By Todd J. Sukol
I just returned from two weeks completely disconnected from my office, an all-time high for me, to find our team producing fabulous results in my absence. Yes!
Though I have long been familiar with the ideal that great leaders can walk away without their teams falling apart, it has been a long road for me to get there. I spent years plagued by “hub and spokes syndrome,” always keeping myself at the center of the action. In a well-intended effort to keep things under control, I bought myself only an illusion of control while denying staff the chance to take responsibility, tap their creativity and stretch their skills. For the past eight to 10 years I’ve made a concerted effort to escape this trap. I’m making serious progress, and so can you. My team and I have cultivated an atmosphere of trust, risk taking, open feedback and personal responsibility. We’ve experimented with various ways of providing constructive amounts of structure, support and accountability for everyone on the team. I’ve also been blessed with some incredibly talented and growth oriented team members.
My smooth reentry this week showed me that our collective efforts are working wonderfully. For those of you in management roles, struggling with your team’s performance, I’m here to testify that giving your staff enough room to succeed as well as fail can be a frightening leap of faith, but it works. We’re not talking about neglect here – there’s plenty of work to be done, it is just a different kind of work than you might be used to. When we focus on our people instead of their work, our staff members have the chance to build on their strengths and address their weaknesses.
When we focus on processes instead of emergencies of the day, we give ourselves the breathing room to keep an eye on the big picture, detecting extraordinary opportunities and deadly icebergs alike.