LEADER or VICTIM
I wish I had a dollar for every leadership book I've read. Over the past 30 years I've read books by Drucker, Demming and Maxwell. I've studied concepts by Kouse, Posner, and Peters. Pondered uplifting personal leadership models by Covey, Hill and Carnegie. From all those books, all those concepts and all those models I've come to one simple conclusion: My previous assumptions about leader / follower were wrong.
For years, I stated my position quite clearly to anyone who would listen. People inside an organization saw himself or herself as either a leader or a follower. Many of you probably subscribed to that type of thinking - that leaders were the people that made things happen. These people had the drive and passion to champion change and broaden their circle of influence. The followers were the one's that stood back and let them go. Unfortunately, the follower group frequently criticized the leader group on most initiatives.
For years I've watched the follower group in many organizations stifle creativity and basically dump on many high quality initiatives. So, I'm changing my position. I'm no longer labeling the non-leaders as followers but VICTIMS. When I think of a victim or someone having the victim mentality, the first thing that comes to me is excuses. Think about it. Don't victims always have an excuse for why they aren't doing anything?
"Oh I can't, I'm swamped with work."
"Don't ask me to participate because..."
"We tried that same thing before, it didn't work."
"I don't have any experience..."
"I'm too young / old..."
"Told you that wouldn't work."
Consider the crippling affects comments and attitudes like this have in a department, a division, and a company.
Today's work environment is faced with unprecedented challenges. Because of that, it is imperative that every employee steps up and plays a leadership role in an organization. I concede that most employees have a limited span of control, but imagine the impact inside your company if you combined the efforts of a larger percentage of your team. The possibilities are endless.
We need to be asking, "How do we make this work?" rather than reasons why it won't work. Leader or Victim... it's your choice. Where do you stand?
Larry Pearson
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 TTI Corner
Behavior Based Hiring
All Hat and No Cattle
"See that boy standing there by the dance floor
He's lookin' like the Marlboro Man
Starched shirt, starched jeans, big trophy buckle
And an empty Copenhagen can
He's talkin' cowboy this and cowboy that
Well I'll bet one thing's for sure
The only stampede that he's ever seen
Is the clearance at the western store"
- Lyrics by Trace Adkin
All Hat and No Cattle. I heard this expression for the first time last month in reference to a potential hire. The prospective employer was suspect that the candidate might be "all hat and no cattle." The expression originated in Texas. It was explained to me this way: "they looked like a cowboy but had never seen the ranch."Have you ever hired the "perfect person"? They came highly recommended and the resume was done without error. Their references were good and they met expectations in all of their previous jobs. After an initial trial period you realized that they were "all hat and no cattle" They could talk the job but could not do the job. You began to question yourself. Were the expectations clear enough? Was the scope of work too much to handle? Were there problems at home? Why were they failing?As we all know the costs of hiring are huge. How can we lessen our costs?The traditional way of hiring is either through recommendation or posting of the job position in newspapers or on online websites. Recent research done at Michigan State University said that hiring by interview alone is only 14% effective. That leaves 86% for you to manage.My suggestion is that it is time to benchmark your vacant positions. How do you do this? Brainstorm with your stakeholders to determine key accountabilities for this position then rewrite the job description. It should be behavior focused rather than task focused.After your initial screening of the applicant has been completed have them complete an online behavior assessment to see if they have the behaviors that will help them be successful in this role within your organization.
So for all you want to be cowboys.... come to Calgary this year and take in the Calgary Stampede. Then you can be one of the many that are "All Hat and No Cattle" without affecting your company's bottom line.Would you like to receive more information on behaviour assessment?Email Melinda@totalattitude.net or call our office at 403-271-2334.
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