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I remember a former boss who would constantly micromanage everything I did. Rather than give general direction on what needed to be accomplished, she would be involved in each step of the process. Her lack of self confidence caused her to exert a level of control that was neither healthy nor effective.
It’s this lack of self confidence that also led Angie to take credit for work that others and I completed. It took several months for me to find out that many of the documents I prepared for her, would have my name removed and hers added. She wanted people at her level and above to think she had done the work.
Angie always kept information “close to the vest.” She felt that if she controlled the information, she could manage the outcome. Her lack of clarity drove a level of complexity in our work that made it difficult for us to anticipate what was needed. We we were constantly reacting to things rather than being proactive. We didn’t have the vision that enabled us to develop goals nor an approach to accomplish the plan efficiently.
Needless to say, I did not feel empowered or motivated to do my job. Often I didn’t even know what it was I was supposed to accomplish. Last week I heard an interview that reminded me of this situation and the things that made my former boss ineffective.
I attended the Chick-fil-A Leadercast on Friday, May 10. The theme was Simply Lead. One of the sessions included an interview of Jack Welch by Dr. Henry Cloud. Jack talked about how he spent most of his time developing others and during his last 10 years as CEO of GE he always talked about three things with leaders.
Self Confidence
It’s important for a leader to have self-confidence. Leaders who are self-confident find it easy to encourage team members and build up their confidence. They are the ones free to acknowledge and celebrate the success of their team members. If a leader does not have self-confidence, they tend not to hire team members with self-confidence, which results in a weak team and has negative implications beyond the leader.
Simplicity
Growth leads to complexity. It is the leader’s responsibility to take the complex and make it simple. Simplicity drives clarity which is critical to the effectiveness of the team. When things are clear it leads to better dialog, understanding and action.
Speed
Once you make the complex simple it’s easy to implement things faster. Everyone on the team knows what they need to do because there is clarity about what needs to be accomplished and who needs to do what.
Share Your Thoughts: How do these three things show up in your organization? Which one do you need to improve?
