The Program Sponsor, Chief of People and Culture of a program I ran, reminded me the other day my comments during the final PCG meeting.
\nDuring the Sponsors closing remarks he congratulating me on my leadership of the team through the delivery of a complex program.
\nWithout hesitation I apologised, however deflected that notably that his thankfulness should be directed to my team. Their efforts and their energies that had delivered the results and deserved the recognition.
\n“Sir, your stock has lept in my book” he replied as he looked to my team.
\nOnly days earlier, I had re-read the chapter in Jim Collins’ Good to Great on windows and mirrors. Thank goodness!
\nYou may be like me, you read a book, read the great ideas and principals, commit in your diary that you will embrace them and then……. when the opportunity knocks, you forget what to…. how to….. where to start…..
\nWell on this particular occasion, this one stuck.
\nFollowing a window\/mirror model can help you build credibility with your direct reports, among your peers, and particularly with those higher up the organisation.
\nA couple of keys to grabbing hold of the \u201cthe window and the mirror\u201d model, and applying it to your leadership strategy:<\/p>\n
For many, this is an easy step.
\nMake sure those around you know that you recognise their contributions, and understand how they relate to the success of the program, project, or task at hand.
\nTaking 5 seconds to tell someone \u201cgood job\u201d or “I appreciate your help” can pay huge dividends in terms of loyalty and buy in, not to mention that you probably will make their day. Be certain to publicly give your team member\/s credit, even in situations where they are not present.
\nIf you are in a meeting and receive positive feedback for something, but feel a person or team deserves a significant portion of the credit for the success, say so.
\nThis will bolster the reputation of the team\/team member in the eyes of others, and has the added benefit of serving as a reminder that you are the successful leader of a group of high-performing people.<\/p>\n
This one can be a bit more difficult, but is ever more important. Does your team bear a level of responsibility for failing to meet an objective? Absolutely!
\nNothing is more destructive to a team than a lack of trust. One of the many ways a trust deficit can be created or made worse is through externally assigning blame for failure, especially in public situations.
\nIf a leader does this to a member of their team, what reason does the team have to trust their leader in the future?
\nThis does not mean that you shouldn\u2019t hold others accountable for poor performance. It does mean, however, that you need to make one thing perfectly clear: the buck stops with you!
\nYour team falling short of a goal, missing a deadline, or performing sub-par work all share one common trait \u2013 it was your<\/em> team that failed.
\nLook in the mirror to identify how you could have been a better leader: review your instructions, communication style, follow up processes,\u00a0etc.<\/p>\nIs blame and responsibility the same thing?<\/h4>\n
\nHowever as leader, you bear a greater responsibility to ensure that such situations are avoided.
\nTake ownership of these instances and work with individuals to identify and remedy specific areas of opportunity. If the entire team fell short, address this in a straight-forward manner. If an individual is primarily responsible for a failure, have a direct conversation with them during their next one-on-one meeting.
\nPeople need to know if they have failed to meet expectations, but they also need to know that they can trust you to be fair, to communicate openly and to have their interests in mind.
\nDrive a culture, where your team are clear on your acceptance of your fallibility’ and your consciousness of theirs. This in itself helps overcome feelings of resentment when you speak with them about the circumstances around the failure.
\nFurthermore, being objective, frank and practical as to the next steps to avoid the repeat in the future (and absolutely avoiding a dialogue that adds emotional stress or publicly attributing blame) goes a long way to actually ensuring that your team have\u00a0your collective backs in a\u00a0future moments of\u00a0potential failure.<\/p>\n3) Understand luck<\/strong><\/h3>\n