TEN THOUSAND HORSES by John Stahl-Wert / Ken Jennings
How Leaders Harness Raw Potential For Extraordinary Results
Preface No issue recurs with greater pain and frequency than that of worker underperformance. Every leader knows that a full engaged employee can made an extraordinary impact on the success of the enterprise. Engaged workers show up with a commitment attitude; they bring their whole selves—all their experience, talent, imagination, brains and heart—with them to work.
The pain lies in the fact that engaged employees are the exception. The majority of workers in every business are disengaged or worse.
If you lead or manage people, you suffer from this pain. A few of your followers give it their all. Most of your workers, by contrast, are disengaged. They do the necessary minimum. They show up on time, do just what is expected, and leave on time. Far from bring their whole selves to work, they bring what they must, and no more.
Research by the Gallup Organization, for example, shows that only 29 percent of workers are engaged at work (that is, they display passion for and feel connected to your company and share their ideas with you for moving the company forward). By contrast, 71 percent of workers are disengaged (they essentially sleepwalk through the day, meeting only your baseline expectations, or in the worst cases they’re actively working to undermine your company’s performance). Do the math: 29 percent are engaged, but you pay them all!
On the other hand, the research shows that work groups that display high levels of employee engagement produce a …
44 percent higher-than-average employee retention rate
56 percent higher-than-average level of customer loyalty
50 percent higher-than-average safety record
50 percent higher-than-average productivity
33 percent higher-than-average profitability
The Climb of Trust
When we believe that we’re the savior of the day, that’s when we’re the most lost of all.
Don’t believe your press.
You assume that staff who don’t perform the way you expect know what you expect, or how to do what you expect. Do they? There needs to be a great deal of information exchange. Lots of communication. It helps to know whether they’re learning what you’re trying to teach them.
Tyler to John on why he had the courage to step off the side of a rock during a rock climb, “You were with me…You were off the edge of the cliff already, a couple of feet down, waiting for me.”
There’s a switch inside every person. The “off” position is “I’ll maybe do what I’m told while you’re watching me. But when you’re not watching me, I’ll do less than I’m told and maybe worse.” The “on” position is “I’ll do everything I possibly can to make a positive contribution. I’ll do it whether you’re watching or not.”
There are actions you must take—daily disciplined, consistent actions—if you want your team to really lock into what you’re wanting and where you’re going.
Personal character comes before professional capability. Always!
The problem with teaching about character, you see, is that you have to have it first.
Engagement Equation: E=T (close “say-do gap”) x 3C (close “paycheck-purpose gap”)
The T (Trust) is the character piece. It’s a multiplier, not an additive. Trust is what the leader gains by being trustworthy, by matching actions to words. We talk about “the say-do gap,” and it’s the leader’s job to close it.
And so we start with trust. Do what you promise. Be what you ask others to be.
Mounting the ChallengeWe stress the importance of purpose-aligned goals, purpose-aligned plans and purpose-aligned decisions.
Vision statements are famous for living in drawers.
Our great purpose lives in daily discipline.
I could start the story by telling you what’s wrong with the kids we serve … but when it comes to addressing what’s wrong, you need a very different starting point. It’s not the right place to start. It never is. Around here we start with what’s right.
The first “C” in the Engagement Equation is “Challenge” (preparation stage)
The trust of an unbroken horse is hard to earn.
It’s still about your messages and how they need to match your intended actions. Make your gestures and your actions match in horse terms, and you’ll gain the horse’s trust.
If you can’t understand them or appreciate what it might be like to be them, these horses will never let you in.
A leader must have a (1) clear (2) vision. Why are we doing this? In other words, what’s the great purpose behind this effort?
There’s something about those horses (mustangs) that make ‘em want to run away. Mustangs need room. Mustangs need safety.
There are three parts to a clear “Challenge” (preparation stage) – plans, strengths, roles
Here’s the goal and plan.
These are the talents and strengths needed
Who’s going to do what, by when and so forth.
We spend most of our time on the strengths and roles part? What are you good at? Where will you do the most good?
When we work with the horses and the kids, we receive them as they are. We love them and we appreciate them. That’s our starting point.
When a leader prepares to get something done, he starts by asking people to contribute what strengths and assets they have to accomplish the plan. He fits the strengths together by assigning people to roles in which they can succeed.
These kids don’t gain a sense of worth by accomplishing goals. A sense of capability, yes, but not of worth. They gain a sense of their worth by serving on the teams of their classmates. When they realize that they’re important to someone else, when they serve someone else’s goals and dreams, that’s when the really good stuff happens. Matt asked himself, “How often did he invite any of his sales leaders to solve the leadership and performance problems he was suffering?” It had not occurred to him to do this. He was the leader after all. Wasn’t he the one who was supposed to give the answers? But David had just told him that the rally good things start to happen when leaders become RECEIVERS. Your team brings you value, and you must look for it and learn to appreciate what’s there, instead of focusing on what’s not there.
Directing the Charge
Around here, we call this the “stumble.” You and Alice stumbled, the price of your stumble is incalculable, and you haven’t’ been able to pay the bill. You’ll never be able to pay it, Matt. You need to know this. No heroics and no amount of effort can change this fact.
We receive new information about ourselves from others, and we also receive the strengths of others who want to help us achieve our goal.
Can you receive if you aren’t thankful? We get good stuff all the time, but if we have no appreciation inside of us, all the good stuff will just slip right through our fingers…
The second “C” in the Engagement Equation is Charge (implementation state)
In the implementation state we expect to make mistakes. It’s normal.
There are three parts to a clear “Charge” (implementation stage) – innovate, scan, adjust
Our focus is not having to be right … our focus is on constant learning.
We don’t engage kids through theory. We engage them in real life, real work, real projects
Watching Sara, Matt saw something in himself he never saw before. He had isolated himself. He hadn’t learned to receive—to let other help him. And, he hadn’t learned to RELEASE, to admit in an open way that things weren’t working. “Play it close to the vest” had seemed like strength.
Course corrections are normal. You have to let go of what’s not working … your mistakes too. Move on.
Big dreams inspire people. I motive people – I move people – by telling them a story that makes them want to do something. People love a good story, one with heart, heartbreak and hope.
Leading the CheerA goal achievement team could just as well be a married couple as a corporate division.
Am I loveable? People who really understand the grief felt by adopted kids sometimes call this the “primal wound.” You get one of two kinds of behavior. One, the child does things you don’t approve of to test if you’ll reject him. Two, you have to be perfect ‘cause you know that one screw-up and you’re gone!
Aiming in the right direction is one thing. Staying on course and remaining motivated to give your very best effort over time is another thing.
The third “C” in the Engagement Equation is Cheer (evaluation stage)
There are three parts to “Cheer” (evaluation stage) – measure, reward, (re)prepare
Learn to REJOICE
The evaluation stage, when carefully designed to reinforce your purpose and your plans, produces kids who finally start to act like owners rather than unwilling laborers. The celebration (cheer) locks the entire process in place.
Every positive step gets celebrated, every adjustment gets celebrated, and every abandonment of effort that isn’t working gets celebrated. We throw “That Didn’t Work!” parties right alongside “We Did It!” parties. If it helps us make progress, we cheer it.
I can’t explain it, but your credibility as a leader hasn’t been fully established until there’s a party. When you stick to your word all the way through to the party, your followers finally know that you really said what you said, meant what you meant, and want what you want.
Hope springs up from belonging and belonging is experienced in a circle of people who trust and rely upon each other. Each one has something to give. Each one is able to receive.
Home is what we call that place of belonging. When we search for our home, it is belonging we are searching for.
Create a culture of trustworthiness and welcome where it is safe to bring their whole selves to the adventure.
Leaders don’t actually ever engage people. People engage themselves. They do their part if we do ours. Leaders make the difference first—we set the stage
