Leadership on the Field of Play

A good basic rule in business (and in life) is “No surprises.”   It was one of the basic principles that I tried to instill in my teams. As a leader, I would rather know what was happening than to have it sprung on me. And my teams expected no less from me.   I always hated to get a last minute report from a team that they would miss a deadline. And there is nothing more frustrating to a team than to think that they are about to complete a task and hear the leaders utter the phrase, “There’s one more thing…,” This goes to strong communication and transparency in an organization.   But that said, as a leader you nonetheless always need to be prepared to be surprised.   Why?   Simply because you are dealing with human beings.   Humans are capable of any behavior that you can conceive of, and of a range of behaviors that are beyond anything you can imagine.   I regularly received phone calls that started with, “You won’t believe this…” My standard re...

Managing business trends, cycles, and phases is a major challenge for any organization.   Depending on the type of service or product you are dealing with, there will inevitably be distribution variation of some sort.   In retail it is often related to holiday spending.   In education, it will be tied to an academic schedule—semesters, quarters, and breaks in the calendar, for instance.   There will also be any number of smaller (or sometimes larger) influences to be dealt with, things like natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or major political events. While all of this seems patently obvious, it is surprising how often organizations do not take into account the vicissitudes of life that impinge on business.   I once worked with a CFO who projected annual revenues and expenses in equal monthly amounts, even though there were obvious yearly cycles that affected these.   Every year we had monthly meetings to review institutional performance. In some th...

Ok, so here you are as a new member of a leadership team.   Keep in mind that it is YOU who are new, not the team.   In fact, you may be the new kid on a long-established, well-functioning unit.   This can be a good thing or a bad thing.   If the team is functionally smooth and temperamentally good-natured, this is a good thing. It is likely that they will welcome you as a junior member who will fill a valuable place in the group.   If the mentality is more like a club (or a gang), this is a bad thing. You may well find yourself on the outside looking in.   You might be shut out or undercut as the “in crowd” determines whether they will accept you, or even need you as part of the crew. In either scenario, you need to tread carefully.   Do not assume that you can simply step into a predetermined slot and begin to operate as a fully functioning team member.   You need to establish yourself, both professionally and personally, as a fit with the ...

Be grateful that you get to be a leader.   “Grateful to whom?” you may ask.   Good question.   Certainly you should be grateful to those who helped you along the way and those who support you in your leadership position.   The next question is how you demonstrate your appreciation.   This part is a bit more complicated.   One key way is to succeed.   Those who have encouraged and backed you will relish your accomplishments.   They may not always express their pleasure directly, but trust me, they are watching and are invested in your success. If you are lucky, you will at some point have the opportunity to receive acknowledgment from your advocates.   But they are there nonetheless. A second way to express gratitude is through graciousness.   This comes in two forms.   The first is to be amicable, patient and generally accommodating to those around you, especially those who are lower on the ladder.   Many of them want to b...

Setting expectations is always difficult and often frustrating—or at least it should be.   This is because as a leader you need to separate team expectations from individual expectations. Setting team expectations is relatively straightforward.   Teams should be expected to meet specific goals as part of a larger strategy.   Everyone should be aware of goals and the plan to reach the goals.   Progress should be measurable and team accountability should be clear. The challenge is for you to have clear expectations and to have solid teams in place.   Then stand back. Individual expectations can be trickier to deal with.   In general, you will find that team members will perform at varying levels.   Live with it.   If you expect uniform execution across team members on every task you will always be disappointed.   The idea is to assemble a team that will succeed as a whole.   Different team members may be stronger on some undertakings ...