It was a thrilling conclusion to the 2016 NCAA Championship as the world watched the Villanova Wildcats triumph in the final game Monday evening in Houston, Texas. With just 4.7 seconds left on the clock and the game tied at 74, Senior Captain Ryan Arcidiacono was dribbling up the court to what was to be the crowning glory of his four year basketball career with the university he dreamed of playing for as a kid. But instead, in his final moment as a Wildcat, Arcidiacono didn’t take the game-winning shot. He instead passed the ball to Kris Jenkins, a Junior who he heard shouting that he was open, and it was Jenkins that was hailed as the hero of the championship finale after sinking the game winning basket. Arcidiacono said it wasn’t supposed to happen this way, but he’s glad that it did. The game was an especially spectacular example of what can happen when every member of a team or organization is individually empowered with a leadership mentality to succeed, relying on each other with unrestrained trust and cooperation to achieve a common goal and sharing accountability and credit, regardless of the outcome of success or failure.
Arcidiacono has regularly been described as one of the greatest leaders of what is now the winningest class in Villanova history. Coaches, teachers, players and friends depict the 4-year basketball captain as a talented, selfless point guard known for his hustle, grit, leadership and caring attitude. He is an exemplary archetype of a leader who understands the team vision, acts in accordance with intentional purpose towards team goals and inspires and encourages others to do the exact same thing. The team relationships are built on trust, faith, cooperation, integrity, accountability, purposeful action, perseverance and resilience. As is illustrated in Arcidiacono’s selflessly passing the ball to his team mate instead of taking the shot and garnering personal glory, the overall good of the organization takes precedence over individual accomplishment.
In today’s constantly changing business culture, leaders within management must build effective programs that raises the bar on performance and exceed current levels of performance and productivity. Cultures of collaboration built on trust, inspiration, purpose and acknowledgement of individual contribution towards team goals are sine qua non for company success. A recent study conducted of 4,000 companies tested the effectiveness of leadership development programs. Fifty-eight percent of the companies cited significant talent gaps for critical leadership roles. This means that despite corporate training programs, periodic leadership assessments, coaching, all of these things, more than half the companies had failed to develop and grow strong leaders within the organization. Results indicated that leadership development programs are outdated – based on success models for a world that once was, not a world that is or that is coming. Organizations must abandon outdated management practices and start operating from an inner core of values based on integrity, and with a sense of profound responsibility to everyone whom they serve. Every single individual is instrumental to the future success of the company and must be empowered with the leadership mindset of powerful, transformative, significant contribution. For businesses, a disengaged workforce with no real leadership means lower levels of productivity and service, lower growth and profits and ultimately a revolving door of incompetent management. A total human leadership team maximizes efficiency, nurtures skills, develops talent and empowers individuals to do more than conceived possible. With sustained human leadership, and clearly defined and deeply engrained values, organizations will experience greater employee engagement, reduced turnover, stronger teams, more efficient operations, higher profits and consistent innovation.
Today’s demanding business environment requires that organizations be aggressively brave in customizing leadership development programs with current models of success that include values-based corporate training programs. Mature decision-making strategies must anticipate change and challenge risk simultaneously increasing the ability to develop meaningful relationships that connect individuals and build cooperation through trust to collaborate and achieve shared goals. Leaders must inspire others to be the best they can be in all areas of their lives. Enhanced leadership development programs of the 21st century must incorporate the following:
- Vision: Leaders must be able to communicate the organization’s current state, where it is headed, and expectations for new standards of performance. Managers must have an achievable vision that helps teams push through challenges, obstacles, times of exhaustion and doubt. They must be able to unite people with inclusivity and inspire teams in pursuit of shared, meaningful goals. When you create a picture of success that people can share, the mission statement or organizational purpose becomes inspirational. Value creation becomes aligned with performance for an overall successful experience.
- Values: To be a great leader, you must first be a great person. Authentic leaders must embody the spirit of integrity and fortify core values of character, respect, humility, empathy and trust firmly into their belief system. Building high trust culture starts with a foundation of core values that will withstand moral trials and tribulations. At the core of any successful, high-trust organization is the integrity of its leaders. As Albert Einstein stated, “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” Successful, effective leaders know the way, show the way and go the way. Leaders must serve as living examples of integrity and trustworthiness at all times, portraying a model of leadership to all with whom they come in contact. It’s the only way to be.
- Culture: If an organization has a strong and clearly stated set of values and the people act in congruence with those values, then the culture will be strong. If the values are ill-defined, constantly changing or people are not held accountable to uphold those values, the corporate culture will be one of mistrust, low morale, slow production and no materialization of any success. Leaders in essence must empower every individual to embrace the leadership mindset of accountability, integrity, performance and inspiring others to do the same. People will perform in accordance with the culture provided them to contribute their talents, time and energy. These cultures build organizations of resilience and positivity that encourages optimal performance from every single contributor. By letting others know that they are valued as human beings, they will be enthusiastic contributors towards a shared vision of a great future.
- Communication: Leaders must communicate the organization’s current state, where it is headed, and expectations for new standards of performance. They must be collaborators and coaches to uncover and stimulate the untapped team potential for excellence in the organization. The best communication is based on truth, clarity and directness. Leaders must extend pivotal insights and inspire courage. Ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things. The leader must be able to inspire, build confidence, and create passion and commitment in others. In addition, the most effective leaders recognize the critical importance of raising the bar on performance management. This means the implementation of a continuous real time review process that allows managers and staff to discuss elements of performance– frequently, informally and when it’s most relevant. Ongoing transparent feedback, mentoring and coaching are all key elements of the continuous review process, which will lead to individual peak performance and overall company success.
- Recognition: We live in a world that is more blended than it is balanced. Work and life have become integrated, not easily separable. For individuals, emotions from work spill over into all other areas of life affecting personal relationships, health and overall happiness. Great leadership impacts the intricate lives of everyone. Instead of viewing people as objects and functions to be utilized to further financial success and isolated goals, management must make concerted efforts to shift mindsets and create environments that value human beings as remarkable individuals with hopes, dreams, talents and aspirations. The stronger, deeper and more real relationships are in life, the better leader you will be. The more compassion, sympathy and empathy you have, the better you will be able to connect to people, empowering them, and creating meaningful relationships that will rise above mere acquaintance level meetings. Recognizing each individual as meaningful contributors empowers people to excellence and realization of shared goals. Develop sustainable human solutions to inspire teams to do amazing things.
- Empowerment: Empowerment means to train leaders, managers and employees to believe in individual growth and real development and continuous progress. It starts with identifying competent, high-integrity team members and then empowering them to maximize potential. Empowerment leads to action and innovation. Most of individuals’ most rewarding professional achievements are accomplishments realized overcoming challenges, beating the odds or creating something that withstood the test of time. Leaders allow others to grow, knowing they may stumble, but exhibiting a level of trust that will inspire the best in people. Empowerment encourages a growth mindset – an ardor for teaching and learning, an openness to giving and receiving feedback, and an ability to confront and surmount obstacles. It leads to new ideas, better processes and enhanced maturity.
- Trust: The most important ingredient in an organization’s success is, simply, TRUST. It’s fundamental to leadership. There is no value that can be place on Trust: You must have it, cultivate and protect it. When people trust their leaders and colleagues, there is more innovation and better business outcomes. Mistrust and politics are expensive, time consuming and demoralizing. Always maintain a position of respect for fairness and integrity at all levels. Trust creates encouraged environments that support employee confidence and inspire risks that can lead to outstanding performance and innovation. People feel empowered by management teams to be productive and increase efforts. Trust leads to continued trustworthiness and creates stronger heights of teamwork drivers. Trust strengthens every part of any organization and increases individual reliability, performance and loyalty.
When leaders truly begin to care about the lives of the people working in the company, real human leadership is able to develop a growth mindset of excellence in every single employee. There are no underperforming teams, only underperforming leaders. Leaders must display trust to develop it. Leadership is not about titles. It’s about serving others. It’s about positively impacting other peoples’ lives for the better and leading organizations to the achievement of company goals. Management within organizations must develop training and educational programs that put people first, honoring individuals freedoms to perform at peak performance and maintain excellence in every facet of life. Leadership is about creating the optimal environment that motivates and inspires people to manifest their magnificent gifts and talents everyday. Organizations could take a lesson from the Wildcats’ National Championship basketball team – Empower every single team member with accountability of exceeding goals, trust each other to perform beyond expectations and aspire to excellence in everything in life, and success will surely follow.
