The One Ingredient Necessary for Any Team’s Success
Our exclusive IN Food Service Teams from the past 3 summers We’ve just hired a new Food Services Director for our Michigan overnight camp. Her name is Ann Marie and she moved here all the way from Texas. On her first night in Michigan she had dinner with Joel Hamilton, our Site Director, and her son in our New Frontiers Dining Hall. It was a Saturday night of one of our Winter Retreats.
And it just so happened that my wife Denise and I were also in the Dining Hall so we joined them for dinner where Ann Marie asked both Denise and I what we’d like to see in our Food Service program. I answered that I wanted people to brag about the food, the service, and entire dining experience.
My wife, on the other hand had the far better answer. She told Ann Marie, “I hope working in the Dining Hall becomes the most desirable job at SpringHill”
Why is Denise’s answer a far better one? Because accomplishing any great vision or achieving any big goal starts with having the right people. And the only way to have the right people is for the right people to want to be on your team. Which means you need to be the kind of organization that the right people want to work for.
And I know this is to be true, even in Food Service, because this is exactly what our Indiana overnight camp has accomplished over the last few years. Under the leadership of our Operations Director, Keith Rudge and his Food Service managers, working in our Indiana Food Service Department has become one of the most desirable jobs at camp. And the result has been an ever-increasing quality of food and better dining experience.
So after watching Joel, Ann Marie and her team work these past few weeks, I have no doubt they’ll exceed both Denise’s and my expectations and, more importantly, they’ll accomplish what our Indiana Food Service team has so beautifully accomplished over these past few years.
General Norman Schwarzkopf and My Office Chair
On December 28, 2012, retired General Norman Schwarzkopf died. In the early 1990’s General Schwarzkopf led coalition troops in Operation Desert Storm to free Kuwait from Iraqi invasion forces. Because of his plain speech, clarity of conviction, love for his soldiers, and his skilled work as a general, those under his command as well as the public, including me, admired, respected and loved “Stormin’ Norman”.
At the time of the war I was working for Steelcase, assigned to their wood furniture division. As American troops were preparing for war word spread throughout Steelcase that General Schwarzkopf’s staff, in putting together the General’s command center in Saudi Arabia, had bought up the inventory of Steelcase Breton chairs from a Saudi Steeclase dealer (a chair manufactured by our division).
This meant that “Stormin’ Norman” would be leading and directing the war against Iraq sitting in one of our chairs.
It also meant, because I too had a Breton chair in my office, I now sat, and led, from the same chair as General Schwarzkopf. So as strange as it sounds, sitting in the same chair of this great American general inspired me. I somehow believed that if General Schwarzkopf could lead from a Breton chair, then so could I.
As a result I never gave up that chair. When I left Steelcase I asked if I could take it with me. They kindly gave it to me as a gift. And ever since then that Breton chair has traveled with me to every assignment and office I’ve been in, including the past 15 years at SpringHill.
Now I believe God loves irony. He uses it to make us stop and think. Which He did once again because, within a week of General Schwarzkopf’s death, my beloved Breton chair broke, sadly the chair literally snapped off its base.
But this irony has given me a reason to pause and reflect on this great leader, reminding me of my continue responsibility to speak plainly, have clarity of conviction, love my “troops”, and to plan and lead our team in a way that ends in victory.
Why I’m Not a Lions Fan (and what it would take for me to be one in the future)!
I’m 50 years old and having lived my entire life in the state of Michigan, I’ve always been a Detroit Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings and, until recently, a Lions fan. And, as a result, during my 50 years I’ve celebrated two World Series championships, three NBA championships, four Stanley Cups, and one NFL playoff victory.Yes, that’s right. The Lions have won one playoff game during my half century of life. Now I’m not greedy, I’m happy to be a Tiger’s fan and win a World Series every 25 years. I just need to know that my teams are doing what it takes to win and then actually bringing home a championship every couple of decades.
So, being a student of organizations and leadership, the question I’ve often asked is why have the Lions won just one playoff game while Detroit’s other professional sports franchises have won multiple world championships during the past 50 years? Well it’s not because of the players, coaches or management, since they’ve changed a dozen times during the past 5 decades. Nor is the city, because if it was, our other professional teams wouldn’t have won any championships either. There’s only one answer that makes any sense, because there’s only one common denominator found during the past 50 Lion’s seasons – the ownership.
This isn’t surprising because winning always starts at the top. So if there hasn’t been a NFL championship in 50 years it has to be because of the leadership at the top. I know this to be true because in every organization I’ve been a part of, winning, and losing, always started at the very top.
So a number of years ago I gave up being a Lions fan, along with the frustration and broken heart that come with being a Lion’s fan, until the day comes when they have new ownership. It’s the only change I believe will lead to consistent winning, the one that could lead to the Lions winning a Super Bowl
The Necessary Qualities to be on a Super Bowl Team
A few years ago, the season after the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl; we hosted a small group of SpringHill friends at a Colts preseason practice session where we had a few minutes with Coach Tony Dungy. During the Q&A time one of the questions our group asked Coach Dungy was “what are the qualities the Colts look for in players?”He responded without even thinking about his answer, reflecting the deeply held values he and the Colts had about the kind of players they looked for. Coach Dungy said there were three things they expected from every player:
- Players had to be smart. To help assess this quality one of the things the Colts did was simply reviewed the academic records of players being considered for their team.
- Players had to be goal orientated. The Colts evaluated this quality by asking potential players to state their goals for their career and their life.
- Players had to be team players: Before drafting or signing players the Colts asked a number of current teammates of a potential player to name the 10 people on their team they’d most want to play with on future teams. If a potential player didn’t make these lists the Colts won’t sign them.
Simple, straightforward yet imagine if all the players on the team you’re currently on, whether it’s a sports team or a business or ministry team, had all three of these qualities. What kind of team would it be? What championships might you win?
Having the Resilience of Churchill
On June 4, 1940, during the early days of World War II, Winston Churchill made a powerful speech to the British Parliament where he articulated the British people’s resilience in the face of the Nazi onslaught.
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…”
It was Churchill’s stubborn resilience, and his ability to communicate it to the British people, that set the tone for British’s willingness to stand up to the evil aggression of the Nazi’s and their allies. This personal quality of Winston Churchill is what we, at SpringHill, call “Professional Will”. Professional Will is the ability to face and fight through adversity, to overcome obstacles, and continue to work without giving up.
This personal quality is important for a SpringHill staffer because working at SpringHIll, like working for any organization, has its ups and downs. We’re an organization of people serving people, so there are difficulties and frustrations that need overcoming. In addition we acknowledge the fact that we work in a fallen and broken world which creates the necessity to be resilient. That’s why our staff, though not needing to be Churchill like, does need to demonstrate his Professional Will.
This is part 12 of 14 in a series of posts about what it takes to be successful at SpringHill.
Being Better Everyday than we were Yesterday
There’s a hard reality we need to accept, and it’s simply this – if something isn’t growing then it’s dying. There’s really no standing still. And by growing I mean getting better, progressing, moving forward, and by dying I mean things are slipping backwards in their usefulness or effectiveness. I know this to be true for myself, I’m either getting in better shape physically, emotionally and spiritually or I’m slowly in decline. I might ignore this reality but I can’t escape it.
But what’s true for us as individuals is also true for organizations, whether it’s a company, an educational institution, a local church, or a nation. Organizations are either moving forward or moving backward. And leadership is the key to which direction an organization will go.
That’s why one of the personal qualities and professional competencies needed by people who work for SpringHill is what we call “Continuous Improvement”. Now understand I’m not a big fan of buzz words especially when they’re code words for something else. But I like “Continuous Improvement” because it’s a phrase that says exactly what it means.
And it’s why we use this phrase to describe the personal quality someone needs to display, both in their personal life and in their work, to have long-term success at SpringHill. You see SpringHill wants to be an effective and an enduring organization, which means every day, SpringHill, needs to be better than it was yesterday. And for this to be a reality SpringHill’s staff also needs to, every day, be better than we were yesterday.
This is part 11 of 14 in a series of posts about what it takes to be successful at SpringHill.
Making Customers Feel Like Old Friends
You know it when you’ve interacted with a business or organization that has a serious focus on their customers and constituents. You feel as if you’ve interacted with someone who knows and understands you, your needs and wants. It’s almost like you’re an old friend. These are the organizations that you come back to over and over, and recommend to your family and friends.
These organizations have what we call at SpringHill a “Customer Focus”. And being customer focused isn’t just good for business; we believe its, plain and simple, the right way to treat people. Thus being “Customer Focused” is a critical quality all SpringHill staff must possess.
But we need to remember organizations are only customer focused if their employees and staff are customer focused, because it’s people who serve customers, design, build and deliver products and services, not organizations.
Now most of us know what “Customer Focus” looks like from the receiving end, but what does it look like from the giving end? What does a “Customer Focus” person do, how do they think, how is it expressed in their day-to-day work?
They dedicate themselves to exceeding customers’ expectations, which requires getting to know customers well enough to understand their expectations, needs, and wants. Then it’s using this knowledge to, not just meet expectations, but to do everything possible to exceed them, to surprise the customer, to make them feel like an old friend.
Finally, it’s important we understand who the customer is. It’s not just those who pay for our services but anyone who depends on us within or outside our organization. In other words, we all have customers. Our goal then should be to exceed the expectations of all our customers, not just the “paying ones”. And when we embrace that we all have customers and thus all need to have “Customer Focus” we’re creating the kind of organization that will make an enduring impact on the lives of others.
This is part 9 of 14 in a series of posts about what it takes to be successful at SpringHill.
Together Accomplishing Something Great and Enduring
The greatest accomplishments the world has ever seen are the result of teamwork. Great institutions built, just wars won against incredible odds, and complex social problems solved because of communities of people who worked together to achieve something good, positive, and lasting. In every case these great accomplishments could not have happened through the work of a single person. True, a single person may have led the team, or been the public face, but behind that leader has always been people committed to seeing the work successfully completed.
Even in my life, in the great accomplishments I’ve participated in, I’ve always been member of a community. Whether it’s teaming up with my wife Denise to raise our children, being a part of a winning sports team, or working for an effective organization like SpringHill, it’s always been the team, the community that has brought success.
It’s this reality and the power of people working together to accomplish something significant and lasting that’s made it absolutely critical that SpringHill staff be great team players. It’s why being “Community Focused” is an essential personal quality and a key professional competency for staff who want to make an enduring impact at SpringHill.
“Community Focused” people not only value being part of a team, they value the team’s success over their own. They acknowledge and thrive on the inter-dependency our work requires including valuing the God-given differences each person brings to the community.
So whatever good and lasting thing SpringHill has ever done, or will ever do, will come through the team of people who’ve committed themselves, not only to SpringHill’s mission, vision and goals, but also to each other, working tirelessly as a team to see SpringHill accomplish the good work God’s given it to do.
This is part 6 of 14 in a series of posts about what it takes to be successful at SpringHill.
Wisdom Applied
The test of our wisdom is found in the decisions we make. It’s displayed in the quality, timeliness, and the process in which we go through to make decisions. So it’s all three of these aspects of decisions – quality, timeliness, and process – that reflect the wisdom we have, or don’t have.Wisdom requires knowledge, experience, judgment, and analytical ability, combined with a strong sense of right and wrong. And the measure of all these things, the proof that we have wisdom comes through in the decisions we make. Decisions are the tangible, measurable expression of our wisdom. Its wisdom applied.
It’s also why one of the personal qualities and professional competencies someone needs to possess if they’re to have long-term success at SpringHill is quality and timely Decision Making.
At SpringHill this competency is absolutely critical because of the freedom we provide our staff to do their jobs and the sense of stewardship we expect them to practice. It’s because we believe that the best people to make decisions are the ones closet to the “action”, not those sitting far behind the “frontlines”. We believe this to be true because those at the “front line” have the best perspective and expertise.
Thus when an organization keeps decision-making closest to the “front lines” it requires staff who can display wisdom through their Decision Making. And, if done right, this kind of Decision Making ends up being the best because it’s almost always faster and higher quality.
And the added benefit of entrusting decision-making to staff on the “front lines” is that they continue to grow in their wisdom and in their ability to make decisions, helping the entire organization continually become better and more effective in fulfilling its mission (it’s all part of Personal Learning I covered in the last post).
This is part 4 of 14 in a series of posts about what it takes to be successful at SpringHill.
Life is a Stool – Living in Balance
My dad has always said that life sits on a 4 legged stool with one leg being work/career, another family, a third friends and service, a fourth being health and recreation, and the most important part of the stool, the seat, representing our faith. Dad says that for life to be in balance, for it to be the way it’s supposed to be we need all four legs and the seat. If we neglect or remove any part we’ve made balance nearly impossible and the entire stool, and our lives, become at risk of falling apart.I’ve always appreciated my dad’s way of looking at life, partly because it makes sense and partly because I’ve seen he and my mom live their lives in this way with the result being they’ve been blessed as well as having blessed those around them.
It’s this life perspective and practice that we’ve discovered to be an essential quality of people who’ve made a long-term and an enduring impact on SpringHill’s mission. It’s what we simply call “Life/Work Balance”.
Without this balance, life quickly crumbles and one’s ability to make an enduring impact quickly diminishes. When balance is gone health, influence and impact quickly leave as well, only to be backed filled with burn out, broken relationships, and poor judgment. Because like a stool, every part is essential and needs to be in working order or it will negatively impact the entire stool.
So Life/Work Balance is absolutely essential for people to be at their best. And we want and need people to be at their best, whether it’s at home with their families, at church teaching Sunday school, or working at SpringHill.
This is part 2 of 14 in a series of posts about what it takes to be successful at SpringHill.
