How do the Serve Up Coach Down principles help organizations in leading through change.
Change management has been a topic for decades, but the solution is not in management as much as it is mindset. In today’s business companies have to spend more time convincing those they pay that the change or the decision to change is the right decision. The serve up principles says we must believe that those we work for have the visibility and knowledge that we don’t and we must believe their decision is the right decision; not because we should follow blindly like minions but because we believe in those we follow. The faster we can accept change, the faster we can implement change.
How is coaching your team serving your team?
A leader’s job is to make their team better not weaker. When a leader serves their team in the traditional sense of serving they tend to not hold employees accountable and believe their job is to help remove obstacles for their employees so they can do their job. A coach serves the team through coaching them which includes setting high expectations, teaching them not just the job but how to be better at the job. A coach’s number one goal is to make their people better and holding them accountable to always doing their best work every day. The best way to serve those that follow you is to coach them, because coaching is a selfless and time-consuming commitment.
How does a Leader in the Middle remove the silo’s in an organization?
By learning to serve out. There are books on ‘corporate warfare’ and being the best. I believe that to be the best LIM or to lead the best team is not about blaming other departments, it is about serving other departments. It’s based on a belief that the more people you serve the more you will be served. When a LIM and their team commit to serving other departments by doing their job better and understanding how they can help the other departments, the other departments will follow. When the LIM shows the serve out behavior, their followers will do the same. Silos are created by leaders in the middle and they must be removed by the leaders in the middle.
Is this book relevant to all organizations?
To every organization that have leaders in the middle. Every organization that I have worked with or dealt with, on any level, has struggled with one or all of the issues in this book. I believe every organization would love to learn how to improve all of their leaders and build a stronger leadership and servant culture. I think every leader that leads another leader would agree that if their leaders below them would implement these principles they would see a greater success in their business and their people.
