New Business Development - Be a Servant Leader and Get the Systems Right - Week 9

Summary

In this session, Jacob Tan covers key leadership concepts, focusing on servant leadership and the importance of strong systems in organizations. He explains how servant leaders must sacrifice time, energy, and resources to support their teams. Additionally, he highlights the need for robust systems, which ensure fairness and prevent constant firefighting in organizations. Balancing strong systems with strong people leads to organizational excellence and sustainability, while weak systems or people can lead to chaos or inefficiency. These insights are crucial for anyone aspiring to lead effectively.

Takeaways

• 📈 Leadership involves progressing higher on the organizational ladder, but in an upside-down pyramid where the leader is at the bottom supporting others.
• 👐 Servant leadership requires sacrifices in time, energy, and possibly finances to support the team and organization.
• 🤔 Leaders need to reflect on their readiness to adopt a servant leadership approach and embrace the challenges that come with it.
• 🔗 Effective leadership requires not only strong people but also well-established systems to guide the organization.
• 📋 Systems are governance tools, policies, and procedures that must be clearly documented and followed in an organization.
• ⚖️ Fair systems promote trust and fairness within a team, helping to create a more stable and harmonious working environment.
• 🔥 Without strong systems, even strong teams will end up firefighting daily, leading to burnout and high turnover.
• 🚨 Weak teams combined with weak systems create chaos within an organization, leading to dysfunction.
• 📚 Strong systems with weak people lead to bureaucracy, slowing down communication and hindering competitiveness.
• 🏆 The ultimate goal is to have both strong people and strong systems to achieve excellence and sustain long-term success in the organization.

Q & A

What is the first leadership concept emphasized in the transcript?

The first concept emphasized is servant leadership, where leaders place themselves at the bottom of an upside-down pyramid, carrying the burden of leadership by sacrificing their time, energy, and sometimes finances for their team.

What does the upside-down pyramid in servant leadership represent?

The upside-down pyramid represents how leaders, as they rise up the organizational ladder, actually position themselves at the bottom, supporting the entire team by sacrificing for others.

Why is sacrifice important for a servant leader according to the transcript?

Sacrifice is important because it reflects the leader’s commitment to their team, showing that leadership involves giving up personal resources like time and energy for the benefit of the organization.

What key question should leaders ponder regarding servant leadership?

Leaders should ask themselves: Are you ready to be a servant leader and truly sacrifice for your team?

What is the second concept discussed in the transcript?

The second concept is the importance of strong systems in an organization, which includes governance, policies, and procedures written in black and white to ensure fairness and consistency.

Why are strong systems important for an organization?

Strong systems are important because they help ensure fairness, trust, and efficiency within the organization, enabling the team to achieve excellence.

What happens if you have strong team members but weak systems?

If you have strong team members but weak systems, the organization will be in constant firefighting mode, leading to potential burnout and high employee turnover.

What are the consequences of having weak team members and weak systems?

Having weak team members and weak systems leads to daily chaos, making it difficult to manage and causing dysfunction within the organization.

What is the result of having weak people but strong systems?

With weak people and strong systems, the organization experiences bureaucracy, with slow communication flows and inefficiency, making it hard to compete with others.

What is the ideal combination of people and systems according to the transcript?

The ideal combination is having both strong people and strong systems, which leads to organizational excellence and long-term success.