About Barry Smith

Barry Smith is an international speaker, coach and author. He works with both individuals and organizations with a focus on building what matters – people. Any success will be the product of the individuals achieving it and Barry inspires and empowers others through his speaking, coaching and writing to achieve their desired results and create a legacy of significance in the process. Barry and his wife Michelle have two sons and reside in a rural community just east of Portland, OR.

Connect with Barry Smith

How To RSVP And Embrace Your Role As A LEADER!

June 9, 2014 by

Leadership-invitation-rsvpWhether you want to admit it or not, you have the desire to lead.  I believe we all do.  The challenge is that some can’t even define leadership and even some of those that can, struggle to find the right tools in their toolbox to be the leaders they were created to be.

John Maxwell says that “leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.”  He is right, but my question is, “What kind of influence do you have?”  I have discovered that to embrace your role as a leader requires not only an understanding of what it means to be a leader, but how to take what you know and do something positive with it.  This takes a process.  Let’s explore how this “RSVP” process works.

CAST A CLEAR VISION

There are several questions that need to be asked when creating and casting a vision.  Unfortunately, many of them are often overlooked in the process.  Many times vision is identified by asking, “What do we want to achieve?” but there is much more to it.  Consider asking ALL of the following questions and see if you can add some clarity to your vision:

  • What do you want?
  • Why do you want it?
  • Where would you want to have it?
  • When do you want it?
  • How would your life be different if you had it? and my favorite …
  • Who would you become if you had it?

Have you overlooked any of these in creating your vision?  As a leader, you are responsible to cast a vision.  Simon Sinek said, “People don’t buy into what you do, they buy into why you do it.”  If you want others to follow you, they need to know both where they are going and why they are going there.

DEFINE YOUR TRUE PURPOSE

Sustained growth and achievement requires you to be clear on your purpose.  Your purpose, individually or corporately, is going to be fueled by your passion about what you are doing.  This passion comes from within and will provide the inspiration to succeed.  I have found that your purpose can be found at the convergence of three things:

  • What you are best at – your strengths.
  • What matters most to you – the things you love to do, and
  • What you want to do, who you want to do it with, and where you want to do it – your vision.

Identify these three things and your purpose will be found where all three are represented in the activity.

DEVELOP THE RIGHT STRATEGY

This is the area that I see the most mistakes made in executing a successful plan.  Quite often a strategy is developed that the individual or organization is not resourced to achieve.  There is a simple way to determine whether or not you have selected a strategy that will achieve your desired results.

Identify where you are currently investing your time and resources.  Picture it as if you were putting your life into these five buckets:

  • Family
  • Work
  • Community
  • Personal
  • Faith

Now look back at your strategy and see if you have the resources, possibly time or money, to execute the strategy you have identified.  Something else to consider on the road to success; is your strategy serving your purpose and vision?

ACHIEVE THE DESIRED RESULTS

I fully adhere to the idea that we need to start with the end in mind, however, without casting a clear vision, identifying your true purpose and creating the right strategy, you will struggle to attain your desired results.  Completing these first three steps will set you up for success.

Once you accomplish these, achieving your desired results will come down to identifying and executing a solid plan.  I suggest you use the SMART goal process.  In creating your plan, make it:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Realistic
  • Time Constrained

Doing these things will provide a pathway to influence those around you in a positive way.  To embrace your role as a leader will take work and remember the goal is not the goal, the goal is who you become in achieving that goal.

These principles are discussed in much greater detail in my book, Leadership By Invitation, which happens to be launching this week, but if there is one takeaway for you to gain from this post, let it be that you have within you the ability to be a leader and make a difference in the lives of those around you.  Your challenge is to embrace that role and show up!

Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Filed Under: International Leadership Blogathon Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Building What Matters – The 5 Pillars of Influential Leadership

March 16, 2013 by

5-Pillars-of-Influential-Leadership-Barry-SmithWith over thirty years in the construction industry, I have had the opportunity to participate in multiple “leadership” training presentations and programs.  The one thing that bothers me to this day is that although the material was very good, there remains a problem that most of the attendees were not equipped to use the resources they were provided.

In the competitive market that exists today, I think most business owners and managers would agree that their people are both their biggest asset and at the same time, their biggest liability.  That being said, why is it that more money is invested in equipment, operations and facilities than in developing their people?

Being a student of leadership development for over thirty years, I have concluded that there is a progression that our great leaders have gone through.  This progression will maximize potential and result in a leader that will develop those beneath him to strengthen the overall structure of the organization.

I call this “The 5 Pillars of Influential Leadership.”  I will briefly describe each of the pillars below and suggest that although there is overlap in the progression, the maximum return on each pillar is connected to success in the previous pillars.

PILLAR 1 – AWARENESS

It is difficult to learn and retain information without first being aware of where we are.  This includes knowing where we currently are, knowing where we have been and more importantly, where we want to go.

“When we change the way we look at things; the things we look at change.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer

We are all striving to improve both our skill level and the situation we are currently in.  If you don’t know where you are, how do you know where to go?  Think of it as a road map.  You might know the destination but without a starting point you are unable to chart the course.  Only once you accept where you are, good and bad, can you determine the course needed for the desired outcome.

True awareness will allow you to accept what you currently lack and focus on the skills you currently possess.  To develop as a leader you must be able to honestly identify both of these in order to become who you were designed to be.

PILLAR 2 – ENVIRONMENT

Once you have gained a strong awareness of where you are and where you want to be, it becomes crucial to understand how the environment in which you are in will affect your steps forward.  The basic question becomes, “Is the environment that you are in conducive to growth?”

You basically have two choices.  Change yourself within your current environment in the hope that you can become an agent of change or find a new environment.  This decision will be based on a multitude of variables and will be different for every individual.  What will remain constant throughout is that the only control you really have is to change yourself.

“Whether you are a success or failure in life has little to do with circumstances; it has much to do with your choices.” – Nido Qubein

Honestly, I believe this is the most difficult pillar to conquer.  There are so many moving parts and variables beyond our control that it makes it difficult to make changes alone.  Regardless of your tenacity and perseverance, inevitably your environment will directly impact your overall success.

PILLAR 3 – GROWTH

Once you have an idea of your goals and how your environment will affect the outcome, you are ready to maximize your personal and professional growth.  Embracing the previous two pillars allows us to better take on the challenges ahead.

If you have ever been seriously hurt, you know that sometimes you need to get well before you get better.  We need to take care of the basics before we can tackle the more difficult tasks in growing towards our potential.  Reaching our potential is better, but if we do not have a good understanding of the required steps to get better, it becomes difficult to consistently grow.

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. —Jack Welch

If you want to grow, you have to decide the path you will take.  Again, this is an example of the progression … is the environment you are in conducive to your growth?  Growth doesn’t happen in a day, it happens daily.  What you do today will determine who you will be tomorrow.

PILLAR 4 – COMMUNICATION

Now that you have a good idea where you are and where you want to be and are taking steps to get there, it is time to start sharing your knowledge and achievements with others.  After all, teamwork makes the dream work and when we reach the point of positively influencing those around us, we are impacting the world we live in on a much larger scale.

You won’t communicate effectively unless the people you are communicating with are receptive to that communication.  Making the conversation about the other person and valuing their input is critical to a successful relationship.  Meeting them on common ground and meeting them where they are at are two successful ways to communicate.

“The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

To communicate successfully, what is being said is what needs to be heard.  Perception, assumption and presumption play into most of the conversations we have.  Be clear on what you are attempting to say and make sure that is what’s being heard.  Communication skills need to be atop any growth plan for without those skills, we will be unable to influence others or the outcome.

PILLAR 5 – LEADERSHIP

Once you have achieved the skills to be a good leader, and only then, can you become an influential leader.  Influential leaders make changes and positively impact those around them.

It doesn’t matter if you are speaking of business or your personal life, leadership will prove out to be the key to your success.  Every leader has a certain amount of success with these pillars but those that understand how the progression works will ultimately become influential leaders.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” –  John Maxwell Tweet this!

At the end of the day, influential leaders are focused on building what matters.  What matters is the people they are leading.  Without a strong core of people, the structure will eventually fail.

So I ask you to consider this question, “What are you really building?”

Filed Under: International Leadership Blogathon Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,