Episode #493: The Seasons Of Leadership

When we first start out in business we are ninja boss watchers, studying our leaders with a level of forensic detail which is remarkable. How is their mood today? Should I bring up that request or pick another day, etc.? We study how they lead, both the good, the bad and the ugly. We are rarely mentally putting ourselves in their place, taking their viewpoint but we are quick to discuss the boss’s failing with our colleagues. Then one day it happens and we are made someone else’s boss.

The usual reason that happens is we have demonstrated some strong capabilities in the job we have. The best salesperson, architect, engineer, accountant type of thing. Rarely are we able to be a mediocre performer who is great with people, excellent in communication and get the next big job. This is where we hit our first snag, when we realise the people we are leading are not like us. They don’t necessarily share the expertise in the things we are good at. They may have young kids, elderly parents, a brilliant hobby, a major passion and any number of things which rank above shareholder value for them. We are young and motivated though, so we press forward, dragging the team with us.

After a few years of this, we start to see the brass ring could be ours, so we set out to claim it. By this time, we have worked out that we cannot get there by ourselves and we need the team to be performing. We also spot rivals for the same promotion and they are doing the same thing – working through their teams. We start to push harder to get the team up to ramming speed and we are relentless in our demands. Everything is cantered around us and what we want and what the team wants, becomes an obtuse distraction.

We get that job and now we are the leader of leaders and we make a new discovery – some of these people are unable to lead in a way which gets the results we want. We most likely inherited this leadership group from our predecessor. The previous leader may have been older than us and in a different season of their leadership life, so their leadership style has been quite different from ours. Our leadership team prefer our predecessor and their leadership style to ours, because in their minds we are so demanding and in too much of a hurry.

We are earning the big bucks and have weighty responsibilities now, so we feel the pressure for outcomes. We push, push, push, forcing the square pegs into the round holes. Then we hit the ceiling, where no amount of pushing is working anymore. We start to panic, worrying how we can maintain our position if we are not able to deliver. We start to seek information on what might work, because clearly what we are doing now isn’t working.

We discover that there is a magic key for every person which unlocks their full potential and it is called personal self-interest and motivation. Up until now that was also uppermost in our mind, but it only applied to ourselves and what we wanted. Now we have to switch gears and start investigating what our direct reports want and finding ways to deliver, to tap into their drive for results. We have to slow down now in order to go fast. We have to stop rushing about and start considering where the energy and time are best applied.

We learn there is a secret world of leadership, we were unaware of. Now we piece together how other leaders, who look so relaxed, are getting their teams to produce the outcomes. They seem unhurried and not particularly hassled. They are spending a lot of time talking to their people and they never seem to be upbraiding anyone for a lack of performance. They seem to know a lot about their team members and seem have a different style of interaction with each.

As we become better with our people, we are given even higher ranked jobs and we are now dealing with leaders with large empires. They know what they are doing and they are capable. The leadership task has changed again and now we must set a course they can all get behind. Our people and communication skills become focused on persuasion and we are more interested in gaining collaboration, than telling anyone what to do.

That thrusting, impatient self seems a long way away. Why didn’t we just jump straight to this latest leadership model? Like everyone else at that early leadership stage, we were pig headed and too confident we could do it all by ourselves. Every generation seems to have to discover the things known to previous generations, which were ignored or forgotten. We could have shaved some wear and tear off though on the way though, if we had studied more about leadership and started the process much earlier. We could have relied less on trial and error and instead benefited from the experience and insights of others. It is never too late to learn. The best time to start was yesterday and the second best time is today.