Want your team to take off? Then make sure you understand and execute on the checklist…Below you’ll find a description of the third of five checkpoints identified in the course of my experience with a particularly high-performing team. In case you missed the previous ones, click on the link at the bottom of the post to see the others.
3. Positive Leadership
Lee Iacocca once said: “the speed of the boss is
the speed of the team.” I can’t say enough about the impact of the leaders that directed this team. In the course of working with them, my admiration for them as people rose dramatically.
They weren’t project management geeks or highly skilled facilitators (that was my job); they didn’t use these levers as a ploy to whip up artificial enthusiasm…….rather they naturally embodied them. The leaders set the example in the constructive tone of their discussion and actions.
This included: making a point to appreciate and accommodate diverse viewpoints, even if it meant following the occasional rabbit trail; insisting on face-to-face team meetings to enhance interaction of the team, despite significant travel expense; hearing the excitement rise in their own voices as they discovered benchmarks, imagined how the company could advance and reminded the team of the expectations and commitment of senior management to support the teams deliverables.
In short, they set the tone by internalizing and “radiating” these “thrusters” to the team.
Picture: www.avstop.com
Thanks for the great comment and example that “strikes home.” No question that leadership sets the tone throughout successful- and challenging- times. It’s amazing how even an upbeat kickoff for a meeting can set the tone for a positive discussion, whereas a somber one has the potential to turn the tide in the opposite direction. Thanks so much for your comments. Specifically your examples bring life to the concepts I seek to convey. Very appreciated!
Great point Johannes! I recently experienced this in a first hand and memorable way when I served as head coach of my sons’ baseball team for two games. Typically our head coach was calm and unruffled by the circumstances (score, questionable umpiring calls, etc.). When he went out of town and ‘left me in charge’, I was nervous and within 10 minutes of the first game, I was on the field, questioning the score. The team absorbed my frustrated attitude like a sponge and we got clobbered…tons of strikeouts, bad fielding, you name it! The next game, I just focused on having fun. We still lost but the score was a lot closer and everyone did their best (including me!). Now I use this story as my first hand example of the ‘positive leadership’ you describe above. Thanks for the reminder!