Last week I wrote a post Don’t Be Clueless about Your Corporate Culture which brought some questions and some good comments. The questions were primarily about how to shape your culture. So let me give you a simple technique that I’ve used in the past that works well.

1. Ask the members of your team what words they would use to describe their ideal work culture or environment. As they call out different words write them on a marker board. All words are fair game. Come up with as many as 15 to 20 if you’d like.
2. Once everyone has had a chance to share, work together to agree upon the top 4-5 words.
3. Next put a letter grade A, B, C, D, F on each of the words grading how you are currently doing with each word. For Example Communication  B, High Accountability D, Innovative  C+, Fun  A -, Relational B -
4. Now have the team discuss which one needs to be worked on the most and write out a plan for strengthening that value in your culture.
5. Post the words on a wall in your meeting room where you can see them regularly.
6. Three months later re-grade each of the words and see if you have made progress in shaping your culture.  Put a reminder in your Outlook so you won’t forget.
7. Rinse and Repeat

What are some ways you can intentionally shape your corporate culture this week?

I’m an empowering style of leader.  I believe in people, get agreement with them on their goals, meet with them regularly to discuss progress and do my best not to micromanage them.  But lately I’ve been questioning, “Am I under managing those I lead?”   Sometimes I empower people so much that I’m not close enough to observe and give feedback on their performance.  One thing I have learned about management is - closeness matters. A higher degree of proximity gives greater opportunity to observe and provide honest performance feedback.  To help with  my own leadership in this area I developed seven question assessment.  Here’s how it works.

• Write down the name of one of the people who report directly to you. 
• Answer each question below by marking it with a Yes or No. 
• Add up your score and see how you did. 
• Finally write out what next steps you feel you need to take to improve your managment of that individual. 

Okay, now take 5 minutes and give it a try.

EMPLOYEE NAME:  ___________________________

ASSESSMENT

1. Am I close enough to observe and offer specific praise on his/her most recent work?
2. Am I close enough to observe and offer a specific push in an area where he/she needs performance improvement?
3. Am I close enough to know the latest personal highlights of his/her life?
4. Am I close enough to assess his/her level of morale and work engagement?
5. Am I close enough to  know the health of his/her soul?
6. Am I close enough that I provide needed coaching on his/her goals?
7. Am I close enough that he/she and I feel a bond of trust?

MY SCORE: _______

6-7 Yes = You are doing a great job managing your direct reports.  Consider ways you can now begin to teach them your guiding managment principles so they can become great managers.
4-5 Yes = You are under managing in some areas and need to draw closer to this individual.  Identify the areas you marked No and develop your next step improvement plan.
0-4 Yes = You are under managing and need to get more engaged with your direct report.  Identify the top 2 areas that would make the biggest difference and begin taking steps this week for improvement.  You may need to let them know what you are doing so they won’t be shocked when you begin to engage them at a higher level. 

MY NEXT STEPS IMPROVEMENT PLAN

1. ___________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________

Today’s Leadership Challenge: Use this tool to assess how you are doing with each of your direct reports and write out your next steps improvment plan, then reassess yourself in 3o days.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the changes taking place with leadership development.  One of those changes is Customized Learning plans.  Well, last week I was meeting with a sharp young worship leader who wants to develop his leadership skills.  During our meeting time we went through the following steps to develop a customized development tool he can use for himself and his team. 

1. Identify a Key Job Responsibility
2. Create a list of no more than seven competencies (skills) that are necessary to do that responsibility well
3. Have the learner rank themselves 1-5 on each competency
4. Choose one area to work on and create a 30 day growth plan
5. Follow-up and share your progress

This young man chose the responsiblity of Leading a Worship Band.  Here is the customized tool we developed for that particular responsiblity. 

1  Read each sentence below and rank yourself on each of the competencies.

SCALE:  1 = I don’t have a clue  2 = I know a little bit  3 = I have some experience  4 = I’m fairly confident  5 = I do this really well

Leading a Band requires the following competencies… rank yourself 1-5 on each.

• Dynamic of Worship  – The leader understands the rhythm, focus and dynamics of each song in order to maximize that particular songs message
• Confrontation  – The leader brings correction or adjustment to each team members attitude and performance
• Connect with team – The leader connects with team members by communicating and relating to them outside of church services
• Spiritual leadership – The leader brings spiritual insights and encouragement to the team and serves as a model for spiritual leadership.
• Encouragement – The leader helps each team member understand and maximize the strengths they bring to the team.
• Communication – The leader communicates clearly before rehearsal by informing members of service details in advance and during rehearsal by addressing each team member in a way that brings clarity and understanding.
• Servant Leadership – The leader models servant leadership by serving each member of the team with humility and kindness.
• Time management – The leader will effectively manage rehearsal time by starting and ending on time as well as sufficiently covering all songs according to the need of the band members.

2  Next work with your mentor or learning group to choose one area you will focus on over the next 30 days. 

3 Write down 3-4 next steps you can take to help you develop that particular competency. 

Use the following to help prompt your thinking about your next steps:

• I will read…
• I will meet with…
• I will Google search…
• I will do…
• I will listen to…
• I will observe…
• I will go…

4 Meet again within 30 days with your partner or mentor and share your progress as well as what you have learned.  I would recommend discussing the following questions:

• What next steps did you take?
• How well did you do?
• What would you do differently?
• What did you learn?

Who are you personally developing?  Create your a customized growth tool by following the steps listed above. Give it a try over the next 30 days and see what happens.

A few weeks ago my friend Allan Kelsey, founder of Leading Leaders, came to Seacoast Church to train our Campus Pastors and key leaders to lead with their strengths.  I asked Allan to make a short training video that we could use to train all Seacoast employees.  Feel free to use this training with your staff, all you need to do is purchase the book Now Discover Your Strengths, watch the video and follow the steps outlined below.

In this module, we will discuss leading with your strengths. To begin, please be sure that you have a copy of Marcus Buckingham’s Now Discover Your Strengths book. You can refer to the back inside back cover for your individual access code. You will visit www.strengthsfinder.com to take your individual assessment. This will give you your top 5 strengths.

Please note, you can not share access codes. Once you have used your code, you will create a log in using your email address. You can only gain access to this site and your results via your email account and log in. Once you have taken your survey, please send your results to your supervisor.

EXPLORE

• Think: What percentage of your time do you operate in your strengths? What percentage of your time do you operate in your weaknesses?
• Watch the video from Allan Kelsey from Leading Leaders.
• Read pages 1- 79 in the Now Discover Your Strengths. Then take the online assessment to recieve your individual results. Next,  read the description of your top five strengths provided in the back of the book. You will also receive this explanation in an email with your results.

EXPERIENCE

• Journal: Keep a journal this week capturing moments you find yourself using your strengths. Write down how it feels, what it looks like, what were you doing when you were using one of your strengths?
• Discuss: Ask someone close to you to help you identify how they see these strengths being used in your life.

EVALUATE

• Meet with your mentor to identify and discuss your individual strengths.
• Talk about some of the following questions in your meeting:
  • What percentage of your time do you operate in your strengths?  What percentage of your time do you operate in your weaknesses?
  • What stood out to you from Allan’s video teaching?  What stood out to you the most from your reading in Now Discover Your Strengths?
  • Were you surprised by the results of your assessment? Which Strength do you see the most in your life? Which one suprised you the most?
  • What is one specific concept that has challenged your thinking about strength based leadership?
  • Why do you think it is important to take the time to understand the strengths of others on our team?
  • How will a focus on your strengths change your daily activities?
  • What will you do next week to spend a greater percentage of your time using your strengths?
  • Is there anything that needs to be adjusted in your current job description?