Giant Sequoias and Leadership

from Able Leader, July 2003

by Steve Kaye

After spending two days in San Jose conducting workshops for IBM on effective meetings, I drove east to visit one of my favorite places -- Sequoia National Forest.

While there, I discussed meetings with the trees. As you might expect, their philosophy differs significantly from mine.

Here is what I learned.

Complacency
Giant sequoias truly believe that they know how to hold effective meetings. They enjoy holding lofty, long winded, massive discussions that cover an endless landscape of topics. Since they live for over 2000 years working in a nonprofit industry, they need some way to pass the time. And since they have been holding meetings this way for millions of years, they find no reason to change.

Suggestion: Effective leaders are always seeking better ways to run the business. They search for new ideas. They welcome ways to implement more of what they know they need to be doing. They value learning as the key to taking their business into the future. They never feel complacent, expecting that old practices will continue to apply in the future.

Take a moment for a midyear review of your business systems. Score them on their impact on your business. Could any of them be improved to make your job easier and your business more profitable?

Urgency
Giant Sequoias feel no urgency about anything. For example, they will hold their cones for over 20 years waiting for a forest fire. (Forest fires clear ground cover, enrich the soil with minerals, and heat the cones, thereby causing them to open and release their seeds.)

Suggestion: While a long term, global perspective is useful, you will find that appropriate urgency leads to shorter meetings. Rather than allow people to bask in the sunshine of endless discussion, set moderately aggressive time limits. This will cause people to prioritize ideas and avoid low-value contributions. Note that applied urgency requires a balanced, masterful touch. While you want to hasten the process, you also want to avoid rushing past important considerations.

You may also experiment with applying urgency to other daily tasks. Could any of them be completed in less time? Could you eliminate any inefficiencies? If so, use the time to increase the rest and recreation that you give yourself. After all, if you are working harder, you will need more rest.

Domination
Giant sequoias are the tallest plants in their forest. They tower over 250 ft high where they can grab as much precious sunshine as possible. And they apply the same approach in their meetings. They dominate by delivering massive monologues that go on for years. As a result, other trees find it difficult to thrive near them. You will often find barren ground around the base of a Giant Sequoia.

Suggestion: Effective leaders share power. In fact, the best leaders devote their energy to setting up other people for success. They do this because they know that the more success they create, the more success will come back to them and their organization.

In meetings, such leaders ask questions that prompt people to find solutions. They make leading statements that take people to new perspectives and new ideas. And most importantly, they create a safe environment that fosters open, creative thinking. Then they celebrate the participants' successes with compliments and encouragement. The result is a meeting that produces valuable results.

Seek ways to share the power. Could you delegate more? Could you use a professional facilitator to run your meetings for you? If you are working harder than the people who work for you, then you are working too hard.

Certainly the Giant Sequoias have developed an approach to meetings that serves them well. However, if you want to achieve more than a tree, let me know.

Key Point: Life is too short to waste in long pointless meetings.

Much success,

Steve Kaye
714-528-1300