Mentor Broad and Disciple Deep: How to Manage Your Leadership Investments

Mentor Broad and Disciple Deep: How to Manage Your Leadership Investments

You only have so many hours in a day to grow your business and lead your people. How wisely are you using this time? If you are like most business leaders, you struggle with doing all that you need to – and doing them well. This article will help you ensure that you are using your leadership time in a manner that will best benefit your business and your people. It is set up in practical format that explains the differences between mentoring and discipling and the purpose of each. First we will look at definitions of mentorship and discipling. Second, we will explore their purpose and application.

Definitions of Mentoring and Discipling

In order to utilize your leadership time effectively, it is important to understand the different approaches in leading and development. Generally, there are two formats that one may use to lead and develop followers: mentoring and discipling.

Mentoring

Basically put, mentoring is ‘the act of helping another learn’[1]. The goal of the activity is to help the mentee grow in a way that is organic to him or her. The mentor is eliciting the personal outgrowth of the mentee’s nature talents and abilities. Through the act of mentoring, the mentor acts as a sounding board for the mentee. The single most important aspect of mentoring is facilitating unrestricted growth of the follower. In contrast is the act of discipling, which has a completely different approach and outcome.

Discipling

The act of discipling is the act of conforming the disciple to the ways of instruction of the leader. The word disciple is derived from the Old English noun discipul and the late Latin discipulus[2]. Discipulus simply means pupil or apprentice[3] and shares its Latin stem with the word discipline or disciplina[4], which is to instruct or convey a body of knowledge. The purpose of discipling then, is to transfer the knowledge and contents of the leader into the follower or disciple.

As we compare and contrast the acts of mentoring and discipling we can see that there are minor similarities. With both there is a relationship established, with the leader assisting the follower in growth. The divergence lies in the purpose and outcome. In the case of mentoring, the mentor assists the follower in developing his or her natural talents and abilities and acts as a resource. Discipling on the other hand, is used to preserve and transfer accumulated knowledge to a sequential generation of follower. With the differences of both approaches, it is clear that a purposeful and strategic application must be pursued for the best results.

Purposeful Application

In considering the divergent purposes of each leadership approach we must consider what purpose we hope to achieve through our leadership. This next section will explore the purposeful application of each and how leading in the various formats can impact your organization.

Discipling for Preservation

In the book Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras explore the habits and concepts that make organizations successful. One of the main concepts in their book is ‘preserve the core’ and ‘stimulate progress’[5]. The counterbalanced elements represent the importance of maintaining what made your organization successful and changing enough to stay successful in the future. In leadership terms, the concept of discipling is equivalent to ‘preserving the core’.

As an organizational leader you have formed a foundation that has made your organization successful. The hard work that you have put into finding a ‘formula for success’ should be preserved and carried on. This is where discipling comes into play. In developing this effort as a leader, one must be a model for others to follow. In the book The Leadership Challenge, this concept is called ‘Listen to the Masters’[6]. In the book, the authors cite that every one of the leaders they interviewed was influenced in a major way by one of more key ‘masters’[7]. They conformed who they were to model and reflect the leader whom they admired and had an affinity.

One of the greatest examples of a leader who created a discipling organization is Billy Graham. As a leader, he created an organization and a team that has ‘perpetuity’[8]. This longevity and replicable nature of his followers is not an accident. It is a distinct and fruitful byproduct of discipling. One of his first followers, Cliff Barrows said, that the Lord told him, “Do the music for Billy and whatever has to be done…”[9]. Cliff was moved to subordinate his own needs in this case and follow in a manner of discipleship.

As you consider discipling within your organization, think about who readily resembles the ‘core’ of your organization. Who are the future leaders that will carry on the traditions, culture, and practices that have brought your organization to this point? Now consider the other group – your thought leaders and progressives.

Mentoring for Progress

No matter how good an operation is or its market dominance, the pressure to generate progress is omnipresent. An organization’s ability to maintain its core while growing the outer fringes of future markets is critical to its future. Consider the dominance and decline of Microsoft as an example. The firm once held an unprecedented and seemingly insurmountable monopoly on end user computing. However, their over reliance on the ‘core’ blinded them to the market threats brought to bear by the internet. As a result, the Microsoft stock dove from an all time high of $57.63 in 1999 to its present state at $25.86[10]. Furthermore, the firm is struggling to buy its way into the market it missed through tendered acquisitions of Yahoo!. With the Microsoft’s leadership failing to generate progress, it lost considerable opportunity to beat Google to the internet market space (see Table 1).

Table 1[11]

As you consider your organization’s future, who do you see as the ‘thought leaders’ or ‘visionaries’? These are the individuals who should be targeted for mentorship. They possess qualities and thoughts that will help invite change within your organization. Consider the example of Bill Hybels, who is arguably one of the greatest organizational development practitioners. The church he founded, Willow Creak Association, includes an astounding 12,000 member churches[12]. As senior pastor for the association, he dedicates ten full days a year mentoring[13]. During this mentorship he keeps the format lose for exploration and acts as resource to his follower[14]. While his time investment may seem rather low, the use is strategic to developing the individual attributes of certain followers.

What Now?

As you consider your organization and your followers, set a vision for the future. Where do you want your organization to be in one year, five years, or ten? Identify your followers that will best preserve the ‘core’ of those ideas and the foundation of your organization. These are your organizational ‘anchors’ and your candidates for discipleship. Next, look for the ‘thought leaders’; those followers that generate new ideas and challenge the status quo. They are your ‘visionaries’ and the people that will move your organization where it needs to be for growth.

Since discipling is rather time intensive, consider employing ‘Pareto’s Principal’. Pareto advocated that nearly everything in the world can be split into a 20/80 format. For example, 20% of sales people in a sales force create 80% of the results. Since our main goal is to preserve a successful core, select 20% of your followers for discipleship and spend 80% of your development time discipling. Likewise, spend the other 20% of your development time mentoring the mentoring group. This will allow them to develop independently, yet with assistance when needed. As a word of caution, you must be sure to properly set the expectations of everyone involved. Not doing so may lead to hurt feelings and indictments of ‘favoritism’ from the mentoring group. Likewise, an improper fit into the discipling group may be viewed as ‘oppressive’ to others. Know your people and where they fit. Remember, the key is to mentor broad and disciple deep!

[1] Bell, C. (2002). Managers as Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning, 2nd Ed. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

[2] www.merriam-webster.com

[3] University of Notre Dame Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid. http://archives.nd.edu/latgramm.htm

[4] University of Notre Dame Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid. http://archives.nd.edu/latgramm.htm

[5] Collins, J. and Porras, J. (2002). Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. New York:HarperCollins

[6] Kouzes, J. and Posner, B. (2002). The Leadership Challenge, 3rd Ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

[7] Kouzes, J. and Posner, B. (2002). The Leadership Challenge, 3rd Ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

[8] Myra, H. and Shelley, M. (2005). The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[9] Myra, H. and Shelley, M. (2005). The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[10] http://finance.google.com, retrieved July 20, 2008.

[11] Adapted from data retrieved from http://finance.google.com. Retrieved July 20, 2008.

[12]Willow Creek Association, http://www.willowcreek.com/AboutUs/, retrieved July 21, 2008.

[13] Hybels, B. (2002). Courageous Leadership. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[14] Hybels, B. (2002). Courageous Leadership. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

About the Author

D. Shawn Hussey is a doctoral student at Regent University’s School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship. He is the president and principal consultant for Valley Management Consulting, LLC in Salem, OR. His research interests include strategic leadership, generational leadership, and organizational sustainability and development. He may be contacted at www.valleymanagementconsulting.com.
E-mail: shawn.hussey@valleymanagementconsulting.com

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The New Ultimate Free Traffic Generator: Video Marketing – 6 and a Half Key Beginner Steps

If you were able to get a percentage of free traffic from 1 billion people to visit your site daily, would you do it now?

If there were 1 billion people visiting a mall daily, would it be a good idea to advertise your product/s there? What if these ads were free, how many ads would you put up?

According to Youtube, as of Oct 9th 2009, a shocking 1 Billion videos are watched daily on Youtube! Let me repeat that, 1 BILLION…DAILY! This makes Youtube the second most visited site in the world. Just Awesome!

In this article, I’m going to go through some simple steps on how to take advantage of this new, ultimate and free traffic generator called video marketing.

Let’s do it now.

Step 1: Content

You can find a topic to discuss in your video by doing some research on keywords the people in your niche are searching for in search engines. These are the problems your people are looking to get answers for. The keywords will be the main topic of discussion in your videos. Write a 400 – 700 words article that gives a solution to each of the problems the people in your niche are struggling with.

Tip:  If you are already doing article marketing or blogging, you can simply use the same original articles as the one you created before. One article… three free traffic generation strategies. Nice.

Step 2: Equipment

Get your hands on a decent video camera, if you can get one that supports HD, even better. Video editing software can be gotten for free. If you have Windows installed in your PC, great, they have Windows movie maker. If you have a Mac, also great, they have iMovie HD preloaded.

Step 3: Audio

Next you will need decent audio. Using a camera’s built in microphone is fine, but not great. You will need to set it up so that you reduce echo at the place you are recording and ensure that your environment doesn’t disturb you with unwanted dogs barking in the background. If you want excellent sound, a little investment is needed for an external directional microphone (a.k.a. shotgun), or a lapel mic is good too.

Step 4: Action!

When recording, make sure you present yourself appropriately for your niche. Remember what your mom told you about first impressions. So look the part. Also, choose a background that is not distracting to the audience. Sitting at your desk or standing in front a wall is fine. If possible have something that represents your personal excellence portrayed in the back.

Try not to read off a piece of paper. This is your opportunity to connect with your people. So have it be conversational and full of energy. Starting out, have your video be no longer than 2 and a half minutes long because if its any longer, people do tend to get bored.

Step 5: Editing

Using your software to edit, be sure to create a brief intro and include your website address somewhere in the body of your video and also an extended shot of your website address (at least 6 seconds) at the end of your video.

Step 6: Posting Videos on Youtube

Go to Youtube and create your free account. Once done, you are able to now post a video for the world to see. Click the upload icon on the top right hand corner of your screen and follow the simple instructions. Remember, it is important to use titles and descriptions that are rich in the keywords that bring people to your site. Also, provide a link to your website in the description. This will give you some valuable backlinks to your site and also assist your viewers to get to your site easily.

Step 6.5: Video Marketing on Steroids

Think about it. If you can create just 2 videos a week for a year, you will end up with over one hundred videos a year. If one video can direct just one person a day on average to your website, that’s 36,500 free targeted traffic for you from Youtube.

Now, listen closely, what if you posted each video you created to 10 different sites similar to Youtube. You can potentially have 36,500 x 10 = 365,000 new and highly targeted prospects land on your website a year, for FREE. What if you can post it on 20, 30 or more sites! Now I think that’s Fantastic!

Results to Look Forward

Naturally, I have given you an overly simplified version of generating free traffic with videos, but it is enough to get you started. The most important part of using videos to generate free traffic to your site is consistency. People who watch your videos need to know that you can be trusted and you are in it for the long run.

Just let me tell you this, similar to article marketing and blogging, you will not see an instant rush of massive free traffic charging into your website immediately. However, what will happen is, just after a few short months of posting your videos, you will build considerable equity and trust with your viewers and position yourself as somewhat of an expert in your field.

In the long term, all your video posts will generate massive FREE traffic that never ends. Even if you stop creating videos after that, you will still continue to enjoy an awesome amount of FREE traffic from the few months’ of creating videos for many-many years to come. Work once, reap the benefits forever!

About the Author

Carliff Carleel is a Consultant and Entrepreneur specializing in Online Business Development and Marketing.
If you want to learn more about the system he is currently using in his Online Business and who he learned it from, download for free the Inbox Cash Techniques book that everyone's talking about. *PLUS* the audio version that you can load into your ipod or any MP3 player... Available for a limited time only, click below for access: http://www.moneybuyseverything.com

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Article Writing - 5 Steps to Instantly Build Your Credibility with Your Target Market

Article writing is one of the best long-term strategies you can use to build your credibility as an expert, drive traffic to your business and website, and build a relationship of trust with your clients and prospects.

Following is a quick checklist you can use to write irresistible articles for your target market, so they see you as an expert, and ultimately buy more from you!

1. Establish the Objective of Your Article

Why are you writing it? Or think about what do you want the article to achieve for you? Here are some objectives to consider:

* Drive more people to your website

* Have people pick up the phone and call you

* Encourage people contact you by mail or email

* Have people visit your office or store

* Entice people to request more information from you

* Order a product or service

* Establish your credibility/knowledge about a subject/industry

2. Article Preparation

After you determine your objective about why you are writing an article, you now must come up with ideas about what to write about. Here are places you can look for article ideas:

* Subscribe to other eZines and read articles for inspiration

* Review trade publications

* Look at popular books in your area of expertise and choose a topic

* Ask your clients/subscribers/contacts what topic they want to know more about

* Visit online discussion boards to see what people are discussing

* Sit and think quietly about topics that interest you

3. Write Your Article

Writing an article for your target market is not difficult if you follow a systemized process to 'get your thoughts down on paper'. Brainstorm and create an outline of the article topic you can write about. Also consider:

* Write articles that are between 500 and 800 words in length

* Have keyword(s) peppered throughout the article text

* Stay away from difficult words (write at a 6th grade level)

* Keep paragraphs short (2 to 4 sentences)

* Break up text with subheads

* Include clipart

* Include a photograph of yourself

* Include a copyright notice

* Spend time to edit your article (or have someone else edit for you)

* Include an author's resource box to direct people to your website

4. Headline Tips

You've written your article. Now, choose a snazzy title for your article that piques the interest of others. Here are some things to think about when creating your article's title:

* Look at 'The 100 Greatest Headlines Ever Written' list for ideas

* State 3 to 5 concepts, such as '3 steps' or '3 ways'

* Keep titles short (5 to 7 words)

* Create a subtitle

* Ask a question, such as "Do You Despise Used Car Salesmen?"

* Address a problem, "Do You Need More Clients?"

* Evoke curiosity

* Use power words and phrases such as 'The Truth About... Discover... Do You... How To... How Much... How Would... Secrets Of... Yes...At Last!...Imagine... Protect....New Facts...You... Free

* Capitalize the first letter of each word in your title

* Address a benefit or value in your title

* Address a pain your target market is dealing with

* Put desired keyword in the title (first and second words is best)

* Put desired keyword in subtitle

5. Promoting and Getting Publicity for Your Article Get your article public and start driving traffic to your website and business!

* Send it to your top 10 list of eZine publishers

* Send it to your target list of print magazine publishers

* Send it to specialty offline newsletter publishers

* Post it on article directory websites

* Send it to article distribution services

* Post on discussion boards your target market visits

* Convert your article into a press release and send to newspaper editors and online press services

* Post the article on your website

Remember, article writing is a great way to build your credibility, build a relationship with your clients and prospects, as well as drive traffic to your website and business so you can create more income in your business!

Copyright 2009 Bonita L. Richter

About the Author

Bonita L. Richter, MBA, teaches coaches, consultants, and solo professionals how to market their businesses to increase sales , income, and generate wealth. To download her popular and *FREE* Money and Marketing spreadsheet tools, and BONUS gifts visit ===> http://www.Profit-Strategies.biz/Templates.html

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