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Leadership is… Learning From Every Mistake and Every Success

 Leadership, Teams  No Responses »
May 162012
 

This is the second post of the Twitter-inspired Leadership is… series.

We all make mistakes, we all know that, but it’s still tough when we do…

The best way in which we can make making mistakes palatable is by learning from them. Understanding what happenned, what led us to make them and recognising the potential for making the same mistake later on. At worst, this will be the one positive thing to come out of it. In the best of cases, we will emerge having learnt a little bit more about ourselves and the world around us.

If you feel like you’ve failed at something or that you have made a mistake, ask yourself a few questions. You don’t need to do it straight away. In fact, I recommend you don’t do it straight away as you will need a bit of distance and perspective to analyse what happenned.

 

First off, try to put things into perspective. It might be that the consquences are important, that your actions have resulted in severe problems arising. But it might also be that the mistake can be corrected easily or that the consequences are not that great in the grand scheme of things. In any case, ask yourself:

What happenned, what exactly went wrong?

What contributed to this, in the team, in the organisation, in the country even?

How did you contribute to this?

If circumstances had been different, would your contribution have resulted in a more positive outcome? (This is important as what doesn’t work in one situation might work in another one.)

What should you do if a similar situation arises? (You might not have the answer for this one, in which case it might be useful to find out more information or seek some advice.)

How will you know whether you are making the same mistake again, what might the warning signs be?

As a manager, team leader or general person in charge, you might also be in the unique situation of helping others to learn from their mistakes. Before jumping to conclusions, ask yourself these questions and see whether your answers match your team member(s), it will help you to see how much insight you have into how they work or behave.

What’s more, treat others’ mistakes also as learning opportunities: what would you have done if you’d been in their shoes?

Learning from Your Success

It is very easy to forget to extract as much juice from success. I can safely say that most of us are conditioned to analyse what went wrong while just enjoying the pleasure of success. But success can only breed more success if we understand our contribution to it.

Let’s face it, sometimes, we are just lucky. Others however, we’ve probably done lots of stuff right. So, after you’ve had time to enjoy the much needed pleasure of knowing you’ve done something well, take some time to think over it. Ask yourself similar questions to those above. Don’t over do it, but make sure you learnt from it.

In a similar way, congratulate your team members. Give them some time to enjoy their successes but then make sure they understand the potential for development that they can bring. This might be specially beneficial if the team member is new to the role, young or lacking in experience. It will help them to learn to recognise their strengths and feel a sense of progress, which is such a key motivator at work.

In any case, make sure you don’t dismiss success and only focus on mistakes as learning opportunities. Learning from our success is a more joyful experience and an equally valid one.

 

 

 

 

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Leadership is… Knowing When Your Default Position is Wrong

 Change, Leadership, Teams  No Responses »
May 112012
 

This is the seventh post of the Twitter-inspired Leadership is… series.

First you have to know what your default position is.

By this I mean, when things get rough, when you feel under pressure, when you are in a crisis situation, how do you react?

Do you feel like you need to be completely in control and keep calling meetings and asking everyone to report to you after every single decision?

Do you just want to be left alone so that you can sit down and think carefully about the challenges you face?

Do you need to be checking in with your team and others in the organisation to make sure you are making the right choices?

I am not saying that any of these behaviours are wrong, but you need to make sure they are appropriate. In times of crisis, we will revert to what feels comfortable to us and if this is not appropriate, it might add to the range of problems that change and crisis bring with them.

So it probably pays off to stop to think about how you are operating during times of change and under pressure. If you could step outside yourself and look at the dynamics within your team, what role do you think you are taking? How integrated are you in the team: do you feel like you are in the middle of things, are you completely removed from the rest of the team members or do you dip in and out?

Try and remember other times when you have been under pressure: is your reaction similar at all times or have you reacted differently in each circumstance?

What would the current situation look like if you acted differently? If you know that you are continuously monitoring everyone, what would happen if you took a step back? On the other hand, if you know that you tend to retire into your own cocoon (be it your office or just you mind), would it help if you reached out every now and then? What would be useful?

It might be that by analysing your current behaviour, you notice that it is completely appropriate, you just can’t assume that because it feels comfortable, it is right. Leading others means being sensitive to each situation and adapting not just your leadership style but the part you play in your team.

Is now the time to let your team members get on with it and advocate for your team in other parts of the organisation?

Are all your team members feeling the pressure of your deadlines and might they benefit from you rolling up your sleeves and helping out for the next few days?

Are your team members feeling disconnected and the only person who can do something about it right now is you, by using your position to call everyone together for an hour or so?

Being self-aware of when we are pulling away from what needs to be done because it makes us uncomfortable and not because it is not necessary, will open up a whole new range of possibilities which will help us to lead others, especially in times of change.

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Leadership Is… Wanting to Reach Out and Being Able to Look Within

 Leadership  No Responses »
May 032012
 

This is the sixth post of the Twitter-inspired Leadership is… series.

Or simply put, learning to listen to others and one’s self.

One definition of leadership is guiding a group of people towards their goal and what better way to do this than to get them as involved as possible in shaping their path. In order to do this, you will need to listen, in the broadest sense. Listen to what your team members are saying, observe what they are doing, notice what they are not saying, watch how they are behaving and how they are interacting within the team and with others in the organisation.

It’s not enough to listen, you have to invite contributions too. Sadly, we’re not all prepared to contribute our opinions all the time. We need to feel like they will be welcome. It can be difficult to welcome others’ involvement as it immediately puts us at risk. What if their contribution is unexpected and not quite what we hoped for? What if so many different people come on board that you need to deal with different opinions and personalities? What if it’s absolutely impossible to implement everyone’s ideas and you run the risk of people feeling rejected?

These fears are all understandable but it would be a shame if they prevented you from reaching out.

Reaching out can take the form of making sure everyone is heard at a meeting; asking people how they’re doing and wanting to know more beyond the fact that they are “fine”; making yourself available for consultation; being curious about their way of working; inviting contributions to help the team develop; asking them to help you find solutions.

Reaching out takes some effort. It involves not just welcoming contributions but seeking them. It also involves finding the space to accomodate the opportunities that others can see and we hadn’t thought of.

Looking within also requires effort and time. For it needs you to stop, take a step back and see how you’re doing. Be aware of how you’re feeling and how that is affecting your behaviour towards others. You need to understand what part you play in the numerous relationships you develop at work; how you affect those around you; how you change the dynamics in your team or other parts of the organisation.

Looking within allows you to make sure that you know what your default behaviour is and you can change it should you need to. For that is what self-awareness is: the ability to notice what you do, how you feel, how you interact with others. Only in this way can you continue building on your successes and learning from your mistakes.

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Leadership is… Being Proud and Happy of Others’ Success

 Leadership  No Responses »
May 012012
 

This is the fifth post of the Twitter-inspired Leadership is… series.

I used to think I wasn’t competitive. Then I realised that I always wanted to be the best at everything I did. I used to think it was because I was conscientious  and wanted to make sure I did a good job. But at one point I realised that I liked winning.

That’s ok. Once you are aware of how you feel about how others perceive you, or about how you perceive yourself in relation to others, you can monitor how it affects your behaviour.
Enjoying other people’s success is much easier if you can push away all the “what if’s” it might bring.

That team are doing really well, will I have to compete against them for funds next year? She just got a promotion, what do they see in her that I don’t have? One of my team members is fabulous at negotiating skills, I hope he doesn’t leave the team after all I’ve invested in him….

If you have had these or similar thoughts, you are not alone. It’s fine to have them but don’t hang on to them, you might be missing out on an opportunity to learn from others’ success and of missing out on sharing their happiness. To learn from others takes curiosity and to act on that curiosity.

If another team is doing particularly well, find out why. Ask for a meeting (formal or informal) with their manager or team leader, ask them what they think is contributing to their success.
If somebody has been promoted, find out why. Has their hard work paid off? Do they fit the profile exactly or maybe they have managed to bring a whole new energy to the job? Have their networking efforts helped them achieve what they wanted? Ask them. If you want to follow a similar career path, see what you can learn from them – but don’t try to emulate them step by step. Their way is probably not your way, but you might pick up a few tips along the way.

If you are worried that someone in your team might outshine you, stop. Give them the space to blossom so that they can make your team better as a whole. Let them improve, let them excel, learn from them. If you feel threatened in some way, they might be making you aware of an area you need to work on yourself. You have two choices: try to get better at something you naturally aren’t cut out for or find opportunities for your team member to complement your own work. Continuing with the example of a team member who is good at negotiating, if you need to make a deal, bring them to the meeting. If you are not sure about asking them to be involved, maybe they can watch and help you to reflect afterwards on how you did; ask them how they would have approached it. If you can bring them into the negotiation itself, that will be even better. Create a strategy before hand with them, make sure you are both clear on how a final decision will be made, clear on what you want to leave the meeting with.

Being happy of other people’s success is not always easy and not always possible. There might be times when we know, deep down, that the means by which the ends was achieved were far from commendable. If we see this happening continuously around us, it can be soul-destroying. If this is your case, you will need a way of coping with this. You can turn a blind eye and get on with your life without looking too much around you; measure your success by your own standards; make sure you can sleep at night. Or try to think of an alternative. Is there a way out? A different role? A different team?  A different organisation?

Whatever our circumstances, defining what we can and cannot change (and what we want to or don’t want to change), will always help.

For more Leadership Is… articles, click here.

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Leadership is… Being Able to See What’s Not There.

 Creativity, Leadership  No Responses »
Apr 262012
 

This is the fourth post of the Twitter-inspired Leadership is… series.

Leadership is.. being able to see what’s not there, or just: being creative.

Using your imagination (is that a dirty word in business?) will help you to anticipate new problems and come up with new solutions to the challenges already staring you in the face.

Creativity is inspiring and it doesn’t need to be “whacky”: just seeing someone’s brain ticking over as they visualise new ways of working, taking new steps towards success, can lift everyone’s spirits and fuel their own imagination too.

New ideas need not be radical nor aggressive: they can be simple, gentle, playful, building on what we already have or simply turning what’ already there, on its head. Imagination allows us to see how things would be if we did them differently; it allows us to question, to imagine.

Of course this imagination is not of much use unless it can be turned into a useful reality – that kicks in later when we begin to look at the detail: how to implement change; what resources we need; how it fits into our overall strategy etc, etc. But a leader who can’t take the initial step of  seeing what is not staring them in the face, will find it difficult to challenge team members and help them evolve.

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Leadership is… Making the Future Seem Bright

 Creativity, Leadership  No Responses »
Apr 242012
 

This is the third post of the Twitter-inspired Leadership is… series.

“Not too bright,” I hear you say. I know but the title “Leadership is… making the future seem bright within reason” doesn’t scan as well.

It is very difficult to move a group of people towards a goal or vision that doesn’t seem bright. It is, of course, also unethical to tell everyone that everything is going to be all right, when we know that times will be tough. Having confidence in your team members (and youself) always helps; finding ways of recognising progress and small wins, however small, will also go a long way.

In tough times, it is difficult to find the stamina to see something through as we get  blocked by fear of failure at one or more moments (I’m using “blocked” here mainly to mean psychologically, but the blocking can become very real if the fear is felt by others).

When we can’t find the necessary push within ourselves, we look for it in others: in someone who doesn’t dwell on the negative; who doesn’t ponder over things they can’t control; who identifies where they can change things for the better; who reminds us of the times when we did get a buzz out of working together, when we did make a difference; who acknowledges that to change is not easy but it is worse than staying put.

Could that someone be you?

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Leadership is… Knowing When to Step Back.

 Leadership  No Responses »
Apr 192012
 

This is the second post of the Twitter-inspired Leadership is… series.

Anyone can have leadership qualities, they are not exclusive to those who are officially “leaders”. In times of crisis, in times of change, in times of creativity, some people will rise to the challenge and flood the team with energy. With energy, or persistence, or clarity – you name it, it will depend so much on the person. That person will suddenly be able to influence every one else and everyone else will feel inspired to take action.

This is a moment of celebration for the official “leader”. A moment of celebration but also of much humility. Our team member at that moment is admired, is holding everyone’s attention, is touching people’s hearts and minds. For the person who has been given the official position of “leader”, it is time to take a step back. It is time to make space for this new energy to emerge. What’s more, it is time to recognise the existence of that energy, to nurture it, however (even so slightly) threatening it might feel.

Different people will exhibit leadership qualities at different times. They might be passionate about a project or an idea or passionate about something not happening. For the official leader it is important to recognise when this leadership will benefit the team, the organisation. When it’s not beneficial, it needs to be monitored and contained. When it can benefit everyone around us and beyond us, it must be nourished.

Nourished at the risk of them becoming more influential than us; at the risk of them fleeing the nest. At the risk of others doubting our own position in the team. A leader comfortable in his/her position, will be able to step back and provide support, knowing that the growth of their team members will only reflect well on them.

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Leadership is… Saying “Hello” in the Morning

 Leadership  1 Response »
Apr 172012
 

Part of the Twitter-inspired Leadership is… series.


It is amazing how many missed opportunities there are of making the world a better place.

A simple “Hello” (not necessarily accompanied by a huge grin) can help those around you feel good. I am an avid bus-user and actively encourage others to say “Hello” and smile at the bus driver as they get on the bus. (I’m still surprised by the number of people in London who get on the bus without making contact with the driver.) It’s the same for people in the workplace, whatever that may be.

Please, say “hello” when you arrive and “good-bye” when you leave. It makes common sense. Saying “hello” as you get to the workplace, signals, “I’ve arrived, I’m available, I am ready. I am here to share the space with you.”

Saying “good-bye” is a way of saying “thank you” and psychologically, for you, a way of ending the workday (unless you intend to continue working at home).

Saying good-bye also has a practical element to it: some people might be waiting to talk to you, to run something by you or just need something from you before you go. If you don’t say good-bye, how will they know you won’t be available in 5 minutes time? Tip: if you are one of those people who constantly finds themselves being bombarded with questions or requests just as you are about to go out the door, state or signal your intention to leave a good ten minutes before you’d like to exit.

Saying “hello” shows an awareness that you are sharing the space with others: deliver it together with eye contact and sprinkle with a smile for best results.


This was the first of the Leadership Is… posts. Click here to see what 9 other things “Leadership Is”.

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Leadership Is…

 Leadership  7 Responses »
Apr 122012
 

One of the reasons I continue using Twitter is because it forces me to convey a message in 140 characters. I used to work for a tv channel, writing the continuity scripts, summarising and selling a film in only a couple of lines. I also used to write funding applications where you only had a couple of lines to convince a panel to give you money towards artistic projects. Twitter has proved to be a great training tool, making me shift my default gear from wanting to gradually ease the reader in (or sometimes, as in this post, a bit of rambling) to getting straight to the point and briefly and succintly saying what I want to say.

So, last week I sent out ten tweets inspired by the Love Is cartoons which were created in the late 60′s.

In case you missed them or if you don’t “do” Twitter, here they are.

Leadership is…
Saying “Hello” in the morning.

(Click here for the full post.)

Leadership is…
Knowing when to step back.

(Click here for the full post.)

 

Leadership is…
Making the future seem bright.

Leadership is…
Being able to see what’s not there.

 

 

Leadership is…
Being proud and happy of others’ success.

 

 

Leadership is…
Wanting to reach out and being able to look within.

Leadership is…
Knowing when your default position is not right.

 

 

Leadership is…
Learning from every mistake and every success.

 

 

 

Leadership is…
Knowing when to say “Sorry, I was wrong.”

 

 

Leadership is…
Remembering “we” is the upside of “me”.

Team Challenge

 Leadership, Teams  No Responses »
Apr 052012
 

Achieving individual accountability in the collaborative process is not easy.

Everyone needs to make sure they are pulling their weight while keeping an eye on the “team ball”.

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