Part 7: (Resend) Why don't we talk about leadership fundamentals?
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Reader, Hello! I learned something was wonky with this email, so I'm resending. Sorry! ______________ I've never been much of a sports person, so when I talk about sports, I usually say something dumb. But this (our 8th email in a series on building agency throughout your team) requires a sports analogy... so here it goes. The path to mastery. Kobe Bryant scored 33,643 career points (4th all-time at retirement), averaging 25 points per game. He was known for high-difficulty shots despite taking tough, contested attempts. His coach, Phil Jackson, said: “Kobe was always working on the basics—footwork, balance, positioning. He never got bored with it.” There's nothing particularly exciting or novel about fundamentals. That's why most players get tired of them. Standing there for hours, taking free-throw shots, requires a level of discipline, patience, and staying power few players have. It takes humility to believe you're not above the basics. To be teachable and willing to improve. To do the work, year-after-year. That's why the great players rise so far above the rest. Why is it that in basketball, everyone knows what the fundamentals are (even me)?! Yet in professional work settings and leadership development, no one ever talks about mastering the fundamentals of becoming a great leader?? The fundamentals matter in leadership, too. Every rising leader needs to master three arenas of leadership: self, team, and work. And within these arenas, there are three things every leader needs to know. I'll unpack them in a moment. They are, in essence, the fundamentals of leadership that must be practiced, repeated, and improved continuously. Without them, leaders are prone to fall into dangerous traps:
...to name a few. But it's so easy to avoid the fundamentals in leadership, because they're far less tangible than dribbling a ball. So as the inbox grows, the work builds up, the pressure mounts, and deadlines loom, what is basic and essential is ignored, and the tasks are done instead. The cost of ignoring the basics. When leaders don't master the fundamentals, as they move into higher levels of leadership, their limitations follow them. Their lack of skill catches up. And the higher they go, the bigger their negative impact. You've probably seen this. Someone no one likes to work with is promoted, becomes the boss, and destroys the once-great culture of the team. The best team members leave. Progress halts. These kinds of leadership failings are hard to repair, but they can be avoided. How? By mastering the fundamentals in your own leadership and doing the work -- until you know the fundamentals so well you can masterfully coach others. Leadership Fundamental #1 Knowing your unique lens and strengths so well that you can confidently step into any new situation, challenge, opportunity, or role and make a meaningful impact. Your unique lens is what you naturally notice, care about, and focus on. It's the way you approach everything. And it creates a different impact than any other person would make in the exact same situation. But this simplistic view doesn't account for the fact that each person naturally notices, cares about, and focuses on different things. And what you focus on influences your impact. It's more true that a person makes a great COO, because they naturally see ways to improve how an organization operates. Know your unique lens, embrace it, and contribute it in every situation, and you'll ignite your confidence and energy. Then, you'll be more than able to help your team master this fundamental too. How do you master this fundamental? (What's the equivalent of 100 free-throw shots?)
Leadership Fundamental #2 Knowing when and how you need others (their unique lens) to elevate yourself and your work beyond anything you could do alone. Once you are clear about what you don't notice, care about, or focus on, you are also able to know your team on a whole new level and seek out their strengths to elevate everything you do. Often, relationship-building at work consists of knowing about one another's hobbies, families, interests... And this is important. But this knowledge does not help you know how to make the work better as a team. For that, you need to know who has a unique lens that fills your own gaps. For example, I can easily get pulled into ideas and possibilities and neglect tracking the disciplined steps required to turn them into consistent progress. I don't always notice when things are going off track until it's already happened. I want to. But I can't see it like someone who has this unique lens. You have a gap, too. So does your team. The whole point of being a team is to bring every person's experience, skills, unique lens, and strengths to the table to accomplish things that would be impossible for any one person to do. How do you master this fundamental?
Leadership Fundamental #3 Knowing how to quickly and easily align as a team in every project and initiative (and re-align when the results are getting off track). Most of the time, alignment is either a) the leader at the top's job, or b) assumed because we have clear mission, vision, values, strategies, and goals. But neither of these assumptions is helpful. If the leader is necessary in creating and maintaining alignment, it isn't sustainable -- and there's definitely no agency happening in the team. If the team has to translate the mission-vision-values-strategies-goals into clear alignment at the start of every project, it's clunky and time-consuming at best. And even so, a team can still accomplish the work and not agree that it was a success. Why? Because they had different definitions of success. Instead, you need a quick, easy, fool-proof way to align that boosts agency and decision-making throughout the team. And everyone needs to know how to do this, because alignment is everyone's responsibility. You can do this with one question: What is our shared definition of what excellent work looks like for this project? Why it works:
Without a shared definition of excellent work, you can still accomplish a goal. But it's unlikely everyone will agree it was a success, because they noticed, cared about, and focused on things that weren't valued by the team. How do you master this fundamental?
This is it. The fundamentals seem simple and easy to dismiss for a reason: they're basic. But they're important! I've been writing for weeks about what it takes to develop agency throughout your team. This is it. Each person needs to know how to:
And they need to be able to do this without depending on a great leader or organization to make it happen for them. Practice, practice, practice. All my work these past two years has convinced me that this is the kind of clarity and focus on the fundamentals that enables rising leaders to step into the roles you have for them... and exceed your expectations every step of the way. When these fundamentals are consistent across your team, they reduce friction, increase ownership, and allow you to lead at the level you long to. Yes, there's far more to great leadership than this. There was more to Kobe Bryant's play than just footwork, balance, and positioning. But he could never have mastered the complex without solid fundamentals to lean on. And, of course, there's the discipline to make practice a priority. Kobe said: “I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.” I'm willing to bet you've felt this way about a team member before. Maybe that's the case right now. If so, it's time to go back to the basics. Show them what matters in leadership. Demonstrate it through your own life. And keep enough margin and space in your schedule for dribbling, drills, and free throws. The fundamentals always pay off in the long run. Enjoy! Sara Prefer to view the newsletter in our app? Scan the QR code to download it now. Like this content? Subscribe, read past posts, and share it here. Follow me on LinkedIn |