Leadership 101

As an executive coach, I have the extraordinary privilege of listening to some of the most emotionally intelligent, visionary leaders. I’m tasked with helping them be healthy and well, but sometimes it feels like it is I who is hanging onto their every word because they are case studies in intrigue.

The one thing that often leaves me regularly awestruck is how the most successful senior leaders so easily distill their leadership success down to simple rules. I often make it more complex in my head, but I think that is exactly what gets in the way of doing the basic things we know work in human nature.

Here is the flaw in my thinking. I assume that people who are in positions to lead already understand the importance of kindness, empathy, encouragement, and personal emotion management. They do not.

A recent interaction with a high-level executive left me gobsmacked. When I asked what made him successful as a leader, he said, “I tell all of the people on my team: I promise you that that if you bring a problem to me, I will never to yell at you.”

He didn’t say it was an MBA degree. He didn’t say it was non-stop work. He didn’t say it was content expertise. He, as do so many others, indicated that his success was dependent on team culture, and he he was responsible for communicating expectations (and managing his own anxiety).

The reason I was taken aback is because I thought not yelling would be common sense. He explained to me that fear of being chastised, yelled at, and belittled often interfered with people reporting up problems. A good leader wants to know about problems so the leader can help develop a plan, especially before the problems get bigger. By directly establishing that there would be no shaming, this executive opened the door to direct and honest communication with his team. He also conveyed clear cultural norms of psychological safety. His promise was the first step in developing trust. This executive acutely understood that success is a team-based variable, dependent upon safety.

What I really like is how the executive made a covert expectation an overt promise.

Year ago, I heard a story of a hospital CEO who made weekly rounds throughout the hospital. He would ask employees how things were going. If anyone reported a problem, he would publicly yell at that person. I thought this was an aberration. Apparently, I was wrong.

Another example I encountered was an executive who said, “Jodie, it is really quite simple. Do the right thing.”

One could argue about what the right thing is and how that would depend on an individual’s definition of right. This leader meant choosing the action that is in the best interest of the people you work with and serve (broadly speaking). I could go on and on about the complexity of this simple admonition, but it was meant to be about following a sense of integrity in the workplace. Although this may sound easy, it is often called into conflict.

Leadership 101 is really about intentionally verbalizing rules around human respect and dignity. We never know what traumatic experiences people have had prior to working on a particular team. By making the rules of human interaction explicit, kindness-based and integrity laden, we can create an environment of safety that will elevate the performance of the entire team.

Sometimes it is just that simple.