by Deborah Leverett | Jul 1, 2016 | Uncategorized
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA! I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all. Even in the midst of divisiveness and uncertainty, we remember on July 4th that liberty and justice are virtues that the electorate must vigilantly preserve. America is still the greatest country in which to...
by Deborah Leverett | Jun 17, 2016 | Uncategorized
This is the third in a series on the most important efficiencies of a team. The maturity of a team is based on several factors: the length of time a team has been together, the individual maturity level and the emotional fitness of each member. Teams who have a revolving door of people suffer greatly in three conditions: identity, trust, and shared knowledge about one another and the team’s purpose. In a group of people who have been together for a long time you will find a strong sense of identity, a high level of trust, an understanding of strengths, weaknesses and awareness of team efficacy. On the subject of the maturity level of team members and emotional fitness, I have seen the range of dysfunction to high performing. In many of these experiences, I noticed the leader based expectations only on the fact that the team members have a strong work ethic and have industry expertise. But when a leader and members ignore or refuse to address immaturity and selfish behavior, the environment is ripe with jealousy, confusion about priorities and they struggle when they face challenges, uncertainty, failure, and the ability to delivers results consistently. When the dysfunctional team does achieves its goals, the wins are often hollow and leaves behind a trail of exhausted, burnt-out and empty individuals. The answer here is one you’ve heard before: growth and development are critical to the overall organizational strategy and organizational health. The effort to develop individuals will always benefits people, productivity and profit. If you are looking for an opportunity to grow your team leadership skills, read about...
by Deborah Leverett | Jun 10, 2016 | Uncategorized
This is the second in a series of blogs on the most important efficiencies of a team. A team’s power to achieve results rests on how strong the leader is especially in today’s environment of accelerated change and unpredictability. The current chaos can be either a deal-breaker or a game-maker for an individual, team or entire organization. History shows us that it is in tumultuous times some of society’s greatest advancements have been made and which way the team and organization goes depends on the strength of the leader and the leader’s ability to communicate a clear vision. One of the best examples of leading a team in a highly volatile and unstable conditions is Abraham Lincoln. Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals, tells the story of how Lincoln brilliantly brought his political rivals together to create the most unusual and dynamic team that resulted in the healing of a nation. His understanding of human behavior and what motivated them was the key to his success. Lincoln’s willingness to forgo and forgive these men’s slights and their disdain and ultimately gaining their respect and admiration was one of the clearest pictures of what powerful leadership looks like. What kind of leader can take a negative and turn into a positive? A person who is courageous, a problem-solver, has a positive expectation of the future, and is resilient. Today’s leadership is first about being a leader (as opposed to doing), and then about creating a pathway through vision, innovative problem-solving and aligning the right people. Here are six leadership practices that will move today’s team in the right...
by Deborah Leverett | Jun 3, 2016 | Blog, Uncategorized
Have you ever worked on a team that understood what it really means to be an air-tight team? Unfortunately, that is not the norm. You may have worked on a team with individuals who have strong leadership capabilities. But, a team comprised of high-performers does not guarantee a championship team. How does a group strong individuals learn how to be a strong team? You may have noticed, it does not just happen automatically. There are 7 efficiencies that have an enormous impact on a group of people who are working together to accomplish a goal. Over the next few weeks, I will be addressing these external and internal factors in more detail. 1. Strength of leader: the foundation of any team is the robustness of the leader and the clarity of the leader’s vision. No matter how strong the team members are, it is difficult to consistently achieve when the leader is mediocre or struggles to effectively communicate the vision. 2. The maturity of the team: the length of time a team has been together plays a strong role in how effective and productive the team is. It takes time to build relationships that forge trust. 3. Rate of turnover: it takes anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks to integrate a new team member. A new person will always cause a slowdown in the normal routines of the team. 4. Rate and level of complexity of change: the faster and deeper the change is, the more the team has to discern what to deflect, what problems to solve and how to handle the speed and stress of the change....
by Laura Heinemann | Mar 31, 2016 | Uncategorized
You might be wondering how this video of an enthusiastic festival goer could possibly provide an important lesson on leadership, and that is understandable. After all, the image of a lone man flailing about on a hillside hardly resembles the typical portraits of great leaders we have come to expect, such as MLK, Gandi, Lincoln, or Jobs. However, this video actually perfectly demonstrates the process of how leaders come to be. Now before you scoff in dissent, let me explain my reasoning. The start of the video exemplifies that sometimes being a leader means taking action independently of everyone else. However, in the first 15 seconds of the video, the lone dancer is not actually a leader. Why? A leader needs followers. Otherwise, they are just an individual. It isn’t until about 20 seconds into the video that our lone dancer inspires one follower to hesitantly join the dancing madness. All great leaders start out as individuals without followers, and it is through their passionate course of action – or wacky shirtless dancing – that others begin to follow. After the first follower joins in, it isn’t until the 50 second mark that another follower comes along. Just like all movements led by great leaders, the follower base takes times to develop. A leader’s follower base usually builds gradually and eventually goes through a snowball effect: one follower leads to two, two leads to four, four leads to eight, and so on. With each additional follower to the group, the leader’s validity to outsiders of the movement strengthens, which consequently attracts more followers. Once the follower base reaches a certain threshold the number of followers begins to exponentially grow. Basically, a single man or woman can become a small group,...
by Deborah Leverett | Mar 11, 2016 | Uncategorized
Leaders go first, and their behaviors create the culture. Most leaders fall in the middle of the continuum. But, there are those who are exemplary leaders and those who are inadequate. How would you rate your leaders. How would your direct reports rate you? By the same token, how do you rate your culture? 1. Exemplary leaders are generous with their time, their leadership capital, and their compliments. Inadequate leaders share when it pays off for them. 2. Exemplary leaders create a strong culture of accountability. Inadequate leaders avoid accountability and use blame as a power tool. 3. Exemplary leaders model the work ethic and character they expect of others. Inadequate leaders expect more of others than they do of themselves. 4.Exemplary leaders are genuinely humble and honor others’ contributions. Inadequate leaders see almost everyone else as inferior to themselves. 5. Exemplary leaders are fair and consistent with others. Inadequate leaders show favoritism. 6.Exemplary leaders exhibit exemplary relational intelligence. Inadequate leaders have frequent anger outbursts, pout sessions, and blaming rants. 7.Exemplary leaders are transparent and cultivate agile communication systems. Inadequate leaders lack transparency and use information as a power source 8. Exemplary leaders set clear performance expectations, create a coaching climate and are quick to let wrong people off the bus. Inadequate leaders seek to dismiss or ignore poor performance. 9. Exemplary leaders look for ways to hear other points of view Inadequate leaders do not allow for disagreement or push back. 10. Exemplary leaders right wrongs. Inadequate leaders cover up or ignore wrongs. Leaders go first, and their behaviors create the...
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