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Phone: (717) 299-9800
North Group Consultants
15 North Spruce Street
Lititz, PA 17543

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there”.

We kept this clever saying at the top of our minds as we taught our young children to memorize their home address. We showed them that it’s good to know where home is and which roads will lead you there, and I find that the same principle applies to organizations.

I recently reviewed North Group’s first Organizational Health and Performance Assessment.

The client needed to know their “home address,” and they wanted to know what roads they could take to get there. So, like we still do today, we began by getting a clear view of their current organizational state. We focused on the client’s mission, core values, culture, leadership, financial performance, strategic approaches, and much more, then provided it to them in a final report.

As I read this report 25 years later, I found that our insights then were similar to what we often find today. We commonly hear that the client knew much of what we state in our reports. Yet the clear articulation of the organizational issues does the important work of moving the conversation from the back page to the front page, from the lunch room to the Board room.

In addition, it is a rare assessment report that does not simultaneously bring to light an issue that previously existed only in the dark recesses of the firm. And what hides in the dark often holds the organization back. Brought into the light, there is a clear opportunity – and even a responsibility – to act on it and make organizational life, health and performance better. However, this is usually easier said than done.

I clearly remember an assessment from a number of years ago. The organization was well known and highly successful. However, they were entering a time of transition and were beginning to prepare for a future leadership transition. Unfortunately, it became abundantly clear that an executive termination was imperative. While highly unusual, the organization thrived after the difficult decision was made.

We are fortunate to maintain significant contact with the organization we assisted 25 years ago. They have excellent leadership, a clear focus, and are bringing exponential benefit to their employees, clients, and community. They found their “home address.”

The assessment process is not complicated. Though our methods evolve over time, the value of our findings are timeless. Like teaching our children how to find their way home, our North Group team uses the assessment process to make the home address clear to everyone, providing roads to success, filling potholes, and addressing speed bumps along the way.

C.S. Lewis once said, “By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets,” and so it is with organizations. The organizational assessment shines a brighter light on the organization’s “home address” and clarifies roads to a brighter future.

There’s a word that stops people cold: authority.

Presidents and prime ministers have it. So do CEOs, army colonels, and parents. Most of us don’t respond particularly well to the concept. Yet we know, at some level, that it’s necessary for an orderly society.

But here’s what I’ve come to believe: authority and influence are not the same thing. And confusing the two is one of the most common, and costly, mistakes a leader can make.

Authority is granted. It comes with the title, the role, the org chart. Influence, on the other hand, is earned. It comes from the people around you, and only if they decide you deserve it.

Years ago, I served an organization that gave me what felt like a lot of authority. Maybe even too much. I found myself reluctant to use it. Not out of timidity, but because something felt off about leading primarily through positional power. That tension pushed me toward a theory I’ve held onto ever since:

Obtain as much authority as you can. Use as little of it as possible.

The goal wasn’t to be weak. It was to replace the blunt instrument of authority with something far more powerful: influence.

So how do you build influence? It begins with genuine human relationships. Most people have what I’d call a genuine meter—a mostly subconscious ability to sense if someone is truly invested in their growth and well-being. When people decide you’re the real thing, they begin to give their voluntary trust.

That’s influence. And once you have it, formal authority becomes largely unnecessary.

Authority tells people what to do. Influence makes them want to.

Both have their place. There are moments when authority must be exercised clearly, firmly, and without apology. But those moments should be the exception, not the rule.

The leaders I’ve most respected understand this intuitively. They carry their authority lightly, invest in people seriously, and lead through the influence they’ve patiently built.

Authority is necessary. Influence wins the day.

Paul died recently. He died without fanfare; fewer than 10 people attended his memorial service. I never met Paul and only knew him through my friend Greg, who became his caretaker. Let me tell you about that.

Paul was a client of Greg’s firm, albeit a small one. Paul had some special needs and lived with his mother. Even though it wasn’t required, he liked to pay his bill in-person and often loitered after transacting. Greg would always take time out of his schedule to talk with him.

A peculiar kind of friendship blossomed.

One day Paul shared the sad news that his mother had died. Feeling for Paul, Greg attended the memorial service. He was one of three attendees. That’s when Greg realized Paul had no one in his life other than his mom.

Because Greg is who he is, he became Paul’s personal advocate.

Greg visited Paul once a week and attended to his personal needs. He also got into the habit of calling Paul each day on his way home from work. No doubt, these were the highlights of Paul’s lonely days. As Paul’s health declined, Greg became his POA. Eventually, it became necessary to find a medical facility. Greg took care of this as well and visited Paul weekly in the facility, a good 40 minutes from his home.

I asked Greg about his commitment to Paul. I wanted to know why he did what he did. In his customary humility, Greg simply shrugged his shoulders. No answer other than to say that in an odd kind of way, he misses Paul.

Leadership can take many forms but sometimes the most powerful, and the most needed, is servanthood.

The confident, humble leader………… Oxymoron? Paradox? Leadership gobbledygook?

I am thinking about two of the best leaders I know. No, I am not thinking about myself. I am much too humble for that…………! The two leaders I am thinking of are similar in a few ways and different in many ways. Their differences are more stylistic, while their similarities are more fundamental.

If you are a leader and have not, at some point, asked the question “Do I have what it takes to lead in this situation,” you are…………unusual. Most of us harbor doubts about our own ability at some point. This is natural and healthy.

Back to my two leader friends. I believe that one of these leaders has always known that he will ascend to the position he is currently in – leading a large, growing, and successful organization. He is in the position for which God gifted him and his organization is clearly benefiting from those gifts. Most anyone that meets him can clearly see his gifts and the confidence that underlies those gifts. Perhaps paradoxically, I have never heard him described as arrogant or overly self-sufficient. He uses the gifts he has been given and he trusts his team to take care of the rest. You would never know that he has doubts about his ability to lead his organization into the future, but he does. I know – he has told me.

My other friend profiles as one of the most humble people you will ever hope to meet. Personal humility is the “leading edge of his leadership.”  I seriously doubt that he ever thought he would rise to the level of leadership that he now successfully occupies. He lives with doubts about his leadership ability most every day, and his team is aware of those doubts. He is an appropriately vulnerable leader. Interestingly, his vulnerability adds to his team’s confidence and trust in his leadership.

My two friends are miles apart stylistically. But they share fundamental characteristics and commitments to which we should all aspire. They are self-aware. They accept their gifts, their vulnerabilities, and their deficiencies. They lean on their teams. They are privately confident. They are publicly humble.

Do you have what it takes? Become more self-aware. Place the interests of your organization, your family and your colleagues above your own. Develop your gifts. Confess your vulnerabilities and deficiencies. Lean on your team. Be confident that God and your organization has placed you where you are for “such a time as this.”  Above all, cultivate a confident humility.

None of us gets there on our own.

25 years. 300 months. 1,304 weeks. 9,131 days. If these numbers sound vaguely familiar, it is because we used the same numbers to start our “25 Stories for 25 Years.” We hope you enjoyed, and were encouraged, by these stories which intentionally highlighted the value that well-led organizations bring to their communities.

We often hear talk of “corporate greed.” We are sure it exists. But in the world in which we live, we see very few, if any, examples of greed. Rather, we see mission and values-based organizations manifesting sacrificial, servant-like leadership. Leadership that places the interest of customers, employees, and communities above that of monetary or reputational gain.

An underlying premise of our “25 Stories” was to illustrate the importance of for-profit businesses and not-for-profit organizations/ministries to the well-being of the communities in which we live. Where would our world be without the time, talent, and treasure contributed by these 25 organizations and many more?

Whether your organization was highlighted or could have been… thank you!

We are grateful for the many ways in which you make our communities better.

Vision. Innovation. Care. Generosity. Chances are, you did not immediately think of the Amish community when you read these words. But we do. Many may think of the Amish as a “closed” community. But it’s not really true.

Certainly, family, hard work, and ingenuity come to mind when we think of our Amish friends. These words, and the descriptive words offered above, provide a more accurate description of MK Builders, a multi-generation framing contractor, with clients across the Mid-Atlantic.

With more than 30 years of vision, innovation, care, and generosity, MK’s footprint spreads across many miles and many communities. But the footprints are hard to see. Perhaps the most elusive leadership characteristic is that of humility. Humility characterizes MK and it characterizes the Amish community.

We are grateful to serve MK Builders. They make our communities better.

 


“Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom…” Proverbs 4:6-7

Lancaster County is well known as a senior living community mecca. And for good reason. Our beautiful rolling farmland, accessibility to major cities, the ocean and the mountains, and a growing cultural scene make Lancaster County attractive to many retirees.

Is it fair to ask what Lancaster County gains from this concentration of seniors? We believe the answer lies in the biblical quote with which we started this post. If you took a stroll through “main street” at Pleasant View Communities, in the green hills outside of Manheim, you would no doubt encounter a variety of very wise people. Home to seniors from many different states, occupations, and faith traditions, Pleasant View affords us the richness of experience, knowledge, wisdom, and examples of lives well lived.

Yes, “wisdom is supreme.”

We are grateful to serve Pleasant View. They make our communities better.

It is likely that few of us give much thought to ambulances or fire trucks. That is, until we need them. But at Glick Fire Equipment Company, Inc., fire trucks, ambulances, and other emergency services vehicle users are not only their customers, they are their “calling.” The Glick Family and their 110 employees (spread across four locations in Pennsylvania) live and breathe emergency services. And we are sure glad they do.

Founded in 1987, in the living room of David and Susan Glick, this second to third generation, family-owned company is growing rapidly because of their immersion in this indispensable sector of our communities. Talk to most any fire chief or ambulance captain in Pennsylvania and you can be sure they will know and praise Glick Fire’s commitment to their services. Talk to most any local fire chief or ambulance captain in a community near a Glick Fire location and they will identify a Glick employee as one of their volunteers. Yes, it is a “calling.”

When a family business focuses first on the good of their employees, customers, and community, “success” is inevitable.

We are grateful to serve Glick Fire Equipment Co., Inc. They make our communities better.