When to, Like… NOT Talk for a Minute
Some leaders have a top-down approach to how decisions are made.
This is the opposite of a “collaborating” style, where the team is involved in the decision-making process.
I call it a “directing” style of leadership.
Directing leaders see themselves more like commanders and their people as the troops.
Commanders issue orders and send their troops onto the battlefield. They don’t sit around in meetings listening to the ideas of their soldiers... which may involve suggestions like, for example, not being sent onto the battlefield.
Leaders who were previously in a consultant role or in charge of, say, finance or marketing, were kind of paid to know it all in their area of expertise.
Their job was to think on their feet. To come up with solutions. To be The Expert. Or know how to clean up the mess left by The Previous Expert.
Some still see this as their role when they move into a leadership position. They feel responsible for providing all the answers. Plus, they may actually know more and be more experienced than the team they lead.
For these leaders, telling people what to do and how to do it seems like the most natural way of leading.
The problem here is, leaders who prefer this style of leadership often tend to crowd out other people and their input.
They might feel they’re bringing value by giving directions and solutions, but what it actually tends to do is short-circuit the team’s development.
A good example of this is Mike, who had been a consultant for 20 years before moving into a leadership role. His team seemed to be lacking creativity and initiative, so Mike brought me in to investigate.
I decided to sit in on one of his weekly meetings.
It went on for THREE HOURS... and he would do most of the talking.
He would issue directions, explain how to do every little thing, and bore his team with stories of how he resolved similar issues in the past.
His people discovered highly creative ways to disguise their yawns or snooze off discreetly… only occasionally given away by the sudden sound of snoring from a corner of the room.
Directing leaders like Mike may feel they’re adding value by giving team members constant direction and answers... but too much of this can become overwhelming.
It can steal away a chance for them to contribute, impacting their morale, creativity and... in the case of the team I just described, their sleeping patterns.
If, in an honest moment, you can relate to any of this, a good idea is to go into listening mode more often… even if your team is telling you something you already know.
This can be hard, especially if you have the solution your people are looking for… but remember, the real value is in allowing them to discover it for themselves.
Resisting the urge to speak while they’re talking can be as simple as writing down your thoughts as they occur to you… although it’s probably best not to use the whiteboard, if they include thoughts such as “wow, this guy’s is clueless.”
Writing them down, pauses your speaking momentum and allows you to be more economical with what you say, which may free up time for others to, like… get an actual word in?
If you recognize your tendency to be a “directing” leader, you can usually add more value by stepping back… and guiding your team to find solutions for themselves, without giving it to them on a plate.
This creates buy-in, ownership and team pride... which is even more valuable than being given answers.
By listening more, you may also learn something you didn’t know before… especially once the creative gears of your team are allowed to function once again, without you “directing” it out of them.
Incidentally, by taking this short quiz, you can discover your own leadership traits, and discover whether you might be committing a Leadership Offense or not.
