Three D's of Executive Leadership

I made something new!  Well, I didn't make anything, rather I put three words together in a theme to help leaders both Delegate their workload and improve their time management. The goal for the above three words is to help you (1) get everyone in the boat, and (2) get them rowing in the same Direction.

So let's Dive in!

Demystify.     

One of my favorite authors, Patrick Lencioni, carries around a few central themes in his many fantastic and insightful fables that I'll Distill here: "You must overcommunicate your vision, intent, and end state... 

What does that mean?

That means you can share your vision, mission statement, roadmap, intent, etc... with your team however they're not going to fully grasp what it means - or how important it is to you - until they hear or see it maybe 1,000 times.  It needs to inculcated Deep into your company's culture and that can only be carried out (1) by hiring the right people and (2) significant, sustained repetitions (i.e. they see it, hear it, believe it, own it 1,000 times).  There's no shortcut for this leaders - you need to put in the work and overcommunicate in this area.  I'll spend another Day Deep in this topic.

So how does this tie into "Demystify?"

Once your team HAS taken your intent on board and knows it like the back of their hand, they can make autonomous Decisions During their Day to Day to ensure the mission of the company, branch, team, whatever is being executed.  Nordstrom and Southwest Airlines are known for customer service, it's ingrained in their culture (and not a mystery) so when an employee is met with a challenging situation - they can revert back to "What's the mission here" and drive a decisions accordingly.

Decentralize.

By far one of the biggest topics I work with my coaching clients and team supervisors on. Take a deep breath, big secret coming....  ready....  LEADERS - YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!!   *whew*

In fact, I argue you shouldn't Do hardly anything except set your intent, follow up, and ensure your folks have what they need to execute. Although I'm making it sound simple it can still take energy.

Your team MUST be able to make Decisions for you otherwise you are One. Huge. Bottleneck!

Imagine it - your team can't solve even trivial problems without "running it by you first". Ask yourself, "What would it take so they could solve this problem without me?"  Do they need guidance? Do they need confidence? How about PERMISSION to execute autonomously.

Now what I'm selling requires a level a trust, and you may not have it - so I encourage you to to reflect Deep on this.  Just imagine how many Decisions can be made Daily if they team knows exactly what they should be Doing and how their actions fit in the bigger picture.   Do you see yourself working a few less hours? ;-)

Take my word for it, if you Don't yet you're going to love the phrase "Boss, we took care of it."

Delegate.

Anyone that works with me knows I ask a LOT of questions on Delegation.  Where Decentralize is the act of empowering your staff to make Decisions and solve problems at the lowest possible level (oh god I love that sentence), Delegation is more active!

You get tasked Daily with the standard trivialities: A new project needs Developed, planned and executed; the budget projections are coming up; there's a big sales and pitch meeting in a month with a new client, etc...  I'm here to ask - who can you Delegate to and who SHOULD you Delegate to (there's a Difference).

Most high performing people, like yourself enjoy DOING, you have the skills and expertise, that's why you got to where you are, "it's just easier and faster if I do it my way" and oftentimes I may agree with you.

However what if your team could Do it faster or with better information, or... what if it only took two more attempts from them to Nail It! forever, continuously being able to knock that tasking out with ease in the future, with all of their energy, individual innovations, and ideas? 

A leader's job is to Do many things but rarely is it your job to swing the hammer or Do the leg work (though it's important you have an understanding, and jump in when the team needs extra help #stayhumble). Similar to Decentralize you can't Do it all, you must Delegate or face burnout. 

It takes concerted effort to relinquish levels of control and Decision making, but I promise you Folks, it's worth it.  Give it some reflection and practice today.   

For reflection:  "Which D do you need to work on most? How could your leadership improve with just one of the three D's?"

That's all for now, if you think of any additional "Ds" or have feedback please Don't hesitate to give me a shout!

Thank you for your time today,

Joe

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