Be a Real Leader and Start a Ripple Effect
I invited several top leaders, authors, and bloggers to share their wisdom with Leadership Freak readers. Thanks to Jesse Lyn Stoner for contributing this insightful post on creating magnificent teams in uninspired organizations.
Do any of these common business challenges look familiar? Even one is too many!
1. No shared vision
2. Too many priorities
3. Short-term focus; putting out fires
4. Duplication of efforts
5. Poor communications
6. Some team members not pulling their weight
7. Unresolved interpersonal conflict
8. Lack of creativity
9. Team decisions not supported
10. Senior leaders unaware of the issues
Are you tired of waiting for senior leaders to change things? Stop waiting.
The assumption that change has to start at the top is wrong. You have more power than you might think.
It is possible to create a magnificent team in an uninspired organization. And when others begin to notice, a ripple effect just might begin.
1. Focus on your greatest sphere of influence – most likely that’s your own team.
2. Take time for reflection.
Where do you stand on the issues facing your team? You might need to learn more about what’s going on before you draw conclusions. How are you going to find out?
3. Gather your team to think together about what might be possible.
Instead of starting with problem-solving, first ask questions like:
- What do we need to do to make it safe for people to speak up? What groundrules will support open and honest discussion?
- What would be happening if we were magnificent? What results would we accomplish? How would we feel about ourselves, each other, and the team?
- What changes could we make as a team that would move us in that direction? – some quick wins (small changes that are easy to do) and a few big changes that would leapfrog us forward.
4. Model the way – tell your team one thing you are going to do immediately. And do it.
How might leaders create magnificent teams in uninspired organizations?
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/Agustín Ruiz
Good point, Jesse! Many leadership journies don’t even start because we tend to wait for someone higher in heirarchy! Take the first step, where you are…
Your post reminds me of the book Zapped! And, the proposed questions are ones that leaders ask ourselves everyday. Asking our team these questions facilitates aligning thinking to what matters as well as helps to prepare those with leadership qualities with some tools of the trade. Well done!
I like this theme that leadership starts in the heart/spirit and not in an org-chart coordinate! creating a great team is a matter of influence not position, it does however require consistent behavior.
“What do we need to do to make it safe for people to speak up?”
To make sure that the senior leaders won’t nail you if you do! Seriously, senior leaders might not be the ones to look to to change things, but if they aren’t happy with the changes you’re trying to make, watch out.
I agree – this one can be a real trap. One rule I was just thinking about when I read this is to agree to support any ideas or plans that come out of the group as a group – everyone take responsibility as a team rather than pointing and saying – “SHE did it.” Have you had other strategies that have worked?
Know your leaders, know who will have your back, and above all know how to sell your plan/results the way they want to hear it.
A valid concern, Mitch. This is why I said to “focus on your own sphere of influence.” Instead of pushing on the rest of the organization and trying to make others change, circle the wagons and focus inward on what you can do to become a high performance team – to work together effectively, to deliver on results, and to feel good about being part of the team. Have you ever noticed that some teams and departments are having more fun and are more productive than others? If you’d like your team to become one, these tips will help. You might appreciate this article (true story) about how the accounting department in a large corporation made this kind of change without involvement from senior leaders: http://seapointcenter.com/the-numbers-police/
Jesse, the concern I have with your suggestion is that circling the wagons and focussing inward is the first step on the road to silos. The second is the danger that you start to do something that bit differently, and in an organisation where you are a slave to rules, you will constantly fight the “that doesn’t comply with GLP/GMP/ISOXXXX” accusation and also the old “that’s not the way we’ve always done it and that way is how I think the customer wants it.”
My experience is that if you want it to change and get better, you have to lead it, but you have to have some authority/buy in from your boss. The idea that it’s better to ask forgiveness than seek permission doesn’t always stand up in reality.
Dan,
Very seldom do I ever disagree with anything you post but, in this instance I will. You stated “The assumption that change has to start at the top is wrong” and to as much as that mindset is true, the reality is that it is false. In most organizations the established culture is morphed through acceptance and expectation from the top. Surely, this is not to say that individuals within the organization can’t exhibit a different mindset but they do so at their own peril.
For example you stated “What do we need to do to make it safe for people to speak up” and depending on the established culture, the variation of being able speak-up can be vastly different. In an organization where it is not safe to speak-up and suggest change, it can become a death sentence and you will walk around with a target on your back. However, if the organization’s climate is one that is open and excepting of change, your position is very accurate. For the most part, this is not the case.
The efforts of change do not need to come from the top down but those changes need to be expected from the top down. Without that expectation, there is no initiative to change the ways of old and the change becomes fragmented and usually fails. It takes a committed effort to initiate any change. In order for that commitment to be established, it needs to be expected from the top.
Brent, your observations echo mine, sadly. A slightly random observation is that in my personal experience and in wider reading, a lot of really great change didn’t come from the top. They came from the mid/ upper-mid levels of hierarchies. Those people had the vision, the ideas and the drive, but in succeeded when they worked for a boss who was prepared to support them. The people at the top didn’t drive the change, but they backed the people who could drive it.
Witihin each of our worlds we have the ability to make a difference, a new voice, a new approach, a subtle change in process, increased collaboration. Groundbreaking change can truly make a difference, but rarely do we have the opportunity to rip down to the foundation to replace it. Sometimes it’s the millions of little patches and repairs that makes the larger entity stronger and more enduring.
That becomes the true innovation.
Great post. We give up our power too easily when we assume change must come from above. I am reminded of the quote by Margaret Mead: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Very insightful piece! Thank you!
I wonder if Clinton or Trump will pass the leadership test