Shot on location in Moab, Utah, this course includes 11 video lessons – each less than four minutes in length –  that address the 3 Leadership Strategies:

Direction

Pace

Tone

Each video lesson is supported by a comprehensive Course Guide that learners use to target specific behaviors that are key to effective Self-Reliant Leadership®. 

The Course Guide is comprised of:

• Video Summaries
• Ideas for Action
• Questions for Contemplation
• Resources for Further Exploration

Workload Expectations

The course was designed so each module (video) can be watched in under 4 minutes with an additional 10-15 minutes to review: 

o   Video Summary 

o   Ideas for Action

o   Questions for Contemplation

o   Resources for Further Exploration

·   Total watch time for all 11 videos is approximately 30 minutes.

Lessons from The Crucible®

Leading through Adversity

3 LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES: DIRECTION, PACE & TONE

Introduction

Today’s demanding and ever-changing business environment requires Self-Reliant Leaders of character who create powerful futures through a confluence of Sparta’s discipline, Socrates’ self-awareness, Aristotle’s courage, Emerson’s self-reliance, and Thoreau’s reflective humility

The overall objective of this course is to provide a framework for helping you develop more effective leadership skills that produce a high performing team.

The successful and high performing teams I’ve worked with over the past four decades as a leader, team member, executive, academician, consultant and expedition leader, all possess five indomitable traits:

1.     Adventurous – willing to take risks

2.     Selfless – a sense of duty

3.     Driven – possess heroic aspirations

4.     Dynamic – slow down to speed up

5.     Protective – a safe environment.

These traits don’t come together to form social capital without a purposeful leader who creates and sustains an environment where the values become virtues for the highest good. With experiences in the military, teaching MBA students abroad, and as a business leader, I’ve observed that the most effective and authentic leaders I’ve worked with all do three simple things really well:

1.     First - they do Solitude… they possess the self-discipline to slow things down… and reflect. They have a sense of purpose, and heroic aspirations beyond power and money – they truly want to make a difference in the lives of others. And that drive has to be focused. As Epictetus wrote: “First tell yourself what you want to be, then act consistently with that in everything you do.” By slowing down and hearing the unheard we build focus. Aurelius said, “It’s completely within your power, whenever you choose, to retreat into yourself.” Being focused allows us to create an inspired common purpose – based on shared values and common virtues – and that binds people together in an uncommon way.

2.     The second trait is Pace – the speed at which the team is stretched… not broken. No team is capable of going ninety miles per hour every day. Just like ascending a mountain, the leader has to read the team to, hear pains unexpressed, fears undisclosed, and complaints not spoken. The leader has to sense when to step on the gas, when to ease up, and when to take a break. When it comes to endurance, sometimes you have to slow down to speed up.

3.     The third thing leaders have is a quotient for Adversity – Eighteenth Century moralist, Vauvenargues said: “He who knows how to suffer everything… can dare everything.” The lesson is that a high-performing leader is willing to take risks. They’re willing to attempt something, and not succeed. It only means failure if no lesson was learned. The real hero goes the distance with grace and daring, and then has plenty still to give.

The leader has to be self-reliant so as to be reliable. As leaders, we have a duty… to step back, and reflect on how we define our limitations. If you can “resist the tyranny of the trivial urgent.” you can overcome any crucible. Embracing adversity as a teacher is the best path for inner growth and outer service that matters.

The Challenge and the Opportunity

Many organizations have low engagement and teams that might be compliant, but certainly not committed. Research validates these observations. More importantly, the considerable costs of ineffectiveness are staggering. A recent white paper by Arbinger quantifies this at a basic level, but those numbers multiply exponentially when senior executives further validate the impact of low engagement.

·      33% of all feedback produced a decline in performance. -Psychological Bulletin

·      82% Don’t Trust Boss to Tell the Truth. -Edelman Trust Barometer

·      Gallup reports the cost of disengagement is estimated to be between $450 and $550 billion each year – and it’s growing exponentially. 25% of all employees are ignored by their boss; resulting in 40% disengagement.

·      Blanchard and Co. offer insights that begin to quantify the challenge and opportunity:

o   Most companies are operating with a 5 to 10% "opportunity drag" associated with compromised leadership.

o   Less than optimal leadership costs typical companies an amount equal to 7% in sales revenue per year

o   At minimum - 9% of turnover is attributable to poor leadership (the high figure is 32%)

o   Higher quality leadership can result in a 1.5% increase in revenue growth

Conclusion: Leadership matters and is a critical success factor that develops and sustains highly engaged and committed team members.

Workload Expectations

·  The course was designed so each module (video) can be watched in under 4 minutes with an additional 10-15 minutes to review:

o  Video Summary

o  Ideas for Action

o  Questions for Contemplation

o  Resources for Further Exploration

·  Total watch time for all 11 videos is approximately 30 minutes.

Outcomes

·  Leadership Strategies for Developing a High-Performance Team

o  Direction

o  Pace

o  Tone

·  Long term Indicators of team performance include:

o  Adventurous

o  Selfless

o  Driven

o  Dynamic

o  Protective

Good luck with the course, and I welcome your feedback, and hearing how you tackle adversity with fortitude!

Jan Rutherford, Founder, Self-Reliant Leadership, LLC, Cultivate Grit. Amplify Action.