Delegate is a 4-letter word

For many of the leaders I work with, delegation is a real struggle. Leaders resist delegating because we are so accustomed to doing the work ourselves. Many times, fear will rear its ugly head, thinking that if we want the work done correctly, we must do it ourselves. And then there is the time issue of communicating and training others to complete the task for us.

Ahhh, but the benefits of delegation far outweigh the negativity that surrounds this illusive skill. When we delegate, we have more time for our high-priority tasks and we actually get to experience the joy of completing our tasks! Delegation increases our productivity and is a much better use of our resources.  Delegation gives us freedom.

True, there are some tasks best kept to ourselves such as personal matters, confidential activities, crises, and activities that are specifically delegated to us. However, we can delegate paperwork, routine tasks, technical matters, tasks with developmental potential, and employee problems.

Since we are not born with the delegation gene, we must learn this skill. It’s not as hard as you think! Just follow these four simple steps and you will be delegating before you know it:

1. Explain the need for delegating, including the reasons why you selected that person to complete the task.
2. Clearly set the objectives defining responsibility, level of authority, and deadlines.
3. Develop a plan to achieve objectives, resources, and give the authority necessary to obtain those resources.
4. 4. Establish an accountability plan with checkpoints.

Now go, delegate, and prosper!

With love,
Maria

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

Change What?!

Sometimes when I start working with new clients they are afraid that I am going to change them or that they have to change who they are to be better leaders. The reality is—to be the best leader you can be, you must be authentic.

Authenticity is what attracts followers and speaks to people’s heads as well as their hearts.

In coaching, we set goals for directions in which we want to move. We identify roadblocks or barriers that keep us from the movement we desire and create strategy to overcome those barriers.

Oftentimes those strategies may include a course correction in the path we already started. We may uncover some limiting beliefs we have about others or ourselves that may be holding us back. When that happens, a beautiful event occurs – we get to choose if we want to keep those barriers or change our course.

This is an important point to remember: we are not changing ourselves; we are changing our course of action.

As always, I love to hear your thoughts.

With love,
Maria

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

With or Without Meaning

Did you know the majority of heart attacks occur around nine o’clock on Monday mornings? “

One study showed that the most common factor in these heart attacks was that the victims were people whose work had become joyless striving. In other words, they could not find meaning in their work, and their lives had become so out of balance that, one Monday morning, their bodies said, You are not going to work today. Zap.”1
 
I remember a discussion I had with the general manager of a regional division, discussing with him the importance of finding meaning in work for our employees and leaders. His response was, “I think meaning at work is over-rated.” Overrated? We spend the vast majority of our adult lives at work.

One of the primary purposes of a leader is to inspire vision and motivation in those he or she leads, and few things are more inspiring and motivating than meaningful work.

If we don’t have meaning…what do we have? We must know the "why" behind the things we do, we are at unrest and certainly unmotivated.

As always, I welcome your input. What is the most meaningful aspect of your job and why?

With love,
Maria

1. J. A .Autrey, & S. Mitchell, Real power: Business lessons from the Tao Te Ching (New York: Riverhead Books, 1998), p. 23.

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

Putting on the Leadership Suit

Many organizations use the term leader when defining certain management positions. However, a title does not make a leader.

My Grandpa Jaime used to say, “You can put a suit on a bum, but he is still a bum.” One may put the title leader on a person, but he or she may or may not be a leader.

Most definitions of leadership have one over-arching similarity, vision. Creating vision and motivating followers toward the vision is the fundamental foundation of leadership. If there is no place to lead (vision) and no one to follow, then leadership is absent.

I define leadership as the act of inspiring and motivating others toward a vision. I don’t believe it needs to be any more complicated than that.

How do you define leadership? Remember to share your thoughts below!

With love and leadership,
Maria

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

Are You Afraid?

As a leadership coach, I am always excited when a powerful question or statement crosses my path or better yet, slams me in the face! Yesterday, I had such an encounter. Seth Godin got my attention when he stated, “If you’re not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it’s almost certain you’re not reaching your potential as a leader”. He was talking about the discomfort we sometimes feel as a leader and furthermore, when we identify the discomfort, we’ve found a place where leadership is needed. His list includes:

• Standing up in front of strangers
• Proposing an idea that may fail
• Challenging the status quo
• Resisting the urge to settle

I DO love those moments that move me out of my comfort zone and into what I call a “seat squirming” state. I know when I start squirming, I am onto to something, and that something is usually growth!

Of course, I also like to state things in a positive frame, so my list may look something like:

• Motivating people in the direction of a shared goal
• Creating and innovating with others, living in a synergy zone
• Thinking outside the box and trying something that “hasn’t been done before”
• Pushing myself and others to live in creativity and authenticity, even when it may be more work

My list not only feels good when I put it on, but it moves me beyond comfort to electric energy. What are your thoughts? Comfortable? Discomfort? What would you add to the list? As always, I truly appreciate your insight.

With love,
Maria

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

Social Responsibility Movement

Have you noticed the recent emphasis on social responsibility in our business culture? Consumers, employees, and leaders are demanding socially responsible behavior of themselves and others. If companies choose not to comply with our wishes, we go elsewhere—because we can.

We see social responsibility manifested in the philanthropic activities organizations are doing; and they are not just writing checks to non-profits. Companies are building schools, putting shoes on children, and teaching third-world countries how to harvest water. We have business models emerging with the primary purpose of serving others. Guess what? These businesses are making money! They have learned how to connect the heart with the bank account. A Course in Miracles tells us, “If you feel the love of God within you, you will look out on a world of mercy and of love.” That is exactly what some organizations are doing.

We also see the socially responsible movement in organizations manifested as the green movement. Entire global organizations are working their strategic plans to reduce their carbon footprint. Organizations are working with suppliers and manufacturers who share the same service and stewardship values. This is not just a fad or a trend, it is an awakening, a collective consciousness showing up and stepping forward. This collective voice is saying ENOUGH!

If not now, when?

It is time. Are you ready?

With love,
Maria

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

Not all Power is Created Equal

Power is a hot topic. Not all power is equal. Bertram Raven and John French identified five different power bases: legitimate, coercive, expert, reward, and referent.

Legitimate power is the type of power that comes with a title or position. Coercive power is one that imposes force on others, like the king who threatens to behead those who disobey. Expert power is the type of power that comes with knowledge or information that someone else does not have. Reward power comes from bestowing upon someone something of value, and referent power is the power of respect. Like anything else in this world, all forms of power can be for the greater good or for selfish and egoic purpose.

While empowerment may make some leaders nervous, it also makes some followers uncomfortable. In Scenes from Corporate Life, Earl Shorris wrote, “Men who cannot conceive a happiness of their own accept a definition imposed upon them by others.” We have been taught for too long to let others define our thoughts, feelings, jobs, lives, and meaning for us. What to think, what to wear, how to feel—is it any wonder we get nervous when we receive permission or power to design aspects for ourselves?

As leaders, we must teach. We teach and show others how to stand in this power. We invite them in to learn, to grow, to create, and to commit to a purpose greater than our own. When we create and commit to the larger purpose, we seek the greater good. We become a community of we and our instead of me and mine.

What is your best empowerment experience? I love to hear from you.

With love,
Maria

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

Life is Full of Choices

This is a photo of my business partner, Dr. Dorothy Bonvillian and I in Old San Juan standing in front of a plaque at the home and office of one of my mentors, Dr. Victor Frankl.  Victor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, revolves around our striving to be fulfilled along with the powerful message of choice. Dr. Frankl, a brilliant psychiatrist, was working on his Logotherapy theory when he was captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in a series of concentration camps. His notes and all of his possessions were seized. Stripped of everything, literally and figuratively, he was given a number to replace his name. “The experience of camp life shows that man does have a choice of action,” Frankl stated, “Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.”1.  Dr. Frankl realized the truth in his theory when he wrote, “What alone remains is ‘the last of human freedoms’—the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”2.  Those are very wise and applicable words then, and today. When we place ourselves in a victim role, we are victims. We do create our own realities. However, we have a choice in how that reality looks, as co-creators. We can choose to create a different perception, a different reality.

For example, if someone is lashing out at you at work, really being ugly, have you ever stopped to think that hurt people hurt others? “Attacking always stems from fear and guilt. No one attacks unless he first feels threatened and believes that through attack he can demonstrate his own strength at the expense of another’s vulnerability.”3.  For us to experience peace instead of conflict, we need to make a choice to change our perception (reality). “Instead of seeing others as attacking us, we can see them as fearful. We are always expressing love or fear. Fear is really a call for help, and therefore a request for love. It is apparent, then, that to experience peace we must recognize that we do have a choice in determining what we perceive.”4.

I am not advocating that anyone stay in a place that hurts or causes pain – just the contrary! Remembering our divine nature, we choose where we stay and with whom we interact. We choose peace, love, (and okay, some rock ‘n’ roll). We do not need to be in a place where we are not honored.

With love,
Maria

1. Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, p. 74.
2. Ibid., p. 75.
3. Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D., Love is Letting Go of Fear, p. 34.
4. Ibid., p. 34.

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

The Stories We Tell

Perceptions are the stories we tell ourselves regarding what we see and how we interpret the world around us. Les Brown, one of the great 21st century storytellers said, “How people live their lives is as a result of the stories that they believe about themselves,” What are your stories? Do they serve you as your aspire to reach your highest potential? Do your stories lift you up or do they bring you down? Do your stories represent who you really are, your true essence?

Let’s look at a possible story: If you greeted someone in the morning at work and he or she did not return your greeting, what would you think? Are they mad at you? Do you wonder all morning what you may have said to tick them off? Do you toss and turn that night because you fear that it was when you laughed too loudly at something they said two weeks ago that you thought was a joke, but it turned out it wasn’t? Or what if the answer is simply that they didn’t return your greeting because they didn’t hear you. Alternatively, perhaps they were distracted replaying a discussion they had with their teenager last night. What are the stories that you tell yourself? These skewed perceptions sabotage our relationships with others and our relationship with our self. If your stories no longer resonate with who you are, it is time to create a new story. Change your perception and you change your world.

The uncomplicated beauty in this lesson is that by standing in awareness and looking at our beliefs and thoughts, we can simply make a choice to keep them or release them. When we release those beliefs and thoughts that no longer serve us, we take back our power from fear to love, from negativity to positivity, from ego to Spirit. We see and understand perceptions and stand in our power to change those beliefs to experience miraculous shifts in our reality, lives, and work.

What story do you tell? Does is serve you or drain you?  Please share your insights!

With love,
Maria

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

Leadership with Maslow in Mind – Part 1 of 2

Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, we can see how our basic and safety needs are met, just by having a job and a paycheck. The pay affords us the ability to meet our basic and safety-level needs.

The third tier, belongingness and/or social needs, are the connections with others we crave. Often, after a certain period of time on the new job, we seek relationships with those with whom we work. Going to lunch, taking coffee breaks with each other, or perhaps a cocktail after work are all ways in which we fill these belongingness needs. It is not unusual for someone to say they "hate the job, but love the people they work with".  This is an important sign for leaders to notice.  As soon as those employees get their social needs met outside of work...they are gone!

Our esteem needs are when we seek outside approval from others. We want to know we are valued and appreciated. Employees always remember leaders who are good at this. We often remember how we felt when someone said something to or about us, rather than the specific words uttered by the person. How we felt about those statements or actions has a much longer duration and more deeply affects us than the actual words. I remember while growing up I often heard my mother repeating one of her favorite mantras, “Actions speak louder than words.” How true mother, how very true! This is often the place that we lose “good people” at work, because they don’t feel valued and honored.

The highest level of needs Maslow presented was the need for self-actualization. This is where we seek, with a ferocious hunger to find meaning and purpose in what we do. OK, we may start a new job and begin the quest of the hierarchical pyramid all over again, but we will eventually be right back to this higher order of need. Meeting this need is the fulfillment of meaning. People leave organizations when they reach this need level because their work is not a conduit to their meaning-seeking behavior and need.

How can you leverage this knowledge in your leadership? As always, I love hearing from you.

Love and motivation,
Maria

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

Leadership and the Nature of Balance

I know there is quite of bit of talk going around about balance. Unfortunately, the discussion only seems to pile on guilt because many of us are already aware that we are out of balance. The purpose of this post is not to engender guilt, but to help a miracle come into your life with awareness and practical strategies to regain order and balance.

Let’s look to nature for our lesson in balance. Nature teaches us about seasons. Our life also has seasons. Sometimes our seasons are busy, other times our seasons may offer renewal, and sometimes, our seasons may call for hibernation. Seasons do not go on forever—there is always a change of season. Listen and learn this lesson from nature: you cannot indefinitely go on at a frenetic pace by sheer adrenaline; it is unnatural and could be extremely dangerous to you.

Nature also teaches us that unless we shed the old way, we cannot begin anew. This is nature’s miracle—shifting. A caterpillar shifts to a butterfly, and the snake sheds its skin. We cannot move forward and look for something new if we don’t let go of the old; and we cannot experience the miracle of a different perspective or idea if we hold on to old and limiting beliefs.

We spend a lot of time in leadership and management seminars discussing how to prioritize. Many of us have handled this lesson fairly well at work; but we forget the idea of adding balance to this equation. Like the balance of seasons, we can work at a fast pace for a while, meeting deadlines and seizing opportunities. Without looking at the bigger picture, however, we could end-up spinning our wheels on the perceived priority and everything else goes to pot. That is where order comes into play. Without order, we will continue to drop things, even with our priority list.

Let’s use this time to “Spring Clean” and create order for this season of Spring.  Spring clean your mind of  limiting beliefs and your physical space of clutter. 

With love,
Maria

Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.

The Art of Leadership Storytelling

One of the most effective ways to teach is through storytelling. Nietzsche stated, “The more abstract the truth you wish to teach, the more you must allure the senses to it.” That is exactly what storytelling does; it allures the senses. Throughout history, the art of storytelling demonstrates this powerful technique used to teach. Aristotle, Plato, Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Rumi, Gibran, Hemmingway, Emerson, and even Bob Dylan and Smokey Robinson have allured us with their gifted storytelling. This form of teaching captures us through our feelings, connecting with us through our hearts. The emotional heart-tug we get with good stories heightens our attention and holds us captive. We are fully present in those captive moments of a great story, giving our undivided attention to the details. This technique presents an incredible opportunity for the learner to not only be present with full attention, but also to retain the information ready to call upon it when needed.

An ironic yet valuable benefit of storytelling is that the audience (the learner) is present in the moment of learning and the story helps us prepare for future use of the content. When we learn from stories, we learn how they may relate to us. This is a critical element to successful storytelling: the ability to relate. When we teach through stories, we are essentially saying, “When Ann experienced this event, she felt ___________, and when she did ___________, she was successful. So when you feel ___________, try as Ann did and ____________, because you too may be successful!” This mental process the learner experiences helps them to remember the story concept because they are relating it to themselves.

Follow these simple steps to practice the art of leadership storytelling:

1. Identify a story you believe to be a good one and see if you can find the six elements of effective storytelling.
2. Describe the main characters. Include yourself because when leaders are humble, open, and willing to share stories portraying themselves as human, it helps to connect with their team.
3. Portray the situation, challenge, or problem in detail. Explain what is at stake with the issue.
4. Reveal the characters’ intentions, thoughts, and feelings with the situation. Also, express what their thoughts are with potential outcomes and how they feel about what is at stake.
5. Explain the actions taken by the character, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. The more in-depth you are with the description of the actions, the more you may heighten the learner’s interest in the outcome.
6. Discuss the tools that the characters used to take action. Include which tools worked and which ones did not. Keep in mind that the tools may be thoughts, perspectives, strategies, and so forth.
7. Finally, share the outcome.

Feel free to share your stories with me!

Love,
Maria

The Teaching Leader

I love the Buddhist saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” In my many years of teaching formal courses at the university level, I am a student right along with the class I am teaching. When I teach, I learn. I have yet to teach a class where I have not learned something from my many teachers, also known as my students. We are ever changing in this world and the cycle of learning and teaching never changes, unless of course we find ourselves closed off from learning. In order to be a good teacher, we must first be a good student.

As we teach, we must remember that we are not transmitting information—we are transforming lives. That may sound a bit dramatic, but that is exactly what good teaching does; it transforms. Transformation comes about through many different forms: motivation, persuasion, mobilization, influence, and of course miracles. When we teach, we are in essence saying, I care about you, you are important, and I want to help. Wow, who wouldn’t be motivated forward with that type of message? Motivation also comes from demonstrating belief in others. Teaching affords us an opportunity to build esteem and self-efficacy. Think of Maslow’s needs hierarchy; esteem and self-actualization are the top highest levels. Teaching and learning meet both of the high order needs for yourself and for those you teach.

Through the process of teaching, we build trust when we facilitate teaching with a learner-centered approach. Remembering that we are not just transferring information, but transforming others, we teach according to the needs of others. I use the same approach when I do training, coaching, or motivational speaking. First, I discover the needs of the audience and tailor my work to meet those needs. Of course, I provide resources and information to support their transformation, but first I must find out where they are stuck and where they want to grow.

Effective teachers in a classroom setting know this and adjust their lesson plans to accommodate emerging needs that come up during instruction. We call these moments, teachable moments, when we can seize the opportunity and use it as a springboard for learning. A Native American proverb illustrates this concept, Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand. Once we identify the needs of the people and address those needs, then learning occurs and the outcome is performance.

Remember this acronym:

Time - Take the time to invest in the development of others.
Empathy – Have empathy for those you teach, respecting the place they are in at that moment.
Awareness – Come into the teaching exchange with full awareness and presence.
Care – Create a safe space for learning to occur that is filled with care and compassion.
Help –Remember that when we serve others, we are truly love-based leaders.

How do you teach in your leadership roles? I love hearing from you.

With love,
Maria

The Hollywood Leader

Many models of leadership exist. A favorite of many, with massive buy-in is the Hollywood version of leadership. Our society has embraced and idolized a stereotype leader we see depicted in film, like the Lone Ranger. This type of leader is nearly omnipotent, strong, and able to handle almost everything that comes his (yes, his) way almost single-handedly. He has all of the answers and endless energy. In many organizations, we have come to expect this type of leader to lead and guide us through the hard times and reign in the good times. These leaders are expected to have strength, courage, valor, and vision.

This perception and expectation of leadership is harmful to both the leaders and the followers. It is unrealistic. Inevitably, the Hollywood leader in organizations, communities, and countries fail, leaving the followers disillusioned and fearful. The leaders in organizations that succumb to this model pay a hefty price of, isolation, stress, fear of failure, stress-related illness, or worse.

Why do we create these types of leaders literally and figuratively? Perhaps the answers lay in our fears and wanting to be rescued. So many of us grew up with the fantasy of fairy tales where we (females) were rescued by the handsome prince who led us out of adversity. We never got to know the rest of the story about the “leader’s” uncertainty or vulnerability. We never saw anything about the rescuer/leader below the surface.

Perhaps another answer to this question could be our instant-fix culture. We want it (whatever it may be) to be fixed NOW! We want instant food, photos, pain relief, escape, and reality. We want instant gratification, and we don’t necessarily want to work for it. By having the leader ride in on the white horse and save the day works much better for us…or so we think.

Please join me on Thursday where I will talk about leadership uncertainty and vulnerability—an answer to the Hollywood leader.

With love and no drama,
Maria

Learning and Leadership

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” ~ Albert Einstein

One of the most intelligent people of our time, Albert Einstein, knew that learning never stops. As a college professor and leadership coach, I have the distinct pleasure of witnessing learning at its best. I love working with people who recognize the importance of continued growth and development. Learning is a continuous journey—not a destination or arrival.

In a previous blog, I shared with you my freedom filing system. In this system, each day of the week is devoted to a specific theme. My favorite day is Wednesday, Education Day. I spend the entire day learning. Sometimes this learning is formal by participating in a class, and sometimes it is informal such as reading or watching an instructional video. The learning modality doesn’t really matter, as long as I am learning.

Luxuriating in my education day not only feeds my mind, it fuels my soul. This act of continuous learning is an action of loving myself and humbling myself with the knowledge that there is always room to learn and grow.

Growth continues with the next step that follows, which is action. We can have all the knowledge in the world, but without action, it is useless. The action is what moves me out of my comfort zone where true growth occurs.

No matter how uncomfortable I may be in my action and implementation, I know I will always come to another Wednesday for more treats – learning!

With love,
Maria

Freedom Filing System

I love my new freedom filing system and just had to share it with you! As leaders of our lives and organizations, we often times feel overwhelmed and trapped. I experienced this when I worked for someone else and with my own company. As I listed in a previous blog, I recognize the “symptoms” of overwhelm and do not like the way it makes me feel!

My freedom filing system takes care of overwhelm and gives me back my freedom to think, focus, concentrate, and plan with clarity. I call it my “freedom filing system” because it provides me the right amount of structure to be free to create.

As CEO of my own company, I wear many hats. When I am creating new products or writing my books, I have a dark cloud of business correspondence or updating the books hanging over me, which impedes my ability to focus. Recognizing this, I took the following steps and you can too:

• List every category of activities I do throughout the week (product development, writing, education, marketing, meeting with clients, administrative, etc.)
• Group together activities, identifying a theme that makes sense (updating the website and following up with media contacts)
• Determine five categories and which day of the week it makes sense to complete those tasks. This activity creates theme days. For example, Monday is Product Development Day, and Tuesday is my writing day. If I am on a roll with writing product, I can easily carry over into Tuesday.
• Create files for each day of the week, with the theme for the day. Inside each folder, list the typical activities for that day (Marketing day: lead follow-up, web updates, media follow-up, etc.)
• Put all those loose papers into the appropriate folder. If there is an email that has an action item, I print the email and put it into the folder. This simple activity completely cleared my desk and mind. I no longer have to think about the to-do items as I know it is in my folder for that day to complete.
• At the end of each day, I pull my folder for the next day, review the activities associated with that theme and create my action list for the next day.
• Begin and end each day with 30 minutes to answer immediate correspondence.

I now have the freedom I craved because of this structure. How do you get out of overwhelm and what system are you using? I love to hear from you.

With love,
Maria

Get a Grip on Organization

I’ve always considered myself as an organized person, but I must admit that sometimes I get overwhelmed and lose control of my time and organization. In those times of overwhelm, I need to get a grip!

Very recently, I found myself in this space of needing to regain control of my time and organization. I realized that nearly every time I got to this place I experienced the same symptoms in my thoughts and behaviors. I feel: 

• Overwhelmed and find it difficult to concentrate.
• Unorganized and cannot find key files, papers, or other information.
• Paralyzed by uncertainty and just where to begin.
• Forgetful and miss deadlines or appointments.
• Unable to plan due to many, many dark clouds hanging over my head

These are telling signs that I need to get a grip on my organization. When I recognize these symptoms, I do the following simple steps to re-gain control over my life:  

• Write everything down that is in my head and hanging out in those dark clouds. When I do this, I create white space literally and figuratively.
• Determine and/or revamp my file system to capture notes, to-do action items, projects, and other information.
• Create a plan with timelines and stick to it.
• Celebrate the mini-successes!

The simple steps outlined above give me structure, which in turn gives me freedom! When I am free of clutter and dark clouds, I am able to concentrate, create, and plan. On Thursday, I will share with you my most recent file system, my Freedom Filing System.

With love and no overwhelm,
Maria

What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Why is integrating love so important into our leadership? The answer is simple: because fear is not working and love is a much more powerful source.

Here are some other reasons to lead with love:

• We have organizations full of over-worked, over-stressed employees who find little or no meaning in the work they do for eight to ten hours each day.
• We have become paralyzed and/or complacent in the workplace, stifled by fear running rampant in today’s organizations.
• Without meaning, we lack purpose and engagement. Love is the conduit to meaning.
• Fear can be motivating for a while, but it is not sustaining. Love nurtures, expands, and grows.
• Love honors, cares for, values, respects, and trusts others.
• Love creates an organizational culture that is conducive to knowledge creation. If we don’t create, we will perish.
• We reap what we sow, and if we plant seeds of fear, we will reap more fear. If we plant seed of love, we will harvest a love-filled culture.
• Successful organizations such as Southwest Airlines, SEMCO, Tom’s Shoes, and Zappos are built on love and are reaping the benefits because of it.

That’s what love has to do with it. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

With love,
Maria

Love-Based Leadership

As we close out this month of Love, let’s look at how we can translate that into a love-based leadership model. In my book, Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance, I present a very simple, yet profound way to lead based on three pillars: Love of Self, Love of Source, and Love of Others.

Leading with the Love-Based Leadership (LBL) model, we find meaning, authenticity, value, abundance, and purpose in and through our leadership. Those we lead find motivation, creativity, loyalty, commitment to the task, and value in their jobs through meaning.

Many of us share the common desire to find meaning in our daily work. A leadership model based on love recognizes the importance of living holistically by integrating love, health, wellness, and spirituality into all aspects of our life.

When we lead with the three pillars, we first focus on Love of Self. This is not an egoic love, but rather one where we honor, care for, and respect our self. While developing this pillar, we look to develop: 

• Intuition
• Truth-telling
• Truth-receiving
• Leverage the power of choice
• Perception-shifting
• Presence
• Health & wellness

When we incorporate the second pillar into our leadership, Love of Source, we seek to connect with our Source. This connection fuels:

• Inspiration
• Creativity
• Happiness
• Faith
• Perseverance
• Peace
• Love

In the third pillar, Love of Others, our leadership expands outward to include family, community, and our organization. This practice creates:

• Forgiveness
• Knowledge creation
• Learning cultures
• Shared ownership
• Shared power
• Collaboration
• Meaning

Shifting from fear to love is transformative. This shift will not only transform your organization; it will transform your life.

With love,
Maria

Culture Creation – Part 4 of 4: The Deepest Element

As we conclude this exploration of organizational cultures, we go to the deepest part. Values, like beliefs, are elements extremely important to us, but we are not aware of them until we face a situation that forces them into our consciousness. Integrity, honesty, and ethical beliefs are a few values that often drive organizational and ethical behaviors.

As a coach, I usually begin a coaching relationship with a values clarification exercise. Values are foundational elements to the ways we think, act, and behave. Organizations are coming into awareness about the importance of value identification and are creating value statements to guide the organization. These value statements are as important as the mission and vision statements.

The deepest elements we find below the surface of the tree are the assumptions that feed the entire person and organization, passing through each element all the way through the roots, trunk, and branches to the tips of the leaves. Our assumptions are the most deeply ingrained of all the elements, created by our mental models.

Mental models are the lenses or filters by which we view the world, and no two are alike. Comprised of our familial, educational, community, religious, personal, and professional experiences, our mental models help us make sense, assumptions, and judgments about our life experiences. For example if I said, “pop” what would you think? Some may think of their father, a loud noise, a gun, gum, or soda. Whatever you thought of is reflective of your mental model.

So how do we create a culture based on love and love-based leadership? We start with the roots and work our way up. We begin with awareness and make conscious, strategic choices to create an environment based on love and not on fear. We recognize our own mental models and broaden our beliefs. We wrap awareness around our values and deepen our understanding of how they affect our beliefs and behaviors. We strategically infuse our organizational culture with continued learning and development. We intentionally instill a sense of shared ownership and power in the work we do, providing channels for meaningful work experiences, and we wrap all of these strategies in love.

As always, I love it when you share your insights.

With love,
Maria