Entry 07: If you want to go fast...
Leadership Shift #5 can feel like downshifting.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
- African Proverb
Whoever penned this ancient proverb obviously never worked in Corporate America. Because here, everyone wants to go far and go fast! I know I do. I want it done yesterday and get frustrated when things take longer than I think they should. It’s one of the reasons that I’ve been successful in my career as an individual contributor because I was generally pretty fast completing my own tasks. It also did have a few negative affects on me specifically on my attention to detail and strategic thinking. Once I had a former executive at a company I was working for describe me as “running through the forest with my eyes closed.” Ouch. You would think that kind of description would have bothered me, but at that time, I remember thinking, “well at least I am running!” [facepalm]
Then I became a leader. Not only was I responsible for my individual tasks and goals, I also now had the weight of my teams goals. I couldn’t just run on my own anymore, I now needed my team to cross the finish line the same time I did. But it really slowed me down. And if I am honest, often I just wanted to leave them behind.
Do you feel that way sometimes?
If not, you are already a better leader than I was early on. My impatience would often get the better of me causing me to do one of two things:
Just do the job myself because I knew how to do it and could knock it out fast.
Tell the team exactly what to do.
Did that help get the job done faster? I know I thought it did. But I’ve come to realize that these were actually what was hindering my team from speeding up. I became the lid of my team’s potential, the anchor slowing them down. I was actually making my team slower by trying to help them speed up. Something needed to shift. But how do you go from the high octane approach of an individual achiever to a coach who slows down long enough to truly delegate and empower their team?
The Mindset Shift
The pivot from thinking about yourself to focusing on your team truly starts with a mindset shift, and honestly, it’s a mild rewiring of your brain. I am not a scientist, but I’ve read enough to know that we are all creatures of habit. Our brains are drawn to habits because it’s lazy and gets to check out when we fall into known routines. Before we became leaders, we were rewarded for good work we did at school, at church, and definitely at our jobs. This constant habit of Do a Good Thing → Get a Reward became engrained in our minds. It developed pavlovian patterns of thinking drawing us to seek out gold stars to validate our performance.
And while these patterns may served you well as an individual contributor, they can be the very thing that hinders you from becoming a good leader. How? By creating the false belief that your team is merely a means to achieve your own success. They are pawns in your own personal chess game. When you think this way, either consciously or subconsciously, you are focused only on what they can do for you, and not what you are responsible to do for them.
To Lead is to Serve
So what are you responsible to your team for? The easiest way to answer this is to ask yourself, what do you expect from your leaders? The Golden Rule simply states that we are called to do unto others as we would have them do to us. If I asked you what you wished your leaders did for you, you would probably say:
Help me navigate my job.
Give me clarity on my role.
Praise/Reward me when I do good things.
Help me progress in my career.
Understand that I am a human and not a unit of production.
Those sound simple, but if you are only focused on yourself and getting your own gold stars, these are the last things that you will think of doing for your team. Our role as leaders is to serve our team. Not become a servant bending to their every demand, but being the kind of person that considers their goals and not just your own. Which means, sometimes you are going to have to slow down to help them grow. The funny thing is, when you serve your team in these areas, they will actually get faster. It seems counterintuitive, but you really have to slow do to go faster.
First you shift your thinking. Then you shift your actions.
My recent posts will also give you some additional guidance on key areas to slow down including delegate the right way and coaching your team.
🪞 Self Reflection: Gold Stars or Team Wins?
Take a few moments and journal your responses to these questions.
How often do I just ‘take care of it myself’ instead of teaching my team to execute?
What gives me the most satisfaction: when I win or when the team wins?
Do I have the right reward systems in place when the team succeeds?
When things go wrong, do I take responsibility for the team, or do I place blame on individuals?
Wrapping Up…
Many managers lead their teams with an individual contributor mindset. Maybe that’s you. If it is, give yourself some grace because you were programmed to be that way. But that doesn’t mean you have to lead that way. You can shift the way you think. You can become the leader your team needs. And the first step is acknowledging where you need to shift. Take this free assessment to know where to start.
🗓️ Next week: From Talking to Listening.
Keep Leading. See you next week!
Kacy @ Drawn to Lead
Great exploration!