What defines a great leader? (Issue 3)

For me, the simplest, most sincere answer is: the people they work with. But in this month’s newsletter, let's look at what defines a great leader in terms of the behaviours they exhibit.

Leadership is an ever-evolving concept, the theory behind it and the way we practice it can change as frequently as circumstance (context is key!) and as a result the idea of what good leadership actually means can often be a challenging topic for those in roles requiring it.

In many organisations there can be a disconnect between an individual’s ability to lead and the likelihood they will be promoted into a leadership position. This is a well-established problem that we’ve seen before; the accidental manager.

Having said that, in modern organisations I believe there are some key behaviours or practices that do remain consistently associated with great leadership. For the sake of (relative) brevity, we’re going to focus on what I would call the top 3: leading by example, looking after the team, and communication.

1: Leading by example

We covered this in quite some detail in last month’s issue, so I don’t want to be too repetitive here, but suffice to say that this quite simple idea is overlooked by a surprisingly high number of people in leadership positions. ?

In short, leading by example means holding yourself to the same standards as everyone else. A good rule of thumb is: don’t expect others to do things you’re not prepared to do yourself. Whether the 'thing' in question be a specific task, a type of work, a key behaviour or standard, or a more complex idea.

As I've said before (and will say again, incessantly) - leading by example is a foundational element that every leader needs to get right before they will succeed.

2: Looking after the team

Little did we know two years ago how much more relevant this principle would become, with all that we’ve since learned at national level from the varying responses to COVID-19 by different world leaders, and the sometimes-stark contrasts seen.

In a more routine business environment, the consequences leaders face by not looking after their people usually aren’t life-threatening (although it's fair to say they're potentially more life-threatening/changing today than they have been for a few decades), but they certainly can be business-threatening.

Leadership should never be considered a ‘right’ - feudalism is long gone (I hope!) - nor does being a leader confer any special powers of decision making, motivational speaking or inspirational personality. What it does come with, however, are responsibilities. The first of these has always been looking after the team. This is as much about getting the right mindset to lead as anything else, the person whose first instinct as a leader is to issue demands and stamp around the room to display confidence (as opposed to competence), is missing the point, and misunderstanding their responsibilities.

The first responsibility of a leader must be to the well-being of the team, at a national level or in a crisis this is obvious, and we’ve seen the mixed results achieved by various political leaders of late. But in the world of business the idea can sometimes – often too easily – get lost in the noise of the profit imperative, cost controls, or even individual desire for status and recognition.

On a day-to-day basis what matters is being mindful of the team’s health, safety, needs and worries. That is part of the role of a modern leader. This is about both physical and mental health, and doing whatever you can to be approachable and helpful. Servant leadership (https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/) and similar ideas provide an approach that works well for helping you support your team in this way, but it doesn't have to be that complicated. Another way to think of it, oft repeated on social media, is this; you work for the team, they don’t work for you.

This principle also highlights the differences between a leader and a manager. The role of the latter is to organise and marshal resources to make sure the work gets done, no one disputes the importance of this function for any organisation. However, it doesn't have to be mutually exclusive to great leadership; it is absolutely possible, even preferable, to do both! Ultimately, if you look after (and look out for) the team (whether you’re in a leadership role or not) then the team will take care of you in return, and together you’ll make sure the job gets done. So really this whole idea is in everyone’s best interest, including the company where all these hypothetical example people are working!

According to several studies, there’s a clear link between employee happiness, engagement with the business, and productivity, and in the contemporary business environment - dare I say ‘post-COVID’? - looking after your team has never been so crucial.

The key thing to remember is that organisations/businesses are made up of and dependent upon people. And people have personal lives, feelings, physical and mental health challenges. If you aren’t using your leadership position to help, encourage and/or support the people you work with, then you’re missing a big part of what it is to be a great leader. The happiness and well-being of the team will be directly reflected in the happiness and longevity of the organisation, so is it something you can afford to ignore?

3: Communicating effectively

The third core behaviour of great leaders is something that underpins nearly every other skill in the leader's toolset: communication. Once again, there is a certain current affairs relevance here but, whether in national government or the management of a business, effective communication is essential for successful leadership. On the face of it, this seems like common sense, in order for a leader to bring the team along they must be able to communicate their vision for the organisation and do so in a way that is believable; even inspirational.

It's that last part where many leaders/managers come unstuck. The ability to clearly communicate is only half the battle. Just as important are what is communicated and how it is ‘delivered’ to the team. For example, it could certainly be argued that a shouty rage-monster (a.k.a. autocratic) leader is a clear communicator, since the team will likely have no doubts about what that person wants. Equally, the ‘visionary’ leader who talks at great length about their vision for the future and what their company intends to achieve, but is light on details or execution, could also be argued to be a clear communicator; the team will probably understand the vision really well, but maybe not how to achieve it.

Both of these examples show us that there's no guarantee of success with one-way communication alone.

So what’s missing? Well... a few things:

• Firstly, good communication is a two-way street, there is listening required as well as speaking. Talking at length about plan X, Y or Z is no help to you if the team knows X has already been done, Y is technically impossible, and Z would benefit from the great ideas they have for improvement. But if you’re not listening to them, you’ll never know, and because of that you'll never achieve the grand vision.
• This highlights the second missing ingredient, collaboration. Include the team in the process, offer them a say in what is happening and how the grand plan is developed and you can improve the chances of success, keep the team engaged, and you will help maintain productive people who stay with the organisation.
• Thirdly, honesty in communication matters a great deal. Many leaders seem to operate under the assumption that telling the team bad news is a big mistake, and that doing so will lead to a whole host of negative effects. Ironically, often the opposite is true - by hiding the reality from colleagues a leader risks a breakdown of trust and all of the negative effects they're seeking to avoid end up actually happening; it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Most of the time the team will find out anyway, and the leader's credibility will be destroyed when they wonder why they've not heard it from them first.

I would sum all of this up as the concept of transparency. Transparent leaders are open and honest about the future direction and prospects of their organisations, as well as their own personal experiences. These leaders will be far more effective at building successful, high performing teams and maintaining those teams for longer periods of time. This plays into the rising importance employees place on trust and knowledge of the companies they work in, and the lower tolerance for unhappy jobs and workplaces that has grown in the last few years.

To succeed today, leaders must put aside traditional views of their role and find ways to rise above the usual doubts they may have about transparency. It may feel uncomfortable or like ‘giving away' power or gravitas. In reality, those concepts are a poor fit with contemporary organisations anyway, and in the long run a new approach will provide greater success.

Communicating clearly, transparently, and honestly are key elements in an authentic style, an approach to leadership that in my view is far better suited to the modern workplace.

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That's my top 3, for this month at least! There's much more you can do to become a great leader, but as they say, every journey begins with the first step. (And that's my cliché quota met for the month too. Win.)

In the end, what it’s really all about is inspiring trust, not demanding loyalty or expecting obedience.

Collaborating, not (just) managing.

Leading, not ‘bossing’.

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#leadbyexample #greatleaderslisten #leadernotaboss?

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Thanks for reading, see you next month!

If you’re new to leadership and/or have recently become a manager, then I’d love to hear from you, I may be able to help you find your voice as a leader and to become a more effective manager; drop me a message and let's chat!

I’ve no doubt you can help me too, if you could spare five minutes to complete this research survey: https://forms.gle/H2JXesZCJsdSQYU67