{"id":29678,"date":"2022-11-27T21:21:27","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T05:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29678"},"modified":"2022-11-27T21:21:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T05:21:27","slug":"an-ever-learning-always-moving-sustainable-tortoise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/an-ever-learning-always-moving-sustainable-tortoise\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ever-Learning, Always-Moving, Sustainable Tortoise"},"content":{"rendered":"

The term \u201csmithing\u201d indicates a process whereby a material is shaped, molded, formed, and improved over time. This is exactly the idea behind Eve Poole\u2019s book entitled, Leadersmithing, Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership<\/em>. In her opinion, strong leaders are shaped, molded, formed and improved over time, growing into their potential as stronger and more effective leaders.<\/p>\n

This shaping process, for Poole, comes through an apprenticeship-like model, in which leaders test, prove, and develop their skills and virtues.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 The first part of the book presents an overview of the apprentice approach to leadership development. The second part of the book, using the metaphor of a deck of cards, examines some basic ideas that leaders need to \u201cbe able to use with elegance and ease\u201d and apply to various scenarios one encounters as a leader.[2]<\/a> Poole groups these key ideas into Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, and Spades. Diamonds represent areas of sharpness, such as your strengths, mood, composure, and hope. Clubs look at your physical impact, like work-life balance, sleep, power, and posture. Spades are practical tools for getting things done through others, for example, having difficult conversations, public speaking, and working the room. Hearts represent the social skills of creating environments in which other people feel at ease and include areas such as manners, trust, eye-contact, and storytelling.[3]<\/a> Eve Poole\u2019s book is a combination of research and practical exercises which help people to practice and develop leadership skills in advance, as well as on the job, so as to minimize mistakes and growing pains and to maximize the effectiveness of the organization.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Personal Story and Application<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since beginning our DLGP studies this year, I have been inspired by the practical leadership information we have received through our various readings and have sought to apply some of our new learnings to my workplace. With Poole\u2019s book, I now have 52 new skills on which to focus, one for each week of the year, as Poole points out.[5]<\/a> I could have used some of these lessons long ago!<\/p>\n

I walked into my current job through the backdoor entrance twelve years ago. I had heard of the Second Home program and wanted to be a part of their work providing housing for unaccompanied teens. When I approached the director about hiring me, she said they didn\u2019t have the money to create a new position. She was the sole program employee at the time. Hearing of this hurdle, I applied for a grant through my church, secured the funding, and then went back to the Second Home director with the new money; and she hired me. After she agreed to hire me, I did the official interview for the position, wrote my resume, and filled out the job application, in that order. It seemed a bit backwards, but it proved that there really is no perfect formula for landing a job.<\/p>\n

Two years after working for Second Home, my director lost her job and the sponsoring organization asked if I felt comfortable leading the program. I said I would give it a try. Thus, began a leadership journey of trial, error, successes, failures, and growth.<\/p>\n

My strategy became prayer, building relationships, teamwork, and valuing each person inside and outside the organization. I observed the president of our larger agency at the time and decided against imitating his style. \u00a0I witnessed manager meetings in which people expressed tears of frustration, because they did not have the training, tools, nor the staffing to do their job effectively. I also experienced an organizational leadership transition in which a new president was hired who led calmly out of a gentle core. She made program adjustments that eased the burden on the directors and created a culture of respect and hope. With new leadership at the top, I felt freedom to lead out of my strengths, as opposed to following a formula that depleted energy and enthusiasm. As managers and directors, we still lacked specific leadership training, but the positive work environment created space to take risks, grace to fail, and the confidence needed to operate from an undefended posture.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Gleanings<\/strong><\/p>\n

My journey to date has been one of growth, but I wish I had had more guidance. Particularly, an area of struggle for me as my team has grown, has been to nip problematic individual behaviors in the bud. My lack of ability to do this has caused stress for myself and the team. I could have benefited earlier from Friedman\u2019s advice to not give most of my energy and attention to teammates with destructive work and relational habits.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 I could have also benefited from Poole\u2019s wisdom, in which she suggests practicing difficult conversations with colleagues and improving your skills in this area. She refers to\u201d difficult conversations\u201d as the \u201cAce of Spades, adding, \u201cOf all the skills we have met, this is the one to nail. That is why it is an ace. It is the ultimate apprentice piece. If you can have any conversation you need to and in the right way, most challenges you face will simply melt away.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

In avoiding challenging conversations over time, I experienced stress and increased feelings of burnout, resentment and overwhelm. Eventually, I mustered the courage to confront my teammate. Things have gone better ever since. I could have used some tangible wisdom earlier, but I am realizing that leadership is a process of honing skills over time. I am thankful to God for the chance to learn and grow. \u00a0I am especially grateful for what feels like an accelerated growth pace, at the moment. With my new learning has come a more relaxed approach to offering leadership to my team and surprisingly, I am feeling less burned out.<\/p>\n

Moving Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overall, I feel optimistic, better equipped, capable, and affirmed in my leadership approach. Poole closes her book with this statement: \u201cLeadersmithing takes a lifetime \u2013 so be a tortoise, not a hare.\u201d[9]<\/a> Likewise, John Maxwell in the introduction of his Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition of The Twenty-One Irrefutable Laws of Leadership<\/em>, notes, \u201cWhether you are in your teens leading others in student government or sports, or you are in your seventies like I am making a difference in your later years, you can always improve.\u201d[10]<\/a> I find it encouraging that there is always room to grow. In this endeavor and for the long-haul, I am committed to being an ever-learning, always moving, sustainable tortoise.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Eve Poole, Leadersmithing, Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership<\/em>, (New York, NY: Bloomsbury Business, 2017), 55,73.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Poole, 73.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Poole, 74-75.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Poole, xii.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Poole, 73.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Simon P. Walker, Leading Out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership, <\/em>(Carlisle, UK: Piquant Editions, 2007).<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, <\/em>(New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2017), 145-146.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Poole, 127.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Poole, 181.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> John C. Maxwell, The Twenty-One Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition<\/em>, (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2022), xix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The term \u201csmithing\u201d indicates a process whereby a material is shaped, molded, formed, and improved over time. This is exactly the idea behind Eve Poole\u2019s book entitled, Leadersmithing, Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership. In her opinion, strong leaders are shaped, molded, formed and improved over time, growing into their potential as stronger and more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2090],"class_list":["post-29678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-poole","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29679,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29678\/revisions\/29679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}