The 360 Leader

I have read many things by John C. Maxwell and enjoyed his practical, easy to read style that is loaded with examples and stories that emphasize his points.  His The 360° Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization was mentioned at a conference workshop I attended, so I went out and tracked down a copy. It did not disappoint. The book is broken into 6 sections: myths, challenges, principles to lead up, across and down, and the value of the middle leader. Maxwell contends that to be a 360° leader, you must lead up to your boss, across to your peers and down to your team. It is not an easy job, but he sets out 300 pages of advice to help you be successful.

A consistent theme of Maxwell's is the critical importance of people and their development. He stressess over and over in many ways that more leaders enhance an organization and developing leadership in people is the role of every leader. This reminds me of something from The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell where he talks about the higher up in an organization you go, the more your work is on mentoring people and the less on the business of the organization. Good leaders are about the influence they have in an organization, not titles. Influence grows from competence and confidence.

One of the first concepts Maxwell tackles is that leadership can and should come from everywhere in the in the organization. "The key to succeeding is to learn to deal with the tension of whatever position you are in, overcome its obstacles, and make the most of its advantages and opportunities. If you do that, you can succeed from anywhere in the organization" (p. 33). This is true of students- if they can overcome their personal and academic challenges, they will be successful. It is also true for any of the PTA groups I have been a part of- when someone rises to overcome the problems, they, and the organization, become better.

The quote I want to share with my son is "Maturity does not come with age. It begins with the acceptance of responsibility" (p. 62). When he steps up and does what needs to be done, he is acting mature. When he dodges or is dragged into facing a responsibility, he is not there yet. This adulting is often seen by children as being able to do what you want, when you want. Unfortunately that element is tempered by responsibilites that have you completing tasks you would rather not, when it is not fun.

I have often been cited as pushing and challenging those above me who lead. I ask questions and look for better ways to do things. "Leaders push boundaries" (p. 111) becasue they want to make improvements. Acceptance of the status quo is not going to drive an organization to success. I am currently reading Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom in which he frequently talks about times when he disagreed with the majority and after debate ended up supporting the viewpoint the group adopted whether or not he whole heartedly agreed. Maxwell would agree- discuss and debate, accept the will of the group and accept that you will sometime fail. For leaders to grow they must have the opportunity to stretch and sometimes not make it. "Leaders who tend to the people ususally build up the people and the business" (p. 218).

In schools I have advocated for times of homogenous grouping. This is not a popular concept- often labeled tracking. It is true that individuals in the lower end of the group benefit from being grouped with more able peers. The problem is that high potential students do not academically grow when placed with lower level students. They grow and learn when with their high potential peers. Maxwell points out this principle when he says, "people function at peak capacity when they have someone else pushing them" (p. 172). If you want to be a star athlete, you want to be on the best team so that the players will challenge you to improve your skills. Finding people with more leadership skills than you to hang aound, will allow some of their skills to be adopted by you.

In the section on leading down, Maxwell cites a card he found on his father's desk.
"#1 Build people up by encouragement.
#2 Give people credit by acknowledgement.
#3 Give people recognition by gratitude."   (p. 227)
I try very hard to acknowledge the accomplishments of my teams with written notes- handwritten, not email- whenever possible. I know that some of them treasure these notes. Having read a book about thank you notes, I developed a simple formula: Thank the person, by name, for their specific contribution (person/attendance first, tangibles second), explain how the contibution led to the success of the organization/activity, and share how you would like to continue to work together in the future. Three specific sentences can be highly effective. This is not the thank you I have often received: "Thank you for your help at the conference. You helped us run a successful conference." I have penned notes like: "Dear Lynn, Thank you so much for running the Reflections program this year. I know that you spent many hours putting to gether the celebration that was attended by over fifty artists and their family members. Your willingness to step up and run this even truly helps out students be recognized for their work. I hope we can count on your help next year as well." As Maxwell suggests, we should "see and lead people as they can be not as the are" by treating them as a 10 (p. 227).

In order to lead, you need to slow down. He aptly points out the example of a parent teaching a child a skill. It is slower and perhaps less well done when the child is learning the skill, but with practice, the child will become proficient at the activity. I remember the first time baking cut out sugar cookies with my daughter went faster rather than slower. It was a powerful high. Teaching leadership skills is like that. It takes practice and mentoring and time, but at the end it is worth it.

In customer suggestions and reviews, negatives about with a small number of positives ever taken in. In leadership roles, the reverse is true. People will spout their wins to the leader and the world, but hold back on the challenges. When people start avoiding the leader who is doing his best to be accessible and visible, something is wrong. It is the wise leader who recognizes the problem. The wiser one goes to his boss with possible solutions before stuff hits the fan.

Another link I found to teaching is in his advice for leading down- "Experience alone isn't a good enough teacher-- evaluated experience is" (p. 235). When students practice and work they need feedback in order to improve. The student I had who was conviced she needed to skip a line on the vertical axis before countin up had misinterpreted something along the road and being graded on the problem was not improving her skill. Like many students she often just looked at the grade on a paper. I needed to sit with her while she graphed and stop her in her numbering and explain the proper procedure. Growing leadership is like this. Some people need very specific guidance and others can learn it incidentily.