I likely lead in a different way than you are accustomed to. For the first 15 years of my career, I apologized for my different approach. Once I started paying closer attention, I realized that my style works pretty darn well and that I should start embracing it. This document is intended to short-circuit any questions you may have about how I operate and what my expectations are.
Everyone is a leader in our organization. Seniority doesn’t always equate to leadership, so let’s dig into what a leader looks like: Leaders do the right thing, even when no one is looking. Leaders lift their teammates up. Leaders welcome a challenge. Leaders don’t wait for others to solve problems for them (see next point).
Be bold. Put yourself out there and shape our future. History is made by creators, not consumers. When was the last time you got paid for consuming something someone else created? 🤔
There are times when the best thing I can do is let the team struggle a bit. Having everything handed to you limits the learning process. You may get the answer faster, but what do you really learn when someone repeatedly gives you the answer? Stubbing your toe, adjusting your approach, and seeing your new found success is where the magic happens.
The first three items in this list can feel a little scary if you never operated in this manner. It’s a little less scary when you venture into this as a team. Great teams accelerate each individual and therefore the whole team. Great teams are built by assembling groups of people that operate as leaders.
If everyone is a carpenter, we’ll solve everything with hammers, saws, and screwdrivers. What happens when our “house” needs some plumbing and we don’t have a pipe wrench in our toolbelt?
We’re diverse about diversity. It’s more than ethnicity, gender, age, culture, religion, etc. Diversity must exist in all of those vectors AND in technical skill, experience, and toolsets. Being diverse across the board enables us to land on the best possible solution for all of our problems.
Teams that trust each other engage in the healthy, safe debate required to narrow in on the proper solutions to problems. This trust must be in place because the opinions & experience brought to the discussion will be diverse.
No one comes into work saying, “I want to be a jerk today. In fact, I want to do some terrible work while also being a jerk.” If it feels like someone is operating in that manner, spend time trying to understand why they are behaving this way. I guarantee it’s not because they want to. Be a leader and help them out.