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Intentional Leadership — D3, W4, M3 — Excellence

Stewardship: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.

Each of us — as individuals, teams, and organizations — has been given something for which we are responsible. Historically, stewardship was responsibility bestowed upon someone to take care of another’s property or wealth — perhaps the King, a Lord, or a landowner. Essentially, the steward would manage those assets with the intent of leaving it in as good of condition as we found it, if not better. Today, we often think of this with respect to the environment, resources, wealth…Sometimes, however, we are more focused on acquiring and consuming than we are on caring for the things we already have.

The irony, however, is that we often gain more when we take care of what we have.I think back to 2008. I was moving my family from one area of Washington State to another, as I had taken a new job. We didn’t find a house we wanted to buy, so we decided to rent for a while. A co-worker told me about some new houses that had been built, but not sold (it was a tough real estate market), and suggested the builder might be willing to rent. I called and inquired; he said he would consider it, and we agreed to meet at the home to walk through it and discuss the idea.

It wasn’t long after we walked into the house that he said he would rent to me. He explained that he had taken a good look at my car before coming into the house and because it was clean and well cared for, he believed I would take care of his home; had my car been a mess, we may have been looking for a decent place to live for a while longer! Apparently, I was considered a good steward!

Your team/organization has also been given resources to manage. The question is, how have they performed?

Today, task them with a self-assessment to determine if they –as individuals — and you as a team/organization are providing excellence in the small things. Then, challenge yourself and them to go the second mile, and provide an even higher level of excellence.

Lead by example, and provide your self-assessment. As you do this, here are some things to consider:

What assets are you managing?

How are you managing them?

Are you squandering them, or are you in a good position for when the owner returns and wants an account of what you have done with what you’ve been given?

What changes can you make, to move your performance up a level?

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Intentional Leadership — D2, W4, M3 — Excellence

Living not too far from Pittsburgh, it’s hard to not hear a lot about the Steelers (Note — I’m not a big sports fan, but the business is full of leadership lessons — both on the side of how to do it, as well as on the side of how not to do it; so I will, from time to time, use sports stories as examples in my blog).

I have heard a quote from Steelers Coach Chuck Noll, who said:

Champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary but because they do the ordinary things better than anyone else.

Have you found this to be true in your life?

I believe it. You don’t need to do anything extraordinary or complicated. You simply need to do whatever it is you do, extremely well, with a focus on doing it at levels higher than average…with excellence.

So, what small things so you do that lead to excellence in your personal and/or professional life?

What small things does your team/organization do that lead to excellence?

Can’t wait to hear what you come up with. Hint — use the “comments” box below!

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Intentional Leadership — D1, W4, M3 — Excellence

Please forgive me, faithful readers, for being so late with today’s post. I allowed myself to “unplug” over a long weekend, and didn’t think to take my material with me for today. I apologize! That said, let’s get started with Week Four of Excellence.

Excellence is doing small things in a big way!

If you had the chance to interview successful leaders, any number of them, I’m confident they will tell you they have developed and follow habits, systems, and processes daily, regardless of what they are working on, and excellence is no different.

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.   ~Booker T Washington

I am reminded of stories of moms and dads who take the time to write personalized notes and slip them into their children’s lunches every day. Very thoughtful! It takes time, energy, and discipline to maintain this kind of schedule five days a week; but any child who has been on the receiving end of this practice will tell you what an enormous difference it makes in their life!

I am reminded of the time I participated in a FranklinCovey workshop called Focus — all about setting priorities and making our time intentionally productive. The facilitator shared that he flew a lot, facilitating classes all around the country. He said that on one particular flight, the Pilot took the time to write a note (on the back of her business cards) to each passenger flying first class, thanking them for choosing that particular airline and trusting her and her crew to get them to their destination safely. He spoke with her about it, because he was very impressed she had taken the time to do it. She explained that she felt blessed to have her job and wanted her passengers to know this. Because during flight we are often on aut0-pilot, she had a lot of time during a flight that she could choose how to spend, and she chose to spend her time connecting with others.

I am reminded of my mother. She was a server in coffee shops for decades. On occasion, she would leave one restaurant and take a job in another. Consistently, her customers followed her from one place to another. Turns out their loyalty was to her, not the restaurant! I was too young at the time to ask any of these people why they followed her, but clearly they valued something she offered…attitude, service…I can only guess, but clearly she was doing something with excellence!

Each of these people put their “signature” on what they did, focusing on excellence. Today, think of ways you can put your personal signature on what you do, by modeling excellence.

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