Many times, I think it is easier to take something that is concrete and real, and use it to help us discuss and learn something that is abstract. Therefore, today we will use a jigsaw puzzle to help us describe and learn more about leadership.

With a jigsaw puzzle, you begin by looking at the picture on the top of the box. The picture reveals what the outcome of your effort will look like. It represents the vision for a company, and the pieces of the puzzle represent the people within the company. It is the leaders job to put the right people in the right place to fulfill the vision for the company.

A good vision must be the following:
• Compelling
• Challenging
• Not too difficult for the leader
• A clear picture
• A positive change
• A future focus

1. When you start out, you look for border pieces and most importantly corner pieces – To Frame the Vision.

• When a leader starts to form a company or a division, he must first decide what the company will be and will not be. This is framing or defining the outside borders or boundaries of the company and vision. 
• Once these people and pieces are in place, then the leaders is able to fill in the remainder with people within the boundaries and borders. 

2. The corners are the key, and many times you start with these pieces, as there are only 4 in a standard puzzle.

• These corner pieces do the connection between one part of the puzzle to the next. They are also the strength of the puzzle.
• In Leadership, the key leadership team that reports to the leader of the company are the corners of the puzzle. If these leaders are strong and hold their areas together and communicate with the other leadership, the vision can become a reality. 

3. It is harder to put the first pieces of the puzzle together than the last pieces of the puzzle.

• With the first pieces, you have so many pieces to choose from and you really don’t know where to start. However in the end, you will have one piece of sky missing or one piece of grass missing and you know what you are looking for. Also in the end, you know what shape the others that surround that piece will accept. 
• In leadership, when you start a company, division, or department it is harder than in the later stages of the company. With a new company or division you have some many things to do, you don’t know where to start. There are so many people you need and you just can be overwhelmed by the task. 
• But as you put 1 person in their right place and then connect another person to them, small sections of the vision start coming together, thus you begin to gain momentum. 
• However, once most of the people are in place and you are missing just one person from a team, you first need to look at the exact shape or characteristics of the person you are looking for. You do this by looking at the surrounding team and determine what will be the best fit. Then you are able to find that exact piece or person.

4. With complicated puzzles, you try and group the pieces by color before starting to place them together.

• In leadership we do the same thing. We must determine what a person’s strengths and weaknesses are before we can place them. Then after we put them in the correct area – Finance, Support, Property or Services we are able to better place the person. 
• When people are not sorted by strengths and weaknesses, when a position becomes available, then the leader wastes time and effort searching all of the pieces or all of the people to find the right one.

5. The right person in the right place makes the “fit” between people smooth and “snapped”.

• When you have a brand new puzzle, many times the pieces put in the right place, “snap” into place and make a good sound. The fit between pieces becomes smooth and you almost are unable to recognize where one piece stops and the other starts. 
• In leadership the same principle holds true. The right person in the right place is referred to as a “good fit.” Almost immediately when the leader places the right person in the right position, the others around him quickly make the new person feel as part of the team as the team needed his skills and talents. 

6. The leader must enjoy putting the right pieces in the right places.

• Growing up, my grandmother would love to do puzzles, especially when it was cold outside in the winter. We would get a card table and put it up in front of the TV and work on the same puzzle together for days. We enjoyed putting the puzzle together as a team, and took enjoyment of making the picture that was on the top of the puzzle box. 
• Leaders must take enjoyment in putting people in the right positions for the employees to be successful and then the company to be successful. The only way leaders are successful and a vision is realized are if the leaders learn, relate, and develop each employee. Leaders who enjoy this will be successful, and leader who don’t, will not be successful. 

7. If a puzzle piece does not fit, it does not mean you throw it away. Every piece is different, special and fits somewhere in the puzzle.

• To complete a puzzle’s picture or a company’s vision you must have all of the pieces in the right place. A picture without all the pieces is incomplete and does not tell the full story. A company that does not complete the full vision of a company is not a successful company. 
• The challenge to every leader is to find out each person’s strengths and weaknesses and put them in an environment where they can be successful. Every person who has a positive attitude, positive work ethic, and positive values can be used by the leader some place within the company’s vision. 
• The leader learns, relates, and develops each follower for a position within the company. 

8. Sometimes if you are not careful, you can have a puzzle piece from another puzzle that gets mixed in with your puzzle pieces.

• This puzzle piece is designed to make another picture when the puzzle is complete, not the picture you are working on. So no matter where you try to place this puzzle piece, it will not fit anywhere and is a waste of the leader’s time. 
• In Leadership, you will have people who you might find in your division or company that belong in another company. They do not share the same vision as your company and these employees need to find another company to work for. 

9. The pieces that have special features and are different than the rest of the pieces are easiest to use.

• You know just by looking at the piece and knowing the picture where that piece fits. However, where there are pieces that are not special and do not have special attributes then these pieces are hard to place (like blue sky pieces where there is a lot of blue sky). 
• In Leadership, when we find someone with a special skill or talent that we know that we will need, it is easy to place that person in the organization. These are people with a technical background or experience in a similar company doing similar tasks. 
• However, what is hard to place is the raw and undeveloped people that do not have special skills or special experience. Many times a leader will try many different places to find the right fit for these people. This is why our internship program is very important. It allows untested and inexperienced people to see lots of different areas to find their interest, their passion, and their place in the company. 

10. Puzzles are different based on their level of difficultly. What determines the difficulty is the number of pieces. The more pieces the harder the puzzle.

• Leadership is the same thing. First the leader must be able to lead themselves. Second, after they are successful doing that, they begin to lead others, and the more people they lead the greater the level of difficulty. So lead yourself first (1 person - you), then lead a group (10 people), then lead a division or company (100 people), then lead a large company (1000 people) …
• If you try and start with leading 100 people and you do not even lead yourself well, you will fail. 

11. Wrong pieces in the wrong place hurt people.

• A puzzle piece is meant to fit in only one place in the puzzle. However, if the leader decides to “make the piece fit,” the corners of the piece being placed and the pieces surrounding are bent and hurt. And then after these pieces are bent, they are less able to receive the correct piece that was actually made for the spot. 
• In leadership, many times we place people who do not have the skills or abilities in a place because of necessity or carelessness of the leader. When this happens, it hurts not only the person we have wrongly placed in the company, but also the people surrounding this person. A wrong person in a wrong position puts undue pressure and work on the people around them. 

12. From far away, you do not see the individual puzzle piece; you just see the picture the completed puzzle creates.

• As the leader is focused on putting the pieces or people into the correct places, it forms a picture. As more and more of the puzzle’s picture is revealed, observers are able to see what picture the puzzle is making. As the puzzle becomes more complete, the picture becomes clearer from farther and farther way. After the picture is complete you are able to stand far enough away from the puzzle and not see the puzzle pieces. 
• This is just like in a company, from a distance you do not see individual people in a successfully company, you just see the overall vision of the company and what the company represents as a whole. 

So as we close this lesson today, I challenge you with one question.

What kind of piece of the puzzle are you going to be? Are you going to be the piece that does not get along with the people around you?

1. Find your place in the vision
2. Understand that each person is important and needed for the vision.
3. Lead yourself well first, then lead others. And as you lead others try to understand where each person can best be used. 
4. Work at becoming a special piece of the puzzle, with special skills and special experience that make everyone in the company know where you fit. 

Lead On,
Sutton

Priorities and Leading Ourselves

As we have discussed over the past several months, the first step in being a good leader is to Lead Ourselves well. We must be able to lead ourselves before we can ask others to follow us as Leaders.

Leading Ourselves starts with today and focusing on things that are surrounding what is happening today. People create success in their lives by focusing on today. It may sound trite, but today is the only time you have. It’s too late for yesterday. Yesterday ended last night. You can’t depend on tomorrow—you don’t know what tomorrow holds. That’s why today matters.

The Fact Is…
* We exaggerate yesterday.
* We overestimate tomorrow.
* We underestimate today.

How Does Today Impact Tomorrow’s Success?
The way you choose to invest your time today directly affects your future.
Consider this: you will become what you are becoming right now. If you take a faulty approach to today with a faulty view of success, you won’t capitalize on today’s potential. Let’s examine some common misconceptions regarding success.

Common Misconceptions and Reactions:
1. We believe success is impossible—so we criticize it.
2. We believe success is mystical—so we search for it.
3. We believe success comes from luck—so we hope for it.
4. We believe success comes from productivity—so we work for it.
5. We believe success comes from opportunity—so we wait for it.
6. We believe success comes from power—so we leverage resources.
7. We believe success comes from connections—so we network for it.
8. We believe success comes from recognition—so we strive for it.
9. We believe success is an event—so we schedule it.


What do Successful Leaders do?

1. Effective people make right decisions early, and then manage them daily.
2. Making right choices may go against the trends of popular culture.
3. The secret to your success is determined by your daily agenda.
4. When opportunity arises, it is too late to prepare for it.
5. You never change your life until you change something you do daily.
6. Decisions help us start. Discipline helps us finish.
• Discipline: refers to the training that one gives to one’s self to accomplish a certain task or to adopt a particular pattern of behavior, even though one would rather be doing something else.

Managing My Attitude, Priorities and Health
Our Attitudes: Today’s Attitude Gives Me Possibilities
My attitude today gives me possibilities. Is it possible for a leader to be successful without a good attitude? Yes, it is. However, their attitude will determine how much they will enjoy the success.
a. A Positive Attitude (Leaders believed they can do almost anything.)
b. A Servant Attitude (Leaders generously served others.)
c. A Determined Attitude (Leaders worked persistently and would not quit.)

Here is why your attitude matters to your leadership:

1. Your attitude at the beginning of a task affects its outcome.
2. Your attitude toward others often determines their attitude toward you.
3. Your attitude can give you a winner’s perspective.
4. Your attitude—not your achievements—provides you happiness.
5. Your attitude is contagious.

Our Priorities: Today’s Priorities Give Me Focus
Given the choice, would you rather save time or money? Most people focus on money. However, time may be more valuable than money. You can always get more money when it is lost, but you can never get more time. Consequently, effective leaders focus on establishing priorities in order to get the most out of their time.

“Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing.” We must learn to focus. The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

1. Time is our most precious commodity.
2. We cannot change time, only our priorities.
3. Leaders can do most things but not everything.
4. We choose our life by how we spend our time.
5. Priorities help us to choose wisely.

Making the Decision to Choose and Act on Our Top Priorities

1. Ask yourself three questions:

a. What is required of me? (What tasks must I assume in light of my work?)
b. What gives me the greatest return? (What produces the most results?)
c. What gives me the greatest reward? (What is most fulfilling to me?)

2. Remain and work in your areas of strength.
3. Evaluate and follow your priorities daily.
4. Delegate whenever possible.
5. Invest in the right people daily.

Our Health: Today’s Health Gives Me Strength
Leaders often neglect this issue because of their busy schedule. To spend time on our health, whether it is eating right or exercising or resting, seems so selfish.

Why Your Health Should Matter to You

1. Your health impacts you emotionally, intellectually and drives our attitude.
2. Health often determines quality as well as quantity of life.
3. It is easier to maintain health than to regain it.

Making Decisions to Follow Healthy Guidelines

1. Eat healthy foods as often as you can.
2. Have a purpose worth living for—do work you enjoy.
3. Find your pace in life.
4. Get physical exercise regularly.
5. Accept your personal worth.
6. Laugh often.
7. Handle stress effectively—communicate well, delegate well.

Lead On,
Sutton

Follow me, I will help you get better - Add Value to those you lead.

Because effective 360 Degree Leaders lead through influence, not position, they invest time and effort to earn influence with their followers just as they do with those over them and beside them. At the heart of this approach is the desire to add value to those they lead. The 360 Degree Leader helps those below him or her discover and reach their potential. This lesson covers several principles to follow in this process. 

1. Walk Slowly Through the Crowd

Relationship building is always the foundation of effective leadership. One of the best ways to relate to your people is to approach your task informally. When you see people in the parking lot or in the hallway, stop to chat with them. Arrive early for meetings and spend time talking informally with your team.

Always ask about their families.

To help you develop this skill successfully, here are a few suggestions:

1. Slow down. To connect with people, you must travel at their SPEED.
2. Express that you care. Offer words of ENCOURAGEMENT.
3. Show interest in their personal lives. Don’t see them as employees only, see them as  FRIENDS.
4. Pay attention when people start avoiding you. SILENCE, not distance, is what separates us.
5. Tend to the PEOPLE, and they will tend to the business. Leaders who tend only to business often end up losing the people and the business.

2. See Everyone as a “10”

The 360 Degree Leader respects and values people—leaders, peers and followers. The optimistic, uplifting attitude of an effective leader creates a positive working environment where everyone on the team has a place and purpose – where everyone shares in the win. If you want to be highly effective in building up people and encouraging them to reach their full potential, here are some suggestions:

1. See their potential—who they can BECOME.
2. BELIEVE in them.
3. Commend them for even small ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
4. Build them up by ENCOURAGEMENT.
5. Treat them with RESPECT and DIGNITY.

Discussion:

• What potential do you see in your team?          
• Who do you envision them becoming?          
• How can you encourage them in their potential?

3. Develop Each Team Member as a Person

When you equip people, you teach them how to do a job. When you develop people, you are helping them to improve as individuals. You are helping them acquire personal qualities that will benefit them in all areas of life, not just their jobs.

Here are some keys to developing people:

1. See DEVELOPMENT as a long-term process.
2. Discover each person’s DREAMS and desires.
3. Help each person discover his STRENGTHS.
4. Lead everyone DIFFERENTLY.
5. Model good LEADERSHIP.
6. Provide leadership TRAINING and resources.

The Law of Process in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership states: “Leaders develop daily, not in a day.”

Discussion: 

• What are several steps you can take to develop your team?

4.  Place People in their Strength Zones

In The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, the Law of the Niche says, “All players have a place where they add the most value.” John Maxwell adds, “The number one reason people don’t like their job is that they are not working in the area of their strengths.”

Successful leaders find the strength zones of the people they lead.

Here are a few suggestions for placing people in their strength zones:

 1.  Provide TOOLS for self-discovery.

 2.  Give them the right JOB.

 3.  Identify SKILLS they need to improve.

 4.  Provide TRAINING to improve these skills.

Discussion:

• Are your team members serving in their strength zones?
• What steps can you take to move them to their strength zones?

5. Model the Behavior You Desire

You will reproduce what you are, not what you want! Leaders need to be what they want to see in their followers.

Here’s how this works:

1. Your BEHAVIOR determines the culture of your organization.
2. Your ATTITUDE determines the atmosphere.
3. Your VALUES determine the decisions.
4. Your INVESTMENT determines the return.
5. Your CHARACTER determines the trust.
6. Your WORK ETHIC determines the productivity.
7. Your GROWTH determines the potential.

Followers tend to become like their leaders. If you don’t like what your people are doing, first take a look at yourself.

Leaders can reproduce only what they have become themselves. The Law of Reproduction in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership says, “It takes a leader to raise up a leader.” We teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are.

Consider the following truths about leaders:

• It takes one to know one.
• It takes one to show one.
• It takes one to grow one.

Discussion:

What plan do you have to continue to grow as a leader and to grow other leaders?

6. Transfer the Vision

A 360 Degree Leader will rarely be the inventor of the vision, but he or she is almost always involved in communicating it to their team.

Here are suggestions for how 360 Degree Leaders interpret the vision of the top leaders and fire up their teams to accomplish the dream.

1. Present it CLEARLY and concisely.
2. Connect it to past, present and FUTURE.
3. Explain the PURPOSE of the vision.
4. State the specific GOALS to be reached.
5. Present it as a CHALLENGE.
6. Put a human face on a challenging vision by telling STORIES.
7. Communicate with PASSION.
8. Share it CONSISTENTLY.

Discussion:

• How do you communicate the top leader’s vision to your team?
• What stories do you use to put a face on the vision?

7. Reward for Results

Whatever actions are rewarded will get repeated. That is why it is important for leaders to reward positive actions and results. When you reward results, you inspire your people to work hard and to feel better about their job. To reward results effectively, follow these principles:

1. Give PRAISE publicly and privately.
2. Give more than just PRAISE. Talk is cheap.
3. Don’t REWARD everyone the same.
4. Give rewards other than MONEY.
5. PROMOTE when possible.

Discussion:

• Have you recently complimented one of your team members?
• Did you do so publicly and privately?

Assessment and Application

Assessment:

Of the seven principles in this lesson, which one is your strongest? 

Which one is your weakest?

Application:

Name three steps you can take to become more effective in leading your team.

Lead On!
Sutton

Thanks to the whole team for your incredible efforts this week with the take over of 8 buildings for Abu Dhabi Municipality.  We have grown as a company 20% in just 1 month.  This is a massive feat no matter the size of the company, especially one that has just celebrated its first year in business.  Great Job! 

It is truly great to see everyone come together for a common goal and a common purpose.  I am so impressed that all of the Services Supervisors and Managers were on ADM this week making sure things got off to a great start!  Secondly, I love that the Property Management leaders were out to help inspect and play an important part - Great Teamwork and Great Leadership. 

When you think about our growth of 20% in 1 month, you see the important role of Support Services plays with Services or Property Management to pull off a feat like this.  Now don’t get me wrong, we have had some problems and we need to learn from this and improve.  But all in all, with only 30 days to get ready, we grew 20% in only one month to now 495 employees.   It is quite a feat. 

Think about this - recruiting, selecting, training, supplies, etc. are the life blood to a company, especially one that is fast growing like we are.  It is like an army's need for supplies in ammo, people, weapons, and food.  The army can only advance into enemy territory (Khidmah growing with new contracts) as far as the supplies are there to support them.  The quickest way to stop an army (or a company) is cut off the supplies, then the people doing the fighting (our PM and Services Teams) have nothing to fight with and we lose not only the battle but possibly the war.

It takes really good communication between the troops on the front lines and the people supporting them.  Both must determine FUTURE NEED, which many times is an experienced estimate done in collaboration with both teams.  This relationship, if done well, allows the Army (Company) to defeat the enemy and take new territory (win new business).  Success begins inside an army or a company, not on the outside.  And most of the time, the battle is already decided before the fight starts based on which side is better supplied and trained.

As we take on new business and expand in size, these communication and supply lines must be strengthened by ALL and defended as the life blood of our growth.  It is not just up to the people supplying or people fighting, but all of us.  We are all in this struggle together.

Lead On!  

Sutton

Moments at the Khidmah exhibition booth in Cityscape Abu Dhabi 2010:

 
Khidmah team welcoming visitors                                                 Interested customers inquiring about Khidmah's services

 
Visitor reading about company offerings                                     CEO interacting with visitors

 
Media interviewing top management                                            Client testing the newly launched resident portal & technologies 

 
Khidmah team extending a warm welcome to visitors       All committed to serving the vision of our Nation

Fighting through the Myths about Leading from the Middle:

1. The Position Myth: “I can’t lead if I am not at the top.”

The number one misconception about leadership is the belief that leadership comes simply from having a position or title.
“The true measure of leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.”

2. The Destination Myth: “When I get to the top, then I’ll learn to lead.”

3. The Influence Myth: “If I were at the top, then people would follow me.”
The position does not make the leader; the leader makes the position.

4. The Inexperience Myth: When I get to the top, I’ll be in control.

“If I were in charge, things sure would be different around here”?

To think that life “at the top” is easier is a serious mistake. Being at the top has its own set of problems and challenges. In leadership – no matter where you are in an organization – the bottom line is influence.

5. The Freedom Myth: “When I get to the top, I’ll no longer be limited.”

When I get to the top, I’ll have it made.
When I finally finish climbing the organizational ladder, I’ll have time to rest.
When I control the organization, I’ll be able to do whatever I want.
When I’m in charge, the sky will be the limit.

When you are on top, you no longer make the easy decisions. The only decisions you make at the top are the hardest decisions that no one else is able to make.

6. The Potential Myth: “I can’t reach my potential if I’m not the top leader.”

John Maxwell argues that people should strive for the top of their effectiveness, not the top of the organization.
Sometimes you can make the greatest impact from somewhere other than first place.

7. The All-or-Nothing Myth: “If I can’t get to the top, then I won’t try to lead.”

You do not have to be the top leader to make a difference.

Fighting through the Myths about Leading from the Middle:  The Challenges 360 Degree Leaders Face

1. The Tension Challenge: The Pressure of Being Caught in the Middle

Here are five suggestions for relieving the tension challenge:
1. Determine how much authority and responsibility the person above you has given to you.
2. Accept the fact that you may receive limited recognition and appreciation.
3. Know what is expected of you by your senior leaders.
4. Never violate the trust of your leaders.
5. Take initiative without overstepping your boundaries.

2. The Frustration Challenge: Following an Ineffective Leader

1. Develop a solid relationship with your leader.
2. Identify and appreciate your leader’s strengths.
3. Commit yourself to adding value to your leader.
4. Tactfully share good leadership resources with your leader.
5. Publicly affirm your leader.
6. Remember that you also have blind spots.
7. Bring your leader solutions, not problems.

3. The Multi-Hat Challenge: One Head – Many Hats

Here are some suggestions for dealing with this challenge:
1. Always remember which hat you are wearing in a given situation.
2. When you change hats, don’t change your personality.
3. Don’t neglect any hat you are responsible to wear.
4. Remain flexible at all times.

4. The Ego Challenge: You Are Often Hidden in the Middle

Here are some suggestions for doing that:
1. Focus more on your duties than on your dreams.
2. Appreciate the value of your role in the organization.
3. Find satisfaction in knowing you did your job well.
4. Remember that good leadership always gets noticed in due time.

5. The Fulfillment Challenge: Leaders Like the Front More Than the Middle

There are some advantages to being out front:
1. There is more recognition at the front.
2. The view is better at the front.
3. The leaders in front determine the direction.
4. The leaders in front can set the pace.

A 360 Degree Leader can influence the entire organization wherever he or she is in the organization. Here are five things to enhance his fulfillment in the middle of the organization:
1. Develop strong relationships with key influencers in the organization.
2. Define winning in terms of teamwork.
3. Put the team’s success above his own success.
4. Engage in continual communication with the organization’s leaders.
5. Accept responsibility and keep growing.

6. The Vision Challenge: Championing the Vision is More Difficult When You Didn’t Create It

They add value to the vision so it becomes their own vision. They do four things exceedingly well:
1. Place the organization’s needs before their needs.
2. Help keep the vision before the people.
3. Understand their roles in seeing the dream become reality.
4. Stay focused on the vision.

7. The Influence Challenge: Leading Others Beyond Your Position Is Not Easy

People follow the kind of leader described below:
1. People follow leaders who CARE about them.
2. People follow leaders they trust – leaders with CHARACTER.
3. People follow leaders they respect – leaders who are COMPETENT.
4. People follow leaders they admire – leaders with COMMITMENT.
5. People follow leaders they can approach – leaders who are CONSISTENT.

Learn to think INFLUENCE, not position. Grow your influence by:
• Building relationships on trust
• Caring about people as individuals
• Believing in people
• Listening to what others have to say
• Understanding from others’ points of view
• Helping others become better
• Assisting others through difficulties
• Initiating positive relationships
• Giving others the power to lead

Lead On!