The large conference room was quiet. As the new leader I was seated at the head of the table. Seated around the room were 35 other people, each of them an expert in their own area of responsibility; and each a leader of their own team.
There was a general air of malaise around the organization which had suffered some significant problems. Moral was low and to complicate the situation even more, the leadership team had not liked or trusted my predecessor. Looking around the room, I saw 35 people staring back at me with both anticipation and suspicion.
This was going to be a challenge.
The challenge was made a little easier by the leaders I had throughout my career; leaders who taught me the skills necessary to successfully lead this large team. More importantly, they were leaders who demonstrated three basic principles that are the foundation for success: understanding yourself and your values, understanding and clearly articulating your own and your team’s purpose, and understanding and appreciating your people. These principles are the foundation for every other skill a leader needs.
What are your fundamental values?
Everyone has values that shape what they do. Effective leaders know and live by those values. Have you ever defined your own values? If someone asked you to write a few words or phrases that describe your values what would you write? How would you describe those innermost beliefs that define why you do what you do?
The ability to list values is the first step, but do you really live by those values? When those inevitable ethical dilemmas occur, are they what guide you? If you showed your list to friends and co-workers, would they see you in that list?
Unfortunately, for some leaders, values are only applicable when things are going smoothly. When these leaders face challenging and difficult tests, their team sees the values they profess to hold are not really the values they live by. That diminishes their effectiveness as a leader.
Some years ago, when I was a young Air Force maintenance officer, one of our squadrons was to participate in a high visibility navigation contest. This was before the days when GPS was a common navigational tool and what units were available were expensive and hand-held. The squadron’s commander had managed to acquire a hand held unit and was going to use it on the competing aircraft.
The problem was the contest rules specifically forbade the use of any GPS. The commander’s answer was that he was using it to tweak the on-board inertial navigation system. He rationalized that the contest rules did not prohibit this. Perhaps, but FAA regulations do address using uncertified devices in the cockpit (Air Force regulations have similar provisions). His all-too-ready answer to that? No one would know.
From that point forward, even though he still professed to hold integrity as a personal value, his team knew better.
It’s essential for a leader to know themselves, clearly define their own values, and lead in a way that demonstrates those values.
Why are you here?
The second basic leadership principle is understanding your purpose. A leader must have a clear vision for what they want to accomplish; a keen grasp of the mission and well-defined goals to accomplish that mission. I am constantly amazed at how many people cannot clearly define their purpose. It’s easy to say, “Yea, I know what I’m doing.” But do you really? Take a moment to answer three questions. What is my vision for myself? What is my mission in my job? What goals do I need to achieve in order to accomplish that mission?
Leaders must be able to answer these questions, but that isn’t enough. They must also be able to articulate those answers to their team. Clearly defining purpose makes the team much more effective.
When I start in a new organization, I go to random people and ask, “Why are you here.” Of course I get a lot of funny looks and I’m pretty sure they are saying to themselves, “This guy’s crazy.” The first answers I get are about paychecks and getting fired if they don’t show up. Over time as I work with my team leaders to define purpose, I start to get better answers. I begin to hear how individuals contribute to the team, what they add to achieving goals and accomplishing the mission.
Early in my career as an aircraft maintenance leader my boss decided we needed to more clearly define our mission. It seemed simple enough; we fixed airplanes. But as we went through the process we realized that we were often concentrating on tasks that were not really at the core of what we did. We finally defined our mission as, “Providing safe, reliable aircraft.” The tasks that occupied our days; training, scheduling, fleet management, equipment maintenance, et cetera, were part of a single mission – providing safe, reliable aircraft. With that mission in mind, we carefully examined everything we did. Yes, there were still tasks that had to be done that didn’t directly contribute to the mission, but overall we became much more efficient and productive.
People are the team
Understanding your values and your purpose, and clearly articulating those principles will make you a better leader. But above all else, leading is about people. Understanding and appreciating people is what defines the best leaders.
There are many definitions of leadership, some unnecessarily complex. In reality, leadership is simply getting things done through people. With that definition, it becomes clear why it’s vital to understand and appreciate the people on your team.
If you watch an orchestra perform you’ll notice that the conductor makes no sound. He or she stands in front of the players and waves a baton but doesn’t actually play any of the instruments. That exemplifies good leadership. The conductor selects the music to be played and defines how it should be played, but then relies on each musician to contribute their part. In order to obtain a peak performance, the conductor must know each musician and appreciate their skills and strengths, as well as what they are not as good at. Like the conductor, leaders who make the effort to know the people on their team and appreciate their contributions create a real motivational climate and will have a much more effective, efficient, and productive team.
Much of my career has been in aircraft and explosive maintenance. Those are two areas where error-free excellence is the minimum standard. It was in those environments that I learned these three basic leadership principles: understanding yourself and your values, understanding and clearly articulating your own and your team’s purpose, and understanding and appreciating your people.
Values, Purpose, People.
