The Need for Margin in the Leader's Life-Avoiding Overload

The hurrier I go the behinder I get.

(the White Rabbit, in Alice And Wonderland)

Martha, Martha…you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.

(Jesus, in Luke 10:41-42)

The Problem with Progress

A few years ago I decided to move away from the cutting edge to what a friend described as the “trailing edge” of technology.  I was over-committed and felt over-communicated, especially by email (which is really “e-memo”).  That’s why I kept resisting the current “social nitwitting” of blogs and tweets and face-booking.  I was reminded of the old saying, “You can’t stop progress.” I don’t necessarily want to stop progress, but there are times when I would like things to slow down just a little!

A worldwide epidemic is growing exponentially across the globe and I’m not talking about a flu virus.  Richard A. Swenson, a medical doctor, named the epidemic “overload syndrome.”^[1] The growth of progress over the last century has brought many wonderful and helpful inventions into our lives while also causing a parallel increase in stress levels that can lead to psychological, physiological and behavioral disorders. One place this is evident is in the way people drive in traffic! Tail-gating, road rage, and wolf-packing at 20-30 miles above the posted speed limit are examples. 

Dr. Swenson identified the source of this stress as our living in an age that has lost control of progress and is now controlled by progress.  To maintain or regain a healthy balance in life, Swenson suggests we should not try to fight progress, but to regain control of it to make it work again for us.

I decided it would be healthier and wiser to enter the 21^st century of communication on my terms with what I hope is a balanced approach. So now I blog, fb and tweet (although I call it “twitting”). I guess I have become a fledgling social nitwit. J

Do You Suffer From Overload Syndrome?

Overload syndrome occurs “whenever the requirements upon us exceed that which we are able to bear,”^[2] breaking the proverbial camel’s back. Consider which of these describe your overload:

activity overload,

change overload,

choice overload,

commitment overload,

debt overload,

decision overload,

education overload,

expectation overload,

fatigue overload,

hurry overload,

information overload,

media overload,

communication overload,

news overload,

people overload,

possession overload,

technology overload,

traffic overload,

work overload,

service or ministry overload.

Overload and Margin

None of these is necessarily bad, taken alone or in moderation! But when it gets to the point that you do not have the power (time and energy) to deal with all that is being heaped on you, that becomes overload. Margin, the prescription for overload, is when your power is greater than your load.  Swenson puts this in the form of a simple mathematical equation: 

Power – Load = Margin. 

You always want the margin side to be in the positive and not in the negative. If your margin is in the negative, you are suffering from overload. Another way to look at would be:

Power > Load = Margin.  

Load > Power = Overload.

Relationships are Everything

Swenson points out that having margin is not a necessity for good leadership. But availability is. Effective leaders make themselves available for the needs of others. To be available, you must have margin. The most effective leaders are able to find and maintain margin in every area of life.

Time management is essential to building margin, but the management of time must be based on one’s priority relationships.  Giving appropriate time to priority relationships then becomes the key to finding margin.

On the surface, one might have thought Dr. Rolando Gutierrez was overloaded just by the many roles he filled—professor at the Politecnical Institute of Mexico, pastor of Horeb Baptist Church, president of the National Baptist Convention of Mexico, president of the Latin American Theological Fraternity, editor of a theological journal, author, husband, father, grandfather and more.  Even with all these roles and activities, however, Don Rolando always seemed to have time to visit and share one on one with people. Whenever he was in conversation with you, he seemed to give you all his attention, as if at that moment you were more important than anyone or anything else in the world. He never seemed overly hurried or rushed, and he was also always on time!

Don Rolando also knew he could not fill every request for his time. He often delegated a responsibility to a representative or allowed a member of his team to attend a function to which he had been invited.

Work Hard, Play Hard

The most effective leaders are able to find balance and margin in the areas of emotional energy, physical energy and time. They know the importance of taking vacations and disconnecting completely from work. They also know it is important to take regular time to exercise and recreate. Effective leaders play almost as hard as they work.

Hint to the Leader

·         To effectively serve your followers, you must build a degree of margin in your life that will allow time for teaching them to be less dependent on you as they mature to become leaders of still others.  As you serve your followers, this in turn will help you build a relationship of trust, credibility and mutual accountability. 

·         Leave the second in command in command sometime.

·         Take regular time off to relax, rejuvenate, recreate.

·         Make opportunities to do fun things with your team.

Hint to the Follower

·         There is more to life than work. Don’t spend so much time trying to get ahead that you leave behind the relationships that are most important to you.

·         Begin now establishing boundaries and maintaining priorities in your life. (More about this in next week’s article!)

© Dr. Larry N. Gay

 February 2010

 http://mylead360.blogspot.com/ 

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[1] Richard A. Swenson, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1992).

[2] Swenson, 74.

The Need to Establish Priorities

Be careful how you act; these are difficult days.
Don't be fools; be wise: make the most of every opportunity you have for doing good.

(Ephesians 5:15)

There is a right time for everything.

(Ecclesiastes  3:1)

My, How Time Flies!

Time flies whether you are having fun or not, so you might as well have fun while it is passing!  Time cannot be spent, saved, stored, invested or recovered like money. Time can only be redeemed. Life is too short to waste it on anything that is not a priority. At the end of your life, you don’t want to find yourself saying all the things you wish you had done “instead of…”

Evaluate Your Priorities

            Covey suggested a matrix of four quadrants to help analyze, categorize and prioritize activities in your life:[1]

The object is to spend as much time as possible in quadrant 2 activities and as little time as possible in level 4.  That will leave some margin for dealing with crises and essential urgent tasks as they arise. It will also help you to keep some of those important activities from becoming urgent.

Quadrant 3 often represents other people’s urgencies that are not necessarily your priorities. This is where you have to establish good boundaries and stick to your own priorities.

Act on Your Priorities

            I have never been a very good tennis player, but for several months I took off every Wednesday afternoon to play with a colleague who was a dedicated tennis player. Every week I submitted myself to a clobbering—I might win one or two games out of three sets. Some of the folks in our office thought I was wasting time in a quadrant 4 activity, but in reality I was in my quadrant 2. This was a good way to build a relationship with a colleague who was not totally on board with some of the leadership decisions I had made and this was the only time we could get together regularly. We had some non-threatening conversations on the way to the courts, between games and after I caught my breath at the end of the beating every week. We got to know more about each other’s dreams and aspirations and how these were not so mutually exclusive as we might have thought. At the same time I also got some good exercise and, perhaps, improved my game a little.

Measure the Effectiveness of Your Priorities

Effective leaders understand that activity is not necessarily the best measurement of accomplishment.  John Maxwell suggests two guidelines for measuring activity and determining priorities. The first is based on the Pareto Principle:[2] “If you focus your attention on the activities that rank in the top 20 percent in terms of importance, you will have an 80 percent return on your effort.”^[3]

The second guideline is what Maxwell calls the three Rs: requirement, return and reward.  He asks three questions to help leaders order their lives and eliminate activities of lesser priority for greater effectiveness:

           1.          What is required?  “Anything required that’s not necessary for you to do personally should be delegated or eliminated.”

           2.          What gives the greatest return?  Leaders should spend most of their time working in the areas of their greatest strength.  To accomplish this, “if something can be done 80 percent as well by someone else in your organization, delegate it.”

           3.          What brings the greatest reward?  Maxwell indicates that leaders should concentrate on the activities about which they are most passionate to help them stay energized.^[4] 

Just Say No

In a practical sense, the most useful word in the leader’s vocabulary might be the word “no.”  Only by saying no to some activities that are lower priorities in your relationships can you give the priority time to those relationships that are of higher priority. Whenever you say “yes” to one thing, you are automatically saying “no” to a myriad of other ways you could be occupying the time. If you are one of those people who has trouble saying no, try this: put your tongue on your hard palette and form an oval with your lips while making a nasal sound, and then rapidly drop your tongue. Try it with me… nnnnnnno!  Practice several times. See, you can do it! Try doing it with a smile. That’s more challenging, isn’t it? J

Hint to the Leader    

·         Ask for help identifying things you could decide NOT to do so that you can dedicate yourself more to the things that are required, that give the greatest return, and that bring the greatest reward.

·         Try to find at least one thing to which you can say “no.”

·         Find something in your calendar NOT to do. Pass it off to someone else, postpone it, or simply cancel it. If someone else could do it, then let them!

·         Look for ways to simplify your life.

·         LISTEN to the people you lead to be sure you are not overloading them beyond their power.

Hint to the Follower   

·         Learn to say “no” to lower priorities so you can say “yes” to the higher priorities in your life.

·         As you look for ways to keep the margin in your own life, watch also for things you could do to free up your leader so the leader can do things that only he or she must or should be doing.

·         Take initiative in offering to help. 

·         If you feel helpless to say “no” to your boss and your plate is truly full, try explaining that if you take on one more project, everything else you are doing will suffer. List your current priorities and ask what place the new project should occupy in that list. If you can think of someone else who might be qualified to take on the new task, say so.

© Dr. Larry N. Gay

 February 2010

 http://mylead360.blogspot.com/ 

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[1] Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1989 and 2004.

[2] For more on the Pareto Principle, see  www.pinnicle.com/Articles/Pareto_Principle/pareto_principle.html

[3]John C. Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), 176-177.

[4] Maxwell, 177-178.

The Need to Reproduce Leaders - Preparing Your Successor

Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him.

So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

Deuteronomy 34:9

If you really want to see growth in your team or organization’s long-term effectiveness, you must prepare for succession.  Preparing others to take on more leadership responsibilities will allow you to continue growing and moving to new edges of development. 

Leadership reproduction is closely associated with empowerment.  As you give of yourself to serve the people you lead, you can multiply yourself exponentially through the leaders that will emerge. William D. Hitt observed: “Effective leader-managers have a developmental orientation.  They take a personal interest in the development of each of their people. They accept and thrive on the challenge of helping to convert potentiality into actuality.”^[1] So why wouldn’t any leader want to create an environment of leadership development in their organization?

Time and Perfectionism

Some leaders do not empower and reproduce themselves effectively due to their self-imposed pressures of time and perfectionism. It takes time to mentor others and it can be frustrating sometimes when they don’t do things exactly the way you would. Of course, that can also mean they might find new and more effective ways of doing things than you would have thought of by yourself. The time invested can result in increased productivity over the long haul. (More about this in a future article on margin and overload.)

My grandfather was a carpenter—a highly skilled craftsman. He was so good, he never needed help from anyone. Once I saw him spend hours building a brace to hold a corner piece in place so he would not need an assistant to climb up on a ladder with him to hold the board while he hammered it in place. He built his house by himself, cutting every piece of lumber, nailing every nail and laying every brick. When he was 80 years old, my dad and I noticed he had set up scaffolding around his house.  When we asked what was up, he said he planned to put on a new roof.

Dad and I knew he would not let us help nail the roofing on, but we asked him to let us know when he was ready and we would come clear off the old roofing and carry the shingles up for him. He thought a few seconds, then said, “I’m afraid you boys might fall off and hurt yourselves,” even though my dad had worked for years on scaffolding as a construction painter.

Granddaddy was very good at his work, but he never passed his skills on to anyone else and that was a crying shame. (By the way, he finally decided to hire a professional roofer.)

Insecurity and Fear

Some leaders do not empower others because of their own insecurity or fear of being displaced by a developing leader. But reproduction does not necessarily mean replacement. Leaders who share their leadership give power to others and can see explosive growth as they train others to also be leaders. They do not see emerging leaders as a threat, but as an extension and multiplication of their own work.

Freely You Have Been Mentored, Freely Mentor

Joshua, who led the Israelite nation as they occupied Canaan, had been mentored by Moses who recognized the gift of leadership in him. Having spent time with Moses on the mountain and in the tent of meeting, he was prepared to carry on the legacy of leadership that was passed to him. At the end of his life, Joshua gave a stirring speech calling for others to follow his example, “Choose today whom you will follow… As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” ^[2]He had led an exemplary life of leadership.

Unlike Moses, however, who had taken him as an assistant, Joshua did not prepare anyone to be his second in command or to take leadership after he died. This was perhaps the most serious mistake Joshua made in his leadership.  Joshua could have begun training someone from the younger generation even during the forty years spent wandering in the desert. Even while he was acting as assistant to Moses, he could have been training someone else as he was also being trained.

Because of Joshua’s failure to prepare for succession, the next generation grew up without knowing their history, where they had come from or who was responsible for leading them so far. Since there was no clearly designated leader to follow Joshua, the people fell to following their own desires and definitions of right and wrong.

Hint to the Leader

            You might not have the privilege of choosing your immediate successor, but you can choose to pour your life into others coming along behind you. Even if one of them is not chosen for a position of leadership, you can multiply yourself and your effectiveness through them. Choose people who choose you—people who want to learn from you and are willing to spend time with you. Take them along with you to learn along the way.

Hint to the Follower

            Look for a model that you want to follow then let him or her know that you want to learn from him or her. Be sure they know you are not trying to usurp them or replace them, but that you genuinely respect them and want to learn from them. Whether you are chosen to fill a place of leadership or not, you will gain valuable insights that will help you to be more effective and productive.  Start looking now for someone you can also mentor along the way. 

© Dr. Larry N. Gay

 February 2010

 http://mylead360.blogspot.com/ 

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[1] William D. Hitt, The Leader-Manager: Guidelines for Action, (Columbus, Ohio: Battelle Memorial Institute, 1988), 178.

[2] Joshua 24:15

[3] Judges 2:10

[4] Judges 21:25

The Need to Keep Learning

I enjoy learning, but I dislike being taught.

(Winston Churchill)

Only fools refuse to be taught.

(Proverbs 1:7)

     Ancient “wisdom” declares, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks!” Well, I contest that! I plan to be a life-long learner to the day I die. If you have known me long or been in any seminars I’ve led, you have probably heard me tell the following story.

     Soon after we married, Susan and I were at her parents’ home for dinner along with one of her brothers and his wife. When my brother-in-law arrived, my father-in-law asked him, “So, what did you learn today?”

     “Nothing,” he responded. “I’m the teacher. It’s my job to teach new things to my students, so I didn’t learn anything new today.”

      “Oh, you’d better watch out,” my father-in-law warned. “The day you stop learning will be the day you died. You ought to learn something new every day.”

     I knew what was coming next. Sure enough, he turned to me and asked me, “What about you, young fellow? What did you learn today?”

     I was already working on my answer, but I could not think of a single new thing I had learned the entire day. Finally (out of desperation), I responded, “Well, one thing I learned was that the day I stop learning will be the day I died!”

     “Good for you,” He said. “There might be a little hope for you yet.”

Too Old to Learn New Tricks?

     On July 31, 2007, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Arthur Harris graduated from Kennesaw State University at age 81.  

“For the past three years, not unlike his classmates, Harris took two or three classes a semester and stayed up late to write papers on his computer. He even went to Italy this summer in a study abroad program.”

     Professor David Parker added this post script in his blog:

“Arthur Harris was an English major. Now, according to the story, Harris is considering going back to school to get a second degree in psychology. I guess he heard those rumors about how tough it is for English majors to get jobs.”

     Mr. Harris was not even the oldest person on record to graduate from college. That honor goes to Nola Ochs, who graduated from Fort Hays State University in May 2007 with a 3.7 GPA at age 95!

     Mrs. Ochs had taken her first class in 1930.  When she returned to study decades later, she started out taking online classes for a while, then decided to move into student housing on campus. She and her 21 year old granddaughter graduated from the same university on the same day. Still anxious to learn, Nola Ochs started pursuing her master’s degree in liberal studies in August 2007.

Is it Fear or Is it Pride?

     The truth is, we are never too old to learn new things, new ways of doing things, new tricks. We might, however, be too proud to learn from others or to take a suggestion on how things could be better. Several years ago, as we were talking about the need to share leadership and learn from one another, a young pastor who had recently graduated from seminary proudly affirmed, “No one can teach me anything. I am the pastor!” He was probably right. I don’t think anyone could have taught him anything. And his leadership was probably dead, even if he was not physically dead.

Hint to the Leader

• Never stop learning!
• Don’t be too proud to learn from the people you lead.
• Learn from old-timers,
        youngsters,
        frontliners,
        teammates,
        (and don’t forget this one) learn from the competition.
• Don’t be afraid to try something new. If it fails, learn from the failures. Learn from your mistakes and learn from the mistakes of others.
• Encourage the people you lead to find better ways to do things.
• Build a learning organization.

Hint to the Follower

• Never stop learning!
• CHANGE IS INEVITABLE so learn to adapt.
• Don’t become satisfied with the status quo.
• Never say:
  “I can’t”
  “I’m too old”
  “I will never”
  Or the seven infamously fatal words:
             “We never did it that way before”
• Find new ways to do old things.
• Don’t be afraid of failure.

© Dr. Larry N. Gay

February 2007

http://www.mylead360.blogspot.com/

[NOTE: Thanks, Hal B, for prompting me to keep searching for ways to improve this blog. I hope the title of the article now shows up in the subject line! I learned something new as a result of the search!]