uniting people, rookie mistakes and what teachers know

 unite-have-each-other-everything

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“The pen may indeed be mightier than the sword, but the wordsmith would do well to welcome the blacksmith back into the fold, so that artisan craftsmanship the world over may fend off the ravages of industrialised homogeneity and bland monoculture.”

 

Alex Morritt

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“We are puzzle pieces, bragging about being puzzle pieces, rather than being the picture.”

 

Tom Althouse

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Whew.

 

If I were getting paid for every time I was being asked my thoughts about trump-unite-people-succeedTrump I would be significantly wealthier than I am now.

 

This one is about uniting people and the responsibility a leader has in actively uniting people <rather than passively assuming people will ‘follow the title’> … and the rookie mistakes Mr. President Elect is making.

 

Now.

 

As I said in an earlier piece … it would behoove Mr. Trump to view his new position as a business leader in which America is an organization <not a kingdom> and his new promotion demands he unites his organization in order to effectively perform as an organization. This is what I said in ‘dealing with WTF’:

 

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So … Mr. President elect Trump.

 

Maybe you should not consider this a win but rather a promotion where:

 

  • About 100 million of your 200 million employees are, at minimum, skeptical you have the temperament or the skills to have earned that promotion.

Let’s call this the “WTF employees.”

 

  • About 72 million of your 200 million employees unequivocally did not believe you were deserving of the promotion.

Let’s call these the “WTF … holy shit” employees.

 

  • About 40 million of your 200 million employees were so indifferent as to whether you got this promotion or not that they most likely had no clue who you were when it was announced.

Let’s call these the “I don’t give a fuck” employees.

 

  • About 60 million of your 200 million employees thought you should united-he-is-not-my-presidentget the promotion … but … uh oh … about 30 million of those employees didn’t think you were actually qualified or had the temperament for the job … they just didn’t like the alternatives.

Lets call these the “oh shit, what happens next?” employees. 

 

So, Mr. President elect Trump, time to grow up and lead.

 

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But … to date … he has not shown that he understands anything that I wrote.

 

To date … he has shown no signs of knowing how to lead nor to unite.

 

To date … he has only confirmed my belief he has no idea how to lead nor does he understand, or have the experience, on how to positively build an organizational culture.

 

To date … he has only He is solely a purely transactional operator.

That is not a leader.

 

Now.

 

Uniting an organization is more difficult than it may seem.

 

It is not just offering a vision <although that helps>.

 

It is not just offering expectations of specific rules of behavior <although that helps>.

 

It is not just offering words about being united <although that helps>.

 

It is not just offering insights into obstacles and some specificity with regard to why they can be overcome <although that helps>.

 

It is not just offering leadership … uhm … because leadership is not a crown you have ‘won’ and you put on your head but rather a crown bestowed upon you by the followers.

 

Uniting takes all of these things.

 

Trump is doing none of these things.

 

 

In fact.

Just the opposite.

 

I watch Mr. Trump fail to unite America and drive a wedge between us <and, yes, silence is an effective divider>.

 

While he goes out of his way to attack the cast of Saturday Night Live and a union leader and … well … any individual who personally criticizes him … and he tweets day and night … he has issued no tweets nor made any focused statements publicly to address angst of those who may not have voted for him nor accepted any responsibility that his words may have encouraged some divide people do dont two kindsnot-so-nice behavior.

He has not actively or proactively taken steps to unite.

 

Okay.

 

If you know anything about uniting people you will know uniting through shared values is step one. Step two is uniting by leveraging some shared opinions <and you can even shape some of these if you are a good leader>.

If you do both steps you have alignment and progress of the whole has at least a fighting chance.

 

By the way … uniting solely off of some shared opinion <or opinions> is hollow alignment. Mostly because … well … opinions are conjecture – not facts. In addition … people can have opinions on a myriad of things and, yet, not care enough to actually do something on the opinion issue.

 

People ACT when values are associated but often just THINK when it comes to opinions.

 

A good leader <someone not like Trump> will never try to unite people that share the same opinions because they most likely don’t have a deep enough interest to consistently participate <therefore progress is impeded>.

 

Values, on the other hand, are deeper. People attain satisfaction <which is even more important than happiness> when they do shit that matches their values.

That means shared values means ‘team participation’ and higher involvement and , maybe most importantly, a higher level of resilience if there is no short term outcome gratification.

 

I will note, before I leave this particular topic, Trump may not be able to actually do this. Why? Well. Effective organizations tend to reflect the values of its leader, in other words, all share some common values. I am not sure Trump has any values <beyond wealth & winning … neither of which are values>.empty-space

 

Ok. Moving on.

 

Uniters always seek opportunities to unite. And often when things appear most divided is when you actually find the easiest opportunity to unite. When there are a lot of frustrated people who share the same values and want to find some place in the world where they can see some success … well … you have an opportunity to align around a shared identity with a desire to make a difference.

 

Oh, we have that opportunity and they are waiting for you to bring them together Mr. President Elect.

 

I say all this, watching Trump do his “thank you tour” and talking about uniting the country, and it gives me flashbacks to the first time I tried to teach a class of High school students. He is making the same mistake every beginner teacher makes <and I will note that I, as a leader, learned more about uniting from a class of high school juniors than in any business experience I ever had>.

 

What do I mean?

 

Teaching is difficult in and of itself but connecting with your audience <the class as a whole> is what makes or breaks teaching. The natural inclination when you first start teaching is to encourage those who connect with what you are saying to encourage dialogue. Inevitably this feeds you more than it does the class as a whole. It isolates the engagers from the rest of the class just as it feeds you with positive reinforcement that you are ‘getting through.’

 

You actually eventually learn to teach to the farthest student in the room <or as close to farthest as you can>. This is not about ‘dumbing down’ the message … this is about uniting the class in learning and engagement. It is about showing that all the students really aren’t that different. Sure. Some are smarter than others <but that doesn’t mean that on any given day on any given subject that anyone in the room can ‘play’ with the smartest>.

 

The Class_0.previewTrump misses that. His main audience would gain a better understanding that on occasion they are as smart as the ‘intellectuals’ … but that the ‘so-called intellectuals’ aren’t as clueless as they think.

And the ‘so-called intellectuals’ would learn a good dose of humility in that these ‘so-called deplorables’ aren’t always idiots and can “play” on occasion in a very smart insightful way.

 

By the way … we all do this <play to those who like us and like what we say>.

It is just those who have more experience in building organizations recognize it and … well … fight the easy path <albeit we do it in some sneaky ways like ‘engaging first with the idea advocates’ and such>.

I don’t criticize Trump for having rallies with his ‘rabid few followers’ but I do criticize him for not understanding this does nothing to unite <and, in fact, only encourages divisive ‘crowd psychology thinking‘>.

 

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“This is pre-eminently the leadership quality–the ability to organize all the forces there are in an enterprise and make them serve a common purpose. Men with this ability create a group power rather than express a personal power.”

 

—-

Mary Parker Follett

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As teachers know it’s not about trying to be cool with the kids it is about building a bridge to a relationship in which effective listening <which begets desired behavior> occurs.

 

You learn to  aim for “little and often” rather than larger, more lengthy involved interactions. You assume your involvement will be unwelcome initially.

 

You know it is all about gently persuading the student that you are committed to building trust.

 

You know that some approaches you make will be rejected.

 

You know that students test you and your commitment.

 

You know that you have to give your time freely and expect nothing in return.

 

You know that the ‘consistent & persistent’ approach can lead to a positive respectful ongoing relationship.

 

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Proactively developing relationships with students.

And here’s where we really part company. Of course, it will help behaviour if kids like you. Of course, there’s something gratifying about kids, particularly awkward kids, liking you. However, this is not behaviour management, this is manipulation. It is not enough for kids to behave for you because they like you, they should behave even if they hate you. As soon as you start trying to make the kids like you as a behaviour management strategy you have moved into appeasement. You will end up lavishing attention on the worst behaved and ignoring the well behaved. You will send the message that behaving is a favour you do for teachers you like, not an expectation across the school. Teachers need to be able to make kids do things they don’t like, and accept things they don’t like.

Our current failing education system owes a lot to desperate attempts to make the kids happy at the cost of discipline and learning.

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Here is the thing about uniting.

 

Events can unite but a leader has to build unity.people-unite-progress

 

If you play fast and loose with rules and laws and behavior … well … that is the behavior that is encouraged. Do that in a classroom with a bunch of teens and see where that gets you.

 

If you play fast and loose with words and hyperbole <exaggeration> … well … that is the behavior that is encouraged. Do that in a classroom with a bunch of teens and see where that gets you.

 

He’s not dumb but he’s not intellectual and has a short attention span.

He may be a brilliant conman but con-men use word salads, don’t care if they contradict themselves and depend on people to pick out what they want to hear and tell themselves that he didn’t mean the rest.

 

But that’s the kind of shit that catches up to a leader. You cannot stay ahead of lies & smiles.

 

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What have I eaten? Lies and smiles.”

Sylvia Plath

 

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So.

 

That said.

The last rookie mistake.

 

Optics and reality.

 

Yeah. Every leader absolutely loves good optics.

 

Winning a business. Hiring employees. Quarterly profits. Sales increases.

 

But you learn very very quickly as a leader you have to assume the responsibility of the optics … no matter how far reaching the impact of the optic.

What this really means is that we never confuse optics and reality. In fact. We learn they have to be synonymous … albeit the optics are metaphoric and the reality is the stark truth. But we never confuse the two nor do we ever permit them to be misaligned. We learn that fast because receivers of information are fairly unforgiving with hyperbole, exaggeration, semi truths and selective facts.

 

Sure.

 

We all get tempted to make something look bigger than it really is. But you only do it once before you realize the cost – employee lack of trust, employee grumbling, employee vocal disagreement, employee division – is far too high in the long run in terms of organizational efficiency & effectiveness.

 

Mr. Trump continues to makes this rookie mistake … and even seems to think that pattern of behavior can continue.

i-have-an-idea-hand-raised

He is attempting to lead by <1> appealing to the small minority who adore him … ignoring the rest of the class, <2> appealing to tactics rather than strategy, i.e., proof trumps plans, and <3> simply accepting the title he ‘won’ … ,i.e., I was promoted which means you owe me respect <not that I earned it> and <4> optics versus reality <he is a master of creating an alternative universe where his ‘truths’ reside>.

 

This is the kind of crap a beginner leader or a young person who gets their first serious promotion do. And this is the kind of crap that any leader who manages a large group of employees knows is … well … crap from a leadership and uniting perspective.

 

You cannot lead and unite by appealing to the least of us.

 

You cannot lead and unite by being the least intelligent, the least dignified, the least structured and the least visionary.

 

The least does not lead us upwards.

The least divides in that it sections off those willing to thrive in an opinion world versus those who seek something better <and facts>.

 

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Written by Bruce