The importance of character when it's important...

I am not trying to be flippant when I say we are all in the middle of a very large Virology 101 classroom — as COVID 19 infiltrates the populations of the world we are all better understanding virus morphology, modes of transmissions, R naught ratings, progression of a disease, et cetera, et cetera. A new virus has entered the population and based on current data, if not put in check, may kill up to 2 % of the population before a vaccine and therapeutics are available. By any definition we are dealing with a crisis and now faced with what is affectionately called “flattening the curve” — implementing activities to slow the transmission rate of the virus, and by doing so, protect our institutions from becoming overwhelmed by those who become very sick. This is a situation where no one person can sit on the sidelines and everyone needs to take this seriously. Success will be the result of an effort of community and the character that comes with it.

We have all had difficult situations to work through, and like Covid 19, some came with ramifications that were life altering. As I contemplate the current situation (and past situations), there are aspects of character that reflect who we are, and more importantly, reflect our standing when the dust settles. The character for success.

Curiosity and Adaptability — ask questions to understand the situation. Be curious about the situation; understand the situation; know the situation. Seek out knowledge and be willing to adapt to the circumstances you have to work with. Knowledge will inevitably bring change and It’s important to embrace it — no matter how uncomfortable.

Honesty and Transparency — speak truth and be willing to share that truth. Full Stop

Compassion and Kindness — be willing to help others. Offering a helping hand is important, but remember empathy for how someone is feeling (or how they are reacting) can help with connection and understanding, and this will most likely lead to a more successful outcome. It’s possible that unexpected response was not because the person is difficult, but rather because they are anxious.

Grit and Determination — “I will not stop until it is done”. This is the birth place of all those good things we like to talk about: “New ways of doing things”, “Creative ideas”, “Overcoming obstacles”, “INNOVATION”, “Out of the box thinking”, “Success”, et cetera.

Courage — introduce a new virus into the population that disrupts the way we live, makes people sick, and causes death — it will cause anxiousness, anxiety and fear to be sure. The only way to check these feelings (and deal with the situation) is with courage. Even if you are just pretend to be courageous, that will work too.

Rising to the challenge, putting your best foot forward and bringing out the best in people — definitely important when it’s important, but then again, shouldn’t that be every day.

iamgpe

Surrender the narrative...

Why would anyone ever want to surrender the podium and in effect give the microphone to a substitute? It just seems very counter intuitive; after all, who can tell your story better than you? More affectionately called the narrative, this is the story we tell others (and ourselves) as we spin our tale. Make no mistake, this narrative is extremely important as it represents your personal brand (and the substance behind it), who you are, what you are doing, where you are going, your value, and your potential. The narrative conveys and controls the message that is you.

So back to the original question, “If you want to control your message, why would you ever give up control and risk having your story told wrong? “ The reason is it reflects the confidence and conviction of who you are and what you’re doing, and even more importantly, validates your story. As they say, there is nothing more impactful than the endorsement from someone else.

I learned this lesson a very long time ago around a dinner table — I was asked (with venom) why I felt our business unit was so special? To that question I turned to the VP at the time and suggested he could answer that question better than I could. And he did, and I nodded, and the person who asked the question frowned. Now in fairness I knew the VP was an informal supporter so our narrative was aligned and it was simply fun to watch him disappoint the naysayers around the table. Where it can be less entertaining is when people are asked to speak on your behalf but they may not be aligned.

I can remember, with great clarity I might add, the Chief Commercial Officer asking my team about how it was going, what they thought of the program, and by extension how I was doing. I sat at the back of the room quietly, and just listened. I watched the discussion play out hoping my surrogate narrators were “on message”. My mantra as they spoke was, “Don’t say anything; don’t say anything; whatever you do, don’t say a fucking word”.

Why you may ask was telling myself this?

If I had said something I would have compromised who was speaking, compromised the message, and most importantly compromised my conviction with what we were doing. There is also another reason, an important truism that seems to get forgotten more often than not — sometimes you need to shut the fuck up and let someone else speak.

Something I will admit I forget every so often.

iamgpe

The guiding principles of a team

A team by definition is when there is more than one person involved — in fact, as I think about it, I would be hard pressed to think of a situation where there isn’t more than one person involved; except maybe someone stranded on a desert island, if I had to make a guess. Barring a tragedy at sea, most of your life will have you either on a team or leading one; even those so-called “Individual contributors” are part of a team. Like many, particularly if you have been around long enough, I’ve gleaned the spectrum of good to bad teams, as well as good and bad leaders — I will admit after some self reflection (and with full disclosure), I was probably somewhere in the middle. I definitely enjoyed the learning curve.

Discussing teams (and by extension leadership) covers a large swath of topics such as hiring talent, communications, team building, performance management, training, et cetera, et cetera; all far greater in scope than 750 words (or less) can do justice. However, 750 words (or less) will work quite nicely for the foundational components needed to develop a high performing team — and it involves getting your team in a room and discussing just two things (I appreciate that depending on the size of your team this may offer some facilitation and logistical challenges but a little imagination can solve this).

First thing discussed in the room — objectives

objective [əbˈjektiv] NOUN — a thing aimed at or sought; a goal.

In many cases the team is working with objectives that have been given to them so this is an opportunity to ensure everyone understands the objectives, offer an opportunity to raise questions and concerns, and ensure everyone is aligned with them. There is also the opportunity for the team to develop objectives for themselves that are important for success, and these can be folded into the overall objectives. My experience is once you get past three objectives you run the risk of becoming unfocused so prioritizing a list of objectives is important. And as you probably know, keep your objectives Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound.

Addressing objectives is something that is relatively straightforward.

The second thing discussed in the room — expectations

expectation [ˌekspekˈtāSH(ə)n] NOUN — a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future.

Admittedly I have only ever heard expectations discussed a handful of times so unlike objectives, maybe expectations are not as straightforward. In my discussions around expectations I’ve always started the exercise with the following, “As a team we expect… “.

“As a team we expect an environment of professional candour”

“As a team we expect timely feedback”

“As a team we expect everyone to participate”

“As a team we expect professional growth opportunities”

As a aside, an expectation can not be an objective and needs to speak to the team as a whole. Five to seven expectations is a good working number.

These Objectives and Expectations make up the framework for the team’s actions and behaviour, and drive everything they do — the team’s guiding principles if you will. Once you have these guiding principles it makes it easier to hire the best people, determine the most effective way to communicate, identify the best performance management approach, determine what is key in building the team, et cetera, et cetera.

At the very least, when it comes to teams (and by extension leadership), it’s an obvious place to start.

iamgpe