Leadership and Vision

It’s been an interesting week. Taylor Swift fans used YouTube and an online petition to demand Abercrombie & Fitch remove a t-shirt that said “# more boyfriends than t.s.” BuzzFeed reports that the shirt in question is no longer available. The retailer used Twitter to say they thought Swift was “‘awesome.’” Savvy teens knew how to get attention to their cause.

Locally, social media and traditional media were quite busy reporting on turmoil between the superintendent of schools, the school board and the city council resulting in the superintendent resigning. It was interesting to see my peers, digital immigrants, fully embrace Facebook as they posted meeting times and locations, videos, and news stories relevant to the ongoing drama. Texting was also popular as people at a called city council meeting texted friends the outcome of the incredibly short meeting. A called school board meeting was well attended as Facebook, Twitter and texting were used to alert concerned citizens. City school board meetings are available on YouTube—who would have thought it possible!

The school board disagreement with the superintendent concerned leadership (at least publicly). The superintendent’s vision for the school system did not mesh with that of the school board. In my last blog, I discussed various styles of leadership, organizational climates, and internal communication. Continuing that discussion of leadership, I would like to focus on two more styles of leadership in addition to vision and mission statements.

J. Nye’s article “Good leaders don’t always need a vision” discusses two styles of leadership:  transformational and transactional. Transformational leadership is goal-based or vision-based. Goals and/or visions are shared with others to encourage all to work for the common goal. Nearing July 4^th, it is appropriate to mention George Washington, first president of the United States. Washington was a transformational leader; he led the colonies from being separate entities to one nation.  Imagine the difficulties in getting thirteen separate organizations to buy into a leader’s vision, to follow that vision through several disastrous failures, a war with the governing nation, and the formation of a new government. Nye ranks Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan as transformational leaders. G. A. Aarons, “Transformational and Transactional Leadership,” says transformational leaders inspire and encourage. Followers share the same core values as the leader and find intrinsic motivation for following. The leader’s vision is their vision, and followers often work beyond their own expectations to succeed.

Good teachers and successful coaches regularly use this style of leadership. Teachers who believe in their students, who release their preconceived notions of students’ abilities, see their students exceed goals and find success because they, the students, believe they can do it just as their teachers envisioned. Coaches also know this. Bear Bryant is credited with these statements:  “You must learn how to hold a team together. You must lift some men up, calm others down, until finally they've got one heartbeat. Then you've got yourself a team.” This sounds a lot like transformational leadership, building a team, the one heartbeat. Coaches have goals for their teams and a vision where they want to go.

Aarons defines transactional leaders as practical leaders as this style of leadership gives emphasis to meeting explicit objectives which may result in recognition and rewards. Under this type of leadership, followers may not be allowed to innovate or even find the need to be innovative. Transactional leadership appears to be more task oriented. Nye asserts that James Madison, Dwight Eisenhower and George H. W. Bush were transactional leaders. As Nye’s title says, “Good leaders don’t always need a vision.” Good leaders must also be creators and managers.

Again we see that leaders must be balanced; having a vision for where we want to go is essential, but it is also essential to successfully complete the objectives necessary to reach the vision. As a coach my vision may be to develop a successful cheerleading program that promotes citizenship, physical fitness, and good sportsmanship; however, my teams and parents must be prepared and must meet several objectives before that achievement can happen and continue to happen. I must be able to manage my team’s abilities and talents; I must make reasonable goals and appropriate objectives to reach those goals; they must share my vision and believe they can be successful.

A leader’s vision can be defined in a vision statement—not to be confused with a mission statement. A mission statement usually details what a company or organization does, how they do it, and for whom they do it. My organization’s mission statement: Our mission is to provide comprehensive safety training and certification programs for the educational development of spirit coaches and advisors through an international council of unified industry leaders. What we do—provide safety training and certification programs; how we do it—international council of industry leaders; for whom we do it—spirit coaches and advisors.

What we don’t have is a formal vision statement. According to diffen.com a vision statement tells where a company or organization wants to be at some point in the future, challenging the group to work to their potential and beyond. A vision statement should be rich in describing the aspirations for the future. For new organizations the vision statement is developed first to guide the development of a mission statement and the business plan. For groups that are established and have a mission statement, that mission statement most likely guide the formation of a vision statement and the business plans for the future. Mission statements may change; vision statements do not change.

All leaders have a dream, a vision, for where they want to be, where their group or company will be in the future. Successful leaders are able to articulate their vision to those they work with honestly and clearly. All who come on board—employees, volunteers, and stakeholders—should know the vision and know they are involved in helping to make that vision come to life.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,do more and become more, you are a leader.
John Quincy Adams

Leadership Skills

Leadership requires many skill sets. To be a good leader, we attempt to master those skill sets to improve our success in a leadership role. The desire to develop a successful style of leadership should be inherent in the position. In 1939 Kurt Lewin identified three leadership styles:  authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. In my work with coaches, I discuss these styles of leadership and have added one more style—abusive. Generally, the authoritarian leader has the attitude of “My way or the highway.” This leader makes all the decisions, does not trust others, and is inflexible. The democratic leader makes decisions with input from the group, but the leader has the deciding voice. Where the authoritarian leader tells information only, the democratic leader tells, listens, and asks. This leader is more group-centered. The laissez-faire leader is a delegative leader; this leader is not a motivator, has no objectives, and does not really care about outcomes. I have added the abusive leadership style to the list as too many coaches, whether cheerleading, baseball, or soccer, exhibit this style. This leader yells, screams, and curses the group; this person is demeaning, threatening and abuses his or her authority.  The motivating factor here is fear.

When I discuss leadership style with coaches, they often nod in agreement with the descriptions and can mentally visualize someone from each group. I’m sure my readers can picture a coach or boss who fits each category. The successful leader learns how to use a combination of styles. Imagine an emergency situation needing an instant response. You don’t have time to allow the group to discuss which options are best for this particular emergency. You must be the authoritarian leader; the democratic style will not work for this situation. Leaders find a balance that allows them to lead as the situation directs.

In my last blog, I discussed Dr. John A. Kline’s pamphlet on listening. Dr. Kline authored an article titled Communication and Leadership in which he talks about the working climate in a group. Savvy leaders foster good working climates. Kline labels his organizational climates as dehumanized climate, overhumanized climate, and situational climate. These climates mesh well with leadership styles. The dehumanized climate assumes subordinates cannot perform without directives—much like the authoritarian leadership style—and must be told exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. As you have probably guessed, the overhumanized climate is the opposite of dehumanized. In a sense, this is similar to the laissez-faire leadership style. Motivation (if any) comes from the individual and concerns for the individual are more important that meeting objectives or production. The situational climate is a balance of the dehumanized and overhumanized. The name describes the term—the climate is flexible so that it changes to fit the situation. Smart leaders learn how to lead for the situation at hand.

Our leadership style also guides our verbal communications to the group and individuals. The use of “you” or “you people” is like pointing a finger—blaming or criticizing. The use of “we” is inclusive—it includes the speaker and the group. “We” indicates teamwork; it shows that all are important to the group or organization.

Our leadership style demonstrates how we feel about our organizations, our people; it is a form of communication. Another form of communication that can help build healthy and productive organizational climates is internal communication. This includes the variety of ways we communicate within our organization. This may be memos, guidelines, newsletters—those forms of communication that get information to those whom it relates. The Community Tool Box has an excellent website devoted to sharing information to help build successful and productive organizations.  They assert several good reasons for using internal communication:  to improve the efficiency of the group, to keep everyone updated on recent events in the group, to be able to react quickly to emergencies or major changes, to provide a means for everyone to share ideas, to promote an open climate and collegiality in the group, to empower those in the group, to demonstrate fairness and respect for all, to promote transparency as it relates to problems or concerns, to ensure accurate information is being shared by all. Organizations who communicate successfully through internal communication can be more productive and find their employees feel as if they are part of the team.

Newsletters are an excellent means of internal communication. Weekly or monthly newsletters can meet a variety of needs—important employee information, organization updates, calendar of events, highlighting teams and individuals for success, even birthdays and new babies can be part of the recognition. These can be printed or emailed. Adding audio, video and hot links adds to the entertainment and informational value of newsletters. I know owners of large cheerleading and gymnastic gyms that publish monthly newsletters. These are important to their members as they include a monthly calendar with competitions and team practice dates. The newsletters also give parents information about traveling arrangements, fee updates, charity events, etc. The cheerleaders, gymnasts, parents, and coaches are part of the organization as a whole as well as smaller groups within the organization.

Some organizations find newsletters impractical or not as useful, so they may turn to emails for the majority of their internal communications. Emails are immediate and can be as short or as long as needed. They can also be saved and filed electronically. Distribution lists make this process easy if only one group needs to be contacted. In a study by Parsons and Urbanski those surveyed in a media organization said email was the best method of communication within their group.

A company in Korea, LG CNS Co., has developed their own type of Twitter for their 7,000 employees to communicate internally. Their employees use the smart phone application for reminders about seminars, find help with test products, and a myriad of other professional uses. As their tweets are accompanied by the employee’s name and picture, chances are slim the app is misused or abused.

Being a leader can be daunting. Leaders are required to be proficient in an amazing number of skills—some believe communication is the most important of these. Developing a balanced style of leadership, promoting a climate of trust and openness, and meeting the communication needs of those above and below on the organizational chart will help ensure the success of any organization or business.

Social Media Monitoring and Listening

This picture shows my command center--my work station. I enjoy having two monitors, and I can't imagine going back to just one. The two monitors allow me to work on one screen while the other displays information--such as recent tweets or Facebook posts to my work-related pages. In the world of social media and instant communications, it is very important to know what is being posted on our websites, and what others are saying about us. Our website is our online persona; if we don't protect that persona, we will lose our reputation and our customers or clients. In the spirit industry we have many small business owners whose gyms are their livelihood. Negative comments made on Facebook and Twitter can damage their business. How we handle those comments will have a major impact on our business in the future. "Corporate Facebook pages: when fans attack" discusses Nestlé's online reaction to fans who questioned their apparent lack of concern over their impact on the environment. After Greenpeace posted a video on Nestlé’s Facebook page which attacked their harming the rainforest while harvesting palm oil, Nestlé’s approach was to remove the video. Greenpeace launched a campaign to oppose Nestlé using a social media platform and email. Nestlé chose censorship to respond to much of the Facebook postings. When responding, their Facebook manager used sarcastic and inappropriate comments to respond to posters. Of course, this made matters worse. The dispute was picked up by news media—compounding Nestlé’s negative publicity.

Managing our online presence also means being prepared for the worst. We know that social media is an open platform—anyone can friend us or follow us and post freely. Small flames that are handled inappropriately can turn into wildfires. Professional and non-threatening responses are required. Having someone in place to monitor business Facebook pages and Twitter posts is a necessity. This may be the gym owner in a small business or a team of specialists in the corporate world. Tracking how your business is mentioned online is another method to spot potential problems. An easy way to do this is to use Google Alerts. I use Google Alerts to fetch articles about cheer safety, cheer coaches, and safety training. This is an easy way to find articles that mention your business without actually having to search for them yourself. This is also a great way to keep an eye on industry trends.

If a social media crisis appears to be in the making, act quickly and responsibly to handle the rude or abusive postings. It is a good idea to have a variety of responses planned beforehand for a variety of situations. Facebook is set up to encourage two-way conversations. Join the conversation to respond to the dissatisfied or abusive posters—again, use mature, appropriate language. Always keep in mind you represent the business. Apologies show the business is taking responsibility—even if the company is not directly culpable. Use Facebook to explain how the situation in question will be fixed and what steps are in place to prevent this happening again. A last step would be to move on. Send those who complain to another site and try to return to normal conversations on the Facebook page. None of us want to spend weeks rehashing mistakes. If Nestlé had followed these steps immediately upon noticing the negative posts, they would have greatly reduced their negative publicity.

Possibly, at the heart of Nestlé’s social media crisis was their inability or refusal to listen to their public. Whether we agree with our critics or not, listening to them is important. In fact, listening should be at the top of our communication check list. According to John A. Kline’s book, Listening Effectively, we spend 45% of our communication activity listening. Think about this—almost half of our communication time is spent listening. We take public speaking courses and composition courses but no formal time to learn how to be better listeners. Many people have the mistaken notion that hearing is the same as listening—wrong! Hearing is just receiving the sound; listening is an active and ongoing mental process. I must confess I have not always been a good listener and still have to pull my attention back to conversations, sermons or lectures. I know the importance of listening as a coach. If my cheerleaders did not listen to instruction properly, the stunt they build may fail and result in injuries. In some jobs good listening skills can be the difference in life or death—the military, air traffic controllers, law enforcement.

Twenty-seven months ago my husband passed away. Slogging my way through grief taught me several valuable life lessons. Early in grief I discovered I had no one to listen to me; I had lost my number 1 cheerleader. I had no one to tell my hurts, my small joys, my problems. After forming a grief group with other widows, we learned we all shared this same sense of loss—we had no one to really listen to us. As we journeyed through a grief study, we practiced “holy listening.” We worked in groups of two—one person speaking and the other listening. The listener could not interrupt or comment. The listener was to actively listen; this included suitable body language and eye contact. This taught me that too many times when I thought I was listening, I was not. In my mind I was composing responses or maybe even drifting away. My grief group now hosts lunches for widows in our church. I find myself using holy listening quite a bit as these women also have lost their partners, their No. 1 cheerleaders, and have no one to listen to them.

We all need someone to listen to us; we all need to develop better listening skills. While important in interpersonal communication, this is so important on the job. If we truly listen to our publics, we may be able to solve problems before they grow out of control; we may be able to regain trust that was lost. I often receive phone calls from frustrated coaches and parents. I now listen actively to their side of the story—without interrupting or interjecting comments. They often apologize for taking so much of my time, but they also tell me they just needed someone to listen—someone who understood.

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Word of Mouth Marketing

Word of mouth marketing has been used for centuries. We ask our friends and neighbors what brand they use or what store is the best. Several companies, from their beginnings, relied on word of mouth marketing to generate interest in their products: Avon, Tupperware, and Shaklee. My neighborhood is composed of many military families. Newcomers often ask for advice or request help finding the services they need. In some instances, those of us who have been asked will not only give the name or store or doctor, we will tell why that is our suggestion. We tell a story or give an example. This narrative helps to emphasize why we recommend this store or that doctor. Our experiences are important as they shape our likes and dislikes and recommendations. I was a cheerleader coach for over 20 years. I tried many products, brands, camps, etc. Coaches often asked where I purchased my uniforms, what shoes we liked, or what camp company I used. None of these were a secret, so I offered my opinion when asked. When I teach safety classes, I find that I tell stories to show how a particular risk management procedure works or why it is needed. My narratives serve dual purposes: they answer questions, and they show that cheer coaches have similar challenges. It is always reassuring to know that our problems are not unique; other coaches experience these same situations or setbacks and forge ahead.

These are all examples of what Kozinets, et al. call the organic interconsumer influence model. We have a desire to help, warn, or support others—one consumer to another. These are individual, face to face examples. However, these are limited ways to get a message relayed; I am reaching only one person at a time. With the advent of social media, word of mouth becomes a bit more impersonal as I message, text, tweet, or post information to Facebook, but it has allowed me to reach more people through Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. My company page has followers as well as my Twitter site. I can even link the two, so when I post to the company page on Facebook, it will also post on Twitter. Now I can easily reach more people with the information they are looking for. When I review those people and companies I follow on Twitter, I see a great deal of word of mouth information flowing. A sports’ injury specialist is asked about return to play policies, and he directs the questioner to his website for answers. An event producer tweets updates at his competition. A social media coach sends followers to a discussion about preparation for a crisis. These are quick and timely methods for word of mouth marketing and information.

Blogging is another piece of the social media puzzle that allows me to reach more people. We don’t have to attend a conference or workshop to have access to the thoughts of those we deem knowledgeable, those often called opinion leaders. Now we can subscribe to blogs of those we believe have information we can use. I read a variety of blogs—from household tips to crisis management information. These leaders in their fields utilize their blogs to inform and possibly persuade their readers. Blogs allow us to advise, introduce the newest whatzit, or to get on our soapbox to rant. Blogs also allow our readers to comment. Bloggers can learn as much from their readers as their readers do from them. Some comments turn into huge discussions between readers and bloggers, another method of sharing information. According to an article by Gadzoog, blogs are our persona online. Those who cannot meet us in person get their impressions of us through our blogs. In order to keep reader loyalty, we should maintain our blogs appropriately.

A website that I find useful to connect to opinion leaders is Linkedin^©. The website is promoted as a professional network with millions of members in over 200 countries. It is somewhat like Facebook but with a professional vibe. You can complete a company page and a personal page, join groups with similar interests, and share ideas with other professionals. This is an interesting way to expand your network and engage in word of mouth marketing and learn about trends in your specific industry. If I had been asked by Linkedin^© to promote their site on this blog in exchange for free advertising or an upgraded membership (which I have not), this would be an example of the Linear Marketer Influence Model as discussed by Kozinets, et al. Marketing companies often look for respected and influential opinion leaders who would recommend products or services for some type of compensation. The opinion leaders behave more like friends recommending products to other friends instead of sales people pushing stock.

Influential opinion leaders have often been used to promote products and services. Coach Nick Saban appears in Ford truck commercials when he coached at LSU and at Alabama. Mark Richt, football coach at the University of Georgia, also makes Ford truck commercials. Marketers are looking for influential opinion leaders, and, in the South, winning football coaches fit that description.

We all are opinion leaders for someone. It may be our family, our circle of friends or our coworkers. This is flattering, but it also comes with some responsibility. We need to be honest and sure of our recommendations. If my television satellite company offers me rebates for clients I recommend, I should be frank about that. This is true for our use of social media—our blogs, our tweets, our posts. We represent ourselves and our professions as we engage with others.