Part 5 The Third R in Leadership
Report
Reporting or messaging is very important to our reproducing the results we want for our team. What is the REASON for your team? Why was it created? To know someone’s destiny or to know an organization’s destiny we need to know why it was made in the first place.
What is your mission? What are your core values? What is your vision or your vision statement? What is your team’s purpose? We need to know this because we need to communicate this to the team and the team leaders and our customers.
This will be our message. This will be our brand. We need to know what our message, our brand and our purpose and we need to know it with clarity. Clarity is power. If you are going to “stay on message” we need to know what that message is.
What is your message? It will be found in your purpose. The reason for your existence as a team or company or and organization. What are your core values? You don’t need to invent your core values you need to identify them. They are in the heart of your organization and will be found when you know the purpose of your mission.
Core values, mission statements, vision statements, philosophies, traditions and guiding principles should all be clarified and then communicated to and through the team. They must be written down!
Role
Before a team member can truly understand the message and the vision of the organization they need to be clear about their role on the team. What is their role? What is their title? What is their mission, their vision, what is their purpose for the team?
Before they can take on a worthy role for the team, they must know who they are. What are their strengths? What are their gifts, their talents, what is their personal vision? What is their purpose? What is their race to run? What is their calling?
As a team leader you need to know this so you can place them in their strength zone. No one will be successful if they are not in their strength zone. Their gifted area. The “B†team can beat the “A†team if the “B’ team is in their strength zone and the “A†team is not! John Maxwell’s high school’s basketball coach used to have the A team scrimmage the B team. He put the B team in their regular positions and he placed the A team members in a position they were not good at. The B team would win! What is your team member’s position? That is where rapport comes in. That is why connecting and listening are so important. We need to know our team member’s strengths so we can place them in the right role.
Before you can help your team find their role and their strengths, you need to know your role and your strengths. Role is the first R in leadership. You have a role, great. It was probably given to you and you have probably earned your title or position, your role. The good news is you have a title, that bad news your title does not make you a leader. John Maxwell says “leadership is a verb not a noun.†Leadership is not a role or a title. This is what this whole message is about, leadership!
What are your strengths? What is your race to run? What is your purpose, not just on the team but in life itself? What is your mission? What are your gifts and talents? As a true leader you must know these things. When you do, a true leader surrounds themselves with people that are stronger in some areas than they are.
Find your weakness and then find other’s strength and then place everyone accordingly. A true leader will not be insecure of other people’s strengths. They welcome them. When I say weaknesses, I am not talking about character flaws.
             Rectitude verses Reputation
When I use the word rectitude, I really mean character, but rectitude starts with an R. Rectitude means good behavior, or character. Character is more important than reputation. Reputation is who people think you are and character is who you really are.
I hope your character matches your hidden man of the heart. Your real you. Your integrity you. If it doesn’t you can change that instantly. I believe we can improve our character flaws by changing our attitudes.
The apostle Paul said “to be transformed (changed) by the renewing of your minds.†We can change our world by changing our thinking. I believe we can change our lives, change our character behavior and change our attitudes, from bad to good. I don’t believe we can change our gifts and our talents. We either have them or we don’t. I do believe we can improve on the gifts that we have.
We need to practice and hone in on our gifts and talents and make them skills. But stay in your strength zone. Improve the weakness of your strength don’t try to make strong your weaknesses. Unless your weakness are in your character, improve them.
Break out of your comfort zone but don’t break out of your strength zone. What I mean by this is if you are complacent in your strengths, you are in your comfort zone. Break out of that and stretch yourself into new skills and strengths. But don’t leave your strength zone and try to get “good†at something you are not called to do and you have no gift for.
I could spend all my time and money trying to sing or golf or be a great swimmer or an artist or a thousand things that I am not gifted in. But I would never get much better at them. But if I spend all my time improving on what I am gifted in, my improvements will be exponential!
Once you become whole, living life from you heart and true self, you have integrity, and once you know your strengths you can help others find theirs. And then you can help your organization with theirs.
What is your race and purpose and gifts and talents and strength zone? What are your team member’s race and purpose and gifts and talents and strength zone? And what is your organization’s race and purpose and gifts and talents and strength zone?