Coaching Tree

This week's blog post was written by Daren Dieleman.

I am a big Iowa Hawkeyes fan and have been since I was young - I hope I haven’t lost any readers after that opening statement. If you’ve watched a Hawkeyes football game on TV, you’ve probably heard references to legendary Iowa football coach Hayden Fry. Hayden Fry came to Iowa in the late 1970’s, shortly after Iowa had struggled through seventeen straight losing seasons. With Fry’s help, Iowa made some significant changes to their football team. Iowa’s logo, uniforms, visitor locker room, and style of play were transformed. Ultimately, Fry re-energized the Hawkeyes culture and the entire Iowa football program.

Fry’s teams at Iowa went on to be successful and his Iowa career lasted twenty seasons. A tenure which is almost unheard of today in coaching at the collegiate level. The cornerstone of Fry’s revival of the Iowa football program in the 1980’s wasn’t the uniforms or the logo, but rather the coaches he surrounded himself with. Hayden Fry hired some of the best coaches in the business, both young and old. In his autobiography, he said he wanted his coaches to go on to do greater things in their careers. He didn’t want to hire a coach that didn’t strive for something better, even if that meant pursuing careers at other schools. Fry encouraged others to be their best and took pride in mentoring others and helping them reach new heights in their careers. Due to Fry’s philosophy, Fry likely did a lot of hiring, coaching, and mentoring of new and young coaches.

As leaders, we should challenge ourselves to lead and develop our own people who may become future leaders themselves. We should also challenge our people to be and do their very best. Whether at work, home, in the community, as part of an organization, or in places of worship. As we move forward, we must ask ourselves: are we walking along side our people, coaching, mentoring, and providing them with opportunities? Or are we holding them back because they’re too valuable? Great leaders, like Hayden Fry, take pride in seeing someone they’ve coached and mentored go on to do great things. Consider your own development; can you think of someone who believed in you, coached and mentored you, and ultimately helped propel you to where you are today? I know I can, and if you’re like me, you view that person in very high regard. Someone who cared enough about you as an individual and about your personal development to ensure you succeeded, even if that meant more work for him/her in the end. Those types of leaders are rare and we should all strive to lead in that way.

Eight of legendary coach, Hayden Fry’s former assistant coaches went on to become major college football head coaches. His leadership is truly inspiring! If you look at a photo of his coaching staff from the 1980’s there are several other coaches around him who went on to do great things. We may not all have the success that Hayden Fry received. However, if we take the time to invest in our people and lead by helping others find success, we will create strong companies, families, and communities.

Hayden Fry surrounded himself with a strong network of good people who became great leaders. What will your “leadership tree” look like in ten, twenty, or even thirty years? Who will you have helped mentor and develop, either personally or professionally, to do great things?

Continue leading the Interstates way!

Daren Dieleman

Talent

This week's post was written by Jack Woelber.

I recently had an opportunity to attend a conference that focused on talent. Recruiting, hiring, and retaining good talent can be a challenge. Thirty years ago, companies chose the talent. Today, it appears the talent chooses the company. At the conference, I reflected on some ideas that serve as good reminders when thinking about talent.

Encourage Feedback

Allow constructive and honest feedback from direct reports by allowing that type of dialogue in a safe environment. Encourage others to share feedback and then be an active listener. I remember a quote that has stayed with me: “Listening is different than waiting to speak.” In addition to encouraging feedback, how we respond to that feedback is equally important. Responding negatively or in a way that discourages conversation will likely result in a decrease in constructive feedback.

Accept Feedback

There is great value in having critics around to give feedback. The best critics provide honest feedback and an opportunity to learn. However, a critic is different than a saboteur. Saboteurs are focused on themselves and it is unlikely they will be a good cultural fit. In addition to saboteurs, passive individuals can cause problems. Passive individuals are difficult to understand. When it is unclear if a passive individual is helping or hurting, it can be more challenging than actually knowing. For example, a gas gauge that works intermittently is often worse than a gas gauge that doesn’t work in any capacity.

Mentor

Mentoring has become a big part of assimilating new talent into an organization. A good mentor will encourage others to become engaged and provide an in-depth understanding of the culture. However, if the foundation of the mentor relationship is not strong, it may not be as successful. The conferenced claimed that on a scale of 1 – 10, the relationship score must be higher (stronger) than the issue score on the scale. Typically, if a relationship is weak then the issues and value of the relationship will also be weak. Spending time building relationships is very important. Additionally, it is important to accept that not all relationships will work successfully. Rather than spending time on a relationship that is not working, focus efforts on strengthening relationships that are working well.

The Right Fit

Today, the amount of technical talent a person has is key, but not sufficient. The right fit and attitude are also important. A strong candidate must have as much EQ as IQ. This becomes even more crucial the higher you go in an organization. Keep in mind, EQ does not mean leadership style. There are many different types of leadership styles and many styles can be effective.

For many companies, finding, developing, and retaining talent has become a major key to success. For some, it has evolved from a task strictly dedicated for HR to a strategy for the entire organization. In either case, strong leadership is crucial to success.

Continue leading the Interstates way!

Jack Woelber 

Learning to Land

This week's post was written by David Krahling.

Many years ago, I learned to fly and earned my private pilot license. I was fascinated by the art of flying and drawn to the beauty of the endless blue sky. It took some practice for me to become comfortable controlling airspeed and elevators for take-off and climb, along with blending aileron and rudder to execute a coordinated turn. However, like most student pilots, I mastered the basics of climbing, descending, and turning fairly quickly. Interestingly, we tend to use the expression “learn to fly” when describing this accomplishment. Yet, learning to fly is relatively simple; mastering a safe landing is the real challenge. Unlike flying, landing is an entirely different maneuver and there is a much lower tolerance for error. Successful landings require a high degree of skill and a great deal of practice. Nailing a perfect landing is challenging enough in calm weather conditions, but throw in a crosswind and the difficulty increases significantly. For an ideal landing, the pilot must reach stall speed at the exact moment the wheels touch down with wings level and flight path perfectly aligned to the center of the runway. Pilots refer to a perfect landing as, “greasing the runway.”

Similar to the skill, focus, and practice required of a pilot, athletes must also refine their skills to be safe and successful. The Rio Olympics offered a wonderful opportunity to view some of the world’s greatest athletes compete in various sports. There are many leadership lessons to be found in the stories of the dedicated athletes whose strength, balance, and courage allow them to push the limits of the human body. In gymnastics, for example, there is extraordinary focus on the landing at the very end of the routine. Commentators and spectators alike discuss, in great detail, whether or not the gymnast “stuck the landing.” As I watched gymnasts demonstrate impressively complex maneuvers on the vault, pommel horse, beam, rings and bars, I could sense their disappointment when a landing was disturbed by a slight hop. The path to a perfect ten is determined by the difficulty of the routine and point deductions. Although a slight hop in the landing may seem insignificant, sticking the landing is crucial.

If you hold a leadership role, at Interstates or elsewhere, successfully completing a project may be just as critical as a pilot greasing the runway or a gymnast sticking a landing. This is because how we complete a project can have a significant impact on those we serve. The ending is typically the most important part of a project for Interstates. At the end of a project, we strive to create a memorable experience and positive, lasting impression for each of our clients. This is why we invest a great deal in our check out commissioning and start up processes; we too need to stick our landings. Other leadership activities have a similar need for successful endings. A strong finish is crucial when leading initiatives and executing strategic programs. As leaders, it is often easier to start something new or get distracted in performing the routine, while losing sight of the need to finish something well. Great leaders understand the value of having enough energy to close out initiatives and programs with a strong finish. Therefore, our challenge as leaders is to determine how to get our teams to a successful ending. Some aspects of leadership don’t always feature a clear ending, such as coaching our teams and developing our company culture. These features are an ongoing process where leaders must work to set us on a path in the direction of a strong finish so that eventually we can stick our landing.

Continue leading the Interstates way!

David Krahling