On Leadership and Principles #1

I've been an individual contributor, geek, hack, reluctant and obstinate employee, etc. more of my career than I have been a "leader." So I'm new to this whole leading smart people thing! I'm learning more about myself and human nature in the process.

One of the principles that hit me hard was "Decentralized Command" (Thanks Jocko Willink and Leif Babin for your Extreme Ownership book - the Decentralized Command chapter is the most important chapter of a book I've read in a LONG time). 

As I give the Senior Resources at Straight Path IT Solutions, LLC their own "commands," with rope, and trust (and try and stay out of their way while being around with a net just in case they need it!), I've realized a lot. One of those things is that I wanted to share "Mike's Principles" - not in some arrogant "I've arrived" fashion, but to try and say "Look, I trust you. If you want to know how I'd do it - here are some principles to help know how my mind works. If you take decisive action with the mission's goals and these principles in mind, you will never be punished. If you get in trouble carrying that out? It's my fault - not yours! so I need to adjust my principles and leadership."

I decided today to start picking on a principle or concept a week in a quick summary note with an explanation of what I was getting at or an example of it in action. We also do a weekly report with our team. The team lets me know each week about that week's highs, lows, and big questions. The highs and lows can be on or off the job. It's good to watch how they are doing, how they are feeling and give them a place to vent and help guide my leading of them. 

Someone on the team probably ended up making a new "Straight Path Principle" of their own with something they described a lesson they were reminded of this week "Don't rely on the client to drive their work."

There were a couple of principles that sort of hinted at this in my list of principles:

9. Setting and managing expectations is chief - Solving problems is pretty essential, too. However, our clients will love us most when they hear "I have this, we'll fix it or look into it by here, and we'll give you status," and then they see that in action. Just doing this - puts us ahead.

33. If we see something we say (or do!) something - Our leaders respect the team and their off time. However, if a Straight Path person sees an alert or big issue, after hours while glancing at e-mail or messaging that is serious? We don't turn off the device and pretend we didn't see it. We dig in. We help. We at least say something!

42. Discipline in all - We are disciplined. Our time tracking. Our follow-through. Our documentation. Attention to detail and discipline matter. Lacking here is a big warning flag to our clients or our teammates.

45. We have initiative - We get what needs to be done before someone tells us "that needs to be done." "If we see something, we don't just say something; we do something!"

Those principles cover it. However, I think a new one emerged and that's the one I picked to talk about in the first weekly "principles note" to the team. Instead of talking up one I've made, we added a new one, effectively:

“Don't rely on the client to drive their work.”

I love that. Because the word "their" is in it. I firmly believe that the chief benefit a consulting firm brings is less about the "skills" - yes they matter. Our team is experienced, and we know our stuff, and we've probably seen the break you are going through before, and probably know our way out. There is value in a team of 20-year vets coming in and having your back. However, I still actually think that even to say 1/3 of what we bring is our skills, is an overstatement.

Let's face it - you are busy. We are all busy. Our clients are large Software as a Service providers. They are large hospitals. They are big banks. They are small credit unions. They are eCommerce sites. They are big companies going through layers of management to get to decisions. Each of our contacts at our clients has 99 problems, and his or her data and data management problems are just one of them.

We have the benefit of sole focus. We have the advantage of (typically, though we love it when our clients invite us to Holiday parties and summer parties!) not being involved in all the "extra-curricular" parts of the day job. We don't go through all of the red tape for all things. We don't sit in the layers of internal meetings. We are in there to do a job, focused on the data world.

So it's easy for our clients to have an exciting project in mind. It's easy for them to know they should upgrade their SQL Servers. It's no big deal for them to know they want to get this project done. However, it's hard, sometimes, to get their focus. So when we're getting our jobs done, when we are helping, and our customers love us, it's easy for us to let a client allow the gas to run out on a back burner and say, "well they'll pick it up when ready!"

After all, it's their work that we're waiting on. We can wash our hands and say "Well we did send that one note, and we've done our part, they must not be ready!" Sometimes that is true. Sometimes they aren't. Often, though, it's less that they aren't ready. It's more a symptom of the fast-paced world we live in. They are ready. They do want to accomplish that goal. They want the benefits, and they want the feeling of accomplishment in championing that next thing for their company. They have lots of voices. Lots of e-mails. Lots of worries. 

That's where we have a chance to shine. We cannot do the client's piece of the work (well it depends on what that piece is!), but we can help be their guide. We can help lay down the simple path. We can help show them the way. We can help block and tackle. We can help start or finish - or both! We can come alongside our clients and be part project manager, part expert and part accountability partner.

What if we actually gently reminded? 

What if we helped show the steps?

What if we helped create that project plan and tell them just where to be?

What if we helped encourage and drive completion of that one item. Sure we have to balance not being a thorn in their sides with our persistence - but what if we could help make at least one corner of their world better and give them that confidence and peace in that area? What if we helped our contacts get the accolades from the project we helped them to get done?

We get two benefits there. It may sound like a line, but to us, the first is the more important - We can feel great about serving someone. If someone isn't motivated to be a servant, he or she likely won't be working on our team, and if they are, we need to fix our hiring process. Service matters. It's the relationships, the legacy we leave in the world, and it's a way to share our blessings with others. Service matters. When we don't take the easy way out and never say "well the ball is in their court, I can look away," we're serving our fellow humans. Mission accomplished. This also, though, leads to happy customers, hours being consumed, positive reviews, referrals, and the ability to keep funding our payroll - to rinse and repeat on the service. I'd be lying if I said this didn't matter. It does! However, it follows service and serving others. 

So... I don't know how you can use this principle in your company. I love it when I see as a customer. We just started working with a PEO to do payroll and benefits. And their sales team at this PEO displayed this behavior. They helped us make decisions; they heard that we were doing many things and confused about some things while reading between the lines - so they broke things down, they showed me the roadmap was simple and helped me realize that I could have some peace here. I guess I was an easy sell after that - because I felt served - and I was served. I saw it with my small local bank also. Branch manager saw some issues we were having with HSA accounts and took some initiative, did some legwork and send me an e-mail and offered to help choose a few steps for me if I would approve him doing it. 

As a service provider - I think the biggest thing this principle means is "The ball is never in their court... It's always in our court." (by our... I mean the customer and us.) We need to follow up once more than necessary. We need to pick up pieces and run with them. We need to have enough initiative for ourselves and our clients. 

I'll try and post about one of the principles a week here also after I talk about it with the team. However, one of the tenets is "Clarity is Kindness" - and you could subtitle that "... and a lack of brevity is a lack of clarity..." so I'll work on making the next shares shorter. Promise! These principles were shared and are shared here with the big disclaimer I ever give, "I'm speaking to Mike Walsh first. I need help here. If I'm speaking to you also, then that's a bonus!"

-mike