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Are You Merely Interested in Being a Trusted Servant Leader—or Are You Committed?

/ Ken Blanchard

Most of us can remember a time when we had every intention of accomplishing a specific goal, but didn’t follow through. Perhaps we were beginning to get serious about joining a group, learning a skill, or improving ourselves in some way—but when it came time to act on the idea, for some reason we lost interest.

My good friend Art Turock taught me that this behavior usually is the result of not knowing the difference between interest and commitment. We were very interested in the idea, but not committed enough to put it into action. We didn’t keep our commitment to our commitment.

Through the years I’ve had all kinds of people tell me they have learned a lot from my books. Of course, I am always grateful to hear that. But when I ask leaders how they have applied some of the Simple Truths they’ve learned from me, many can’t come up with an example. It surprises me how some people can read a book, and another book, and then another without actually using anything they are learning from those books. They are interested in learning about leadership, but not committed to putting their learning into action. I think that’s a shame. After all, effective leadership is about employing commonsense leadership principles that will help your people and your organization thrive.

So how can commonsense leadership become common practice?

In an effort to resolve this age-old question, in 2022 my coauthor Randy Conley and I published Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways to Be a Servant Leader and Build Trust. We wanted to show leaders how to incorporate simple but essential principles into their leadership styles. We were delighted when we started hearing stories from readers telling us about the positive differences the book was making in their leadership. What a joy to realize that leaders everywhere were beginning to not only commit to our Simple Truths of servant leadership and trust in principle, but also put them into action at work.

Feeling the need to help leaders embed the information even more deeply, Randy and I decided to take the next step. The result is Simple Truths of Leadership Playbook: A 52-Week Game Plan for Becoming a Trusted Servant Leader. It’s a structured workbook that allows leaders to craft their approach to leadership one week at a time. When a leader reflects on each of the 52 Simple Truths, responds to the prompts in their own words, and does the activities, that’s half the work. The other half is the call to action—the “Try it This Week” section—which is all about the leader implementing the lessons into their leadership.

Effective leaders are committed to learning—and the best leaders apply what they learn to their leadership. Any leader who reads Simple Truths of Leadership Playbook can acquire the practical skills and experience they need to put commonsense leadership into practice and reach their goal of becoming a trusted servant leader. Now that’s what I call keeping your commitment to your commitment!

Great Leadership Starts with Self-Awareness

/ Ken Blanchard

Self-awareness is among the top leadership skills required from future leaders, according to Blanchard’s 2023 Trends Report. Yet the lack of it is one of the biggest challenges leaders face as they step into increasingly higher management roles. Not only is self-awareness a prerequisite for effective leadership, it’s also essential for effective human interaction of any kind.

The best leaders have a high degree of self-awareness. These leaders understand themselves and their needs, strengths, weaknesses, and temperament. They are aware of their thoughts, feelings, and personal motivators. They know how their behavior affects people around them and how to model trusting servant leadership for their team.

Self-aware leaders have a special kind of perspective on leadership. Being grounded in knowledge about themselves helps them be more mindful of the people, experiences, and values that have made them who they are—as both a person and a leader.

How’s Your Ego?

Leaders who lack self-awareness often have egos that they allow to go unchecked, which slowly but surely erodes their ability to lead. These leaders see themselves as the center of the universe. They put their own agenda, safety, status, and gratification ahead of the people they lead—the people most likely to be affected by the leader’s misguided thoughts and actions.

As a leader, if your self-worth is tied up in your achievements and what others think of you, it becomes increasingly difficult for you to maintain a healthy self-image. Why? Because your performance—like everyone’s—varies from day to day, and human judgment is fickle. So your self-worth is up for grabs on a daily basis. It’s easy to get caught between false pride and fear—two ways the human ego can be an obstacle to success.

  • Leaders with false pride are generally seen as controlling. They have a high need for power even when they don’t know what they are doing. They insist they are right even when it’s clear to everyone else that they are wrong.
  • Leaders driven by fear are generally characterized as do-nothing bosses. Their fear of making a mistake and other insecurities keep them from taking action when they should. They are seldom around—and when they are, they avoid conflict and aren’t very helpful.

A lack of self-awareness combined with an overactive ego can topple an otherwise great leader. Don’t let your ego keep you from being your best self or bringing out the best in others.

Can You Be Trusted as a Leader?

Effective leadership starts on the inside. To be a truly trustworthy leader, you must first possess a strong sense of self-awareness by knowing yourself and what you need to be successful.

To help you increase your self-awareness as a leader, we’ve developed an assessment leaders can use to gauge their trustworthiness in the four elements of trust found in our ABCD model:

  • Able: Do you demonstrate competence in your role?
  • Believable: Do you demonstrate how to act with integrity?
  • Connected: Do you demonstrate that you care about others?
  • Dependable: Do you demonstrate reliability?

To gain even more self-awareness, we encourage you to have each of your team members fill out the same assessment, rating you on your trustworthiness. Not every leader is vulnerable enough to ask their people to assess them as a trustworthy leader—but I’ve done it, and I found it to be a humbling, yet enlightening experience!

Important note: make sure you are ready for what you may learn. When you invite people to discuss these potentially sensitive areas, you must be ready to listen. Remember that feedback is a gift. There are only two things a leader should say when they receive feedback—either “Thank you” or “Tell me more.”

Don’t worry—it’s never a bad thing to learn something new about yourself as a leader. Take a tip from the One Minute Manager: If you find out you are doing something right, give yourself a One Minute Praising. And if you discover you are off track in an area, give yourself a One Minute Redirect and get back on the right track.

The more self-aware you are, the better you will be able to serve, care for, and lead your people, which builds trust—and awareness—in every direction. Being self-aware, keeping your ego in check, and learning how to be more trustworthy are all parts of leading at a higher level.

Have a Summer Attitude at Work and at Home

/ Ken Blanchard

Summer’s here! Kids are out of school, college students have time off or summer jobs, and adults—well, for many adults, all that really changes during the summer is the weather. If we work outside the home we get up every day and commute to our jobs, and if we work from home we look out the window at the sun shining while we are working. It’s easy to start feeling kind of stuck in a rut.

But here’s something we all have the ability to change right now: our attitude. What if we decided to have a “summer attitude” this time of year? I’m not talking about shirking our regular duties at work or at home; I’m talking about shifting our daily practices just a bit toward appreciation of the season. Here are a few examples.

Take time to recharge yourself

  • Get up a little earlier and enter your day slowly. What this means will vary from person to person. Meditate, pray, write in a journal, do some stretches or yoga—whatever works for you. If you don’t have a regular morning routine, just go for a walk around the block. Breathe deeply and feel the fresh morning air in your lungs. Look around and notice small things you may not have thought about for a while—hummingbirds, trees blossoming, puffy clouds. If you meet people along the way, acknowledge them with a smile and a “hello”—that could be all it takes to lift your mood (and theirs) for the day.
  • Make plans to take a break from the ordinary. Having something to look forward to is a great mood lifter any time of year. This could be as simple as a short drive to visit a friend or relative you haven’t seen in a while. It could be a day trip to an interesting destination or maybe a weekend escape with your significant other. Remember, anticipation is part of the fun!
  • Use your vacation or PTO days. I can’t say this often enough: if you have paid days off piling up, use them—that’s what they are for! Whether it’s a long-awaited trip or a staycation in your back yard, you will be a better in every way if you allow yourself to take time away from work to relax, refresh, and recharge.

Have More Fun at Work and at Home

  • If you are a leader at any level, either remote or in the workplace, you set the tone for your team’s work environment. I always tell people to take their work seriously but themselves lightly. It’s a great way to maintain a balanced perspective, stay open to new ideas, and avoid burnout.
  • There’s an old saying: “Laughter is the best medicine.” Keep your own sense of humor at the ready—a good laugh can be like a pressure valve when things get stressful. I find it’s a preferred alternative to ulcers or migraines.
  • Celebrate everything—individual and team goal achievements and victories, work anniversaries, birthdays, promotions, retirements, and new babies. Celebrations create cohesive teams and build trust. Celebrating small victories or big occasions at home with family or friends enriches relationships and demonstrates appreciation for each other.
  • I thought up a different kind of perspective-setting technique when our children were growing up. I noticed whenever we were at the park or the zoo I would see parents yelling at their kids for running around, just being kids. Then it struck me: it’s crazy to take your children somewhere you could have fun together and then scold them for having fun. I decided to reframe my attitude so that we all could have fun. I dubbed it my “zoo mentality.” After that, when the kids started acting silly or chasing each other, I was more inclined to join in the fun myself. I have been known to use this technique when attending company meetings. 😊

So keep your options open this summer. Get creative at home and at work in finding ways you can lighten your outlook, take well deserved breaks, appreciate the people around you, and have fun. Developing a summer attitude can be the difference between feeling run down and feeling renewed!

Explore the Versatility of SLII®

/ Ken Blanchard

Most of you already know about SLII®, our company’s situational approach to leadership and our flagship product. Millions of managers around the world have found it to be the very best way to lead. The SLII® model shows leaders how to give their team members the right kind of leadership style for the person’s development level on each specific task or goal they do. Here’s how it works:

When working toward completing a task or achieving a goal, everyone moves along a continuum made up of four development levels. Managers use this practical framework to assess a person’s competence and commitment on a task and diagnose their development level:

  • Enthusiastic Beginner (D1): The person has low competence and high commitment. They don’t know how to do the task but are excited to get started.
  • Disillusioned Learner (D2): The person has some competence but low commitment. Still early in the learning process, they are feeling discouraged and insecure about moving forward.
  • Capable, but Cautious, Contributor (D3): The person has high competence and variable commitment. They are finally getting the hang of things but still need occasional help.
  • Self-Reliant Achiever (D4): The person has high competence and high commitment. They are at the top of their game on this task.

Next, the manager matches the person’s development level on the task with the leadership style that has the right combination of directive and supportive behaviors to help the person succeed: S1—Directing; S2—Coaching; S3—Supporting; and S4—Delegating.

If you have taken SLII® training, you may remember being asked by the facilitator to come up with a situation in your own life where you could apply the SLII® model. This is where everyone learns how many areas SLII® can be applied, not only on their job but also in their day-to-day life. It’s always fun to see participants’ faces light up when they discover how easily they can relate real-life activities to the SLII® process.

One example we’ve used for years in training sessions references a person learning how to ski.

  • Starting out, the instructor shows the person how to put on their skis and move forward. The person feels the thrill of starting down their first small hill, envisioning themselves easily mastering this fun sport. (D1)
    • After their first lesson—and several falls—they realize skiing isn’t as easy as they had thought it would be. They feel inadequate and a little foolish, and think about quitting. (D2)
    • Several more lessons go by, and the person is now having fun skiing and is practicing on more difficult runs. They know there is still much to learn but feel optimistic about their progress. (D3)
    • With time and the right amount of direction and support from their instructor along their learning journey, the person has achieved their goal of becoming a confident skier. (D4)

Now think of how the stages of the SLII® model could pertain to almost any task or goal you can think of—areas as diverse as showing someone how to play a musical instrument, bake cookies, or improve their driving skills. It could be used by anyone coaching a team sport involving people of any age, or by a friend helping another friend learn a foreign language. I’ve been told SLII® can be applied to the different stages of marriage, business partnerships, and raising children. Someone even said the basics of SLII® helped them train their dog! How’s that for versatile?

A few years ago, I wrote a book titled Fit at Last: Look and Feel Better Once and For All with my personal coach, Tim Kearin. In the book we describe how Tim used the SLII® model to help me through my fitness journey. He kept track of my development levels on goals such as nutrition and weight control, aerobic exercise, strength training, flexibility, balance, and rest and sleep, and he used all four leadership styles as needed. SLII® played a huge part in my reaching my goals.

SLII® teaches leaders how to build meaningful connections with team members. It creates engaged, high performing individuals and teams, and helps organizations excel. It can also make a difference in your home, your community, and your life. Give SLII® a try and let us know how it works for you!

Timeless Principle #3: Leadership Is Love

/ Ken Blanchard

My son, Scott, and I have been working together on a book about six timeless principles that are essential to great leadership. These half-dozen principles reveal fundamental truths about working with others that every leader should know and practice. In this blog I’m introducing the third principle: “Leadership Is love.”

The first two principles—“Leadership is a partnership” and “A good leader catches people doing things right”—were revolutionary when I began talking about them in the 1970s and 1980s. Today these ideas are gaining a wider acceptance. But the third principle—”Leadership is love”—is still revolutionary.

People get nervous when they hear the word love applied to the workplace. They doubt that you can approach the tough reality of leading people and organizations with something as soft and fuzzy as love. What happens when things get hard? What happens when people don’t behave well, or when financial results aren’t what you need them to be? Many leaders believe that detachment is more useful than love in the business world.

I disagree. At Blanchard we believe that loving and respecting people leads to meaningful relationships and long term, positive results. Playing it safe by keeping people at arms-length simply doesn’t inspire the kind of commitment that creates great organizations.

I feel so passionately about this principle that I even wrote a book with a leader who shares our “Leadership is love” philosophy: Colleen Barrett, president emerita of Southwest Airlines. We called our book Lead with LUV and spelled it that way because LUV is the stock symbol of SW Airlines. Southwest Airlines is one of the few companies I’ve seen over the years that puts love into action. They are committed to loving their people, loving their customers, and loving their purpose: To connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, low-cost air travel.

Loving Leaders Versus Cranky Leaders

Like Colleen, the best leaders realize that they are here to love, not to be loved; they are here to serve, not to be served. Great leaders make the goals clear, roll up their sleeves, get their egos out of the way, and do whatever it takes to help people win.

Non-loving leaders—what my son, Scott, likes to call “cranky CFOs”—believe people are like pawns on a chessboard to be manipulated for the purpose of winning above all else. This approach may work for a while, but in the long run it’s a losing strategy because great results are only sustainable when people feel respected and valued.

We’ve experienced both kinds of leaders in our organization. Years ago, we hired a smart, driven person to be our company president. The only problem was, he didn’t love our people. Morale in the company plummeted under his leadership. After his departure, our company thrived.

That’s when my wife, Margie, and I realized that leadership isn’t just about love, it is love. Margie sums it up beautifully: “It’s loving your mission, it’s loving your people, it’s loving your customers, and it’s loving yourself enough to get out of the way so that other people can be magnificent.”

Unconditional Love in the Work Setting

One of the most revolutionary aspects of the “Leadership is love” principle is that this love is unconditional and not based on people’s performance. This means that you extend love and respect to people before they’ve earned it, while they’re still making mistakes. When you have love for someone in a work setting, you see them as a whole package, warts and all. You start from the assumption that God doesn’t make junk. You let people know that they’re fundamentally okay, and that you are on their side. This fosters trust.

Over time, leading with love transforms an organization’s culture. Direct reports emulate the leader’s loving behavior and start extending care and respect to others. This creates a culture where people feel safe, seen, and acknowledged. People throughout the organization become passionate about the company.

When your people are passionate about your organization, they share that passion with clients and customers. Those clients and customers become raving fans who express their love for your company to their friends, family, and followers on social media. In turn, your organization thrives. So, remember to lead with love!

If you’d like to hear more on this topic, join Scott and me for our 6 Enduring Principles of Leadership webinar on Thursday, May 25, 2023 at 7:00 AM PDT. The event is free, courtesy of Blanchard. And if you’re attending the ATD23 International Conference in San Diego, be sure to drop by the Blanchard booth and say hello!