Proverbs 21:5 (NLT) Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.
Shortcuts in life, and in business, are doomed to certain poverty. Do you believe that?
In our culture, diligence is out. Blatant self-promotion, even looking silly, is in. Looking for the shortcuts has become the grist of reality TV and a way of American life. Planning has become confused with scheming, alliances, lying, quick decisions, "winning" at all costs.
Howard Shultz, founder of Starbucks, relates, “A phrase used by one of the most organized and successful companies I ever worked for….Proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance!"
Planning, preparation, performance, prosperity - No short cuts in that list!
On whom do you depend when planning? What defines your prosperity?
Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Showing posts with label collaboration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collaboration. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
No Leader Is An Island
Proverbs 24:6 (MSG) Strategic planning [wise guidance (NLT)] is the key to warfare; to win, you need a lot of good counsel.
Collaboration is a key to effective strategy development. Insights from all categories of stakeholders are valuable. No stakeholder should be deemed “insignificant” or “incompetent” to provide insights to the external and internal factors shaping your strategy.
Leaders in new organizations benefit from the current team’s corporate knowledge, even if it is based on an “old” paradigm and is not in sync with the leader’s new vision. Their current understanding of customers, competitors and the company (the important three “C’s” in business) provide valuable insights in a current-state analysis. As one of my colleagues once put it: you must understand your customers intimately, your competitors thoroughly and your firm brutally.
The same may be said for living a significant life at work, at play and at home. There exists a spiritual battle for the Christian leader. You are not warring against flesh and blood, but principalities, powers and rulers of darkness whose aim it to keep you from achieving significance – especially significance that counts for eternity,
Understanding the three “C’s” above can well drive your product introduction battles. They also drive your life battles (think customers as those you serve as a leader; competitors as Satan and his minions; company as you, and your family). Understanding for both “battles” cannot be done in a vacuum. Personal and corporate “victories” result when you have wise counsel from wise people.
Have you “wised” up?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Collaboration is a key to effective strategy development. Insights from all categories of stakeholders are valuable. No stakeholder should be deemed “insignificant” or “incompetent” to provide insights to the external and internal factors shaping your strategy.
Leaders in new organizations benefit from the current team’s corporate knowledge, even if it is based on an “old” paradigm and is not in sync with the leader’s new vision. Their current understanding of customers, competitors and the company (the important three “C’s” in business) provide valuable insights in a current-state analysis. As one of my colleagues once put it: you must understand your customers intimately, your competitors thoroughly and your firm brutally.
The same may be said for living a significant life at work, at play and at home. There exists a spiritual battle for the Christian leader. You are not warring against flesh and blood, but principalities, powers and rulers of darkness whose aim it to keep you from achieving significance – especially significance that counts for eternity,
Understanding the three “C’s” above can well drive your product introduction battles. They also drive your life battles (think customers as those you serve as a leader; competitors as Satan and his minions; company as you, and your family). Understanding for both “battles” cannot be done in a vacuum. Personal and corporate “victories” result when you have wise counsel from wise people.
Have you “wised” up?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Monday, April 20, 2009
Leaders Take the Time for Counsel
Proverbs 20:18 (AMP) Purposes and plans are established by counsel; and [only] with good advice make or carry on war.
Of course, you might say, leadership asks for advice.
Not according to a survey of 1,400 leaders and managers (by the Ken Blanchard Group) as reported by Nic Paton in www.Management-issues.com. It seems that a whopping 81 per cent of the respondents reported that leaders failed to listen or involve others in the process of planning.
Listening to the team and collaborating drives businesses success. The new CEO, with a new perspective and philosophy, has the difficult, but essential task of mining the imbued wisdom of the existing team before personal adjustments are made. Strategic planning process should be a team effort. Established leaders must develop an intentional process to collaborate. A process that cannot be cookie-cutter – it must match the leader’s learning style and/or communications style. Intentionality is key.
God, who promised us wisdom, not only imparts His wisdom through his Word, but also through others. The growing success of groups like Christ@work) or Wise Counsel or the Internal Coalition of Workplace Ministries demonstrates the benefits of wise, Biblically-based business counsel. A new resource can be found at Kingdom Business.
Are you connected to wise counsel?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Of course, you might say, leadership asks for advice.
Not according to a survey of 1,400 leaders and managers (by the Ken Blanchard Group) as reported by Nic Paton in www.Management-issues.com. It seems that a whopping 81 per cent of the respondents reported that leaders failed to listen or involve others in the process of planning.
Listening to the team and collaborating drives businesses success. The new CEO, with a new perspective and philosophy, has the difficult, but essential task of mining the imbued wisdom of the existing team before personal adjustments are made. Strategic planning process should be a team effort. Established leaders must develop an intentional process to collaborate. A process that cannot be cookie-cutter – it must match the leader’s learning style and/or communications style. Intentionality is key.
God, who promised us wisdom, not only imparts His wisdom through his Word, but also through others. The growing success of groups like Christ@work) or Wise Counsel or the Internal Coalition of Workplace Ministries demonstrates the benefits of wise, Biblically-based business counsel. A new resource can be found at Kingdom Business.
Are you connected to wise counsel?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Friday, April 17, 2009
Leaders Know Who to Fear
Proverbs 17:12 (NIV) Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly
You are on a leadership retreat in the wild. Does this proverb seem like a hyperbole? A bit melodramatic? A stretch? A human - a living, thinking fool spouting off foolishness -is more deadly than an upright 500 pound Syrian Brown Bear, with bared teeth, menacing growl, towering height and long claws, diving down and running at you?
Hard to imagine that, but we are asked to. We would desperately try to avoid cute little bear cubs if we found them while hiking. No provocation from us. Avoidance at all costs – just as we are to avoid the advice and counsel of those who live life as if there were no God.
A bear; a fool: A person wise in their own eyes can do greater damage After all (we think) we can debate the fool but are not strong enough to withstand the bear - unless we had a sufficient weapon and we knew how to use it so as not to enrage the bear and spawn further attacks. Ah, the comfort of false thinking!
Relationships, not rhetoric wins people. We have become a timid lot, we followers of the Way. Some, because they are not sufficiently armed to “fight” with both an intellectual resolve and a non-judgmental relationship strategy. Others have accepted the marginalization of the Christian worldview as the way things should be (separate business from faith) and, fearful of rhetoric, never engage in relationship.
We are willing to listen when we should stand up to speak; and we stand up to speak only when the audience is “safe.” The attack of the “foolish” can be as divesting as the mother bear! We really do know that.
Are you sufficiently armed to stand up and speak?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
You are on a leadership retreat in the wild. Does this proverb seem like a hyperbole? A bit melodramatic? A stretch? A human - a living, thinking fool spouting off foolishness -is more deadly than an upright 500 pound Syrian Brown Bear, with bared teeth, menacing growl, towering height and long claws, diving down and running at you?
Hard to imagine that, but we are asked to. We would desperately try to avoid cute little bear cubs if we found them while hiking. No provocation from us. Avoidance at all costs – just as we are to avoid the advice and counsel of those who live life as if there were no God.
A bear; a fool: A person wise in their own eyes can do greater damage After all (we think) we can debate the fool but are not strong enough to withstand the bear - unless we had a sufficient weapon and we knew how to use it so as not to enrage the bear and spawn further attacks. Ah, the comfort of false thinking!
Relationships, not rhetoric wins people. We have become a timid lot, we followers of the Way. Some, because they are not sufficiently armed to “fight” with both an intellectual resolve and a non-judgmental relationship strategy. Others have accepted the marginalization of the Christian worldview as the way things should be (separate business from faith) and, fearful of rhetoric, never engage in relationship.
We are willing to listen when we should stand up to speak; and we stand up to speak only when the audience is “safe.” The attack of the “foolish” can be as divesting as the mother bear! We really do know that.
Are you sufficiently armed to stand up and speak?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Leaders Practice Collaboration
Proverbs 15:22 (NLV) Plans go wrong without talking together, but they will go well when many wise men talk about what to do.
Fresh perspectives are vital to innovation.
Research has shown that collaboration that results from participative management in a flat organization drives better business decisions. According to Sirota, Mischkind and Meltzer in The Enthusiastic Employee, camaraderie that grows in a collaborative environment is one of the fundamental desires of employees. Your key employee turnover may be a key to the answer to how well you collaborate.
In Built To Last, Collins and Porras found that higher performing companies promoted from within – a process facilitated in a collaborative environment which does not happen in a vacuum: it is the result of people actually talking together - not a person telling someone something. Richness of perspective yields well-shaped solutions that drive enduring relationships with the team, vendors, suppliers and customers.
For entrepreneurs, collaboration sometimes must take place within an Advisory Board. If you are a SOHO entrepreneur, you will find the collaboration with members of such a board will add depth of understanding and a perspective, often desperately needed when you are measuring the bark of each tree while they are looking at the shape of the forest.
Are you leading by collaborating or by telling?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Fresh perspectives are vital to innovation.
Research has shown that collaboration that results from participative management in a flat organization drives better business decisions. According to Sirota, Mischkind and Meltzer in The Enthusiastic Employee, camaraderie that grows in a collaborative environment is one of the fundamental desires of employees. Your key employee turnover may be a key to the answer to how well you collaborate.
In Built To Last, Collins and Porras found that higher performing companies promoted from within – a process facilitated in a collaborative environment which does not happen in a vacuum: it is the result of people actually talking together - not a person telling someone something. Richness of perspective yields well-shaped solutions that drive enduring relationships with the team, vendors, suppliers and customers.
For entrepreneurs, collaboration sometimes must take place within an Advisory Board. If you are a SOHO entrepreneur, you will find the collaboration with members of such a board will add depth of understanding and a perspective, often desperately needed when you are measuring the bark of each tree while they are looking at the shape of the forest.
Are you leading by collaborating or by telling?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Monday, April 13, 2009
Leaders Lives Are Living Lessons
Proverbs 13: 14 (MSG) The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, so, no more drinking from death-tainted wells!
In an article in Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge publication, authors Sirota, Mischkind and Meltzer deduced that one does not have to motivate employees; they have to stop demotivating them.
They posit three goals – behaviors, really – that must be met: equity, achievement and camaraderie: in other words, treat people justly and with respect; recognize their contributions; and promote teamwork. With these practiced, demotivation will cease and teams will be built.
Core values of an organization, like these three, are the promises its members make to one another. They can’t be traded off: they each must be met. The values become "alive" in an organization when the leader practices them - the leader's life is the lesson.
Interesting: each of the three are taught in Scripture – our “fountain of life” - where the Christian leader is to be drinking deeply.
Are you a “fountain of life” to your team?
Copyright (c) 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
In an article in Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge publication, authors Sirota, Mischkind and Meltzer deduced that one does not have to motivate employees; they have to stop demotivating them.
They posit three goals – behaviors, really – that must be met: equity, achievement and camaraderie: in other words, treat people justly and with respect; recognize their contributions; and promote teamwork. With these practiced, demotivation will cease and teams will be built.
Core values of an organization, like these three, are the promises its members make to one another. They can’t be traded off: they each must be met. The values become "alive" in an organization when the leader practices them - the leader's life is the lesson.
Interesting: each of the three are taught in Scripture – our “fountain of life” - where the Christian leader is to be drinking deeply.
Are you a “fountain of life” to your team?
Copyright (c) 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Friday, March 13, 2009
Collaborative Change Management Success Begins with Humility
Proverbs 13:10 (MSG) Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord, but wise men and women listen to each other's counsel.
In a discussion about misplaced arrogance in leaders, the Center for Creative Leadership recently reminded its audience, “The leading reason managers [leaders] with impressive track records and high potential get knocked off the career track is their inability or unwillingness to change.”
Our current state of the economy - less customers; inventory building; layoffs occurring; a host of challenges to the status quo - demands change. Collaboration becomes the key resource in a small business. Interdependence yields team-based results. Rowing the boat in sync helps manage the stormy seas of the economy. This is not the time for arrogance.
As Jim Collins, author of Good to Great discovered, leaders who successfully manage change are not only humble, but also have learned to collaborate.
Are you fostering collaboration? Are you willing to listen?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
In a discussion about misplaced arrogance in leaders, the Center for Creative Leadership recently reminded its audience, “The leading reason managers [leaders] with impressive track records and high potential get knocked off the career track is their inability or unwillingness to change.”
Our current state of the economy - less customers; inventory building; layoffs occurring; a host of challenges to the status quo - demands change. Collaboration becomes the key resource in a small business. Interdependence yields team-based results. Rowing the boat in sync helps manage the stormy seas of the economy. This is not the time for arrogance.
As Jim Collins, author of Good to Great discovered, leaders who successfully manage change are not only humble, but also have learned to collaborate.
Are you fostering collaboration? Are you willing to listen?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Friday, February 27, 2009
Leaders and the Power of Friendship
Proverbs 27:17 (NKJV) As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
People are meant to be interdependent. John Donne reminded us that “no man is an island” and it today’s economy, being connected is important and ultimately healthy to each of us. Conversation helps. Praying together helps more. Find one or two friends with whom you can connect.
But then note: it is iron we are talking about. Not tin. Not soft rock. Strong iron is filed by other iron ores to refine its shape, to sharpen its edge or to shine its surface. A lonely piece of unrefined iron, by itself, does little.
It should never be “lonely at the top” for effective leadership is not a solitary endeavor. The leader must have around friends who provoke the leader to deeper thinking (energizing the intellect) or provide authentic encouragement --both brighten the countenance.
Testing ideas in conversation refines our skills: it is also the penetrating questions of the soul that shapes our spiritual being. The influence is great; therefore, leaders must choose wisely the friends who would brighten their countenance.
Do you have friends that can sharpen you? That you can sharpen?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
________________________________
EMAIL: griff@lindellassociates.net
WEB: Lindell Associates
LinkedIn: Griff
Blogs: On Leadership
On Marketing, Management, Personal Growth
Twitter: PGriffithL
People are meant to be interdependent. John Donne reminded us that “no man is an island” and it today’s economy, being connected is important and ultimately healthy to each of us. Conversation helps. Praying together helps more. Find one or two friends with whom you can connect.
But then note: it is iron we are talking about. Not tin. Not soft rock. Strong iron is filed by other iron ores to refine its shape, to sharpen its edge or to shine its surface. A lonely piece of unrefined iron, by itself, does little.
It should never be “lonely at the top” for effective leadership is not a solitary endeavor. The leader must have around friends who provoke the leader to deeper thinking (energizing the intellect) or provide authentic encouragement --both brighten the countenance.
Testing ideas in conversation refines our skills: it is also the penetrating questions of the soul that shapes our spiritual being. The influence is great; therefore, leaders must choose wisely the friends who would brighten their countenance.
Do you have friends that can sharpen you? That you can sharpen?
Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
________________________________
EMAIL: griff@lindellassociates.net
WEB: Lindell Associates
LinkedIn: Griff
Blogs: On Leadership
On Marketing, Management, Personal Growth
Twitter: PGriffithL
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Leaders Can Debate Without Debasing
Proverbs 24:7 (MSG) Wise conversation is way over the head of fools; in a serious discussion they haven't a clue.
Life is a spiritual battle: the world tries to make it material. The economic condition of 2009 is a good example of spiritual battles being fought by powers and forces of the unseen. Now, imagine positing this at your next cocktail party. Not working for you, right?
The Sarbanes-Oxley environment over the last several years has produced much talking, little wise conversation. The world just does not "get it." As one public executive told me, "The Ten Commandants haven't worked; why should we think our rules will work?" He missed the spiritual element.
A discussion of ethics without a discussion of morality and truth is useless, yet it happens often. The content of many texts assume ethics is an emergent attribute of evolved human behavior.
Recognizing the spiritual forces in play, a wise leader’s conversation is more about parables than pontification; it’s peppered with interesting questions rather than interrupting sarcasm; and although it is simple, it is not simplistic.
Sensitive to the spiritual void, a wise leader can approach an issue without being antagonistic to the person.
You know, like Jesus did.
Copyright (c) 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Life is a spiritual battle: the world tries to make it material. The economic condition of 2009 is a good example of spiritual battles being fought by powers and forces of the unseen. Now, imagine positing this at your next cocktail party. Not working for you, right?
The Sarbanes-Oxley environment over the last several years has produced much talking, little wise conversation. The world just does not "get it." As one public executive told me, "The Ten Commandants haven't worked; why should we think our rules will work?" He missed the spiritual element.
A discussion of ethics without a discussion of morality and truth is useless, yet it happens often. The content of many texts assume ethics is an emergent attribute of evolved human behavior.
Recognizing the spiritual forces in play, a wise leader’s conversation is more about parables than pontification; it’s peppered with interesting questions rather than interrupting sarcasm; and although it is simple, it is not simplistic.
Sensitive to the spiritual void, a wise leader can approach an issue without being antagonistic to the person.
You know, like Jesus did.
Copyright (c) 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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Friday, February 13, 2009
Collaborate: Lesson from the “Stimulus” Bill
Proverbs 13:10 (MSG) Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord, but wise men and women listen to each other's counsel.
Caught-up in their hubris, ideology drove a Bill to completion without real input from those with legitimate and different views. Despite protestations to the contrary by the President, the facts (and the rhetoric of the Speaker) tell a different story. More discord will result. Less collaboration will rule the day. Not the kind of change wanted.
As Jim Collins, author of Good to Great discovered, leaders who successfully manage change are not only humble, but also have learned to collaborate.
These business times demand honest collaboration, looking at potential results of each position and that position’s ability to meet real needs. This is not time for arrogance. This is the time to “listen to each other’s counsel.” To learn and grow.
Do you collaborate? Even with the contrarian?
Copyright (c) 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
Caught-up in their hubris, ideology drove a Bill to completion without real input from those with legitimate and different views. Despite protestations to the contrary by the President, the facts (and the rhetoric of the Speaker) tell a different story. More discord will result. Less collaboration will rule the day. Not the kind of change wanted.
As Jim Collins, author of Good to Great discovered, leaders who successfully manage change are not only humble, but also have learned to collaborate.
These business times demand honest collaboration, looking at potential results of each position and that position’s ability to meet real needs. This is not time for arrogance. This is the time to “listen to each other’s counsel.” To learn and grow.
Do you collaborate? Even with the contrarian?
Copyright (c) 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell
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