Some thoughts on great leadership. The more we get into this, the more we’re becoming convinced that it’s all about inspiring and enabling others to do their absolute best, together to realize a meaningful and rewarding shared purpose
Three truths leaders should keep in mind:
1) It’s not about you. (It’s about those “others” following you)
2) Everything communicates. (Everything. All the time. Nothing is off the record)
3) Integrating across trumps managing down. (Managing down is disabling. E.A.S.E.-ing the way for others to work together is enabling: Encouraging them; Aligning others with them; Solving a problem for them; Ending something that’s distracting them.)
Happy to go into more depth on any of these if people are interested.
What does “E.A.S.E.-ing” mean?
Let me give you an example.
One general manager was working to push decision-making down into his organization. Of course, he still wanted to be kept informed. At the end of one session during which one group was informing him of what they were doing he said, “I like it. Go for it.”
What he said was intended to provide positive reinforcement for decisions his subordinates were making. Some of those subordinates interpreted what he said as making a decision and giving his approval. Thus his subordinates became less clear on what the general manager did and did not want approval rights on. So they started taking more and more things to him for approval – exactly the opposite of what he wanted.
The antidote to this problem is to be particularly explicit when you’re not making a decision. In this case, the leader might have said something like. “I applaud the decisions you’re making. Thank you for keeping me informed. What do you need me to do to help?” Then the leader should figure out how they can E.A.S.E. the way for their team by:
Encouraging them,
Aligning others with them
Solving a problem for them, or
Ending something that’s distracting them
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