Being a senior leader in an organization, or an influencer creating a social movement, means developing and communicating a vision of the future. We need visionaries, but we also need boots-on-the-ground, team leaders who enable individual contributors to solve problems, innovate, and develop their own leadership capability. That’s what this article is about.
Many corporations I worked for provided leadership training. Although my best leadership training and experience happened in the military, I still learned a lot during my corporate career. And, the best leadership question I ever heard came from one of my corporate colleagues.
No stupid questions
Toward the end of a three-day leadership course, the facilitators asked for feedback and questions. From the back of the room, one of my colleagues asked, “Can you tell me how I’m going to fit all these leadership tasks in with my regular job?” Why was that the best question?
During that three-day course, the facilitators portrayed leadership as a series of tasks, rather than a way of being. Although management is made up of tasks you execute, leadership is how you behave. My colleague’s question highlighted the failure of that organization’s leadership development program; and, the facilitators did not answer it.
Leadership behavior
When I describe leadership behavior, I begin with the definition of leadership that continues to ring true decade after decade: leadership is inspiring followers to achieve an outcome desired by the leader. Along with modelling the behavior they expect of others, leaders are consistently supporting and developing their teams. The more consistent the inspiring behavior, the more successful the leader.
Inspiring behavior in the moment
The first challenge for all leaders is to adjust their approach to leadership in-the-moment, while continuing to inspire their teams.
Nurturing independence
The second challenge for leaders is to nurture independence during every interaction with their teams.
Independent teams are inspired to solve problems and achieve results without continued intervention from their leaders. The more independent the team, the more the leader can focus on inspiring the team to overcome new challenges and improve their own leadership behavior.
In-the-moment leadership
As long as you’re inspiring your team and nurturing independence, you’re doing great. And, there’s more than one way to be that great leader in every leadership moment.
But, what is a leadership moment?
A leadership moment is an opportunity to inspire and nurture independence in one or more members of your team. These leadership moments may be seconds, minutes, or hours. And, your leadership approach needs to vary based on the length of the leadership moment.
Leadership approach vs. time
Although leadership is a way of being in any moment, just being isn’t enough: leaders must act.
When your team members are struggling to move forward, or exhibiting a behavior you want to change or encourage, you have an opportunity (limited time) to inspire change. You can coach, mentor, tell, or do some of the work yourself. Each approach has its pros and cons, and each takes more or less time. Let’s look at each approach in detail.
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DIY
What is it?
- Doing job tasks yourself that you previously assigned, or should assign, to one or more of your team members. This is the old saying, “if you want something done right, do it yourself.”
Advantages
- The outcome will probably be exactly what you want.
Disadvantages:
- Creates and reinforces dependency.
- Often the worst use of a leader’s time. Leaders are paid to achieve results through others.
When to do it:
- If your team’s workload is higher than normal, then roll up your sleeves and pitch-in. But, if your team is always overworked, then your time is best spent advocating for more resources and building relationships with other leaders who could share the work.
Telling
What is it?
- Telling one or more team members exactly what to do.
Advantages:
- If you know exactly what needs to be done and how, this approach will be the quickest.
Disadvantages:
- Creates and reinforces dependency.
When to do it:
- In high-risk situations when the organization cannot tolerate mistakes, providing timely and clear direction is the appropriate leadership approach.
Mentoring
What is it?
- Regular meetings with individual team members to pass on your experience and knowledge of what has and hasn’t worked in the past. Mentoring is a long-term commitment that usually lasts a year or more.
Advantages:
- Creates independent teams that know what has succeeded and failed in the past, and is the best way to transmit organizational knowledge and history.
- Since one of the primary roles of all leaders is to develop future leaders, you should consider mentoring one or two top performers to prepare them for future leadership roles.
Disadvantages:
- Mentoring takes a lot of time. If your only goal is to help an individual contributor improve performance in their current role, then it’s best for you to assign peer mentors, rather than doing the mentoring yourself.
When to do it:
- Mentoring is one of the best ways to build relationships with your team and orient newcomers.
- If you commit to mentoring someone, make sure you have the time to follow through.
Coaching
What is it?
- A specific method of conversation and questioning that helps team members accelerate toward a goal and take responsibility for the outcome.
Advantages:
- Creates independent teams.
- Much faster than mentoring.
Disadvantages:
- Leaders need to monitor progress to ensure that their team members are solving problems and achieving objectives.
- Takes more time than telling.
When to do it:
- Coaching is a skill that leaders can learn quickly and it has been shown to be the most effective approach outside of emergency and high-risk situations.
Know how and when to use each approach
If you’ve been a leader long enough, you know that there are going to be times when it’s just easier to do it yourself. And, in high-risk situations when the consequences of failure are too high, the best approach might be providing immediate and clear direction by telling people exactly what to do. But, when it comes to building future leaders and creating independent teams, nothing beats mentoring and coaching.
Always inspire
Regardless of the approach, effective leaders are always inspiring. Inspirational leaders do more than mentor and coach. We are inspired by leaders who pitch-in and help their overworked teams, and by leaders who are decisive and directive.
What leadership approach works best for you? What advice would you give emerging leaders? Please let me know by leaving a comment, below. Or, you can connect with me and comment on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Also, please share this article with your family, friends, and coworkers.
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