Leadership – the Sweet
Spot
As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens
another.
P R O V E R B S 2 7: 1 7,
We all carry ambition
inside of us and yet being somewhat realistic, we all know that sometimes we
get carried away and aim for the high and unattainable goals in life without
the reality of knowing our own abilities and resources. There is nothing more demoralizing
that failing to meet your own goals that were set too high and too farfetched
thus denying you the meaningful achievement we all fight for.
Many people miss the sweet
spot of life or their career because they aim too high and fail to reach the level
of satisfaction you get from being successful. Some say there is an art to
being good at what you do. Some will tell you that hard work is never a
substitution for the satisfaction you get in life. There is a fine line between
what leaders say [talk] and how they walk.
It must be in harmony if
they want to be better than the rest of people wanting to be leaders in
whatever business you choose your life to engage in 100 %. They must know that
perfect practice makes better business matters grow and if they pay attention
to things their employees take an interest in, their morale and job
satisfaction will sustain the success and positivity in their lives.
We get more out of a team
if the leader pays attention to them and their particular needs. Dealing with
these intangibles that rely on emotion and sensitivities, one cannot just
solely focus on achievements but rather, focus on the people as well.
Ironically speaking, we get more out of people if we are in harmony or in tune
with how they respond to their goals equally with their organizational goals.
These things must be done in harmony and defined to work together.
Nothing is more
self-defeating than unreasonable deadlines. On the other hand, tight deadlines
are sometimes needed to keep the organization from becoming too soft or
lethargic and comfortable. Some leaders create deadlines to test their
employee’s will or energy levels. Some do it to feed their own ego and some do
it to keep the team on their toes.
Whatever the reason is for
setting deadlines, the main purpose they should be set is to measure
achievements and not feed egos. A bad test can end up creating false
impressions that feeds complacency rather than productivity.
Creating work with poorly
set deadlines can create the wrong impressions as well as the wrong energy
levels and cause abuse of this workload principle to motivate the employees and
promise a solid delivery of products or services. On the other hand, sometimes
arbitrary and artificial deadlines are needed to keep the organization from
becoming too stagnant or comfortable.
How you use that principle
is how people perceive your leadership style and dedication to the team members
and their goals. What is a basic rule for productivity is the goal to
under-promise something and 0ver-deliver on what your goals and promises are
related to the overall mission. Eager leaders have a tendency to respond with a
‘yes’ to every challenge made and do so without any second thoughts or pause
whether they can meet or deliver such a deadline. What we don’t realize is that
when we under-promise or over-deliver, we ‘cheapen our words’ in those cases
where we fail to meet such deadlines. A good leader can rarely survive more
than one failure at a time.
It does no good to anyone
to technically fail to promise something we cannot deliver. Making promises
without considering the time, effort, and energy to complete the task with a
deliberate under-promise can ultimately destroy morale and break up a team of
good people. This kind of deliberate misalignment creates friction and conflict
that leaders often spent more time defusing than the problem itself. A good
leader knows how to align a team’s skills and strengths. They know their own
skill set and qualifications better than anyone else when asked to commit to a
job.
Although it is frowned upon
to pass any opportunity to allow the team to perform a critical task, there are
exceptions where a team leader can’t commit to the deadline imposed and pass it
on to another team as matter of making it clear that he or she is unwilling to
over-promise and under-deliver their team’s productivity and abilities for the
job. If this is the case where you aren’t able to commit, then briefly explain
your position and why and then try to find another team leader or team to
connect with.
If the request comes from
your boss, you probably can’t refuse to do it but it is within reason to
discuss limitation or alternatives. Asking the above questions will arm you for
a conversation about unrealistic expectations for the project. This a much
better scenario than outright failure or inability to meet the deadline as
over-promised. Remember a “no” sometimes is just “not yet”; better to not
commit and delay to a time when you can deliver than to over-promise and
under-deliver.
There is a principle that
stands here as it lands squarely on the shoulders of all involved and their reputation
or the integrity of the team and its leader. Over-optimism is more dangerous
than over-pessimism for it results in the demoralization of the team and
disappointment that separates the leader from his or her followers based on the
downside of these emotional responses to bad decision making.
There are those who
repeatedly make this kind of mistake and eventually burn out or destroy team
concepts along the way. We haven’t even mentioned the undervalued impacts of
such disappointment from a management’s point of view. I am sure you know what
this can lead to in the end. One must not think that this clears the path to
become an overly pessimistic leader. Being excessively cynical or dark about
things does nothing to boost egos, confidences or abilities. It would lead to
never taking risks or finding new challenges and that is also very destructive
in nature.
Take and make the
safeguards and precautions as your experience dictates, gather the right
insight and data to make a good decision and hold that resolve to get it done
or promised in order to overcome the unknown obstacles we will face. When
applied into a hostile or dangerous situation, the overly-optimistic leader
chooses not to see the peril of their surroundings. He or she who sends troops
into battle or ambush without assessing and anticipating what could go wrong
has failed you as a leader. Once put into such a predicament where winning or
staying alive becomes questionable, you lose the faith of those who followed
you since they did so blindly and believed in you when you said it would be
easy and not prepare them for the worst.
There will be times, when
we do need to make decisions spontaneously or on the fly sort of speak.
However, as a general rule, these kinds of situations should be rare. If you
engage in too many of these kind of instant decisions, you risk losing sight of
the big picture and disconnect yourself and the team from the reality around
you. This is not the kind of situation to create in order to balance your strategies
and abilities to execute while in a vacuum. A delicate balance, with the time
and focus on long term decisions are worth your energy and effort to sustain
the workload and upcoming challenges.
When in a vacuum, explain
your decisions and other will follow even if they disagree. Common courtesy is
to share the burden but carry the sweat for making the decision. Avoid leading
others by merely leading them. Don’t be a selfish leader and show some selfness
to them. Nobody likes working for a dictator and especially while working with
generation X, Y and Z in the team who aren’t used to this kind of leadership.
most reject it in favor of a more collaborative, team-centered approach. They
want leaders who will humble themselves and earn their trust; they won’t
automatically give it. Something we need
to learn when it comes to respect and trust – it is still earned.
Old school must adjust to
this generational gap. They must shift their approach or they will find
themselves in the unemployment line sooner than later. We must remember that an
explanation of our decision is not a cowardly act – in fact, it is just the
opposite. It is a sign of strength, confidence and conviction as your
willingness to share your thoughts brings about a vulnerability that is exposed
to potential criticism but rarely does so when the leader is sincere and clear
about his or her expectations.
It is the weak leader
rather than the strong one who refuses to explain his or her decision for that
person takes all criticism personally and not jobwise. This also avoids the
traditional ‘behind the back’ talk when things are put out in front rather than
kept secret. If we, as leaders, take the time to explain things, our team
members still may not agree, but most will follow anyway. Illumination can go a
long way if people are kept out of the dark. The little courtesy, respect, and
humility that you show them by explaining yourself will pay off.
Leaders have faith in
people. When they believe in them enough to share their thoughts, then they
find that those willing to listen will rise to higher and more productive
levels and expectations and create an ownership to the problem-solving methods.
When people are being informed with the facts, instead of just being offered
opinions, they work better, they trust better and they have the confidence to
do better.
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