1. Don’t worship self – work on your internal attitude – remember: it’s not all about you!
2. Value others – by tangible, external expressions - like expressing appreciation or saying “Thank you!” and meaning it.
3. Lead with a moral compass – if you have not thought about your core values, just ask yourself this question: “What would Christ do?”
4. Remember what a wise writer once wrote: – Accept the words of Wisdom as truth; memorize them and store them up; tune your ear to listen to people who are grounded in Wisdom; apply your heart to wisdom; i.e. your mind, will and emotions; and, finally, call for insight, ask for wisdom and cry aloud for understanding.
5. Realize that innovations, insights and impact in the market have their source in God – by doing this an attitude adjustment will follow which will be reflected in your treat other people
6. Show a concern for truth by the questions you ask peers, subordinates and bosses
7. When leading a team or a company, practice humility, modesty and shared decision-making
8. Practice personal discipline to guard your heart with being daily in the Word
9. Build influence by being authentic – For example: when you don’t know, don’t fake it: say you don’t know, but will find out.
10. Practice, with diligence, the art of observing, learning from results (good or bad – no matter), teaching what is learned and mentoring someone to take your place
Copyright (c) 2010 by P. Griffith Lindell
Showing posts with label active listening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label active listening. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, October 05, 2009
Silence is Golden
Proverbs 5:1-2 (AMP) MY SON, be attentive to my Wisdom [godly Wisdom learned by actual and costly experience], and incline your ear to my understanding [of what is becoming and prudent for you], that you may exercise proper discrimination and discretion and your lips may guard and keep knowledge and the wise answer [to temptation].
Leaders communicate. Effective leaders communicate well. Sometimes, however, communicating well means being quiet.
As some readers know, I was a theater major many years ago and completed all my graduate work, sans thesis, in theater. That schooling made it clear to me that actors are taught not only how to communicate, but also how to “be” in the silence between speaking parts. It is a form of active listening, as it were - being the character -which sometimes is not part of the direct conversation, but is part of the stage conversation.
Your leadership may call on you to practice discreet silence. Keeping one’s own counsel. “Playing their cards tight to their chest.” Guarding knowledge. When to speak about a matter and when to just listen takes discretion that is often born of experience – bad experiences.
As in all matters dealing with communication, one must be diligent to not only control the tongue, but also the body. Sometimes, our silence communicates the message we have withheld speaking.
Are you as careful with your silence as you are with your words?
Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Leaders communicate. Effective leaders communicate well. Sometimes, however, communicating well means being quiet.
As some readers know, I was a theater major many years ago and completed all my graduate work, sans thesis, in theater. That schooling made it clear to me that actors are taught not only how to communicate, but also how to “be” in the silence between speaking parts. It is a form of active listening, as it were - being the character -which sometimes is not part of the direct conversation, but is part of the stage conversation.
Your leadership may call on you to practice discreet silence. Keeping one’s own counsel. “Playing their cards tight to their chest.” Guarding knowledge. When to speak about a matter and when to just listen takes discretion that is often born of experience – bad experiences.
As in all matters dealing with communication, one must be diligent to not only control the tongue, but also the body. Sometimes, our silence communicates the message we have withheld speaking.
Are you as careful with your silence as you are with your words?
Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Monday, September 21, 2009
Leaders Pursue Godliness Even in the Workplace
Proverbs 21:21 (NLT) Whoever pursues godliness and unfailing love will find life, godliness, and honor.
Plato taught that moral thoughts are universal and that “the Good” can be attained through reason not through submission to revelation. Pursuing godliness is an act of submission.
Submitting or reasoning? We like the second: appeals to our ego.
Pursuing godliness (righteous living) and love (focus on others) in the workplace results in the kind of life that is attractive. The “work of the Lord” is always about love; therefore, we must speak the truth seasoned with grace.
Even when dealing with an under-performing employee, speaking brutal truth is about us: our reasoning ability to see what is “right and true.” Authentic leadership drives us to use compassion in exploration of the drivers of behaviors that result in negative impact on productivity (what Will Tuttle calls “ethical intelligence”). Honor results when we focus on the impact that truth will have on the hearer for the benefit of the Kingdom.
Pursuing godliness fuels personal outcomes that are attractive to God and others.
What fuels you?
Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Plato taught that moral thoughts are universal and that “the Good” can be attained through reason not through submission to revelation. Pursuing godliness is an act of submission.
Submitting or reasoning? We like the second: appeals to our ego.
Pursuing godliness (righteous living) and love (focus on others) in the workplace results in the kind of life that is attractive. The “work of the Lord” is always about love; therefore, we must speak the truth seasoned with grace.
Even when dealing with an under-performing employee, speaking brutal truth is about us: our reasoning ability to see what is “right and true.” Authentic leadership drives us to use compassion in exploration of the drivers of behaviors that result in negative impact on productivity (what Will Tuttle calls “ethical intelligence”). Honor results when we focus on the impact that truth will have on the hearer for the benefit of the Kingdom.
Pursuing godliness fuels personal outcomes that are attractive to God and others.
What fuels you?
Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
Leaders Understand the Danger of Fools
Proverbs 17:12 (NIV) Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.
Does this seem like a hyperbole? A bit melodramatic? A stretch? A human who spreads his/her folly more deadly than a 500 pound Syrian Brown Bear, with bared teeth, menacing growl, towering height and long claws, diving down and running at us?
Fear the deadly, angry mother bear vs. a person wise in their own eyes: doesn’t seem like a choice? A person, who having no need for God, with whom we seek out for advice, listen to and admire is more deadly than that mother bear!
Why is that? Is it because the folly of fools fills us with false hope. Or is it because that folly is seductive: it appeals to our self-centered natures. It makes us feel good -- feeling good is paramount today.
Perhaps it is because the world’s words, having wormed their way into our willing hearts and minds, seem somehow filled with wisdom. And, after all, if “everybody” is thinking “that” way, it takes courage to provide a different perspective.
We have become a timid lot, we followers of the Way. It seems that takes more courage to stand up to a passionate person, wise in their own eyes, having no need for God and seducing the world to idolatry (worshiping anything other than God - a fool in his folly) than the deadly, angry mother bear.
Sharing God’s Word with grace and truth demands of us a discipline of active listening and attractive communication. It demands asking good, thought-provoking questions, not vicious verbal attacks are passionate disagreement.
Committed Christian leaders must be always learning not only when to “stand up” – to discern the seduction of words and thoughts that have their genesis in Hell – but also what and how to say what honors God.
Who are you afraid of most: the bear or the fool?
Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Does this seem like a hyperbole? A bit melodramatic? A stretch? A human who spreads his/her folly more deadly than a 500 pound Syrian Brown Bear, with bared teeth, menacing growl, towering height and long claws, diving down and running at us?
Fear the deadly, angry mother bear vs. a person wise in their own eyes: doesn’t seem like a choice? A person, who having no need for God, with whom we seek out for advice, listen to and admire is more deadly than that mother bear!
Why is that? Is it because the folly of fools fills us with false hope. Or is it because that folly is seductive: it appeals to our self-centered natures. It makes us feel good -- feeling good is paramount today.
Perhaps it is because the world’s words, having wormed their way into our willing hearts and minds, seem somehow filled with wisdom. And, after all, if “everybody” is thinking “that” way, it takes courage to provide a different perspective.
We have become a timid lot, we followers of the Way. It seems that takes more courage to stand up to a passionate person, wise in their own eyes, having no need for God and seducing the world to idolatry (worshiping anything other than God - a fool in his folly) than the deadly, angry mother bear.
Sharing God’s Word with grace and truth demands of us a discipline of active listening and attractive communication. It demands asking good, thought-provoking questions, not vicious verbal attacks are passionate disagreement.
Committed Christian leaders must be always learning not only when to “stand up” – to discern the seduction of words and thoughts that have their genesis in Hell – but also what and how to say what honors God.
Who are you afraid of most: the bear or the fool?
Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Monday, May 18, 2009
Leaders Are All Ears
Proverbs 18:15 (AMP) The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking (inquiring for and craving) knowledge.
Leadership literature lights up when combining listening with leadership. “Google” the subject and within seconds 12,700,000 results those word.
Some 3000 years ago, the world’s wisest man suggested that listening is vital for growth. The New Testament has close to 15 passages related to the subject. Paul Tillich summed it up by stating, “The first duty of love is to listen.” We listen to God because we love him. We should listen to others for the same reason.
Listening demands effort and is intentional and important in God’s economy. One of the roles of leaders is to ask good questions and then listen to the responses. That takes time and is very different from “doing just stuff” – but, in fact, it is the stuff of leading.
Do you take the time to learn by listening?
Copyright ©20009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Leadership literature lights up when combining listening with leadership. “Google” the subject and within seconds 12,700,000 results those word.
Some 3000 years ago, the world’s wisest man suggested that listening is vital for growth. The New Testament has close to 15 passages related to the subject. Paul Tillich summed it up by stating, “The first duty of love is to listen.” We listen to God because we love him. We should listen to others for the same reason.
Listening demands effort and is intentional and important in God’s economy. One of the roles of leaders is to ask good questions and then listen to the responses. That takes time and is very different from “doing just stuff” – but, in fact, it is the stuff of leading.
Do you take the time to learn by listening?
Copyright ©20009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Leaders Listen & Take Advice
Proverbs12:15 (MSG) Fools are headstrong and do what they like; wise people take advice.
Listening leaders are the ones who have learned that the more they know, the more there is to know and they cannot know it all. Simply listening to advice and actually taking advice are two different activities.
In which activity are you engaged?
Listening leaders are the ones who have learned that the more they know, the more there is to know and they cannot know it all. Simply listening to advice and actually taking advice are two different activities.
In which activity are you engaged?
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Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Influential Leaders Listen…Well
Proverbs 5:1 (NIV) My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight…
Whether you are leading a small business, a large company, or a team, listening is a skill that has direct impact on your ability to be an influential leader. Listening, learned and applied, is priceless to the person to whom you are listening.
If listening simply means gathering and making sense out of information, and information drives effective communication, then we need to be intentional about developing effective listening skills.
Research indicates that fifty percent of our time is spent listening, but our real attention consumes only twenty five percent – the other half is spent thinking about what to say next. We lose our ability to listen at an alarming rate – in first grade, we heard 90% of instruction and by ninth grade that percentage plummeted to 25%.
In life and in business, the more effective your listening skills, the more you learn about what the prospective customer really needs; what the current customer considers as exquisite service; and what your staff thinks is needed build a team focused on growing revenue or profitability. As one writer states, “The time and money you save by listening effectively can make the difference between success and failure.”
Scripture tells us that developing a “the hearing ear,” or teachableness, results in happiness. Imagine that: a skill we can learn, if diligent, results in something just for us that make us appealing. Leaders who have developed that ear will attract followers not only because they are heard, but also because the leader, who is really listening, is not full of self and is…happy.
We all want to be heard. God does to: Are you listening?
Copyright © by P. Griffith Lindell
Whether you are leading a small business, a large company, or a team, listening is a skill that has direct impact on your ability to be an influential leader. Listening, learned and applied, is priceless to the person to whom you are listening.
If listening simply means gathering and making sense out of information, and information drives effective communication, then we need to be intentional about developing effective listening skills.
Research indicates that fifty percent of our time is spent listening, but our real attention consumes only twenty five percent – the other half is spent thinking about what to say next. We lose our ability to listen at an alarming rate – in first grade, we heard 90% of instruction and by ninth grade that percentage plummeted to 25%.
In life and in business, the more effective your listening skills, the more you learn about what the prospective customer really needs; what the current customer considers as exquisite service; and what your staff thinks is needed build a team focused on growing revenue or profitability. As one writer states, “The time and money you save by listening effectively can make the difference between success and failure.”
Scripture tells us that developing a “the hearing ear,” or teachableness, results in happiness. Imagine that: a skill we can learn, if diligent, results in something just for us that make us appealing. Leaders who have developed that ear will attract followers not only because they are heard, but also because the leader, who is really listening, is not full of self and is…happy.
We all want to be heard. God does to: Are you listening?
Copyright © by P. Griffith Lindell
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