Are you (accidentally) getting less from your team than you could?

Let’s jump right in and talk about leaders…

I have been in an environment where the leader made me feel incompetent, unvalued and dumb, albeit (hopefully) by accident. It doesn’t feel great, and I usually don’t reciprocate with a great deal of enthusiasm or loyalty in those situations. In contrast, I have also been in sessions where the leader made me feel like the smartest person in the world and valued my contribution in an authentic way. My response and behaviour in these situations was drastically different as you can imagine. Liz Wiseman researched this phenomenon and spoke to her research in her keynote at the Global Leadership Summit. She refers to the difference between these two styles of leadership as Diminishers versus Multipliers.

She defines a multiplier as a type of leader (person) who encourages people to lean forward, contribute and give their best thinking by inviting them in and asking them questions. Essentially, making people feel really smart by acknowledging their value add. They believe people can figure it out for themselves – they treat people like intelligent adults. Diminishers on the other hand are inclined to live by the belief that no one can get it done without them and their input. They lead with the belief that people cannot figure it out for themselves and that they are central to any real output (“if you want something done right, best do it yourself” type thinking).

When it got really interesting, well at least for me, was when she spoke about the accidental diminisher. Why? Well, because I applied it to my parenting role. I often do things with the best intentions but end up disempowering my 3 year old, and end up having to do things myself or not getting the response I was hoping for. The reason is because I often assume (although very sub-consciously) that she cannot figure it out for herself. Sad, I know. I am working on it. But it is very much what happens in most organisations.

When we speak to leaders, 8 times out of 10 we hear the following: leaders think they are driving the right behaviour, innovation, or giving clear direction only to look back and realize no one was behind them. This is the result of what Liz Wiseman describes as the accidental diminisher. Here are a few ways in which leaders think they are multiplying their teams contribution but they are actually doing the opposite:

• By always giving ideas: The creatives who are bubbling fountains of new ideas. They diminish because people get used to it and then stop producing their own ideas. It stifles creativity and innovation.
• By being always on: These individuals bring a lot of energy but this energy often makes people feel paralyzed and inadequate because they cannot keep up.
• By always rescuing: These leaders don’t like seeing people struggle. (which is noble, I believe). Unfortunately it doesn’t drive learning or growth because when things gets tough, they inevitably take back the reigns essentially robbing individuals of learning opportunities.
• By always setting the pace: These leaders believe if they set the pace everyone will follow suit (like a pacesetter on the track). But what they are actually doing is creating a bench full of spectators rather than followers.
• By always being the first to respond: These leaders are always on it. By always being on, it trains their team to sit back and assume that the leader will handle the problems so they don’t have to.

I believe that the way around this is by becoming more mindful in our leadership approach. Ask people questions rather than bark requests, be clear about expectations but give people the agency to match the level of accountability you expect them to take, and put trust in the gap.

We offer a leadership coaching program that incorporates plenty of these ideas, so if you need help developing your multiplier skills we would love to help. Get in touch!

Thank you for spending time with us again at the end of this week. We really do appreciate it. Have a great weekend!

At PurposeWorks we are all about Making You and Your Work Rock. Our focus is on Organisational Health and Design, Employee Centered Culture, Leadership Development and Performance Coaching. For more information on how we can help you create a work environment that rocks, develop a great team, become an inspiring leader or unlock your personal excellence talk to us at info@purposeworks.co.za.