Axiom #8: Performance

Let me introduce this by referencing a story in Axiom #7. In that post I quoted the general manager of the company I worked for when he said, “Terry, one of the things I like the best about working with you, is that once I ask you to do something, or assign you a task, I can totally forget about it. It will get done. I will not hear from you unless, you either need my assistance in some way or the task is complete. Terry, you make me look good.”

That encapsulates exactly how I handle a lot of my management, which is quite distinct from my leadership I might add. Leadership involves vision, direction, support, guidance, assistance, and any number of other things. Management involves more of the day to day operations necessary to keep things moving in the direction of the vision.

With my present staff, and every person I have supervised over the years, I have tried to tell them the same thing in my expectations of them. If I have expectation of you, I will be sure you know it. But then I expect YOU to do it. If you need my assistance, my advice, my suggestions, my support, my ability to run interference for you, or any number of other things I can do for you to make you more effective, I will give it to you. I make that commitment to you. But I do not want to do your job. I want you to do it. I may check in, and ask how it is going privately and in staff meetings, and offer mine or others assistance if needed. But if I have to do your job, why are you here?

I have had to follow up with men and women with a variety of methods. If you are not able to do your job, let’s address it. Maybe your need skills training. Maybe some coaching will help. Maybe your time management skills are lacking. Maybe your prioritization skills need honing. Do you believe in our direction and mission? If not, can you come to agree with it? Whatever the issue is, let’s address it.

If after attempting to address them, it does not get better, then maybe this is not working out. Maybe we are not a good fit. Maybe for the good of everyone involved, we need to make a personnel change. Those decisions are always painful, never easy, but are sometimes required. If you are not willing to make this call, after much work, assistance, and prayer, do not sit in the leader’s chair. It comes with the territory and there is no way anyone can prepare you for just how gut wrenching those times are going to be. If you have an ounce of compassion at all, you will probably lose some sleep and see your appetite drop. No matter how you slice it, it is no fun. If you can make this sort of life impacting decision without great concern for the individual affected, I wonder if you are really the leader you should be. It is far more than being a task master.

I think it goes one step further. Maybe we are hurting the employee. If this is not a good fit, if he or she cannot do what this job requires, are we really doing them any favors by keeping them on board? Sure, it is hurting the organization and affecting the productivity of the team, but what is it doing for him or her? They are no doubt unhappy and unfulfilled. Maybe for their sake they need to be in a location that is better suited to their skills. How can they grow as a human being in a situation that is not suited for them?

When I speak of my present staff, I have often said, the key to my success is I have hired good people and then gotten out of their way. But that leads to one final word. You cannot be “dumping” work on another person no matter how good they are. There is a great chasm between “dumping” and “delegating.” This is something many leaders have yet to learn. Do not give something to another person just because you do not want to do it. That is never an appropriate reason. You may give it to them because they can do it better than you, or they enjoy it, or you see it as a growth opportunity for them thereby making it a leadership decision, but do not simply dump on them. No human deserves that.

As with the “No Surprises,” I realize there are all many variations and shades of gray in this axiom. There are times when you have to “sit on” an employee. But those should be the exceptions. Give them the freedom to perform, and then expect performance. If you have the right people in place, they will do just that.

Axiom #7: No Surprises

When you begin to read the available literature on leadership one of the themes you will grasp pretty quickly is that there are several ways to break down leadership styles. It is defined by personality, habits, technique, behavior, expectations and any number of other means. One way I feel you can “caricature leadership” is by the tension between being a micro manager as opposed to a more permission giving styled leader.

Let me be honest here, this is one of my personal pet peeves. It is the one item in leadership that sets me off more quickly than any other. And in my present ministry/leadership/management position where we are funded in large part with Federal dollars via a grant, it is a personal struggle. My wife could tell you many stories about my rants regarding this issue. It is the exact same thing I resist in denominational structures in church. But that is another story entirely.

As a way of introducing this, let me relay three stories.

In the mid 80’s to early 90’s while I was still working bi-vocationally in ministry and corporate, I recall working with my superior, the General Manger of the private company. He was the only person above me in the entire company, and oddly enough I had his ear on things relating to our business and I had his trust. I will call him George . . . well, because that is his name. He told me in one meeting, “Terry, one of the things I like the best about working with you, is that once I ask you to do something, or assign you a task, I can totally forget about it. It will get done. I will not hear from you unless, you either need my assistance in some way or the task is complete. Terry, you make me look good.”

As I look back on that incident, that quite possibly is the highest praise I have ever received from an employer. This Axiom will help understand why.

In a later position I was relatively new and still refining my working relationship with my senior colleague. After about 3 to 4 months, I was feeling micromanaged. I recall going into his office and asking for a few minutes. I then closed the door and relayed what I was experiencing at his hand. I then said something to this effect. “I am not saying that you are wrong or you should change or you do not have the right to manage in whatever style you desire. I am not passing any sort of value judgment on you. You have the right to manage as you see fit. What I am saying is that if that is how you desire to manage me, you have the wrong guy, and I need to begin looking at how to make a transition. He apologized for appearing to do this and we never had a struggle with it again. We had other heated discussions on style, philosophy or details but I continued to prove my worth, my loyalty and my support of him as my boss.

Third story. A subsequent superior was guilty of a similar thing, the exact details of which are not important. I said to him, “Let me tell you a story.” I then relayed the above incident. He said, “I get your point,” and the issue was closed and was never a problem.

Now, if you stop reading at this point and do not complete this Axiom, please forget everything you read above. It is totally worthless without what I am about to say.

In each meeting above I told my supervisor something to this effect. I will not surprise you. I will keep you on a “need to know” basis . . . in the best use of that phrase. I will make absolutely sure you know anything and everything you need to know. If there is anything that may come back on you, I will tell you. If there is anything that is a ministry/company impacting issue, you will know. I will make sure you hear everything that is taking place that you need to hear. You do not need to be involved in the minutia of operations in my job. And you really do not want to be I am sure. But I promise you I will make sure you do know everything you need to know. If I have a doubt, I will tell you. It may be a 2-minute hall meeting. It may be a scheduled ninety minute sit down meeting. But you will know. You may not hear from me on items for weeks on end. Do not take that to mean anything. It means things are running as you want them to.

I then work very hard to live up to that. I realize there are all many variations and shades of gray here, and I am not going to get into that here, but I firmly live by this axiom and it has served me and the companies/ ministries I serve quite well.

Axiom #6: Change Had Better Happen

Anyone who has known me for more than five minutes will probably attest to the fact that I embrace change with fervor. I have had more than one staff member of mine tell me that my motto is the oft repeated adage, “If it ain’t broke . . . break it!”
Guilty as charged.

When I completed the hiring of my present staff I told them in one of our early staff meetings to keep me in check in regard to change. Ask me why I am changing something. I know myself well enough to know that I will change something just for the sake of changing. As I said above, “Guilty.”

But . . . but . . . but . . . hear me out.

I will write an Axiom later on the value of a mentor. I have had two men, both ministers, whom I would call mentors in my life. The first of those was Richard Horn. He was the pastor of the church I attended when I “felt the call” “decided to” (pick your language) go into ministry as an occupation. I will tell some of that later, but for now, it is only important to know that he was important enough in my life, that my son Richard is named for him. That church was Landis Baptist Church, and it had a profound impact upon me. In many ways, one of the elders in that church is responsible for saving my life in almost every way it could be saved.

Early on when Pastor Horn and I were talking about ministry he said something to me that was astonishing for a 22 year old man to hear. He said, “Terry, if you believe the same thing in five years that you believe now, you are backslidden.”

Now don’t go all semantic on my and start quibbling about the language. And don’t make him to have said more than he said. He was not talking about core faith issues, Jesus, Scripture, a compassion for the poor, etc. It was something a bit more delicate than that. He was talking about our relationship with God. He was talking about our time studying what we believe and why we believe it. He was talking about keeping our faith fresh. He was talking about examining what you do and why you do it on a regular basis. He was talking about change.

We live in an age where change is not only happening; it is happening at speeds never before seen in the history of humanity. Some of us love it. Others are a bit slow on the uptake. Dr. Everett Rogers talked about the various speeds in which we embrace change in 1962 in The Diffusion of Innovation. I am well to the left of his continuum. If I do not land on the “innovator” on a topic, I am almost always an “early adopter.”

That clearly influences this Axiom of mine, but I firmly believe that as a leader we must embrace change. We need to be in the leading group when change is discussed. We simply cannot be sitting back waiting on change to happen to us. For it surely will. We need to be constantly analyzing and asking: What needs changed? What does not need changed (as much as we may want to change it)? How should it be changed? When should it be changed? Who should be involved in making the change? Who will resist the change? How can we win them over? And a any number of other questions.

As a leader, where do you land on change? Do you innovate or resist? Then ask, what “balance points” do I need to assist me? If you are like me, you need someone who will ask you to defend your change. It may be correct, but I should be ready to explain it. If you are a little more on the “Late Majority” or “Late Adopter” end, perhaps your balance point is someone you trust who will push you to question the status quo. Maybe you need someone who will be a burr under your saddle who will not allow you to just stand pat.

Change happens. As a leader, you may be the one who should be leading it, and not being led by it.