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Developing Leaders Using Flashlights and Mirrors

by | Oct 11, 2021 | Employee Management | 0 comments

Developing Leaders Using Flashlights and Mirrors

Written by Kevin Martlage

As a tree care business owner, you are faced with numerous decisions and issues surrounding your organization and team on a constant basis. How you approach those things ultimately rests on the shoulders of you as the leader of your company. While we all have various levels of success and issues we are dealing with, the backbone of any organization is the team that leads and runs the business. Certainly, our customers, vendors, suppliers, and equipment are all important, but without an effective team to take care of those things you are simply another tree care company searching for that next tree to prune. 

If I were to ask you how are you intentionally developing your current and future leaders what would you say? Could you honestly answer that question or does the typical business day cause too many hurdles and time constraints to effectively develop the team around you? If you are developing your team, great!! What then specifically are you doing to ensure that your team has all the tools and resources necessary to be successful, productive, and most importantly happy? Do they know what good looks like and how they can positively impact the organization daily? Those are all questions that are important to think about as you advance your organization and team with effective and intentional leadership development. 

I work with individuals and teams daily helping them identify what is “being left on the table” in terms of their overall strategy, teamwork, operational efficiency, and productivity. While my work with those clients is extremely fulfilling, it is the ability to help individuals look internally to understand themselves and how they can continue to impact their organization that is the most rewarding as a coach. This is where the concept of ‘Flashlights and Mirrors’ becomes relevant.  

That phrase, ‘Flashlights and Mirrors’ was introduced to me by my father who has spent a vast majority of his life crafting various workshops and trainings to help people, and teams, realize their full potential. The concept is one that I use with my clients and is something that I think can be very impactful if a leader fully embraces it as they develop their team to make a positive impact on the tree care industry.  

The concept is simple. As a leader, it is your responsibility to ensure that those on your team have not only the resources and understanding necessary to complete their job responsibilities, but also your support to reach their full potential.  The ‘flashlight’ in this equation is used to help “shine the light” on those areas that are important to them. The ‘mirror’ is then used to help them look internally to understand how they are impacting the organization, the team, and their professional development on a consistent basis. Your responsibility as a coach committed to transparent communication and support, is to help facilitate those conversations with your team. 

There are a variety of ways to use the ‘flashlight’ concept with your team when it comes to their development. However, the thing that turns it on the brightest is the question, “How can I help?” Not only does this open the discussion for further discovery, but it also helps to build trust which is super important as you develop your current and future leaders. Granted the responses can vary and have a lot of different outcomes, but as a leader it is your responsibility to take their response and help shine that flashlight a little brighter so you can both uncover what it is that they desire, need, and are passionate about. 

Some suggested questions you can use to help shine that flashlight are:

  • How can I help?
  • What support can I provide to help enhance your ability to lead your team or to do your job?
  • Are there any areas of your responsibilities that you feel you could use some additional training?
  • What are your career goals within this company and outside of this company?
  • Are you happy with the responsibilities you currently have?
  • Are there areas of the business that you wish you had more interaction or responsibility for?
  • What are you passionate about within this company? 
  • What are you passionate about outside this company? 

The list can go on and on. However, as a leader committed to developing your team, it helps to understand what it is that they are passionate about, want to achieve, are having difficulty with, or need help with. Once you begin to understand those areas, you can work with them to develop an action plan around how to alleviate those issues and achieve those goals. This then becomes their developmental plan which can be used as you continue to meet with them and develop them for the next step in their career.

 

The concept of using ‘mirrors’ is a bit different, but equally important. This is where, as a leader, you help them look internally regarding their own performance within the organization. This part of the equation can be as detailed or simple as your organization allows. However, the most important thing to remember is that the ‘mirror’ only shows facts and does not reflect emotion. 

The ‘mirror’ is used to help you have those transparent and important conversations with your employees that provide specific details regarding their performance and interactions as a member of the team. It is also meant to help you provide them with some invaluable insight into how they interact with others, support others, and impact the team and organization. 

To build your mirror you must first determine what “good” looks like for that individual and your organization. When we say “good” this includes developing and providing specifics about the culture of your organization, metrics you would like them to achieve, acceptable interactions and communication with others, and most importantly their ability to understand what is expected of them on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Once developed and agreed to, this then becomes the ‘mirror’ that you consistently use to help them look at those things. By consistently, transparently, and intentionally providing them feedback regarding their performance in those areas, you are helping them to “look in the mirror” to remind themselves of what good looks like and how they are positively and negatively impacting those things. This will help continue to develop them personally as they work to achieve those goals and continue to positively impact the organization by looking inward first. 

The concept of “flashlights and mirrors” is simply a guide to how you can provide invaluable insight and development opportunities for your staff. The key to any of this is that you must be consistent with your development conversations while you build a trusting and effective business relationship with your team. If you would like to learn more about intentional leadership development, I would encourage you to look at the THRIVE program, and specifically the Leadership Development Package, for more details. 

4 Must’s of Effective Leadership

by | Sep 25, 2020 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

4 Must’s of Effective Leadership

isIn that last couple of decades, neuroscientists have shown that one of the most important aspects of effective leadership is emotional intelligence. A well-known leader in this research is author Daniel Goleman. Goleman states that one of the most important roles of a leader is helping employees engage in their work, ultimately leading to a satisfying work life balance. A key to unlocking that engagement is emotional intelligence.

Although leadership typically focuses on external pieces; such as employees or the direction of the organization, we first need to focus on ourselves, the leaders. In his book “Primal Leadership”, Goleman discusses the importance of leading your followers with emotional intelligence. Whether we like it or not, there is a direct correlation between the leader’s mood, employee’s moods, and performance. Below are 4 key pieces to effective leadership utilizing emotional intelligence:

1)Know Yourself

As a good leader, your employees will mirror your moods, work ethic, and even decision making. This means that the most important piece of being a good leader is being aware of yourself and your mood. If you, the leader, are upset and communicating poorly, what impact will that have on your employees?

Goleman mentions three things we can do to make sure our mood isn’t negatively impacting our followers.

1.Self-Awareness: What mood are we in? Why are we in this mood?
2.Pausing/Reflecting: What impact does this have on others? Is it beneficial or harmful?
3.Adjust: What mood do we need to be in to lead effectively? How do we adjust?

Though these sound simple and straight forward, building self-awareness into your everyday life will help with more than just building strong work environment.

2)Know Your Employees

Once you’ve got a hold of your own emotions, we can start looking out towards our employees. Think of morale, motivation, and optimism as three good measures for productive employees. Outside of work, how do you make people close to you feel like you understand them? An MIT article mentions 3 ways to help people feel understood:

1.Questions: Asking employees how they feel or what their thoughts are on certain topics is the best place to start.
2.Active Listening: Active listening is the idea of repeating what others say to you without inputting your own ideas to make them feel heard. Disregard your personal opinions at first to make sure you’re really understanding how they feel.
3.Perspective: It is important to understand where your employees are coming from in their perspective, not yours as the foreman, manager, or even owner. This will help you work towards a solution much more efficiently.

3)Know Your Organization

Organizations are constantly shifting, often times based on the needs and preferences of their employees. An effective leader should be able to adapt to the culture of the organization as it grows. One important distinction is understanding that there may be different cultures in different departments, each requiring a different style of leadership. I’d challenge you to assess your company culture as a whole, at a department level, and potentially at the level of each crew. This should help identify who your core leaders are, and what type of leadership they need to utilize in each role. Below are some questions to help you get started:

1.What is the organization most known for?
2.What is the organization best at?
3.Where is the organization headed?
4.Who is in charge of getting it there?

 If you need help addressing culture concerns, take ArboRisk’s culture assessment! This assessment can give you a baseline for where your culture is at and you will receive a FREE one page summary of your results!

4)Create a Vision

Effective leadership, and effective organizations for that matter, all require leaders and their employees to work towards a common vision. A clear vision. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure everyone has a positive outlook on the organization’s vision, creating a positive work environment. The leader should be able to understand bottlenecks arising out of working towards the vision, listen to the employee concerns, and come up with creative ways to work around those issues ultimately keeping the organization on track. This is usually done with the following:

1.Delegating: This is where creativity can come in. Who is best at specific tasks? Who enjoys specific tasks to ensure they’ll be done proficiently?
2.Goal Setting: Visions are long term, goals are short term items that help work towards completing the vision. How can you utilize goals to help motivate your crews?
3.Coaching: “Success is in the journey, not the destination.” Utilize working towards the vision as a way to help your crews grow and learn.

The organization has its goal, but so does each employee. Most people want growth, some want money, others want education. Learn what drives your employees and build that into your overarching goal.

How important are leaders within your organization as it stands? I’d argue leaders are the engines that drive an organization towards its future goals.
A strong company recognizes the need for effective leadership within their organization and utilizes leadership to motivate employees to work harder, smarter, and more efficiently. I’d encourage you to check out some of Daniel Goleman’s work, but there are plenty of resources discussing effective leadership on YouTube as well. This process will hopefully help not only with achieving your company vision, but building a strong company culture along the way. Feel free to reach out with any questions!

Sources:
https://hr.mit.edu/learning-topics/leading/articles/basics#forms
Primal Leadership, Written by Daniel Goleman

Written by: Malcolm Jeffris, CTSP

Supervisor, Manager, Director?

by | Aug 17, 2020 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Supervisor, Manager, Director? Leadership your tree care company

As your business expands from one to four, to fifty employees there is a need to establish some layers of responsibility amongst your leadership team. Its best to clarify these layers with job descriptions. The terms supervisor, manager and director are common titles, but what are the differences between the three?


If you are not sure, don’t be embarrassed. There are a lot of similarities but each has a clear definition and knowing the difference is vital if you’re planning on hiring someone to oversee a crew or department.

Supervisor
The title of “supervisor” is often one of the first managerial positions within a company hierarchy. Often supervisors are promoted from within, rather than hired from outside. He or she is typically a high-performer who has been with the company long enough to be intimately familiar with both the company policies and the quality of work expected from the rest of the team.

Supervisors generally oversee a group of people in similar jobs, who are doing similar work. Their role is assigning work and keeping employees on track. Supervisors usually plan work daily to meet project objects and deadlines provided to them by a manager. Supervisors are often hands on and assist with training new employees.

Manager
Managers manage resources — whether financial, material, or personnel. Managers have decision-making capabilities regarding those resources. They determine what equipment and materials to purchase, establish project deadlines and who and when to hire and fire employees.

Because the responsibilities are greater, managers need to have more insight into the broader operations. They make sure work is performed within the policies and procedures of the company. A manager allocates resources to meet company goals. Depending on the size of the company, a manager may oversee employees directly, or oversee a team of supervisors.

Management positions require additional experience and often education and training. In most organizations, a manager is tasked with day-to-day concerns. For example, a manager may be more involved in overseeing employees and supervising the implementation of team or company-wide initiatives. The manager is the one with a hand on the wheel, keeping everyone on the right course. Managers are expected to encourage, mentor, discipline and evaluate employees on a frequent basis.

The planning horizon for managers is typically one week to a year.

Director
A director is a manager of managers. A director is focused on implementation of company-wide initiatives. This position is tasked with formulating what will be next on the company or division’s agenda. Rather than having a hand on the wheel, the director is charting the course to come, before delivering instructions for managers to carry out. Directors formulate a vision of what success will look like.

A director is responsible for examining and evaluating the organization’s process. Where are the shortfalls? Where are the bottlenecks? Where is the system working and where is it failing? The director is tasked with solving these challenges. Directors are responsible for long term planning. The horizon is typically one to three years out.

For the small tree care company owner, you may be all three, however, the key for you is to understand you are responsible for both day to day and long-term planning. Make sure you take time to look to the future. Planning to hire the right people to take over the role of supervisor and manager will ultimately free up your time to do director level work, which is the key to successfully growing your company and profits.

If you want your company’s leaders (managers, crew leads, etc.) to grow professional and truly become extraordinary, check out ArboRisk’s Thrive Leadership Development Package! Our experts will work with your leaders one-on-one to build their leadership skills, thereby increasing team loyalty, efficiency, and profitability.

Written by: Jim Skiera

5 Levels of Leadership

by | Jan 29, 2019 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

5 Levels of Leadership

Have you ever found yourself asking “Am I really doing a good enough job as the leader of my company?” In the spirit of Crew Leader Month as declared by the TCIA, I want to give you some insight into the five levels of leadership to help you determine where you can improve.

At the 2018 TCIExpo, Todd Kramer gave a great presentation on leadership and talked about what it takes to be an effective leader. He used John Maxwell’s 5 Levels of Leadership to explain the different stages of development that leaders go through. So, where do you rank yourself as a leader?

Position – This is the lowest level of leadership and one where the leader has subordinates, not team members. The leader was given the position to lead without much qualification. They have authority to direct others based on the rules of the organization. All leaders start off in this capacity, however, to be truly effective, they must desire to grow beyond this level.

Permission – Leaders at this level have begun to understand how to use influence to have their team perform the work. The leader focuses on the relationship with the individual team members and gets them to want to do the work versus just complying with orders. The leader helps foster trust between everyone on the crew thereby truly instituting a team first attitude.


Production – Good leaders get results. This becomes the difference between Permission and Production leaders. The Production leader has a strong sense of self-discipline and work ethic to be productive, while at the same time continuing to understand how their influence on their team affects the results. Without achieving the desired goals, a leader does not reach this level.


People Development – At this level of leadership, leaders invest their time and energy into helping their team members grow and develop as individuals. Their focus is not on direct production as much as it is on developing the potential in each team member. This can be difficult for highly productive leaders, but makes a dramatic impact on the company. The more well developed all team members are, the stronger the company.


Pinnacle – The highest leadership level, unfortunately is rare in the tree care world. Here the leader has been so successful at all of the four prior levels that they have created a legacy of leadership in their organization. They have been able to develop other level 4 leaders inside their company and are viewed as mentors to those within the industry. Pinnacle leaders are ones that strive to make the entire tree care industry better.


Great leaders are not simply born great. They have developed their skills over time and worked their way up level by level. Don’t forget to continually invest in your own skills as a leader of your company. Attend leadership courses and talk to others about their challenges as a leader to hone your skills.

If you are interested in growing you leadership skills by connecting with similar sized tree care companies in the Thrive Peer to Peer group contact ArboRisk today.

Written by: Eric Petersen