How is this for an impressive termite mound? (Image is from the posting by S.C. Lougheed.)
“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest” Proverbs 6:6
Not strictly ‘ants’ but OK for the metaphor (I think the original word might have been for a ‘termite’). It is sometimes hard to believe that these massive structures are made by little guys like these:
Image from New Scientist:
And these:
This photo has been taken from Massdosage:
One thing for sure. These little guys move small blocks, one piece at a time to create these structures. Sure there are many of them, but each one does its piece of work. The proverbs is a wonderful reminder that all big projects happen one step at a time. For large projects this is best done by many people. And this, for humans, requires leadership.
Leading Brains
Leaders are called to significant undertaking, to be achieved through people. You may have a great vision and a brilliant strategy but it will only happen when your people are committed to getting it done, motivated to overcome the obstacles and focussed on the detail of the daily tasks to take each step forward. The latest developments in neuroscience show that we are all constructed to perform best under quite specific circumstances. And when the conditions are not ideal, we spend a lot of our energy dealing with these non-ideal conditions. Interpersonal and personal skills in leadership are as important as the structural components such as vision, strategy and the plan for delivery. Your actions as a leader can either enthuse your team to deliver or dump them in a state of mind-numbing distraction and confusion.
In ‘Boundaries for Leaders’ author Henry Cloud defines some of the structures you as a leader can implement to for your people’s brains to function at the highest possible level.
Plans happen through people
When Winston Churchill said “A plan is nothing, planning is everything” he could have been referring to the fact that we only ever commit ourselves to what we have created ourselves. Turning a vision into reality only happens through people. Therefore including people in the dialogue about what you will do next is essential to delivery. If the team is not committed to the plan, no amount of management structure will make it happen. And as you as a leader rise to more significant positions of leadership you need more capacity to lead ‘the right’ people to do ‘the right things’ in ‘the right ways’ to get results. This work to build a great team, though challenging, should be uplifting and rewarding. Doing the right things as a leader will alolow you to experience this positive process. All too often, though, people issues drain leaders and create havoc in organisations.
Leading people may also require a very different set of skills, to those through which you have created your business or your career.
Who is responsible for your culture?
While changing the culture of an organisation may not be easy it is also true that leaders get the aspects of culture that they create and those aspects they allow. It is up to you what you will create or accept in your property and in your team. Ownership is the core principle in creating structures and boundaries for the team culture you want. Ultimately leaders define boundaries in the following key areas:
- Vision and focus for forward movement.
- Culture and emotional climate.
- Unity and connectedness.
- Beliefs and thinking patterns.
- Control and empowerment.
- Team development and performance.
- How the leaders manage themselves, setting their own boundaries
Your role as leader is to create and manage intentional boundaries to make certain some things happen and other are prevented from happening so that an environment is created in your organisation in the brains your staff bring to work every day can be fully engaged, producing the very best to move your strategy forward. Your role is to build the values, norms, practices and disciplines within intentional structures to create the culture you desire. You will also set the limits on practices and behaviours that create negativity, confusion and distraction. As people take on control, responsibility and empowerment they put aside helplessness, powerlessness and victimhood.
And all of this takes a fierce focus on the vision and strategy you want without the mish-mash of attachments others would like to attach to the direction you have set. And this is what Henry Cloud calls being ‘ridiculously in charge’.
