I am currently reading Boundaries For Leaders – Results, Relationships and Being Ridiculously In Charge by Dr. Henry Cloud.  Twenty years after he co-authored “Boundaries – When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life” Dr. Cloud brings a fresh look to how boundaries relate more specifically to leadership.

Dr. Cloud does an incredible job providing insight on why some people get results and others don’t.  Simply stated, when we invest time beyond the boundaries “we should have” we reduce the results we achieve along the way.

Dr. Cloud has taken a complex issue and has broken it down into simple terms that every leader should be able to embrace and implement into their leadership and life style.

This will be the first of three posts exploring what it takes to lead teams, companies and cultures defined by high performance and healthy relationships.

THE PEOPLE ARE THE PLAN

Dr. Cloud starts off with a very powerful point.  He suggests that everybody out there is always trying to figure out the right plan.  But the truth is that there are numerous “right plans.”  The real problem is getting the people to do what it takes to make the plan work.

I love what he says next; “Ultimately, leadership is about turning a vision into reality; it’s about producing real results in the real world.”  He is right!  It comes down to the performance of you or your team.  So if you agree that people are the plan then it only makes sense to start with the people you have when formulating your plan.

RIDICULOUSLY IN CHARGE

I believe this is the signature chapter of the book.  Dr. Cloud tells the story of a discussion he had with a CEO.  They were discussing problems that existed within the organization and the reasons they existed.  Dr. Cloud then asked “why do these reasons exist?”  The reason behind the problem – right?  “Who is in charge?” he asked.  The CEO replied; “I am” replied the CEO.

As the discussion continued, the CEO exclaimed “You know, when you think about it, I am rediculously in charge.”  Bingo!  The CEO “owned” the decision making process and decided to own the outcome.  As Dr. Cloud put it; “As a leader, he was going to get what he built, or what he allowed.”

LEADING SO BRAINS CAN WORK

OK, so let’s get into the idea of boundaries.  Dr. Cloud suggests that the reason a leader’s boundaries work is that they actually make it possible for people’s brains to function as they were designed.  In other words, our brains are designed to function within certain parameters and when we stay inside those parameters, by setting the necessary boundaries, our brain functions at it’s highest performance level.

Not having boundaries results in the brain spending critical energy processing information not conducive to producing the results we are looking for.  In Dr. Cloud’s words; “The leader’s job is to lead in ways such that people can do what they are best at doing: using their gifts and their brains to get great results.”

THE EMOTIONAL CLIMATE THAT MAKES BRAINS PERFORM

Dr. Cloud makes the following statement; “The cold, hard scientific facts are that your people think better when they are not stressed, afraid, or depressed.”  He goes on to explore the impact of creating a positive environment and the impact of not having one.

There is a great section on the idea of “Avoiding the negative, and accentuating the positive.” Several great takeaways here including, but not limited to, providing structure, setting clear expectations and a focus on communication.  In simple terms, when the individuals are emotionally healthy, their level of productivity will reflect that.

I have read numerous books written by highly intelligent people full of data analysis and complex issues and ideas.  Many of them made me feel like I was reading a textbook. This is NOT one of those.  Dr. Cloud breaks things down into the simplest terms and provides great questions and suggestions that we can apply to our role as leaders and in our leadership development.

So I leave you with a thought today.  Some of you are in charge of a lot and some maybe not so much.  No matter how much you are in charge of, have you owned it?  Are you ridiculously in charge?  As Dr. Cloud suggests, what we get is either created or allowed.  So what are you creating and what are you allowing in your life?  What needs to change?   OK – so I guess my thought turned into a few questions.  But you know I love questions!

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Barry Smith    10/9/13   photo courtesy of Amazon   © Building What Matters 2013