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When you read the word “leader,” you might think of the movie Gladiator, where Russell Crowe leads his people to battle to defeat the barbarians, and the army follows him without question. Or you may think about the late Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, who was revered by her people, without ruling over them. Or perhaps you think about a coach of a high school soccer team who comes up with plays, shows both soft and tough love to get their team to take on that challenge of the championship, concluding with that impressive “You’ve got this!” speech.
You can read countless books on leadership and ways to effectively exercise leadership, but I am going to share some key concepts that I have employed, which I believe are fundamentally the reason why a great leader can drive a collective to an outcome that could otherwise never be achieved.
Concepts that I won’t be highlighting are being authoritative, making all the decisions, demanding loyalty or giving false hope or magical speeches of greatness.
In fact, these principles are quite the opposite.
Related: 7 Timeless Principles That Will Help You Become a Better Leader
Being present
The Japanese have a slightly more sophisticated word called “Gemba” or “Go see,” which always resonated with me and has been at the heart of my actions in leadership.
Be present. Show your team that you are in it with them, and when you see or hear something that doesn’t seem quite right or is preventing the team or company from moving in the right direction, go and actually take a look at what is going on.
As a biotech leader, I am going to use a very specific example of this concept at one of my startups. The company I worked with was doing research and development using micro-organisms, and working with these organisms required the scientists to be diligent in their ways of working, so that the samples that they were working with remained pure and free of any contamination.
The laboratory started to experience a ton of contaminations, and the progress was stalling. The staff and team were pulling their hair out as to what was happening. Some questions were asked, but the team was stuck. So, I asked the lab manager, “Hey, could I walk around with you in the lab and let’s talk about what you are seeing and show me the process?”
For a second, the manager was hesitant, but then came a sigh of relief. We started walking around and I gently asked questions, listening and taking in what they were saying. And then I saw it … the cleaning solution they had been using had not been allowed the proper time to work, and the staff had never been trained on this particular solution, as it was new. I asked the lab manager what they thought we should do, and immediately, they wanted to implement training and get folks up to speed on this.
They went back to their desk and started the next steps.
Notice what happened here. Did I tell them what to do? Did I ask them how this could have happened and how they planned to fix it? No — I was just present and saw what was going on for myself.
Manage the task, not the person
Very rarely is a person not right for the job. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it is their readiness level in performing a specific task. This is an incredible concept, which, when executed well, can transform a person’s work output. It’s also important to know that this is an ever-dynamic process. There are four categories of task readiness.
Level 1 is if the person is unable and unwilling to do the task.
Level 2 is if the person is unable but willing to do the task.
Level 3 is the person being able but unwilling to do the task — the most difficult to manage.
Level 4 is the person being able and willing to do the task.
For Level 1, it’s important to know that the person doesn’t actually know how to do this thing that you want, and you can’t just “let them figure it out” because they likely don’t know where to start. So, this is where you actually spend some time guiding, removing their fear and being specific about each step to get the task done.
For Level 2, usually the outcome is you not getting what you want because the person is like “Yup, I’ve got this