Leave a Legacy--Build Capability in Others

Photograph by LaRene P. Gaunt

We lost a key member of our team recently to cancer. LaRene Porter Gaunt’s name has been on the masthead of Church magazines for nearly three decades. Her writing, photography, and art have blessed and inspired people throughout the world. Additionally, her notable gift for building capability in others is an example to all Church employees.

Our department held a celebration in memory of LaRene not long after her passing. Colleagues shared stories and testimonies. There was a recurring theme throughout the stories: LaRene Gaunt loved and believed in people, let them know that, and expected them to succeed. With this singular talent, she helped others build their own careers.

Person after person shared these thoughts: “I mattered to her.” “I thought I was her personal project.” “We had a special bond.” It was evident that LaRene had a reach that extended beyond the staff of the magazines. She demonstrated three personal skills that are key to building capability in others: (1) she cared about others and their success; (2) she invited others to succeed through mentoring them and expressing confidence in them; and (3) she was always on her own path of building capability and was willing to share.

Care about Others and Their Success

One staff member shared how, as an intern, she had felt overwhelmed by the responsibility she had been given. LaRene noticed that this intern was carrying a burden and invited her to visit. They talked, cried together, and made an agreement to keep talking and growing together.

A staff member from another division was on the elevator with LaRene, when she asked him, “What’s your story?” He considered the question small talk, until she found him later to follow up. Through the sharing of his story, a relationship was built that resulted in a magazine article.

As LaRene demonstrated, caring about others and their success can express itself naturally in the context of life and work. She lived according to the scriptural admonition: “Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings” (Doctrine and Covenants 108:7).

Invite Others to Succeed

Many magazine staff members remembered that LaRene encouraged them in their careers and lives. One said specifically that as her internship was ending, she was fortunate to have LaRene not only encourage her to apply for a full-time position but also coach her through the process so she could represent herself in the best possible way. 

We invite others to succeed when we give them problems to solve (along with the resources to solve them), express confidence in specific strengths and capabilities, and coach them through difficult challenges.

Build Your Own Capability

LaRene was not to be defined by a single discipline. She was a writer, photographer, artist, wife, mother, teacher, and so many other things. She was able to encourage and build up so many others in part because she didn’t accept limitations on her own learning and development. 

As we work, it is our opportunity to “seek … earnestly the best gifts” (Doctrine and Covenants 46:8). We can ask ourselves what is needed, but more importantly, we can ask the Lord. He can help us see where we can grow and develop.

We left our celebration of LaRene’s life energized by the opportunities we have to influence others by caring more about them and their success, by inviting them to succeed, and by continually growing ourselves. We know as we do, our capability will grow as individuals and as an organization.

Tony Sparano, 1962-2018. Leadership with Results.

The Miami Dolphins won only one game during the 2007 season, going 1-15. The next year, with new head coach Tony Sparano, the Dolphins went 11-5. This marks the only time a team has gone to the playoffs the year after winning zero or one games the previous season.

The story gets better...Miami won its division, over the New England Patriots, who have won the division 14 out of the last 15 years.

How was such a turnaround possible? A whole series of leadership decisions that transformed a team from one of the worst in NFL history to a contender. If you're into sports, you can check out a more detailed story at: Football Morning in America, by Peter King

• He was inclusive in decisions: After Miami lost the first two games of the season, Sparano invited his whole staff to contribute to the solution. The key contribution came from the quarterbacks coach--two organizational levels down from Sparano.
• He trusted his people: Chad Pennington had recently been released as the New York Jets quarterback, and landed in Miami. Sparano asked him to help lead a culture change, and let him go to work doing just that. When Pennington called the entire team to task for a poor practice, Sparano stood up and backed his quarterback up. The team responded by winning the next game 38-13, over the Patriots.
• He took a personal interest in his people: One former player, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater tweeted, "Thank you for caring about us as individuals and not just athlete."

Tony Sparano died of a heart attack last week. Colleagues and players describe him as a mentor, friend, teacher, leader, and worker. Players share how he trusted them, loved them as people, and loved his family.

Not everyone or every organization will have a historic cultural turnaround by adopting positive leadership practices; however, the long-term payoff is real.

Now we can have ice cream

Yesterday we had fajitas for dinner. As we were finishing, we were having a delightful family conversation, during which my six-year old boy brought a clean plate to the table and placed it next to me. Then he left, and brought another, then another. Soon I had a stack of clean, dry plates next to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I washed them, rinsed them off, dried them, and now their done," he replied.

"Thank you--that's amazing!"

"...so now, we can have ice cream and watch a movie," he said definitively.

What could I say? That's exactly what we did. This six year-old, sixth child in the family, had led the whole group toward a goal. I could say it was his goal, but everyone else wanted to do the same activity. He had simply taken a leadership role.

Not actually what we had last night :-)

Following his example, the rest of the children pitched in, putting leftovers away, sweeping the floors, cleaning the counters--and pulling out the ice cream.

It's not always--in fact it's often not--the leader with authority who pulls everyone into action. In sports, it can be a teammate who pulls everyone together with an inspiring performance. In business, it can be someone who thinks deeply about a problem and proposes a real solution that others then rally around. It can be someone who shares helpful thoughts with others that grow into shared understanding.

Where I live, today we celebrate the pioneers who traveled west to establish cities and a people. Most of those who traveled had no formal authority. But their actions changed the course of a people, and the country.

How can you lead from where you are? Look around--who could use your help, either technically or personally? What challenges are you in a unique position to see and solve? What can you do to create the space for others to find solutions?

LDS Business College Devotional Address

I was invited to speak earlier this year to the campus community at the LDS Business College. It was a great experience. The address was focused on what we can each do to become skilled at working together with others. The student body is largely multinational, and have bright futures as leaders in their communities.

The link is just below...have a listen!

LDS Business College Devotional Address

I Just Refused an Assignment I Really Wanted

Pete was agitated, nearly shaking as he came into my office, but it wasn’t from a conversation he’d just had; it was from a decision he’d made the day before.

His boss’ boss had pulled him aside to invite him to take over a suite of products—products that Pete was deeply committed to and had played a key role in developing. 

“I told him ‘no,’” Pete said. “It’s not that I don’t—or wouldn’t—want to do it. It’s just that if I take over that product suite, I’ll be reporting directly to Steve, who has spent his entire time in that division without ever getting to know his direct reports, their views on their products, how they see those products in the big picture of the business…and redistributing budgets and visibility with no conversations with his group. I just can’t do it.”

Pete had been hired two years earlier. He was among a group of very bright, early-career professionals who had been identified as having broad capacity to develop, create, collaborate, and learn to bring our products more relevance. A restructuring had moved these new hires into several different divisions, where they had been evaluated and re-categorized based on their corporate work history rather than their personal talent and capacity—or even their personal resumes.

I began to respond by sharing my observation that Steve had been contributing to organization-wide efforts. His mind for taking many products and product families, organizing them into a coherent plan and budgeting strategy had been timely and critical for our success.

“I know this is true,” Pete replied. “However, he has a whole group of direct reports that he either cannot or will not lead as people. He doesn’t seem to care about them in any way, other than ensuring that timelines are met.”

Then came the zinger. “I came here because I bought into a vision. A vision for how we work together to build each other and build products and processes that can really help people. I don’t think it matters how well organized we are if we don’t care about each other.”

As Pete left my office, I wondered how much we were losing as an organization because Pete was spending his energy avoiding working with Steve rather than feeling empowered to bring his expertise to bear on a significant project. 

I also wondered how often organizations lose productivity despite--or because of--efforts to devise processes to make work simpler.

Most of all, I wanted to continue my own journey toward becoming a leader who could be counted on to consistently build capacity, encourage growth, and facilitate innovation and change.

There is a value to being curious, interested, and caring about others and their success. It leads to good feelings, but it also leads to spontaneous ideas, interactions, and relationships that capture opportunities unavailable to teams of people who just do their jobs. If you're in a group that needs creative solutions to problems, cultivate these attributes in group members.

Steph Curry...As Himself

Disclosure time: I really like basketball. I think I could have been in the NBA, except for three things--height, speed, and skill. What has really caught my eye over the last few years is the phenomenal success of the Golden State Warriors, particularly the impact Stephen Curry has had on the team and the league.

There have been many articles telling stories about how Stephen Curry--NBA superstar, two-time MVP, three-time NBA champion, record holder, etc.--leads. You can see some of them here:

ESPN-How Steph Curry Leads
Golden State of Mind-Kevin Durant Talks About Steph Curry's Leadership
Clutch Points-Steve Kerr Talks About Steph Curry's Leadership

I'm struck by how influential Curry is in a team full of superstars. Sportswriters call the Golden State Warriors a superteam because of the All-Stars, while extolling the real strength of the team--how it works together. This is the secret sauce of the Warriors--teamwork. These players are co-workers, colleagues.
If I were to ask you to describe someone you particularly like to work with--an ideal colleague--you certainly have some stories to tell. Chances are, you would eventually come up with a list of things like:

• They care about your success and about you personally
• They are willing to share their resources with you
• They are curious and interested
• They are willing to mentor you
• They show appreciation
• They help you expand your opportunities and perspectives
• They unify others
• They are future oriented

The list can go on. You'll see those characteristics and behaviors throughout the articles about Steph Curry and the Warriors. You'll also see that style is somewhat independent of leadership behaviors. In other words, there are clearly many types of leadership styles in play with the team. What Curry brings is a love of the work and a care for those he works with that leads to success, like:

• Helping a teammate just promoted from the G-league learn how to manage his game within the Warriors' approach (mentoring)
• Working harder in practice when Kevin Durrant was injured to increase the intensity of preparation (unifying, care about success)
• Traveling with the team and helping prepare them for games during a period of injury (unifying, caring, etc.)
• Working with outside groups to develop service and outreach activities (expanding opportunities and perspectives)

Written like this, it becomes easy to imagine how these ideas can be practiced in any setting, and perhaps just as importantly, with any personality. You can lead...as yourself.

Soft Skills Are So Hard

"Can I talk to you?" This question came to me from my colleague Jerry, whom I had worked with closely in the past. A recent restructuring had put Jerry in a new group, and from his slumped posture and discouraged tone, I could tell he was struggling.

I asked my friend how things were going, and he began to explain in very specific ways how the new assignment had become increasingly challenging for him to remain optimistic and energized. You may recognize some of the specifics:

• infrequent communication from his supervisor
• team meetings where no one was addressed by name, and only the supervisor spoke
• meetings about projects he was involved in – without him present
• evaluative feedback that was negative ("you’re pushy") or positive with a negative slant ("when you started on this assignment, I didn't think much you for your skills, but you're not as bad as I thought")

Knowing that gratitude can be cultivated, I asked him to share anything that was going well. As you can imagine, it took a few minutes to generate positive comments. However, as he described a vision for a project he was particularly invested in, he began to light up – reminding me of how he had been when we had worked together.

After he left, I thought about how different skill sets are valued in the workplace. In my friend’s division, defining business requirements, production flows, supply chain, had all been emphasized in recent months; however, that had left other valuable skills unacknowledged. People who were gifted as connectors, as creators, as relators, as positive thinkers and influencers, as true team players, still retained their skills, but without institutional acknowledgment of those skills, they had become invisible and in some ways, unavailable.

What is the value of these "soft skills"? There are some ways to measure, but one way to think of it is in production units. Imagine a 40-hour workweek. He good organizer can chunk up projects to be completed in those 40 units. Productivity can be measured per unit. However, as an individual and as a team there are opportunities to produce more than those 40 units of measurement. That's where soft skills come in.

Think of the most productive meetings you have had recently. Were they formal meetings, or were they casual conversations over lunch or in the hallway? The last time you were really motivated to contribute, learn, grow, collaborate, was that brought on by magic, or by a colleague with positive influence, or who listened to your ideas and gave feedback and encouragement?

Best-selling author Seth Godin suggests making the soft skills real by naming them, categorizing them, measuring them, and requiring them—because the real skills that lead to success go way beyond those that are administrative and organizational. Check out some of these Godin suggests in the categories of: self control, productivity, wisdom, perception, and influence. https://itsyourturnblog.com/lets-stop-calling-them-soft-skills-9cc27ec09ecb