LeapCard 01

Take Time for Your Leadership

To be worth following, you have to be serious about your leadership, starting with taking time for it. Not just wishing for it or hoping there will be more of it next week. Or asking for it. As a leader, time is something you take. You block it out and defend it in your calendar – for the big planning sessions and for walking around, checking-in to strengthen your relations. When talking about time, always go beyond the deadline and discuss the duration. You want to consider not just when a task is completed but also how much effort has been put into it.

Make Robust Agreements

Think back on a leader you enjoyed working for. In all likelihood you had very few misunderstandings, which implies she/he made good agreements –from daily assignments to strategic direction. In your leadership, you can allow only positive surprises. Any negative surprise – like a misunderstanding about a deadline or level of quality – erodes the trust, deducts on your leadership capital balance, and takes away the desire to follow you.

Given the nature of escalation, the best way of working with conflicts is actually to limit their chances of breaking out – by making strong agreements that cannot be misunderstood (more later, on page 118).

Be Observant and Pay Attention to the Details

Taking time for good agreements is only the beginning. As you close the deal or monitor the progress of such a deal, you need to be observant of everything that may allow you to react sooner rather than later, without micromanaging!

Seeing a messy and disorderly desk may indicate fantastic creativity or a growing stress of falling behind. Carefully looking at the face behind the desk may indicate the truth that you confirm by a few open, caring and empathic questions. Your matching leadership – the leadership worth following – of either getting out of the way or getting in there to help – is entirely dependent on your continuous willingness to be observant.