Monthly Archives: November 2017

Welcome Back!

The art of consequences defines a leader! You must be willing to administer consequences for people’s bad behavior. If you’re not, you need to do the honorable thing and step down. Immediately. Nothing demoralizes good workers or ruins cultures more quickly than not holding people accountable. Lazy or dysfunctional employees poison the well so that no good water flows from it. It is impossible to have an authentically  healthy workplace when people are allowed to not produce, or to act in disruptive ways. Choices have consequences. Stop feeling sorry for the people who are facing consequences, and start feeling sorry for the person who would really appreciate the job and do it well. Nothing is more dangerous for the problem individual than to be allowed to get away with unacceptable behavior. You have the opportunity to help someone gain control of themselves and succeed. If you don’t exercise this responsibility, you are setting them up for a much harder fall sometime in the future. When you allow or encourage them to act up, you are feeding their dysfunction. You’re also hurting the team you’re tasked with protecting. If you are the reason the problem isn’t being fixed, then ultimately you will be held accountable for it. Just because you have evaded responsibility so far, does not mean you always will. Your choices will catch up with you someday. It’s far better to fix the mess in whatever state it is in right now, than to let it fester until it erupts one day and destroys everything in its path. You will not escaped unharmed from such a scenario. I’ve witnessed that time and again when bad leaders thought they were above the rules and the law. The clock of accountability is ticking.

Until next time I’ll be praying for you to man up and face whatever is broken and then get to the business of fixing it!

Ownership Worksheet

Welcome back!

Leaders you must hold yourself to a higher standard than anyone else on your team. Whatever areas of immaturity you have are going to be exposed. Whatever secret sins you have will ensnare you. Whatever liberties you are taking with your position will come to light. I have known far too many leaders who had no moral compass and no shame. Some of the gems from those misguided souls were:

“I like to take people out and get them drunk, get as much dirt as I can, and then use it against them later.”

“I sell a little bit of my soul everyday. I find it really helps.”

“If you don’t do anything about the problems, they will fix themselves.”

“I don’t ever want anything to be looked into, because I don’t ever want anything to be found.”

“I like to destroy relationships between people. Then I can do what I want with them.”

“Dumb it down, you’re making us look bad.”

As was inevitable, the deficient strategists who uttered the nonsense above are no longer in their leadership positions. When you sell your soul, the devil eventually shows up to collect.

Leaders you MUST have your own robust self-development program to avoid the temptation (or for some the seductive siren call) of abusing your position for personal gain. If Jesus came to serve and not to be served, what makes you think you are entitled to anything different than that? Work to fix your own dysfunction, pray to have any blind spots revealed to you, and take your responsibility to protect your team extremely seriously because it is, in fact, that important. Do NOT be the leader who refuses to address any issues, because their hidden transgressions are greater than the entire rest of the team put together. If dirty backroom deals are your specialty, be prepared for the day the light gets shined on your mess. You might as well get yourself together now while it’s still voluntary. Get your self-respect back.

When you have the courage to immerse yourself and your team in an environment of growth, it builds esprit de corps and momentum. People show up every day excited to be working on their goals, rather than dreading or resenting coming in. They are focused, and get their regular responsibilities taken care of so they can get to the fun stuff. Pretty soon they encourage, support, and correct each other as they pursue their goals, and what that happens it is a thing of beauty. The best environments I have ever been a part of are all about doing the main job well, while aspiring to greater heights. Together.

Until next time, I’m praying that you’ll go take a good long look in the mirror and face the truth about what changes you need to make. You already know. It’s time to grow a set and get on with it!