LEADERSHIP IN TOUGH TIMES

It would be wrong to say that leadership in good times is easy. It's our actions, though, in tough times, when the chips are down, that may define us as leaders.

Where I live in the Hunter area of Australia we have just had a once in a generation severe weather event. Destructive, cyclonic winds, extensive rainfall leading to widespread flooding, power outages to over 200,000 homes and businesses, and transport chaos due to road closures. The extent of property damage is still being assessed as the clean up begins. Worse though, lives were lost. Tough times indeed.

I saw examples of leadership, good and bad, that are worth reflecting on. Some business owners and managers, despite looking at business interruption, property damage and ongoing safety issues, put people first. They told their employees to stay at home, keep their families and homes safe and worry about work when things settled down.

I was aware of one organisation who, despite being aware of the unfolding emergency, put their employees at risk, insisting on them reporting for duty (non essential by the way). When it became obvious that business as usual couldn't go on, they sent employees home, insisting on them taking the time off as annual leave. I believe this kind of response was isolated but worrying all the same.

I want you to think of the how the employees in both examples now think about their leader. One was compassionate, caring and put people first. The other was callous, self-centred and mean.

I don't usually like using extreme, one-off examples to make a point but on this occasion clearly the leader did not put their people first and this is a major error of judgement, one that I think we can all learn from.

An important leadership lesson - put people first, in good times and in bad.

5 THINGS GREAT LEADERS DO EVERY DAY

Leadership is a habit, a practice. Great leaders do the same outstanding things over and over, day in day out. Here are five things that great leaders do every day.

1. Think about tomorrow. We get so caught up with what is right in our face that we can forget about the future. Great leaders always have an eye on the horizon.

2. Put others first. We can be self absorbed and only focus on ourselves. Great leaders put the interests of others before their own.

3. Do things they don't want to do. It's easy to dodge or delay hard things or things we don't like to do. Leaders realise that every day, they'll be called upon to make tough decisions and make calls that might make them unpopular, but they do them anyway.

4. Have difficult conversations. Few problems or issues get better on their own. We can tend to avoid or delay difficult conversations. 

Great leaders know they need to address difficult issues early on.

5. Strive to be better. Continuous improvement can be exhausting and just getting through the day might be the goal. Great leaders, though, strive to be better each day, even if just by 1 or 2%. They set the bar high for themselves and others.

Why not pick one and make it your focus for today?

I'M NOT PROUD OF WHAT I'M ABOUT TO TELL YOU

Last week I made a mistake. Not a big one, but one I'm not proud of and I regret the fall out to others and the harm it may have caused to my reputation.

I was sloppy as a result of being distracted and rushed.

I had a couple of choices once I realised what I had done. One was to pretend nothing happened and hope that no one noticed. I might have chosen this in the past.

Another was to own what I did, apologise and vow to be more careful in the future. I chose this path and am glad I did. Importantly, I did this immediately I realised the mistake. I didn't wait to see if anyone noticed. I just took responsibility for it straight away.

When you own a mistake you do several things

• you do the right thing - even though this might be the hard thing
• you show others that you care - even though it's painful
• you reveal that you are vulnerable - people know that you are not perfect and showing that you are human increases the likelihood they will engage with you
• you learn - I am going to be more present and more organised in future.

Something unexpected happened soon after I acted to take responsibility for the mistake. I received a lot of communication, mostly positive, about acting honestly and quickly. In some ways I turned a negative into a positive.

Being authentic is paramount to being an effective leader. Even when you stuff up you can grow your leadership capability.

ARE YOU A ONE MAN BAND OR CONDUCTOR OF THE ORCHESTRA?

Consider the different styles and results from these two kinds of musicians.

The one man band is a kind of novelty act. They think they are good at everything so they do everything. They think they don't need anyone else to get things done. They are busy, really busy, but are they effective? Is this kind of performance sustainable?

By contrast, the conductor of an orchestra doesn't seem to be doing much. How hard can waving a stick be? In reality, much of the conductor's work has been done before the concert. The right people have been selected due to their skill set. They have been grouped according to where they do their best work (eg brass, woodwind, percussion etc). They are all working towards the same aim (playing from the same song sheet) and they are performing to a high level (they have practised and rehearsed and sound great).

If you have ever seen a symphony orchestra in full flight you have probably not believed what you have seen and heard. So many musos, such coordination, resulting in such a magical sound.

As a leader, are you flogging away on the footpath like a busker, or basking in your standing ovation when it all comes together?

WILL YOU PASS THE 'LEADERSHIP LICENCE TEST'?

So, before you are allowed to do a lot of things in life, you need to pass a test. Like drive a car, perform surgery or build a bridge. It's kind of important that if you are going to potentially affect people's lives or property that you show that you know what you are doing.

Leading others has to be one of the most important responsibilities there is - bar none, yet many of us find ourselves with leadership responsibility without any formal instruction on how to do it well. What if there was a test to see how well you are leading?

Are you game to sit the 'Leadership Licence Test'?

Do you want to find out your priority areas for improvement?

Why not pass it around your workplace to see how your team is going?

Of course the test is just a guide and if you need some help improving, remember the book 'Road Rules for Leadership', our signature Manager 2 Leader one day workshop (the next one is 26 March in Newcastle), or give us a call to discuss how we can help.

Click here to download your free
'Leadership Licence Test'