If you’d like to evaluate the health / culture of your organization and at very high level, without over-analyzing or over complicating things then ask yourself these two questions :
1. Do my people feel valued?
2. Are my people performing?
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SIMPLICITY — is such a beautiful word. In a life full of “complicated”, SIMPLICITY is one of my all time favs when it comes to understanding great leadership.
Leaders have a lot on their plate! A ton in fact!
Integrating vision with the systems, strategies, resources, people, partnerships and structure necessary for success is an art! It requires a lot from an individual.
If you are leading an organization I’ll bet you’d LOVE to do a fantastic job!
But HOW?
How can you gain top performance from your people without over complicating things for yourself or them?
Here’s the thing...
We live in a society where there’s an answer for EVERYTHING! And, the thing about these answers is that they’re based on variables such as other people’s perspectives, objectives and yes — even a desire for their own individual success!
So what does this mean?
Well, it means that we, as leaders need to be careful!
Have you ever heard the phrase “bright, new, shiny object syndrome”?
Yes, there will always be “solutions”.
There will always be additional tools and resources available to solve problems. In fact, they can get pretty “fancy” when you’re looking to evaluate your own leadership or the leadership within your organization.
There are an abundance of “evaluators” out there — ways to try to figure everything out.
And, there will always be a new answer on the horizon.
But does it really need to get complicated?
Is leadership really that difficult?
Maybe for some...
So then, how can we ensure that things are actually going well when there are so many opinions out there on what great leadership looks like?
Because the thing is, we need to remain conscious of our time. Making an investment in analytics, systems and strategies etc can get costly — in time and dollars spent.
But what if you don’t have the time or resources necessary for “fancy” and you’d still like to analyze your influence and the influence the leaders around you have on others?
Why not try analyzing through a less elaborate lense?
What if instead, you honed in on the bigger picture?
Implementing too many tools or resources can be counterproductive to the end goal — productivity!
Time wasted on nonsense that some people will sell you on as necessary in order to understand yourself and others can equate to huge dollars lost as an organization!
I’m all for tools and resources — but I much prefer the simple kind!!
If you’d like to evaluate the health / culture of your organization and at very high level, without over-analyzing or over complicating things, ask yourself these two simple questions :
1. Do my people feel cared about?
2. Are my people performing?
There is much talk around culture these days.
There is a lot out there on leadership as well. And it’s really great stuff.
For the people who don’t believe in wasting time or dollars on over-complicated, “bright shiny objects” that tend to over-analyze, complicate and pigeonhole approaches/profiles then here’s a simple thoighg to consider when it comes to understanding leadership:
HOW ARE PEOPLE PERFORMING?
Simple right?
I didn’t ask you to over-analyze your leaders, pick them apart, tell them what they’re bad at or whether or not people actually like them.
I asked you to look at performance.
Look at the key metrics.
Look at what happens to those metrics when under the influence of specific people.
Look at what happens to people when they’re under the leadership of specific individuals.
Sales. Conversion. Growth. Turnover. P&L. Etc...
You got me?
This is important because results based on leadership profiles don’t always make sense. They aren’t always “figureoutable”.
I’ve seen leaders who are strange. I’ve seen leaders who are off beat and eccentric. I’ve seen leaders who are annoying at best. I’ve also seen these “Unlikeable” leaders obtain FANTASTIC results.
There was a certain magic and make-up within each one of them that just lead to amazing results.
But magic can’t always be measured. And even if it could, and we figured out the “formula”, how could it be replicated in leadership?
This is where it gets tricky.
There isn’t one way!!
There isn’t one type!!
There isn’t one strategy!!
So, keep it SIMPLE and look at PERFORMANCE. Observe the key metrics. Watch what happens to those metrics under the influence of specific people. Look at what happens to the team when under the leadership of specific individuals.
Its not always necessary to figure out leadership or over complicate it.
Stay focussed on RESULTS.
Simple.
Sales. Conversion. Growth. Turnover. P&L. Etc...
Keep asking:
1. Do my people feel cared about?
2. Are my people performing?
Side note: I never ask you about YOU. It’s not about you. It’s not even about whether or not YOU or your leaders are liked. Leadership isn’t about being popular!
I ask the leaders that I coach to keep the C’s in mind if they’d like to try to improve on their leadership.
They are very simple:
1) Care — make sure your people feel cared about.
This doesn’t mean that you need to tell them everything they want to hear, give them everything they ask for, or agree with everything they’re saying.
It simply means to listen well, be present, show up, take interest, ask the right questions and deliver on the tools and resources they need to do their job well.
It’s not about being liked. It’s about getting performance out of your people.
2) Compromise — it’s fun to get what you want. I know. It feels good. You’re a great decision maker and I’m sure you know the way and if everybody would just jump on your bandwagon all would welcome well right?
Wrong.
Sometimes your way isn’t the best way. Another perspective or approach may be best. Or, sometimes your way IS the best way but how your people FEEL in any given moment is more important to the longterm performance and longevity of the team. So know when to “win” at getting hot way or when to compromise for the greater good.
3) Council — it’s not enough to see what needs to improve. This is where communication comes in. People need guidance on how to improve. Some need specifics. Others want to see the bigger picture. Some want you to “show and share” others want you to focus on the bottom line (ie tell them what success looks like metric wise and then let them find their way).
Know your people in order to council (or coach) them effectively.
4) Convert — take people from being an underachiever to an overachiever! We’re talking quantifiables here. What does success look like in their role and how is it measured? If they’re in sales for example, are they selling more? How are their UPTs? Statistics and measurable are key when taking your team from good to great.
5 Commit — Have staying power. Things won’t always be perfect but perfection is overrated anyways. Sometimes all people need to know is that you are committed to them, to their growth and to their future success.
Commit to your people and they will commit to success!
XO Lauren 🤍