The Burden of Leadership: How to Navigate the Murky Waters - Part 2

In the first post, we briefly explored what makes leadership so challenging and covered the first 3 items in the list of 9 things leaders can do to better support their teams and make the journey worthwhile and fulfilling. In this second post, we will cover the next 3 items in the list: owning it all but empowering others, applying the Jack Bauer principle and being intentional about managing change.

Appreciate that you are responsible for everything (own it all) but empower the team

A French general was once tactlessly asked, after a famous victory, if it hadn’t really been won by his second-in-command. He thought for some time before answering. ‘Maybe so,’ he replied. ‘But one thing is certain: if the battle had been lost, I would have lost it.’

Whether a team succeeds or fails is up to the leader. The leader’s attitude sets the tone for the entire team. The leader must take responsibility for the team’s performance and well-being; however, the leader cannot run the whole show alone.

A story is told in the bible in the book of Exodus chapter 18 that illustrates why it is important for leaders to let go of some of the responsibility and empower their team. In this story, Moses is visited by his father-in-law Jethro after being in the desert for a while. In the desert, the Amalekites?came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim but God commanded him to lift up his hands. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites won. At some point, there was no water for the people to drink in Rephidim where they had camped, and they grumbled against Moses. God instructed Moses to strike?the rock, and water?came out. So when his father-in-law visited him, Moses spent time telling Jethro about his exploits and how God had been gracious to them. Verse 8: “Moses told his father-in-law everything the?Lord?had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel, all the hardships they had had on the way, and how the?Lord?had saved them. Later, Aaron and all the leaders of Israel came to eat the meal with Moses’ father-in-law in God’s presence and the next day, Moses went about his business as usual, and this is where we draw the lessons letting go and allowing the team take on responsibility:

13 The next day Moses was settling disagreements among the people. The people stood around Moses from morning until evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw everything Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “Why are you doing this for the people? Why do you sit here alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

15 Moses answered his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to find out God’s will. 16 Whenever they have a disagreement and bring it to me, I decide which person is right, and I tell them God’s laws and instructions.”

17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you’re doing is not good. 18 You and your people will wear yourselves out. This is too much work for you. You can’t do it alone! 19 Now listen to me, and I’ll give you some advice. May God be with you! You must be the people’s representative to God and bring their disagreements to him. 20 You must instruct them in the laws and the teachings, show them how to live, and tell them what to do.

21 “But choose capable men from all the people, men who fear God, men you can trust, men who hate corruption. Put them in charge of groups of 1,000, or 100, or 50, or 10 people. 22 Let them be the ones who usually settle disagreements among the people. They should bring all important cases to you, but they should settle all minor cases themselves. Make it easier for yourself by letting them help you. 23 If God commands you, and you do this, you will be able to continue your work, and all these people will have their disagreements settled so that they can go home.”

24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 Moses chose capable men from all the Israelites and put them in charge of groups of 1,000, or 100, or 50, or 10 people. 26 These men were the ones who usually settled disagreements among the people. They would bring difficult cases to Moses, but they settled all minor ones themselves.

A lot of leaders find it easy to delegate tasks, but not authority. However, if you give your team autonomy (freedom to act or function independently) to perform their tasks but don’t give them formal power to decide (authority), you might be making their life harder than intended. If the leader is the one who is always making decisions, then the team will always be looking up to them to decide, but if people feel empowered, they will feel comfortable rising to the occasion and making decisions when need be. ?

Even though a leader must take responsibility and ownership for the team and its well-being, the leaders cannot make every decision. You must empower your team to lead, to take ownership and when the team succeeds, the leaders must remember that their main job is to support their team’s work and allow the team to take credit for their individual contributions. Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise. However, in defeat, the leader cannot apportion blame, it is all on you, there is no one else to blame.

Apply the Jack Bauer Rule: Break process when necessary to get things done

"That's the problem with people like you, George. You want results, but you never want to get your hands dirty. I'd start rolling up your sleeves. (pause) I'm gonna need a hacksaw."- Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer is a fictional character in the TV show “24”. For those not familiar with the show, here is a quick summary: Across 8 seasons of the show, Agent Jack Bauer responds to eight terrorist attacks. Each season has 24 episodes, and each episode takes place in one hour. In effect each season tracks Jack and the counter terrorism unit's activities in a single day as they race against time to prevent an imminent terrorist attack on US soil. Throughout the day, Jack puts out fires, interrogates suspects, shoots bad guys, gets betrayed by a mole within the organization, goes deep under cover to infiltrate terrorist cells, puts his life on the line for his colleagues etc. Basically he does whatever it takes to win. Jack is notorious for ignoring orders including direct orders from the president and going off protocol, but one thing is certain, he always gets the job done, every single time.

At the beginning of season 7 of the show, Jack is subpoenaed to testify before a senate sub-committee after C.T.U is disbanded. Here is an exchange between Jack and Senator Mayer, the chair of the sub-committee:

?Sen. Blaine Mayer: Alright, then. Did you torture Mr. Hadad?

Jack Bauer: According to the definition set forth by the Geneva Convention…yes, I did. Senator, why don't I save you some time? It's obvious that your agenda is to discredit C.T.U. and to generate a series of indictments—

Sen. Blaine Mayer: My only agenda is to get to the truth.

Jack Bauer: I don't think it is, sir.

Sen. Blaine Mayer: Excuse me?

Jack Bauer: Ibraham Hadad had targeted a bus carrying over forty-five people, ten of which were children. The truth, Senator, is that I stopped that attack from happening.

Sen. Blaine Mayer: By torturing Mr. Hadad!

Jack Bauer: By doing what I deemed necessary to protect innocent lives.

Sen. Blaine Mayer: So basically, what you’re saying, Mr. Bauer, is that the ends justify the means, and that you are above the law.

Jack Bauer: When I am activated, when I am brought into a situation, there is a reason, and that reason is to complete the objectives of my mission at all costs.

Sen. Blaine Mayer: Even if it means breaking the law.

Jack Bauer: For a combat soldier, the difference between success and failure is your ability to adapt to your enemy. The people that I deal with, they don’t care about your rules. All they care about is results. My job is to stop them from accomplishing their objectives. I simply adapted. In answer to your question, am I above the law? No, sir. I am more than willing to be judged by the people you claim to represent. I will let them decide what price I should pay. But please, do not sit there with that smug look on your face and expect me to regret the decisions I have made. Because sir, the truth is … I don’t

Jack will take every opportunity to get work done, even if it means breaking protocol.?Organizations cannot anticipate every possible situation they will encounter, and therefore it is not practical to make a rigid and defined process for everything. Empower your team to find solutions, even if they are outside the defined process.

However, this appetite for creativity, innovation and thinking outside the box must be tempered. There are techniques that are too unreliable, or too limited, to succeed at the highest level so as a leader you still need to manage that appetite for risk and make sure that the innovations that you and your team are coming up with are scalable, contribute to process improvement and add value to the overall mission.

In a nutshell, there are some standards that simply cannot be compromised, but as a leader you need to understand that there is a time to stand firm and follow the rules and there is a time to give ground and allow the rules to bend. The goal is not to have policies, the goal is to have policies that help you achieve a given goal. You must live by the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law.??????

?Be intentional about managing change

The job of a leader is usually more difficult when the situation is changing or unstable. When a team is doing well – kicking ass and taking names - no one notices what the leader does; but when something unexpected happens, the leader is expected to step up and lead. Four obvious times when challenges may arise include: (i) when something new is about to start - because of the anxiety and uncertainty of not knowing what is going to happen, (ii) when something is about to end - because things are about to change and again, uncertainty kicks in, (iii) when times are tough and (iv) during transitions---again, something is changing

One of the reasons why managing change is significantly hard is because changing means shifting attitudes, creating new habits, and learning new things.?The best book I have read on change management is Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. In the book, the Heath brothers explain that in most change situations, managers initially focus on strategy, structure, culture, or systems, which leads them to miss the most important issue: the core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people, and behavior change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people's feelings.

Change affects people personally at a gut level, and often blinds them to the plight of others. All change is personal at first. Unless someone understands how the change affects them, they will most likely not process the strategic big picture. In his book, “The Accidental Sales Manager, Chris Lytle says, “you cannot get people to consider the big picture and the larger issues until they have grappled with their own reactions to the change and what it means for them.”

?As a leader when navigating change, it is therefore important to provide clear direction, by speaking to people's feelings and anxieties about the change and make the change journey easier.

Click?here?to read the final post or follow this link?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/burden-leadership-how-navigate-murky-waters-final-erick-oude