What I have learned about leadership
When I first set out in my career I never thought about leading people or how it would become my passion. Throughout each stage of career growth I was never really sure how to answer the question what is your leadership style. It was always one of the moments in conversation where I had a really hard time explaining myself to other leaders and people on teams I have been responsible for.
Luck has been on my side and presented me with many opportunities to become a more senior leader. One thing I always did was say yes to these opportunities and for those looking to grow into leadership this is an important thing to internalize and determine how you can support more responsibility. With growing responsibility I found myself growing through Team Lead, Manager, Sr Manager, Director, Sr Director, VP and SVP and now a Founder (if only a small business). During this time I have led teams as small as 2 and as big as 175. In 2017 I was introduced to Multipliers by Liz Wiseman and it was such an enlightening book to help me understand my leadership style and see that building leadership skills is a journey and not a destination that requires constant attention and so this is my take on what I have learned about leadership. I encourage all leaders to read Multipliers. It is worth your time.
Trust
The foundation for any great leader is trust and thinking more about it I looked up the definition of trust and found the following definitions from Websters ‘assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.” The Oxford dictionary has a similar definition: “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.” What jumps out to me is the words used have big meanings like reliance, character, strength and belief. People have to believe you will do what you say you will do, that you will be reliable all the time not just there in the good times, have the strength to support and guide them without fear or reprisal and in some cases provide support and protection from fear of failure or reprisal from others. Without trust I am not sure there is any way to lead effectively. Trust is the foundation that all other leadership skills are built on being able to build trust with your team and within your organization is a currency that will open opportunities for you as a leader and as a person.
Curiosity
Being curious and inquisitive has become more and more important for me as a leader. Early in my career, I was honestly so focused on myself that I couldn’t see the major importance of the team I was leading being an important factor in my growth as a leader (more on failures later on this blog). With a realization that my ability to lead successfully was directly dependent on the team. I started to become more inquisitive about each member of the team, how they are doing as people, what is going on in their lives and what they like to do. This is required to start to build an understanding of each person. This is not easy and there rarely seems like there is enough time in your day to spend time with your team, from my perspective taking the time to be curious with your team is paramount to a better relationship with each and finding growth opportunities for them. Learn how to ask good questions and be prepared to listen intently to what is being shared. It is not uncommon for me to spend 15 hours a week in 1:1’s or meeting with teams in small groups, regularly participating in level up meetings with team members within the organization I am leading or others in the company. Curiosity is such an important skill for any role. I think back to when we were kids and the constant asking why, this childish joy in learning is what we all need to rekindle or continue to foster. One last thought: asking questions has a positive effect on any relationship when used effectively and is based in genuine curiosity. This HBR article is a good read to highlight this.
Accountability
This is one of the most difficult areas of leadership that can cause many leaders to stumble and I am not embarrassed to say finding ways to hold people accountable has not always gone well for me. In my career I have been lucky to be part of some rapidly growing companies and this rapid growth has helped force me into being comfortable trusting the team and building a strong approach to “inspect what you expect” quote from previous boss and current customer Craig Walford. One thing I took away from leading is that I had to trust first and then work to hold people accountable. If you start from the position of everyone who comes to work everyday has good intentions, you can find ways to have productive and meaningful conversations with your team and set good expectations and then follow through holding them accountable. One great side effect of this approach has been how my teams have felt comfortable holding me accountable, willing to challenge me when it is needed. This openness will be covered more when we get to transparency. Accountability will happen in direct conversations and in larger groups. For me it always starts with this thought, they had good intentions so why or what was the thinking? It will take time to build your skills in this area and believe me leaders learn skills just like all other roles.
Decision Making
In my opinion, of all the leadership skills this is the most underrated and I think at times most misunderstood. Following some of the guidance from Multipliers and through my own experiences as a leader my role is rarely to come up with the solution to most of the challenges the business faces, this is why we have a team, they know a lot about what can be done and have great ideas. The leader's role is to hear all points of view, ensure all voices are heard and provide guidance to lead the team to a decision, and when the team can’t arrive at a decision provide a decision and the reasoning for it to the team. The willingness to make decisions is critical having the internal strength and conviction to try and know that failure will be a part of growth. Don't be afraid of decisions, be afraid that not making a decision is a decision you make with little to no influence over it. One last thought about decisions that connect it back to Accountability when decisions are made the team needs to stay true to the decision there cannot be any misdirecting away from a decision by the leader or team members.
Failure
My dear friend Failure, how many stories can we tell about our experiences together, you have taught me so much and I can’t tell you how much I have learned from you. If it wasn’t for you I would not be where I am today. Your willingness to let me make my own mistakes and then learn from them is how I became the leader I am today. This is what I would share with Failure if it was a friend, the idea of failure is so well understood as a growth engine, however is it truly embraced by everyone and if so how do people recover and learn from it which builds the necessary resiliency that is needed to be successful. As a leader, if you embrace failure and be honest with yourself and your team, be willing to admit your own mistakes and let others fail in a safe and supportive environment this will allow those you lead to grow fast. Allowing people the opportunity to fail will create learning opportunities that just don’t exist everywhere and it is this knowledge and support you provide that will give your team the confidence to be successful everyday. This does not come for free. It is important as a leader to understand the right situation to allow failures to occur as of course it goes without saying the success of the business cannot be sacrificed in major ways.
Transparency
This may be one of the most overused words today. Everyone wants transparency and this is very important to help connect your team to purpose and drive engagement. The best experience in my career was working with Carol Leaman. Her trust in the team she built was on display regularly as she was one the most transparent leaders I have had the pleasure and luck to work with. Carol was very open with all parts of the business, regularly taking the time to share how the business worked, why certain metrics and KPIs were important to the individual and the business and she was always willing to answer any questions in large team meetings, leadership meetings or in direct conversations. I can say I am a better leader for having worked with Carol. So with that background over the years I have become more and more transparent with each team recognizing which team members are capable of receiving more information, helping my peers develop the skills to share more and to help the teams I was leading understand our vision and where we are going. A good leader will need to find an effective way to communicate and make sure the team understands the journey you are on, that when things are improving you know you're on the right path. Now this may seem very one sided with information flowing in one direction, it is just important for you as leader to be prepared to work with your team to build the necessary transparency from the bottom up through the organization and that transparency is a fluid two way agreement you make with your teams.
Connection to the Business
You lead in an organization and this does mean there is a requirement to ensure there is a deep connection within the business to your team, also there is a need to be a good peer on the leadership team. Often things go on in a business that are not easy to handle. Whether good or not so good these things put stress on the organization and your team. This does change the fact that it is your responsibility to keep your teams working together and moving forward. If you have built trust, create accountability, built confidence through failure & decision making and maintained a transparent environment this becomes more straightforward because you can share the necessary information and present the challenges openly to get the team focused on solving problems and moving the business forward. The leader needs to provide the confidence and positive attitude in creating the journey, communicating or discussing business related information with the team. Remember you are part of the team and have to contribute and this contribution is often the strategy and connection to the business so the team feels connected to the company.
People Growth
On final thought about leadership this is by no means the last thing on my mind. It is one of those leadership things that is at the top of your team members minds and this is a very important part of what you do everyday. My experiences have helped me understand that without the above in place, helping people grow is difficult for me. With that said when the above is in place it makes a hard thing to do fun and rewarding. Again I will lean back on Multipliers for some guidance here by finding what people are good at regardless of role and responsibility and finding ways to get them engaged in more and more of these types of activities with this you can find out as leader how individuals react and respond in different situations and will help find your next leaders and those who can become sr individuals on your teams.
In closing, my career has provided many great opportunities and I have worked with many really good leaders and a number of bad leaders. Throughout each of my roles I have always been customer facing and spent the majority of my time in Customer Success starting long before it was called CS. My belief is that the skills built working in CS uniquely position leaders with skill profiles that allow them to be strong leaders and provide the right leadership to profitably grow businesses. I am not saying that other roles are not important, a company does not grow without all the teams, my comment is CS is unique in the perspective they are afforded by working with customers, you see all parts of your business and have the visibility from the customer’s perspective to influence your company and drive Customer Led Growth.