The freshman women’s shot putter was ill. The coach was a civics teacher. From class, he knew a young woman who was a strong athlete and a high achiever with a great attitude. Most importantly, she was a rower who had the leg and upper body strength to be a reasonable stand-in competitor with the shot. He reached out and she committed to show up and participate the next day. Then things went south.
She came to the meet early. The hour committed to training and coaching ended up being only 15 minutes. Strength and distance were not problems, and she had a few good throws in practice. Her personal GPS and body mechanics, however, were not synchronized. On the first competitive throw, she released the six-pound shot too late and hit a girl in the chest who was outside the lined alley.
This happens occasionally for every leader: Things are going well and then they aren’t. That feeling of being hit in the chest is real when a team member has made a mistake and an important customer is negatively impacted. Emotions are high. The team is rallying to fix the problem, but you have to fix the customer relationship and ensure the root cause analysis is done well and acted upon.
The common default is to heap blame and scorn upon the person who made the mistake. High-performance leaders ask, “What are we going to do?” not “Who caused this?” When we make placing blame the norm, we sabotage effective problem-solving.
A handoff is underway. Building the next generation of leaders is a top of mind issue for senior executives. Promoting people to leadership roles happens frequently out of necessity, rather than an orderly progression.
We often prepare people for the leadership roles in real time after they are on the job. That’s a common reality, and it can work if these people have skilled coaches and mentors who feel ownership for the person’s success.
If you have stepped up to develop an emerging leader, consider these three perspectives:
Leadership is a new and different occupation
When the successful technician, whether mechanic, doctor, or production worker moves to a leadership role their occupation changes. As with the previous technician role, successful leaders have a specific set of tools, perspectives, and skills. Senior leaders are responsible for ensuring that the new leader gets the essential learning, coaching, and support. Tossing them in the deep water to see if they can swim is costly to the business, the team, and the individual — and it is incompetent leadership.
A promotion is generally a good thing, but it comes with some loss and uncertainty
Recognition of performance, a bit of prestige, more money, and bigger responsibility can be exciting. On the downside, incoming leaders often experience a loss of control, confidence, and consistency in going from a job they have mastered into unfamiliar territory. Coaching and empathy are helpful here.
New leaders emulate leadership styles they are used to
Someone who is new to a supervisor or manager/leader role is likely to apply the sorts of management and leadership behaviors which they have received during their career. Some of that may be good. Some of it may not be not so good. Be aware of the need for a reset and act to replace old ineffective learning with the right expectations and the leadership perspectives, skills, and tools to meet them.
Surprisingly, the young recipient of the shot put to the chest was not injured. The rookie shot putter ended her short-lived track and field adventure and returned to her boat. Embarrassment and guilt did not last long, and this great story is retold every ten years at high school reunions.
Leaders build more leaders
For more thoughts on leadership from Randy Boek, check out The Professional Outsider podcast.