Transactional Leadership - Buy-in vs. Trust

This is the fourth installment of a five-part series on Transactional vs Relational Leadership we're following on the Lead Change Group blog. If you've not seen the previous posts in the series, I encourage you to read them before reading this one: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

We’ve been talking about the differences between Transactional Leadership and Servant Leadership. We’re learning 4 words to disrupt our leadership foundation. Today we’re going to discover the difference between buy-in vs. trust.

Once the Transactional Leader has begun to leverage the ‘value’ of his followers and started ‘investing’ in them, his next step is to achieve ‘buy-in’ from those who follow. For the Transactional Leader ‘buy-in’ is critical. Have you ever noticed the difference in the way employees and owners work? For owners, business is personal. It’s more than their livelihood, it’s an expression of who they are. But employees are different. For an employee a job is what they do, not who they are. When casting vision transactional leaders are looking for buy-in. Buy-in is more than positive affirmation. It’s a whole-hearted acceptance of the vision cast by the leader. Buy-in is the difference between an owner and an employee. My uncle used to say, “When I was young I thought I wanted a career. Now that I’m old I realize I just wanted a paycheck.” Think about the things you ‘buy-in’ to. If you’re like me you’re a discerning shopper who looks for the best deal possible before making any kind of purchase. You’re not going to buy-in until you’re certain you’re getting the best value possible. And that’s exactly how followers shop for leaders. Which visionary leader will offer me the best deal? As the leader how can I package the vision so people will give themselves to it? Too often, striving for buy-in reduces the most beautiful of dreams down to a clever catch phrase and slick marketing, the heart of the matter lost one talking point, one sound bite at a time.

Trust is different from buy-in. Trust develops slowly and it’s affects are longer lasting. Trust grows from the seed of respect and blossoms in the refreshing waters of service. Trust is a two way street. Followers trust leaders who respect them and who serve well. Leaders trust followers who respect the significance of the work that needs to be done and who faithfully serve to fulfill their responsibilities.

Changing an organization based on Transactional Leadership can be difficult because the group has bought into an idea, a method for how things are done. In order to change direction the value of the new idea has to be sold to those responsible for guarding the current system. It’s a tough sell from the start.

In trust-based leadership I’m not simply following an idea or a method. I’m not serving a system. I’m part of something bigger than myself that’s made up of other individuals, men and women on whom I rely for my own success. It’s relational, not transactional. I trust that others in the organization are giving their best for the good of all and they can trust that I will do the same. When change becomes necessary it comes more easily, the merits of the new idea strengthened by the trust found in my relationship to those I lead and those who lead me.

Next time we’ll compare two final words to disrupt our leadership foundation. In the meantime consider the following:

• What do you think is a groups biggest barrier to trust?
• When leading through a change how do you determine which key influencer the group trusts the most?

God bless,
Chad

Benefits of mentoring

Mentoring is often touted to be an extremely satisfying experience not only for mentees, but for mentors also. The specific reasons for this vary from person to person and from relationship to relationship. As always however, there are some general aspects that overlap and these are what I'd like to talk about today. Anne Rolfe* has identified four such areas which I'll share with you:

1. The development and growth of the individuals
   
2. Connecting and building relationships, as well as the thought process used in mentoring, contribute to people’s well-being.
   
3. Tapping into tacit knowledge. This is the main purpose of mentoring; literally picking someone’s brain for the wisdom born of experience.
   
4. Gaining perspective. Increasing the intelligence people bring to any situation by seeing more than one point of view. This improves, decision-making, teamwork and workplace harmony.

As I mentioned before, these are general areas and so we're only just scratching the surface here. Aside from the satisfaction you get from knowing you're making a positive difference in someone's life, your mentees can unlock whole new areas of interest you never knew you had, talents you never knew you had. If you've never been a mentor and have the interest and commitment, I'd certainly advise you to do so!

You can mentor anyone who is willing to learn from you; a family member, someone in your class or church... the list goes on. Or, you could apply to be a mentor on our programme. Applications for our next programme will be opening in a few months, so keep checking the blogs for updates if you're interested!

*You can follow Anne Rolfe on Twitter here.

Do women leaders matter?

Here are Nicholas Kristof's thoughts on the issue:

There’s a natural tendency to think that the oppression so many women face around the world is just a function of male exploitation, and that the solution is simply more women leaders. In fact, a quick look at Bangladesh shows that it is far more complicated than that. Bangladesh has a woman prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who has done nothing much for women – and who now is pursuing a campaign of vilification against Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been a champion of impoverished women all around the globe.

Yunus, as you probably know, was one of the founders of microfinance and started Grameen Bank to give impoverished women a chance to start businesses and generate income. He has helped millions and millions of women in Bangladesh and in a growing number of other countries around the world, and he has also been a formidable advocate for equal rights and opportunities for women. Indeed, it’s difficult to think of two individuals who have done more for the women of the world over the last few decades than Yunus and another Bangladeshi man, Fazle Abed, the founder of an extraordinary Bangladeshi anti-poverty organization, BRAC. Microfinance is no panacea, but 8 million Grameen borrowers in Bangladesh are testimony that it can make a difference.

But when Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize, many Bangladeshis – especially politicians like Sheikh Hasina – were jealous. An abortive political bid by Yunus also left them nervous that he might pursue a political future. And Yunus has a talent for self-promotion that left some Bangladeshis carping that he’s a showboat, that his model doesn’t work, that he was out for himself, and so on. In the last month or so, Sheikh Hasina has persistently gone after Yunus, pushing him out of his job at Grameen Bank and pursuing legal charges against him that block him from traveling and could send him to prison.

Teachers strike at Kinbu

Unfortunately due to a strike at Kinbu today, our Mini Seminar will have to be postponed to a later date. We are unaware as of yet how long the strike will last but we're hopeful out mentor-mentee session next week will still go ahead.

I'll keep you posted, please check back for updates.

6 Demotivators

This post has been adapted from the Leadership Freak blog. It was originally written by Dan Rockwell.

Young leaders frequently ask me to explain motivation techniques because they work with unmotivated employees or volunteers. We discuss carrots (rewards) and sticks (punishments) as motivational tools. In addition, we discuss the power of progress and advancement opportunities as motivational techniques. However, I’m taking a different path today. Let’s take a stroll down the dark side of motivation by exploring de-motivators.

Actions without why’s demotivate. Humans need higher purpose. For example, higher purpose motivates parents to work long hours in order to provide for their children. Without purpose long hours are meaningless. Furthermore, people who don’t understand the greater significance of their tasks, job or even life lose passion.

Distrust demotivates. I’ve heard people complain they were promised an opportunity that never materialized. Or, consider this complaint “s/he took credit for my work.” Unethical leaders quickly let the steam out of motivated individuals.

Moving targets demotivate. People working to achieve performance objectives that unexpectedly shift may feel their motivational fire cooling.

Ambiguous or unattainable goals demotivate. It’s true that setting goals that are just out of reach can fan a person’s enthusiasm. But if you set the goal too far out of reach they’ll give up.

Favoritism demotivates. This ugly problem can emerge in any situation. Anyone who is promoted to a position where they manage teams that include personal friends can experience the negative impact of perceived favoritism.

Under appreciation demotivates. People who don’t feel understood and appreciated for their efforts gradually lose fervor.

One-way communication demotivates. Receiving messages from on high without participation in the process makes people feel they don’t matter. When we don’t matter our performance doesn’t matter either.

It’s too easy to demotivate people. One powerful motivation technique is eliminating demotivators.

We've been reading...

US funding to address brain drain in Africa
Washington Post -- The United States will fund training for 140,000 African health care workers in an initiative to "transform and dramatically increase" medical education on the continent, the top U.S. AIDS official announced Tuesday. Ambassador Eric Goosby said the plan will bring partnerships between African and U.S. medical schools by "really fostering and strengthening a collegial network" to empower medical professionals on the continent that shoulders the worst of the world's HIV-AIDS epidemic and its heaviest load of other chronic diseases. He said he hoped it also would help stem, and even reverse, the brain drain of doctors and nurses who receive expensive, subsidized training in Africa, only to be recruited to work overseas amid a worldwide shortage of health professionals...

North and South Sudan make ‘significant’ progress on steps for separation
UN News -- North and South Sudan have made “significant” progress on a wide range of follow-up arrangements between the two States following the southern region’s vote for independence, the top United Nations envoy in the country said today. “Much of the ground work has already been completed. Both parties are engaging seriously and making progress,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Haile Menkerios told the Security Council, citing agreement in principle on open borders, good neighbourly relations, non-interference in each other’s affairs, a framework for non-aggression and military cooperation, citizenship, residency and property ownership. The two sides are also working towards mutually beneficial arrangements on oil revenue sharing and other economic matters, he said...

Don't copy Ghana's health insurance
Oxfam -- A major health insurance program in Ghana that the World Bank is pushing as a success model for other developing countries is severely flawed and not working for most Ghanaians, according to a new report by international agency Oxfam and Ghanaian NGOs. Rather than two-thirds of the population being covered by the program, as the Ghanaian National Health Insurance Authority and World Bank have claimed, in reality fewer than one in five Ghanaians could be benefiting. The report 'Achieving a Shared Goal: Free universal health care in Ghana’, launched today in Accra, says instead that most people are having to continue to pay out-of-pocket for their health care in a parallel "cash-and-carry" system. Or else they turn to unqualified drug peddlers or even give birth at home without any qualified care at all...

Why foreign aid matters to women
Huffington Post -- Each year on International Women's Day, I take time to reflect on the many inspiring and courageous women I've had the privilege to meet in my travels as president of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development and human rights organization that supports grassroots projects in 36 countries in the Global South. The communities I visit are often ravaged by hunger, violence and disease, all of which are byproducts of gut-wrenching poverty. And, from community to community, it always seems that the common thread I see is the marginalization of women, who are oftentimes barred from working or exploited by employers, forced to marry before reaching adulthood and have little if any access to education or information about reproductive health. Because of the latter, the global HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to hit women in poor communities especially hard...

Video: Patrick Awuah's TEDTalk

This is an old video (from back in 2007) but as they say, like all good ideas it's still largely relevant today. Here's a little about TED from their webiste:

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

On TED.com, we make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 700 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week.

We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. This site, launched April 2007, is an ever-evolving work in progress, and you're an important part of it.

Click here to go to the TED page for this video.

Transactional Leadership - Invest vs. Serve

This is the third installment of a five-part series on Transactional vs Relational Leadership we're following on the Lead Change Group blog. If you've not seen the previous posts in the series, I encourage you to read them before reading this one: Part 1 | Part 2

With Transactional Leadership once you’ve discovered the value someone provides you begin to invest your time and energy in that person or idea. This is like any financial investment. You expect to get something in return. But that’s not really the nature of an investment is it? You’re not pouring money into an IRA in the hopes you’ll get a little something in return. You’re hoping for more than you risked in the first place. You gage the value of your investment by how much compounding interest or residual income you are able to receive as a result of the risk you take. The same is true for transactional leaders. You invest in someone or in their idea because you’re convinced you’ll get more out of it than you put into it. But what happens if the investment doesn’t pay off? What happens when a leader invests in followers who don’t follow through? Think of the coach with the perfect game strategy leading a team of under-skilled players. It takes more than a winning strategy or remarkable talent. Both are necessary to win the game. We stop investing in others when we realize we’ll never get the return we’re looking for.

The Servant Leader approaches these relationships differently. Out of respect for the person, a servant leader chooses to meet that person where they are in order to take them where they should be. It’s not about an investment being made, but a responsibility fulfilled. As a leader you’ve been entrusted with the care of those you lead. When faced with an underperforming employee the Servant Leader recognizes an opportunity for growth. Conflict isn’t personal. It’s the resistance that builds the strength and the skill necessary to take the individual and the organization to the next level. Correction isn’t corrosive. It’s a reminder of the core values that define how we relate within this organization and what this organization is really all about. We serve by looking out for the needs of others and the needs of the organization we lead. For a servant leader no task is too menial, no job is too small. The transactional leader is focused on how to protect his investment. The servant leader is focused on meeting the needs of others.

Next time we’ll look at two more words to disrupt our leadership foundation. In the meantime consider the following:

• What are some practical ways you can better serve the people you lead?
• In what way is the idea of serving the antithesis of leading?

God bless,
Chad

Mini Seminar next week!

It's been a little while since we last met, but that'll all change next Friday. We'll be having our last Mini Seminar for the term; Personal Finance by Nana Gyesie. Hope you can all make it! We'll be meeting at Kinbu at 3pm.

On the Friday after that (that's the 18th of March), we'll be having our last mentor-mentee session of the term. This one is particularly important as it's the last session before the Appraisal forms are due on the 23rd. It's really important that you get them in on time, so I advise you to grab that last opportunity to get them filled by the horns.

All the best!