January 11, 2008 at 10:16 pm (communication, perspective, servant leadership)
Though my New Year’s resolutions aren’t yet official (other than to stop procrastinating, which I’ll start working on tomorrow), I have completed my New Year’s Evaluation.
Every semester I ask my students to evaluate my teaching, and this year I used a particularly simple evaluation: stop, start, continue. Students wrote out what they thought I should stop doing, what I should start doing, and what I should continue doing. Knowing what to continue is particularly helpful.
Stop, start, continue provides 360-degree feedback because I also completed a self-evaluation before asking my students to evaluate me. Interestingly, some of the things I felt that I needed to stop or start were not mentioned by my students, so those things may not be issues after all.
If you have not made resolutions this year, why not try a stop, start, continue evaluation? If you are bold enough, have those you lead do the same as an evaluation of your leadership.
IDEA LEADER: It seems to be human nature to focus on what we should stop or start, but what do you need to continue doing as an effective servant-leader?
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December 13, 2007 at 1:53 am (attitude, communication, perspective, servant leadership)
I’m still reflecting on Chris Lowney this week, who points out the the chasm of opinion that separates Machiavelli (famous for his book The Prince) and Loyola (founder of the Jesuits). The question: “Is it better to be feared or loved?” Machiavelli believes that people are not to be trusted, so it is better to be feared. At the other end of the spectrum, Loyola wants to create a society based on “greater love than fear.” So who is right?
Admittedly this is a false dichotomy. Both are right to a point. Yes, people are fickle. Yes, they will sometimes dissapoint you. However, my recent readings (outside of Lowney) suggest that organizations that utilize positive relationship skills are successful because (among other reasons) positive relationships do have power. Anecdotally, I’ve used both forms of management. Relying on fear was a depressing experience for me, and it certainly wasn’t much fun for those I managed.
School teachers across the nation are currently struggling with what some diagnose as an epidemic of cheating. So how should we respond? Do we punish those who are caught cheating? Certainly. But consequences alone do not change culture (as pointed out by Yukl’s discussion of coercive power in Leadership in Organizations). I suggest we not only have consequences for those guilty of cheating, but that those consequences include a restitutional element that is designed to repair the damaged relationships cheating can cause (if nothing else, a level of trust is broken). Additionally, I suggest we celebrate those students who choose not to cheat, and that we do all of this in the hopes of creating learning institutions that value love more than fear.
IDEA LEADER: Which does your leadership style utilize more – love or fear?
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December 3, 2007 at 3:07 am (communication, email, productivity)
Though email is supposed to make us more efficient, in reality it tends to consume a significant part of an already to-do-list-packed day. Like Frankenstein’s monster, what once seemed to be a good idea has now turned on us. So how do you tame this monster?
Take a look at this article from Harvard Business School. I especially like the suggestion about summarizing the content of your message in the subject line.
Though I am not an executive who can create email rules for my workplace, I am able to apply these ideas to how I handle both work and personal email. The result: not only will I handle email better, but I will become a better communicator – and communication is a critical skill for both leaders and followers.
IDEA LEADER: How can you use email to make yourself a better communicator?
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