"Very practical. Easy reading. A must read for any manager regardless of experience. I would also add a must read for business owners with employees. I wish we'd had it 10 years ago."
- Steve Morrison, Director
Alabama Carriers, Inc. 
Although Saddle Sense retails for about $14.95 (plus shipping & handling) through internet bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, Books-a Million, and Amazon.com, we are offering an internet special price of only $14.50 including shipping and handling.
Saddle Sense is also available on CD for your listening convenience for only $20.00 including shipping and handling.
Below is the table of contents and an excerpt from the book:
Contents
1. Saddle Sense
Reflections on the qualities of a person who is well prepared to effectively manage people and relationships
2. Followin’ The Leader
Reflections on the impact of leadership by example
3. It’s A Big Job, Buckaroo
Reflections on the many different roles a supervisor or manager has to fulfill
4. Ridin’ on Solid Ground
Reflections on the impact of honesty and integrity in the life of a supervisor or manager
5. Positively Influential
Reflections on the pitfalls of negative influence and the rewards of positive influence
6. Trust Me Dusty
Reflections on the importance of empowering team members through effective delegation
7. What Did You Expect?
Reflections on the importance of setting and clearly communicating your expectations
8. You’ll Eat The Corn You Plant
Reflections on how a supervisor’s or manager’s attitude and work habits can either negatively or positively affect how their team works
9. We Done It Right
Reflections on motivating people to take pride in the quality of their work
10. Saddle Up And Deal With It
Reflections on the importance of effectively dealing with conflicts as soon as they arise
11. The
Reflections on maintaining a positive attitude and finding the beauty that is hidden between the challenges in life
12. It Happens In A Dash
Reflections on the importance of building your positive personal legacy
Ol’ Dusty was the buckaroo He took great pride to know the boss “I’ll never let a sickly cow But as the herd grew larger, “I think I’ll hire a smart young hand “And when he does, we’ll need someone The foreman had a nephew who His name was Joseph Caldwell So the boss man hired young Joseph to learn to keep the cattle well So Joseph followed Dusty like Ol’ Dusty was impressed but He’d show the kid the way to do Then one day, in frustration “It’s been a year now, Dusty, you been “The times you’ve demonstrated this ol’ Dusty said “Well son, I never The kid said, “I can understand “It’s not my life’s ambition, son “I never will desire to do “So have some faith in not just me, “Then you and me can both be proud
(Chapter 6)
who liked to play the vet.
The cow he hadn’t doctored on
was one he’d not yet met.
entrusted in his care,
the medical necessities
of every dogie there.
be seen within this herd.
They’ll never die from no disease.”
He gave the boss his word.
it was hard to stay ahead.
“Ol’ Dusty’s sure to fall behind”
is what the boss now said.
to help Ol’ Dusty out.
Besides, the day is bound to come
when he’ll retire, no doubt.”
who knows just what to do,
when one of them dang calves takes on
the scours or the flu.”
seemed wise beyond his years.
He was known for his work ethic,
and he seldom showed his fears.
and he’d fit in very well.
“The other hands would like him”
the boss said he could tell.
and took him to the ranch
and paired him up with Dusty
and said, “Son here’s your chance,
just like Ol’ Dusty does.
Learn everything you can from him.
He’s the best that ever was.”
a puppy trails a kid.
He soaked up every detail
of the things that Dusty did.
was afraid to delegate.
For fear that things would be done wrong
or things might get done late.
the things he did with care
and then let Joseph try,
as long as he was standin’ there.
the kid kicked up a fuss
about ol’ Dusty’s hoverin’
and apparent lack of trust.
teachin’ me this job.
And thinkin’ you don’t trust me’s
grindin’ on me like a cob.”
must be a hundred now.
Are you afraid, if left alone
that I might kill this cow?”
meant to swat your hive.
But it’s my responsibility
to keep this herd alive.”
why you would feel that way.
But I sure thought I could do these things
without your help one day.”
to cause you any dread.
I just have to know that it’s done right.”
To which young Joseph said,
my very best, you see,
if you keep coming back around
and checkin’ up on me.”
But in the skills you taught.”
“And I believe one day you’ll see
how many skills I’ve caught.”
of just how far we’ve come.
And I’ll no longer think of you
as thinkin’ that I’m dumb!”
'Then one day I’ll be good enough
to pass these skills along.
And the skills you gave to me will live
long after we’re both gone.”
What causes a manager or supervisor to feel compelled to follow the philosophy that says If you want a job done right, do it yourself? It is human nature, at least for people with leadership in their make-up, to feel this way. Leaders (true leaders – not those in name only) will always possess the desire to ensure that jobs be done correctly and on-time. They will always have the greatest sense of urgency and a strong desire for the end result of their work and that of their team to be seen as high quality output. They tend to “hang their hat” or stake their reputations on these results.
Most people would probably agree that the characteristics I just described are all good for a leader to possess. The problem occurs when those admirable qualities and philosophies begin to manifest themselves in the form of becoming enslaved to the idea that no one is capable of doing things as well as you could do them yourself.
Effectiveness as a manager is measured in a variety of ways. The list includes things like the ability to manage time and resources, communication skills, forward-thinking skills, problem resolution abilities, and motivation skills, just to name a few. Unfortunately, if you were to conduct a survey of managers in which you asked them to compose a list of effectiveness factors for managers, most of them would more than likely omit one major factor – the ability to effectively delegate tasks and responsibilities to others.
For a few years during the recent past, there was a list of buzz words that flew around the business world describing effective managers and the things they routinely practiced. Although, as I mentioned earlier, I am not a fan of buzz words as they tend to be associated with the “program of the month” management and personal development mentality, there was one word that, for me, stood out from the rest. The word is empowerment, and it was, and still is, used to define the skill of granting team members the permission, authority, and responsibility of completing a task or managing a process.
Empowerment and delegation are, in my opinion, synonymous with one another. The word delegation, for many people, means assigning a task that you don’t like to someone else (because you are the boss and you can do that!) In order to understand the importance and value of empowerment, we have to break this paradigm regarding the meaning of the word delegation.
Delegation is simply giving team members the responsibility of completing a task that needs to be done. It is really the first phase of empowerment. Look at it as the trust-building phase of the empowerment process. If team member are able to successfully complete the task you first delegate to them, you will likely be more comfortable with the idea of delegating more tasks to them. Eventually, your comfort level should rise to the point that you are ready to move beyond simply assigning piece-meal tasks to them and onward into the phase of granting them the permission, authority, and responsibility of managing processes. Once they are managing processes, you have effectively moved from delegation to empowerment.
Empowerment takes courage on the behalf of the manager who exercises it. This is probably one of the main reasons it is underutilized. In order to comfortably exercise empowerment, you have to do two things. You must first train the team members who will assume the tasks to be delegated so that their own sense of ability is firm and your confidence in their ability is firm as well. The second thing you must do is also the most difficult of the two. You must convince yourself that you have properly trained them and that your training was effective. If that is the case, then you are ready to “pull the trigger” on this decision and let go.
Empowerment is an integral part of the development of the manager, the team member, and the relationship between the two. The manager grows from the process of stretching his abilities to train others and stretching his own limits of confidence and comfort in turning things over to others on the team. The team member grows by gaining new skills which should make him more valuable and from the confidence he gains in the process of being empowered by the manager to move to larger forms of responsibility. The relationship between the two grows because it takes trust on both sides to fully engage in empowerment, and trust is, after all, the basic foundation of strong work relationships.
Failing to give team members more responsibility and authority can be very frustrating to them, although you will likely never know the source of their frustration (assuming they even show symptoms of frustration). When mature, competent people reach the level of being competent in all the routine tasks of their jobs, they typically become bored and begin to desire new challenges. A manager who does not recognize this boredom, and particularly one who does not have the confidence and courage to use the skills of delegation and empowerment, will eventually either lose a good team member or, at a minimum, gain a frustrated, less productive team member.
Obviously, not everyone is willing and/or able to be empowered. However, it is better to err on the side of trying to stretch a team member’s abilities a little too far than to hold back and risk the potential of frustrating a capable team member to the point of having him seeking greater opportunities elsewhere.
There is an old saying that goes a good managers work themselves out of a job. This doesn’t mean they lose their jobs altogether. It just means that they empower others to be able to grow in their job responsibilities to the degree that, eventually, someone else is capable of succeeding them and that they are able to move up and out to bigger challenges.
For the past 15 years or so, Mike has read just about every new book that came out on the subject of managing people and building good work relationships, only to find that they seemed to get increasingly longer and more complex in their approach. Somewhat frustrated, he came to the conclusion that this subject has been overly complicated. Out of this frustration came the concept for Mike's book, Saddle Sense - Uncomplicated Reflections on Managing People and Relationships.
Mike has artfully combined his love for the history of the great American West with his talent for clearly conveying the simple principles of building trusting relationships and providing effective leadership - the same simple principles that worked for the range bosses and formen of the cattle drives on the Old Chisholm Trail of the 1800s. As Mike says, "It wasn't rocket science then, and it ain't now!"
This book is as entertaining as it is informative, with a wonderful collection of Mike's original cowboy story poems that help to illustrate, through humorous and poingnant stories in rhyme, the point of each chapter. It is a short, easy read that is packed full of simple, easy-to-apply principles that, when utilized properly and consistently, add up to "Saddle Sense" - a blend of confidence, personal resolve, and the ability to build and maintain trusting relationships.
Mike can personally deliver his entertaining, informative and inspirational messages on leadership to organizations, companies, associations, government agencies, educational institutions, churches, and civic groups. For more detailed information about bringing the Saddle Sense Leadership program to your group, just give us a call at (318) 512-1142 or send us an email at mike@high-impacttraining.com.
