Lead-Down Principle #2
SEE EVERYONE AS A “10”
I want to ask you a question: Who is your favorite teacher of all time? Think back through all your years in school, from kindergarten to the last year of your education. Who stands out? Is there a teacher who changed your life? Most of us have one. Mine was actually a Sunday school teacher named Glen Leatherwood. Who was yours?
What made that teacher different? Was it subject knowledge? Was it teaching technique? Though your teacher may have possessed great knowledge and mastered outstanding technique, I’m willing to bet that what separated that teacher from all of the others was his or her belief in you. That teacher probably saw you as a 10. The teacher who browbeats you and tells you how ignorant or undisciplined you are isn’t the one who inspires you to learn and grow. It’s the one who thinks you’re wonderful and tells you so.
Now I’d like you to think about your working life and the leaders you’ve worked for over the years. As you think about them, ask yourself the following questions:
• Who gets my best effort? The leader who believes I’m a 10 or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
• Who do I enjoy working with? The leader who believes I’m a 10 or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
• Who is the easiest for me to approach? The leader who believes I’m a 10 or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
• Who wants the best for me? The leader who believes I’m a 10 or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
• Who will I learn the most from? The leader who believes I’m a 10 or the leader who believes I’m a 2?
360-Degree Leaders get more out of their people because they think more of their people. They respect and value them, and as a result, their people want to follow them. The positive, uplifting attitude that they bring to leadership creates a positive working environment where everyone on the team has a place and purpose—and where everyone shares in the win.
For some leaders, this is easy and natural, especially if they have positive personalities. I find that people who were greatly encouraged and valued as children often build up others almost instinctively. But it is a skill that can be learned by anyone, and it is a must for anyone who desires to become a 360-Degree Leader.
If you want to really shine in this area, apply the following suggestions when working with your people:
1. SEE THEM AS WHO THEY CAN BECOME
Author Bennett Cerf wrote that J. William Stanton, who served many years as a representative from Ohio in the United States Congress, treasured a letter he received from the Chamber of Commerce in Painesville, Ohio, dated 1949. The letter declined Stanton’s offer to bring a new congressman as the featured speaker for a fund-raising dinner. The missive reads: “We feel that this year we really need a big-name speaker who’ll be a drawing card so we’re hoping to bag the head football coach at John Carroll University. Thanks anyhow for suggesting Representative John F. Kennedy.”1 Do you have any idea who that coach might have been? I certainly don’t.
Do you have a potential JFK in your midst? Or a Jack Welch? Or a Mother Teresa? It’s easy to recognize great leadership and great talent once people have already blossomed, but how about before they come into their own?
Look for the great potential that is within each person you lead. When you find it, do your best to draw it out. Some leaders are so insecure that when they see a potential all-star, they try to push that person down because they worry that his or her high performance will make them look bad. But 360-Degree Leaders reach down to lift those people up. They recognize that people with huge potential are going to be successful anyway. The best role they can assume is that of discoverer and encourager. In that way, they add value to them and get to be a positive part of the process of their emergence as leaders.
2. LET THEM “BORROW” YOUR BELIEF IN THEM
In 1989, Kevin Myers moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Lawrenceville, Georgia, to plant a church. Kevin was a sharp young leader whose future looked bright, and his sponsoring organization, Kentwood Community Church, was glad to support his efforts.
Kevin did all the right things as he prepared for the first service of Crossroads Community Church. He spent weeks talking to people in the community, he selected a good location, and he got his volunteers ready. When he opened the doors for the first time, his hopes were crushed as only about ninety people showed up—about a third of what he had expected. It was a major disappointment, because Kevin had been on staff at a large, dynamic growing church, and he had little desire to lead a small congregation. He was determined to persevere, however, figuring that in a year or two, he would get over the hump and build the kind of church that matched his vision.
After three years of struggle and little growth, Kevin was ready to throw in the towel. He made a trip to Michigan to meet with Wayne Schmidt, his former boss at Kentwood and the original sponsor of Kevin’s church-planting endeavor. Feeling like a failure, Kevin explained to Wayne that he needed a job, because he was planning to close down the church in Georgia. Wayne’s response changed Kevin’s life. He said, “Kevin, if you’ve lost faith, borrow mine.”
Uncertain about his future, but grateful to Wayne for his faith in him, Kevin returned to Georgia and didn’t give up. Slowly, as Kevin grew in his leadership, so did his congregation. As I write this, Kevin leads 3,400 people every week, putting his congregation in the top 1 percent in the United States.
When the people you lead don’t believe in themselves, you can help them believe in themselves, just as Wayne did for Kevin. Think of it as a loan, something you are giving freely, but that will later return with dividends as that person succeeds.
3. CATCH THEM DOING SOMETHING RIGHT
If you desire to see everyone as a 10 and help them believe in themselves, you need to encourage them by catching them doing something right. And that is really countercultural. We are trained our whole lives to catch people doing something wrong. If our parents and teachers caught us doing something, you can bet it was something wrong. So we tend to think in those same terms.
When you focus on the negative and catch people doing something wrong, it has no real power to make them any better. When we catch people doing something wrong, they become defensive. They make excuses. They evade. On the other hand, if we catch people doing something right, it gives them positive reinforcement. It helps them tap into their potential. It makes them want to do better.
Make it part of your daily agenda to look for things going right. They don’t have to be big things, though of course you want to praise those things as well. It can be almost anything, as long as you are sincere in your praise.
4. BELIEVE THE BEST—GIVE OTHERS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT
When we examine ourselves, we naturally give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because we see ourselves in the light of our intentions. On the other hand, when we look at others, we usually judge them according to their actions. Think about how much more positive our interaction with others would be if we believed the best in them and gave them the benefit of the doubt, just as we do for ourselves.
Many people are reluctant to adopt this attitude because they fear that others will consider them naive or will take advantage of them. The reality is that trustful people are not weaker than distrustful ones; they are actually stronger. As evidence, I offer the following trust fallacies and the facts that refute them, researched by sociology professor Morton Hunt.
Fallacy: Trustful people are more gullible.
Fact: Trustful people are no more likely to be fooled than mistrustful ones.
Fallacy: Trustful people are less perceptive than mistrustful people of what others are really feeling.
Fact: People who scored high on trust are actually better than others at reading people.
Fallacy: People with a poor opinion of themselves are more trustful than people with a good opinion of themselves.
Fact: The opposite is true. People with high self-esteem are more willing to take emotional risks.
Fallacy: Stupid people are trustful; smart people are mistrustful.
Fact: People with high aptitude or scholastic scores are no more mistrustful or skeptical than people judged to be less intelligent.
Fallacy: Trustful people rely on others to direct their lives for them; mistrustful people rely on themselves.
Fact: The opposite is true. People who feel controlled by outside persons and forces are more mistrustful, while those who feel in charge of their lives are more trustful.
Fallacy: Trustful people are no more trustworthy than mistrustful people.
Fact: Mistrustful people are less trustworthy. Research validates what the ancient Greeks used to say: “He who mistrusts most should be trusted least.”2
I’m not saying that you should become like an ostrich and stick your head in the sand. All I’m suggesting is that you give others the same consideration you give yourself. It’s not a lot to ask, and the dividends it will pay you relationally can be huge.
5. REALIZE THAT “10” HAS MANY DEFINITIONS
What does it mean to be a 10? When you started reading this chapter and I suggested that you see everyone as a 10, did a certain image of a 10 come to mind? And did you immediately start comparing the people who work for you to that image and find them coming up short? I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case, because I think most of us have a pretty narrow view of what constitutes a 10.
When it comes to improving in skills, I believe that most people cannot increase their ability beyond about two points on a scale of 1 to 10. So, for example, if you were born a 4 when it comes to math, no matter how hard you work at it, you will probably never become better than a 6. But here’s the good news. Everybody is exceptional at something, and a 10 doesn’t always look the same.
In their book Now, Discover Your Strengths (Free Press, 2001), Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton identify thirty-four areas of strength that they believe people exhibit—anything from responsibility to WOO (the ability to win over others). And the authors assert that everyone has at least one skill they can perform better than the next ten thousand others. That means they believe everyone can be a 10 in some area. You can always focus on that area when encouraging one of your employees.
But let’s say you employ someone who does not have any skill that is a 10 or could be developed into a 10. Does that mean you write him off as hopeless? No. You see, there are other non-skill areas where a person can grow into a 10 no matter what his or her starting point is—areas such as attitude, desire, discipline, and perseverance. If you don’t see 10 potential anywhere else, look for it there.
6. GIVE THEM THE “10” TREATMENT
Most leaders treat people according to the number that they place on them. If employees are performing at an average level—let’s say as a 5—then the boss gives them the 5 treatment. But I believe people always deserve their leader’s best, even when they are not giving their best. I say that because I believe every person has value as a human being and deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. That doesn’t mean you reward bad performance. It just means that you treat people well and take the high road with them, even if they don’t do the same for you.
People usually rise to the leader’s expectations—if they like the leader.
It’s been my observation that people usually rise to the leader’s expectations—if they like the leader. If you have built solid relationships with your employees and they genuinely like and respect you, they will work hard and give their best.
I’ve learned a lot of things about leadership from many leaders over the years, but the one I still admire most is my father, Melvin Maxwell. In December 2004, I visited my parents in the Orlando area, and while I was there, I was scheduled to participate in a conference call. Because I needed a quiet place to do it, my dad graciously let me use his office.
As I sat at his desk, I noticed a card next to the phone with the following words written in my father’s hand:
#1 Build people up by encouragement.
#2 Give people credit by acknowledgment.
#3 Give people recognition by gratitude.
I knew in a second why it was there. My father had written it to remind him of how he was to treat people as he spoke on the phone with them. And I was instantly reminded that Dad, more than anyone else, taught me to see everyone as a 10.
Begin today to see and lead people as they can be, not as they are, and you will be amazed by how they respond to you. Not only will your relationship with them improve and their productivity increase, but you also will help them rise to their potential and become who they were created to be.
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