Dont be a sh*t leader, like me

|Who remembers the incident of the ‘Drowning Security Guard Robot’. Did you see the article?

Hilarious stuff. Seriously funny. A robot fell in a fountain, comedy gold.

But then I thought about the headline — remove the word robot, and this is a very, very different story. Replace the word robot with ‘System’ or ‘Process’ or even ‘Person’ and the article would have had a very different tone. Saying that I can’t be the only person who has seriously considered drowning my laptop…

In reality, though, systems, processes and people do ‘break.’ Systems in any context can break down — think ecosystems, cultures, technology. All fragile environments that can have a profound effect on our lives when changed.

People break, but we all know the impact this can have.

Processes break that’s if they existed in the first place. I am sure you can think of hundreds of examples in your personal and professional life.

I know what you are thinking, how can Chris spin this story into a post about Leadership?

Watch and learn my friend!

Here is an example of a breakdown in process, which could easily have been avoided by me just ‘being a better leader’.

Rusko (he’s my dog) had just had his dinner. It’s an exciting time for him as this means it’s nearly time to go out for his evening walk.

Yay!

He was pacing around the house and squeaking like only an excited puppy can. I was winding him up, throwing some toys and making him think ‘we are doing this, we are going out.’ Then, he runs to the door — “saddle me up, it’s time to go!”.

So, I put his lead on, open the front door and….

It. Is. Tipping it down. There’s no chance we are going out in that.

So, I return to the sofa and sit down.

He runs in, looking at me with his ‘WTF?’ face. He gets it; we are not going out, so he goes and hides under the dining room table (his safe space) and sulks. He is disappointed that I have taken away his freedom and his happiness, his ‘only goal in life’- dogs can be so dramatic.

Anyway, he spent the entire night awake; he couldn’t sleep as he hadn’t burnt any energy.

And guess what that meant? I spent the entire night awake, walking up and down the stairs to tell him to be quiet. He was bored, wanted to play, wanted to go out. I kept telling him “no please do as I say and shut up!”

Just like the robot in the article, my dog is at the effect of the decisions I make as a leader. In turn, he has made my job as leader harder and a LOT more stressful.

Boom! And you thought I couldn’t do it…

How can you stop making the people you lead feel like they are drowning in the fountain?

Unlike me with Rusko, think about where you set the boundaries for your team and communicate this with them. They won’t know where and when they can play unless you tell them. Your people want to contribute, they want to be trusted, they want to be accountable.

You don’t want to be, and probably don’t have time to be autocratic in your decision making.

Would you be happy to let your team handle low impact decision making?

Try permitting your team to make their owns decisions. Let them know they can make mistakes, guide them, coach them and support them through this process.

Consider the different perspective of your team when decision making. Involve them in the process to identify and mitigate risks and explain why something is happening.

Once you have given them space and permission to operate, your people will become more accountable, and their intent to contribute will shine through the times of uncertainty.

Companies that successfully create this ‘permission culture’ have a 35% increase in productivity and have better attrition and performance results.

In summary don’t be a sh*t leader, like me. Give your teams the permission, accountability and trust they so desperately need to be successful