1: Let Leaders Succeed and Fail

Perhaps the most important attribute a leader needs to be successful is accountability. Humans will do amazing things if they know what is expected of them. They will often do stupid things if they don't.

Consider the parable of the rock:

A village chieftain once asked a young warrior to bring him a rock. The young man, feeling excited, creative, and proud to have been asked, guessed  that the chieftain wanted a new decoration for his hut. He went out and found a beautiful quartz crystal and brought it to the chieftain who shrugged and said, "Thank you. But that's not the rock I wanted. Please try again." Disappointed, but still resolute, the warrior then decided that the chieftain must be worried about the oncoming winter, so he returned with a piece of coal. "That's not it either,” said the chieftain. Getting frustrated, the warrior asked around the village and found that the chieftain had asked for rocks before and had once accepted a piece of granite. Thus, the young man traveled several days to a place where he could find granite. He chipped off a large piece and hauled it home to the chief, who didn't have time to see him, but sent a message through his lieutenant-chieftain that he had changed his mind and no longer wanted a rock.

You've probably been on both ends of that story. I know I have. The warrior, instead of spending productive time, spent time trying to divine what the chieftain wanted. What a waste of effort! Clear instructions save everybody time and improve the quality of work. Accountability is impossible without them. You can grow leaders by giving clear instructions and letting them flourish.

At Microsoft, I had a manager who subscribed to the “bring me a rock” school of thought. He was a talented guy, but he had very stringent, inflexible notions of how things ought to be done. He would ask me to bring him a rock over and over and over again until, at last, the rock I brought was the one he wanted. Hey, I eventually brought him what he wanted, so we succeeded together, right? Wrong. Each day seemed like a continual struggle with this manager, and I often felt like I was spinning my wheels. I definitely wasn't as productive as I could have been. Obviously, this behavior turns people into drones whose purpose is to figure out the leader's will.

As a leader, you have a responsibility to help your people help you. If you have particular concepts of how things ought to be done, be clear on those up front. People need a sandbox, especially in large enterprises where standards, protocol, politics, and policy, by necessity, govern. But make those boundaries as spacious and as well-documented as possible.

Once you establish boundaries, you must set people free within them. People want to feel empowered. They want to be creative. They want to solve problems and to have freedom. Turn them loose and stay out of the way! People are paid salaries to use their brains, and the more they're micromanaged, the more they have a tendency to turn their brains off. Micromanagement can work well in very small groups with monumental challenges which require heroics. But micromanagement doesn't grow leaders. I know. I'm a recovering micro-manager and I've seen the negative effects of meddling on potential leaders.

It may be easy to criticize some one's ideas. And it's human nature to think that your way is better. You might even be prescient enough to see a potential train wreck coming. But letting leaders own their decisions allows them to feel accountable and to learn from their own mistakes. We can't (and we shouldn't) want to teach every person to do every job. We don't know enough and we don't have enough time. Let people learn on their own. Each time you swoop in to solve a problem that you see coming you remove a potential learning lesson from the people in you organization. Accept mistakes for what they are: cheap leadership training courses.

Clear expectations, defined (and spacious) boundaries with room for mistakes will create leaders in your organization.

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