Redefine Leadership: Short Takes

Shared accountability is where members hold each other accountable for the group's performance. Most organizations lack the strength of the functions of leadership that is necessary for this form of accountability. Here are four things ways you can encourage shared accountability.

The functional approach to leadership allows us to see feedback not as an annual performance process, but rather as an interchange that moves information from one place to another. Constant feedback shows the members of the organization where the group's performance falls short of excellence. When we give constant feedback over time, it becomes a pattern of group behavior that allows each member to direct his or her own improvements. These seven tactics will kick-start your constant feedback habit.

(Part 2, Organizational Culture Change) Organizational culture is a symptom of work. To change culture, we have to understand how these elements enable work to be performed, and therefore why it is uncomfortable to change them. Then we can act on the work itself to shift the limits of what is possible.

(Part 1, Organizational Culture Change Series) Culture change is often a judgment that behaviors are bad. Functional leadership flips this paradigm upside down, to performing work.

Stop asking, "What Do Good Leaders Do?" because it doesn't help you be a better leader. Here's what to do instead.

The function of learning allows the group to explore new, better ways to do the work. Learn three critical strategies to build learning into your organizational processes as you hire employees or grow your business.

Books expose us to new leadership ideas. If we don't have this exposure, our growth is limited by chance and luck. With a constant stream of new ideas, we can improve one small bit at a time but immeasurably over a lifetime. This is the return on investment of a book. In this episode, we discuss several specific tools and ideas to make reading more productive.

Entrepreneurs (and new supervisors and managers) become leaders through a process of learning. In this third episode in the Entrepreneurs and Leadership series, we discuss the function of learning and the specific challenges experienced by new leaders.

Leadership relationships are how people work together to complete tasks in an organization. In this video, we introduce the concept of leadership relationships for the new leader or entrepreneur who is scaling a business. Learn the difference between interchange and emotion relationships, and how each type limits the quality of work that the organization produces. Get actionable tips about how to improve each type of relationship.

This excerpt from the full "Building Leadership Relationships for Entrepreneurs" episode is the example of inventory. If your organization struggles to consistently manage resource inventory, this is for you. Quit running out of raw materials and supplies; learn how to create and structure interchange relationships so that your team can perform their tasks.

Leadership is a good thing to do. I mean that statement with all of the weight of the word "good." Vision is a story each person tells themselves (hence why it is a function) and this is why leadership is good.

Coaching is a hot topic these days. Everyone is trying to become a coach, or trying to become a coach of coaches. But that is unrealistic for most of us. So what is the real value of this kind of book? What do we get, as leaders from where we are, when we understand coaching?

When entrepreneurs start to hire new employees and scale the business, they need a new way to talk about vision. (This is true of all new managers, in fact!) These are the three common mistakes: 1. Not telling the whole story of vision. 2. Not using the right words, ideas, and expressions. 3. Not telling the story in the right forms or frequency. Learn how to talk about the story of vision in this episode, and get the full handout with SEEING EXERCISES at: www.thedefinitionofleadership.com/vision-for-entrepreneurs

Ever had someone complain, and you just didn't know what to do? Listen to this episode and you will. The tactic also illustrates the difference between unconscious, undirected learning and a deliberate learning process. The tactic is the one useful piece of Cy Wakeman's book "No Ego" which I also review. Don't read it.

We look for leadership advice in the wrong places. This is why players aren't coaches, and what we should do instead.

Atomic Habits by James Clear applies the learning process to building good habits. But it also offers insightful lessons for us as leaders, including the power of organizational culture and thoughts to reframe our perspective of learning.

Accountability is only possible with clear, complete expectations. Learn how to communicate these in this episode, and check out the two related SEEING EXERCISES on www.thedefinitionofleadership.com.

In this Short Take, I discuss Blueprint for Revolution by Srdja Popovic. This is a comprehensive, insightful analysis of the story of vision from a functional leadership model that is useful to any leader. My Blueprint for Revolution summary includes several aspects of how we successfully tell a leadership vision to bring out the best in others.

This was supposed to be a review of The Benevolent Dictator by Dr. Justin Hamrick, but it brought my distaste for the failures of traditional leadership development. Hold on to your hats.

Vision is powerful, but we feel pain when we lose sight of it. This is true for members of the group and for us as leaders. In this episode, we talk about how the function of vision explains and allows us to move past this loneliness.

ReDefine's first REVIEWED Short Take explores an ambitious but ultimately disappointing work. (Siobhan McHale's The Insider's Guide to Culture Change. HarperCollins Leadership, 2020.)

The concept of a leaderless group illustrates the fundamental concept of functional leadership, and it gives us a powerful exercise to understand and succeed at our role as leaders.

And what we use instead.

Every leader learns, but learning unconsciously limits our potential. This is why a process is better, and what tools you need to get started.

The Basics has been factual and dry. Here's why we at Redefine do what we do, and what it means to you.

Nobody is born a leader. Everyone learns through the same process. Learn how to build a leadership practice, and some of the tools that Redefine uses to make this process more effective and less uncomfortable.

Interactions over time become relationships. Relationships, or how work is performed in a group, determine the degree of success that the group can achieve. Learn how to see and influence relationships. Check out www.thedefinitionofleadership.com for more.

Vision is how members of the group make meaning of their work. That's the normal "leadership training" explanation, but it is not enough. Learn about Redefine's Story of Vision and the tools that you need to tell the story to the members of your group. This is how leadership creates a standard of excellence, inspires collaboration, and builds identity and community. Our Seeing Exercise will get you started!

In this episode of The Basics, we introduce the functions of leadership, the definition of leadership, and the unique role that leaders play in acting upon the functions to make a group successful. Check out the poster and additional info at www.thedefinitionofleadership.com!

Welcome to The Basics, an introduction to the functions of leadership, the definition of leadership, and the Redefine approach. Also, pre-order your copy of Redefining Leadership on www.thedefinitionofleadership.com!

We have a budget for emotions, and when we spend it all, we do not have any left for the next challenge. This is why leaders need to understand this concept. Oh yeah, and it makes us better friends.

Understanding leadership lets us understand the impact of our actions, and explain why they have this impact. "I'm here" are two of the most powerful things we can say, and here is why.

Organizational culture is an explanation of organizational relationships, not the other way around. Here is an illustration of how we know. In less than three minutes, for a change.

MIT accomplished excellence in DARPA's famous red balloon experiment. This is what we should take away from their implementation of leadership.

To be a leader, we have to guide and support the group in growing their emotion relationships. To do that, we have to grow in our own emotions. Here is how and why.

Values. It's a big word. Here is where values come from, and why changing our values doesn't actually change anything. Also, where to make changes if we want to actually change our values.

The story of vision can become a source of community: identity, belonging, worth, value. We use our communities to explain to others who we are. This is why the story of vision is so powerful and yet so neglected in the workplace.

When they have the right conditions, groups can bring out excellence in individuals, and in doing so accomplish success that is greater than imaginable. Leadership creates the conditions where this can happen.

What makes us stop learning? The Three Ts (among a few other things). Here's why these explanations of leadership are so dangerous.

When we want to help someone learn, what do we do? This is Redefine's take on the difference between pushing someone to understand and giving them the opportunity to experience.

Jim Collins says the most important thing a leader can do is "get the right people in the key seats on the bus." This is how we redefine that approach.

Feeling stuck in your leadership practice? Time to pay attention to the learning markers.

Two case studies demonstrate emotion and interchange relationships in action. This is a (longer) practical exploration of how to use the definition of leadership to understand and improve our leadership practice.

What happens when we look at management and leadership from the opposite perspective? Here's a thought for the next time you consider your role.

Title failures happen when we think of leadership as a person or position, rather than as the three functions combined into the definition. This is what a title failure looks like and how it can affect us as leaders.

Are we handling interchange elements in a way that supports not just task performance, but also emotion relationships? If not, we might be creating an environment for poor work performance.

Everyone is on a journey, so let's get specific with some ways that you can help them learn and grow.

Everyone is on a journey. We assume people's personalities are fixed, but in fact they're always growing. We can help make it easier for them to grow when we understand the learning process.

Our approach to leadership is fundamentally different than others. Learn about the foundational ideas and the approach of Redefine. Check us out at www.thedefinitionofleadership.com to learn more.

Let's get practical with applying the concept of "meeting people where they are." How does the definition help us understand our interactions and be comfortable and confident in the decision we make when someone fails to meet our expectations?

Where we draw lines between concepts affects how we understand the facts that fit into those concepts. The definition of leadership draws these lines in very specific places.