{"id":31120,"date":"2023-02-16T17:59:29","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T01:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31120"},"modified":"2023-02-16T20:39:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T04:39:32","slug":"the-leadership-game-the-weakest-hand-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-leadership-game-the-weakest-hand-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"The Leadership Game: The Weakest Hand Wins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several years ago I won a trip to Las Vegas for hitting my quarterly goals at a previous company. When we arrived we had one rule. We could not pay for anything. That was a fun rule to keep. Part of this agreement meant we got an allowance to play at the tables. I tried my hand at Blackjack and Texas Holdem and realized the adrenaline is real when actual<\/em> money is on the line verses virtual chips on an app. I left Vegas with a whopping twenty-five extra dollars in my pocket and knew gambling would never be a personal vice of mine.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When playing Texas Holdem you DON’T want your suits and numbers being too diverse. The best hands, like a royal flush, comprise the same suits and the weakest hand, a high card, have the most diverse suits (pictured right). In Leadersmithing<\/em>, Eve Poole uses cards as a metaphor for various skills people need to win the game of leadership and, unlike Texas Holdem, developing a myriad of skills (cards) is essential. As I looked and read through all the skills correlated with suits and numbers, I felt a bit overwhelmed and had several thoughts float through my head like:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere do I begin?\u201d\u2026\u201dWhat needs the most attention?\u201d\u2026 \u201cWhat \u201ccards\u201d do I have and what \u201ccards\u201d do I need?\u201d<\/p>\n

Once I reframed my thinking like Poole suggests in her chapter on effort and took to heart that \u201cLeadersmithing takes a lifetime-so be a tortoise, not a hare.\u201d [1]<\/a> I felt better. Nonetheless, there are places in my leadership journey that need attention. I tried my hardest to read this book prayerfully and mindfully, knowing good and well this was not a devotional book.<\/p>\n

The reason I felt the need to read it mindfully was due to the large number of skills covered. I can\u2019t possibly work on everything at once, but I know I can work on the few things I believe God highlighted for me as I read.<\/p>\n

One of the cards missing from my deck is the 7 of Hearts, \u201cchoreographed conversations\u201d. I had never thought of communication as being a push or pull <\/em>style and that different situations require certain versions of push and others require a particular version of pull. I think I knew the concept, but mastering its application is where I want to grow. Poole mentions Daniel Goleman\u2019s \u2018golf club\u2019 analogy, \u201cAs in a game of golf, you would not putt with a driver, or drive with a putter.\u201d [2]<\/a> Simple idea, but one that really challenged me as I read. There are times when authoritative or coercive styles are necessary and other situations when democratic or coaching is appropriate.<\/p>\n

Along the same lines, I appreciated the BOFF model (Behavior, Outcome, Feelings, and Future), I got to practice this immediately after reading this section with a staff member who was having some difficulties with someone in her small group. Giving people specific behaviors attached to the outcome and feelings it brings to others, then painting a picture of its possible impact if this behavior continues, is a great framework for feedback.<\/p>\n

Another card that struck me and leads into a broader idea was the 6 of Spades, \u201cmeetings\u201d. Poole says, \u201cNext time you sigh when you spy a meeting in your calendar, decide to rejoice instead and schedule it in as a learning opportunity.\u201d[3]<\/a> Meetings don\u2019t usually inspire me to rejoice, but viewing them as opportunities to play some metaphorical \u201ccards\u201d is exciting. To me, this is one of the strengths of Poole\u2019s book. Exercises to practice and try out in the real world. Some of the skill sets Eve mentions I\u2019ve had exposure to but am not practicing <\/em>on a regular basis. This is where the real learning is accomplished. Poole echoes Joseph Campbell here when she says, \u201cAll wisdom traditions have tales of trials, where a hero has to be tested and found true\u2026They are what the character expert David Brooks would call those \u2018crucible moments\u2019, when we need to be tried in the fire in order to achieve purity.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Meetings as crucible moments? Absolutely!<\/p>\n

Giving feedback, receiving feedback, speaking up, asking questions, confronting issues, and coaching all happen in spaces where people are\u2026. meeting. <\/em>Whether it’s a scheduled one on one or a staff meeting I want to increase my wonder of \u201cWhat cards should I play here?\u201d. Not for manipulation, but to hopefully increase my influence and the health of the culture. Speaking of which, I could see how playing certain cards like power, control, posture, or gravitas could be used in a manipulate way or be perceived as such without the right motive. I have always wrestled with certain techniques used in the business world and how they translate into faith communities that are ideally centered around authenticity, humility, service, and non-judgement.<\/p>\n

That is always the tension for me with certain books or videos that teach us how to \u201cplay the game.\u201d When do I \u201cplay the games\u201d of life that inevitably cause me to perpetuate certain aspects of our culture, business, politics, religion, and leadership? And when do I seek to change the game, or at least aspects of it, altogether? Just a finishing thought, for an overall very helpful and practical book on leadership that I will be diving into consistently. I printed off Appendix 1 and have it sitting on my desk so I can keep working toward playing with a very diverse hand of cards, which is the weakest hand in Texas Holdem, but the strongest in leadership.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Eve Poole,\u00a0Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership<\/em>\u00a0(London\u202f; New York, NY: Bloomsbury Business, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017), 106.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid.,22.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 85.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 35.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several years ago I won a trip to Las Vegas for hitting my quarterly goals at a previous company. When we arrived we had one rule. We could not pay for anything. That was a fun rule to keep. Part of this agreement meant we got an allowance to play at the tables. I tried […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"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":[2310],"tags":[2489,2092,2102],"class_list":["post-31120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-eve-poole","tag-leadersmithing-revealing-the-trade-secrets-of-leadership","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31120","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\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31120"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31135,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31120\/revisions\/31135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}