Tagged Again

Martin tagged me for another blog tag.  The subject this time is the "seven qualities we do not know about you that help you be a leader".  David's list is a good one to which to aspire.  I do not know if I can give you seven qualities, but I will give you what I can.

1. Have Confidence in Your Own Ability to Lead-- When I was in high school, I started as running back on the varsity football team.  I was also the backup middle linebacker.  For our first game of the year, it was an extremely hot day and the starting middle linebacker was injured early in the game.  So, I had to play both ways.  In addition, the middle linebacker, for those of you that do not know much about football, is the quarterback (leader) of the defense.  I was the youngest player on the defense and I had to call the signals and make sure we were organized.  We lost the game (badly), but it was an incredible learning experience and gave me great deal of confidence.  I learned that a leader is not a title that someone gives you.  Even though I was the youngest and least experienced player on the defense, my actions on the field commanded respect and loyalty.
2. Know Your Limitations and Build Teams that Overcome Them -- When I worked in Consulting, I managed an internal project to build a Lotus Notes application.  It was probably the most successful project I managed.  It was a small team and I was able to play to my strengths which were to have good ideas and communicate the vision for the solution.  The reason it was so successful was that the team had extremely complimentary talents.  I am a good vision guy, but I am not always the most detail-oriented person.  Managing those details was a strength of one of my team members.  She did a great job making sure that we did not miss any of the details so that we stayed on budget and on schedule.  Also, at the time, I was not the most inspiring personality.  However, our team worked long hours and still had great morale.  I can take credit for it only because I recognized that another team member had a gift for keeping everyone up and energized.  I was smart enough to be supportive and not get in the way.
3. Communicate the Bad and the Good -- One of the things I wish I did differently in a previous leadership role was to be more open with the staff about company issues.  The company was struggling and I wish we had been more open about the gravity of the situation and the potential actions that may be required.  We thought it was better to shield folks from the bad news because they could not do anything about it and it would be distracting.  That was just plain wrong.  I would hope in the future if I faced similar circumstances that I would err on the side of providing too much information to the staff.  Communication is even more important in bad times than in good times.
4. Understand before being understood -- I am stealing from Stephen Covey, but I really try to listen to people and understand their point of view.  I have found over the years that true leaders listen and understand the viewpoints of others before they speak.  If people do not feel comfortable voicing their opinion or do not feel that their concerns are appreciated, they will tune out. 
5. Trust is critical -- One summer in college I managed a restaurant.  It was a great learning experience.  It was the first time that I came face-to-face with stealing, lying, and coverups.  It was the first time that I saw someone fired.  Trust is incredibly important in relationships.  It is a two-way street.  Succesful leaders earn and maintain the trust of the people that work with them.

Well, that is five, not seven but I do not have time for more so it will have to do.  I will tag Brian, Vinnie, and Thomas.

Comments

[Alex Ross]

Number 3 is a key ... if employees only hear bad news, they may start to jump ship. If they only hear good news, they may question what they are being told. There needs to be a happy balance there. In my experience, being honest with employees will build loyalty and who knows, they may have a solution to the bad.

[vinnie mirchandani]

Jim, my contribution would be good leaders assembles a team of people smarter than them. And because smart people tend to get wound up with each other, find them reasons to focus on customers and revenues.