For some reason I've decided I need to do blog series posts. Not sure why, it just makes sense to me. This "what does that mean" series is something I felt was useful because I have had times where I hear a term, a slogan, an idea, and I ask "what does that mean?".
Leadership is a topic we see all over business blogs, papers, magazines, etc. Your favorite politician claims they are the best one ever. You possibly had a sports team coach who exemplified good leadership and a manager at Wendy's who was the exact opposite. Leadership is a few things in one. We often identify good leadership when we see it yet we may not be able to articulate why. We most always know a bad leader on sight though we may also have trouble identifying the roots of why.
I will attempt to explain leadership, as I understand it, with a few key components. I'm sure I will miss something, somehow, somewhere. Feel free to write me and let me know.
Leadership is
- Leadership is communicating the why to those you lead.
- Leadership is setting and demonstrating expectations.
- Leadership is learning and teaching all at once.
Allow me to explain.
Communication
I wrote about failing in a leadership role. One of the biggest parts was communication. We may be able to argue leadership is really just about communicate need up and down an organization.
Why. Every organization has a why. Retailers solve their customer's problems. Fine dining provides an experience during their meal. Hotels provide a comfy place to stay. How many employees at these locations could articulate the "why"? Why are you here, cleaning this rug? Why are you washing dishes four hours straight? Why are you pushing a cart around a store picking online shopping orders? Maybe not a secret -the why doesn't make hard things less hard-. The why will motivate people to do hard things. They will be ready to do them better too.
Figuring out the why for yourself is an act of self-leadership. You should do this if you haven't. Find what part of the why serves your needs. I'm going to propose that a paycheck isn't the why I'm talking about. What is important about the why that speaks to you and keeps you getting up in the morning? Find this. I know, sometimes, there isn't much of one. Quite a few people will passionately exclaim you should look elsewhere. Maybe they are right. Maybe you aren't looking at it the right way. Even if you make the dumbest widget imaginable, someone, somewhere loves it. Service jobs in fast food aren't glamorous. Yet, somewhere, for someone, a perfectly prepared Big Mac just made someone's week. We all serve a customer at some level. Sometimes the best why you have will be the knowledge you are serving another person. Sometimes it isn't.
Find out.
Expectations
Where do these come from anyway? Well, your customer. Sometimes the customer is the person on a station next to you, sometimes they are a guest you are plating dessert for. Leaders need to articulate the why into expectations at every touch point. Not all expectations are visible either. A build station feeding another may state step completion requirements on paper. What may not be included is having the parts set for the receiving worker in a way to make their process start simpler. Failing to do so complicates the the entire system and taxes people in ways we might not anticipate.
Leadership is understanding expectations exist inside and outside the organization. Set all of them as clearly as possible and then follow through. Ask about the station transfer. Ask about how the dessert was plated. Find out where expectations are not met and, then go back and find out why. 90% of the time, unrealized expectations come from a process issue we can fix. Root cause analysis may be a pain, but you need to do it. Failure to meet expectations is a leadership failure somewhere. Find it.
Taking responsibility for these failures and finding their cause is how you demonstrate the importance of the expectations. This part is the hardest and you may need different techniques to get it done. It is worth it. The better defined expectations and how to achieve them, the more trust will come back up the chain. Oh yeah, trust. You build trust when you fight problems rather than the people near them. You will not get far in trying to maintain an expectation level without trust. And failing to remove barriers to success will push good people out.
Learning and teaching
Learn all the time. A hill I will die on: leaders in every organization need to read, read a lot, and publish their annual reading list. I have a reading list, I update it a couple times a year. It is full of things like what I am writing now, some history, and a little sci-fi. Read. Learn. Specifically, find new perspectives. Find new ways to understand people, motivation, and process.
Now, teach your people what you have learned. You will create a better environment just by posting your reading list. Take concepts you find and show people. Try them out. When I have been in direct leadership roles I have asked people to bring ideas to try. Let's give it two weeks and see if we like it. We'll do a before and after summary.
When do you teach and ask for this? If you've read anything I've put out here you know I am a huge proponent of the weekly standup. 30 minutes, your team talks, you listen and ask questions. At the end, you respond, propose some things, and give guidance. Every. Week. This helps you learn about your team and what makes their days harder. And I already said learning was part of this, so this is another critical thing to learn.
Also, continuous training should be in your quality system. Even if you don't have a quality system. If you sell stuff, you get feedback, returns, mistakes, find out what happened and teach people about prevention.
Leadership is a process
Leaders need to understand the why behind action at every level. Leveraging the why, leaders need to set expectations to serve internal and external customers. Leaders need to learn about their people while they teach them the first two things.
Like any process, it requires attention. And effort. And your consistency. You can do it.
I believe in you.
