How to Be a Leadership MVP

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Like many others, I love the game of basketball (particularly at the college level). The recently-completed NCAA tournament showcased the truth that teams that play great together beat teams of talented individual players—every time.

That’s why I’ve come to appreciate basketball’s plus-minus statistic, which measures the difference in score when a player enters the game and when that players exits. It reveals how the team performed when that player was on the court. Many times, a player has a significant plus-minus impact, even though he/she isn’t the most talented or scores the most points.

“Teams that play great together beat teams of talented individual players—every time.”

And Your Point Is...?

Players who score the most points usually get the highlights, but players who make their teammates better are the reason the team wins.

So What?

A pattern that I see so often in small to midsize companies as they grow reveals how we’re missing the leadership plus-minus effect. Typically, the highest performers get recognized, rewarded and then promoted to manage their departments. But high individual performance doesn’t equate to management competency. In fact, the very talent and behaviors that made them good performers can make them ineffective managers.

“High individual performance doesn’t equate to management competency.”

If you’re a business leader in a midsize company and need to build your leadership team, look first for people who have the most leadership development potential. In short: Who is making everyone else better? Sometimes this may be the highest performers at their job, but not every time.

If you’re an employee with aspirations for promotion, look first for ways to make your teammates better. Become a resource for them. Collaborate with them. Serve their interests, not just your own. Investing in them as people builds trust and respect, which you’ll absolutely need if you become their future manager.

The Big Picture

A recent AXIOS article summarized it well: If you want to be a manager who makes a difference, make your people better. Make it more about the team and less about you.

“If you want to do well in that role in the future, it’s best to start practicing now.”

Your Next Step

Read about how to lead in a way that makes others better (see my book below for an example). One I'd recommend is Turn the Ship Around, by David Marquet. It hits the leadership nail on the head.

Be self-aware. Make the investment to assess your leadership behavioral tendencies using a tool like the Harrison Behavioral Assessment, and commit to changing the behaviors that are getting in your way. Contact me if you want to get started.

“Who is making everyone else better?”

Looking For a Resource?

Lead AND Manage: Stop Being a 1-Trick Leadership Pony

Tell me if this sounds familiar …

You’ve put your all into leading your team, getting them organized and keeping them focused. You’ve set the tone by coming in early and staying late, driving results and pursuing achievement.

Then at some point you realize you’ve arrived at a crossroads. The things that worked previously with your team don’t work anymore. They don’t respond. You sense they don’t trust you, or believe in you; or … something.

And Your Point Is…?

You probably need to expand the way you influence your team: You must lead AND manage.

“The things that worked previously with your team don’t work anymore. They don’t trust you, or believe in you; or … something.”

So What?

Most of us lean on EITHER 1) management disciplines or 2) Leadership disciplines. Let’s unpack them.

Management is “doing things right.” It prioritizes processes, accuracy, metrics and repeatability. Without management, companies are inefficient and can’t grow or scale. They can’t repeat their successes—and almost always repeat their failures.

Leadership is “doing the right things.” it focuses on things like innovation, being opportunistic, agile and adaptable. Without leadership, organizations become risk-averse and inwardly focused. They don’t drive results, and they become unresponsive to customers and marketplace opportunities.

“Without management, companies can’t repeat their successes—and almost always repeat their failures.”

We all have a natural bias for (and often against) one discipline over the other. Our default behaviors eventually become predictable and stale. Then when the pressure’s on we double-down on our default discipline. We over-rely on its strengths and its weaknesses show up as glaring gaps in our leadership competency.

Our team feels either the chaos that comes from over-leading or the irrelevance that comes from over-managing. They get demotivated and disengage, eventually losing trust in us. Consciously or unconsciously, they choose not to follow us.

Over-relying on your leadership or management makes you a one-trick pony. You can’t be effective, no matter how capable, intelligent, extroverted, correct or successful you are.

“Without leadership, organizations don’t drive results and they become unresponsive to customers and marketplace opportunities.”

The Big Picture

Neither discipline is right or wrong, although leadership is often promoted as being sexier. And neither is preferred, though typically it’s best to lead first and follow with management.

Managing and leading are not mutually exclusive, they are necessarily complementary. Meaning, you must lead AND manage if you want to be effective.

Your Next Step

Identifying your default tendencies is pretty simple and straightforward. Simply observe yourself and take note of what drives you, or have someone you trust assess you. The challenge comes in deliberately practicing them.

“Managing and leading are not mutually exclusive, they are necessarily complementary.”

Here’s a longer article on this topic at Medium.com.

Need some practical help on this?

Check out John Kotter’s classic On What Leaders Really Do. It defined the issue for me, and offers in-depth insight on this issue.