I’ve gone on record at work and online that I’ve been spending the last few years trying to work my way out of a job. But that’s only part of the story.
There’s a phrase that gets tossed around a lot in leadership: Leading from the front. It has its place, but for me to really achieve “working my way out of a job” I have to re-frame what that means.
You see…I want fewer meetings. Fewer emails. Fewer Slacks. Fewer decisions. Fewer accolades. I don’t want the spotlight.
I want my team to have the spotlight. I want the ideas to be theirs. I want the successes to be owned by them. In fact, if I take time off of work and receive few emails…and work keeps humming along without me? Mission accomplished. I’ve done my job well.
Now, this isn’t abdicating the responsibility of leadership. If something derails, it is my job to uncover the foundational reasons why. Was the training flawed? Were resources deployed inappropriately? Were the decisions made counter to our culture? And if so, how can I correct that? Does everyone understand how to make decisions that are in the best interest of both customer and our organization? Are team members continuing to learn and grow?
And if not…that’s 100% on me.
You see, this isn’t about stepping away from setting strategic direction. Or goals. Nor is it side-stepping where we should be in the next three years. And it’s not leaving people on an island.
But if I’m always leading from the front…I rob the team the opportunity to forge the path. I rob them of the opportunity to learn how to make hard decisions. I rob them of their ability to grow. I rob them of the opportunity to become leaders themselves.
I’m one person. A single point of failure, if you will.
If, however, I empower a team of 6, 10, 20 people to be leaders of their domains? Now it’s not one person forging forward, it’s 6. It’s 20.
I cannot be a domain expert over sales, partnerships, customer success, content and marketing and so on…but the content team can be experts of content. The customer success team can be experts in customer success.
They need to lead from the front for customer success. Not me.
It’s not about ‘us’ as leaders. It’s about them. The phrase “leading from the front” makes it about us, as leaders…and it’s a flawed approach to creating a self-sustaining organization.
And frankly? Having the team “need” me? That’s just my ego talking. I want the team to outgrow their need for me. I want them to own decisions, come up with new and unique ways of executing. That’s how I will know I’ve been a successful leader.
When it stops being about ‘me’ and starts being about ‘them’…I’ll know I did well.
But it is a different way of thinking. It requires a lot more work to convince folks that they can be domain leaders without me. It’s a lot of work to coach, guide and empower. But the payoff? A group of folks who believe in themselves and one another. A group of folks who view themselves as leaders and owners of their domains. And a group of folks who believe they are more than capable of achieving each goal the organization puts in front of them.
Without me.
The end goal for each leader should be to create a group of folks, a team, who are each ready to lead from the front, while I cheer and support them from the sidelines.
Comments