Four Pillars Of Leadership

2 6 g a m a i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l

Leadership

the FOURpillars

of


2 7m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 3

Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. Google +. Social media platforms are abundant, and they’re changing the way people interact and obtain information. Branding expert Kirk lowe explains how smart companies are using these networks to enhance their brands, build client loyalty, and expand their client bases.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines leadership as “1: the office or position of a leader; 2: the capacity to lead; 3: the act or an instance of leading.” But John Behn has found that it actually means much more. Here he explains the true meaning of leadership and what great leaders do to get great results.

the FOURpillars

of

n o v e m b e r / d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3 2 7

only olympic hockey team currently representing the United States of america, they will be the best team at the games and they will win the gold medal. They will achieve this by working relentlessly to achieve maximum physical stamina and clockwork-like team play.

The U.S. team indeed does go on to win the gold, taking down the greatest amateur (some would say semiprofes-sional) hockey powerhouse in the world — the then–Soviet Union — in the process. Having clear team goals and objectives — and beyond that, knowing why we exist — melds work and purpose, leading to a path that allows for success.

Can you recite your corporate mission statement? (No cheating now!) How many of us have ever really looked hard at our company’s mission statement — let alone internalized it. Do you have a mission statement specific to your practice or team, a statement so well crafted that you use it as your compass?

By first doing some homework and learning your company’s mission statement by heart, and then by taking the next step and developing and internalizing a mission statement specific to your agency or firm, you lay the groundwork for your team in illustrating what you do, each and every day, all year long. This clear sense of purpose establishes a framework for action and sets an upbeat tone for all.

remember how popular those livestrong bracelets became years ago? They served as an ever-present beacon of cancer awareness not only for those who wore the bracelets but also for those who saw the many people sporting them. Consider printing your mission statement (both corporate and team) on a card that team members could carry in their pockets or wallets. or perhaps you wish to print a team motto on a large coin that remains in everyone’s possession at all times. Model some memento that fits your team’s style — and have some fun.


IN My 23 yearS in insurance and financial services (and 45 years on this planet), I have come to realize that leader-ship is not an end you actually arrive at, but a destination that you constantly strive to reach. I have learned a lot about leadership from reading tons of books and attending endless seminars, but most has come from “failing forward.”

yet I probably could have saved myself a lot of time. getting a handle on what true leadership is doesn’t have to be that complicated. It’s actually pretty simple. a 10-year, 200,000-person study by HealthStream research concluded that managers who achieve the greatest results are highly proficient in the following four areas:

■ goal setting ■ Communication ■ Trust ■ accountability

The best leaders are adept at all four mainly because they focus hard on them, systematically reminding themselves of their importance every day. In addition, they work to measure their impact and that of the rest of their team in these areas — or at least acknowledge and reaffirm it by publicly praising their direct reports when they exhibit stellar performance. Here is the lowdown on the “fantastic four” of leadership building.

Goal SettingTo help understand the importance of goal setting, first ask yourself a question: Do your direct reports know why their jobs are important?

The 2004 movie Miracle chronicles the unlikely olympic gold medal run of the iconic 1980 U.S. olympic hockey team. In one scene, Coach Herb Brooks (played by Kurt russell) skates his players deep into the night, through fatigue and sickness, until he gets them to truly appreciate what their goal is and what it will take to achieve it: as the

TTrust is not just an interpersonal trait; it’s a leadership skill.

The Four Pillars of LeadershipKey Strategies»foster open, honest communication at all times. »Ensure that your managers understand why their job is important.

»build trust among your staff by keeping your word, keeping your commitments, and surrounding yourself with trustworthy individuals.

»reinforce the importance of accountability through a culture of no excuses.»have SMART goals. Revisit them regularly.

2 9n o v e m b e r / d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3

The Four Pillars of Leadership

Now maybe you have established some goals, but have you worked in both group and one-on-one settings to drill down and put in play an organized plan to achieve success? Consider using the SMarT method for setting goals and objectives:

■ S = Specific ■ M = Measurable ■ A = Attainable ■ R = Realistic ■ T = Time-bound

SMarT goals should also include periodic checkpoints, whether quarterly, monthly, weekly, or even daily. What-ever the frequency, hold yourself accountable to your goals.

But simply stating that the goal is to be achieved by a certain date is not enough. Too often, we begin the year with an end goal in mind, and are all excited to hit it, thinking it’s a no-brainer to get it done in the coming 12 months. The first quarter ends, and most successful salespersons are at or near the goal. Then the wagon wheels slowly loosen as spring and summer hit. With kids’ activities, and the busy lives of your clients, we typically witness a slowdown in sales through the end of the summer. once the last quarter hits, it’s a mad dash by all to end the year somewhat respectably.

Who’s at fault? The leader is. It’s our responsibility to ensure the job gets done. as a sales manager who leads others, the job for all involved becomes “pass/fail.” There is no in-between: you either make or exceed your goal or you don’t. It’s that cut-and-dried. This is why goal setting and regular follow-up are so vital.

The best managers incorporate their business goals with their personal goals, illustrating how vital they both are. I had the great fortune of coaching varsity high school baseball for 11 years in Iowa. Something I picked up from my lifelong friend whom I coached under, Cedar rapids Kennedy’s Bret Hoyer, was what he continually told the kids before every game, regardless of the team we were playing: “Play the situation and the ball, not the reputation of our opponent.” In our professional world today, that translates to (1) never under- or overestimate your opponent (that is, the sales or management situa-tion) and (2) always know what you will do if the ball is passed to you (that is, know what your job is every minute of the day).

So basically, mission is where you are going and goals are what get you there. The best-of-the-best leaders are emphatic about always keeping in mind the mission of the corporation and the unit, and are steadfast in holding everyone accountable to the goals. Communicationright Management Consultants met with employees from more than 300 companies and found that only one-third knew and understood their corporate strategies. Worse, those employees all rated being left out of the loop as their greatest source of dissatisfaction with their employer.

a former boss of mine and one of the top brass at Transamerica, lon olejniczak, insisted that everyone on his

team, both direct and indirect reports, be fully engaged and in the loop about everything that was going on. This engagement always led back to the corporate mission statement and the realization of underlying goals. and as it turns out, open communication is effective and produces measurable results. In 2006 and 2007, my teams were the catalyst behind setting all-time corporate records in annuity and life insurance sales.

over the past few years, and with the help of lon, I have led more than 100 workshops throughout the United States and Canada for senior leaders at Fortune 500 companies, coaches and athletes in collegiate sports programs, high school teachers, countless financial services sales and management teams, gaMa International staff, and the gaMa International executive leadership Cabinet centered around robin Sharma’s book The Leader Who Had No Title. as the title suggests and as the president and Ceo of my present company, Jim Nagengast, consistently states with fervor, “everyone in every chair leads, and everyone in every chair is in the ‘know.’”

The book, written as a fable, tells the story of Blake, a young army veteran, returned to society and struggling to find meaning in his work and in his life. enter Tommy Flinn, an eccentric character who, over the course of a day, introduces our young hero to four unique individuals. The mentors collectively breathe life back into the vet as they illuminate the path to meaningful work and with it, a sense of purpose to life in general. anna, a maid at a high-end hotel, teaches that you need no title to be a leader. Ty, a former world-champion slalom skier–turned–business professional teaches that turbulent times build great leaders. Jackson, a highly successful retired Ceo–turned–gardener teaches that the deeper your relationships, the stronger your leadership. Jet, a massage therapist to the rich and famous teaches that to be a great leader, first become a great person.

as a sales leader, you must do some key things: set clear, well-defined goals; discuss even the most mundane issues with your teams (not just the hot topics); pass along all information to all those you serve and let them decide how to handle it; make time for all your employees and really listen to them; welcome open discussions about rumors; respond quickly to your employees’ requests; and introduce your people to others up the chain so they feel they’re part of the team.

as a leader, you must lead. as a manager, you must manage. This goes beyond time cards and data; it’s about leading and managing people and the situations they encounter.

TrustTrust is not just an interpersonal trait; it’s a leadership skill. Consider, for example, the hundreds of thousands of U.S. servicemen and servicewomen who put their lives in the hands of their comrades and ask the same of them. That takes an enormous amount of trust.

So how do you build trust? you must keep your word and commitments; surround yourself with those who can be trusted; take the high road; never wade in ethically gray areas; own up to your misgivings and mistakes; and contribute to the positive reputation of your firm.


» John Behn is the national director of branch office development at Securities America, where he leads a team of regional directors in their efforts to recruit branch offices and advisors to the broker-dealer. Before joining Securities America, John was senior vice president with Transamerica Agency Network, responsible for its independent distribution channel; responsible for advisor development initiatives; and guided the wholesale distribution of annuities and insurance products across all channels. John began his career in the financial services arena in 1991. A salesman and entrepreneur by trade, he built a highly successful and profitable full-service financial services firm from scratch utilizing a regimented practice management system. John is a featured speaker and author on topics of innovation in leadership, yet still sees himself as a student of the game. John holds his Series 6, 63, and 26 licenses, as well as health and life and property and casualty insurance licenses. John can be reached at [email protected].

LOG ON to Visit These Learning TracksLEARN MORE

Start by getting out of the office and among your people. No great leader ever gained any success by sitting behind a desk all day. Got too much administrative work to do? Find a way to take care of it at night and on the weekend or, better yet, delegate. You are paid to do the $100-per-hour job, not the $10-per-hour job. If you don’t like it, get out of management, for you will surely fail.

In November 2011, the Wall Street Journal named now-retired University of Iowa football coach Hayden Fry as the “Dean of College Coaches.” In his 19 years as coach, he tutored more assistant coaches into Division I head-coaching positions than any other coach in college football history. He did not do this by sending out emails. He did it by working side-by-side with his direct reports, 365 days a year.

Whatever the chosen field, you will only be able to have your finger on the pulse of what is happening within your operation if you regularly work directly with your people — in our case, away from the office and engaged with managers, advisors, or agents. And keep these activities energizing and unique. Hold a weekly brown bag meeting. Attend the ball games of your direct reports’ kids. Grab a cup of coffee with an advisor after that person has spent three hours presenting to a prospect, only to hear no at the end. Make everything personal, because it is. Accountability”No excuses. Just results.” If you have ever played sports or been in a locker room, you know this is a common sign hanging in many locker rooms across the country. In the end, the insurance and financial services business is “win/lose.” The excuses just don’t matter. You were hired to do a job. You are either successful at it or you are not. You were hired to overcome obstacles, not talk about how they got in your way.

Goal setting, trust, and accountability are this industry’s foundation. When practiced together, they will allow you and your team to achieve the greatest levels of success. There are two reasons why anyone in our industry does not succeed: They either don’t want to or they don’t know how to. It is your job to take away the “don’t know how.” The other is beyond your control.

Too often, managers tend to focus on the negative. But to effectively hold your managers or salespeople accountable, you must find a balance between identify-ing failures and celebrating successes. Instead of beating team members up over something, consider the effect of telling them that they are good; they did right; they accomplished the goal; and they saved the day. That way, you boost morale and build loyalty. Further, you cultivate a safe environment that will allow for greater innovation, where mistakes are actually looked upon as a step toward success rather than a stumble toward imminent failure.

In the mid-1990s, while I was a district manager with American Family Insurance, I had the pleasure of leading Pat Haffernan. When I first met Pat, he was like nearly all top performers I encountered: not inclined to help anyone other than himself. He had been through

too many managers in the previous few years and didn’t really care to give me a chance.

But in the ensuing years, we managed to establish a fantastic relationship. How? Because we established trust early on. Let me rephrase that: I earned his trust early on by going to bat for him, in that I fought for what I believe he deserved in compensation. In my last year with Pat, he worked harder than ever and achieved his greatest level of sales success to that point in his career. He later told me that he wanted to prove to himself that he could rank in the top 10 of some 4,500 agents (he ended up No. 6 that year), and that because of the goals and accountability I had established, he felt he owed it to me to do better than he ever had before. Without doubt, that was one the most humbling experiences of my life.

Now let’s assume that I had had little regard for Pat as a human being or a professional and hadn’t worked to gain his trust and build a relationship. Sure, he would probably still have been successful, as a husband and father of two wonderful children and as a professional, as he had been in the past. But would he have pushed himself to new levels?

I have been fortunate to work under and be men-tored by many great leaders throughout my career. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that none of us will ever perfect leadership. It is a constant learning opportu-nity — where we must keep trying to better our best, in an effort to improve the lives of those we touch daily.

As agency heads, we are all constantly looking for ways to better ourselves as leaders and to positively affect others in our personal and professional lives. Choose one area where you can improve, and tackle it before you move on to the next one. Break things down into small, manageable bites. Each step we take toward honing our skills to become better leaders furthers our journey down the path of greater success for our teams and ourselves.

Documents

Four Pillars Of Leadership