Leadership

Cowboy Leadership

I once had the opportunity to accept a promotion to a great new job in Dallas where the cowboy mentality runs deep. I loved it because it appealed to me on an "individuality" level. I was attracted to it because my view of a cowboy was rugged, determined, and soloistic. My view of a cowboy as I was making the trek to Dallas, was that I thought that I could identify with the whole ethic and thought process.

As I spent more time there and met more people who associated themselves with the Cowboy image, I learned that I was wrong about the Solo part. To them, an individual was not about being and doing things alone. Instead, it was a solo-ism within a community. An Oxymoron? Perhaps, but in my new view, I got the concept.

These were people who did things their way and sometimes in their own time but within the shared effort of a team. I learned that in their world, being a part of a team did not mean that they had to be like everyone else. They did not have to think like the team or be in lockstep with the team. No, they needed only to roughly share the goals of the group. And in each of their unique ways to contribute to the outcome.

So what do I mean by roughly sharing goals? This became a revelation to me. The goal is the end product of the group. And in a higher state, it was the process of achieving the goal that created the team. People with a connection created a greater team and oft-times even became teams within the team. This to me became the essence of the cowboy.

Even more revolutionary to me was the concept that the team, being made up of individuals was a fluid population. Team members came, team members left, and team members stayed. All of this came about at the will and sometimes the whim of each team member. I had always thought that the team leader chose the population. But in their world, the population followed the leader by choice. The leader, may not have ever been declared as such, or even outwardly accepted the position. They simply moved forward and the group went in the same direction. Even if they were never declared to be the leader.

So what does that have to do with leadership as most of us know it? Cowboys have a different view of leadership. They do not view leadership as obedience. they see the leadership as being out front with the rest of the team following their own free will. Following because they knew the value of performing as a team and moving toward the shared goal. Following, not because they felt that they had to be followers, but rather because they saw something that the leader offered that they were willing to voluntarily trend toward.

One of the most inspirational cartoons identifying this type of ethic was one of a Cowboy riding high in his saddle with the caption "If you are going to lead the herd, it is wise to look back occasionally to make sure that they are following".

This thought, this ethos has stuck with me ever since. As employers and managers, it is often thought that our subordinates are required to follow us. That they are following because they are supposed to. Even to the point that if one or more stop following, it is almost treasonous.

But if we create an atmosphere of leadership by choice it changes everything. Not leading by choice, but accepting leadership by choice both on the part of the leader and the follower. To the point where the population of the team grows or declines based on the needs of the effort required to achieve the desired outcome. Where those who leave the team are free to do so and may even return to the team if their contribution is desired or needed.

Also, if an individual's contribution to the outcome is no longer needed, they simply move on. No recriminations, no ill feelings, just the remainder of continuing to progress.

It is not a conventional thought process, perhaps not even efficient, certainly more satisfying. To think that you are or were part of a team that accomplished a significant goal is uplifting and shared by all regardless of the extent of the contribution of each individual.

Consider the possibility.