Leadership – it’s not that hard!

It seems every time you go the library, the bookshop or browse your favourite audiobook store there is another book in leadership (plus of course an untold number of blogs!). Each of these books and blogs promise a whole new spin on what you need to do to be a good or a great leader.

Which approach should you take, which new theory or guru is the right one to follow? What does the research say and how much data is there to back up that research anyway. Is the leadership advice any good? What if it doesn't come with a punchy one liner take away or a meme, these things are important after all. 

Stop overcomplicating things!

The thing about all these books and blogs is that they do tend to overcomplicate things. Being a good leader isn't that hard, there are only five things you really need to do. However, you need to do them consistently and equally across your team. Are you ready for these five earth shattering items that will change your leadership style forever? Here they are:

1. Set a clear direction (strategy / objectives)
2. Give them the support & skills to improve.
3. Be a communicator.
4. Treat them as individuals.
5. Be empathetic.

Right now, you are rereading that list and thinking... wait what? You are waiting on the punchline or thinking this guy has lost his mind, that can't be right that's to obvious and simple, they don't even make a catchy mnemonic!

Before you go dismissing this magical list just stop and genuinely think for a minute, doesn't it sound right? Instinctively I bet you look at that list and think, I wish my boss did those things or I had a boss that did all those things, and they were brilliant. 

Set a clear direction.

If you don't know where you are going how will you get there? If your leader can't or won't set a direction then someone else will, if you are lucky, it will be one person trying to set the direction, more often however it's more than one person and they all have their own personal bias. Without that direction you start getting politics and stress within the team and that is not helpful, it's the fastest way of losing good people and creating a poor culture.

People what to know where they are going, how they fit into things and how will they know if they succeed. A good leader sets out the objective to be achieved both at a group level but importantly at an individual level and makes sure they align. As a leader should be able to talk about the direction you are taking and why, and your people should be able to talk about it and understand it. 

Give them the support & skills to improve.

The key word in that requirement is improve. Some would have put succeed but surely success is only possible if you improve? People want to develop, be stretched, even to feel uncomfortable but only when they feel they have the support they need from the leader. As the leader you need to look at your people as individuals and look at what support they need to do the role you want them to. What skills do they need now, importantly what skills do they need for their next job, yes, I said next job. You want to make sure your people know you are focused on growing them, which includes being ready for that next job either as part of your team and company, or another one. As a leader, your primary purpose is to grow people.

Support isn't all about cheerleading, in fact it's very little to do with cheerleading. Support is everything from being a sounding board for them, a confidant when they need it, someone who will challenge their current thinking and someone who will hold them accountable because you know they can do better. 

Be a communicator.

Contrary to popular belief, being a communicator isn't about talking, talking is important but so is listening and being quiet. You need to have a range of tools in your communications toolbox, I remember doing a Covey course years ago and one of the gems I took away is that you should always listen to understand. That means you shouldn't be preparing your next question or rebuttal, you should be deeply listening to what the person says and mulling it over, that may mean you need to ask some questions for clarification before responding to ensure you understand. You also need to remember that the majority of communication if nonverbal, so you need to look for reactions, emotions, body language to help make sure that your message is hitting the mark.  

Treat them as individuals

It doesn't matter what your parents say, they didn't treat all their children the same way, and that's a good thing.

Even if everyone in your team are engineers or accountants or artists, they are all different and you need to treat them as individuals who just happen to be part of the same team. Each one has different motivations, different fears, stressing factors, skills, strong pints, weak points even if they are identical twins, they are both completely individual.

As the leader you need to understand what drives each of your team, how to motivate them and how to recognise when they are stressed, down, when they need you to step in, even when they don't ask. You should know about their personal lives, perhaps not intimately but certainly enough to know when you need to take things outside of work into account when you are dealing with them. Importantly you need to know just how far you can push them without breaking them.

In short, you need to know your people. 

Be empathetic.

A simple example of empathy in the workplace is purely to pay attention to what someone is saying to you, with their entire body. If you are going treat people as individuals, then it makes sense that you apply some empathy when interacting with them.

Empathy isn't about being soft on someone, it's about really understanding and being able to share their feelings (without taking them on yourself). Doing regular check ins with your team helps them understand that you care, being open with them about your challenges also helps them understand you. Taking time to understand their perspective and let them be part of the decision-making process is important not only builds the team but grows their confidence, their skills and importantly the person.

It's not hard 

Being a good leader isn't hard, there are only 5 things that you need to be able to do, but there is only 1 thing you need to do to be a really great leader. Care.

If you genuinely care about people, then everything else flows naturally. If, however, you care more about your position, how you are seen by others, that you are the expert, then leadership isn't for you.