leadership and language (email tips for leaders)

We all know it is important to craft a message that is powerful and engaging. We all know the importance of using the right words to touch someone's heart and mind. Examples abound, especially as we consider the words of those who changed the nation - notably people like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. But what about the mundane, day-to-day, information only messages? And especially in a day of email, when communication happens almost instantaneously? Can we still lead through our language?
I beleive that the answer is YES. As leaders, everytime we communicate we are engaged in the process of leading. Yesterday I was sending out a "routine" email that was communicating a decision that had been made. I was blessed to have next to me one of my colleagues who helped me craft just the right words. We believed that what was written in this short message could have impact over the long haul, and we wanted to say just the right thing. So here are a few tips for crafting a good email message that can enhance your ability to lead over the long haul:

1. First and foremost, NEVER (repeat NEVER) write or send an email when you have negative emotion wrapped around the subject. This is especially true if you are angry toward someone or something.


2. Second and foremost, NEVER (repeat NEVR) write or send an email when you have negative emotion wrapped around the subject. This is especially true if you are angry toward someone or something...get the point?


3. Assume that people will always read between the lines, so avoid any language or tone that might allow peopel to do that. Be factual and to the point.


4. Explain yourself. Let the reader know why the decision has been made or what is prompting you to write this email. Don't let them guess.


5. Be succinct...but not too much so. Write in full sentences, and consider that it probably takes a paragraph or two to speak of anything worthwhile.


6. Have an approriate salutation - to whom are you adressing this note, and how do they want to be noted by you? Do you begin with Dear Friends...Trusted Colleagues...Fellow Faculty...or do you address people by name?


7. Have an approriate ending - do you have a tag line you normally use (regards, truly, as always, God's blessings) or perhaps several that not only address the issue at hand but also speak of your relationship with that person or group?


8. Choose your words in such a way that they have impact. Consider this a speech that is written out. Let your language inspire others to action.


9. Depending on who the email is being sent to, re-read over and over. Nothing is worse than a spelling mistake, or a dropped word, or poor grammar (this is no big deal between friends, but any public email needs to be your best writing). Don't distract the reader with poor grammar and spelling.


10. Be VERY judicious with using REPLY ALL...this gets people in trouble way too many times.


11. Let the email address be the last thing you type in, just in case you get sloppy and hit the send button before you want to or before you have a chance to proofread. You may just want to write the note in Word and then copy and paste into the email.


12. Finally, NEVER (repeat NEVER) write or send an email when you have negative emotions wrapped around the subject. This is especially true if you are angry toward someone or something.

That's it for now...enjoy using email. It is one of the great tools we have at our disposal in which we can lead in real time and across boundaries. AND remember to visit with people face to face, especially when you have negative emotions wrapped around the subject or if you are angry toward someone or something.

my bad

Hard to believe I last posted a blog back in November. Not sure if it has been an issue of time or not quite knowing what to say. I always have an opinion on leadership, so not quite sure what is keeping me from posting here on a more regular basis.

I so appreciate people's comments on what I have written in the past...part of leadership (at least for me) is getting feedback on what I do and say. While I always appreciated uninvited feedback (at least ost of the time), sometimes I find myself having to seek feedback. Here are a few ways I go about that process:

• I have found that if I only ask "what did you think?" I get the standard "that was good" or some other cursory response. I need to be specific, or ask one more time, "No, really...what did you think?"


• When people mention something about my leadership, or compliment me on an action I have taken, I ask them to elaborate some more and tell me WHY it was good for them. This helps me to more fully understand what they saw and experienced.


• Because people normally have a hard time devlivering bad news, I have to begin by giving them permission to tell me the bad and the ugly. It might sound something like, "I'm not sure that meeting went very well...can you tell me where I might have done something that did not work?"


• With trusted friends and advisors, I may tell them ahead of time to watch closely and give me feedback following a meeting or event. Then I make sure to follow up with them.


• When people bring up a topic with which I find myself wondering if my actions in that arena are less than admirable, I let them know that they have permission to call me out if I ever act in that manner. Yesterday I was conversing with a colleague and she brought up the issue of giving introverted people space in which they may network differently than extroverted people. I realized that my actions will often promote those who are extroverted and inhibit those who are introverted. I told her she can call me out - even in public - if she ever sees me acting in such a manner.

So how are you getting feedback on your leadership? Without some type of feedback, there are few ways to really improve. And the best feedback is real time feedback...how are you getting that on a regular basis?

my new favorite word

One of the readings for The Concordia MBA's Leadership: Self course that I taught this past week discussed the concept of spiritually inspired leadership, and how that affects an organization. One of the characteristics of "the good company" is that it embraces subsidiarity. Now I have to admit that I had not come across that word before (or if I had, I failed to recognize its significance). The idea behind subsidiarity, taken from social justice literature, captures "the involvement of and opennes to others, the norm that decision making should include individuals affected by the decision, and belief that authority should involve the levels of the organization that have hands-on knowledge and responsibility" (Delbeq, 2008). This concept, when applied to leadership, can change the way an organization looks, feels, and is actually run.
To be an organization (or a leader) who embraces subsidiarity, several things need to occur:

• leaders need to believe that this process is best for decision making


• leaders need to be comfortable with the fact that they do not have all the answers


• leaders need to put in place a structure that not only encourages this process but actually forces it through governance and policy


• leaders need to be willing to accept other people's ideas and decisions, and then put them into practice


• leaders need to share information - lots of information - and provide a vehicle for others to learn and grow form that information


• followers need to accept the responsibility of their decision making process


• followers need to learn all they can about the organization and the process of decision making


• followers need to be willing to lead when called upon


• followers need to be willing to challenge the process and ask for decision making responsibility


• leaders and followers need to learn to listen to each other


• leaders and followers need to learn to trust each other


• leaders and followers need to learn to forgive each other


• leaders and followers need to learn to give up their locus of control to each other

Consider where you might be able to put into practice the concept of subsidiarity today. Perhaps it is with a colleague...perhaps it is with a student...perhaps it is with a boss...perhaps it is with a child...perhaps it is with an elected officials...perhaps it is with the auto mechanic. Look around and see where you can give the decision making power to someone at a a "subsidiary" level OR where you can challenge the process and offer to make the decision at YOUR level. Who knows where life might take someone when they practice the art of subsidiarity.

present reality..future vision

This past week I attended the Council on Independent Colleges Conference for Chief Academic Officers and Chief Advancement Officers, having the chance to hear and learn from some very smart people who run what I call "top-notch" colleges and universities. Many of the people who presented came from schools who have a longe tradition (many over 100-150 years) of graduating students in a variety of liberal arts majors. Their alumni have seen success in a variety of vocations including business, medicine, engineering, government and the arts. In return, they have realized an amazing return in gifts from their alumni, often measuring the hundreds of millions of dollars during their campaigns. I listened with envy as they described what they are able to do as a result of these gifts and legacies...and I began to wonder why my institution is not able to do the same.

My first reaction was to be angry. What's wrong with us? Why can't we realize those same types of gifts? If we we had better people...if we had a better plan...if we weren't so insular...if we focused more...if we got outside our box...and the list continued. It became easy to blame and grouse and be incredibly frustrated. And then I had a mindshift...

I was relaying my experiences to a colleague and he looked at me, smiled, and said, "What you have just described is a picture of our future." I at first had a quizzical look on my face and then smiled with him as I realized that we were not stuck in our present reality - and that the future vision was already being realized. The reality is the my institution has been one who has graduated people in the past who went on to become pastors and teachers...we are a young institiution in graduating people who are going on to make the type of money who can endow professorships and build buildings...we are creating programs today that will see fruition tomorrow...we have a strong President who has laid a foundation for future success in this area...and we are graduating students who are making a name for Concordia throughout the greater Central Texas Region. We are a geat university that is beginning to realize its future today!

So for those of us who always wish things would be better (which is a part of a leader's DNA), here is my list of ways to keep from being frustrated with the present reality:

1. know that as a leader you will be frustrated and should be frustrated...just don't dwell there for too long.


2. keep hanging out with those institutions whom you whom you aspire to be like...they will provide fuel for your fire.


3. put in place now the programs and people that will help you get to that future vision...and give them time to mature.


4. find others who share in your future vision...and give them the space and the resources to create that vision in their unique way.


5. enroll those outside the institution in your future vision...and get them to start supporting that vision today.


6. understand that the present reality is never as bad as you think it to be...it just looks that way because you have a different (better?) picture in your mind of what can be.


7. get rid of that which is keeping the future vision from becoming a reality sooner rather than later...most of the time its people you may need to remove.


8. never give up,,,never, never, never, never give up! (with regards to Winston Churchill)

three questions

On a recent blog I wrote regarding the one big question, a comment came back that asked this: What are three things that you would do differently on your path of leadership and why would you change them?

Great question, Carrie. I thought about that question in my own life and here would be my personal answer...I hope it helps others:

1. I would have stayed at my first position longer. After three years of leading a band at Minneapolis Lutheran High School I was off to graduate school. It was as if I needed to get on with my life and it seemed as if this first job was getting in my way. What I realize now is that I needed to give myself more time to mature in that position and build a successful program that would have lasted. Leadership is more than coming in to an organization and "wowing" everyone with one's skills and talents. Building a program that would have lasted - and learning how to do that early on - woujld have served me better in the long run. That being said, I had a phenomenal experience at the school and made amazing friends and learned so much about what it takes to build a program.

2. I would have built strong succession plans early on in my career. It took me until last year to build a succesion plan that willl enable the organization to continue at the present level were I to leave tomorrow. Much of what I did throughout my career has been very successful - but most of it did not continue at the same level beyond my tenure. I have come to understand that my style does not easily lend itself well to a continuation of what was begun...it is part of my personality and part of how I get things done. That being said, I now know that is unacceptable and have built a strong interim succession plan for my current position. I know without a doubt that if I were not able to serve in this position tomorrow, most aspects of the College would continue at the same level they are now.

3. I would hire more slowly and fire more quickly. I let people stay on way too long too many times, and it hurt the organization in the long run. I often wanted to give people a second (and third, fourth, and fifth) chance, but I came to realize too late in my career that for most adults, once they are set in the way they do things, they will continue to act in that manner. When people become toxic to a culture, they need to be removed quickly - and everyone needs to know that the individual was removed because they were toxic. None of us like to let people go...but our first responsibility as leaders is to care for the organization and its future. Keeping bad people around hurts the organization - and we are not living up to our vocation of leadership if we allow those type of people to continue.

I hope these three things help others as they are on their own leadership journeys. By the way, regarding #2 above, you do not need to be in a "leadership position" to build a succession plan. Everyone with any type of responsibility should have one of these in place. Succession plans should be written down (remember that these are for interim positions should you not be able to function in that role), 2-3 people identified as to who would take over for you, what the roles and responsibilities are of the interim person (and what they are not), and the plan should be shared publically. More to say on that later...

One more thing...it is good to be back among the "living." I can use two hands to type and move around without being in pain or having to be careful. I hope to keep up with this blog on a more regular basis, continuing the journey of learning about leadership.

organizational roadblocks

After wrist surgery this past week, this may qualify as my shortest blog ever...

What is an organizational roadblock? It is anything that keeps the institution from more fully living out its mission and vision. Such items could include:

• structures


• budgets


• silos


• unaddressed critical issues


• unaddressed non-critical issues


• weak personnel policies


• a focus on managing rather than leading fron those in leadership roles


• having the wrong people at the table


• lack of support and encouragement for the organization's best people

This list could go on and on, and will change depending on what is happening in one's life and/or organization at any given moment. The biggest question to ask is this:

AM I A ROADBLOCK WITHIN MY ORGANIZATION...

and if so, what am I going to do about it starting right now?

the one question

Excuse the shortness of this blog, but I still only have one hand with which to type...


Yesterday,I had the opportunity to interview Gerard Arpey, CEO of American Airlines as a part of our speaker series on campus. It was an amazing event - packed auditorium, great discussion (his pastor joined him for a dialogue on faith & work), and a overall feeling that we were doing something good and right. Prior to the event, I challenged some students and faculty to consider what question they would ask Mr. Arpey if they had several minutes alone with him. This is actually a harder exercise than one may think - so...


If you came face-to-face with a leader whom you admire; or someone who leads a large organization; or a person of great influence in your community; or?????? what would you ask them? Remember, you only get one question and only a few minutes with this person.

So think about your ONE question...write it down...memorize it...and be ready to use it. You may even want to practice it with a friend (their answer might lead to an interesting dialogue).