It has always struck me as odd that for many the higher they go the less inclined they are to interact with those who are part of their team. I was sharing with a colleague the story of a an LNG plant in Louisiana where the the crew superintendents had offices literally next to the operations center. Yet in spite of this proximity I can say that in the several months that I was there of the three superintendents only one came to touch base with the operations crews and their leaders. Yet in spite of this concerns about lack of crew engagement and communication was placed squarely with the crew.
Can You Be An Absentee Leader? This is not unique. I have seen this phenomena occur across industry sectors and in both the operations and corporate end of things. There is perhaps a strange myth circulating that you can lead without engaging with those you lead. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no question that the further you move up the leadership ladder the more your work shifts to planning and strategy but this does not excuse us as leaders from the core responsibility we have which is to drive performance on a team of people. Everyone will have tasks and things to perform in order to move things forward but the central truth of the issue is that all of these things are accomplished by people and leadership is all about the people. We have all read of the horror stories of absentee landlords and the abuses that occur in those settings. The same holds true of absentee leadership. If I were to ask you to compare the best leader you ever worked for and the worst I would bet the farm that the biggest distinction between the two is that the great leader was relational, knew you as a person and was invested in helping you not only succeed but advance your career. The relational leader also knows what it takes to create that environment; transparency, openness and trust. Transparency Now before you accuse me of resorting to catch phrases let me explain. Transparency is the action of being genuine with your team. For those moving into leadership that means being real. You won't have all the answers and it is okay to admit that. It is okay to be frank about the issues facing the team and it is okay to be honest in speaking to your strengths and your weaknesses. You will note that all of these things are directed at leadership because if we want it from our team we lead that by modelling it ourselves. One more thing about transparency and that is the value of admitting and owning your mistakes. Too many team members and staff get thrown under the bus by leaders who won't own up to mistakes and pass the buck downward. But show me a team whose leadership own their mistakes and I will show you a team who will go the extra mile to make sure they have their leader's back. Openness Transparency leads to openness which is key to unlocking issues around process and performance. There are people on each team who have a pretty good idea about where the gaps in process and performance are but until they feel safe enough and appreciated enough to speak to those things they wont say a thing. It may sound shallow and trite but we are human after all. Openness clears away many of those kinds of obstacles. Probably one of the first things I learned as a leader is that many people won't perform because they want to but will perform because of the relationship they have with you. Openness is key to developing that relationship. Trust Lastly there is trust. Trust is really the outcome of transparency and openness. Trust is not a destination it is something that is dynamic and must be guarded very actively Time spent building relationship with your team can be lost in a moment. Working with a group of Oil and Gas crews it was easy to see which crews people wanted to be on; they were the ones with leaders who built relationship and advocated for their crew and had a high level of trust with them. They were also the ones who demanded more and the crews were only too happy to comply. You want to be a performance leader? Build relationship with your team. Its that simple. Performance Leadership - Think About It! I have written on this particular leadership talent extensively as in my mind it is the cornerstone of what truly great leadership is. It is also one of those things that is under attack of late and certainly something that is misunderstood. It is under attack through a culture of "correctness" that stipulates that leaders and team member dare not say anything to offend. It is misunderstood in that people have failed to recognize that being honest about someones performance or issues that impact performance is the most caring and productive thing a leader can do.
Accountability is NOT Offensive Think of it this way; in the name of not "offending" someone how many people have been let go and never had a clue there were issues? How many people struggle for form meaningful work relationships because no-one will address the behaviour that is impacting their fit with the team? We don't do anyone favours by sheltering them from these things and good leaders know that. I had one leader explain it to me this way; "If my neighbours house was on fire I would be knocking on his door to make sure he knew and got out safely. It's the same thing on my team, if I see someone who is struggling in terms of performance or maybe is unaware they are having issues with performance shouldn't I be doing the same thing? Shouldn't I be knocking on the door until they know and get out safely? My number one job is to make sure each member of my team is accountable for what they do or don't do and are immediately held to account for those things." Accountability Does NOT Happen in Isolation Now would be a good time to pan out on this issue and look at how the other talents contribute to making accountability work. If a leader has created a compelling vision and mission for their team and they have developed a set of outcomes everyone is driving to and are tracking those outcomes as tools for making decisions then isn't holding the team and themselves accountable just a natural extension of this process? If on the other hand none of those things are in place holding someone accountable becomes much more problematic. Only a Friend Will Tell You When Your Fly is Down There are many instances of this kind of accountability that stand out for me so let me share one. One particular crew had been assigned to conduct a new and very risky procedure for a client. Even though the client had requested it because of the outstanding performance of the crew, failure was not an option. The process got off to a rough start and while there were several issues they had no control over there was one piece of equipment being manned by an operator that was an issue. After the second mistake was made, the team lead went outside, had a chat with that operator and sent them back to the shop and put someone else in their place. This type of thing was unheard of and even I was a bit surprised but no one said anything and the rest of the job went off without a hitch and what was accomplished was a first of its kind in Canada. After it was all completed I took a moment with that team lead to get their thoughts on what had happened with that operator earlier in the day and his response was amazing! As he put it he knew what kind of performance this operator was capable of and he was way off that level that day. In his mind to keep going with this happening put the whole project at risk and so he explained to the operator that he felt he was having an off day and so for his benefit (so he would not get into further difficulties) and for the good of the team he was replacing him. It was a tough call holding that operator to that level of accountability but it was the right call. The operator knew it, the team knew it and the team lead knew it. Knowing where that team lead had been only months earlier it was an amazing example of growth into the role! Accountability is Caring Enough to DO Something Accountability is something you hold yourself and your team to because you care about them and you care about them achieving the goals set before them. It requires a tremendous amount of situational awareness on the part of leadership which can be developed through the other talents already mentioned and it is worth it. Remember this; if you let someone go and they never knew what the issues were - thats on you! How is accountability happening on your team? Performance Leadership - Think About It! |
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January 2021
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