“Trust is a peculiar resource; it is built rather than depleted by use.” ~ Unknown

To build trust, we must use our self-awareness and self-management skills which we’ve acquired over time. Determining the level of trust we need to cultivate depends on the connection which we identify with others. For example, the barista who makes my coffee drink gets a different level of commitment of trust with me than the woman I share my life with. The project manager or resource coordinator of a business account gets a different level of commitment than a field engineer does. Now, none of these hold more or less value, simply some don’t require as much attention as others. It really comes down to focus and priority.

By using social awareness skills, we need to ask others what needs to happen to increase the current level of trust. Being sure to actually listen to the answer. This helps build trust, and overall deepens the relationship.

Here are few key points I’ve found that aid in building trust:

1. Open Communication  The willingness to share ourselves and what is important to us with others often helps establish a common understanding. If done honestly and wholeheartedly, the driving force of positive actions will allow for a foundation to be created, one in which can be used for continued growth.
2. Consistency in Words, Actions, and Behavior  Following through with what we say we are going to do is a huge part of building trust. When we commit to something, regardless of size, it’s still a commitment and must be followed through in order for it to have any value. Whether it be following through with a return phone call, arriving on time for dinner plans, meeting a school/work related deadline, or planning long term family goals. Any of these can “make or break” a friendship/relationship. No matter what size the commitment, no matter what level of importance, what we say to others as to what we’re going to do, it’s up to us to follow through. Otherwise, we can’t be taken seriously. We eventually establish a characteristic with others that we are “true to our word(s)” and display respect and integrity, or allow for ourselves to be seen as one who cannot be trusted, and often at times considered a liar. This is a very difficult place to be in and most often requires a deep look in the mirror. Otherwise, we’ll never be able to repair what we’ve damaged.
3. Avoid Giving Mixed Signals  How we communicate, whether it be via written word, spoken word– consisting of tone of voice, and/or body language – determine the level of accuracy which others will perceive us. The signals we send to the people in our relationships are made through proactive conversation and feedback. When we express feelings, we express truth. More often than not, these expressions are raised to a heightened level through our reactions and body language, regardless of the words we choose. In a world that is saturated by text messaging, which is usually limited to 140 characters or less, our “on the fly” lifestyles that we’ve adapted in the fast paced and fairly disconnected society, it seems that we rarely establish an accurate means of dialogue. I’ve seen some of the world’s best authors and speakers completely misconceived due to a single letter typo, improper punctuation, or quick witted answer.

Something to consider: People will always trust what they see over what they hear. Actions speak louder than words… so focus on following through with everything you commit to. Otherwise, why bother?

How is Trust Built? is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

After beginning a two year research to propose some leadership theories which focus on a particular characteristic of a leader, leaving out the followers and situations from the equation, I’ve been able to break down leadership into the following four categories: Charismatic Leadership, Attribution Leadership, Transactional Leadership, and Transformational Leadership.

Charismatic Leadership

The theory behind Charismatic Leadership emphasizes the ability of a leader to communicate new visions of an organization to its followers and to raise follower awareness of the importance and core value of goals, often getting people to exceed their own interests.

Charismatic Leaders are dominant, able to express their vision, are exceptionally self-confident, have a high need for power, and have a strong conviction in the moral “righteousness” of their beliefs. They strive to project a magnetic personality which emanates success and competence, and they convey high expectation for and confidence in followers. Leader who possess and exhibit these characteristics inspire trust, confidence, affection, admiration, emotional involvement, obedience, and high performance in their followers. The Charismatic Leader often appears under conditions of uncertainty or in times of crisis which are stressful and make more cognitively and emotionally receptive to the ideas and actions of someone perceived as a so-called savior.

Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory deals with trying to make sense out of Cause and Effect Relationships. When an event takes place, people want to attribute it with a specific cause. This theory states that leadership is simply an attribution that people make about other individuals. The fundamental flaw is a bias in the perception process because people tend to attribute the behavior of other people to their own motivation and ability rather that the situation. Research has found that people tend to characterize leaders as having traits such as personality, understanding, intelligence, strong verbal skills, aggressiveness, and often at time display industriousness.

At the organizational level, attribution theory explains why people are prone to attribute either the extremely negative or the extremely positive performance of an organization to its leadership. This theory fails to take in consideration influences or forces from the external environment. Therefore, people have a “built-in” tendency to give too much credit to other people or to place too much blame on them.

Transactional Leadership

Transactional Leadership takes place when leaders and their followers are in some type of exchange relationship which satisfies needs for one or both parties. The exchange can be economic, psychological, or political in nature; and examples might include exchanging money for work, loyalty for consideration, and political favors. Transactional Leaders help organizations reach their current goals and objectives more efficiently by connecting job performance to valued rewards or by ensuring that employees have the needed resources to get the job done. Transactional Leadership is very common but tends to be transitory, in that there may be no lasting purpose to hold parties together once a transaction takes place.

James MacGregor Burns noted that while this type of leadership could be quite effective, it did not result in organizational or even societal change and, instead tended to perpetuate and legitimize the status quo. In conclusion, Transactional Leaders view management as a series of transactions in which they use their legitimate, reward, and coercive powers to give commands and exchange rewards for services rendered.

Transformational Leadership

The Transformational Leadership process is currently the most popular leadership perspective, and it moves way beyond the more “traditional” transactional approach to leadership. Transformational Leadership is related to charisma in that these leaders motivate people to exceed their personal interests for the sake of the larger community. It also produces levels of dependent efforts and performance that go beyond what would occur with a Transactional Leadership approach alone. In addition, Transformational Leadership is much more than just charisma. While the purely charismatic leader may want followers to adopt his or her “world view” and go no further, the Transactional Leader will attempt to instill in followers the ability to question not only the established views but eventually those established by the leader.

Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus have defined four skills of leadership, which are required for the Transformational Leader to be successful: First, is a strategic vision or goal that evokes people’s attention. Second, is the ability to successfully communicate that vision through words, manners, or symbolism. The third skill set is to have the capacity to build trust by being consistent, dependable, and persistent. And lastly, the fourth skill required for a Transformational Leader to be successful is the capability of positive self-regard–by striving for success. The use of these four skills builds follower commitment and pumps them up to adopt the leader’s vision as their own. They also perform their jobs better, engage in more organizational citizenship behaviors, and make better or more creative decisions.

To close, Transformational Leadership is closer to the prototype of leadership that people have in mind when the describe their ideal leader and is more likely to provide a role model in which dependents want to identify.

This wraps up an 24 month long journey down the leadership road. One in which I’m very grateful to have traveled and will continue to do so. Thank you to everybody who supported me along the way. If you have any insight or wish to share your experiences – please consider leaving a comment to my closing questions.

Of the four categories of leadership I described above, which one do you feel fits best into your daily life? Is there anything that you disagree with? If so, what is it and why do you?

Emerging Approaches to Leadership is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

Have you ever been asked to help with a great cause to share and make a difference within your community?

A couple of months ago, I was approached by Shawn Murphy of Achieved Strategies to see if I wanted to contribute a guest blog post. It was for a blog series titled “Revive and Thrive” and its focus was for this new year of 2011. Of course I was willing to participate and help add value to the cause. Being able to contribute alongside the many great members within the leadership community was a great privilege.

At the time, I focused on four key areas in which I found to be important based on discussions with leaders from several communities, such as: Lead Change Group, Twitter’s #CustServ chat which is focused on Customer Service and is held every Tuesday night at 9PM Eastern Time, and those from the 2010 World Business Forum Blogger’s Hub.

In a post titled “What’s Next” – The four areas in which I felt were important for us to ‘Revive and Thrive in 2011’ were:  Relationships, Following, Leading, and Experience.

I believe that each of the four, are key areas in which we need to focus on during the rest of this year. The relationships we have in our lives today are paving the way we choose to live our lives tomorrow. With positive communication, we are able to help others achieve their goals and dreams. If any of these become hindered, we need to recognize and respond to it immediately. Almost all problems stem from lack of and/or poor communication.

The next two key areas I feel go hand and hand, a ‘yin and yang’ of principals if you will. Following and Leading. This is always a great topic of discussion, as many times people will ask “What makes a great leader?” “How can somebody lead all the time and never follow?” “If somebody is following others, how are they able to lead?” – I think you get the idea.

The fact of the matter is that both are equally important and tend to feed each other. Who we follow today are those we will lead tomorrow. And, those who we lead today will help those we want to follow tomorrow.  If we continue to follow the “Define, Learn, Do” model – we continue to keep things moving in the right direction. Forward.

Lastly, I touched on the importance of: Experience. All of us are here for a very short period of time. When we are able to connect with others, we are opening the doors to new experiences. Whether it is personally, professionally, or spiritually – what we do today cannot be taken away from us. There is so much opportunity available to us, only we can make the decision to make our goals and dreams become realities.

Right before the turn of the year, most of us reviewed 2010 and used it as a guideline for 2011. As of today, how are you making this year your best year ever?

Community Leadership – What’s Next for 2011? is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

This is part 2 of 2 blog post reviewing my initial experience with the collaborative workspace, Gangplank.

Pack your lunch and stay a while.

Based on my first visit to Gangplank, I decided to commit to spend more time there. So I returned the next Wednesday. This time I got there much earlier than during my first visit and found out I was in time for “Brownbag“. Not having a full understanding of what was going on, I was intrigued as to what it was. This day was a open panel discussion held between the “anchors.” After listening to the discussion and researching what a “brownbag” actually is, I found that it’s where Gangplank invites leaders in the local community to share the success they’ve enjoyed, and challenges they’ve faced in their careers. In this particular case, Gangplank refers to anchors as

“companies that base their operations out of Gangplank, with permanent desk space for multiple employees. Each anchor is involved in Gangplank planning meetings, as well as contributes to the community through donations, services, etc.”

Trust is built through engagement.

During and after the panel discussion, I spent a few minutes getting familiar with each of the members and their organizations. Quite a nice blend of marketing, strategy, designers, developers, and small business mentors. I got a good sense as to why these guys were up there talking – about what they love, their drive and passion clearly showed.

After the discussion, I had the opportunity to speak with Tim from Brand Adoption. We had a great conversation about social media growth, the important of trust within communities, and product value. Heck, I even recall some laughs about how we thought we know what we wanted to do before college. (Gosh…if I only knew then what I know now!)

Game on!

After Tim and I finished up our conversation, I returned to my little work area and anxiously awaited for Hacknight Street Hockey game starting at 7pm. After some help from Chuck Reynolds of Rynoweb and Andrew Ryno with some PHP related issues, I changed changed into some workout clothes and headed across the street to the parking garage to play some street hockey.

It was a great time and was an excellent reminder to me on how I need to adjust to the dry air. Moving from southwest Florida (where the average humidity is 98 bajillion percent) to the Phoenix area (where, well… let’s just say it’s very dry) – I needed to stay hydrated. I think some of the guys thought I was going to pass out and die mid-game. Great group of guys. Had the opportunity to meet Chris Conrey, who is responsible for organizing the game. So… thank you, Chris. After about an hour or so of having my butt handed to me, we wrapped the game up and headed back Gangplank HQ.

Got ink?

After the friendly game of street hockey, there was a tattoo session scheduled at 9pm. Mike Benner stepped up to the plate and had the guys from Tabu Tattoo and inked up his back with Gangplank’s tagline, “Be Dangerous.” The session was great and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished/healed work.

While all this was going on, I was asked if I minded that my “personal geek space” was to be invaded. This was when I had the pleasure meeting April Holle of Made Better Studio. After a candid introduction, we sat back and watched the tattoo session and discussed what brought us to Gangplank. By then, it was getting late and time for me to get home. I had a 45 minute drive, so I wrapped things up and took off.

General Consensus:

Gangplank is great collaborative workspace and offers one roof for technologists – from designers to developers, market strategy consultants, students and tutors, entrepreneurs and mentors, and musicians. It’s directly described as:

“a group of connected individuals and small businesses creating an economy of innovation and creativity in the Valley. We envision a new economic engine comprised of collaboration and community, where industries come together to transform our culture.”

The place has a great vibe and company of people who know that when great minds with great ideas get together at once place, great things happen. I’m looking forward to moving in the right direction with the “pirates” at Gangplank.

If you want to read Part 1 of 2 of this blog post, click here.

Walking the Plank (Part 2 of 2) is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

The other night a friend and I were catching up. We usually go back and forth about our favorite sport teams (here is where I lose a few readers… Go Tigers!, Go Wings!, Go Blue!), exchange a few of the latest laughable videos that are floating around on the web, and then wrap up with some profession related topics, questions, comments, and/or gibberish. These usually start fairly late at night and then go onto late/early hours into the morning. I get blamed for sidetracking my friend, who apparently only works late at night.

Catching up and sharing.

So as we are going through our motions, Dave (friend) realizes that I have recently moved from the southwest Florida region to the metro Phoenix, Arizona area. The topic of work, school, and significant other get mentioned, we chat a bit about all three and then he proceeds to give me a few names of some contacts in which he knows that are of IT, SEO, and WordPress relation. One of the contacts and links he sent me pointed me in the direction of a collaborative community called “Gang Plank.” I took a quick peak and bookmarked the webpage to come back to after our chat. Upon further review, I happened to notice that the areas of focus seem to pertain to many of my passions: collaborative exchange, conceptual innovation, music, and many other areas in which harness the creative mindset. So I slated some time for their Hacknight which is every Wednesday night from 6pm to 9pm.

Let’s go check out Gang Plank!

I walked in and noticed many different things going on. Off to the right were a slew of Macs…most vacant, as for most of the attention was directed towards the Street Fighter II game in the back of the room.

There must have been 25-30 people checking out what was going on. “Hadouken!” filled my ears and took me back to a old friend’s basement, where as kids we would play the game for hours and hours.

Okay, at this point I have no idea what to do but can sense that I’m at the right place. I find myself drawn towards the bookcase at the front of the room. I notice a lot of great areas sectioned off within the bookcases, some even I know nothing about. I’m going to admit that I am ignorant when it comes to programming languages. PHP? Philadelphia Highway Patrol? C plus sharp flat, what? HTML? Hot Topic’s Mother Load, eh? – Okay, before I make myself look like even a bigger idiot when it comes to this stuff, let me move along and get back on topic.

Fly on the wall.

I sat down and ‘introverted’ myself in the corner, giving myself time to soak in everything that was going on. There were a few guys sitting on a couch talking about what they do for a living. One mentioned he was an accountant and the other expressed he was an urban developer. Then an independent architect walks in, and sits down with the two gentlemen sitting on the couch and they began skimming the surface of what interests them, proceeding to exchange business cards. It was nice to see such a unique climate of professional networking.

Game on!

Earlier in the day, I received a tweet regarding a street hockey game. I brought some workout clothes but unfortunately, I did not play. Next time… it’s on! Tighten up the laces and get ready to unleash the Hockeytown that runs in my blood!

Kick in the ‘keister’.

Earlier in the day, Dave expresses the importance to “kick Chuck in the keister” for him. This is not something I do when I first meet somebody but have been known to do during my second encounter…maybe.

It was getting close to 8:30pm and my laptop battery was ready to die. Chuck had just returned from stepping out for a few – so I packed up my laptop bag and walked over to introduce myself. I extended my hand and introduced myself. We caught up about what we do and he then proceeded to answer my question, “So, what is it that we do here… at Gangplank?”

Based on what I’ve written so far and by what you may have already researched, what do you thing Gangplank is?

Please keep your eye open for part 2 of 2…a continuation of this post, “Walking the Plank.”

Walking the Plank (Part 1 of 2) is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

Crafton Wallace at Jabz Health and Fitness

So I’ve been a member of the gym I go to for over a year now and I’m glad I made the switch when I did. Before joining Jabz Health and Fitness, I worked out at a Lifestyle Fitness, also for about a year. Both gyms are good, but are very different in many ways.

For me, when I got back into a dedicated workout routine, Lifestyle Fitness was fine. It was a fairly large fitness center and offered quite a few amenities (pool, tanning, spin classes, day care, and a great locker room with a private entry sauna). It was a gym where all levels of members walked the floors, each with their own set of goals, both long and short term. There was a certain social aspect that I imagine appeals to most, but I am the type of person who likes to go in, get my swol on, and leave. After 8 months or so, a certain social level started to develop there and I began to notice members weren’t so focused with their workouts, but were more focused on chit chatting and gawking at any new guy or girl that walked in the door. The motivation I had started to drop off a little bit and a change of scenery was in need. My workout partner mentioned that he had stopped by his old gym, which was once a Gold’s Gym, and suggested to go check it out.

Upon walking in, I sensed a level of intensity that was very appealing. There was a certain smell the gym had, the lighting seemed to be just right, the machines looked used but not busted up…rugged if you will. The free weights were more than adequate, and to top it off…there were several dedicated spots for boxing, cage fighting, and MMA training. This is exactly what I was looking for, without even knowing it!

Recognizing The Comfort Zone

After a few months of solid results, the gym decided to move some stations around. At first, this was an annoyance because I just got familiar with where everything was at. I then began to realize this was a good thing, as for it allowed me to find machines that I’d normally wouldn’t use. This was a good thing because after a year or so of the same routine, I began to notice I was over training and not switching it up enough.

Sometimes when we hit plateaus and things become stagnant, we need to switch things up a bit. I’m a firm believer that if we don’t do it ourselves, God will do it for us. When we stay inside our comfort zones too long, we begin to become oblivious to our surroundings and often lose sight on what we’ve been keeping our eye on the entire time. I feel that the “workstation relocation” was a good thing and it made me realize that I needed to change things up a bit, both inside the gym and out.

When you realize that you are in need of change, what works good for you and how do you go about doing it?

Abs at Jabz – Why “Switching It Up” Helps is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

As some of you know, I’ve been reading a lot more than usual. I believe this to be a transformational period for me, one that I’m embracing more and more each and every day. For the past six months or so, I find myself reading 5 or 6 books at a time, while listening to one audio book each week while walking/running to and from the gym. After a long break, I’ve come to appreciate the views of many great authors. Some in which a lot of us have heard of and deserve all the credit they receive… if not more. And then there are the authors that many never hear about for one reason or an other.

This takes me to the old saying that “You become the person you will be in five years from the books you read and the people you surround yourself with.” I find it more and more amazing each day how we can grow as servant leaders by seeing the world through other’s eyes. When a worldview is presented in front of us by somebody else, I often feel as it’s a paradigm shift. Of course reputation and creditability have a huge impact on this, but what if they didn’t? What if we take what we’ve learned up to today and use our own judgement and choose to move forward by what we read and create something remarkable?

Ironically, I’ve recently finished reading Seth Godin’s latest, Linchpin along with re-reading Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind… back to back.

This has been very good for me, as for I’ve needed to step further into my creative (or lack there of) side of life and out of my over-analytical logic based left brain. In addition to rewriting my first book and finishing up the outline for my second book, I’ve been racking my brain (or brains so-to-speak) to create something meaningful, something that will help others based on what I’ve learned and allow for it to be absolutely remarkable…even if it’s small.

Seth Godin has expressed 7 attributes which he feels are what indispensable leaders need to possess. I have taken some notes and highlighted them here:

1. The ability to provide a unique interface between the members of the organization.

Your organization is a network. What holds it together and why? Making sure that everybody is there for the right reasons. A mission…the tribe knows where they are going and racking up accomplishments along the way. An indispensable leader help lead while he or she connects with the organization. The organinzation also needs to include the customers and prospects…providing the bridge from the outside world to the company.

2. Being able to deliver unique creativity.

Creativity is personal, original, unexpected, and useful. It require domain knowledge and trust. Being able to deliver unique creativity is the most challenging part…not only to help the organization grow has a team but to also allow for us to continue being indispensable.

3. The courage to manage a situation or organization of great complexity.

When situations get complex, there is no manual, or some say “no map.” Indispensable leaders make their own maps and find the way as they continue to focus on the tribes objective(s).

4. Demonstrating the ability to lead customers.

We are living in times where markets are shifting and audiences are spreading out. Consumers are seeking engagement. They are looking for people to follow. The traditional (or 20th century if you will) model of commerce defined a brand and a team of people go sell it to those who are willing to buy. It’s a very static approach and definitely a one-way transaction. “Here is the latest widget… take it or leave it” and at the end of the day, it’s still a widget. The 21st century model is very fluid, interactive and decentralized. Meaning, organizations need more than what they’ve been used to. It means that every person that interacts with a consumer, or a business, or even other team members who work from within needs to be focused on marketing as leadership. There is no script, no manual, no map… just the ability to lead.

5. Inspiring staff

A friend and I were having a conversation the other day and some of Newton’s Laws came up. This got me to somehow relate the laws to teams and their efforts. A team at rest, tends to stay at rest and forward motion is not the default state of any group of people, especially large groups of people. When there are many levels of management, politics and such all become a factor and then before you know it…everything seems to slow down due to excessive process. If the work environment is that of an industrial platform, a factory or manufacturing facility, then this isn’t much of a problem, as for the owner or foreman controls the department heads, and the department heads oversee his or her shift leaders and so on.

6. Providing domain knowledge.

Combining knowledge with smart decisions and generous contributions can change the way things are done. Strategy and motivation, combined with emotion and confidence allow for the map makers of our society be able to contribute to our organizations in ways that allows for everyone to understand the meaning, the common goal so deeply.

7. Possessing an unique talent.

Leaders need to be able to see things that the follower don’t already. Possessing a unique talent/skill allows for a team to collaborate creatively and effectively. When seeds are planted, beautiful things begin to grow. It is up for us to decide how we are going to nurture and manicure it.

I am very interested for your to share you voice on this matter. How do you see these abilities playing a role in your life?

7 Abilities of the Indispensable Leader is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

Co-founder of Altimeter Group, Charlene Li, spoke on the first day at the World Business Forum. She passionately expressed the value of social technologies.

“Social technologies are all about the relationships you can form.”

Here are a few items of interest and advice from Charlene Li:

1. What social technologies does better than anything else is create, foster, and build relationships. They enable authentic and transparent relationships.

2. You can’t control personal relationships, so don’t think you can control business relationships. In fact, you have to give up control in the social space, but you have to still be in command. To do this you have to inspire and lead your customers.

3. You simply cannot put a Return On Investment on a tweet. Make sure you’re asking the right questions when thinking about what to measure regarding the value of social technologies.

The one thing that stood out about Charlene was the connection she made with the audience. Her sincerity and passion poured out effortlessly. She focused on the importance of emotional intelligence within communities, both personally and professionally.

How do you use social technologies to enhance you relationships?

Three Items About Social Technologies is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big