Intro
Every leader and every team at some point or time will fail and must confront that failure. We are by no means unfailing leaders. No one is. No matter how experienced, we do not have all the answers. No leader does. We’ve made huge mistakes. Often our mistakes provided the greatest lessons, humbled us, and enabled us to grow and become better. For leaders, the humility to admit and own mistakes and develop a plan to overcome them is essential to success. The best leaders are not driven by ego or personal agendas. They are simply focused on the mission and how best to accomplish it.
Below are what I consider to be the fundamental pillars of being an effective leader, and developing an effective team that wins.
Being a Multiplier
In the context of the Tech Industry, working as both an IC (individual contributor) and Team Lead, I hold myself accountable for creating solutions that enable myself, those around me, and my team to fall into the pit of success. I believe a team is only as good as its leader, and the leader must own everything in his or her world. In other words, there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.
Being an effective leader means having the awareness and humility to step out of the mindset of "10x engineer" and into "10x multiplier". The term "10x Engineer" gets thrown around a lot in the industry, but what does it actually mean? To me, this means you are a single engineer with either the expertise or productivity of 10 engineers, and can do the work of 10 engineers. This is great, and good for this engineer that they are so great at what they do they can assume this "title". But is this really a good thing, and would you want this person on your team?
In my opinion and experience, being "10x engineer" is not something to necessarily be proud of. I would rather move away from looking inward at your own personal expertise and productivity, and look at how you effect the environment around you. As such, I believe this label should not be "10x engineer", but rather "10x multiplier". With this small mindset shift, the perspective is moved outward, and describes how you effect those around you. As a multiplier to a team, this means you make everyone around you better. You bring out the best in those in your surrounding environment, elevating the likelihood of your team to fall into the pit of success. In my opinion and experience, these are the characteristics of a true effective leader.
The "Tortured Genius" Mindset accepts zero responsibility for mistakes, makes excuses, and blames everyone else or their failings (and those on their team). In their mind, the rest of the world just cant see or appreciate the genius in what they are doing. An individual with Tortured Genius mindset can have catastrophic impact on a team's performance. They can be extremely difficult to work with, or give feedback to. They will resist the concept of ownership and responsibility at every turn.
Leadership is the most important thing on any team. It is the single greatest factor in whether a team succeeds or fails. A leader must find a way to become effective and drive high performance within his or her team in order to win. Whether in business, or in life, there are no bad teams. Only bad leaders.
Keep Things Simple
Most things in life have inherent layers of complexities. Simplifying as much as possible as crucial to success. When plans and strategies are too complicated, people may not understand them. And when things go wrong, and they inevitably do go wrong, complexity compounds issues that can spiral out of control and into total disaster.
Plans, orders, and strategies must be communicated in a manner that is simple, clear and concise. Everyone that is part of the team or "mission" must know and understand his or her role in it and what to do in the event of likely contingencies. As a leader, it doesn’t matter how well you feel you have presented the information or communicated an order, plan, tactic, or strategy. If your team doesn’t get it, you have not kept things simple and you have failed.
You must brief to ensure the lowest common nominator on the team understands. It is critical as well that the operating relationship facilitate the ability of the team members beneath leadership, ICs, or those on the "front lines" be able to ask questions that clarify when they do not understand the mission or key tasks to be performed. Leaders must encourage this communication, and take the time to explain so that every member of the team understands.
It is critical to keep plans and communication simple. Following this rule is crucial to the success of any team in business or in life.
Believe
You can be the best most productive and accomplished leader on the planet, but if your team you are in charge of does not believe in the mission or objective, then you have failed. It is of upmost importance that your team understands the strategic importance of why they are being directed to do something or taking on a project. They must understand the why in the mission. For if they understand the why they are doing it, then they can believe in the mission.
As a leader, this belief in the mission starts with you. If you don't believe in it, how are you going to convince your team of it and get them on board? If you express doubts or openly question the wisdom of the plan in front of your team, their ridicule of it will increase exponentially. They will question it and never believe in in it. As a result, they will never commit to it and it will fail. However, once you as a leader understands fully the details of the mission, project, or goal, and believe in it, you can then pass that understating and belief on clearly and succinctly so that your team believes in it themselves.
Belief in the mission, project, or goal ties in closely with the later described principal of Decentralized Command. The leader must explain not just what to do, but why. It is the responsibility of the subordinate leader(s) to then reach out and ask questions if they do not understand.
As a subordinate, or subordinate leader, if you don’t understand or believe in the decisions coming down from your leadership, it is up to you to ask questions and understand how and why those decisions are being made. Not knowing why prohibits you from believing in the mission. And when you are in a leadership position, that is a recipe for failure and it is unacceptable. As a leader you must believe.
In my experience, my subordinate leadership would often pick up the slack for me. And they wouldn’t hold it against me, nor did I think they were infringing on my "leadership turf". On the contrary, I thank them for covering for me. Leadership isn’t a one person job or team. It is a group of leaders working together, up-and-down the "chain of command". If you are on your own - it doesn’t matter how good you are - you won’t be able to handle it. And as an effective leader you must understand this, as well as the enormous difference between the capability of a poorly trained, ill-equipped, and unmotivated team; and that of a determined, well-equipped, and highly effective team.
Check the Ego
Ego clouds and undermines everything the planning process, from the ability to take good advice to the ability to accept constructive criticism. Taken too far and tt can even stifle someone's sense of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. What I have learned, is that often the most difficult ego to deal with is your own.
Everyone has an ego. Ego drives the most successful people in life. They want to win, and to be the best. And that is good. But when ego clouds our judgment and prevents us from seeing the world as it is, then ego becomes destructive. When personal agendas become more important than the team and the overarching task, objective, or mission's success, performance suffers and failure results. Many of the disruptive issues that arise within any team can be attributed directly to a problem with ego.
Being an effective leader and taking ownership requires checking your ego and operating with a high degree of humility. Admitting mistakes, taking ownership, and developing a plan to overcome challenges are integral to any successful team. Ego can prevent a leader from conducting an honest realistic assessment of his or her own performance and the performance of the team. Confidence is great, but we can’t ever think we are too good to fail or that others aren't eager to exploit our weaknesses. We must never get complacent, and that is why controlling the ego is most important.
It is critical that those underneath you and all of your "front line" leaders grasp how what they do connects to the bigger picture. As a leader, it is up to you to explain that whole picture, and ensure your "front line" leaders understand how to follow through. Dealing with peoples egos is a critical component of leadership, and part of that is dealing with your own. If something goes wrong, it isn’t anyone else’s fault - it is yours. You are in charge. So if someone didn't follow procedure, or someone on your team makes a mistake, put your own ego in check and, you take the blame. For not only were you not clear enough in planning that lead to this break in procedure or mistake, but also if you're dealing with someone with an ego problem, it will allow them to see the actual problem without their vision being clouded by ego, and without their ego having to defend itself to cast blame on something else. (As with "Tortured Genius" mindset mentioned above in "Being a Multiplier".)
At the end of the day, it is about the task, objective, or mission and how best to accomplish it. With the attitude of checking the ego exemplified in you and your team leaders, your team will succeed and win.
Prioritize and Execute
Countless problems can start to compound in a snowball effect. Every one complex in its own right, and each demanding attention. But a leader must remain calm and make the best decisions possible. To do this, leaders must utilize Prioritize and Execute. This principle can be verbalized with this direction: relax, look around, make a call.
Even the most competent of leaders can be overwhelmed if they try to tackle multiple problems or a number of tasks simultaneously. The team will likely fail at each of those tasks. Instead, leaders must determine the highest priority task and execute. When overwhelmed, fall back upon this principal: Prioritize and Execute.
The pressures on business leaders can be intense. The success or failure of the team, the department, the company, the financial capital of investors, careers, and livelihoods are at stake. These pressures produce stress and demand decisions that often require rapid execution. Such decision-making for leaders can be overwhelming.
A particularly effective protocol to help Prioritize and Execute under pressure is to stay at least a step or two ahead of real time problems. Through careful contingency planning, a leader can anticipate likely challenges that could arise during execution, and map out an effective response to those challenges before they happen. Then, that leader and his or her team are far more likely to win. If the team has been briefed and understands what actions to take through such likely contingencies, the team can then rapidly execute when those problems arise, even without specific direction from leaders. This is a critical characteristic of any high-performance winning team in any business or industry. It also enables effective Decentralized Command.
To implement prioritize and execute in any business team or organization, a leader must:
- Evaluate the highest priority problem.
- Layout in simple clear and concise terms, the highest priority effort for your team.
- Develop and determine a solution seek input from key leaders and from the team where possible.
- Direct the execution of that solution, focusing all efforts and resources toward this priority task.
- Move onto the next highest priority problem. Repeat.
- When priorities shifted within the team, situational awareness both up and down the chain
- Don’t let the focus on one priority, cause target fixation.
- Maintain the ability to see other problems developing and rapidly shifted as needed.
Plan
Planning begins with mission analysis. Leaders must identify clear directives for the team. Once they themselves understand the mission, they can impart this knowledge to their key leaders and "frontline troops" tasked with executing the mission.
A broad and ambiguous mission results and lack of focus and effective execution and scope creep. To prevent this, the mission must be carefully refined and simplified, so that it is explicitly clear and specifically focused to achieve the greater strategic vision for which that mission is part. The plan must explain the overall purpose and desired result or end-state of the mission or operation. The "frontline troops" tasked with executing the mission, must understand the deeper purpose behind it. When understood by everyone involved in the execution of the plan, it guides each decision and action on the ground.
Different courses of action must also be explored on how best to accomplish the mission. Once a course of action is determined, further planning requires detailed information gathering in order to facilitate the development of a thorough plan. It is critical to utilize all assets and lean on the expertise of those in the best position to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information. Leaders must delegate the planning process down the chain as much as possible to key subordinate leaders. Team leaders within the greater team and "frontline" must have ownership of their tasks within the overall plan and mission. Team participation, even with the most junior personnel, is critical and developing bold and innovative solutions to problem sets. Giving the "frontline" personnel ownership of even a small piece of the plan gives them buy-in, and helps them understand the reasons behind the plan, and better enables them to believe in the mission, which translates to far more effective implementation and execution.
While the senior leader supervises the entire planning process by team members, he or she must be careful not to get bogged down in the details. By maintaining a perspective above the microterrain of the plan, the senior leader can better ensure compliance with strategic objectives. This enables the senior leader to stand back and identify weaknesses or holes in the plan that those immersed in the details might have missed. This enables the leader to fill those gaps before execution.
Once the detailed plan has been developed, it must be presented or briefed to the entire team and participants and supporting elements. Leaders must carefully prioritize the information to be presented as simple, clear and concise a format as possible so that participants do not experience information overload. The planning process and briefing must be a forum that encourages discussions, questions and clarification from even the most junior personnel. If "frontline" personnel are unclear about the plan yet are too intimidated to ask questions, the team's ability to effectively execute the plan radically decreases. Thus leaders must ask questions of their troops to encourage interaction, and ensure their teams understand the plan.
Risk
A good plan must enable the highest chance of mission success, while mitigating as much risk as possible. There are some risks that simply cannot be mitigated and leaders must focus on those risks that actually can be controlled. Leaders must be comfortable with accepting some level of risk. As, "Those who will not risk, cannot win.” - John Paul Jones.
Analysis
The best teams employ constant analysis of their tactics and measure their effectiveness so that they can adapt their methods and implement lessons learned for future missions. Post operational debrief examines all phases of an operation from planning through execution in a concise format. It addresses the following for the combat mission just completed:
Such self examination allows units and teams to reevaluate, and to enhance and refine what worked and what didn’t so that they can constantly improve.
Many businesses, companies, and teams can have their own planning process. It must be standardized so that other departments within the company and supporting assets outside the company can understand and use the same format and terminology. It must be repeatable, and guide users with a checklist of all the important things they need to think about.
A leader's checklist for planning should include the following:
- Analyze the mission
- Identify personnel, assets, resources, and time available.
- Decentralize the planning process by empowering key leaders within the team to analyze possible courses of action.
- Determine a specific course of action.
- Empower key leaders to develop the plan for the selected course of action.
- Plan for likely contingencies through each phase of the operation.
- Mitigate risks that can be controlled as much as possible.
- Delegate portions of the plan and brief to junior leaders.
- Continually check and question the plan against emerging information to ensure it still fits the situation.
- Brief plan to all participants and supporting assets.
- Conduct operational debrief after execution.
Summary
In summary, your ability as a leader to plan enables your team to be more decisive on the "front lines". They can support the mission without having to run every question up the chain of command. And most importantly, you ability to plan enables the team to better execute and win.
Decisiveness
It is critical for leaders to act decisively amid uncertainty to make the best decisions they can based only on immediate information available. Leaders almost never has the full picture or a clear and certain understanding of the landscape and what issues may arise during a particular project or mission. Nor even the knowledge of the immediate consequences for the momentary decisions. Many of the answers are almost never immediately obvious. However, leaders cannot be paralyzed by fear or indecisiveness.
There is no 100% right solution. The picture is never complete. Leaders must be comfortable with this and be able to make decisions promptly and be ready to adjust those decisions quickly based on evolving situations and new information. Intelligence gathering and research are important, but they must be employed with realistic expectations and not impede with decision-making that is often the difference between victory and defeat. Waiting for hundred percent right and certain solution lead to delay in decision and inability to execute. Leaders must be prepared to make an educated guess, based on the previous experience, knowledge of how the enemy operates likely outcomes and whatever intelligence is available in the immediate moment.
This incomplete picture is not unique. It applies to officially every aspect of our individual lives such as personal healthcare decisions, or whether or not to evacuate from the predicted path of a major storm, particularly applies to leadership and decision-making in business. While business leaders may not generally face life or death situations, they are certainly under intense pressure with capital at risk, markets and flux and competitors, actively working to maneuver, opponents, professional careers, and paychecks are at stake. Outcomes are never certain success never guaranteed even so business leaders must be comfortable in the chaos and decisively amid such uncertainty.
"Decentralized Command": Leading Up and Down the Chain of Command
Leading Up and Down the Chain of Command
Any good leader is immersed in the planning and execution of tasks, projects and operations to move the team toward a strategic goal. Such leaders possess insight into the bigger picture and why specific tasks need to be accomplished. This information does not automatically translate to subordinate leaders, however. As junior members of the team are usually focused on their specific jobs, they must be an order to accomplish the tactical mission. They do not need the full knowledge and insight of their senior leaders, nor do the senior leaders need the intricate understanding of the junior level subordinate's jobs. Still, it is critical that each have an understanding of the other role. And paramount that senior leaders explain to their junior leaders executing the "mission" how their role contributes to the big picture.
This is not intuitive and never as obvious to the common employees as leaders might assume. Leaders must routinely communicate with their team members to help them understand their role in the overall "mission".
Frontline leaders and common employees can then connect the dots between what they do every day, and how that impacts the companies strategic goals. This understanding helps the team members prioritize their efforts in a rapidly changing, dynamic environment. That is "leading up and down the chain of command", and requires stepping out of the office and personally engaging in face-to-face conversations with direct reports to understand the particular challenges. This enables the team to understand why they are doing what they are doing, which facilitates "Decentralized Command".
Decentralized Command
Human beings are generally not capable of managing more than six to ten people particularly, when things go sideways and inevitable contingencies arise. No one senior leader can be expected to manage dozens of individuals much less hundreds. Teams must be broken down into manageable elements of four to five members or ICs, with a clearly designated leader. Those leaders must understand the overall mission and the ultimate goal of that "mission". Junior leaders must be empowered to make decisions on key tasks necessary to accomplish that mission in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Teams within teams are organized for maximum effectiveness for a particular "mission", with leaders who have clearly delineated responsibilities. Every tactical level team leader must understand not just what to do, but why they are doing it. If Frontline leaders do not understand why they must ask their boss to clarify the why. This ties in very closely with Believe.
Decentralized command does not mean junior leaders or team members operate on their own program. That results in chaos. Instead, junior leaders must fully understand what is within their decision making authority. Additionally, they must communicate with senior leaders to recommend decisions outside their authority, and pass critical information up the chain. This is so the senior leadership can make informed strategic decisions.
To be effectively empowered to make decisions it is imperative that subordinate or "front line" leaders execute with confidence. They must have implicit trust that their senior leaders will back their decisions. Without this trust, junior leaders cannot confidently execute, which means they cannot exercise effective Decentralized Command. To ensure this is the case, senior leaders must constantly communicate and push information, otherwise known as “situational awareness”, to their subordinate leaders. Likewise, junior leaders must push "situational awareness" up the chain to their senior leaders to keep them informed, particularly of crucial information that affects strategic decision-making.
Contrary to a common misconception, leaders are not stuck in any particular position. Leaders must be free to move where they are most needed, which changes throughout the course of an operation. Understanding proper positioning as a leader is a key component of effective Decentralized Command. In chaotic, dynamic, and rapidly changing environments, leaders at all levels must be empowered to make decisions. This is why Decentralized Command is a key component to success and victory.
No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders
When leaders who epitomize ownership drive their teams to achieve a higher standard of performance, they must recognize that when it comes to standards, as a leader, it’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate. When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable - if there are no consequences - that poor performance becomes the new standard. Therefore, leaders must enforce standards. Consequences for failing need to be immediately severe, but leaders must ensure that tasks are repeated until the higher expected standard is achieved. Leaders must push the standards in a way that encourages and enables the team to utilize ownership.
The leader must pull the different elements within the team together to support one another, with all focused exclusively on how to accomplish the mission. Many inexperienced leaders want to be part of a "winning team". Yet they often don’t know how, or simply need motivation and encouragement. Teams need a forcing function to get the different members working together to accomplish the mission, and that is what leadership is all about.
Once a certain culture of ownership is built into the team at every level, the entire team performs well and performance continues to improve, even when a strong leader is temporarily removed from the team. Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve and they must build that mindset into the team. They must face the facts through a realistic, brutally honest assessment of themselves and their teams performance. Identifying weaknesses, good leaders seek to strengthen them and come up with a plan to overcome challenges. The best teams are constantly looking to improve capability and push the standards higher.
It starts with the individual and spreads to each of the team members until this culture becomes the new standard. The recognition of there are no bad teams, only bad leaders, facilitates ownership and enables leaders to build high-performance teams that dominate.
Written: April 06, 2024