Byron's Babbles

I love the phrase “different strokes for different folks.” I’m such a believer and advocate for individualization, personalization, and differentiation for everyone. We work at this in education for all scholars, but we need to be diligent about doing this for those adults we serve as well. Here we are in the ninth week of the year and in Simple Truth #9, “Effective Servant Leaders Realize They Have To Use Different Strokes For Different Folks”, in Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways To Be A Servant Leader and Build Trust, Making Common Sense Common Practice by Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley we are told that the best leaders use different strokes (leadership styles) for different folks. To be flexible and differentiate for those we serve we must, “Determine whether they are generally an Enthusiastic Beginner; a Disillusioned Learner; a Capable, but Cautious, Contributor; or a Self-Reliant Achiever” (p. 29). I’m going to make you read this great book to get all the details.

Furthermore, I believe this flexibility is part of loving those we serve. When we really take the time to understand and build relationships with others, whether our students or those we work with, we can help to individualize and differentiate for what styles and support will enable them to thrive.

I’m glad I hadn’t written this post reflecting on Simple Truth #7, “When People Are Off Track, Don’t Reprimand Them – Redirect Them”, in Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways To Be A Servant Leader and Build Trust, Making Common Sense Common Practice by Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley before a leadership development gathering I facilitated last night because a conversation added value to the book content. We discussed how important it is to show grace, have empathy, and practice compassion. One leader asked, “What happens when the person you are showing grace to just isn’t getting the job done?” A great discussion ensued. Many even shared their stories of being on both sides of that question. Long story short, where we landed was that there has to be grace with accountability. If we really love those we serve this is the right thing to do. So, for example, if a person has had some change that causes him to be a little late to work, then there can be the accountability of, “what’s our goal of when we can get back to being on time?” Or, even better, could there be some adjustment made for that person to work later in the day that would help out someone needing to leave earlier? This is what loving those we serve is all about. We say it can’t be one size fits all for students, why does it have to be one size fits all for adults? I don’t think it does.

This all caused me to reflect even more on what Blanchard called “side-by-side leadership.” He stressed that we are almost always in learning mode and “Punishing a learner is never appropriate…” (p. 23). Ever had that boss that liked to reprimand? You know, the one you only heard from when we made a mistake – in today’s world usually in the form of a text or email. Not real helpful, right? Blanchard said, and I believe this goes right along with our grace with accountability discussion last night that, “When people are clear on the goal and still learning but their performance isn’t up to standard, redirection is far more effective than a reprimand. The aim is to BUILD (emphasis added by me) people up so they will continue to move toward improved performance” (p. 23). So, let’s all get side-by-side with those we serve and build, build, build!

It’s funny; we all have that word when we are learning to talk that our parents told the story about. Mine was calling candles at Christmas time “nandles.” By my birthday I had perfected my speaking and called them candles on my birthday cake. For my son it was “corn on the bob” instead of “corn on the cob.” The point of the story is that we both eventually got it right. As an educator, I’ve always understood the power of praising progress and growth to proficiency. Somehow, though, many leaders forget this with adults.

This week in Simple Truth #6, “Praise Progress!”, in Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways To Be A Servant Leader and Build Trust, Making Common Sense Common Practice we are told by Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley that “Good performance is a moving target, not a final destination” (p. 21). Their point is that if we are serving correctly as a leader we will be coaching, developing, and cheerleading along the way – not just waiting to see if there is success or failure. As we’re told by Ken and Randy, “Exactly right behavior is made up of a series of approximately right behaviors” (p. 21). Nandles became candles and corn on the bob became corn on the cob. What was your word you had approximately right?

Goals are very important. I don’t think anyone will argue that. Even just starting meetings by reminding everyone the goal to be accomplished is important to keeping us from going down rabbit holes. Having said that, I have always been fascinated to watch how leaders use goals – or not. In Simple Truth #4, All Good Performance Starts With Clear Goals, in Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways To Be A Servant Leader and Build Trust, Making Common Sense Common Practice we are told by Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley that great leaders help those they serve to “…establish observable and measurable goals around their key areas of responsibility” (p. 17). I have witnessed leaders who are all about setting the SMART (see picture) goals, but then do not give the support needed for those they serve to accomplish the goals.

The authors called this out with what they called the “activity trap.” Blanchard and Conley said, “As a result, people tend to get caught in an activity trap where they are busy doing tasks – but not necessarily the right tasks” (p. 17). For some leaders it almost seems like they believe it is an honor to have their people, and even themselves, overloaded with the trivial issues, irritations, requests, and routine activities that eat up our time and resources. If we really want to shape the future, see around the corners, and look into the future we must use our goals and then set the strategy to achieve them. Getting caught up in the activity trap keeps leaders and their organizations from fulfilling their strategic mission.

Remember, activities completed do not necessarily equal desired outputs or worthwhile outcomes. This activity trap also kills innovation. Doing a bunch of activities prescribed by someone else does not mean that we have achieved the desired output or outcome, or set up other dependent activities for success. I believe this is a real problem in the area of education, where I spend a lot of time. Many times teachers are given many prescribed activities that are not really driving student achievement. The moral of this story is that we need to set the right SMART goals for outcomes and then support those we serve to achieve them with them using their own data to make decisions and adjustments.

You all know how I love books that are split up into 52 distinct chapters/lessons. Well, here in the first week of 2022 I have been blessed with starting a new one, by an author who I greatly respect, have read all his books, and heard him speak several times. That author is Dr. Ken Blanchard. I’m sure you recognize that name. I am on the launch team for Dr. Blanchard’s new book that he wrote with Randy Conley, Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways To Be A Servant Leader and Build Trust, Making Common Sense Common Practice. I was so excited to get an advance copy of the book and to make this the book that I commit to doing one of the lessons each week and writing a blog post about in 2022. The book releases on February 1st. You need to go ahead and get your pre-order done.

I had to chuckle when I first started reading this book and came across, “When it comes to servant leadership and trust, we both wonder why the principles we see as common sense are so seldom used in common practice” in the introduction of the book. Ken went on to say, “If today’s leaders had a more commonsense approach to leadership, we’d venture to say that 65 to 70 percent of the workforce would not be considered disengaged.” This is such a timely book because a common theme keeps coming up in my leadership development work – we are forgetting the simple things. In fact, I blogged about Simple Things in one of my last posts of 2021 before I’d even started this book. I am super excited to dig in and unpack the learning of this great book. The book is divided into two parts. The first part is on servant leadership and written by Ken Blanchard. Randy Conley wrote the second part on building trust. So, let’s dive right in with lesson #1.

Simple Truth #1 – Servant Leadership is the best way to achieve both great results and great relationships.

We are reminded that we all need to feel connected and have a shared sense of what is valued. “Results” and “people” are not mutually exclusive. Vision and direction are leadership responsibilities, but cannot be a top-down function. As I always say, if you have included everyone on the front end, you don’t have to worry about buy in on the back end, because it will already be there. And, if we are truly servant leaders we will be shoulder to shoulder with those we serve providing personal and professional growth opportunities, actionable feedback, listening, and communication. We can have our cake and eat it too when it comes to results and relationships.