$Account.OrganizationName
The Leadership Advisor
"Helping Leaders Develop Leaders"
November 2009 - Volume 4 Edition 10
This Month
Sign Up
The Links
Thanksgiving

Please accept our sincere apology for resending the same e-letter twice. We experienced technical difficulties with our newsletter provider. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Lorene Rasmussen

"Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship." ~ Benjamin Franklin

"Have you thanked someone today?"~ Something Pondered

"We can live a full and complete life; thinking with our heads but living from our hearts." ~ Unknown

"Procrastination is one fault that most people put off correcting." ~ seen on Mr. Anderson's classroom wall

As the leader, I can delegate my leadership role to others.

By Phil Eastman

I have a favorite movie scene that illustrates the reality that a leader cannot delegate their leadership role. It comes from The American President. During the course of the film, there is a scene when the President, played by Michael Douglas, and his Chief of Staff and friend, played by Martin Sheen, are enjoying a game of pool. During the game, the two are having a conversation in which Sheen responds with the required, "Yes, Mr. President." Douglas responds by stating that when they are alone, Sheen can call him Andy, to which Sheen responds, "Thank you Mr. President." The point is that there is never a time when the President is not the President. The same holds true for you; there is never a time when you are not the leader.

How do we as leaders fall into the trap that we can somehow delegate our role to others in the organization? The root of this myth lives in the reality that leadership is both a role and a set of activities. For example, a division head is in the position of leadership and must carry out leadership activities in order to move the organization forward. Regardless of whether she performs the activities well, she is still in the role of leader. You cannot delegate your leadership role.

However, you can and will need to delegate certain assignments to others in your organization, but this has to be done without attempting to delegate your role. Leaders have to empower their team members to act on behalf of the organization by making decisions and partitioning resources. Delegating responsibility and authority to others is a necessary part of organizational success. However, the myth kicks in when the leader attempts to have others on the team act as a proxy for the leader, having them stand in during important meetings, decisions and problems. To be sure, a leader cannot attend every meeting or participate in every decision, but when people perceive that those carrying out leadership are just surrogates for a leader that is either too busy or not interested in their situation, the myth takes a toll on the leader's credibility.

There are two challenges presented by this myth. The first is to look plainly at your existing assignments to others and determine whether you are delegating assignments where you convey both the responsibility and authority to others, or trying to stay in control by retaining authority and only giving responsibility to others. The second challenge is to make sure that you as a leader are present and engaged in the most important issues and opportunities facing your organization. A phrase that I use with leaders seems to help them determine how they spend their time: "do what only you can do." If someone else can be given the responsibility and authority for an assignment, then let them. Too many times leaders spread themselves across situations that could and should be left to others.

The phrase used in sweepstakes and drawings applies here: "You must be present to win." Leadership has the same requirement. You must be present as the leader to challenge and encourage your team, and to handle the most important problems and greatest opportunities with a personal touch, leaving the less critical elements to others.

As the leader, I can delegate my leadership role to others, is #9 in a series of leadership myths, Phil has had fun exploring.

Phil Eastman combines more than 25 years of leadership experience with his passion developing leaders, building teams, and enhancing performance.

As an advisor, consultant, teacher and coach Phil works with a growing and diverse group of clients in a variety of industries and countries. His leadership experience and expertise have made him a sought after speaker and advisor to organizations in the United States, Canada, Asia and Australia.

Phil earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management and Organization from Idaho State University and holds a Master of Arts degree in Theological Studies from Bethel Seminary. He is a graduate of and instructor for the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington. Phil is also a Master Instructor for Prosci's Change Management Learning Center.
Pouring Coffee
By Lorene Rasmussen

It was a typical morning, answering emails, updating my status on Facebook, following Phil's blog, reading MSN.com, and texting my husband, when my Blackberry accidentally slipped from my fingers into my hot mug of joe. My involuntary response was complete horror with an immediate rescue of the little pink device from the sticky mocha mixture. From that point forward, the phone was dead, my heart sunk, and the only thing I could do was voluntarily throw myself on the mercy of my Facebook friends for help, which I did.

In less than five minutes, I had solutions coming in from all over the globe on how to save my phone from a fate worse than death. Take out the battery, place the phone in rice to draw out the moisture, pray for mercy, get a fresh cup of coffee, and on and on the suggestions came in. With a disassembled phone on the sunny windowsill, trying to dry out, I got to thinking, "What is wrong with a land line? Maybe I should go back to rotary dial. Why do I need to be connected to the world all the time? How did my mom successfully raise a family and run a city with no computer, cell phone, Facebook, twitter, or text message?"

I went downstairs for my second cup of coffee, returned to my desk, and started shutting various computer programs down. All at once, I was faced with my own reality that I was way too plugged in to do any one thing well. What I knew for sure was that I needed to get the newsletter out before month-end, and the deadline was more looming than the drenched Blackberry drying out in the window.

Well, if you are a follower of The Leadership Advisor, you know I made the deadline. You may have also noticed I mentioned nothing of the experience I just shared because it was irrelevant to the article, The Naked Truths of Leadership. However, what the whole experience did start was a dialog with Phil about the number of people who are equally overloaded with tools and information that they must take stock of all their own input, humbly including our e-letter.

Taking stock of where we are in lieu of where we want to be, then having the focus and energy to take care of the details when we get there, has some serious validity. I would like to think our generation is isolated to this idea of overload, but indeed, we are not. Because every generation has made strides forward with tools, technology, and the distribution of information, we all have had to adjust according to our personalities and abilities. Even Henry David Thoreau packed up his things in 1845 and moved away from the hustle in pursuit of simple living.

In his book, Margin, Dr. Richard A. Swenson purports that like a piece of paper, our lives need margins or white space. Margins allow for us the reserves we need to take care of the important things in life, like proper nutrition, exercise, time of reflection, financial stability, and genuine human connection. Most of the medical problems Dr. Swenson encounters have at their core the body's inability to properly process the stressors that come in but never leave, causing diseases of unprecedented proportions.

Swenson writes, "Marginless is being thirty minutes late to the doctor's office because you were twenty minutes late getting out of the hairdresser's because you were ten minutes late dropping the children off at school because the car ran out of gas two blocks from the gas station, and you forgot your purse." He goes on to say, "Margin, on the other hand, is having breath left at the top of the staircase, money left at the end of the month, and sanity left at the end of the day."

Regaining margin is the same as saying, "creating work/life balance." Let me ask, have you ever attended a great conference filled with all sorts of new ideas and fresh insights that would actually benefit you and your organization, only to put the binder away forgetting what was shared, because you did not have the time or the energy to reflect on the implications of what you were taught? The real ROI for the conference is lost if you do not take the opportunity to integrate the new information. Of course, that topic would best be served in another article. The point is we need time to process the information that was carefully prepared and delivered in order to apply if properly.

There is a strong business sense for employees at every level to have margin in their lives. It is not just something we can plan to do next quarter or when the recession is over, but something we should encourage right now. We all want to be creative and productive at work, kind and loving at home, and strong and healthy in our body, yet with all the frenzy and interruptions we regularly encounter, we push pass our margins, leaving us in distress. Dr. Swenson contends that, "Few are immune. It is not limited to a certain socioeconomic group, nor a certain educational level. . .its pain is impartial and nonsectarian, everybody gets to have some."

Marginless living affects all aspects of our life. It is easy to see the big areas like work, health, and finances, but sometimes ignore the effects to our closest relationships and peace of mind. Many of us will postpone the very thing that will add life back into living by pushing into our margins, robbing us of valuable reserves.

It is not the goal of his book or my little article to be the bearer of bad tidings (certainly not during the holidays), but rather to illuminate the truth of marginless living and the obvious need to add white space back to our lives. (Even as I type this paragraph, I received an email from a fellow consultant who sends out a daily e-letter called Managing in Today's Reality: Reducing Stress in the Workplace.) Few of us have the privilege or even desire Henry David Thoreau had when he moved into his makeshift house near Walden Pond for two years writing about nature, but I bet many us wonder if there is an alternative to the scurry we find ourselves in. I know I do.

With all the e-letters, e-vites, e-mail, or e-notices you receive, do you ever exclaim, "E-nough!"? In the spirit of excellence, I want to echo Phil's offer. If you will take the time to give us your honest opinion about The Leadership Advisor, I will happily send you a coffee card, not so you can bathe your Blackberry in a mocha mess, but so you can help us be better at what we love to do, and that is to "help leaders develop leaders."

All Because of a Mocha Mess is #9 in a series of informal book reviews.

Lorene Rasmussen is the Partner for Business Operations which guides and supports the daily and strategic operations of Leadership Advisors Group.
facebook blog twitter
It is our desire to get The Character of Leadership Model into the hands of 100,000 people.

There are many ways for you to connect with us:
1) We have a dedicated website, www.characterofleadership.com that has information about the character of leadership model and a free assessment. I invite you to visit the site and complete the assessment.
2) You can find our blog by clicking www. characterofleadership.blogspot.com
3) You can follow us on Twitter @phileastman
4) Connect on LinkedIn
5) Connect on Facebook

If you are interested in the reading The Character of Leadership: An Ancient Model for a Quantum Age, you will find it at www.characterofleadership.com or on www.amazon.com.
Leadership Advisors Group helps clients achieve success through:
  • Competency based and character driven leadership development.
  • Comprehensive, flexible, and focused strategic plans.
  • Results oriented change management.

You are receiving this email from Leadership Advisors Group because you are a valued client, have requested information regarding our services, or you are part of a highly respected organization. To ensure that you continue to receive emails from us, please add phil@leadershipadvisors.com to your address book.

May your Thanksgiving season be filled with reflection and gratitude.
Phil Eastman & Lorene Rasmussen
Leadership Advisors Group

phone: (208) 344-0471
Email Marketing by