As a manager, administrator, and parent I like things to be organized. I like point A to lead to point B. Knowing and working with people who have ADHD helps me grow out of my linear mindset. Sometimes the path zigzags and loops around a couple times… and that is a blessing.
20 Things to Remember If You Love Someone With ADD
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/20-things-remember-you-love-person-with-add.html
This article discusses two things I have found very true in my walk as a leader. The first is its reference to John Gardner. Gardner’s book, On Leadership, does the best job explaining the tasks that encompass leading an organization. The second is that my experience of feeling like I am perpetually learning how to lead is not a bad thing.
The Best Leaders Are Insatiable Learners – http://pulse.me/s/2B9bYm
This morning at breakfast my teenage daughter had an anxious look on her face. She has several big things on her plate this weekend. I could tell she was worrying. I reminded her of two things. The first came from her youth pastor, Greg Summers, last night. He reminded a group of kids who were dealing with a tragedy that “Whenever you start to get overwhelmed keep your thoughts focused on the Great I Am. Look at our great and mighty God, not the circumstances.” Second I reminded her of my favorite quote from Dan Allan, our senior pastor, “If you have a small god you’ve got BIG PROBLEMS; but, if you’ve got a BIG GOD, you’ve got small problems.”
We all need to be reminded of these things from time to time.
One lesson from the story of Jonah in the Bible:: God is relentless in his pursuit of us.
One of the realities of leading is that there are always many voices trying to make a point and sway the decision about how to solve a problem. I find that I need to have good tools to help me sort out the truth. Lately I have really been forcing myself to peel back the layers so I can see the problem at its source or “headwaters” and develop the solution beginning from there rather than adopting a fix that is targeted merely at the symptoms.
Here is a nice reminder not to let others define you… http://acculturated.com/daily-scene/10-painful-rejection-letters-to-famous-people-proving-you-should-never-give-up-your-dreams-distractify/
Kouzes and Posner write about about it in The Leadership Challenge. Warren Bennis writes about it in On Becoming a Leader… the reality that effective leaders are learners. I find myself though, not only in need of learning, but also relearning. I am frequently reminded of the lessons I’ve learned and forgotten. Little things like always check my junk mail file because invariably, something important is in there, or something more impactful, like keeping tabs on how tired or stressed I am so I don’t over-react to people. Today my relearning involved being mindful of what I am communicating. Not so much the words, but how and what I am emphasizing. As a leader what I emphasize becomes what the organization emphasizes. I’m praying I’ll be a leader whose communication emphasizes the importance of our organization staying focused on the energizing and creative ways it can accomplish its mission.
I have been listening to this line on a song in my I-Pod for last couple days,
“If you want to show’em who is the boss, then you have to trade your high- horse for a cross”- Jenny Anne Mannan.
It has made me realize I need to reread Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership.
If I am to be effective in leading our organization in accomplishing its mission, I must come alongside side people as a servant and teacher, helping them connect the dots from the “how-to-the-why” we do what we do.
Being a leader is either a continual process of evolution in effectiveness or a journey to stagnation and decline.
I’m reading Jim Collins’ book, How the Mighty Fall. I really appreciate his ability to make
helpful and practical conclusions from his research. In appendix five of this work he highlights six principles for what makes someone the “right” employee. I like what he has to say,
1) The right people fit with the company’s values.
2) The right people do not need to be tightly managed.
3) The right people understand they do not have “jobs”; they have responsibilities.
4)The right people fulfill their commitments.
5)The right people are passionate about the company and its work.
6) The right people display “window and mirror” maturity. By this he means that when things go well the right people point out at factors other than themselves, and when things go wrong they do not blame others but see how they were responsible.
So true…