Interview with Lee Montgomery, November 27, 2017

Lee Montgomery, Transcript, November 27, 2017

Sara: This is Sara Montgomery. I am interviewing Lee Montgomery, the Executive Director of the Hamilton YMCA in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is November 27 at around 6:00 pm. Our first question is, What cultural identities and experiences are most important for you? Lee: Well culturally speaking, I grew up in a Christian home in Central Kentucky. I had a background in sports and youth sports. I think that helped identify me as a young Christian leader and has been very influential on how I raised my family and do my job. Sara: What part of your personal biography or background led you to this position? Lee: Prior to being with the YMCA I had a position in manufacturing management, where I did a lot of presentations. I also did a lot of volunteering with United Way. I became somewhat of an expert on interviewing and presentations. When the opportunity came up at the YMCA, they were looking for someone with a sports background. I didn't have the fundraising background, but I had the ability to speak in front of large groups and small groups, and the ability to build relationships. I apparently did a decent job in the interview process to get that job. That position at Denso Manufacturing in Athens, Tennessee provided me with a nice springboard into the YMCA position. Sara: Going off of the relationships you talked about, what advice do you have for building trust and relationships in an organization? Lee: Well this is going to become repetitive, but ultimately it goes back to the Golden-Rule . You have to communicate with people how you want them to communicate with you. You have to be consistent. You have to be trustworthy. Mostly you have to listen. You're not always going to have a solution, but you always have to listen. In many situations, if you can just listen without reacting, you can make a difference in peoples' lives. Sara: Leaders help to turn ideas into actions. How do you accomplish this? Lee: I think a big part of turning ideas into actions and accomplishments is planning. You have to get your ideas down. You have to have a plan. Of course the implementation is important, but if there's no plan there's no way to know if you've been able to implement the ideas. There's no way to follow up. Again, I'm going to refer back to my background in Japanese Toyota production system. We talked a lot about PDCA, which is Plan, Do, Check, Act. Essentially you act if your plan hasn't come to fruition. So that planning process is important to what gets you to that actual action. Sara: What experiences have shaped you as a leader? Lee: Shaping me as a leader is a very broad term, but I would say my mistakes have shaped me as a leader. I've learned over the years to not overreact. In many cases overreacting causes so many more problems than not reacting. I think there's patience in your decision-making. I learned to sleep on ugly emails. I've learned to give other people, co-workers, bosses, and employees the benefit of the doubt. Sara: Were you called into leadership or did you seek it because of held conviction? Lee: Ultimately, I don't know if you would call it "called", but I think I was made to lead. I always had somewhat of a take charge personality. I really feel like I was born and raised to be a leader in some way or some form. I wouldn't say called, but I was kind of groomed my whole life to be some type of leader. Sara: What kind of leader did you see yourself being as child versus the kind of leader you are now? Lee: Oh, as a child I was going to be rich and famous and a politician. As I've aged and hopefully gotten wiser, I want to be a servant leader. I want to be somebody who puts others before myself. Now that's a goal. That's not always what I do, but that's a goal. Sara: Like Nelson Mandela! How have you learned from obstacles and challenges faced? Lee: Well I talked a little bit about it earlier, but I learned not to overreact. I've sent all of the bad emails, not bad emails, but I've sent all of the smart-aleck emails. In a corporate environment there's times when even though you're right, it doesn't help to call people out when they're wrong . Especially in a corporate environment, it's wise to give the person the benefit of the doubt. I always use an expression with my kids, never wrestle with a pig in the mud, you're only going to get dirty and the pig is just going to like it. That same thing applies with folks in a corporate environment who will send ugly emails or even in my job members will try to trash you on Facebook, things where they are just trying to reach out and cause problems for you. They're only going to enjoy it if you get in the mud with them. So my goal is to rise above those things and I really try to instill that in my young staff that I have working for me. Don't eat the trash. Don't buy into that. Sara: What does leadership mean to you? That's a deep question. Lee: It's a deep question, but it really starts with your core principles. You can decide if you want to be the person or not that puts others before yourself. I generally try, and again 'try" because I'm not perfect at this. By no means am I perfect at this, but I try to put others before myself. I try to lead others the way I want to be led and I've had some good leaders over the years that have helped me with that. Sara: How would you characterize your leadership style? Lee: I kind of hinted at that there, it's that Golden Rule philosophy. Putting others before myself, not overreacting, and being smart enough to know that I cannot remember everything so I need to write things down and I try to teach my employees that. I follow up on my staff. You have to build relationships with your staff and if you do they'll go to war for you. Sara: What are your professional strengths? Lee: Professional strength isn't going to be something that you learn in a classroom. I'd say my biggest strength is the ability to build relationships with folks of any age. I connect with young people and I work with youth groups, and even down to a very young age, toddlers even. I've been able to connect just by, and again it's that same philosophy, make it about them. There's a lot to be said for probably the best book I've read, Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends & Influence People. It's making it about them. If you make it about them in everything you do, it's kind of a no-brainer. Sara: What about your professional weaknesses? Lee: There's been times in my career where I've taken my work home with me. I've gotten better at that as I've gotten older. My kids have become more of a priority as I've gotten older. I don't worry about it as much, but during my manufacturing days I really struggled with bringing my problems home with me. I didn't sleep well. My blood pressure was high. It was just a high stress environment that I did not leave at the door of the building like I should have. Sara: This is one of the things I think of when I think of you as a leader. Do you feel that it is important to delegate? If so, why? Lee: Well, this is one of my favorite topics. I enjoy talking about delegation versus empowerment. How many times when we delate to people do we tell them what we want done and specifically how we want it done? We take away that autonomy on how to do these projects. When you empower someone, you tell them you need something done and you let them choose how they get it done. You don't micromanage them. By doing that you develop your staff, which is really at the core of everything I want to do in my leadership style. Sara: When and how do you delegate? You kind of answered this, but can you go a little deeper? Lee: It's an empowerment, I've learned. When I was younger I tried to do everything myself. I've learned that I'm not perfect and I'm not the smartest person in the world. I can't do it all in a 40-50 hour week. I've learned that if I'm going to develop my people, I have to turn over some critical decision making to them. Sara: How do you measure success and how do you learn from failure? Lee: From a leadership standpoint, I measure success on the development of my staff. I've taken great pride over the years in getting my staff promoted ad getting them new opportunities. I want to develop leaders. It's not just about leading flowers. I want to lead leaders and I want them to grow up to lead leaders when they get truly professionally developed. Sara: What are two or three action steps you believe are essential in enabling others to be successful? Lee: When you do empower people to take on tasks, I'm a big believer in the Franklin Covey planning system. Because by nature, I'm not a great person at just remembering things so I have to write everything down. So when you empower people, you have to follow up on the opportunities you give them. I choose to think that we are empowering them with opportunities, not with challenges. I make sure that I keep up with my planner, with them in my planner and the opportunities they've been given. I follow up, because if you don't follow up then there's probably not going to be an action. Did I answer that question? Sara: Yes... What do you want your legacy to be? Lee: Considering I work with the YMCA, where I have a great opportunity, I want to change as many lives for the better as possible. I want to impact as many people as possible. Along the way in ding that, I want to develop as many leaders as possible. Sara: How has your experience with the YMCA continued your growth as a leader? Lee: It's been fantastic in that. I wake up every morning knowing that I get to be a servant leader, that's part of my job. I get to be nice to people for a living. It's a lot easier to do that when you know that there's a strong mission that you're going towards. I believe in the YMCA mission, so I wake up every day revved up and ready to change lives for the better. Sara: What kind of leader do you think you would've been without your experience at the YMCA? Lee: Well I think that I would've been, if I was still in manufacturing, a lot more stressed out. I had really tried to shift towards leadership instead of management. Because in a manufacturing environment you're managing so many things. You're managing production line, quality checks, process control sheets, schedule, and meetings. I really tried to shift my focus on building relationships with my associates and not treating them like numbers. I hope I would've been a leader that still focused on my people, but it would've been hard to be as strong of a servant leader as I feel I am now. Sara: What is the difference between a team leader and team manager? Lee: Well, a team leader is trying to direct the associates and they see them as people. Whereas a team manager is someone who sees people as numbers. They are concerned about process and rule follow. Primarily, a team leader is trying to develop people. Sara: What do you view as the most important characteristic of a leader? Lee: For a true leader integrity is the number one thing. If you don't have integrity you will never get people to buy into you. A leader is no good if they don't have some type of followers. And if you don't have integrity no one is following you. Sara: What would you say is the second most important? Lee: Behind integrity there's not even a close second. You've got to know what you are doing. You have to have job knowledge. With integrity, you have to build trust. If you don't have job knowledge you lose trust as well, because people are not going to be trusting you to steer them in the right direction. You're the one driving the bus. If the bus is going the wrong direction, they're not going to trust you there either. Sara: Will you talk about your first day at YMCA summer camp when you started your job and how that humbled you? Lee: My first day at the Athens-McMinn Family YMCA was about 11 years ago. I had been working in manufacturing about 14-15 years prior to that. I myself had started feeling like a number. I had clawed my way to upper-middle management and had some struggles along the way. When I got the job at the YMCA it was a great opportunity. It was almost like it was self-actualized. It was an opportunity to just be kind to people for a living. It was kind of a dream job and it even had a nice title. I had been Production Supervisor, but Executive Director just sounded so nice. I wouldn't say I had a big head going into this job, but I was just so happy about this job. Keep in mind, when I started the Y on June 6, 2007, it was the first day of Summer Fun Camp and there were about 200 kids there that day. I knew some of the kids that where there because I had worked with their parents, so I Made a point to reach out to some of those kids. One of those kids was Adrian. I reached out to Adrian and wanted to make sure that he knew me and knew that I knew his father. I wanted to make that connection with Adrian so he would feel comfortable and he would help me feel more comfortable in meeting all of those kids. I hadn't worked with kids for a while. So what I did that very first day is I reached out to Adrian and I said " Adrian do you know who I am?" and Adrian looked at me with those big blue eyes and said "Yes! You're the new janitor!" That's where you insert a laugh. Adrian didn't really care who I was. He didn't care what my title was. Adrian very quickly made sure he gave me a little dose of humble pie. It helped me realize that those kids and seniors don't care what your title is. They care if you care. They care if you're going to be there to serve them. They care if you're going to be a relationship to them. A lot of what we do is building relationships. Sara: I love that story-- What or who has been your biggest influence? Lee: My father has been my greatest influence and he has been an example of a true leader in my life. He was very involved in my coaching in sports and life. In good times and bad times I've leaned on him. My wife has been also been very influential. Both of them have been very strong Christian influences. My mother always told me that I could do anything, and my father always told me I could do everything better. I had a really strong leader in my life Brent Crabtree at Denso Manufacturing in Athens, who was a West Point grad. He helped develop a lot of my organization, planning, and presentation skills. Sara: What are the most important values you demonstrate as a leader? Lee: I've talked about this probably ad nauseam, but integrity is the thing that you have to have to build trust in your staff, employees, and associates. I guess another one to throw in there is never being too good to do any of the jobs you ask other people to do. Sara: What do you think makes a successful team? Lee: A successful team is made up of people who are going after the same goal. They're focused and driven to achieve the same goal. I have been involved in teams from sports, in college, and on up. I was a part of a successful baseball team in college. I've been in successful working teams with the Tennessee CEO alliance. We worked together very closely to accomplish state-wide membership reciprocity. One of the things that has to happen when you've got a lot of CEOs in the room is you have to have cooperation and give and take, because we're all after the common goal. When everyone puts their egos aside that's when you're truly successful. Sara: Will you talk about your career path thus far? Lee: Coming out of college, I started working at a hosiery mill. They actually hired me because I had mowed there as a summer job during my college years. I got hired full time into a management training program. They didn't really have a position for me, but I built relationships over the summer. They figured if I would mow and climb chemical tanks and scrub rust bubbles off of them, then I would probably do okay with an accounting degree. I tried all the different aspects of the jobs in that management training program. I went through the accounting department and did the intern-like accounting work. I just processed invoices all day long and was miserable being stuck at a desk. I wanted to be around people. I ended up supervising just 5 or 6 people, and working my way up for 5 or 6 years into a plant manager role. That was actually right before the hosiery industry went down with the introduction of NAFTA. I went back to school and got my Masters in Applied Organizational Management to get out of the hosiery business. I went on and got a job at Denso Manufacturing in Athens, Tennessee. I went in as a Productions Team Leader and left as a Productions Manager and had a promotion or two along the way. That was a big part of my professional development; because, there were required presentations. I had a strong leader there that was very organized and required me to be organized. That wasn't my strongest skill. That was a developed skill. I became a better time-manager and a better self-manager through that process. We made auto parts in that facility. I did that for almost 7 years. So I had 7 years in the hosiery business and 7 years in automotive manufacturing. I really learned a lot about continuous improvement. We did a lot of projects. I did a lot of PowerPoint work, which allowed me to improve my presentation skills along the way. I learned to brainstorm using PowerPoint. That later helped me get my YMCA job. I walked into my YMCA interview with a 5-year plan. I did a lot of research prior to the YMCA job. I interviewed the United-Way director in our community, a YMCA employee in a different organization, and a grant writer for Tennessee Wesleyan College. I did all those things before I even knew that I had an interview at the YMCA. When I got to the interview process that was very important that I had made that effort to show that I was that interested in the position. I always encourage others to make that extra effort. When I talked to the YMCA director in Cleveland, Tennessee, who is now a co-worker, I thought I wanted the job, but when I left he talked so much about the mission and the Christian emphasis that I had to have that position. It became an obsession and it truly became a passion. That passion is truly what got me through the interview process. I had the game plan and presentation skills, but I didn't have the fundraising background. I had to beat out some people who had worked in YMCAs and other organizations for a long time, for what was a very important position for our community. I was very fortunate to be involved in of our largest capital campaign we ever had at our YMCA, which led to the complete renovation of the facility. Everything in there is brand new, since we did about a 1.3 million-dollar renovation. That was all paid for with no debt. I was very proud to be a part of that, thanks to our board and our donors. I was just a part of building relationships there. From there, I moved on to working for the YMCA of Chattanooga and I have been down there for a year. I was a CEO at the Athens YMCA, which was about a 1 million dollar YMCA. I then became an Executive Director at the Hamilton Family YMCA, which is near the fastest growing area in Chattanooga and East Tennessee. It is about a 3.5 million dollar YMCA, so quite bit bigger than the previous YMCA I was running. My title actually went down a notch, but I went from being a CEO of a million- dollar Y to the Executive Director of a 3.5 million-dollar Y. Whereas, the CEO of the Chattanooga YMCAs is the CEO over a 16 million dollar Y. I made connections with her through the CEO alliance in the state of Tennessee. Sara: Talk about the organizational aspects of the YMCA itself. Lee: Where I was before, you had a small Y and an Executive Director/CEO who does both jobs. The Executive Director does some operations, and the CEO does more fundraising and community relations. You'll usually have program directors such as; fitness, sports, feeding, and childcare. There will be some kind of membership director there. Those are typically your exempt staff. You'll have trainers, maintenance, and folks like that. Those people will be your non-exempt staff who are working hourly there. At a larger scale like the Y I'm in now, it's going to be the same way except above the Executive Director we have a COO and a CEO. They have a board that is over the whole association. Whereas my branch has an advisory and fundraising board over just that single branch. The board that works with the CEO actually has fiduciary responsibilities and is involved in a lot of major decision making. Sara: What was the transition like from a small independent YMCA to a large metropolitan YMCA? Lee: Well first of all, I went from a small town to a large town that was faster paced. I spent about 10 years of not really having a direct supervisor and now I have a direct supervisor who is a COO. It was a move up in opportunities. Luckily, I have a COO that lets me run my branch like I am the CEO. A big challenge for me going from a small town to a large town was that I knew everybody in the small town. So, when it was time to raise money I knew who to talk to. I knew who to make sure I built connections and relationships with. In the larger and faster paced community I'm still learning who is who and making connections and it's been about a year. I would say it's been successful. We've had our biggest numbers this year in membership and in our annual campaign. We're just getting started. Some of the things that are challenging are I have to deal with accounting, purchasing, and payroll being done at the corporate level. There are a lot of rules and restrictions to how purchases are made and how we are reimbursed. In the past, I had my own credit card and decisions up to $3,500 I made on my own. When we renovated the old facility of the 1.3 million dollar Y, I made 99% of those decisions and signed 99% of those checks by myself. I had a lot of autonomy there, but at a larger organization you have to make sure you check all of the boxes and go by the guidelines you've been given. Sara: What do you think is the most important part of your day? Lee: I would say the most important part of my day is the times when I do my walk-arounds. I do my walk-arounds and talk to the seniors, to who that may have been their only interaction throughout the day. I walk around the childcare area and smile and make goofy faces at the babies and the young kids that are there. I'll talk to the counselors that are there watching the kids and let them know that I appreciate what they are doing. I make connections in that walk-through with my staff. I think the most important part of my day is those face-to-face, eye-to-eye interactions that I have with members, staff, and kids at my YMCA. Sara: Do you think leaders are born with the needed skills or do you think they can be learned? Lee: I think some people are born with the hearts of leaders. I think some of it can be learned because, I think people's hearts can shift. I think people can shift towards being servants and putting others before themselves. I believe that we can change our personalities and focuses in our lives. I definitely think it can be learned. I think that some people may be born more assertive. As far as the true leadership side of it, I think that can be learned and modelled from other leaders. I beyond hope that I am modelling that for my staff, other leaders, and my family. Sara: What is the most difficult part of being a leader? Lee: There are lots of difficult parts of being a leader. I talked about being able to turn loose of things and being able to let your people make mistakes. That's a really big challenge. The other thing is not overreacting. Overreacting causes way more problems than not reacting could ever cause. In many cases things aren't nearly as bad or as good as you think they are, so maintaining a stability for your folks is so important. They need to see you as a rock and anchor. That doesn't mean you have to not react at all in negative situations, but that means not overreacting quickly. To do that you have to separate personal from professional. There are things in my life that I love, my family, God, and my friends. I really like my job and I am passionate about it, but I don't love it. Therefore, I have to separate from the things I like and the things I love. The things that I'm going to let upset me are going to be the things that I love. I'm not going to let the things that I like and work upset me. I'm saying this because it's a goal. I'm not perfect at it, but it's a goal. Sara: You've talked a lot about co-workers, so how have you gained commitment from your team both at the YMCA you used to work at and now the Chattanooga YMCA? Lee: Well in a couple cases, in gaining commitment they have to know that you're going to back them up. The YMCA staff deal with the public so much that there are plenty of opportunities to back your staff up. People at the YMCA get attached to their schedule. They get attached to the swimming pool being a certain temperature. They get attached to using a certain locker or machine at a certain time. It becomes very personal to them. It's important that we work to separate that personal and professional for us, even when they are always making it personal. Lee: You've got to back them up, you've got to let them know you believe in them. You have to let them know that their future growth is important to you and that their development as a leader is important to you. I'm proud that 99% of my staff, that I've had in the past years, if I see them now I'm going to be greeted with a hug, handshake, or smile. I try to keep up with all of them through wishing them a happy birthday and showing up to their weddings. Now that doesn't mean that every single staff member and I are close. There are bad apples in every bunch that I've separated myself as much as they've separated themselves from me. That doesn't mean if that person came to me for something that they really needed, I wouldn't help them. There is that inevitable person that you don't have that cohesive bond with at some point. Sara: Have you had any books that interested you? Lee: The most influential book for me was How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I actually recommend listening to that over reading that because you get to hear him deliver that message. There's another one that is more of a modern day version of that and it is Winning with People by John Maxwell. It's a lot easier to read and it is written in a modern verbiage that is easier to understand. I like Norman Vincent Peele. There are several other authors I like who write in smaller, more modern books. I really go back to Dale Carnegie. It's really about making it about the other person. Sometimes it may come across that you are fake about it, but if you are doing it genuinely it will come across. That being said, you only want to listen to Zig Ziglar. He is such a powerful motivator and positive thinker. I love his books and what to support them, but hearing him speak is mesmerizing. I still find myself listening to "See You at the Top" when I've had a bad day and need some encouragement. It's almost like a spiritual uplifting, of course he is an old preacher. Sara: The quote "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care", which one was that from? Lee: That was from Zig Ziglar. Sara: That's a really great quote. Lee: The basis of those guys is servant leadership. Sara: Okay, the last thing I'm going to talk to you about is the non-profit sector. Because I'm interested in that in my future, and how does that affect what leadership style works best in the field of non-profit work, which includes the YMCA? Lee: Many people confuse non-profit employees with not wanting to make any money. There's been a movement to shift the focus of non-profits. Non-profits have been show ashamed so pay strong leaders to come run their organizations, and yet at a high-level business they'll pay CEOs of large companies billions and billions of dollars. They make it look like a scandal that the national director of United Way is making a million dollars. Well, if they are raising 60 million dollars, that's a strong investment. There's a movement towards shifting towards investing in strong leadership. There those of us who could be working in manufacturing and clawing our way to the top and making several hundred thousand dollars, but have chosen to live a lifestyle that strives for the better and helps the mission of that organization. I hope in my daughters' generation you have a strong kid who could do anything in their profession, and they choose to serve others as a living. Why not reward them for that? If you do that and reward them for that, you're going to continue to get the best of the best. There are some that are going to say "Well they should be doing it because they love it.". Do you really want the best of the best or do you want to get folks that couldn't do anything else? So that's been a big movement. Non-profit as a general rule has not been a major transition for me, because I worked in manufacturing and did a lot of budgeting. The fundraising was a part of it, but it was really just building relationships. My role was to build relationships with potential donors and kind of win them over. Then my board and fundraising committee would come in for the close. If I pestered people, I couldn't build relationships with them because they'd run from me when I came to them. There are a lot of hoops to jump through as a non-profit. I actually have less hoops in my position now versus running the small organization I used to because, I have a lot of people that will fill out the non-profit paperwork that I used to do at the end of each year. Lee: What else about non-profit? I had to learn a lot about dealing with other non-profits. I had to learn a lot about collaborations that I didn't know. I think that's a weakness in a lot of non-profits. They try to stand alone. To a lot of people, their mission is the only one that matters. I think one of the biggest things we were able to do at my previous job was partnering with people we couldn't have partnered with at a large scale. We partnered with the city of Athens and the parks and rec department that had previously been an enemy. Sara: Thank you for your time today. I'm so glad that I learned more about non-profit work, leadership, and how that all ties into the YMCA. Lee: I hope that that in some way is a positive influence for you as you move forward. I do love working for the YMCA. It is something that I'm passionate about and it isn't fluff. I really feel like I've got a chance to change lives. The kids' thing was a no-brainer for me because I'm a sucker for kids, I have my own. The thing I didn't realize was how passionate I was going to become about changing seniors' lives. I just recently had one of my friends I met, who is a widower and used to come to the YMCA two times a day, have heart scare. I just recently was able to reach out to him and it was obvious that he was thrilled to hear from me. I have no reason to reach out to him other than that I care about him. I Had to turn lose from just caring about people for the job and start genuinely caring about them as people. When I go back to Athens and talk to those people, I'm there because I love them. That's probably the biggest lesson I've learned on the way and I hope that I've inspired you at some point. Sara: Thank you!