As usual we had an exciting discussion around people and how the relationships factor into leadership.  We concentrated on the topic "Giving the right assistance to people"

We analyzed how our department rated on various areas of "people empowerment " including working on your peoples’ strengths/weaknesses, give them your entire self, giving them undivided attention, giving them complete ownership and giving them a great chance at success.

We delved deeper into the issue of giving unconditional ownership to the people around you.  We agreed that it is very hard for analytical and technical people to give up control/ownership and acknowledge the success of others.  I referred to a recent BusinessWeek podcast I was listening to titled "When should you keep your ideas to yourself?" where the legendary Marshall Goldsmith discusses how it is not always the best idea to "improve on" or "add value to" some body else’s idea.  Although that may add 5-10% quality/efficiency to the outcome, in all probability the other person might lose 50% or more commitment to execution of that idea.  This is very relevant to Mr. Maxwell’s theory of giving ownership to others.  100% means 100%  You do not want to claim any part of the idea, execution or the outcome of your team member’s plan.  You should not have to share the spotlight with him/her.

While discussing the need for having a vision and relating that to our own department’s vision/goals, we also brainstormed on a long-standing goals of ours.  I am very excited that we have a concrete plan of action to accomplish that goal in a methodical manner and we committed to the action plan as a team.  To learn more about that goal and other critical ideas we generate at these book club meetings, please join us next time.  We meet the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month!  Also, be sure to check out our new website section called "Learning" where we are trying to catalog all the actionable lessons we learn during the course of our conversations.