TIP: Do not let anybody steal your dream. Communicate your vision clearly to your team and inspire excellence in execution. Get the best players and expect the best results. Do not give up and do not let the team give up. You will win.

The Transformational Leader leads from a personal influence and not power of position. It’s more difficult and somewhat threatening for a leader to be vulnerable by being authentic, however, this style of leadership inspires others to model authenticity as well. Creating strong leaders makes the Transformational Leader more effective. The power is shared, even though the leader is utlimately the guide for the vision, it is with nurture and not force.

If you look at yourself in the mirror, do you see a person that you would allow to lead you?

As I interviewed Jim Hart for the May 10, 2010 edition of Monday Morning Email (http://dld.bz/cNKu) I really resonated with his perspective on leadership in the church. This newsletter is for those who plan and lead worship ministries. Jim served the church for many years and now is President of the Webber Institute for Worship Studies in Florida. One comment jumped out at me that supports a major principle of Transformational Leadership – Authenticity.

Here’s his quote:

Well, you know, I think leadership is an area that is, has not been given the proper kind of regard, particularly among music ministers and worship leaders. We say we are worship leaders and we talk mostly about worship and not so much about leading and all of us in some way are called to be leaders in the way that, again, the way that Jesus modeled for us being servant leaders. And serving those with whom you spend your life and your ministry. And so, I think reflections on leadership are, are vitally important for all of us who are involved with worship leading ministry or actually just any kind of kingdom advancing ministry. We need to be reflecting on how leadership plays into everything we’re doing.

The principle that resonated with me was that of look to the leadership of Jesus who demonstrated Servant Leadership. Jesus was the Servant Leader, indeed! He represented serving humanity in all that he did. His leadership was authentic. Authenticity inspires authenticity. We are professionals in many types of work. We are first and foremost the person that God created us to me. Trying to be something else is not authentic. It’s good to study leaders, however, learn from successful leaders and make the principles you like your own principles. Learn the principle behind what you see and do not just copy the action.

The successful leader internalizes the lessons learned. These new skills mature as the leader grows and matures in their own leadership style.

Be authentic. Be the leader you were created to be. Be the best you can be – all the time. You will inspire others to do the same.

Look in the mirror. Would you be inspired by you? It has been said that we are the result of the 5 people we hang around the most. Who do you want to influence you? How do you want to influence others?

When I have encouraged you to get the best players for your orchestra, I want you to achieve excellent results. Good players can make good music. In fact, excellent players can make excellent music. Don’t limit the effectiveness of your team by your attitude. Be affirming. Be encouraging. Be authentic. Be focused.

The worst thing you can do it to pretend that you do not have weaknesses yourself or to act like you never make any mistakes. Acknowledge your areas that need improvement and your intentions to create a pathway to achieve those improvements. Inversely, know that your team members will make mistakes and will need encouragement. Your attitude to keep from getting discouraged yourself will inspire your team you learn from their mistakes and move forward with more wisdom.

Surround your self with capable people. They will inspire you. Let go of your pride and realize that it is alright to be inspired by those whom you lead as well a those you follow.

TIP: Nobody want to ignore problems. Learn from them and do not let problems govern your life or limit your potential for success. Those who follow you will model what you do and how you act more than what you say.

Here’s the part of the interview that deals with clarity:

Willimon: One of my Cabinet members, a District Superintendent who is retired military, brings a perspective from the military. If while we do our work, I can like you, great. If while we are doing our work, I can respect you, great. But, we’re all clear, none of that is as important as getting them mission accomplished.

Ballou: Absolutely! It supports the first piece we were talking about, clarity in the vision.

Willimon: I was just thinking about that. I love your stress on clarity. This week, this is my thing – clarity. I’ve just read a good book by Bill Brosen, The Preaching of Jesus: Gospel Proclamation, Then and Now. And Bill says there, that when he listens to sermons, the biggest problem is clarity, just simple clarity. You can’t figure our what the preacher is talking about. Bill says that it’s a kind of theological problem and a sense of decision not being able to say, “I’m going to go with this, I’m not going to go with that.” Expanding that to leadership in the church, I’d say that one of the problems we have in the church is that we have these ridiculous broad, multi-faceted expectations – ‘increase of love of God and neighbor, we want to have a loving, caring congregation, you can just feel the love, we want to welcome newcomers who may threaten that, but we also want to change the world and transform America into a Christian society, we also want to challenge sin when we see it…” It’s a receipt for never accomplishing anything and never feeling that God has done something good through us. So, therefore, clarity becomes a huge thing – what is it that you most want to do.

To read the entire interview or to download the audio file, go to the interview at Monday Morning Email April 12.

In my work with entrepreneurs, church leaders, leaders of non[profits, and leaders in the corporate world, I find similar issues holding leaders back from achieving their dreams – lack of clarity. Clarity comes in many forms. All these forms of clarity are written. Yes, it must be written down to be clear. Otherwise, your thoughts will continue expanding, changing, or moving forward in an uncontrolled and unclear manner. In fact, if your goals are not written down, then they are still in the dream phase. Dreams are essential to building a vision, however, at some point the dream must be written down in order to facilitate effective implementation. An unwritten goal is simply – a dream.

Clarity brings you to a state of knowing. You begin with believing that your vision will be reality. In creating documents, you move from simply believing to knowing – an essential step! If leaders work with teams (committees, boards, staff, etc.) the importance of written documents goes to a higher level of importance. Strategic plans fail about 95% of the time in the implementation stage – the plan is completed, but nothing, or little happens.

As documents are created, clarity comes to the leader. Clarity in the final result – clarity in the steps to get to the result – clarity in the sequence of the steps to get to the result – clarity in the actions needed from team members. All these are essential to effective results. The documents to be created include: Statement of Core Values, Definition of Long-Term Objectives, Development of Short-Term Goals, Creation and Implementation of Action Plans for the Goals.

For more information on creating clarity with effective documents, see Hugh’s Book Building High Performance Teams: Systems and Structures for Leading Teams and Empowering Transformation HERE

Create your own clarity today by defining the end results you want achieve and defining a way to get there.

The Transformational Leader is the champion and cheerleader of the cause. The cause itself must be worthy in the long term or the transformation and the organization will suffer. This becomes apparent as the process unfolds and the process will break down. For example, the current economic situation in the world is not about faulty economic systems, it is about failure in leadership!

It is of primary importance for the Transformational Leader, in order to prevent conflict in the workplace and team conflict, to be clear on the foundations for the vision. The vision must come from the core values of the organization and resonate with the core values of the leader himself or herself. If there is a conflict in these core values (the personal values of the leader vs. the core values of the organization) failure is inevitable. Creating a solid foundation is a way to validate and clarify the leader’s vision for the organization and to create systems for others to follow. The Transformational Leader empowers leader on teams to utilize their varied leadership skills, talents, and perspectives to be successful and transform the organization as well as the lives of the people involved both internally and externally.

A solid foundation consists of the following: 1) a written list of core values; 2) a written description of long-term strategic objectives; 3) a written list of short-term goals; 4) a written set of action plans for each goal; and finally, 5) team involvement in all of the processes listed above. It should be clear from this list that written plans separate dreams from accomplishments. First write the draft, and then revise it. Continue to evaluate the process steps and the time line throughout the implementation process and make the needed changes. The vision is clear. You develop the pathway as a continuing process, and not just a single planning event.

Is it worth the time to create a solid foundation in order to maximize success?

Learn more about creating a solid foundation with Hugh’s article on Goals Process.

Yes, you read this correctly. Organizations hire me to run meetings, team planning sessions, board retreats, etc. Never once in over 22 years have I ever used an agenda for a meeting! I promise.

This is not just semantics. It is a paradigm shift. Think about meetings you have attended in the past. Think of a boring, unproductive meeting that you experienced. Maybe that particular session was not planned thoroughly. Maybe that particular session was planned with unclear outcomes. This is the nature of the problem – AGENDA = activity and DELIVERABLES = results. Reframe your thinking and focus on outcomes and not on activity.

This is one paradigm shift that makes leaders more effective. Create and maintain an culture of excellence in the organization you lead. Focus on outcomes and excellence in every activity and every process. The Transformational Leader constantly build leadership skills in their inventory of leadership tools. Conflict management and conflict resolution become less of an issue when clarity of purpose takes away some potential for conflict.

Success is a mindset. Think about what you want to achieve and make it happen.

Start now!

- Nadia Boulanger

In his post, The Art of Balance, the Art of Leadership, Don Frederiksen commented, “I have always thought that my music background brought creativity, dimension and balance to my thinking and work.” Wow, that really resonates with me having been a musical conductor for over 40 years. I realize daily how important the leadership skills that a conductor knows are really valuable to leaders in other fields.

Art is sometimes as giving attention to detail. Striving for balance does not only mean that we keep the trumpets from covering up the rest of the orchestra. It also means that we give attention to the details to be faithful in implementation of our vision as the leader. Balance does not mean making everything equal. Balance means creating consistency and quality in all systems, relationships, and in the culture itself.

Listening is a skill musicians bring to leadership. As a business coach, I have discovered that listening is the key skill in order to know what is really happening.

Remember your past. I gain much from remembering my musical skills and experience. It give me perspective for creating value in the lives of others.