The Danger of a Results-Based Culture

I tried that once, and it didn’t work.

Don’t get me wrong. I want results. You might say I’m addicted to them.

When they’re not in sight, anxiety sets in and I start planning how to get them. When I talk to others about what I’m doing, nobody seems satisfied to hear I’m still in the preparation phase. There seems to be some guilt associated with planning, refining, and even training before chasing the wild game in the big hunt. Maybe it’s an ancestral drive we have; I’m not quite sure. 

When I tell people what I’m working on, the first question is “When will it be delivered?” What’s the date? What’s holding you back? I want to stop for a second and say, there are times I don’t want to put unshrunk cloth on old wineskins. And there are times I’m thrilled I rehearsed, dug deeper, tested out that big idea before I pulled the trigger. 

One of my humorous reminders to myself is that most of my best results have been accidental. I want you to consider the possibility that when the call of culture is that your value is in immediate results, it’s a lie. Most often the leader’s calling is to plant seed. 

Please don’t misunderstand. If you know me, you know I’m a person of action. I have lived and died by my (often impulsive) actions. It’s my greatest strength, but it’s also one of my greatest weaknesses.

In the scheme of idea development that grows exponentially beyond expectations, there’s one action I believe is more potent than releasing my work rapidly into the ‘real world’. Before I run that engine I’ve built full out on the track, I need some test runs, and even a test pilot or two who’ve seem some things blow up in their face before.

We live in the day of the MVP. Minimum Viable Product. Don’t wait till it’s perfect. In fact, you have no idea what it needs to be perfect, and the PROCESS of development is out there where it’s being tested. 

I don’t disagree! … but it’s not a universal truth.

There’s a time to take action and have faith. And there’s a time to do the deep work of Practice. 

Sometimes action and practice occur simultaneously. It can be confusing, right? That’s why I’ve made it my mission to help leaders establish a practice zone environment where good things mature.

Manipulate yourself but not others.

Strangely enough, we get this backward. In a culture of results, we often manipulate the pain, the fears and uncertainty of others to get results for ourselves.

As a keynote speaker and trainer who has led teams to some significant results, I’m often asked, “Greg, How can I motivate my people?”

 It makes me flinch.

I understand the question, and I know the vicious cycle it represents.

Leadership principles are foundational, and the true practice of leadership has been well laid out for thousands of years. Even trendy buzzwords or themes we see uncovered in the latest books are not new. I love the Book of Wisdom we call the Bible, and I consider it intense leadership development when I pour over it daily.

Recently I read this in Mark 4:26. “… a man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” 

The problem with “results” is that we can’t get them without planting seed.

We can’t legislate RESULTS.

As leaders, we’re quick to identify the ‘problem’ with employees “these days”. If you’re looking for a conversation starter, you’ll draw a crowd with this one. 

Sowing seed isn’t reactionary. We don’t do it to fix a problem or get a quick win. We sow seed because it’s a core value, and we know it will yield a harvest (even if some of the seed doesn’t take). 

In today’s culture, I believe we’re at a crossroad. The expectations of customers and of our people have changed. We no longer work for the weekend. The most fantastic thing about the youngest generations is also the most irritating to conventional leader-think.

Your people are BEGGING to be part of the mission and to become the best they can be.

And… they are looking to you to take them there.

They’re counting on you to sow the seed.

Call me Crazy... but HEAR ME OUT!

I know you don’t have extra time.

I know you believe sowing seed is just busywork.

I realize we’ve conditioned ourselves not to care what they’re doing when they’re not on the clock.

And I have seen that it’s creating competition in the marketplace for those willing to sell their time, instead of buying into the mission.  

We haven’t shown them a way to stop prostituting their time and really fall in love with their work.

I want to be known as a leader who is planting the seed. It doesn’t always come naturally for me. It’s a mind-shift I resisted for a couple decades. Perhaps you have as well, but when you’re ready to assume the true role of leadership, it’ll look like this. 

·      You’re sowing seed into the lives of others to see where the good soil is.

·      You don’t have to control ‘how’ it grows, only that you sowed good seed.

·      You’ll spend more time cultivating and fertilizing and less time isolating and legislating.

·      Your time will be spent in training and equipping those who will reproduce the seed you’ve sown in them. 

·      You will create a harvest in the lives of others, far beyond the purpose that brought you together. 

·      You’ll experience true satisfaction and significance, far beyond financial success. 

The problem with getting results is when it gets in the way of the cascading harvest you’ll experience from planting good seed as your highest priority.  

Don’t just keep replacing soldiers. Get in the practice zone with them and turn them into great WARRIORS.  Be the Leader you were created to be.

Greg is a business owner, speaker, podcaster, best-selling author, and coach who helps people move past circumstance to calling, beyond brokenness to breakthrough. Greg Believes that "Circumstances Lie" about what's possible and that brokenness is the opportunity for Breakthrough in your life, your business, and your people. 

Greg has been a business owner for more than 35 years, owning as many as 14 businesses at one time with almost a thousand employees. Greg has experienced great success and EPIC failure, including the loss of more than 50 million dollars in the 2008 Real Estate crisis and spending almost a year in prison.

Greg is the International Best-Selling author of

·        Broken – how being broken unlocked the greatest success of my life

·        Overcoming the 10 Common Fears all leaders face.

·        The Breakthrough – a leadership fable breaking through the 4 barriers that hold teams back

·        A Journey of Significance – the Story of Albert Diepeveen – a successful leader, mentor and friend who taught him to move from Success to Significance. 

… and the exciting release of his 5th book, titled “Circumstances Lie”, ‘The 5 Lies about defining moments, vulnerability, and the power of your story to change the world.’

Greg is a keynote speaker in businesses and churches, hosts the No Head-Trash Podcast and a Facebook group called, “The No Head Trash Nation” Greg also leads The Practice Zone Mastermind, a small group forum where leaders connect as trusted advisors to grow in every area of life and leadership.  

Learn more about how to establish your own Practice Zone environment and get total Buy-In from your people. Visit www.noheadtrash.com and let’s talk about accelerating your results through the Practice Zone.