. And yet as technology has advanced, we have moved away from this critical sense of community and movement towards a common goal.

Many people today see teamwork as a corporate buzz word to get you to work harder and longer: a necessary evil. But teamwork is the result of one patient, caring and selfless person leading a group of people, helping them to see why it is in the best interest of all parties to attain the “common goal.” This takes clear direction and measurable and specific rewarding. But more importantly, it takes the ability to built trust and rapport. Developing these skills take a considerable amount of pre-planning and personal refocusing. And most of all, they take heart. It is said that authenticity is the hardest thing to fake. When a leader genuinely cares and then applies the discipline to develop and grow his/her team, the results are astounding. The team responds in kind and rallies for the good of the community.

Hungry to Matter: Hungry for Joy

Yesterday, at a consultants networking meeting, I had the pleasure of hearing Geoff Bellman speak. Geoff is a seasoned consultant, overall insightful fellow and author of:

• The Quest for Staff Leadership



• The Beauty of the Beast



• Getting Things Done When You Are Not in Charge.

He invited the group to re-live the feeling of participating on a highly effective team. There is really nothing like it. Experiencing the ecstatic thill of achieving something really challenging and revelling in the shared success. Bellman asked us to look even more deeply into the requirements for a high performing team. We were clear on what was required: a clear and common vision, trust, respect, clear definition of roles and responsibilities. Beyond that, Bellman urged us to consider the very primitive and basic needs that participating on a team serves. Those needs appear on Mazlow's heirarchy of needs. Things like being curious about the world around us and wanting to make a difference; needing to understand the world and succeed in it, knowing what we can and can't control and knowing just as clearly, what we have power over and finally knowing that we make a difference in the world.

This process helped me make a connection between why the criteria for high performing teams is so necessary. That it feeds something much deeper in our souls. Driving home from Bellman's speech, I heard an interviewer with Barbara Ehrenreich, anthropologist and author of Dancing in The Streets. Her book on collective joy, community dancing and rituals also supports our very human need to share joy. That all cultures have found a way to collectively express joy and that often, the higher reining in the society have frowned upon this collective celebration, fearing anarchy. Barbara has a great post today on CEO compensation. http://ehrenreich.blogs.com/barbaras_blog/

I am reminded today that we all hunger to matter; we hunger for joy; we hunger to belong. The leaders that recognize that and build on it find an unparalleled loyalty in their teams.