Leadership…
What makes a good leader? There have been many different people throughout history who have worn that label. There’s many different reasons and all of them apply to the situation they were in. There’s certainly moments of great leadership but what makes a good leader in the long term?
There are two perspectives of good leaders. Those from the outside and those from within. It’s easy to judge a leader as good because he gets results. But how he leads his team is important.
A very wise man once told me on any given project there are three things to be achieved, speed, quality, and price. Idealistically when a product is delivered it’s cheap, fast, and good. However in all real world situations you can usually only pick two.
The same can be held true about a team. You can push your team to be fast and good but it’s going to come at a high price. You can take time with your team giving them space to work and relieving pressure by letting them take the time to properly research the project and their individual goals. Allowing them to invent new and innovative solutions that are much cheaper than purchasing some off the shelf solution. But you are going to take a huge hit on time. Or you can hire a lot of cheap offshore consoltants and push them at a project faster and faster. But the end result can be a mess.
Finding a balance to achieve your goals is one of the hardest things to do as an effective leader.
The other is people management. Everyone who works in a particular field takes pride in their work (if they are worth anything). How do you get the results you want while coaching and mentoring your staff as well as providing constructive criticism as needed without bruising egos. A difficult task to be sure. You can brute force your way through it but admiration from your team is important. You need their support when you’re the leader and have to make a request like working longer hours or pushing harder on a project. However you can’t be a push over. People need someone they can respect and rally behind. Finding a balance here is also a difficult thing.
It’s true what they say that great leaders aren’t born but made. You need to have some kind of natural ability, charisma, and drive. But it’s also important to have a certain level of skill in the area you are managing. A lot of organizations are made up of top level execs with little to no experience in the field they are leading. They are simply leading it because they have executive experience. Being able to talk competently with your staff is extremely important. Most professionals can sniff out someone who’s “faking it”, and it does little for respect. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” or “Show me” and take the time to listen and really understand the solution. That way should you need to give criticism you can do so with a level of knowledge instead of just saying “It won’t work”.
Leadership roles aren’t for anyone. If you are happier in the trenches working and creating an executive position is very limiting. You have to spend your time doing the above mentioned things and unfortunately your time to be involved is limited. I was CTO of a company once and enjoyed the experience of leading a team but soon found it difficult because I wanted to be in it, creating the cool technologies, writing the code, solving the problems. Not managing the ones who were doing it. I made the conscious choice when I moved to Izea, not to take a step down as I don’t see it that way, but to take a step sideways and move into a role that has been one of the most fulfilling I’ve ever been in.
I love the team I work with and I love being able to create and am much happier where I am. Was I a bad leader? I don’t think so, I learned a lot and accomplished some pretty cool things. But I’m happier in the trenches and am more effective there. Being a good leader means also being able to judge yourself and allocate your own resources to where they are best used. Communication is key, but comprehension is paramount.
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