Friday Finds - Vulnerability, Difficult People, and Firing
A couple days ago, I had the opportunity to sit with the leaders of an amazing church in central Ohio. I've been working with them for a few months to identify a high level leader for their church. This is a very strategic hire for them, with the potential to make a huge difference for the growth and trajectory of their congregation and potential impact on the surrounding community. There's not much more fulfilling for me than to partner with churches to find great staff members for their team.
Wherever you are in your hiring or searching or managing of people, you have likely had to address some of the topics in this edition of Friday Finds -- such as dealing with difficult people, or occasionally having to fire an employee. Check out these links and tell me about your experience in the comments.
The One Essential Trait Leaders Fail To Master by Glenn Llopis via Forbes
Spoiler alert: the trait Glenn Llopis writes about is vulnerability. How often have you thought about that as an essential leadership attribute or sought to develop it in yourself? It doesn't make you look weak, it makes your team respect you and your vision more. "Vulnerability is like sunscreen: Fail to apply it and you will get burned." Stop whatever you're doing and read this now.
How Smart People Handle Difficult People by Travis Bradberry via Entrepreneur.com
Leaders: ever try to reason with an unreasonable person? Decrease drama with a dramatic person? Pacify a squeaky wheel on a committee? We've all experienced difficult people on our staff or volunteer teams - often inherited. Though we can limit these people in our spheres through wise vetting and hiring, developing skills to help deal with difficult people is a smart thing to do. Read Travis Bradberry's wisdom here.
It's easy to blame certain staff hiccups on communication problems. But is that a lazy oversimplification? Are we deflecting blame of ourselves as leaders when we say that? What if our "communication problems" are actually vision, systems, or management problems? It's time to dig deeper. Don't miss Tony's insights on this.
This would be a great insight to listen to after reading the article about dealing with difficult people. All leaders will need to fire employees on occasion. It's the worst part of the job, but sometimes the healthiest thing you can possibly do to you team. So how can you do it as gracefully, wisely, and effectively as possible? Listen to my friends William Vanderbloemen and Thom Rainer offer up some great wisdom on this topic.
What are you reading or listening to this week? Let me know in the comments.