The Structure of Leadership

We have talked about the idea that a person is a natural born leader. You hear the phrase all the time, on TV, in movies and in books. But, in my opinion, it is easily debunked. I don’t think there are natural born leaders. There are big charismatic personalities who can wax poetic and convince people they are “born leaders”. But leadership is a skill set that is learned. You don’t have to be born with it to be it. It’s my firm belief it’s a learned skill set. Anyone can be a great leader if they put their mind to it. That said, every org needs a leadership structure in place so people who work with that leader have predictability on what that boss will do. We work with established companies that are highly entrepreneurial. As we discussed, most people bring that one distinct leadership style to the table (might be autocratic, too much delegation, or too sporadic). And that style works great with a small company when a leader is around to bark orders, or clarify themselves. But structure is critical as the company grows and there is a chain of command. Employees want to understand how it works. 

So, how do you get structured as a leader? 

There are plenty of great resources out there, in fact there are whole college degrees in leadership structure. There are seminars, classes and programs as well. I am personally a fan of the model used by Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey, now known as either Situational Leadership or SL II. The key is to have something, and not be random in how you approach your day.

You’ll get warning signs when you don’t have the right structure in place. If you’re blowing and going, building success, moving fast - you’re likely not leading. In the absence of leadership structure, if you’re lucky, you’ve hired a talented person. But, uh oh, it’s likely that new person doesn’t understand your way of doing things so they a) do it wrong b) go back to what they did at the old company that worked. The latter is most common, and now you have to rely on luck that whatever she/he brings from the old company matches what the new company (your company) needs. 

Leadership structure goes all the way down, from value structure to how we each do our “thing”. Left to their own accord, star players will lead themselves. If you don’t give them a structure, they lead themselves, and the whole company relies on the hope that they are doing what you expect. Conversely if you hire B-level players or people who need direction, the winner you hired may take on the look of a loser because they don’t know how to do things the way you want them done. When the answers are not clear, a star player figures it out and takes action, while B-level players become paralyzed and do nothing, they have little to no productivity. And suddenly, you’ll see those B-level hires as losers.

Leadership structure all boils down to communication and understanding. I’ll say this once and again and again: you must talk to people the right way by meeting them where they are.

Here’s what every member on your team needs from you:

· What is his or her role and responsibility

· What exactly does victory looks like in a role

· A structure in place for constant, fast feedback

· Accountability 

· An understanding of the “why”: this may not be critical on day one, but eventually every employee has to understand the values of the company, the role of his or her job, and what good performance looks like

· Frequent, aggressive communication especially with new hires, and at the beginning of new projects

· Affirmation for a job well done

Next blog, we’ll take a look at what happens when leadership structure goes wrong.