Leading from the Front

A business concept that took direction from the military is the idea of leading from the front. It’s about moving away from a culture of hierarchical directives from the top and implores leaders to get into the trenches with their team, to do the work daily that they ask of those around them. Recently, someone on my team asked me about what the hardest part is of holding a strategic vision while also showing up to do the work. This got me thinking.

I don’t think it has to be hard to hold a strategic vision for a company while also working towards it on a daily basis with your team. Any tension that does exist here can occur when vision and daily action are not aligned and this misalignment can occur both internally and externally. Speaking externally, imagine what would happen to enthusiasm, teamwork, commitment, and loyalty if you set sail with a crew but didn’t tell them where they were going or how to get there, and instead just gave them very objective tasks on a daily basis. Sure, you might get to where you want to go, but it will be painful, there will be daily pushback, and people will slowly start to disengage. I equate this with giving the “why” behind the what.

Many business owners and entrepreneurs face the internal struggle of working in your business versus working on your business. Leading from the front, while doing it in service of your mission or strategic vision eliminates some of the conflict. By allowing you to focus on your most important work, and empowering your team to see how their work helps the organization reach its goal, you can synthesize your larger goal and the individual work you do on a daily basis. It’s systems thinking at its highest. In order to make it work, though, leaders need to take a few steps:

Provide context to promote buy-in and alignment

It’s imperative for leaders to pull back the preverbal curtain and provide context for why they ask for what they do. They need to allow their team to see the whole picture, generate a conversation, and allow for buy-in to the greater plan first. If a leader can do this, what follows in terms of expectations for all to achieve this overarching goal will not seem like directives, but rather information on the role of each person to help the organization achieve the overall goal.

Be vulnerable enough to share your vision

To share your vision openly and honestly with others in the organization, means you have to open yourself up to feedback. Leaders find themselves thinking what if someone disagrees, thinks there is a better way, or points out a mistake in my thinking? How will that make me as the leader look, when my goal is to make sure I have all the answers and know what I am doing all the time? Personally, this can be a real struggle. To do this and to do this well, means that a leader has to demonstrate vulnerability, something that’s not easy for most leaders, or really anyone to do. People tend to guard nothing more strongly than the pretensions they hold in the highest regard. For most business owners and entrepreneurs, this is their strategic vision.

What I encourage my own leaders to do in this situation is to take a breath, be honest with yourself, and be ok with the fact that you don’t know what you are doing half the time or if it will even work. In fact, some of it won’t. That takes real vulnerability, humility, and comfort in one’s skin.

Delegate and create shared accountability

What’s for sure is that no matter what the vision and goal are or how hard you work, you won’t get there by yourself. Share the strategic vision, encourage questions, provide alignment with your team, and show how what they are doing relates to working toward that vision. While this will be a very useful exercise from an alignment perspective, it will also challenge you on your thinking and create an opportunity to make changes where needed. Afterwhich, showing up every day becomes easier, the team knows and understands the strategic vision, and how their and your work is tied to it. This will even allow further opportunities around discussions related to current projects, clients, processes, etc, and their alignment with the vision.

For aspiring leaders looking to inspire by doing, it’s more important than ever to have a central mission, a “north star” so to speak that guides the daily objectives and tasks of your team. Alignment is key. Buy-in helps keep the engine churning and shared accountability means you get to focus on doing the daily tasks for which you are most needed.