Jtapp828's Blog

Can Leadership be taught?

jtapp828 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:16:03 +0000

…….yes – and no. I’ve seen many people who are not innate leaders try to learn how to do it. Yes, existing leaders can learn certain tools that will help. But, at the end of the day I believe leadership is innate. It’s a talent that some people have and some people don’t. It could be called the ‘pied piper’ syndrome. There are just some folks who get ‘followed’ and some who couldn’t lead a one car funeral. It’s not in their skill set to do it. Can those with leadership talent learn to be better leaders? Absolutely. There are all kinds of tools out there to learn to be a better leader. Keep watching this blog post to learn more.

ugh! virus and email address change

jtapp828 — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:03:00 +0000

yuk, my ‘blacklist’ has been corrupted, so I’m starting new for an e mail address. Please delete your ‘jtapp828′ email address and change to tappjeanne.

thank you!

What gives you energy?

jtapp828 — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:40:54 +0000

When meeting with colleagues from church this week I was reminded of what gives me energy – that collaborative effort between colleagues (people of similar values, skills and goals) toward a common goal for the betterment of everyone. I serve in a major leadership role in our church. It may not seem that way from time to time, but it is. My role is to facilitate a cultural change toward better communication and starting a system of regular goal setting. Oddly, it’s something that’s hard for many congregations. We just assume that because we have a common belief system that everything will fall into place on its own. Not true.

Those of us who are leaders need to find that group of colleagues who know how to lead and to collaborate on common goals. There’s an old Guideposts devotion from a number of years ago entitled “Sharpening the Saw”. The whole point of the devotion is for each of us to take time to continue to learn and develop our skills. You can’t effectively cut a tree with a dull saw or axe. Nor can my doctor effectively diagnose and treat my problems without keeping up with new medical discoveries. The devotion also follows the principle of the book “Now Discover Your Strengths” which supports the philosophy of building on what you’re already good at. It’s an opposite philosophy of what we’ve been taught (to improve what we don’t do well). Focusing on your strengths and finding sources to help you with your weaknesses (or lack of skills) is a huge cultural shift. I recommend it highly. Check out “Now Discover Your Strengths“.
So make a promise to yourself this year – to ‘sharpen your saw’ and ‘build your strengths’ at least once every month. You just might discover what gives you energy – then share that energy with others!

Leaders Who Honor Employee’s Values

jtapp828 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:56:01 +0000

My distraction continues with our new grand baby. She’s a great distraction and I’m having a hard time getting focused on being a good leader. It’s a challenge for all leaders to remain focused when faced with really important distractions!

As I prepare for family to join us for dinner and listen to the carols on the radio I’m reminded of all the people who are working today. As a leader, what example do you set in honoring your employee’s values? Do you honor their Judeo-Christian traditions? Or any other traditions they value in their personal lives? We are a nation rich with many different heritages and beliefs. It’s more noticeable this time of year (at least to me).

When developing holiday work schedules do you ask your employees what their traditions are? Do you give them any kind of choice about work schedules on any holidays? I know, many places of business must stay open 24/7/365. But as a leader please try to honor the traditions of your employees at least some of the time. Do a rotating holiday schedule where the same person doesn’t wind up working the holiday EVERY holiday – unless they choose to. I’ve known some folks who would rather work and be with people instead of being alone. Let them do that. This gives those who want to spend holidays with their family and friends time to do that. But make sure the time for work/play is evened out. Be sure those who want to work holidays have time off throughout the year.

I used to work for someone who didn’t honor our family traditions. True, we produced an event based on a holiday and at a holiday time; but there was not even the first thought or question about juggling schedules so that we all had at least a little time with our families during the event. My hope and prayer for all of you as leaders are that you stay focused enough during holiday times to be attentive to the needs of both your employees and your customers. Find a way to continue to do business without sacrificing the values of your employees, for without them you wouldn’t have a business!

The Distracted Leader

jtapp828 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:12:54 +0000

I’ve been a bit distracted over the last two weeks. Our first grand child was born and I’ve been totally focused on family (instead of leadership issues). Well, really, I have been focused on leadership issues, just my own. My husband and I have been totally focused on being the ‘senior’ members of our family supporting our oldest son and his wife while they’ve been in the process of welcoming a new life into the world. Her parents have been doing the same thing. When the statement is made “it takes a village” to raise a child that’s also true of bringing one into the world. I would wish for every new parent to have that kind of support available.

So how do we translate this to leaders in the work force? I know of a leader in our local community who has taken a 6-month sabbatical. She’s wise to do that. She is the leader of an organization with a high profile in our community and this organization has been in the news at least weekly over the last two years. That kind of stress deserves a break. I know when I’ve been under a great deal of stress and don’t take a break from it I start making bad decisions. The leader of an organization MUST be in a position to make good decisions. If you can’t count on the leader, then who?

I’ve known a number of people who take their blackberries and computers on vacation with them. They check voice mail and send e mails on a daily basis. What kind of vacation is that? NOT. If you are going to take your work tools with you then just stay home. If you really want to take a break, refresh and renew, then tell everyone you are not available for the number of days/weeks you will be gone. Yes, take your cell phone just in case of an emergency. But that’s the only reason it should be used. I used to tell my staff “call me if the building is burning down, otherwise deal with whatever comes your way and tell me about it when I get back”.

So, go take a long exhale. Take a break, a vacation, a sabbatical. But above all, renew yourself as a person so you can also renew yourself as a leader.

Leaders with Good Character and Ethical Behavior

jtapp828 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:06:13 +0000

I’ve been active in a local political campaign over the past few months. You know the saying “politics is local”, and that’s so true. The essence of our democratic political system starts with individuals who are willing to serve in their local communities. Thankfully, my candidate has a strong character and behaves in an ethical manner.
Unfortunately, his opponent has shown his ‘dark side’ at the last of the campaign. The opponent appears to be a nice guy. My son says “be careful of the nice guys; they turn out to be the meanest.” The opponent has published several mail-outs using quotes from my candidate taken out of context. He’s made the words to appear different than they were intended. He’s also sent out alarmist ‘robo’ calls meant to keep people from voting for my candidate. Sadly, he did the same thing in the previous campaign where he ran for the same seat. He’s now established a history of negative campaigning.
Who will win? Will this opponent’s scare tactics and smear campaign result in winning the race? Thankfully, my candidate won, not by a landslide, just a healthy margin.
Our country has a history of negative political campaigns – local to national. It would be wonderful if we could break that pattern, but I don’t have high hopes for the trend to change. It’s a mixed bag of what our local community voted for. Did they vote for strong ethics? Or did they vote based on the belief the negatives were correct? Probably a bit of both.

We’ve tried to remain on the high ground. How do you fight back and still maintain strong character? It’s hard. Many of us working on the campaign have told our candidate ‘Yes, fight back, but fight back with the truth of what you believe and what you support. Don’t get down in the muck with this guy.” What has been your experience with taking the high road? And what have you learned from those who take the muddy dirty path? Let me know what you’ve experienced.

Preventing Inertia and Knee-Jerk Reactions

jtapp828 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:29:06 +0000

Inertia and Knee-Jerk in the same topic? Yes. There is a very delicate balance between being so deliberative that we create inertia, the inability to decide anything at all. Then there’s the temptation to take an action too quickly without full discovery of all the pertinent data before making a decision. I’m leading a group right now that is right on the edge of this issue. We’ve discussed actions for a long time and many are ready to move forward to take action. So am I.
But…..We really don’t have all the information we need. I keep having that ‘gut feeling’ that I’ve learned to trust so much. There’s something out there in the way of information and visioning that our group is missing. So how do you move forward in a situation like this without making a tragic mistake?
First, the leader needs to take a very deep breath. Take the long view of the situation. What will be the effect of this decision in the next 12 months, five years, or ten years? Will there be a positive result for all parties involved? We are taught to look for a ‘win-win’ in decision-making. That is the most desired outcome. But sometimes there is a win/lose decision. Someone wins, someone loses. That happens in courts every day. It’s something I’d like to avoid, but not at the cost of total inertia.
So what’s a leader to do?
1. Get as much information as you can.
2. Weigh all the data. Ask yourself the pros and cons of every piece of data.
3. Discover the options. Look under every rock and in each nook and cranny you can find.
4. Listen, listen, listen. Listen to everyone you can. Let everyone weigh in on the topic. Listen in a way that is respectful and shows you actually care what they think.
5. After careful analysis of every piece of information available you must finally take the leap and make a decision.
Your decision may be popular with some and unpopular with others. GET OVER IT! You are the leader and you will never make everyone happy. All you can do is do the best you can. Ask yourself, is this a decision I can live with? Will I be able to sleep at night knowing I’ve looked at every possible outcome and done the very best I can do? Hopefully, that answer is “yes”.

“Letting It Go”

jtapp828 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:06:59 +0000

What is ‘it’? ‘It’ can be anything that is bothering you. ‘It’ could be a personal problem, a work project, a comment someone made; anything. When thinking about ‘letting it go” the Serenity Prayer sometimes helps me. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. “Reinhold Niebuhr
From that prayer I begin to understand that I am not in control of everything. There are some situations and plenty of people I have no control over whatsoever. I MUST ‘let it go’. All I can do is work the circle of influence nearest to me. I can gather information, I can make some decisions, but at the end of the day, the decisions of others are the ones that may have a greater impact.
I used to work for a company whose focus became totally on finances. Somewhere along the way our mission, vision and purpose became just words. The more we focused on finances the fewer financial resources were available. We changed from a group of employees banded together to serve our customers to a group with palpable uncertainties. People were asking: “What’s the next big change? Whose job will be cut next? And “Which budget will be reduced (again) and by how much?”
It became a situation of ‘lack’. It’s hard to get excited about going to work when you feel something negative is going to happen each and every day. It’s like waiting for a bomb to drop. You know it’s going to happen, you just don’t know what, when or where.
A strategic task force was appointed to look for partnership proposals. We could have a partner, we could be sold outright; or we could remain as we were, but only for a few short years and then we’d go out of business, a pitiful end to nearly sixty years of service to the community.
So how did I ‘let it go’? I did what I could, when I could within my circle of influence. I could not save the company; I could only communicate and help those closest to me. So that’s what I did – work within my own circle of influence and ‘let go’ of what I couldn’t influence.

‘Getting Over’ Leaders’ Inadequate Communications

jtapp828 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:57:44 +0000

An organization where I worked just over fourteen years has gone through a huge amount of change in the past five years. In some of the situations I had all the information available revealed to me so that I could make an informed decision. In other cases I only had part of the information. At the same time I heard many people who were not in leadership roles (therefore without all the information) complain about decisions that were made.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that every leader who has all the information is going to make a GOOD decision. They just have the tools in front of them to make one.

So what do you do when you disagree with a decision? It depends on where the decision comes from and what impact it has on you personally or on the tasks you do each day. If the decision comes from an executive leader in your organization and you are a front line worker you have some choices.

1. Live with it and complain about it. I call this the BMG club (bxxxx, moan and gripe)
2. Some companies have a blog site where you can voice your complaint anonymously. That’s an option. But be careful – only ask questions, don’t express opinions. If you get confrontational on the blog site you won’t likely get an answer. If you are careful to ask questions you might get an explanation that’s acceptable.
3. Ask your direct supervisor to explain the decision so you can better understand why it was made.
4. In some cases, you may be able to go directly to the executive to ask about the decision.

You have choices. If you have a really great leader, that person will explain the decision to you so that you can truly understand it, or at least accept the decision. So when someone tells you to “just get over it”, maybe these actions will help you to do just that. I hope so.

my blog

jtapp828 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:31:31 +0000

Just a quick reminder to everyone that I’m still blogging once a week! You can catch up with my latest post on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. In case you’ve lost the link, here it is:

http://jtapp828.wordpress.com/