Showing posts with label management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label management. Show all posts

Serve to Lead®--Your Transformational 21st Century Leadership System Review

Serve to Lead®--Your Transformational 21st Century Leadership System
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Serve to Lead®--Your Transformational 21st Century Leadership System Review
What we have in this substantial volume is a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effect system that will enable aspiring leaders to understand what Martin Luther King, Jr., meant when asserting that "everyone can be great, because everyone can serve...You don't have to have a college degree to serve, You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve...You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love." You also need what Strock offers in this book: an abundance of practical advice that will provide invaluable assistance as the reader proceeds through the four-week process which is central to Strock's "Serve to Lead" system. Throughout his lively and thought-provoking narrative, he anchors his insights in real-world situations and rigorously examines the major leadership styles and those who best exemplify them.
He poses identifies and then explains "Ten Principles of Twenty-First Century Leadership" (Pages 26-64) that serve collectively as the ideological foundation of the "Serve to Lead" system. Strock also realizes the truth of what Thomas Edison once observed, "Vision without execution is hallucination." Therefore, most of his attention throughout the book is focused on explaining HOW to apply those principles in effective service to others.
Early in the book, Strock poses four questions that only each reader can answer. They are:
"Who are you serving?"
COMMENT: It is impossible to lead others effectively unless and until we are both willing and able to assume leadership of our own lives. Consider these lines from a poem that helped Nelson Mandela to survive more than years of solitary confinement in prison, William Ernest Henley's Invictus:
"I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."
"How can you serve best?"
COMMENT: Just as we cannot be everywhere at once, we cannot serve everyone everywhere all the time. Strock urges his reader to select those relationships and those situations in which we can be of greatest service to those in greatest need.
"Are you making a unique contribution?"
COMMENT: This is best considered in combination with the second (previous) question but there are subtle differences, notably the reference to "unique." Each of us has special gifts, special talents, etc. If I understand Strock on this point (and I may not), he is stressing the importance of making a difference in a way that is unique to us. In a workplace, for example, some people have a special talent for formulating and then expressing constructive criticism; others have a "sixth sense" for recognizing when someone needs encouragement; still others have an uncanny ability to focus on a problems causes rather than on its symptoms.
"Are you getting better every day?"
COMMENT: I interpret this to have two key points: Increase the value of assistance to each individual served, and, increase the number of those who are served. Can I become a better listener? Can I ask better questions? Can I become more alert to the "messages" that tone-of-voice and body language send?
Before concluding this brief commentary, I want to discuss the four-week program that Strock recommends, one that will help aspiring servant leaders to get their values in alignment with their life experiences.
Weeks One and Two: Audit allocation of resources (especially hours and dollars) to serving others
Week Three: Conduct a rigorous evaluation of most important relationships in all domains (i.e. home, at work, in the community) to determine how each can be strengthened
Week Four: Move to the next level by reviewing and evaluating core values, ongoing thought patterns, routines, and "habitual ways in which you process and respond to your life as you experience it."
The details of HOW to accomplish these worthy objectives are best revealed in context but I do not hesitate to suggest that James Strock is both an idealistic and a pragmatist, one who is determined to do all he can to help each reader to become an increasingly more effective leader through high-impact service to others.Serve to Lead®--Your Transformational 21st Century Leadership System Overview

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Group Leadership Skills: Interpersonal Process in Group Counseling and Therapy Review

Group Leadership Skills: Interpersonal Process in Group Counseling and Therapy
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Group Leadership Skills: Interpersonal Process in Group Counseling and Therapy ReviewAs a high school counselor who has led many groups, both adolescent and adult, I am constantly searching for literature to better help me serve the group process. I consider myself fairly well-read in the areas of counseling, group leadership, and the group process. With that said, I am thoroughly impressed with this book by Chen and Rybak. Thus far, it is the most clearly written and most valuable book I have read on this subject. I find myself continually revisiting chapters over and over as I try to implement the skills and ideas outlined in this book. I believe that this book is definitely a must have for anyone interested in the group counseling process.
I like the book's many strengths (clear examples, helpful exercises, accessible and fluid language), but if I have to single out its greatest strength, then it would be its roadmap approach to the group process. As I read the book, I find myself challenged to examine my own ideas and beliefs as they relate to the field. I have to ask myself what my basic assumptions are about the interpersonal process. Starting from the beginning chapters, this book helps me establish a solid foundation from where I start my leadership journey.
Part Two (Basic Leadership Skills) of this book will be especially helpful for the beginning, less experienced group leaders. It takes the reader through the stepwise approach of starting a group from scratch, leading the first session, establishing a session's pace and feel, working on members' agendas, and working with tension and conflict. Chapter 6 "Working on Agendas" especially provides the readers with a powerful roadmap to follow. With its accessible language, a young counselor does not feel intimidated by the process, but instead, empowered.
Part Three (Advanced Leadership Skills) adds the flesh and muscle to the skeleton. This part can be extremely beneficial for the counseling students, although it really outlines the skills of a veteran group therapist. I love the way Chen and Rybak illustrate how counseling is more than just a series of skills and theories, but a very precise art that takes patience, touch, balance, and know-how. The advanced skills gives the readers something to strive for, while at the same time, further providing the veterans with challenges and approaches that keep the art fresh. Topics that I take special note include: Taking Risks in Communication, Stirring the Pot, and the Hot-Seat Method. Many excellent models for these advanced methods are provided.
I appreciate the authors' emphasis on the importance of reflective journal writing by the members and narrative session notes by the leaders. Throughout the text, Chen and Rybak offer excellent writing samples for both the group members and for the group leader. I like the way the authors close the circle by asking the reader to search inside for his own therapeutic voices and by challenging the reader to continue to grow and to live by the creative edge.
What I take most from the book, even more than the powerful skills and approaches offered, is the compassion, respect, and enthusiasm that the authors show for their subjects. They truly believe in the art of group counseling and the art of leading a successful group. They believe in the power of group. That passion permeates each page and washes over the reader. This book, in many ways, transcends the counseling field and speaks of truths that can be applied to all fields. I gained so much from this book and I will continue to use it as I continue to grow as a counselor, and more importantly, as a person. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the helping profession, especially students, and to anyone who wants to better his or her leadership and communication skills.Group Leadership Skills: Interpersonal Process in Group Counseling and Therapy Overview

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Simply Strategic Stuff:: Help for Leaders Drowning in the Details of Running a Church Review

Simply Strategic Stuff:: Help for Leaders Drowning in the Details of Running a Church
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Simply Strategic Stuff:: Help for Leaders Drowning in the Details of Running a Church ReviewGranger Community Church has become a model of health, growth, and innovation. In Simply Strategic Stuff you'll find 99 proven church administration principles, strategies, and ideas. The value of each chapter varies but I'm confident any pastor could find something that would be helpful. A sampling of some of the chapters include:
*Count the cost before hiring a family member
*Visit other churches and steal their stuff
*Never launch a ministry without a leader
*It's easier to hire than to fire
*You can't overcommunicate the vision
Obviously many of these ideas are conventional wisdom or self-evident but even though most are not novel they are good reminders. If your reading time is limited, you can still find time to read a chapter or two every day to help you stay administratively sharp.Simply Strategic Stuff:: Help for Leaders Drowning in the Details of Running a Church Overview

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Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God Review

Unfinished Business:  Returning the Ministry to the People of God
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Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God ReviewReading this book helped me understand where and how my pastor was leading us and why. I highly recommend this book to others who wonder how the church can be more effective in today's time and culture. I also highly recommend it to the 20% of the church that is doing 80% of the work. We do not need to do it all...Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God Overview

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The Everything Guide to Being an Event Planner: Insider Advice on Turning Your Creative Energy into a Rewarding Career Review

The Everything Guide to Being an Event Planner: Insider Advice on Turning Your Creative Energy into a Rewarding Career
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The Everything Guide to Being an Event Planner: Insider Advice on Turning Your Creative Energy into a Rewarding Career ReviewAbsolutely definitive guide for the newbie looking to get into Event Planning, or for the seasoned pro looking to brush up on his or her skills and stay competitive. Broken down into easy-to-digest chapters, the book can be read cover-to-cover, or referred to as a spot reference. Anyone affiliated w/ restaurants, corporations, or media groups responsible for planning (or hosting) events can learn something from this. Highly recommended!The Everything Guide to Being an Event Planner: Insider Advice on Turning Your Creative Energy into a Rewarding Career Overview

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The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems Review

The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems
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The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems ReviewThe Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems by Tom Devane, Steven Cady, and Peggy Holman (Berrett-Koehler Publishers) is the most comprehensive guide available to methods of organization and community change. It's designed for quick and easy access to information about high leverage change from today's foremost practitioners. This new edition is updated to describe more than 43 additional change methods and includes new chapters on selecting a method, mixing and matching methods, and responsibilities of the people involved, conditions for success, and more. This tremendously expanded second edition--400 pages longer, nearly twice the length of the first edition--will undoubtedly become the definitive resource in this rapidly expanding area.
This book offers practical insights and how to affect systems in positive ways to make them do the things we wish them to do and to mitigate the harm caused by some systems. Anyone who is interested in social change and personal change at any level will find the practical suggestions for intervention in this book to be positively enlightening.
In 1999, the first edition of The Change Handbook provided a snapshot of a nascent field that broke barriers by engaging "whole systems" of people from organizations and communities in creating their own future. In the last seven years, the field has exploded. In this completely revised and updated second edition, lead authors Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, and Steven Cady profile sixty-one change methods--up from eighteen in the first edition. Nineteen of these methods are explored in depth, with case studies, answers to frequently asked questions, and details on the roles and responsibilities of the people involved, conditions for success, and more. This tremendously expanded second edition--400 pages longer, nearly twice the length of the first edition--will undoubtedly become the definitive resource in this rapidly expanding area.
Simply put I can not find enough superlatives for the utility of this volume when it comes to explaining the practical steps necessary in systems change. The book is so comprehensive that many of the chapters could actually be books themselves. What is useful here is that one finds the boiled down essential information in one place. By offering potpourri of possible strategies group facilitators and therapists do not become overly committed to only a few strategies, but can find new ways to do old things better and with less effort and ways to evaluate old efforts that may have been well-intentioned but the intervention was misdirected. The book is a wonderful reference to the important evolving field of systems analysis and change. You overlook this volume at your peril.
The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems Overview

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The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization Review

The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization
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The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization Review
With Jonathan Littman, Kelley provides in this volume a wealth of information and counsel which can help any decision-maker to "drive creativity" through her or his organization but only if initiatives are (a) a collaboration which receives the support and encouragement of senior management (especially of the CEO) and (b) sufficient time is allowed for those initiatives to have a measurable impact. There is a distressing tendency throughout most organizations to rip out "seedlings" to see how well they are "growing." Six Sigma programs offer a compelling example. Most are abandoned within a month or two. Why? Unrealistic expectations, cultural barriers (what Jim O'Toole characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom"), internal politics, and especially impatience are among the usual suspects. That said, I agree with countless others (notably Amabile, Christensen, Claxton, de Bono, Drucker, Kelley, Kim and Mauborgne, Michalko, Ray, and von Oech) that innovation is now the single most decisive competitive advantage. How to establish and then sustain that advantage?
In an earlier work, The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm, Kelley shares IDEO's five-step methodology: Understand the market, the client, the technology, and the perceived constraints on the given problem; observe real people in real-life situations; literally visualize new-to-the-world concepts AND the customers who will use them; evaluate and refine the prototypes in a series of quick iterations; and finally, implement the new concept for commercialization. With regard to the last "step", as Bennis explains in Organizing Genius, Apple executives immediately recognized the commercial opportunities for PARC's technology. Larry Tesler (who later left PARC for Apple) noted that Jobs and colleagues (especially Wozniak) "wanted to get it out to the world." But first, obviously, the challenge was to create that "it" which they then did.
In this volume, as Kelley explains, his book is "about innovation with a human face. [Actually, at least ten...hence its title.] It's about the individuals and teams that fuel innovation inside great organizations. Because all great movements are human-powered." He goes on to suggest that all good working definitions of innovation pair ideas with action, "the spark with fire. Innovators don't just have their heads in the clouds. They also have their feet on the ground." Kelley cites and then examines several exemplary ("great") organizations which include Google, W.L. Gore & Associates, the Gillette Company, and German retailer Tchibo. I especially appreciate the fact that Kelley focuses on the almost unlimited potential for creativity of individuals and the roles which they can play, "the hats they can put on, the personas they can adopt...[albeit] unsung heroes who work on the front lines of entrepreneurship in action, the countless people and teams who make innovation happen day in and day out."
Because organizations need individuals who are savvy about the counterintuitive process of how to move ideas forward, Kelley recommends three "Organizing Personas": The Hurdler, The Collaborator, and The Director.
Because organizations also need individuals and teams who apply insights from the learning roles and channel the empowerment from the organizing roles to make innovation happen, Kelley recommends four "Building personas": The Experience Architect, The Set Designer, The Caregiver, and The Storyteller. Note both the sequence, interrelatedness and, indeed, the interdependence of these ten "personas."
I am reminded of comparable material in A Kick in the Seat of the Pants. Specifically, Roger von Oech's discussion of what he calls "The Four Roles of the Creative Process" (i.e. Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Warrior). Also Six Thinking Hats in which Edward de Bono explains the need for a creativity "wardrobe" comprised of several hats. Specifically, white (rational, logical, and objective), red (emotional), black (negative), yellow (positive, hopeful, optimistic), green (creative and innovative), and blue (ordered, controlled, structured).
What Kelley achieves in this volume is to develop in much greater depth than do von Oech and de Bono what are essentially ten different perspectives. He does so, brilliantly, by focussing the bulk of his attention of those who, for example, seek and explore new opportunities to reveal breakthrough insights...and while doing so wear (at least metaphorically) one of de Bono's hats (probably the green one). Kelley devotes a separate chapter to each of the ten "personas," including real-world examples of various "unsung heroes who work on the front lines of entrepreneurship in action, the countless people and teams who make innovation happen day in and day out."
Two final points. First, most of those who read this book can more easily identify with "unsung heroes" such as those whom Kelley discusses than with luminaries of innovation such as Thomas Edison or with celebrity CEOs such as Andrew Grove, Jeffrey Immelt, Steve Jobs, and Jack Welch, all of whom were staunch advocates of constant innovation in their respective organizations. Also, presumably Kelley agrees with me that those who read and then (hopefully) re-read his book should do so guided by a process which begins with the curiosity of an anthropologist and concludes with the empathy of a caregiver. This is emphatically not an anthology of innovation recipes. Rather, it offers a rigorous intellectual journey whose ultimate value will be determined, entirely, by the nature and extent of innovative thinking which each reader achieves...and who then uses the breakthrough insights to drive creativity throughout her or his own organization.The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization Overview

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Taming Your Gremlin: A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way Review

Taming Your Gremlin: A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way
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Taming Your Gremlin: A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way ReviewThis is a simply written book that contains very powerful and useful ideas about managing your inner critic. It focuses on mindfulness of your process and disidentifying with the voices in your head that undermine you on a daily basis.
Some of the keys to this approach are being curious rather than critical about what is happening in the moment. This leads to an awareness that allows one to penetrate old conditioned patterns and achieve a state a heightened state of awareness that leads to conscious choice rather than unconscious acting out. It also encourages a playful and experimental approach to playing with new options which is helpful for people who take themselves seriously and have difficulty trying on new behaviors.
This book is fun to read, but like some of the other reviews, I agree that the metaphor of the "gremlin" is pushed to its limits of usefulness. On the other hand, the book is quite entertaining. I must admit at times I found myself annoyed by the recurring gremlin analogies, but I know other people who have read this found it to be a strong point.
The exercises in this book are very good and like that the author included space in the book to record observations and written answers from exercises. In short, this is a great tool for self inquiry and a good companion to combine with counseling or life coaching.Taming Your Gremlin: A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way Overview

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Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age Review

Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age
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Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age ReviewJuana Bordas' Salsa, Soul and Spirit belongs on the book shelf of every forward-thinking leader, management expert and leadership trainer. In compelling, personal language, she makes the case for the development of new leadership practices that reflect the realities of today's multicultural society. In challenging times when it is easy to feel discouraged by the divisions and "isms" of politics and social ills, the author shines a light on a new path of hope and collaboration. This book should find its way quickly into the required reading lists of leadership programs across the country and beyond.Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age Overview

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The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork Workbook: Embrace Them and Empower Your Team Review

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork Workbook: Embrace Them and Empower Your Team
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The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork Workbook: Embrace Them and Empower Your Team ReviewDr. Maxwell has taken on a very difficult challenge in this book. He looks at effective teams from the perspective of being a better team member, playing various roles in a successful team, and being a team leader . . . all in the same book! If you are like me, you will feel that he has carried off the challenge well.
The format of the book will be familiar to those who have read Dr. Maxwell's excellent leadership books. In this case, there are 17 laws, with each one being comprised of additional elements. Each law has one or two overriding examples, and then many small examples . . . usually as one for each subpoint. At the end of each law's section, you have questions to answer and assignments to do. This aspect of the book is like having a workbook to help you begin to apply the lessons to your own situation.
The book begins with a key question, "Will your involvement with others be successful?" In emphasizing that all 17 laws are important, Dr. Maxwell starts out with an anecdote about how a young leader absolutely insisted on knowing what one thing was most important about teams. Dr. Maxwell thought and told the young man that it was that there was no one most important thing about teams. In the end, the same point is made by observing that good chemistry (not one of the 17 laws) only occurs on a team when all 17 laws are being observed.
Here is my rephrasing of the 17 laws:
(1) By combining their efforts and talents, teams can outperform any individual. Anyone who has seen a great player brought down by a special effort from the opposing team will know the truth of that observation.
(2) Team players have to subordinate their self-interests on behalf of the team's purpose. In the NBA, the teams with ball hogs don't win championships. I find that this law is violated more often than it is followed.
(3) Each team player can add a greater contribution when in the correct role. If you turned a great linebacker into a tight end, the results usually wouldn't be as good.
(4) The more difficult the goal, the more important the teamwork. The example used here is climbing Mount Everest and the hard work that dozens of people have to do so that two people can climb atop the peak. Most teams suffer from having weak or inappropriate goals. Spend time on this area . . . and take on something worth doing!
(5) The team's results will only be as good as the performance of the weakest person. The poor leadership by the captain of the Exxon Valdez is used as an example.
(6) People on the team have to find ways to spark the team on to greater accomplishment. Michael Jordan during his years with the Bulls is the example.
(7) Teams need a vision of what needs to be accomplished to inform and inspire their efforts. If the company leader doesn't do this, then someone on the team must. IBM's improved marketing under Lou Gerstner's time as CEO is the key example.
(8) Bad attitudes can spoil great talent. You are better building great attitudes on the team than having great talent. Ideally, you should try to have both.
(9) Team members need to be able to rely on one another. Many people have trouble either trusting others or being trustworthy. Many teams find that exercises can help. There is a terrific example of demolishing the Omni in Atlanta using explosives that makes this point well.
(10) Be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices to do what needs to be done. Most people know what should be done, but are not able to discipline themselves or the team to get there. The book describes the opportunity that Montgomery Ward missed to become a retail department store ahead of Sears in the early 20th century.
(11) Keep track of your progress to focus your attention. Think of this as keeping score. When you are not meeting your quantitative goals, you should adapt.
(12) You need to have lots of people who can play the same roles. When one person isn't being effective, you should substitute. This gives your team the chance to benefit from more perspectives, creativity, and energy.
(13) Build from shared values that everyone on the team has. I think this is extremely important. If someone doesn't have the same values as the team, you should not have them on the team. In most cases, teams ignore this point. That's a big mistake!
(14) Great communications are essential. Otherwise, you just work at cross-purposes.
(15) The team's leadership will make the difference when all else is equal.
(16) With everyone is feeling good about the team, hurdles can be overcome. There is the moving story of Ms. Kerri Strug making her vault in the 1996 Olympics while severely injured and overcoming the pain to get the points needed for the U.S. women to win the gold medal for gymnastics.
(17) Keep doing what works for teams, and the results get even better with time. I enjoyed reading about Morgan Wootten, a high school basketball coach with an 87 percent winning average over 40 years who was inducted into the basketball hall of fame.
As you can see from some of the examples I cited from the book, one of Dr. Maxwell's great strengths as a writer is that he picks terrific examples and puts them into interesting, brief anecdotes.
After you finish this book, I suggest that you think about who else you need to be a better teammate for. Be sure to include at least your spouse, your family, your colleagues at work, your neighbors, those you volunteer with, and those who are like minded about important social goals.
Build from a sound plan and foundation to reach higher than has occurred before!
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