How to Show Up, Stir Up, Build Up, and Shut Up
If you let your mind wander, you’ll end up where you don’t want to go.
Give your personal leadership focus and direction.
#1. Show Up.
Bring your best self to work by determining how you want to show up BEFORE you walk through the door.
Show up to seize opportunities, not simply solve problems.
Drucker said, “Results are obtained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems.”
A problem solving focus stumbles over untapped opportunities. The question isn’t, “What problems need solving?” The question is, “What opportunities need seizing?”
Show up to notice people.
- When are they at their best?
- What holds them back and how can you remove it?
- How can you put people in situations where they thrive?
#2. Stir Up.
Teams slip into comfortable patterns that feel like success but blind them to their power and potential.
- How might you take this to the next level?
- Why are we doing this?
- What if we stopped doing this?
- If you were the boss, what would you do next?
- If you couldn’t fail, what would you try?
#3. Build Up.
Day-to-day challenges wear your team down. The leader’s job is filling tanks with gas and expanding people’s potential.
Immerse your thoughts in ways to energize people.
- Let your team hear you expressing gratitude for them to the boss.
- Acknowledge their challenges. Don’t try to fix them.
- Celebrate their strengths, more than fixing their weaknesses.
#4. Shut Up.
After you show up, stir up, and build up, shut up and get out of the way.
#5. Clean Up.
Bring projects to useful conclusions.
- What worked?
- What did you learn?
- What will you do differently next time?
Walk into the office with clear ideas of how you want to lead. If you don’t, the river will drag you into a spiraling whirlpool.
How might you expand on ‘UP’ leadership?
What ‘UP’ might you add to the list?
Dan,
“Step Up” and “be all you can be” every day (a little cliche’ today) may be a slight military with this, seems to work for me. This is as opposed to sitting backing and just floating, I consider this like riding the wave to destination with up and downs, flips and flops.
Surely we need to “be prepared” when we show up, “Boy scouting still lives with me too) with the values instilled 40 years ago, they last a lifetime if we use them. Let’s sail the boat and pull the oars in unison Captain!
Love it, Tim. We could add step up or shut up.
I was a Boy Scout, too!! I still remember some of the lessons and many of the people and experiences.
I wonder if we could create Man/Woman Scouts for adults?
Couldn’t hurt 🙂
What about “speak up”? I have found that a sure fire way to erode trust in our teams is to only share good news, and never bad news. It feels demoralizing to not be trusted with bad news. Not to mention, one is either a fool or a bad manager if he believes his team won’t have good ideas to overcome the issue at hand.
Thanks Jordan. Great addition to the list! You are so right. Any manager who minimizes challenges comes off as out of touch.
We don’t feel safe following people who don’t have a firm grasp on reality.
Perhaps the difference between optimism and pessimism plays a role here.
Excellent, Dan. #2.5 inspires forward thinking creativity.#3 reminds me of a quote by Anton Chekhov; “Any idiot can face a crisis – it’s day to day living that wears you out”.
Thanks Ian. Adding forward thinking creativity is powerful. Stir up creativity. 🙂
The Chekhov quote is new to me.. LOVE IT. Thanks
I love this Dan!
I’m sharing this post with my youth leaders in Scouting.
In my world with working with young people every day, I think the biggest challenge they face is before even “Show Up”. That is “Rise Up”. Meaning, realizing in themselves that they have the potential to be a leader not just in Scouting, but in this world. I think it’s incredibly hard to for young people to get over that first hump of self doubt. (Then again, looking at my own life I think that’s true for even adults)
Hey Justin. Brilliant! We have to believe we can make a difference before we find courage to make a difference.
Listen up – Truly listening to others is a skill that is not practiced and taught enough. Too often we are too busy formulating answers or replies to really listen to what others are saying. We miss the nuances and the ideas and squash enthusiasm when we don’t spend the time to listen and really hear what other people are saying.
Thanks Debbi. How could I forget that one?!?! Listening is the most neglected leadership skill. We spend too much time thinking about what we’re going to say and too little time listening.
Dan,
I would add “Pray Up”. I know that not every person comes from a faith background, but many do. If you do, and you’re a leader, then I believe it’s essential that not only are you praying for your own continued growth as a leader, but that you will be faithful to invest in your team members, to equip them well, to encourage and inspire them consistently, and to expect the very best they have to offer!
Thanks Page. Yes, of course. It’s interesting that when I read the suggestions, they seem obvious. Thanks for adding your insights.
Exellent post, Dan. I much prefer your directives to the triad espoused by a high level director where I used to work. Her mantra for anyone who made an appointment to see her in her office: “Be brief. Be bright. Be gone.”
Thanks Williams. I must say that “Be brief. Be bright. Be gone,” gets the point across. 🙂
I’m not sure if Shut up is any better than Be gone. … both are bit uncomfortable. Perhaps it’s better when leaders tell themselves to shut up.
I think that #1 Show Up could also be split into two ‘UPs’. ‘Show Up’ and ‘Grow Up’.
You can show up with the mentality you definitely stated above. Come to work waiting for the opportunities to seize. Show up to work ready to accomplish whatever is on your plate or rolls your way. Show up to work to be the example for those you work with and continue the positive pace forward with any team you are with.
I think that your 2nd portion of #1 can be split into ‘Grow Up’ though. We should never plateau ourselves, we should never stop learning, we should never stop developing, and we should never stop developing the future leaders to come after us once we are done or gone. You should grow up every day you come to work by enriching yourself with more knowledge. You should grow up every day by working together with your team to continue to improve.
I have definitely used some of these techniques mentioned through my jobs. I never let someone get too complacent in a job that it becomes so routine they lose their enjoyment of it. I move individuals around temporarily most of the time to either expand their knowledge or try to learn what they can do that helps them progress, strive for more, and work overall better day in and out. I use the individual’s strengths overall and place them in a more permanent position where they can not only enjoy what they want to do but to improve themselves and others around them while doing it.
Sometimes it’s trial and error, sometimes it’s luck of the draw, but sometimes….. it just happens.
As always, I enjoy reading your posts. Thank you for taking the time.
Thanks Richard. I can’t seem to get “Show Up,” out of my head. So much seems to flow from this idea.
I agree with you there Dan! Definitely had a lot flowing through my head myself with ‘Show Up’.