Firefighters need confidence
The new popular term in town is a phrase called “putting out the fire”. It seems to be used to describe new challenges that pop up in the workplace at any given time. In my experience more “corporate fires” are caused by lack of understanding, lack of direction, and lack of leadership than any outside source could ever take credit for.
This is to say that in my own opinion, again this is just my opinion (because it is my site) that all three of these things are because managers would rather make excuses then to be held accountable. And at times, I don’t really feel that it is the manager’s fault. Here’s why. Most times managers do not understand the full picture of what is really important. As a result they do not understand what is fully expected of them and since they lack understanding and direction, cannot follow what sometimes are their gut feelings.
I have talked to and know of cases where managers were frozen in place when making decisions. It’s not that they did not know what to do or how to do it but rather they were afraid of what their boss would say if they did it. The constant second guessing of “is there a better way?” instead of taking the calculated risk in the moment and working the rest out later.
Now the lack of leadership piece mentioned above, that is on the manager. Because as a manager it is your responsibility to have direction and understanding so that you can provide both of those things to your team and in turn lead them. Leadership is being able to make that decision in the moment knowing that your boss may not agree, but you must be willing to take “the hit” and learn from it. Leaders create the direction and trust themselves and their judgment.
If you have your team on board with your, the company’s, and the departments vision, and everyone understands what the goal ultimately is then making decisions during “corporate fires” are easy. They become second nature and if you have been in your position for about six months should not even be seen as a fire. More like a new amount of work to move in the moment, nothing more.
What would a leader do?
~ Work on the 4 Imperatives of Great Leaders previously mentioned on this site. Only because this will help you build a stronger team that will become fire proof in the face of “corporate fires”.
~ Talk with your boss – find out what you can or can not do in “corporate fire” situations. This will allow you the confidence later on to make the decisions you need to make to lead vs. just manage.
~ Ask for feedback! Never ever be afraid to seek out someone else’s opinion. That is how you will learn to be a better leader. How you will enable yourself to see things from another’s point of view? Don’t wait for them to come to you – go to them and ask “what would you have done?”
~ Visit my store directly here and see a selection of resources on this week’s article.
