Executive Conundrum

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Someone recently asked me what I hear most from executives about the difficulties of leadership. It’s really two things: Time and People. 

Many executives I’ve met are in a state of transitioning. Transitioning from current state (status quo) to the “better” state, which is doing what only they can do. The executive knows they need to delegate more, so they can spend more time on strategic thinking. In order to cross the chasm, the executive needs to spend more time developing people so they can delegate with confidence. That’s the conundrum...

You have to spend more time with people to spend less time with people!

The other difficulty I often hear is related – it’s about having difficult conversations. When “the story” gets relayed to me about employees who aren’t performing as expected, I ask three questions:

1. Does the employee actually know what’s expected of him or her?
2. Does the employee know where you stand with them – i.e., how they’re measuring up to your expectations?
3. Is this person making your job easier or harder?

When executives answers those three questions, they squirm and fidget, because they know exactly what they need to do.

“But I have a lot of empathy.” “But the timing isn’t right.” “But I need to find their replacement first…”

They just need a little coaching on how to proceed in a fair manner. To motivate the executive to act, it helps for them to understand the true cost of inaction on the other members of the team.

All of us (executives included) ultimately control two things: Where we spend our Time, and how we respond to People. In the end, the best executives are the ones who effectively lead themselves so they may best lead others, and the organization.

What I’ve been reading…

How to Build Trust: A Practical Guide by David Brooks

When I think about the dysfunction I’ve observed in workplaces over the years, the root cause, in my opinion, is that fear is the underlying emotion. That fear is expressed in over-work, short tempers, malicious gossip, and a general lack of trust that makes the environment unsafe for spirited debate required for the innovation and creativity that moves an organization forward.

Brooks offers 9 tips for leaders to build trust and reduce fear:

1. Assume excellence. Inspecting doesn’t foment trust.
2. Be more human. The research shows the best teams know each other as humans first – co-workers second.
3. No back-channel condemnations. The best teams have a don’t condemn, criticize or complain policy.
4. Discourage cliques. It’s the only way to have alignment across all teams.
5. Don’t overvalue transparency. If you’re leaning one way towards a decision, and the situation warrants a different course, people might not have your unique point of view, and might see the change in direction as negative. Give people a voice, but explain that isn’t a vote.
6. Maximum feasible vulnerability. Admit and learn from mistakes – don’t play the blame-game.
7. Admit social ignorance. Ask what people what they are thinking and feeling as none of us are mind readers. Assumptions kill culture.
8. Give away power. I often hear how overwhelmed executives are, and when asked why they don’t delegate they often have to deal with their own control issues. If you want to do what only you can do, empower your people!
9. Answer distrust with trust. You have to give trust to get trust. It’s as simple (and hard) as that.

Per Brooks: Over the past decade we have learned that our social skills are inadequate to the sort of complex society we are living in. Rebuilding trust isn’t about good intentions; it’s about concrete behaviors.

What’s coming up…

June 16th on The Leadership Podcast - Susan McPherson – a serial connector, seasoned communicator and the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships.

July 13th on LinkedIn LIVE - The Crucible? - Tips for Transitioning Military Veterans

We'll play a highlight reel from the recent Crucible? expedition, and we'll have past participants on the show from Google, and Baker Hughes discussing tips for military veterans transitioning to the business world.

I just finished FREEDOM by Sebastian Junger. A book I highly recommend, and a real conversation starter. We recently interviewed Sebastian, and that episode airs August 4th on The Leadership Podcast!

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Building Trust on Your Team 

This course on trust is free for you!

Jan Rutherford is an executive coach and keynote speaker. A former Green Beret and founder of Self-Reliant Leadership? - he also leads Crucible? wilderness expeditions with executives and veterans.