Adding a few points to Seth on leadership
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Normally I don't comment on Seth's blog. He's almost always got something interesting and helpful on there, but, well, you know who I mean even though I'm not telling you which "Seth" I'm referring to. His comments are widely shared, and, frankly, I never have much to add.
Today is different. Today, Seth's post title is "Thanks for the Leading." He makes the point that: "Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead." It's a post worth reading.
He closes the post with another thought-provoker. "If you’re not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it’s almost certain you’re not reaching your potential as a leader."
In between he says, "When you identify the discomfort, you’ve found the place where a leader is needed." And he lists some discomforts.
The discomforts he lists are valid, but they're not the ones I've identified as most difficult in twenty-five years plus of training supervisors. Here are some "discomforts" to add to Seth's list.
Setting clear expectations. It's not glamorous. It's a slog. You give it your best shot. Then you check for understanding. Then, later, you go and determine if understanding has lasted and turned into performance.
It's not that hard to do it. What's hard is doing it consistently with everyone on your team day after day.
Letting go when people have mastered tasks and earned decision rights. You really want to jump back in. You know that your destiny is in their hands. But you shouldn't. You know that. But it's hard.
Deciding how much freedom and decision rights to give people who are developing. You want to give them a boost. You want them to grow and develop.
It's a balancing act. Give them too much freedom and they're likely to fail which is bad for you, for them, and for the team. Don't give them enough and you stifle growth and taint the waters of motivation.
Not only that, it's a moving target. What's right today may not be right tomorrow as people develop their skills.
Confronting people about performance or behavior when it's necessary. We live in a world where the biggest sin seems to be offending someone else. If you're a boss you should be risking that several times a day. It's your job. It's not easy to do once. It's harder to do with people who've shown they hate correction. It's even harder to do consistently every day.
Making decisions, implementing them and being accountable for them. Making a decision is hard. You never have all the facts. And you never have enough time to get them.
The decision isn't real until it's implemented. It's your job to "make it so." It's your job to take the heat if it turns out badly and spread the credit around if it's a great success.
Boss's Bottom Line
The really tough parts of your job aren't likely to be the "leading" and vision-setting parts. They're not even likely to be innovation parts. They are likely to be the little things that you have to do over and over every day if you're going to accomplish the mission and care for and develop your team members.
It's even harder because no one will remind you. They may not even notice if you don't do them for a day or a week. In fact, you can probably get by without the tough parts until it's too late.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Categories: Supervision, Management, Leadership, Seth Godin
Tags: Supervision Management Leadership Seth Godin
Wally...I had the same sentiments when I read Seth's blog today.
Well said.
BTW, I think Gary Cohen's new book JUST ASK LEADERSHIP goes a long way to helping new leaders figure out the one technique that all exceptional leaders use.
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Thanks, "Dad." I'll take that as an informed recommendation. Now I think I'll go see if I can get a review copy of the book.
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I specially liked the consistency part of it. When leaders do small things over and over again with a lot of care (and with no one reminding them), they seldom do it consciously. They do it because of who they are and what they do when they operate from their core!
Could this be reason why some people say - "Leaders are born, not made."?
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Thanks for those comments, Tanmay. You're right that it's the consistent, day-to-day actions that build long term success. And you suggest that when people do that they operate from their core, and that may be what we mean by "leaders are born." Let me parse that.
There are some people who are "born" leaders in the sense that they emerge from young adulthood with some talents and traits that will make it easier for them to do some important kinds of leadership work. I know from a quarter century of training that I can't make someone willing to decide or willing to confront or willing to be accountable. I can't teach them how to enjoy helping others succeed.
On the other hand, though, twenty-five years plus of training and writing materials like my Working Supervisor's Support Kit, lead me to think two things. Most people can learn to do the job "well enough" if they get help and work at it. And even those with talent are embarking on a craft that will demand that they grow and develop until they quit breathing.
On the one hand, it's simple. On the other you'll never master it.
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Wally, great addition to Seth's post.
With the unpredictabilty of human behavior, some leaders are stopped dead in their tracks by delegating appropriately (without micromanaging), confronting behavior, and making decisions. They worry too much about what others may think or who they will hurt. The fact of the matter is that NOT EVERYONE WILL LOVE YOU.
Many struggle throughout their careers with this. Others find it easier.
In any event, thank goodness for the peers, mentors and coaches in a leader's network who can assist them with thinking through these dilemmas. Although the final decision is often solo, managers can and should leverage their networks to assist them.
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Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Mary Jo. I really appreciate your adding thanks for all those that help. Leadership is an apprenticeship trade. We learn most of it by watching the masters and trying to do what they do, getting better through feedback and adjustment. It really helps to have those people you mention around us to lend support and share advice.
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Excellent thoughts, Wally. I'm still pondering Mary Jo's recent post about "Friends, Actually." From that standpoint, I'd add:
"Leading can be lonely, even when leaders aren't alone."
A recurring theme I've heard from coaching clients, and experienced myself, is the need to evaluate the trust level and "value proposition" (sorry for the CEO-speak) of friends, followers, allies, and confidants - a practice that may contradict a leader's sense of inherent trust and optimism.
One of Twitter's surprising benefits is that it's created a kindred spirit community of like-minded leaders (including you) with whom I feel safe sharing struggles and celebrating successes. One way to get comfortable with the discomfort of "leadership loneliness" is finding solace and support.
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Thanks for those comments, Angie. They pick up on Mary Jo's that are just above.
Leadership can be very lonely and treacherous work if you try to do it all alone. That's why I suggest to those I train that it's important to develop a collection of supporters, peers and mentors and friends, who can give you feedback and advice and, sometimes, just listen to you unload.
That's one reason I really like the idea of peer support groups. They exists for CEOs, but I think anyone responsible for group performance can use them as well.
And I agree about Twitter. It's a more powerful way to make connections with the like minded. I experienced this first in the early days of the net, but social media make it easier to connect with people like you that you'd never connect with otherwise.
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Concur with Wally's advice to get support through peer support groups. Gotta care about your folks, but you can't eat pizza and drink beer with them except when *everyone* else is present. Give the impression that you play favorites with friends and you destroy credibility as a fair leader. And it is the perception that matter.
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Thanks for adding that, Bret. The advice about being friendly, but not a friend, to your team members applies and you described well how hanging out with anything less than everyone can affect how you appear. It's a "Caesar's Wife" issue. It's not just about virtue. It's about the appearance of virtue as well.
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Knowing how and when to lead from either the head or the heart is another key discomfort element. Too many leaders get too focused on thinking, and forget that their teams are people who need love (a scary workplace thought for some). Others get so wrapped up in empathy that they fail to manage the business of business. My way-too-many years of working with leaders tell me that it is indeed the rare individual who doles out equally rich measures of head and heart support.
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Thanks for adding that, Jane. You're so right. Getting both jobs done is tough. Part of the reason is that much "training" only stresses one of the dimensions.
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Seth's blogs always veer towards the strategic rather than the tactical, although I guess the nature of blogs will always lean in that direction. His book The Dip talks about very similar themes, ie that making difficult moves and sticking with them seperates the winners from the losers.
It's story telling in the same way that most best selling management and leadership books are. He's a modern day Tom Peters.
Nothing wrong with that of course, it motivates a change in behaviour but people do then require some meat on the bones to actually implement these kind of strategies effectively.
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Good points about Seth's writing. I think your observation about his work being "strategic" is right on in the sense that he tends to write about big picture stuff. In this case I think he wrote about the difficult parts that are often associated with leadership work, not the ones associated with management or supervision.
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very interesting article, especially agree with the first point on setting clear expectations and I also beilive little things (gestures, feedbacks, praise) can be difficult to master in leadership.
X C
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Thanks for adding your thoughts, Chelsea. I think that doing the little things is easy, but doing them diligently and consistently is hard.
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