Santa Gets a 7 out of 10 – But He Connects Like a Pro
Santa gets a 7 out of 10 on the Leadership Freak Leader’s Scale. (LFLS)
Give Santa a pat on the back for having a large crew of elves who make toys. But when it comes to delivering toys, Santa is an individual contributor. He would receive a 10 out of 10 if he had a team of people delivering toys.
Santa’s exceptional skill:
The one thing Santa does exceptionally well is connect.
Healthy influence requires connection.
Every interaction with Santa fits a simple five step process.
- What is your name?
- What do you want?
- Have you been a good girl or boy?
- Would you like a candy cane?
- Merry Christmas.
Santa’s system applied:
- Care about people as individuals.
- Express interest in what others want. Successful teams align around shared wants.
- Explore and evaluate performance.
- Give honor, gratitude, and rewards.
- Maintain optimism. Ho! Ho! Ho!
A personal note:
Thank you for reading and sharing Leadership Freak. It’s been a privilege and pleasure to serve you and other leaders around the globe in 2018. I look forward to serving you in 2019.
Merry Christmas!
How would you rate Santa as a leader?
*The 5 step Santa Clause System was first published on Leadership Freak on December 21, 2013.
Well Said and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Merry Christmas to you John and yours!
Merry Christmas Dan and Happy New Year. It’s been an interesting journey that you’ve lead us on with such a broad range of discussions on Leadership and just life. I so enjoy the experiences of all who read and participate it just makes us all better in work, in relationships and just life in general.
Thanks Roger. I’m with you. I so enjoy reading the discussion and learning from readers. Merry Christmas.
It’s always been clear to me that Santa is a manager, not a leader… I suspect Mrs.Clause is the visionary/encourager behind the whole initiative.
😀
Merry Christmas
Love your insight. I should have included Mrs. Clause in the consideration. 🙂 Merry Christmas
I hardly ever have much to contribute, but I want to express my gratitude to you for sharing your ideas so consistently and clearly. As I have tried to simplify my information stream this year, your posts have made the cut without question at each pass. PS: As an exhausted mom on Christmas, I would like to delicately suggest that Santa does in fact have help with distribution…. I’m ready to hang up my apron for 11 months or so…..
Thanks mhart. Well, Santa’s help doesn’t always get the credit they deserve! 🙂
“Individual Contributor” assumption is not true here – Santa obviously mastered some technology that allows him to be in many places at the same time 🙂
Merry Christmas everyone
Thanks Daniel. I’m not going to put Santa down any more than I already did. 🙂
Dear Dan,
Wow.. You pick up lessons from anything and enlighten us through your posts.
Thank you .Happy New year.
I’d love to work under Santa any time! 🙂 Happy holidays Dan.
Someone has to be the visionary that keeps everyone happy and working almost 365 days of the year. Leader for sure!
Happy holidays to you and yours, Dan.
I would give Santa a 10. He is a servant leader that has set-up a process/system to give much more than he receives to children all over the world. His leadership helps with creativity and innovation for all of us involved in the delivery process. After seeing my grand child’s reaction on Christmas to Santa and his gifts, he certainly brings joy and engagement to all involved in the giving process. He also helps model giving to all who follow him. 😉 Great post Dan!