The Leadership Achilles’ Heel

The achilles’ heel is a metaphor for vulnerability.  As leaders, our vulnerabilities can bring us down.  Unfortunately, we can bring our team and organization down with us.  It can also be tough to get a handle on just what our achilles’ heel is because people are so apt to tell us what they think we want to hear.  Why don’t we take some time to reflect on this and think about what our achilles’ heel or vulnerabilities are as leaders?  In my next post, I will talk about my personal reflections on this question and share some of the most common leadership achilles’ heels.  As always, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much for all the emails about my recent posts.  Your support inspires me!

P.S. Remember, we are all leaders of something, whether it be an organization, a team, a functional area or ourselves!

Does Your Team Know You Value Them?

It was great to get so many emails about my blog post yesterday. Thanks for letting me know that you are out there and interested in my random thoughts on life and leadership.  Today, let’s talk about leadership.  I think the single most important skill a leader can possess is (drum roll here):

The ability to convey genuine regard and value for their team.

Are you surprised?  Do you agree?  It is okay for me to say that I was surprised? I was especially surprised 14 years ago; I thought leadership was all about getting things done.  My natural approach to getting things done was to tell people what needed to be done.  Can you believe it?  

Interestingly enough, I found the “tell them what to do approach” worked in a crisis.  It seems many people relish someone telling them what to do when swift action is needed.  Yet, slow down and low and behold, they want to express their opinion.  They want you to include them in the conversation.  They (being your team) most often want to know not only what needs to be done, but why.  People have ideas, many ideas, about the what and how, once they know the why.  Will you be a leader that listens?

Interesting things happen when you’re not.  The energy and passion gets sucked out of your team members, almost as if by magic.  If we don’t include and value our team members, there is often a corresponding decrease in their connection and commitment to the tasks at hand.  

Yet, include, value, listen, learn and allow your team the freedom to try out their ideas and make some mistakes (yes, mistakes) and you often get a corresponding increase in their connection and commitment to the tasks at hand, the team and the organization. 

What do yo think? Agree? Disagree? Advice on how to show your team you truly regard and value their contributions? I want to hear what you think. You can comment here or email zohreh@piurek.com.  Have a great day!

Leading in times of adversity

We are waiting.  We are waiting for times to get better.  We watch updates on the news about the stimulus package, and we hope.  We hope that our leaders will have wisdom.  We hope that they will act quickly.  We hope that when they act, it works. 

Your team is waiting on you.  They are waiting for you to notice the work they do.  They are waiting for you to ask their opinion.  They are waiting for you to reassure them that they will have a job next month, and they wonder.  They wonder if you will have your job next month.  They wonder if they will have their job.  There was a time, not too long ago, where they may have asked themselves if they wanted their job.  Yet, those days are temporarily forgotten.  Now, they are most likely grateful to have a job.

How do we lead in times of adversity?  I learned my biggest lessons related to this when managing what seemed to be a sinking ship (metaphorically speaking).  I was brought into manage a failing operation.  After being there a short time, it became apparent that the operation may be shut down.  There was a period of several months where the staff was unsure as to whether they would have jobs in the near future.  The operation was in the press regularly.  There was much “talk” in the community about the contract and whether it would continue to be funded. 

In the midst of all this, we needed to perform.  We still had a job to do, even if we weren’t sure for how long.   What did I do?  What did I learn?

Well, I let them wear blue jeans.  Yep, that is my big tip for leading in times of adversity – find out what you can do to support your team and do it.  Now this involves a few underlying principles:

1) Talk to your team.  Tell them everything you can.  Each organization has a culture and approach about sharing information.  You will need to act within yours.  However, share as much information as you can.

2) Be honest about what you can control and what you can’t.  Your staff needs to know that they can trust you.  If you are going down the rapids with someone, you want to know they can handle a boat.  As you are open with them about what you can impact, their trust in you increases.

3) Find out what matters to them.  Small stuff makes a big difference.  In fact, during times of adversity, the small stuff can be even more important.   When staff are unsure of the future, knowing that you care and are doing what you can to support them makes a BIG difference.  

4) Act.  Your team wants to know that you can take swift and competent action.   If you are at sea, in a storm, who do you want at the helm?  During the tough times, your staff needs to have confidence in your ability to take whatever action is needed to bring success. 

So, why blue jeans?  I talked to my team each week, the entire team.  I told them everything I knew about what we were facing.  I shared what I knew, didn’t know, what we were doing and what we were trying to figure out.  I thanked them for their support during these tough times.  I reassured them that I would continue to share everything I knew with them, and I did.  I asked them how I could support them, and you guessed it – blue jeans.  They wanted casual Friday everyday.  Working for wise leaders myself, upon hearing the request, they approved it. 

I wish I could tell you that the contract didn’t end and the operation didn’t have to close.  Yet, it did.  Unfortunately, the cycle of organizational life has its sad endings as well.  However, what I can tell you is that the team was supported during adversity, that we worked together, and that together we did what needed to be done.  

I wish you and your team great success in weathering the economic storm upon us.  Things will change. Things will get better.  Together, we can all navigate through these stormy waters.

What Kind of Team Member Are You?

We have touched on this theme in other blog entries.  However, it is such a critical question, I think it warrants a dedicated blog entry.  My last team entry discussed the question, “Would you want to work with yourself?”  The question  “what kind of team member are you?” brings up the same need for insight.  Can you step far enough away from yourself to answer these questions objectively? 

The truth is that most of us lack keen insight into the challenges we bring to others.  How can we overcome our own blind spots?  You now, I am not quite sure.   Here are some ideas…

1. Complete self-assessments related to leadership and team and openly study the results.

2. Ask a trusted adviser their views. Explain that you are developing your own team member growth plan (i.e. a plan to help you be the best team member you can be).  Ask them what they see as your strengths and areas that it would be helpful to focus on improving.

3. Learn more about what makes a team great.  Learn the core competencies of a great team member and develop a plan to hone your team member skills.

4. Observe team members that are valued for their contributions and membership on the team.  What common denominators do you see?

These a just a few to get stared with on the journey to becoming a great team member.  I think the more insight we have into our own team performance and relationships, the more accurately we can focus our efforts on growing in this area.  Of course, insight is necessary but not sufficient.  We must take action and evaluate the results as well.  It is through this cycle of insight, plan, practice and evaluation that we can grow as team members. 

First we have to understand that our endeavors will never be fully successful, until we are able to fully contribute as team members.  In the end, this is about much more than getting “our” job done. It is about:

• Understanding and embracing the organizational mission
• Building and maintaining productive relationships with our boss, team members, vendors and customers
• Being organized and delivering
• Communicating respectfully, clearly and often
• Stepping up to help our team members
• Being adaptable and flexible

Of course, it does also include getting our job done and done well.  As we all show up to be contributing team members, we accomplish great things together.

Would you want to work with yourself?

Interesting, huh?  Let’s start with me.  Would I want to work with me?  I will list all the reasons that I think I would and all the reasons that I think that I wouldn’t.  Then we can check the balance sheet.

Would:

I’m friendly.

I’m inclusive.

I care about other people.

I help team members when they need help.

I am committed to the big picture and the overall mission, not just my piece of the pie.

I care.  Did I say that already? I care A LOT.

I like to laugh.

I give other people credit for their work.

I don’t gossip.

I have skills to offer the team. I am a contributor.

I take accountibility for what I do, don’t do and everything in between.

I am a person of integrity.

Would Not:

I can be overly controlling about “how” something gets done as well as lots of other little and big things.

I often dominate a conversation, talking more than listening.

I sometimes interrupt people.

I can be too particular, spending time on “making things perfect” rather than accepting it as “good enough” and moving on to the next thing. 

Being overly particular also leads to being overly critical of the way others do things (i.e. asking them to revise things that really are okay, they are just not my way of saying something, etc.)

I don’t like limitations. 

I don’t like being told no (obviously the ultimate in limitations).

I can be overly focused on the job at hand and forget the human element.

I can bring so much structure to things that I kill the creative spirit.

I can keep people waiting (either for an appointment, when I get on the phone when working with them, or for something they need from me, etc).

Balance Sheet:

Plus: Caring. Contributor. Mission driven.

Minus: Overly focused on self. Overly structured. Overly particular.

What does your list and balance sheet look like? More importantly, what do we do with our lists? I do think self-awareness is mega-important.  We need to take time to think about the impact we have on those around us.  What is it like for our boss to supervise us? What is it like for our team members to work with us?  We can get so caught up in the task at hand and so entrenched in the ideas that we have about ourselves (either good or bad) that we fail to see: 1) what kind of contribution we are making to our team and to our organization; 2) what we are really like to work with day in and day out; and, 3) what a BIG difference we do make.

I think it is this third point that we miss the most, the BIG difference that we make.  What you say, don’t say, do, don’t do — someone is greatly impacted.  Most often, lots of someones.  We don’t yet know how to be really open with each other. This means that it will be your co-worker’s best friend, close colleague, or partner that hears about what it is like to work with you.  We so often tell other people about what bothers us about working with someone.  This means that it will be rare, if ever, that your co-workers will tell you when something you do bothers them. If you do hear about it, stop everything and listen.  The person that stepped forward is taking a risk.  We know people that don’t like negative feedback; this means that we are often hesitant to give it.  Sometimes people tell us in the form of a joke.  Sometimes they gossip behind our back.  Sometimes that share it with someone they trust to try and figure out how to make it better. Other times, they just keep it quiet and let it eat at them.  If we are fortunate, they let it go or tell us directly. 

This means that it is up to us to ask and answer the question: would you want to work with yourself?  It is up to us to be self-aware and to take the path of growth.  As with so many things in life, it is about mastery rather than an event.  I have been working on “not interrupting” for 12 years.  I have been working on “not gossiping” for about 20 years.  Do I interrupt and gossip less? Absolutely.  Have I obtained perfection? Absolutely not.  It is a journey.  I want to be there for my team, for my clients, for my community.  I want to make a difference.  I also want to accept myself and my own journey, personally and professionally.  The cake is never baked on this thing we call life.  No matter what we do for a living, we can learn more, do more.  No matter what team we sit on, we can show up in a greater way for our team.  The real question then is not “would you want to work with yourself?” but “do you care what it is like to work with you?”  If you do care, than you will observe yourself, ponder on what you learn and jump on the growth path.  I say JUMP.  If you are already on it, I say HELLO to a fellow traveler.  It is great to be awake and aware.  We are connected to each other.  What we do does make a difference.