Apprentice 119

The next aspect of a great team is one of the most important and that is discipline!

“Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability”  Roy Smith

There are three dimensions of discipline.

1. Disciplined Thinking

“Few people think more than two or three times a year, I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week”

George Bernhard Shaw

2. Disciplined Emotions

Are you managing your emotions or are you managed by your emotions?

3. Disciplined Actions

Fortune Magazine - Geoffrey Colvin:

“For most people, work is hard enough without pushing even harder.  Those extra steps are so difficult and painful they almost never get done.  That’s the way it must be.  If great performance were easy, it wouldn’t be rare.   Maybe we can’t expect most people to achieve greatness.  It is just too demanding.  But the striking, liberating news is that greatness isn’t reserved for a preordained few.  It is available to you and to everyone.”

Teams will not succeed without discipline!  Are you instilling discipline into your team?

Leaders always champion discipline. 

You will find revolution and performance only when there is an embracing attitude towards diversity.  I have seen this with many of my clients who perform well.  They just have a way of respecting the differences and using it to their advantages.  We also saw this in the life of Jesus,how he got a diverse group of disciples to work together and his constant message was love for one another.  Gandhi succeeded in getting Muslim, Hindu, Buddist and Christian to be part of his revolution. 

In South Africa we have a unique diversity for such a small country.  But we must use this to our advantage.  May I present to you various facets of diversity which I believe we should be aware of today to lead effectively:

1. Cultural

2. Generational

3. Gender

4. Emotional

5. Personal diversity

The best leaders that I work with on a daily basis, pay attention to different cultures, they listen to different generations, they are sensitive towards the opposite gender, they understand the different levels of emotional intelligence that they work with and they own their own diversity.  They understand that they as a human being has a diversity of dimensions which should all be paid attention to.

Trust  “People will tolerate honest mistakes, but if you violate their trust you will find it very difficult to ever regain their confidence.  That is one reason why you need to treat trust as your most precious asset.  You may fool your boss but you can never fool your colleagues.” Craig Weatherup” 

The first aspect of building a team is getting to a point where team members trust each other.  Trust is the foundation.  People will only function together properly if they can trust each other. Most leaders destroy trust because their behaviour seldom matches their bark.  Leaders must learn that trust is tough to establish, but very easy to destroy.  All leaders must grasp the importance of their example in the establishment of trust.

Never over promise and under deliver.  Rather under promise and over deliver.  This is the key to trust.  I have seen so many examples where leaders talk up a storm, but their execution is way of the mark.  

Trust is also build on the value of mutual respect.  U2 serves a great example as written by John Maxwell:

“The bedrock of any team is the relationships between its individual members, and U2 are no exception. Certainly, the four self-assured showmen have had their artistic squabbles and personal conflicts. Yet, the mutual respect shared by the members of U2 has enabled the band to remain intact after 30 years of making music together.”

Success comes from team and team is build on trust!

Think of Jesus and His revolution.  Humanity has never been the same again. 

Think of Gandhi and the British Empire.  Gandhi changed the course of colonialism.

Think of Martin Luther King Jr. and segeregation in the US.  King brought freedom to the opressed black population of the US.

Think of Mandela and Apartheid.  He fought for freedom in his prison cell and never lost hope to see a free South Africa.

Think of Bono and U2.  They produced the most significant frontman in music history.

Think of the great CEO or manager that I work with.  They achieve extraordinary results. 

Think of a great sports team.  They have great camaraderie. 

Think of the business owner and the people he serves.  He is valuable to his community.

Think of the church pastor and his life changing church.  Many find purpose through his ministry.

What do all the above have in common?  They did not achieve success by themselves, they build teams, they surrounded them with people who they work/ed with dilligently and patiently.  They build trust, they build rapport, they build people, they build dreams, through teams. 

What does it take to build a team, because researchers tell us that whenever they find performance, they meet a team!

In the next couple of posts I will explore the essentials of building a team.

I once again watched the entire 12 hours over my December break.

I believe these are the best movies ever.  Tolken was a genius.

What struck me most this time was the will to give their lives for a cause.  The entire fellowship were focused on the cause.  There was no time for temptation or self-indulgence or even self-centredness.  Their focus was fighting for freedom.  Fighting together!  The bonds between these men and women were astounding.

What are we giving our lives too?  Are we so bored with our mundane lives of making money and surviving that we have lost the meaning of living our one and only lives? 

Think about it!  What are we giving our lives to/for?

By the way,  Gandhalf rocks!!!

The year of the Soccer World Cup in South Africa!

Many people in SA are pretty excited about the World Cup.  Many jobs were created and many more are promised.  It seems like a pretty exciting time lies ahead for our country.

Must say I am dissapointed to see our president taking his fourth or fifth wife.  I was just starting to like JZ.  These are the joys of the African people and I struggle to see the logic of our President in taking another wife.  75% of South Africa are opposed to him having another wife.  Must say I am shocked that 25% actually condone it!

This year we will hopefully have our first IMN conference in SA!  IMN stands for International Mentoring Network. 

Let us see what the year reveals.

 Take care,

My wife has taught me so much, but the focus of this series was the core 5 lessons that Adel has taught, modelled and coached me in the last 8 years.

Today I end this series with the most important:  Be disciplined

Nothing comes easy in life and Scott Peck says that life is difficult and once you accept that, life becomes easier!  Adel had many disadvantages in her life.  She had no financial foundation growing up and through hard work and dedication through discipline she achieved what many has not achieved with the perfect financial foundation.  Adel took ownership of her life and dedicated herself to hard work and discipline.

Many business leaders teach us that talent is overrated.  And it is.  Daily I work with people who have talent, but the lack of discipline will lead to them never fulfilling their potential. 

Every morning when the alarm rings, Adel is the one getting out of bed and putting running shoes on her feet, which leads to me doing the same.  Discipline can only come through commitment.  I love having a wife that helps me to become more disciplined. 

We will be heading on holiday for a couple of weeks come the end of this week. 

I will blog again in January

Plan ahead!

Think of things that could happen.

Plan things so that they actually work out.

I don’t like planning.  I like taking things as they come, but Adel has shown me that planning ahead helps a lot.  It actually helps me to realise what it is that I want to achieve.  It helps me to measure what it was that I was trying to do.   This helps me to learn, grow and improve. 

Why do we not like planning?  Or at least some of us?

Question motives!

Always!  We can do many of the right things, but for the wrong reasons.  This is something that Adel has challenged herself with for the last couple of years and I have learned so much from her in this regard.  It becomes quite challenging when you are honest with yourself about your motives.

Even in my ministry I have failed miserably with the wrong motives.  I guess the question is how do we check our motives?

We need people to help us. We need to trust people enough so that they can question our motives without us being offended.  I know few people who do not get offended when I question their motives.  I know for sure that I don’t like it if people question my motives. 

Motives are deceiving.  Giving people permission to question your motives, will help with you to clarify your them. 

Be thorough!

Being an activator sometimes does more bad than good!

The reason is that new things excite me.  I see potential and try and unlock it as soon as possible.  The problem is that I get bored very quickly.  I neglect the obvious because of this. 

My wife is the most thorough person I have ever met.  She has helped me to do things well or rather not do them at all.  Through her, my hard work has affected more people as I have done it more thoroughly and completely.   Just doing a little more has helped me to have a greater impact in my job and in my relationships. 

Be thorough.  Don’t waste your effort.