Category: leadership

In need of systems

FabrizioLeave a comment

The real edge in today’s world is not to have all the answers, but to motivate people to invest their resources – time, energy, money, attention – to find the answers. Possibly working with others.

We all heard that the world is more complex than ever, more ever-changing than ever, more fast-paced than ever. Yet we fail to understand what that means. Most of us are not asked to draw from their previous expertise to come up with ready-made solutions. Quite the contrary, the more you can tame the knowledge and information you have, sit with a problem, ask around, collect ideas, prepare the setting, coach people, lead the execution, the more you will be relevant.

We don’t need actions. What we need is systems.

Time to heal

FabrizioLeave a comment

You need to give wounds proper time to heal.

Of course, you want to get back to work. Of course, you want people to accept your point of view and get back to their tasks. Of course, you are all working on something bigger and the time spent grieving is time not spent pursuing a new opportunity.

But wounds do not heal as fast as you’d want them to. People do not heal as fast as you’d want them to. You do not heal as fast as you’d want to.

Give it time. And in the process, do listen. You will learn something about wounds, people, and yourself.

Getting ready for the next wound.

About goals

FabrizioLeave a comment

There are two things, I believe, you really to need to highlight when leading a team.

Number 1 is that the person’s well-being, in whatever format that comes, is infinitely more important than any business goal and organisational achievement.

Number 2 is that goals, especially individual goals, are not a way to get rewarded or fired, but rather a way to challenge – how do we get there – and be challenged – what do you need to get there.

The way you, as a leader, navigate setting goals and delivering on them is 99% of how your team will feel about them.

Back to work

FabrizioLeave a comment

You can’t know the effect that a negative news – a lay-off, a missed goal, a demotion, a change in responsibilities – will have on the team you are leading.

But you can, and you should, create the space for people to talk about it. Both among themselves and with management.

Going back to work as if nothing had happened is forceful.

Not every story needs a villain

FabrizioLeave a comment

Sometimes we make decisions that have a negative impact on our community, on the people around us, on the group.

We might break a rule, or demote someone, or take a controversial stance on a shared opinion.

And when we do that, it looks like the immediate need is to degrade the object of our decision.

The rule is stupid, the person is incompetent, the shared opinion is naive.

We end up creating friction and eventually the fracture is inevitable.

We could instead own the decision. Be straightforward about it. Acknowledge that perhaps, this time, we might be seen as the bad guy, and still we believe we are doing something that make sense for the purpose we want to achieve.

It is a better way to frame what’s happening, one that goes beyond a false sense of righteousness that we too often use to shield our own responsibilities.

Not every story needs a villain.