Red Bike Leader

rip the training wheels off your leadership

Posts Tagged ‘development’

Volunteer Leadership Team

by Ryan Russell | May 19th, 2010 | Posted in basics, leadership

Some quick basics on building a kick-ass volunteer leadership team.

Never go alone. Get people engaged in your initiative from the very beginning. If you can’t take people with you early on when your passion is white hot, then it won’t get any easier for you later.

Get people in on the ground floor. Some people are more inclined to serve with you because you aren’t thoe big and established ‘old dog’. Use this to your strength.

Share your vision of the glorious future. Make it straight forward and easy to understand. Practice this every time you meet with someone. if you don’t have it down to 2-3 quick & easy to understand sentences.

Grow Up! The best leaders will come around young leaders when they see your desire to grow up and do something of import. You don’t have to wear a suit and tie to accomplish this, but you must be ready to work hard. Have fun, but prepare yourself to grow and demonstrate this with how you carry yourself.

Don’t put off inviting in BIGGER minds. Find people that will challenge you. BE SURE to listen to them when they speak. This stop investing if you demonstrate that you aren’t listening.

Keep close a tight group of trusted people. Choose carefully 3-5 rock solid leaders you can depend on in hard times & for key decisions.

Don’t just invite friends, but choose leaders. Diverse strengths and insights won’t come without some effort on your part to seek them out. Just because people are easy to hang with doesn’t mean they will be the best leaders for your project.

Engage your key people regularly. This doesn’t have to translate into more meetings though. Invite them into your processing, your planning, your strategy. Quick phones calls and emails will do the trick.

—> If they aren’t invested, they aren’t invested with their time, money and mental energy that will help your project or organization move towards accomplishing your dreams.

Want to be mentored? -part 3

by Ryan Russell | February 15th, 2010 | Posted in basics, leadership

In search of self improvement or a desire to move forward professionally, young people land on the idea that they need a mentor. However, wanting a mentor or teacher is a whole lot easier than the process of being mentored. Here are a few quick things to consider on the subject:

[part 3]
Practice the advice that they give – Now, here is the rub. – Nothing up to this point matters if you don’t TRY THE PRACTICAL ADVICE that this person gives you. You might as well go talk to a therapist if you just need someone to talk to and are interested in hearing back some reflections. In fact, I will go so far as to say that you don’t need to meet a second time until you have practiced and tried some of the practical advice from your first meeting with them. Here is a  test of whether you have found a good mentor = they will give you some pratical things that you can implement into your life. Nice people are great, but far too many people operate in the land of ideas. You want someone who will practically help shape your life in the most important areas. When you find this person and the challenge you to do something, for goodness sake and the sake of their sanity, DO IT!

Invite feedback - You can practice this without mentors + this is a sure fire way to get what you really need to hear. Don’t just simple ask, “how am I doing?” but ask more detailed questions about specific performance related areas of your life. Let trusted people know that you want to grow, how your trying to grow, that their critique is welcome, and then don’t get defensive when it comes. For your mentor, invite them to ask follow up questions about the advice that they have given you (hopefully you have earnestly put it into action). Ask them follow up questions that get you more specific data on the areas where you know you need to grow. But, DON’T, DON’T, DON’T get defensive! You don’t need to win a mentor over because they are already on your side. So, when the feedback comes, listen, take notes, and then go at it again.

Pay for lunch, but nothing else - Professional coaches are helpful, but they’re also motivated by the money that you are sending their way. You know you have found your mentor (we will look at “qualities of a mentor” at some other time) when they are motivated by helping you grow – period. However, practice the old axiom, who ever has the agenda for the meeting ought to be the one buying the breakfast, coffee or lunch – so in this case, that means YOU!

Want to be mentored? -part 1

by Ryan Russell | February 4th, 2010 | Posted in basics, leadership

In search of self improvement or a desire to move forward professionally, young people land on the idea that they need a mentor. However, wanting a mentor or teacher is a whole lot easier than the process of being mentored. Here are a few quick things to consider on the subject:

[part. 1]

Go look for one – It sounds too absurd, but it is all too true that most people want a mentor to come looking for them. ANY individual that you would want to have as a mentor is not just sitting around bored. They have things going on and lots of people who want their time — that is in fact the reason that you want them! They know something that you don’t about your job, about life or about how to lead their families. If you want some of their time, go ask for it. Don’t sit in your office crying about the fact that no one will invest in you. No one will invest in you because you haven’t asked them to.

Make it a priority, not a leftover - Since this is more than likely something you are doing outside of the scope of your paying job, there might be a tendency to treat this like a personal friendship or a hobby — don’t do that. Treat this like a meeting with your boss who’s opinions should have significant impact on your reality. For starters, SHOW UP ON TIME OR EARLY! If you are unavoidably running behind, at least call. Next, get the appt. on your calendar as a ‘can’t miss’ item; do not treat it as something that you will wipe out if some other meetings come up. Holy crap, this is your personal & professional development we are talking about, don’t let that become a third tier item. Also, bring at least one discussion item to the table each time for them to weigh in on. Don’t expect your mentor to lead every conversation; bounce stuff off of them that is important to your situation.

no one likes practice

by Ryan Russell | December 28th, 2009 | Posted in Uncategorized

Try – Accept Critical Feedback – Learn – Try Again

The real world is not like the classroom. Book knowledge does not translate into application and success. If you really want to get better at your leadership, your vocation of choice, your skill sets then you are going to have to submit to practice. Don’t just sit your butt in a classroom, at a coffee shop with a book or be holed up at your apartment with your computer thinking that you are going to get better at what you do. You have to get out there and try it.

And when you do ‘try it’, don’t listen to your best friends, girlfriend, your disgruntled-going-nowhere-coworkers or your mom about whether you are on a good growth path. Ask honest people. Ask people who will tell you what you really need to hear. Ask people who don’t care about your feelings over your development but ask ones who will actually tell you the painful truths you need to hear in order to get better. Learn from what they have to say. Figure out how to apply it then go out and practice some more.

CRITICAL – don’t ever take a job or an internship where you don’t get to practice in some form the thing that you really want to be excellent at.

Polarizing & Powerful Women Leaders

by Ryan Russell | November 23rd, 2009 | Posted in leadership, motivation

Watched Palin on Oprah.

Fascinating.

Like them or not, both women have got the leadership ‘it’. Both are driven, opinionated, strong, directional and visionary —- don’t get in their way. They each have an expansive audience. Obviously one can buy the other one 100x over. I thought Palin showed remarkable courage and insight by making her first interview on Oprah, and not just because it will sell her more books. Let’s be fair, Oprah gained by having the Palin exclusive and also by getting the Katie Couric rift flaired back up… in the end it makes Oprah look better than Katie. (But I digress).

Here is the take away: If you are a young leader, look for inspirational people like these and learn from them. Read their books. Watched their shows. Figure out what makes them tick. Look into their leadership development journey… where did they go to school? what did they major in? what are key decisions in the past? Not so you can be like them BUT so that you can be energized by them to pursue your goals, dreams and visions. Stoke your leadership fire.