At the end of the day, when you're having fun, being kind, giving context, being the bulldozer, giving people the resources they need, be flexible.

If people need a day off, leave a little early, come in late, it's ok. When you have a team that is really performing, enjoying their work, feeling empowered and appreciated they will get it done.

Feedback, positive or negative, is critical for a Leader to dispense regularly! If your team only hears from you once a year you are not providing them with critical, real-time information for learning or self- correction.

If during a mid-year or end-of-year review, your team is hearing negative or positive feedback for the first time, then shame on you. Feedback should be a constant, almost daily discussion. There should be no question at the end of the year, at review time, how you as the leader perceive your people, how they are growing and learning, driving great outcomes. There should be zero surprises at that meeting.

This is another great example of the distinction between Management and Leadership. Recall that my premise is that Management is outcome based and Leadership is focused on people. While you may think that outcome-based management would manifest itself with the Player/Coach concept, it is rarely seen in practice. Managers see tasks but Leaders see a team, a team they not only lead but are an integral part of as well. 

If you have been following this series, hopefully see that these thoughts are in a specific order and building on each other. So here goes one of my favorite topics...

If I were to ask you, "what is the function of a bulldozer" what would your answer be? The most typical answer I get is "to push things out of the way" and that's exactly right! The job of a bulldozer is to clear a path. The principle remains the same when you translate that to Leadership and how it works with people. Your responsibility as a leader is to clear a path for your team to achieve success.

This is critically important as you progress in your growth as a leader. Whether it be in a business setting or in your personal life, you must set realistic goals. As I revealed in Episode # 4, many years ago my goal was to win at all costs, maximum effort. 

We have all experienced situations where others set goals that are sometimes not realistic, and they are looking to you to come through. Typically, you know right away there are barriers to completion. Whether it be a lack of context, limited resources, lack of clarity of the desired deliverable, taking on a project that is not realistically achievable is not in anyone's best interest. I have learned that you must ask for and, in some cases demand that the goal given to you and your team is realistically achievable.

Following on Episode #4, you can't do everything, so give your people an opportunity to do things and give them the credit. A leader's job is locate the bright spotlight, the place where achievement is visible and recognized and then step out of it. Yes, I said step out of it. Human nature is for leaders to take credit for the teams' achievements and that is also natural for the corporate hierarchy encourage the same behavior. Instead, put your people in the spotlight. Give the people on your team an opportunity to succeed, a project that they can own and then give them the credit.

Early in my career, when I was given my first opportunity in a leadership position, it was a total disaster. Fortunately, I learned much from that failure. It taught me more about what leadership is (or isn't) than I ever learned in school or had observed in the corporate world. I made the false assumption that my role was to be fighting every battle to the death. No issue was too small or big, I needed to win at all costs, I felt the need to be the lead of every project, be in every meeting, have my DNA on everything. That behavior could not be further from the truth as a leader and is destructive to you and your team.

Nobody wants to be told to perform a task without complete information and context. We've all had that happen to us many times, where we thought we understood exactly what was expected and why. We produced a report, turned it in on time, and the response was: "That's not what I need."

Great leaders share information at the beginning, provide context and vision. I contend that a better outcome is always a result of good communication. It's all about context. Your team must understand what the end goal is and how it fits in to the larger mission. With the proper context, they're going to produce a better outcome.

Who wants to go to work every day and not smile, laugh, have some fun? Do you want to go anywhere, your church, work, school, be with your friends and have it be so serious that you can't smile or be perceived as having any fun at all? That's just not a good way to get the most out of people. So just have some fun.
 
In the work environment specifically, let your team have some fun in their circle. Let them laugh. Let them enjoy life.

I've observed that as a leader you must distance yourself from the team at times. Leadership can be a lonely place but that doesn't mean you can't let them have some fun without you. It's important that you realize you are part of the team, and their emotional health is vital to success.

None of us have any idea, on any given day, what's going on inside the lives of those we encounter. You walk into the office in the morning and your team comes in, start their day, and you have no idea what they are bringing to the table. Admit it, you don't. You haven't been with them the night before, haven't seen what's going on in their home, emotional challenges they are facing. So just be kind. There is nothing more important as great leader than to treat your people or anyone you encounter for that matter, with kindness. If you're at the grocery store, the pharmacy, a restaurant, you don't know what's going on in their life! If you don't treat people with genuine kindness, then I would say you're not a great leader. You must understand that kindness to others is the key.

In the next 10 Episodes, I will share the 10 traits that in my opinion, are the keys to great leadership. Over the last 10+ years, I've collected hundreds of leadership thoughts, lists and quotes, boiled them down, and curated my own Top 10 List.  These are in a specific order, build on each other and work in concert with each other. But you will have to tune in for the next 10 weeks to see them all!

​Over my 40+ year career I have been molded, affected, and influenced by the leaders in my life. At times positively, but unfortunately many times negatively. While I don't believe (in most cases) the negative effects of poor leadership were deliberate, I do believe it is likely that many get management and leadership confused. I have spent the last 15 years trying to sort this out and have given my "Essentials of Leadership" presentation over 100 times and want to share some of the key thoughts with you. Thanks for coming along on this personal journey.

Leadership is about people, not outcomes. Think about that for a second.​