Lead-Up Principle #2
LIGHTEN YOUR LEADER’S LOAD
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Pass the buck,” meaning to duck ownership or shirk responsibility. One source says that the expression comes from when card games were played in the old West, and a Buck knife was used to indicate who was to deal the cards next. If someone didn’t want to deal, he could pass the Buck.
When Harry Truman was president of the United States, he used to keep a sign on his desk that said, “The Buck Stops Here.” By that he meant that no matter how many people might avoid taking responsibility up and down the chain of command, he would take responsibility. In an address at the National War College on December 19, 1952, Truman said, “You know, it’s easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done, after the game is over. But when the decision is up before you—and on my desk I have a motto which says ‘The Buck Stops Here’—the decision has to be made.” On another occasion he said, “The president—whoever he is—has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”1
Responsibility weighs heavily on leaders. The higher they are in an organization, the heavier the responsibility. As president of the United States, Truman carried the weight of the entire nation on his shoulders. Leaders can give up many things. They can delegate many things. The one thing that the top leader can never let go of is final responsibility.
HOW LIFTING YOUR LEADER LIFTS YOU
As an employee, you can do one of two things for your leader. You can make the load lighter, or you can make it heavier. It’s similar to the Elevator Principle in Winning with People: “We can lift people up or take people down in our relationships.” If you help lift the load, then you help your leader succeed. When the boss succeeds, the organization succeeds. Conversely, it is almost impossible for you to win if your boss fails.
Leaders can give up many things. They can delegate many things. The one thing that the top leader can never let go of is final responsibility.
I should mention that motives do matter when it comes to lifting your leader’s load. I’m recommending that you lift up, not suck up. That’s not to say that people who are nice to the boss and hope it helps their careers have bad motives or poor character. They have just misplaced their energies. And a good leader can tell the difference between someone who really wants to help and someone who is trying to curry favor.
There are many positive benefits that can come from helping to lift your leader’s load. Following are a few of those benefits.
LIFTING SHOWS YOU ARE A TEAM PLAYER
When I think of the consummate team player, I think of Kirk Nowery, the president of Injoy Stewardship Services. When Kirk first began with ISS, he was one of our “road warriors.” He consulted with churches and also presented information about ISS and its services to pastors and their lay leaders. But every time I saw Kirk, he used to ask me the same question: “John, is there anything I can do for you?” It was his way of letting me know that he was a team player, willing to do whatever it took for ISS to succeed. Now that Kirk is running the company, he still asks me that question whenever we meet. And if I ask him to do anything, whether it’s to accomplish a big company goal or help me with something personal, he completes the task with excellence.
LIFTING SHOWS GRATITUDE FOR BEING ON THE TEAM
A Chinese proverb says, “Those who drink the water must remember those who dug the well.” Gratitude is one of the most attractive of all personal attributes; sometimes I think it is one of the least practiced. But I have to say that the people I work with are not remiss in this area. I find them to be very grateful. They continually show their gratitude by lifting my load and taking things off of my shoulders; and because they take good care of me, I try to take good care of them.
LIFTING MAKES YOU PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER
In February 2005, a few members of the EQUIP staff, several volunteer leadership trainers, and some current and potential donors made a trip to Europe to launch the Million Leaders Mandate there. It was an amazing experience as we met with national leaders in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia.
When you help someone bigger than you, it makes you part of something bigger.
We covered a lot of territory in ten days. Often we flew into a country in the morning, took in some sights in the afternoon, and met with key leaders in the evening or the next day. As we rushed from place to place and traveled together on buses from airport to hotel to meeting hall, Doug Carter, the vice president of EQUIP, continually reminded everyone of the vision of EQUIP and the Million Leaders Mandate—to train and equip a million people on six continents for spiritual leadership.
Doug is a good leader. He was reminding us that what we were doing was a part of something bigger than the events of the moment. It’s the truth that when you help someone bigger than you, it makes you part of something bigger. Doesn’t just about everyone desire to be part of something significant? There is also another benefit to being part of something bigger; it makes you bigger. You cannot contribute to something significant without being changed. If you want to be better than you are, become part of something bigger than you are.
LIFTING GETS YOU NOTICED
When you lift people up, they can’t help but notice it. Even if others aren’t aware of what you’re doing, the person being lifted is. Of course, lifting others isn’t meant to be a one-time occurrence. You can’t add value to people by helping them once. It needs to be an ongoing process if you want the value you add to come back to you.
HOW OFTEN YOU LIFT HOW THE LEADER RESPONDS
Once or twice “Thanks.”
Many times “I need you.”
Continually “Let me help you.”
If you continually help others, then others will eventually want to help you. Even if the leader you work for never turns around to lift you up in return, someone who has seen you doing that lifting will extend a hand to you. Just remember: It’s not how heavy the load is. It’s how you carry it.
LIFTING INCREASES YOUR VALUE AND INFLUENCE
Do you have a friend or family member who always makes things better for you, who seems to add value to you every time you are together? If you do, I bet that person has a special place in your heart. Likewise, load lifters have a special place in the hearts of their leaders.
From the perspective of the top leader, the question that must be asked is, “Am I better off with them on the team?” That’s really the bottom line for a leader. If you make your leaders feel that they are better off because you are part of the team, then your value goes up, and so does your influence. I ask myself that question about two years after hiring someone. I’m naturally optimistic, so it takes that long for my enthusiasm for them to be tempered enough for me to look at their performance realistically. Other leaders could perhaps make a fair assessment sooner than that, though I also recommend that pessimists wait two years (to get over their skepticism).
The lift you give for the leader often leads to the leader lifting you.
When you lift a leader’s load, your load certainly gets heavier. You’re taking on more when leading in the middle is already difficult. Know, however, that the lift you give for the leader often leads to the leader lifting you.
HOW TO LIFT YOUR LEADER’S LOAD
As you read about the various ways that lifting your leader’s load can help you, perhaps several ways you could help came to mind. I recommend that you go with your instincts. But just in case you aren’t sure of where to begin, please allow me to give you several suggestions.
1. DO YOUR OWN JOB WELL FIRST
Hall of Fame baseball player Willie Mays said, “It isn’t hard to be good from time to time in sports. What’s tough is being good every day.” When you are good every day, you do the first important step in lifting your leader’s load—you prevent him from having to lift yours.
I once had an employee who continually told me that he wanted to help me. At first, I thought, What a great attitude! But then I began to notice something. Despite his constant requests to help, he never seemed to get his own work done. After seeing that this was a pattern, I sat him down and told him that the best way he could help me was to do his job. But guess what? He kept asking to help me but didn’t follow through and get his own job done. I finally concluded that what he wanted was to spend time with me, not help me. In time, I had to let him go.
2. WHEN YOU FIND A PROBLEM, PROVIDE A SOLUTION
I love the Peanuts comic strip in which Lucy walks up to Charlie Brown, who is leaning against a wall with his head in his hands. She looks at him and says, “Discouraged again, eh, Charlie Brown?”
“You know what your trouble is?” she asks when he doesn’t respond. “The whole trouble with you is that you are you!”
“It isn’t hard to be good from time to time in sports. What’s tough is being good every day.”
—WILLIE MAYS
“Well, what in the world can I do about that?” he responds in exasperation.
Lucy answers, “I don’t pretend to be able to give advice. I merely point out the trouble.”
Load lifters don’t follow the path of Lucy. They are more like Henry Ford, who said, “Don’t find a fault; find a remedy.”
In an organization I led many years ago, I seemed to have a whole bunch of “Lucys” working for me, who seemed to continually dump problems on my desk and then go away to look for more problems. I instituted a rule. Anyone who brought a problem to me wanting help with it had to also come up with three potential solutions before coming to see me. Did I do that because I didn’t want to help them? No, I did it because I wanted them to learn to help themselves. They quickly became creative and resourceful. As time went by, they needed less help and became better decision makers and leaders.
3. TELL LEADERS WHAT THEY NEEDTO HEAR, NOT WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR
Because of their intuition, good leaders often see more than others see, and they see things before others do. Why? Because they see everything from a leadership bias. But if the organization they lead gets large, they often lose their edge. They become disconnected. What is the remedy to this problem? They ask the people in their inner circle to see things for them.
“Very few big executives want to be surrounded by ‘yes’ men.”
—BURTON BIGELOW
Most good leaders want the perspective of people they trust. Sales expert Burton Bigelow said, “Very few big executives want to be surrounded by ‘yes’ men. Their greatest weakness often is the fact that ‘yes’ men build up around the executive a wall of fiction, when what the executive wants most of all is plain facts.”
One of the ways to become a person whom leaders trust is to tell them the truth. One of the biggest load lifters in my life is Linda Eggers, my assistant. Every time I meet with Linda, I ask her to keep me on track. And believe me, I trust her in everything. Having Linda work with me is like possessing an extra brain!
Early on in our working relationship, I asked Linda to always be up front with me when it came to bad news. I didn’t want her to talk around issues or try to spare my feelings. If I’m going to get bad news, I want it straight and right away. My promise to Linda, in return, was to never shoot the messenger. If you were to talk to Linda, I believe she would confirm that I have kept that promise.
If you’ve never spoken up to your leaders and told them what they need to hear, then it will take courage. As World War II general and later president Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “A bold heart is half the battle.” But if you are willing to speak up, you can help your leaders and yourself. Start small and be diplomatic. If your leader is receptive, become more frank over time. If you get to the point where your leader is not only willing to hear from you but actually wants your perspective, then remember this: Your job is to be a funnel, not a filter. Be careful to convey information without “spinning” it. Good leaders want the truth—even if it hurts.
4. GO THE SECOND MILE
Motivational sales expert Zig Ziglar said, “There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.” When you do more than is asked, you will certainly stand out from the crowd. When you have a whatever-it-takes attitude related to helping the organization, then you can emerge as a go-to player. (I address this in greater depth in Chapter 8 of this section.) People who emerge from the crowd often become members of a leader’s inner circle. Leaders expect more from their inner circle. They come to expect a second-mile mind-set from them. They expect extra effort, extra responsibility, and extra thinking. But the good leaders also give extra in return.
“There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.”
—ZIG ZIGLAR
5. STAND UP FOR YOUR LEADER WHENEVER YOU CAN
Helping your leaders means supporting them and standing up for them whenever you can. Former army general and U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell said, “When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I’ll like it or not. Disagreement, at this stage, stimulates me. But once a decision has been made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.”
6. STAND IN FOR YOUR LEADER WHENEVER YOU CAN
Every employee in an organization is a representative of that organization. And individuals at all levels also represent the leaders they work for. Accordingly, they can choose to step up and stand in for their leaders, representing them well and serving the organization.
Years ago, I used to tell new leaders I hired that every person in our organization walked around with two buckets. One bucket contained water, and the other gasoline. As leaders, they would continually come across small fires, and they could pour water or gasoline on a fire. It was their choice.
7. ASK YOUR LEADER HOW YOU CAN LIFT THE LOAD
It’s good to anticipate what your leader may need or want. It’s even better to come right out and ask. If you are doing your own job and doing it well, chances are your leader will be glad to tell you how you can help.
Over the years as I have worked as a consultant and speaker, I have discovered that there are two approaches that people in those industries take. One type of consultant walks into an organization and says, “Here’s what I know; sit down and listen.” Another says, “What do I need to know? We’ll work on this together.” Likewise, some speakers arrive at an engagement with the idea that it’s their moment to be in the spotlight, and they are quick to tell you what you can do to help them. Other speakers recognize that it’s their moment to add value to the leader who invited them.
As I have grown in maturity and experience, I have tried to become like the communicators in that second group. Like many leaders early in their lives, I started out focusing on myself. But in time I came to recognize that when I am invited to speak, I am there to serve the leaders who invited me. I want to add value to them, to lift their load if I can. To do that, I ask them three things:
• “Can I say something that you have said before to give you another voice?”
• “Can I say something that you would like to say but can’t, to give you a needed voice?”
• “Can I say something that you haven’t said yet to give you the first voice?”
Most of the time, the good leaders say yes to those requests. They are always thinking ahead, thinking about where to take the organization and how they will get there. When someone asks how he can help, they are delighted. All it takes is for someone to ask.
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