Tag Archive for: Leadership and Management

Falling Into Leadership

An individual taking on a leadership role is often something that has ‘just happened’.

Being a genuine leader does not come from the role and title designated to you but rather from your decision-making, inclusiveness, delegation skills, ability to communicate and other, well-recognised and documented traits. Many of these traits can be learned and enhanced through proper coaching.

Does this story mean anything to you?

You started in a company at a lower level. Opportunity presented itself in the form of a chance to step-up temporarily or permanently into a role providing more money, esteem, credibility or some other perceived benefit. You jumped at it! Of course, along with all of the benefits the role also came with much higher expectation…that of others and your self.

You worked hard…things went fairly well but you didn’t really feel supported to truly excel. You wanted to be the best operator so didn’t ask many questions  – after all, asking questions shows that you were not ready for the promotion in the first place, doesn’t it? “Better to bite your tongue and work your way through the issues on your own”, is a common thought and action at this stage.

Your boss didn’t spend much time developing you or even working with you day to day. This autonomy had its benefits, but also plenty of downside. You were often stressed, tried to please everyone and in so doing often pleased the few, including yourself.

Longer hours and pressure meant that you regularly wanted something different but didn’t know how to achieve it or even what that difference looks like.

However, after a while further opportunity presented itself. Another step onwards and upwards. You wondered why you were being considered as you don’ t feel like you have been particularly effective in your current role, but people seem to like you and you occasionally receive some good feedback, however insincere it often seems. You know in your heart that you are not ready for more responsibility…more stress…but you wonder can I “fake it ‘til I make it at an even higher level?”

So, you take on the new role because it’s expected of you, or it offers greater prestige, salary or some other perceived benefit – you don’t want to let others down and certainly the benefits outweigh the negatives…don’t they!??

Now, you’re leading people.

You are responsible for a process and regular input into projects and other ad-hoc work requiring your expertise, skill and knowledge. You are also now not only accountable for yourself but leading, developing, coaching and inspiring others. Are you ready to lead? If not, the impact will be felt by many. Effective leadership can have a significant benefit on a team or business culture, personnel satisfaction, attrition, sickness levels and the bottom line. Ineffective leadership has exactly the opposite impact. Now, how does that pressure feel for you???

Does this scenario sound familiar? In my experience and working with many new and experienced leaders, this is a very common journey felt by many. Most of these people felt they had few opportunities to rectify their situation. Progress and genuine development will only succeed if you are willing to take some risks, source someone to assist you (a coach, mentor, role-model or some other trusted person) and challenge your own beliefs, perceptions and perspectives.

The ability to take yourself out of your comfort zone often enough to test yourself and learn, is key. Knowing when to step back into your comfort zone is also a skill linked to self-awareness and emotional intelligence. These are skills and traits that can be learned.

Regularly the difference for individuals who are experiencing these fears, self-limiting beliefs, poor feedback and other negative impacts is their willingness to seek help. There is no doubt that the most effective and respected leaders in any role or organisation are those who recognise that they are not in their role because they have all the answers. Rather they are successful because they understand their own strengths and limitations, possessing the emotional intelligence to surround themselves with a team who have various strengths and skillsets that contribute to the synergy and effectiveness of the team.

Ironically, emphasising delegation as a standard, building strong/ trusting relationships, focusing on self-development and coaching of others, amongst other elements starts to enable development and improvement. This manifests itself through better work-life balance, team members feeling more engaged through contribution and being heard, less of a feeling that the leader has to take on all the work his/herself, prioritisation and many, many other more positive influences.

The first step is the key step. Seek out someone you trust to share your situation with and move forward through understanding your choices and taking relevant action.

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People and Process: Aligned or Loggerheads?

I often wonder what it is about processes that many managers have a need to see as entirely separate from their people.

Similarly to my previously documented thoughts regarding the key differences between leaders and managers, the ‘need’ to focus solely on the process is often due to the conscious or unconscious decision to concentrate time and energy on the simpler or more controllable part of the equation.

Unfortunately for those leaders with this mindset, unless you are in a pure process driven environment (which is rarer than many people think unless/until robots take over our world!), this leaves out the core reason why
these processes often fail – a focus on our people!

The ability to bring individuals and team members into the process is key to project success or meaningful outcomes. Engaging the people and teams involved, communicating the context and being specific about why the process exists or change is required, will often be the deciding factor between process success and failure. Rarely will a process in itself be the difference – it requires input, management and control of and with your people.

If we are not clear about what role our team member’s play in the overall project then the entire process change will likely fail.

This is a regular occurrence within the project and business world, where much of the planning and time is dedicated to setting up the ‘right’ program and lean elements that will provide the most effective structure or process. It is too often assumed that with cursory levels of communication and a base understanding that employees will simply fall into line and grasp the key elements.

These core elements may well be understood however buy-in, context and discretionary effort are almost always limited or compromised when an individual does not participate in the early project planning cycle and/or has little ownership or accountability into inputs or outcomes.

Interestingly, during the post-implementation discussions and review some managers often look back at these (failed!!?) outcomes and wonder why the process failed, without even considering the broader picture and what part their decisions and narrow focus initially may have contributed.

Often the phases and stages are not clearly distinguishable…so, thinking of people and process as intertwined but with different inputs may assist in removing the barriers for change. Our people are the all-encompassing link that will ensure true success and sustained change!

When managing people and change, keep these points front of mind:

  • Processes do not deliver outcomes, people do. If we treat process as the hero and people as an afterthought, we set the work up to struggle. Unless you live in a pure process driven world, which is rare, the human side will make or break the result.
  • Bring your team in early. Explain the context, the why, and what will change and what will stay the same. Be clear about the problem you are solving, the benefits, and the trade offs. When people can see themselves in the plan, resistance drops, relevance rises, and energy goes where it matters.
  • Role clarity is the hinge between a neat plan and real progress. Spell out who owns which decisions, where collaboration is needed, and how handovers work. Invite your people to help shape inputs, risks, and measures, rather than telling them after the fact. Ownership builds commitment, and commitment beats compliance every time.
  • Too often we invest our effort in the perfect structure or programme and assume a quick briefing will carry the rest. It rarely does. People might understand the steps, but without buy in and context, the extra effort that lifts performance is missing.
  • After a rollout, it is easy to blame the process when results disappoint. Look wider. How did decisions get made, how well did we listen, and did people feel trusted and involved. Leaders who hold both the plan and the people view build stronger delivery and better outcomes.
  • Treat people and process as intertwined. Set simple rhythms for communication, short feedback loops, and review both the mechanics and the relationships. Your people are the link that turns a good plan into sustained change.

Effective leaders ensure that they seek to understand both the planned outcomes and how their people are going to influence and drive all of the elements within the process to achieve that outcome.

This type of thinking provides a more solid platform to ultimate success.

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Seeking Work-Life Balance: Myth Or Manageable

I was recently fortunate enough to be invited to participate on a panel in my workplace focusing on work-life balance – a phrase that is possibly overused and misunderstood and a term that I have read conflicting opinions on in recent months.

 

 

The panel forum consisted of a number of employees in the audience and 4 panel member’s, including myself, who each pitched out their own thoughts on the topic and then received questions from the audience. It was a very interesting exercise as I found that each of our situations was quite different. Whereas we may have been in similar roles at work, our roles and focus at home was quite varied regarding how we manage our time and the choices we make. However, there were some consistent themes that carried over between speakers.

My view is that work-life balance is an extremely important facet of my life. I have significant responsibility in my role – something I take quite seriously, particularly the support, satisfaction and growth of my team. However, nothing is more important to me than my family.

My work provides me an income, a great deal of satisfaction and has contributed to who I am, my knowledge, values and self-awareness but I always seek to balance what is required from me at work with that at home. It requires developing a  strong skillset around delegation; time management / prioritisation; recruiting and developing the right team and culture; building trust and many others attributes. I work with many managers who do not find a balance often because they struggle to understand what is most important to them.

A recent article highlights research that demonstrates that many of us are finding this balance more difficult to achieve. Key findings include:

  • The majority (78%) of those who work overtime prefer payment to time off in lieu
  • 75% of part-time workers believe work/life balance is becoming harder
  • 83% of full-time workers believe it is becoming harder
  • 24% of workers earning less than $50,000 are finding it much harder
  • 65 per cent of workers perform work tasks or answer work-related calls when they are on holiday
  • 35 per cent of employees never work on holidays or days off

Source: Work Life Balance Harder Than Ever

It requires a definitive view and focus on goals and direction, otherwise it is too easy to get ‘pulled into’ other people’s needs and wants. Often these wants seem urgent but in fact, are not critical. This is where relationships, communication and prioritisation are key.

This is a large topic that I am briefly touching on, but I would like to share my key thoughts as presented during the forum:

  • Understanding what is important to me
  • Understanding what is important to others – my family and my team
  • Surround myself with a good team – provides opportunity and ability to delegate and share workload
  • Develop my leadership skillset to be effective and efficient
  • Prioritise…Prioritise…
  • Find what you enjoy most…do more of it
  • Find what you enjoy least…remove as much of this as possible
  • Understand values and beliefs for yourself and of those closest to you
  • Communication and clarity are key
  • Work with and for your family and team…not at them
  • Take and maintain control of your choices and decision-making
  • Tell and show those most important to you that you love them…regularly!

One or more of these points may resonate with you and hopefully stimulate thought about where these attributes, actions and skills sit in your life. I would also be interested to know what you have done or work at to strike the ‘right’ balance in your life.

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Practicing Leadership: Skill Development and Commitment

Why Don’t We Practice Leadership Like We Do Other Skills?

Generally, it is accepted that we are prepared to spend time practicing learning an instrument, language, sporting skill or similar but are less willing to apply genuine practice time to develop leadership skills.

The Role of Practice and Coaching

I often facilitate leadership training in a group setting and conduct coaching and mentoring sessions with attendees supporting the learning. The face to face 1:1 coaching session content often refers back to the leadership training itself. This is powerful in that training rarely leads to lasting change in itself – something most of us already know.

Reinforcing the knowledge gained through practice and support is key. The opportunity to reflect internally and share with your coach or mentor adds weight to the ‘stickability’ of the training concept, content and the growth in ability for the budding leader.

Is Leadership Learned or Innate?

The age-old leadership question remains – are leaders born or taught – nature or nurture? I am not seeking to answer this today, however the question relates.

If you subscribe to the theory that leadership is predominantly learned, then it is natural to assume that to become proficient in leadership application, many weeks, months and years of practice is required.

Malcolm Gladwell and others refer to the premise that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become proficient in something. Fair comment, even if this figure seems a little general, the point is that it takes many, many hours of practice to become highly proficient. However, the anomaly remains that most leaders I know assume that this skill is something that comes with a title and/or somehow automatically derives from holding a management position for a period.

This is perplexing and is inconsistent with the understanding that we need to practice to build capability in other areas of our lives.

Why Is Leadership Treated Differently?

Is it because leadership is less tangible than hearing someone playing a musical instrument over time; become more capable playing golf, as measured by a reducing score or handicap or other examples of measured improvement?

The perceived intangibles of leadership are difficult to describe to someone who has not felt the pleasure of leadership such as:

  • Turning around a ‘problem team member’
  • Helping someone through a difficult situation
  • Seeing improved results, profit or other measurable outcomes

The benefits of leadership success are some of the most powerful emotional accomplishments an individual can feel. Yet, until these are actually felt and the wins uncovered, a commitment to leadership is possibly one of the great contradictions of business. The role may require it but that does not mean leadership is actually provided to any depth.

The Emotional Hook of Leadership

Leadership is often talked about. It is a key to business success. The links are obvious, yet we still struggle to genuinely encourage and support our newer leaders to a level where they are comfortable performing more than transactional aspects of the role.

The desire to practice and become truly proficient and efficient as a leader requires us as experienced leaders to help expose the emotional benefits and connections as soon as possible in the leadership journey.

This emotional success and association with leadership as more than simply a concept or byword drives ongoing commitment and transformational change in an individual.

Once experienced, this once elusive success quickly becomes a tangible benefit for those being led and the potential to truly influence outcomes.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, leadership deserves the same level of deliberate, ongoing practice we give to any skill we truly value.

The difference is that its rewards aren’t just personal, they’re broader and deeper than that. When leaders commit to developing themselves with intention, the ripple effect touches teams, organisations and outcomes in powerful ways.

The challenge, and the opportunity, is to treat leadership not as a role we inherit, but as a craft we continually refine. The more we connect with its emotional impact, the more visible, valuable and transformative our leadership becomes.

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