#1 Leadership Skill: Bringing Order Out of Chaos
That's what true leaders do.
Excerpt from "The Nuts and Bolts of Leadership"
It’s that moment you’ve been waiting for. They called your name. You’re the one they’re counting on to make this project/team/system/organization/work. You are the leader they’ve chosen. Your chance to make a reputation, an impact, a legend—it’s now or never. This is where leadership begins.
The Reality
You’re ready. You’ve been practicing, and you are so ready. Now it’s show time. And then the nightmare begins. The project you expected has turned out to be a monster. The team you were asked to lead is a group of depressed employees. The system you’ve been asked to manage is a nightmare of IT spaghetti. Or, you’ve found out the organization you’ve been called to improve has a long track record of failures.
This is truly where leadership begins. Leadership is the ability to bring order out of chaos. In my opinion, that’s what leadership ultimately means. But you may need a few tips.
Some fundamental steps for bringing order out of chaos: The big goal here is to help people focus so they can renew their energy around a common set of goals. Get the facts, cut the non-essentials, and focus, focus, focus!
Although it sounds very impersonal, finances come first. What do you know about the budget? Is the group under water? Get those facts on the table as quickly as possible. No budget means working in the dark.
Who is on the team? What is their assessment of the situation? Listen carefully—who are the naysayers and what are their concerns? If legitimate, address them; if not, explain the need to get on board because the train is leaving the station.
What is the group doing? What strange projects are they working on? What unnecessary action is taking place right now? Where are people expending wasteful energy on? Stop those things immediately—gently, but immediately.
Get rid of unnecessary activities. Stop running reports for about a week, and see who complains. (It’s astonishing how we continue to run reports for someone who asked for a report one time!) What sorts of other arcane and peripheral projects are wasting employees energy? Cease them immediately!
Refocus the team on the essentials. “Here’s what we need to accomplish,” “Here’s where we’re expected to be in ten weeks,” “This is our charter to achieve,” “Here’s where we fit into the organization.”
Be graphic. Pictures help everyone to align. Build a simple, one-page map of where you’re at and where you’re going.
Repeat the process until you see daylight.
• Reward your team along the way ($50 worth of pizza goes a long way).
• Remain passionate about winning and let others know you plan to win. Lead!
• Help everywhere possible until the team is out of the storm.
Your Achievement
This great leadership skill of bringing order out of chaos is what separates real leaders from wannabes. This is difficult, demanding and—sometimes—fearsome work but, in my opinion and experience, it is the number one skill of great leaders, and the greatest means for leadership satisfaction.
Stand atop the mountain when the dragon has been slain my friends. You brought order out of chaos.
That’s Leadership!
When people ask you what you do for a living, you can tell them: “I’m a leader—I bring order out of chaos.”
Lead well, my friends.
Dr. Jim