The Journey To Competitive Advantage Through Servant Leadership
Sharing Chapter Twelve Of My Book
“Ten-P Formula.”
I know I have really confused you with this title. Even my
wife said I must have lost it, since I’m getting to the end of writing my book.
In trying to sum up who a servant leader is, what he or she stands for, and how
a servant leader thinks, I developed what I call the “Ten-P Formula.” I know,
it sounds kind of silly. But for me, it’s a way for everyone to understand and
remember what servant leaders are all about: what drives them, how they lead,
and what can happen when they are allowed to bring their strengths, skills, and
traits to a business and it’s people. All the words that I chose to describe
the servant leader begin with P, thus the reason or the name the Ten-P Formula.
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:15–16
(NIV)
God is and has been involved in every aspect of our lives,
before we were created and still today. He created us because he loves us and
wants to have a relationship with us. A relationship where he pours out that
love in our lives, and we then share that love with the people he places in our
lives. He poured out his love, grace, and mercy when he sent his son, Jesus
Christ, to show us what real love was all about. He then showed us an even
greater example of love when Jesus went to the cross to die for our sins.
Because of this sacrifice, those who accept Christ as the Savior and repent of
their sins can have eternal life with God.
Because of Jesus’s sacrifice of love and mercy, we are called to impact
the lives of people during our life’s journey.
God created each of us with the skills, abilities, talents,
and personality to find the purpose he ordained for us and to support that
purpose and journey, as we put into practice our purpose and faith. We are all
perfectly made to fulfill the purpose God has called us accomplish.
I believe God is constantly trying to get our attention by
showing us how the world’s lure can tear apart our lives and isn’t the answer
for true happiness and success. All we have to do is read the newspaper or
watch TV daily to see the many so-called successful
businesspeople, athletes, politicians, actors, musicians, and yes, even some
religious leaders, who have fallen. They seemed to have it all: money, fortune,
fame, beautiful homes, cars, beautiful spouses, and great careers. Yet, it
could not satisfy them, as they wanted more and more of everything. What they
thought was success actually changed their lives and plans, and in some cases,
ruined their lives and those of their family and many others. They thought they
had found their purpose and passion, but it was all false and blew away like
paper in a windstorm. When God is not at the center of our lives, and we are
not seeking his will and purpose for our lives, we will try and fill that void
with the many things that look so great but can destroy us and bring us many of
the struggles we face in our lives.
Finding our purpose requires us to trust, grow in our faith,
overcome our fears, and build a discipline that keeps us grounded. Why?
Because, when God comes knocking on our door with opportunities and new paths
for us to travel, we will have to conquer our fears and follow him. If not, we
will fall further behind in our search for our purpose, and we will travel many
paths that God did not intend for us. Or God will have to, as my pastor
recently said, put us in a timeout for our own good and protection.
2. Passion
Once you have discovered your purpose, you will spend time
trying to find where and how to fulfill God’s purpose in your life. Since our
purpose is driven by our relationship with God, it means you are called to
impact the lives of people we meet during our life’s journey. Then, our passion
will be about serving people in some way. It can happen in just about any
career or volunteer position we might choose in life. Remember, your purpose is
to show Christ to those we meet by building relationships based on caring for
people and impacting their lives in a positive way. Your passion will take you
down the avenue you choose to carry out your purpose.
Other people who have discovered their purpose may find
their passion teaching in schools, as a nurse, doctor, secretary, housewife,
coach, serving in ministry as a career or volunteer, a parent, and many other
roles in life that can impact others’ lives in a supportive and caring way. The
list is endless.
3. People
People are at the heart of every servant leader’s purpose
and passion. They realize that to God, people really are the most important
asset, and we are called into a
partnership with God to accomplish his mission of caring for and impacting the
lives of the people he puts in our path.
As a servant leader, it means seeing people as the most
important asset in a company. I have often thought of the time and money we
spend in business on preventive maintenance on our machines and the upkeep of
our buildings, trucks, IT equipment, and many other assets. Yet, we find it
hard to spend even five to ten minutes with our people a day or two a week. I’m
talking about “real time,” where we are talking with them person to person,
understanding their needs and goals, and learning how we can help them reach
their potential. It’s about getting past the surface and getting to know the
person and his or her heart.
Many leaders hesitate to talk with their people this way,
not because they are bad leaders, but because they have never been trained in
how to or the importance of building that kind of relationship. Has anyone ever
discussed the expectation for them as a leader? Do companies really see it as
important for their leaders to build those kinds of relationships with their
people? In many cases during my career, I have known leaders who felt it would
make them seem weak as a leader if they built relationships. Or, they might
become too close to their people, making it hard for them to lead or make tough
decisions.
I think we have to get rid of that kind of thinking if we
really want to create a caring environment and harness the talent, skills, and
innovation of our people to achieve great things. I do not believe work is
something that we should separate from life, relationships, and caring for
people. As I discussed earlier, it’s where we spend most of the time we are
awake. So, why shouldn’t we make it an exciting, caring, relationship-building
part of our life? I know I’m just a country boy from Virginia, but I know one
thing: people who are trained and led by caring, results-oriented leaders will
be happier and will always produce better results than people working in an
uncaring workplace, where leaders give them very little training or help. It’s
that simple.
4. Principles
Every servant leader I have ever met is led by certain
principles in their life. These principles stay with them no matter where they
go or what career path they might choose. While these principles may change as
they grow older and mature in wisdom, they usually help the leader to become
even more caring and people focused.
As a servant leader, your principals are guided by the
following main elements:
- You have a caring heart for people.
- You desire to impact positively the lives of the people who God sends into your life.
- You understand the principle of stewardship, which simply put, means whatever God has entrusted and blessed you with—family, job, and the people you are leading, a business where you serve as a leader, money, and possessions are all managed with great care.
- You see the positives and potential in people.
- You build your relationships with people around encouragement, caring, motivation, and the discipline for doing what is right for the right reasons.
- Your foundation for your principles is built around your faith and relationships with God and his son, Jesus Christ.
- You realize you are not perfect and don’t have all the answers to life and people.
Principles are what help people and businesses succeed. If
your principles are not strong, you will be blown around like a tree in a
strong storm, moving from side to side. Let your guiding principles be based on
God’s truth of:
·
Having a discipline in life for doing the right
things for the right reasons
·
Accountability for the actions we take
·
Being a good steward for that which has been
entrusted to us
·
Caring for people
·
Knowing love is the greatest commandment.
5. Potential
Servant leaders get excited about the potential they see in
people. It’s one of the differences in servant leaders versus other types of
leaders. Servant leaders talk about the potential of their people, while other
leaders talk more about their people’s weaknesses. Servant leaders start
looking for the potential in their people the minute they first meet someone
they will be leading. They also don’t judge people based on their looks,
background, and education. The people they lead start with a clean sheet of
paper and lots of opportunities.
During my first day as president at the last company where I
held that position, I had a very unusual situation happen with one of the
salespeople. I had scheduled meetings with all the salespeople, senior
managers, supervisors, and key people at the headquarters plant. This was to
give them a chance to meet with me one on one and time to express their
thoughts on the state of the company and the issues and challenges they were
facing in their departments. When I met with one of the salespeople, the first
thing out of his mouth was if several things did or did not happen, he was
going to quit. No hello or how are you. Well, as you can imagine, this was a
first for me as a leader. But I guess growing up in the mountains of Virginia
gave me the ability to not be too surprised at life, so I softly said, “Nice to
meet you. Why don’t you sit down for a few minutes, and let’s talk before you
quit.”
Well, two hours later after some very honest conversation,
he left my office still employed. What I had seen was a person with lots of
spirit, a passion for succeeding, and a fire in his belly to prove he could do
the job. What he needed was a leader who could give him some guidance, support,
and a dose of reality and honesty. We built a great relationship during the
coming months, and about a year later, I promoted him to sales manager for one
of our product lines. He did a great job and grew the product line from around
$500,000 in annual sales to over $6 million in a little over two years. What I
saw was someone with lots of passion and potential, while leaders before me saw
a troublemaker, who kept trying to get them to listen to his ideas and
suggestions. I would agree that his tact at times wasn’t the best, but what
leaders do is train and teach others how to improve and make adjustments in how
they work and deal with people. The prior leaders just didn’t know how or
didn’t want to spend the time and effort needed to harness his energy. The key
for this success was the building of our relationship, which opened the door
for us to trust, understand, and talk openly about any subject.
There are lots of people like this in the business world:
people with passion, heart, and energy, who just need someone to come alongside
of them and say, “Hey, I know you have some great ideas. How can I help you
succeed?” Do all situations like this work out as well as this one did? No. But
it could work out a lot better if leaders would drop their big-title attitudes
and build relationships with their people, find out what makes them tick, their
goals, what gets them excited, and how they can help them.
There is so much potential passing though the doors of every
company every day that is going untapped. People who want to accomplish great
things for their families are just looking for some leader to give them a hand,
to show some attention, ask for their ideas and suggestions, and then give them
the tools to succeed. What are we waiting on?
6. Planning
In business and life, planning is one of the most important
tools and exercises anyone can go through. Good planning starts with a
destination in mind. Without that, you don’t know what to plan for. If I came
home and said to my wife, “We are going on vacation in two weeks. Be ready,” I
would get that look that says; “You’ve got to be kidding me, right?” She would
want to know:
- Where are we going?
- How much is it going to cost?
- What’s the weather like this time of year?
- What type of clothes should we take?
- When are we leaving and then coming home?
- Are we flying or driving?
- Where are we staying?
- Are we going by ourselves or with another couple?
- Is it all fun or mixed with business?
Something like this happens in businesses every day, when a
president walks into a conference room filled with leaders and says, “We are
going to grow our business and profits by 20 percent this year.” Setting goals
is the easy part. Meeting those goals and planning how we will achieve them is
the hard part.
In business, we are eager to set goals, because that’s what
leaders do. It makes us feel good to lay out strategy. But in my humble
opinion, the most important part of the process is the planning of the people
side of strategy: what people resources are needed, the qualifications and
skill levels needed, how many people will be needed, and where and when. This
is usually skipped over or just touched on, because it is the hardest part. Can
you imagine the army setting a strategy to go to war and leaving out the people
resource needs and what tools they will need to be successful? It wouldn’t
happen, because the military leaders know victory is achieved with people.
Business is not any different. Lesson
Learned: Success is driven by having
the right people, in the right positions, at the right time and accomplishing
the right things.
Servant leaders are constantly planning, but the most
important part of their planning has to deal with people. They are trying to
determine:
- What daily dose of actions is needed for their people to meet their goals, and what people skills are needed to make it happen?
- What are the gaps in people skills and abilities needed to meet their goals?
- What training needs to be established, how often, and who needs to participate to improve and develop the skills needed?
- Are there any gaps in their people needs? If so, add people with those skill sets.
- What training processes are needed for the future that will help develop their people and get them ready for the future?
The setting of priorities is probably one of the most
important skills leaders can develop for themselves and their people. They know
that leadership is really a balancing act between how leaders spend their time
with people, doing tasks, planning, actions, and in what order. Servant leaders
see the setting of priorities as key to not only leading their people
effectively but also in managing their own personal lives to ensure they stay
grounded in their principles. They know that it is easy to let life get away
from you and start setting your priorities based on your wants versus setting
your priorities based on the purpose God established for you.
A servant leader’s number-one priority when it comes to
leading his or her people in business is caring for and impacting the people’s
lives God puts in his or her path, so the people and the company can maximize
their potential and results. To accomplish and meet this priority
requires servant leaders:
- To develop relationships with the people they lead
- To understand their people’s needs, skills, goals, and potential
- To focus on and spend real time with their people; one-on-one listening, giving and receiving feedback, and acting on what they learned about their people
- To develop an improvement plan for their people’s training and skill improvement
- To develop a written plan with priorities for their people that is shared so they understand where they are headed and there is a plan for their improvement
- To ensure people understand the goals and strategies of the company and how they each can and will impact the results by their actions
- To establish accountability for the result with their people and themselves
Priority setting is also how servant leaders keep their
personal lives moving in the right direction. It’s how they stay away from the
lure of the world’s definition of success. The drivers of their personal
priorities are:
- God
- Family
- Caring for the people God put in their path
- Continually learning, reading, and improving themselves
Too often, leaders fail not because they are not capable of
being a good leader but because they don’t spend time with their people and
their people don’t get to know them. These types of leaders have been trained
to always have their game face on and never let people see the real person who
also has dreams, goals, and fears—just like the people they lead. Lesson Learned: True servant leadership is
about sharing life with the people you lead. It’s not done successfully
stranger to stranger.
If you want to have influence with your people as a leader,
you must first:- Care for your people and let them see and feel it.
- Let them see the real you—warts and all.
- Let them know you don’t have all the answers, and you need their help.
- Communicate, communicate, and communicate. There is never too much.
- Ask for their opinion.
- Tell them you appreciate them, and more important, show that appreciation.
- Train and teach them.
- Set expectations and then help them reach them.
- Don’t be a stranger; be seen and heard in person
- The icing on the cake is really getting to know them.
Persuasion, the kind that moves people and companies to new
directions and develops sustainable success, comes from positive actions that
impact people’s lives. Lesson Learned: It does not come from carrying a big
stick or with a title.
9. Partners
Servant leaders have learned during their life’s journey
that people were meant to share and do life together. Life without relationships
and people is lonely. Servant leaders also understand that relationships in
business and between leaders and the people they lead are no different. If a
company wants to build a sustainable competitive advantage, it will take people
working together with shared values, goals, and purpose to make it happen. It
will also require leaders who understand the principle of relationships and
doing life together, and leading to make it come alive.
Somehow, we have told ourselves in business that if people
are talking, they are not working, that the workplace should be a place where
people keep their heads down, only speak if spoken to by their leader, and look
up only when the whistle blows or it’s time to go home. The successful
companies of today, like Apple, Google, Amazon, and many others who are leading
the world in innovation and change, understand how to get people to work
together. They know for innovation and success to take place, it requires their
people and leadership to work together in new ways to tap the collective
ability and potential of their people. They turn people loose to try new
things, be creative, and ask lots of questions of themselves, their coworkers,
and their leaders.
We should turn away from using the old terms, like
“coworkers,” “labor,” and “hourly workers,” and begin using the term “partners
or associates.” Start using a word that brings dignity and helps to remind us
of the relationships that are needed to create the competitive advantage needed
to survive.
If a business can create this kind of partnership, its
problems with turnover and recruiting new people would almost disappear. People
would be lined up in the parking lot, trying to get hired. Customers would be
lined up to purchase its products and services, because they would be more
innovative, cost effective, and offer better quality than your competitors. You
would have a true competitive advantage created by everyone in your company.
Now that is a true partnership!
10. Perseverance
Without perseverance, many servant leaders would have given
up on their journey early in life. Most servant leaders have a story to tell.
First, servant leaders are not and have never been perfect. Many of them a have
gone down paths in their life they probably wished they had not traveled: paths
that created scars and hurts, but also paths that taught them some valuable
lessons about themselves, people, and life. These are paths that God allows us
to travel to teach us valuable lessons about life and to help us find our
purpose and passion in life.
In my own life, I can point to paths I traveled that gave me
a new perspective about life and showed me that I was wandering away from what
God intended for me and my life. These paths were leading me to selfishness,
and as I described earlier, that “it’s all about me syndrome.” Luckily
the lessons my parents had taught me in my early years, along with pastors who
impacted me, kept me from wandering too far off the path. But like that
two-year-old who keeps testing parents, I kept testing God. But he was
faithful, gave me mercy and grace when I didn’t deserve any, and sent people
into my life that got me back on track.
Perseverance is a funny thing. Lesson Learned: I think you
sometimes have to be on the brink of giving up before finding and making
perseverance your friend. That is the moment when you have tried
everything, nothing is working, people aren’t listening to you as a leader, you
wonder if it is all worth it, and you are just about ready to give up and quit.
Then, that special something kicks in that doesn’t let you give up. It gives
you a new energy, new thoughts, and eyes to see the possibilities. You remember
the people who count on you and need you to help them reach their potential.
Perseverance is also needed by servant leaders, because
their journey is not always an easy one. People will question your ideas and
ways of leading. At times, people will think you are soft and not tough enough
to lead. Leading to make a difference and build a sustainable competitive
advantage is about long-term thinking, and many companies are always in their
short-term thinking mode because of their financial shape and needs. Your
leadership principles and strategies will put you at odds with this style of
company. But you must persevere, because these companies that get into their
short-term thinking mode have not solved the problems and issues they deal with
every day, year after year. They never take the time to build the foundation that
can create the sustainable success and results they need and want.
Perseverance says, “I trust God and there is a reason I am
at this company or going through this tough season in my life. Then when—and
if—it is time for me to go in another direction, he will open the doors wide
and give me the ride of my life.” Enjoy the journey and the people he places in
your life, for God will use them to impact your life and bring you great joy
and contentment.
