One of the techniques used in a leadership training course I attended were games governed by a myriad of odd rules, the only real purpose of which was to make the game difficult to play. One of the prime results of these rules was extreme difficulty in achieving or maintaining any momentum. Even if one team was able to gain a little momentum, the rules were structured so that the other team could break a rule causing the game to stop, only momentarily, but long enough to bring both teams back to a sort of equilibrium. That was extremely frustrating for a group of people who are motivated to win! An interesting development in playing the games was that as the teams became more familiar with the peculiar and seemingly endless rules, it became easier for them to maintain the desired forward movement.
These games demonstrated a simple fact of life; it’s easier to achieve a team’s goals if that team is able to gain and maintain momentum in the right direction. Unfortunately, as leaders we often allow outside influences to derail us from our real goals and objectives. Also, unfamiliarity with the rules can make winning difficult. In the context of leadership I’m really referring to two sets of rules. First are the various laws and directives that govern our business practices. Leaders know they should be familiar with these, but they are many and varied making it difficult to truly be an expert. It’s important though for leaders to have at least a rudimentary understanding, and gather around them experts who can help them navigate these often tricky waters.
The other set of rules to which I refer can be thought of as the reason your organization exists. These are the mission, goals, objectives, and values which comprise the road map for success. These essential rules point your team in the direction they need to go and provide the rules for how to get there. Sticking to these rules will go a long way towards ensuring your teams don’t lose the momentum and are able to push ahead, even when outside influence tries to derail their efforts, or distract them from what’s really important.
The five rules that will help leaders are:
- Make sure your team knows your vision. Surprisingly, some senior leaders don’t think this is terribly important, but it’s vital. The entire organization needs to know where the boss sees the organization going.
- Give your teams a concrete mission statement. This statement of the organizations basic mission provides a concrete foundation for everything the organization does. I’ve always instructed my leaders that when they were in doubt, ask “Does this support our mission?”
- Make sure everyone understands the organization’s values. At the same time, make sure you, and all team members, live up to those values. Values provide a definitive set of boundaries of what’s acceptable. The famous Tylenol poisoning case is a great example of how a company’s (Johnson & Johnson) values provided the basis for the correct answer in an extremely difficult time.
- Analyze and clearly identify those things that will get in the way of accomplishing the mission. Be very honest about these things so that your team can either address and fix them or you can do your best to insulate them from these detractors. Most importantly, if these types of issues are identified up front, they won’t be nearly as likely to interrupt your momentum.
- The final rule is to identify clear cut goals and objectives, which are reasonable and measureable. These goals and objectives are the things your organization’s leaders are striving to accomplish and they are the first casualty when the momentum is interrupted. By ensuring goals and objectives are both well understood, and just as importantly, frequently measured and evaluated, your team is much more likely to move ahead in spite of influences that will try to sidetrack their efforts to less important things.
These five rules are not meant to oversimplify what is often a very complex world. In spite of a leader’s best efforts problems will arise that interrupt the desired momentum, and that is the final lesson of the games. When the opposing team does break your momentum, but your team really understands the rules and those rules form a solid foundation, it is much easier to quickly recover the momentum and continue toward success.
Bob Mason is dedicated to leadership development. He works with companies to solve problems by helping supervisors and managers become more effective leaders leading more productive teams. He is a professional speaker and author of Don’t Worry, You Can Do This: What New Supervisors and Managers Need to Know About Leadership; The Art of Not Motivating: How Leaders Can Succeed by Understanding the True Nature of Motivation; Balancing the Generations: A Leader’s Guide to the Complex, Multi-Generational, 21st Century Workplace; and Planning to Excel: Strategic Planning That Works.
A 30-year career in the U.S. Air Force exposed him to great leaders and leadership opportunities such as command of four squadrons, including the Air Force’s largest munitions squadron. He has studied leadership extensively, but more importantly has been there, working with real people, making hard decisions, and experiencing the results.
Contact Bob at Bob@BobMasonSpeaker.com or 505-453-5266
