What kind of Leader will you be?

This is another way of asking, “what kind of team do you want?”

One of the things that drew Jaim and me together in this Craftbridge Coaching venture was the shared vision of “what the best teams are to work in.”

We’re not saying these are the only models, or even that they are the most profitable models, or the highest performing short-term models.

Steve Jobs innovated the shit out of the tech industry at Apple; by all accounts he wasn’t the kind of leader we coach.  Our current administration seems to be very effective at tearing down the Constitution, but he’s definitely not the kind of leader we would coach.  We’ve been on (or driven) any number of so-called “death marches” for our games to hit launch dates - we get that sometimes it’s just “everyone put their heads down and execute” in order to meet goals or commitments.

But, in our experience, while these models may have their short-term place, these aren’t sustainable (unless your leader is Steve Jobs, and it’s not), and they aren’t fun (or at least our ideas of fun), and they don’t get the entire value out of the team that they might.

Jaim’s favorite work word is “healthy,” which I subscribe to.  Healthy financial growth, healthy player base, healthy team culture and dynamics.  (“Balanced” or “sustainable” are other words you could use here.)

I worked in such a team at Maxis when we launched The Sims, and again at GSN Games when we operated Solitaire Tri-Peaks.  And those were the teams and places I look back on with the most pride and joy.

To have a healthy team, you have to consider beyond the immediate deliverable.  That suggests:

- clarity and alignment of goals

- succession planning

- opportunities for learning

- processes to prevent failure

It’s hard to find examples of leaders that create these kind of environments - what good looks like - especially today.  As a culture, we like to celebrate celebrity visionaries.  We don’t celebrate people who create empowering environments of collaboration and mutual respect, where innovations happen because team leaders and members contribute solutions and innovative ideas are created by the interaction of smart people working together.

Is this the kind of team you want?  Is this the kind of leader you want to be?

I recently found a great example of “what good looks like” - at least, for my kind of leader - where I’d least expected to find it.

I started watching a Netflix show called “The Pitt,” with Noah Wyle.  Imagine Dr. Carter from “ER” grows up and runs his own emergency room in a teaching hospital, with his hierarchy of attendings, residents, interns and students - that’s the underlying premise, in a “24”-style “each episode is an hour” pace, where the season is one shift.

I was about halfway through the season when I realized, Wyle’s character is just about everything I look for in a leader.  

• He’s generally patient, but when there’s a critical mistake he calls it out (the mistake, not the doctor).

• He delegates to his attendings (his most senior people), allowing them to make calls

• He asks interns and students (his most junior people) what they see, what it means, what they might have missed, and what they should do….then he leaves them to it

• He chips in with his skill when it’s needed, or when there’s something complicated and critical

• He handles the most emotionally hard (rather than technically difficult) tasks himself

• He applies process, and he handles discipline evenly - regardless of position

• He isn’t perfect…. but he tries

Sure, it’s fiction.  We don’t usually get to see this level of detail in real-world business situations (though “Turn the Ship Around” by L. David Marquet is an outstanding insight to some of these behaviors in a less detailed exposition, but equally surprising environment).

What kind of team do you want?  One that just executes what you say and is a limited extension of your thinking and insights?  Or one that leverages the skills of the leaders and team around you, able to expand and enhance your ideas in ways you haven’t thought of, loyal and engaged?

Do you know how to build that team?  If not, contact us for a free consultation.