Navigating the Pitfalls of Action-Oriented Leadership
A bias to action is often a step forward. However, unreflective action faces some common pitfalls. This post delves into the delicate balance between driving immediate results and fostering long-term team growth. We also include two powerful examples of this style of leadership in action.
Source: https://www.digits.co.uk/
Last week, we shared “Bias Toward Developmental Action,” explaining how to grow your team’s capacity for tomorrow even as you check off today’s tasks. This week we offer a follow-up on how to avoid some of the common dangers leaders often face when trying to make sure the immediate objectives are met and when trying to build a world-class team.
Common pitfalls
Breaking Glass Too Quickly
Often, claiming a bias toward action, leaders jump into the fray more quickly than they should. Not all fires are four-alarm emergencies requiring all hands on deck. Instead, smaller or slower-burning fires are often fantastic development opportunities for up-and-coming leaders.
When actions or projects go off the rails, sometimes you need to break glass and step in, especially in high-risk or high-profile situations. Refusing to step in when you are truly needed is a dereliction of duty.
But these cases should be rare, and even then, you should communicate it as an exception to the rule: “Hey, I’m having to step in here because this isn’t working. But I don’t want this to happen again, and let’s talk about that too while we are fixing the problem at hand.” As much as possible, talk openly with your team about how and why you are stepping in. Then, debrief afterward to make sure they learned what they need to learn. [See also: Triaging Fires Without Kneecapping Your Team]
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen
Part of a bias toward developmental action is hiring great people. A COO of a quickly growing and widely recognized company shared some hard-earned wisdom with Charles. He said he wished he had not hired so many people and instead had just hired a few people who were good and paid them well. He said the best recipe for getting beleaguered projects unstuck was usually to let go of a bunch of people, bring in the best talent he could find, and then focus on empowering them. That was how he got his teams to move really fast.
Getting (Too Much) Out of the Way
At the same time, this old motto isn’t quite right either: “Hire good people and get out of the way.” Yes, you need to get the right people in the right seats, but that catchphrase overlooks a lot of subtle behind-the-scenes action that is critical to effectively developing and empowering your people.
A great boss who is doing this form of empowering leadership really well may at times appear as if they are doing almost nothing. From far away, they may appear very passive. But up close, they are directly coaching, equipping, encouraging, and guiding their team. Indirectly, they are also paving the way for their team to succeed by clearing roadblocks and prepping other leaders or collaborators.
Reacting Rather than Reflecting
Sometimes, the “bias toward action” is a convenient catchphrase to mask reactionary tendencies. The action itself is not helpful. A constant press for quick responses can result in a continual scramble to deploy the same old solutions or unnecessary fire drills, and this inhibits pausing for reflection to solve the core problems. What we want is intentional action that incorporates a developmental strategy.
Examples of a Bias Toward Developmental Action
Maintaining a bias toward developmental action is nearly always easier to say than to do. In fact, it usually requires intentional effort and repeatedly resetting our mindset toward developing people and away from doing tasks. Let’s consider a few real-life examples.
#1: Coaching to Present to Zuck
I (Charles) had a manager who was great at this empowering development when I was skip-level to Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook. For example, not long after we went public, Zuck was very concerned about how Facebook was going to make money. One of the options we had to consider was how to monetize Facebook’s data. Zuck said publicly that we would never do this, but we had to go through the exercise. Not my favorite project I ever worked on.
So the VP comes to me and says, “Zuck wants us to do this. You’re in charge of it. I want you to put together a presentation so you can show Zuck what we’re going to do.” He talked it through with me. Then, I did some work, and I showed him what I was doing. But I wasn’t reporting it to him. Really, he was coaching me to help me present it to Zuck.
Now, there’s another piece of this that I couldn’t see at the time. When it came time to arrange that meeting, he had already been having talks in the background with Zuck about what I was about to present. He knew that there were certain things that I needed to hear directly from Zuck to do the right thing. Also, my manager had already told Zuck what his view of it was, so he had Zuck warmed up.
So then I got to present directly to Zuck. We spent an hour and a half digging deep into details in a high-performance meeting structure. I walked us through the whole agenda. He asked lots of questions. We got into it. Let me tell you – I walked away from that meeting feeling extremely empowered! Even though I was doing a project I sort of hated, I was super motivated to go out and move this to the next level because I had been able to talk about this work directly with the CEO.
Afterward, my boss met with me, and he coached me again. He had talked with Zuck and gotten his offline feedback. There were a few things Zuck didn’t want to say in front of the room full of 30 people. My boss gave me some more back-channel insight on what I needed to do to nail this project, and I went and worked on it.
To the untrained eye, it probably looked like all my manager did was relay a message to me and set up a meeting. But actually, he empowered me through his background work. He may have spent almost as much time coaching me as he would have spent leading the project himself, but that investment would pay off over time. Increasingly, I could do this with less and less input from him. Then, he could spend his coaching efforts empowering me to do new tasks that I would eventually be able to do without him.
#2: Sharing the Keynote
A Kaiser Permanente’s Vice President told Josh a powerful story of how she acted as an empowering coach. She was invited to be the keynote speaker at an external national conference. She accepted the invitation on the condition that she could co-present with one of her team members.
When the VP told her direct report that she wanted her to co-present, she had several objections. How the VP answered those very rational concerns is a textbook example of empowering leadership.
Objection: You don’t need my help on this.
Answer: You’re right. I can do this without you, and doing it with you will take a little extra work. But I want you to do it with me because it will be a good learning experience for you.
Objection: I’ve spoken at conferences before.
Answer: Yes, and you will again. But you’ve never been the keynote, and that’s a different type of experience. This way you can do it with me your first time.
Objection: Our budgets are tight, and travel for two will cost extra money.
Answer: We won’t do something else so that we can do this.
By sharing the limelight and uplifting her team to the big stage, she automatically proved herself as a powerful coach to her team. The whole team, not just the one who got the speaking opportunity, learned that she is looking out for them and that she will unselfishly share opportunities for them to grow. Their affection for her and commitment to her as a leader probably just doubled. Oh, and they nailed the keynote, together!
Start Now
Reflection Question: When you think about cultivating a bias toward developmental action, which of the pitfalls above seems most likely for you? Why?
Immediate Action Step: Right now, reach out to someone to tag along with you on an important assignment within the next few weeks. You don’t have to get everything right with the coaching process. It doesn’t have to be permanent. Just tell them you’re working on becoming the kind of leader who develops people, and you’d like to try it out with them. Send the email and CC your boss.