Leadership

      After working in the technology sector for the last twenty years, I had the opportunity to work with some of the most amazing leaders, and some of the worst! What makes an amazing or leader, you ask? Well, it probably isn’t quite what you think, like a formal education or anything like that. Being a member of many teams over my career, the best leaders, in my humble opinion, are people people. They know how to work with adults, they know how to treat adults as adults, they even know when to pass along appropriate information and when not too. I guess, depending on where you are on the corporate ladder, your idea of a good leader may differ from mine; someone who spent her career being led by one.

      One of the key success factors for dealing with any adult is to tell them where you’ve been and tell them where you are going, and then repeat. Contrary to popular belief, the typical human cannot read minds. Communication is paramount to the success of any good leader and information is paramount to the success of their team members. Complaining about your team members, putting them down, withholding information, telling them they never follow direction, etc., are unfair and just plain insulting. I often wonder if these ignorant leaders take the time to think about the fact that there are very few people who get up each morning, head to work, and think “Today I think I’ll screw up everything I do.”; or “Today I think I will be in a bad mood and be unpleasant to everyone around me.” While there may be some people like that, I truly do not believe even one-percent of the working population thinks these thoughts! Why then, do leaders make these types of uninformed and ignorant comments about their team members (or peers, etc.):

I never receive your work on time or in the correct format.

While you deliver, what you deliver is poor quality and I have to re-do it.

I never get what I ask for.

No one ever shows up to my meetings.

They’re idiots.

They have no clue what they are doing.

While this is good work, I did not ask you to do it.

This is not in the correct format.

      The list can go on and on. My interpretation of the above statements or any statement like them is that you are not clear. You did not provide the tools and information necessary to help your team be successful. If you want deliverables on a certain date, or in a particular format tell your team. Go so far as to hold a little training session at the onset and walk through what they are supposed to do, what format you require, the delivery date, etc.; and if your team delivers more than you asked for, congratulate them; do not put them down.

      I worked on a short-term contract and while my scope changed on a daily basis for a month, I finally put together what I felt I needed to deliver and sent it to the person for which I worked. The leader agreed and I got started. My initial timeline was three months and with one month wasted because they didn’t know what to do; my new timeline was two months, same scope. I worked endless hours and not only delivered what I was contracted to deliver, I delivered more. While the senior executive was thrilled, they, in a very senior position, spoke with each senior executive and indicated that I was not contracted to deliver that piece. What is ironic is the piece I was not supposed to deliver was the piece with which they moved forward. Because I had great relationships with the senior executive, they told me, a contractor, what they were saying about me. I actually laughed. I thought it was incredibly funny that first, a Director is trash talking the contractor they hired; and second a Director is telling others more senior to her that the very contractor she hired did something she wasn’t supposed to do. In my experience, that is their failure, not mine, and the last thing I would do is tell others how horrible my staff is while being responsible for them!

      It is a leader’s responsibility to ensure their staff is doing what they are supposed to be doing, and doing it in the correct fashion. Enabling staff to be successful makes a leader successful.

      As I am a consultant, I work in many different organizations with many different types of people at all different levels. In twenty years of consulting, the common denominator for all good leaders is they are people people. They are respectful, good listeners, know their team member’s strengths and weaknesses (and if they do not know, they find out), and put the right people in the right job. The worst leaders lack confidence, are more interested in where they are going than what they are doing, do not care about their staff, are poor listeners and observers, and finally, think they are always right. I believe a poor leader is driven by ego; a good leader is driven by success and knows that they cannot be successful without a good team. Forget the adage There is no “I” in team. I think it should be There is no “I’ in Success.

      If you want success you need a good support system. If you want a good support system, you need to understand what that support system needs to thrive. Take the time to learn about your team, ask them what works for them and what doesn’t; ask them what they like to do and what they do not like to do; typically if someone likes to do something, then they’ll be great at doing it and it will be effortless for them.

      Be clear, be concise, and if you always complain about the format of your deliverables, then create templates and provide training. This will ensure that you always get what you want in the desirable format.

      Listen! If you are talking you are not listening.

      Speak positively about everyone. If you call someone stupid, then they will be stupid. If you call someone smart, then they will be smart. Everyone is good at something. As a leader, it is your responsibility to find out what that is.

      If you have to repeat instructions, or consistently correct the same mistakes, then you were not clear the first time. Ask your team questions to ensure you are all on the same page and understand what needs to happen, how, and when.

      Provide the right amount of oversight. Some people like daily check-ins, others like weekly or monthly. Again, gaining insight into what works and what does not work for each of your team members will make you all successful, and remember There is no “I’ in Success.