Leadership - The Mountaineers

"A good leader has the ability to acknowledge the disconnect between instinct and experience " - unknown

Mountaineering expedition leaders that tend to be the most successful are those who build collaborative teams. Typically in very successful expeditions, the leader and the team members work together not only in execution but in planning. The leader of course "owns it" and is responsible for clarifying and communicating the vision by defining the end goal but beyond that, a good leader steps back into the team. the good leader focuses more on facilitating the effort as opposed to directing it.

In developing vision and objectives, the leader is focusing everyone on understanding what the vision and objectives are and more importantly "why" they are important - context is key. Vision and objectives in and of themselves serve no purpose. The objectives connect the project to the vision but making sure everyone has a clear understanding as to why the vision has substance is what engages the team.

Getting things done - accomplishing tasks without a connection to the value proposition serves no purpose. in order to be effective, you have to solve problems.....create opportunities ultimately adding value to the enterprise by creating value for the end customer.

Every important decision made on the mountain is arrived at by consensus or majority vote. The decentralization of the decision making process keeps everyone engaged. The leaders job is to facilitate. In certain circumstances the leader may need to "make the call" immediately as there is no time for consensus building but this should be avoided whenever possible.

Overall the team decides on the route in general and where various camps will be placed along the way. It is the actual climbers however who are on "the sharp end of the rope" who make the final decisions such as exactly where to place protection, where exactly to set the camp and if it is safe to climb on. Progressive elaboration challenges the analyst to refine their understanding and decision making as the details of the project become more clear just like the mountaineers.

Stay in Focus !

Stay on Track !

Check your ego at the door!

Most importantly ....... Have fun !

I hope you enjoyed today’s post. You can follow me on twitter @tgsaet for more inspirations if you like and as always………….

don’t forget to smile, be safe and say your gratitudes