Time and Season

I attended a leadership training session last year and there was quite a bit of material about being in touch with reality and trying to know yourself; self-awareness. They also talked about how leaders can easily get out of touch with themselves and others. Another aspect of awareness that I have thought about recently is the fact that a good leader must be in touch with seasons and learn to navigate for his or her team. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven”. Even the Byrds made this scripture popular back in the year 1965 when they released their folk-rock song, “Turn! Turn! Turn! To Everything There is a Season”.

There are many seasons an organization will go through and unless the organization responds correctly, it could lose its effectiveness, stagnate, or even die. There are seasons of growth, where everything is going fantastic. It’s as if nobody could do wrong and everything touched is golden. The leader’s job in this environment is to fuel the growth and play it out for as long as they can. Just like real seasons, though, this won’t last forever. Another season that follows seasons of growth might be called a season of fortification. In this season, the leader would want to fully assimilate the new players on the team, provide necessary training, work on process, and perfect quality in everything that is done. You will want to fortify what the organization has built and insure that the foundations are strong and that the people on the team have what they need to weather future seasons. Another season that is common is a season of transition. This season might happen when there are major changes in the environment or in the make-up of the organization. If the organization is a business, it might come in times of significant changes with products or service offerings due to major shifts in the marketplace. The economy and other external factors can trigger seasons of transition, too. The leader’s job here is to give voice and explanation about this reality. They need to discuss why the season is occurring, what it means, and how to travel through this time effectively. A season that most leaders have a lot of apprehension about is the season of doldrums. This season is like being on a sailing ship drifting in the ocean with no wind for your sails. Things are unusually flat, excitement has waned, vision about the future is dim, and the organization just feels stuck. In this season, it is imperative for the leader to shake things up and get some momentum for the organization. The good leader knows that if he or she doesn’t do something, the drift could become permanent. Lastly, there is another season called reinvention. This is time where the leader analyzes the whole organization and decides what needs to have a make-over, an overhaul, or just plain needs to be pitched over the side. Sometimes, you have to get rid of the old to make room for the new. It is similar to holding something in both your hands and having someone try to offer you something else that you would like to have. You have to put something down in order to hold something new.

A lot of leaders fail to grasp the importance of communicating to followers what sort of season they are in and helping them process their way through it. Most followers won’t even know what season they are in unless the leader tells them. The best leaders must learn to recognize the signs of the times and identify the seasons of change. When you see great growth, or a time of change, or feel the momentum slowing, draw attention to what is happening. Speak to the realities of that season and give language of expression to it. Define helpful parameters to succeed within it and offer confident direction for moving through it. You are always in a season and it is up to you to know which it is and what to do about it!

What kind of leader are you?

What is your leadership style? Are you autocratic? Are you a supportive type leader? It depends. Great leaders don't have just one leadership style. They learn to effectively use all styles and are able to apply them as needed. This is referred to as Situational Leadership and a lot of material on this matter has been proposed by Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey.

There are basically four main leadership styles that are combinations of supportive and directive behavior.

• Telling
• Selling/Coaching
• Participating
• Delegating

Each of these leadership styles coincides with a particular follower, based on the situation they are in. For instance, someone just starting to learn a new job assignment would be what is called an "Enthusiastic Beginner". They wouldn't be very competent, but they would be very willing to perform. This type of follower would need more "Telling" than anything else. They would need to be shown the actual steps to accomplish the work. Contrast this with the highest follower type of "Peak Performer or Independent Learner". This type of follower is a person who has proven themselves in a particular area and can be trusted to figure out how to accomplish the work given to them and they will find their own resources or answers to questions and problems they may face. They have high competence and confidence or willingness to achieve. The four follower types are:

• Enthusiastic Beginner
• Disillusioned Learner
• Reluctant Performer
• Peak Performer/Independent Learner

The goal for leaders is to identify the type of follower situation that is occurring and provide the appropriate leadership style to continually move the follower up the cycle, until they become a "Peak Performer or Independent Learner".

Referring to the model above, you can see that when you start in quadrant 1, which is the Enthusiastic Beginner, the leader is going to be providing more directive or "Telling" type leadership and not so much supportive or relationship type leadership. By relationship type leadership, I am referring to two-way communication, soliciting ideas or opinions, and inviting the follower to participate in or make decisions. Once the follower begins to attempt the job he/she was directed to do, they may become frustrated or lose some of their initial enthusiasm. Hence, that would put them in quadrant 2 or in the "Disillusioned Learner" category. Now, the leaders needs to provide a more supportive style. They will probably open up more of a two-way conversation and encourage the follower. They will engage in explaining how the task they are doing is important. That is why this leadership style is referred to as "Selling/Coaching". Once the follower is back engaged, they will gain competence, but like all of us, the excitement may wane and they may need some encouragement, but they know how to do their job, so they don't need much directive leadership. This stage is in quadrant 3 and is called the "Reluctant Performer. The associated leadership style for this situation is "Participating". The leader may come along side and relate more to the follower, while encouraging and discussing their issues. The final stage for the follower is when they are not only competent, but they recognize how they are contributing. They are a "Peak Performer or Independent Learner". They need very little interaction with the leader and they function well on their own, solving their own problems, and coming up with their own ideas. At this final stage the leader can go to a "Delegating" style and be less supportive and directive. These stages are on a continuum and followers tend to flow back and forth through the stages, depending on different situations. It is up to the leader to recognize where he or she is at with the follower and provide the appropriate leadership style to maximize results.

Be Curious

Be Curious

“Wonder or radical amazement, the state of maladjustment to words and notions, is, therefore a prerequisite for an authentic awareness of that which is. Standing eye to eye with being as being, we realize that we are able to look at the world with two faculties – with reason and with wonder. Through the first we try to explain or to adapt the world to our concepts, through the second we seek to adapt our minds to the world. Wonder rather than doubt is the root of knowledge.”

- Abraham J. Heschel
Jewish Philosopher and Judaic Scholar

The root of knowledge is being curious and seeing situations and things through the eyes of wonder, as a child sees them…not through the lens filtered with the prejudices and experiences of our past. As adults, we tend to have our eyes glazed over with all the problems we have faced in the past, all the crushed dreams, disappointments, all the pain, and loss. We call this experience and it means we are mature and can figure out most situations with a ready answer. This is not the way to stay fresh, growing, and learning. We can also have a tendency to look for the negative in the world around us, instead of hoping and looking for the good that inevitably exists, if we will only look for it.

We must approach all situations as if they are new situations and look for what we have never seen before. What could be considered amazing? What is unique about this time? What is good about this?

A young child is amazed with every new encounter…a butterfly, a flower, a new math concept, letters, words, reading, cats and puppy dogs. Their education happens more from their curiosity about things than from the book downloads in school. Why? Because they are curious, they explore. They try new things. They don’t know that they can’t do something. They experience life without hesitation. Their minds are eager to know why. They look for the good and want to have fun!

We need to cultivate this same attitude in our minds to look for the amazing and the unique aspect of every situation, in other people, and even in problems, so that perhaps we can see what the average person will never see. If we can do this, we will gain infinitely more knowledge. We will grow mentally and emotionally beyond those great men and women in history who have come and gone before. We will see solutions to problems that we would have stepped over, just like everyone else in the crowd. We will have healthier relationships with others, which all successful people know is key to the future.

I challenge you to look for the amazing, the good, and the unique in everything you encounter!