It occurred to me I don't really go through situations where my performance wasn't great. The times where I wasn't good enough, by effort or otherwise. I have only talked about the "can do" rather than the "I couldn't". Failure has taught me hard lessons. So why I've waited this long to share any of it...is also a failing. Wow, off to a great start already. I'll try to open with something pertinent to my typical messaging and I'll go from there.
Leadership failure: communication
I've said it at least once on other posts. "If it's not important to the boss, it doesn't happen". I learned this the hard way on at least three occasions. Each time I failed to stick with a directive, follow up on a project, or be present with my team about the activity. The "what" in each case is less important about the "how" where leadership is concerned. In this light I will go through these based on the point of failure rather than what the projects were.
Communicating need.
Leaders, when you bring up an idea for something new. Come prepared with the why. As a new quality manager, I had a whole bunch of ideas for my department. Some of these were easy, some of them were hard. I had a lot of success with the group and a few misses. the first part of talking about the failures was where I didn't communicate need properly. I write about why so much. This is one of those reasons.
I should really know better when it comes to why. I experienced many situations in my federal service where "why" was not anywhere near a new initiative. Where our directive was to "do this because we said to". And every one of those was a failure in some way.
Imagine my surprise when one of my initiatives went exactly nowhere. At the end of the day, I failed to bring the why. I did not tie this action into reasons which resonated with the team.
Follow. Up.
Another stupid way to lose. Follow up is one of the easiest ways to find out where something is. Again, when I was a new leader, I would pass the word on something I was interested in during the weekly. This is, if you aren't keeping a good account of each effort you are interested in....nothing happens.
Follow up is something we can schedule. Something we can leverage a host of simple tech to help us not overlook where we should ask the question again. If you have clients, follow up. You can't get referrals if you don't ask for them. Even if you get nothing back, follow up. You are showing your own commitment to "x".
My failure here was some inspection idea, I forget what, but I mentioned it maybe twice and stupidly assumed it would occur. I honestly thought it would happen without my attention. Fast forward a month or three. Asked about in the weekly and all I get is blank stares. The worst thing to do then is to get mad. I did for a second, after which my team (a great team, mind you) reminded me I had not even mentioned this thing for however long. It was informative and humbling to have a team that would tell me how it was.
Be there.
Third failure for this post. This point is a big deal for me and I try to communicate this important element often. Be present with your team. Especially when they are going through change with you. I had many system changes going on when I first took this department. The group did an amazing job getting most of it done.
One way i failed this group was not being where they needed me. When you have a lot of things going on, your time is at a premium. As leaders, we have to be rockstars at time management. We have got to -make time- for the important activities. One of these things is being around. Being available. I was schedule-bound some days and this hurt projects my team worked on. Worse, they felt I wasn't supporting them, which hurt their why. The worst part of this is hurting the motivation of your personnel.
Leadership = communication
What I hope you take from this sampling of my failures is how to address your own. The primary piece here is leaders communicating properly to their teams. Without clear communication of need coupled with consistency and presence, you won't accomplish anything. Find the why and teach it at every opportunity. Follow up and make time for each person. These tools can be used whether your team is with you or remote. These apply to manufacturing, accounting, legal, you name it.
So pay attention to your communication practices. They can make or break your effectivity as a leader.
