Last month, we continued to dissect lessons I’ve learned on my personal journey to becoming an effective leader and how mindset specifically plays a larger role than one might initially think. Shifting your mindset from that of a top contributor to a leader for your organization takes continuous focus and effort. In this article, we will begin to look at the steps I took to make this shift and the measures I put in place to ensure that I wouldn’t revert back to my old ways of thinking as a top contributor.
On the journey of trying to create a reality where you can maximize time spent on your most important work, there will inevitably be a few pitfalls along the way. Part of crossing the chasm and becoming a successful leader is throwing away that badge of honor we award ourselves for working 12-14 hours each day.
However, there is unfortunately no proverbial switch that you can flip and automatically have a culture of empowerment within your team that allows you to spend all of your time on your most important work. This is a gradual process that must be approached with purpose and a plan. This is especially true if your natural leadership style is that of a captain.
For those of you that relate better to examples, a good way to think about what the end result of this change should look like, envision leading your team in a way that resembles a coach leading a football team. A coach knows how to play the game, but they are never actually in the game. Think of your business as a sport, and your direct reports, as your team. You’re not the quarterback, so you need to get your ass off the field and out of the way of your team. This means that you have to allow your team to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. Conversely, it also means that you can have perspective of the entire field all the time, rather than the perspective of just one position.
To get to a place where you can be the coach on a daily basis will take time and patience. You may get discouraged along the way, but don’t let that degrade your resolve, for the freedom as well as the sense of achievement and fulfillment you will experience, are worth it. And while the road map to getting to this place will be different for everyone, there are few tangible steps that I encourage you to take, regardless of your company, industry, and role.
The below is borrowed (and is my adaptation) from Matt Blakely, author of Empower Then Lead. Matt is someone I consider a friend and mentor, someone who showed me the light, changed my life, and has had a tremendous influence on how I lead. For me, when boiled down, it’s a simple 4 step process that I did over and over again with each direct report and job function that was not my most important work. I urge you to take time for reflection on what these steps mean for where you currently are, how you can accomplish them on a consistent basis, and what impact they will have on your team’s outcomes.
- Provide the necessary information for someone else to take over a direct report, task, or function
- Provide the necessary context for someone else to take over a direct report, task, or function
- Empower that person to own the outcome, take responsibility, and be accountable for this direct report, task, or function
- Get the fuck out of their way!
To help you navigate the above 4 steps a little bit easier, in the next installment I will color in the How behind the What. We will discuss how to apply this to everything from meetings, responsibilities, outcomes, and direct reports. By having the How behind the What for the 4 most common areas in which you can create change, you can give yourself more than 50% of your time back to better devote to your most important work.