How Can It Be Better?

The next morning, Debbie called Charles to schedule a meeting. They agreed to meet at 3:00 P.M. the following day. She explained that her primary objective was to help and that to do that, she needed to understand his situation completely.

When she approached his office at the appointed time, she was anxious but optimistic. She believed that this conversation would help her help him. She wanted him to enjoy his work, and she wanted him to be successful.

It turned out to be an upbeat meeting. Debbie did an effective job of framing the issue. She asked open-ended questions and listened carefully. Although they didn’t reach any definitive conclusions, Charles fully embraced the idea of leveraging his strengths. He admitted that he didn’t have complete clarity on his strengths as they applied to his job as a project manager. He committed to think about that. At the same time, Debbie realized that she could help Charles by providing more training and direction.

It seemed to both of them that they had made progress. They agreed to meet again the following week to continue their discussion.

Debbie realized that she was doing more and more of the things great leaders do. She was helping her team formulate a compelling vision that they wanted to pursue, and she was investing a greater percentage of her time assisting them as they worked to achieve their goals. She was also working to get the right people on the team and fully engage those who were already with her. She found her redefined role as team leader to be thoroughly enjoyable. People were responding and results were improving. She was looking forward to giving Jeff a full report.

The day arrived for her next meeting with Jeff, and Debbie was ready.

“Good morning, Jeff.”

“Morning, Debbie.”

Before she was even seated, she said, “I need to know the rest of the secret. I feel like I’m just barely staying ahead of my team on this thing. Let’s look at the R today, okay?”

Jeff smiled. He was pleased with her sense of urgency. “Did you do your assignment?”

“Yes, I had a very good meeting with Charles. I’ll keep you posted. If the rest of the SERVE model does as much good as the first two parts, there’s no limit to what we could accomplish!”

“You realize what you’ve discovered, don’t you?”

“I think so,” Debbie said, thinking about it for the first time. “The power of effective leadership.”

“You’re right—the power of leadership fueled by a passion to serve others. Don’t forget to always challenge yourself with the question.”

“What question is that?” Debbie asked.

“Am I a serving leader or a self-serving leader? The right answer to that makes all the difference in the world.” Jeff paused for a moment to allow that thought to linger in her mind. “Okay,” he continued, “what do you think the R stands for?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. Here are my guesses:

• Rally the troops?

• Reenergize the organization?

• Remember the Titans?

• Really try harder?”

Jeff grinned. “All good guesses, but you struck out.” He walked over to the whiteboard and wrote just two words next to the R.

“Reinvent Continuously,” Debbie read. “That sounds like a buzzword from a consultant.”

“That might be, but it’s the best language I’ve found to describe the behaviors it encompasses. I’ve heard other phrases used: ‘creative dissatisfaction,’ ‘a healthy disrespect for the status quo,’ ‘continuous improvement,’ and so on. Although all of these are great concepts, none of them seems to capture all that Reinvent Continuously does. Besides, none of them starts with an R.”

Debbie laughed and added, “I think the model would lose something if it were spelled SECVE or SEDVE!”

“You’re right!” Jeff said with a chuckle.

“So how should I apply this idea on a day-to-day basis?” Debbie asked.

“This is a big concept. And it has a tremendous impact on what great leaders do. To help explain it, I’ve broken it down into three components.”

“I’m ready,” Debbie said as she flipped her notebook open to a blank page.

“First, great leaders Reinvent Continuously on a personal level. They are always interested in ways to enhance their own knowledge and skills. The very best leaders are learners. They like to read and are always open to training that will help them perform better. Great leaders find their own approach to learning—some read, some watch videos, some listen to audio books or podcasts, some spend time with mentors—but they all do whatever it takes to keep learning. I believe this to be true: if you stop learning, you stop leading.”

Debbie thought for a moment. “Why is learning so critical to the leader? It seems like once you know how to do your job, you could devote your time and attention to more important matters.”

“There are several reasons. One is that the leader must model the behavior he or she wants people to emulate. If I’m not serious about personal reinvention, you can bet the majority of my people will not be, either.

If you stop learning, you stop leading.

“Another reason learning is critical is survival. We must all learn to Reinvent Continuously to keep up with our competitors and the rate of change in our world.

“Next is the reality that many of the answers that worked in the past are not working today. We must have fresh, innovative thinking and new ideas to prepare adequate responses to the challenges our organization faces.

“And, finally,” Jeff said, “if all that is not enough, I believe that personal reinvention should be one of a leader’s highest priorities because we have a stewardship responsibility to maximize our God-given talents. We can only do that as we continuously learn and grow. It’s one way we leverage our strengths as we discussed in our last meeting.”

“All right,” said Debbie with a smile, “you convinced me.”

“The second part of Reinvent Continuously applies to systems and processes. Great leaders are always seeking answers to questions like these: How can we do the work better? How can we do it with fewer errors? How can we do it faster? How can we do it for less? Leaders must work to instill the desire for improvement into the people doing the day-to-day work. The leader may champion this cause, but the people make it happen— or not.”

“Our team needs to ask those questions,” Debbie observed. “Our results have improved slightly over recent months, but they are not close to where they need to be.”

“I think these questions, and others like them, will serve your team well during the planning process,” Jeff said. “Keep in mind that as a leader, you want to ask these questions all the time.

“The third part of Reinvent Continuously is the idea of structural reinvention,” Jeff continued. “Many people assume that an organizational structure is permanent. In many cases, the organizational structure no longer serves the business—the people are serving the structure. Great leaders don’t change the structure just for something to do. However, they understand that their organizational structure should be fluid and flexible. Other, less proficient leaders tend to let the structure drive their decisions rather than adapting the structure to meet the ever-changing demands of the business.”

“Reinvent Continuously is a big concept,” admitted Debbie. “I think I’ve got a lot of work to do on this one.”

“You’ve already started. You’re working on your development plan—that’s reinventing on a personal level. You’re asking your team how they can change the work processes to improve performance. And, finally, you reinstated the team because you felt that it would provide a better structure to accomplish what needs to be done. I think you’re well on your way!”

“I appreciate your vote of confidence,” Debbie said. “I’m trying. Do you have any questions for me to think about on this topic?”

“You bet. Here are a few.”

• Who are your mentors?

• What are you reading or listening to on tape?

• What systems or processes in your area of responsibility need to be changed to enhance performance?

• How could the areas under your leadership be structured differently to enhance performance?

“Thanks, Jeff,” Debbie said as she finished jotting down the questions. “Your insights and encouragement mean more to me than you’ll ever know. As always, I’m looking forward to our next meeting.”