Meridian Magazine : : Print

A good portion of a leader’s effectiveness comes from the Converse part of CPR–what the leader says and teaches. Even more of a leader’s effectiveness comes from the Practice part–the actual behaviors that the leader personally models. And perhaps the most critical portion of a leader’s effectiveness comes from the Reinforce part—how the leader encourages positive performance and corrects negative performance.

You might ask, “Should I reinforce my people for their little day-to-day successes, or should I save up my reinforcement for when they accomplish something really major?”

The answer to that question lies in the way most Church volunteers (remember, we’re all volunteers!) get their work done. The simple fact is that, for most of your people, work is not a string of dazzling successes that they produce one right after the other. Instead, the majority of their work consists of somewhat routine activities. They perform most of these quietly and without fanfare.

For example, in a given week a good Primary teacher will read two or three lessons in advance (to get a sense of context for the current lesson). She will visit the meetinghouse library to retrieve visual aids for next week’s class. She will prepare other materials and activities to enhance the lesson. She will read and study all the pertinent scriptures. She will pray for her children, by name, asking the Lord to touch their young hearts with the truthfulness of what she will teach. And then on Sunday she will actually devote precious little time in face-to-face contact with the priceless children entrusted to her. While this face-to-face contact has the greatest impact, it is only part of the Primary teacher’s work. Her leaders must remain constantly aware of the teacher’s “behind the scenes” effort.

Then they’ll be in a position to follow the first rule of positive reinforcement: “make a big deal about little things.” In fact, giving frequent, specific and genuine reinforcement on positive behaviors tends to crowd out negative behaviors.

Earlier, we said that atmosphere—the performance climate you establish—consists of the collective patterns of behaviors, values and “unwritten rules” at work in your organization. Note in the graphic here how CPR—Converse, Practice and Reinforce—fits into the whole. The way you as a leader articulate, practice and reinforce values has a powerful effect on the behaviors of the people you lead. At the same time, to get the positive performance you want, the “unwritten rules” at play must be consistent with the professed values. In other words, your own CPR efforts impact the way values are perceived and acted on. The “acted on” part is the behavior of the people you lead. Simultaneously, their behavior is impacted by the “unwritten rules” that they observe. The behavior also becomes the “unwritten rules”—or “the way things really work around here.” You can now see that it’s critical for these three elements—Values, Behavior and “Unwritten Rules”—to be carefully managed.

Let’s return to the bishop we told you about earlier. He and his ward council members identified some of the “unwritten rules” at work in their ward. One of them was “Coordination takes time, so we often just ‘fly solo.’” The ward council agreed that this “rule”—this practice—was diluting the effectiveness of their collective leadership. In trying to serve a family in need, for example, it often appeared that the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing. This resulted in duplication of effort, or no effort at all. When the Activities Committee planned a ward event without appropriately informing and involving the priesthood quorums, the Relief Society and the youth leaders, great opportunities for service and inclusion were often missed.

Then this group of faithful leaders worked hard to keep their behavior in alignment with the new “unwritten rule.” They quickly discovered the blessing of counseling in their council. And with this new clarity, they found it easier to work together for the benefit of those they were called to serve.

This Values, Behavior and “Unwritten Rules” model can be very helpful in reminding us of the alignment required for good leadership. It should not be applied in an academic, pedantic way. It works best when used as a general roadmap. A good priesthood quorum leader probably won’t leave for a meeting by saying, “Honey, I’ll be back later. I need to go do some CPR with the brethren.” Regardless of the language patterns he uses, he will simply understand that effective leadership consists of persistently teaching correct principles, modeling positive behaviors, reinforcing good performance and occasionally correcting poor performance. He may never even use the term “unwritten rules,” but he’ll be alert to the assumptions his people have about performance, and he’ll work to adjust those assumptions in the direction of great performance.

Great leadership is no accident. It’s the result of very deliberate effort and acknowledgement of our dependence upon the Lord’s graces.

Clearly, creating a positive, “We Can Do It!” atmosphere is not a one-time event. It is a constant process. And in addition to having the right “climate” in which to perform their service, your people need to have confidence in their collective implementation. As someone said, “Planning is everything. Execution is everything else.”

… In short, each of us has to purge from his life those values, traditions, customs, and attitudes that do not conform to the principles of the celestial kingdom. – Ensign Editorial

I believe with all my heart that if we can abound in the virtues of effective leadership exemplified by the Savior, he will make us equal to the challenge. – Joseph B. Wirthlin

Note: The excerpts of Leadership for Saints posted on Meridian are only a fraction of the contents of this 349-page book. To learn more about this ground-breaking book and to order copies, click here.