By Erika Andersen, Founder/Partner
I was working with a leader and her direct reports, focusing with them on how they wanted to operate as a team, given the complexity of their business and the role each of them needed to play.
This leader is someone for whom I have a lot of respect, and who has consistently grown her business and built an excellent team who are loyal to her and to each other. At one point in the conversation, she said, “I really only care about two things:
- Get the results you’ve promised, and
- Support each other’s success
It was such a simple and reasonable thing to say—and everyone in the room not only agreed but rallied around it; it became a key focus for our discussions about how to work together.
Since then, I’ve noticed that ineffective leaders invariably lose sight of one or both of these core elements:
- Either they don’t hold people accountable to get the results they’ve committed to, or
- They let people get away with treating each other badly, or both.
And I’ve seen, time after time, that successful leaders consistently insist that neither of these things is optional.
The Dual Focus of Effective Leaders
I’ve come to believe that the best leaders require this balanced, dual focus from themselves and their people. They declare—and then support that declaration every day through their decisions and actions—that everyone in their organization will be accountable for achieving their business goals and support their colleagues to do the same.
Fostering a Supportive Environment for Success
For example, I once worked with the senior team of a large media company with a new CEO. His predecessor had seemed not to care about how people dealt with one another—or how he dealt with them: his tenure was marked by silos, infighting, and a focus on controlling people vs. supporting them. Over time, results suffered.
As I worked with the new CEO, I noticed that while he was very business-focused—making significant changes in people, structures, and investments to get the business moving again—he was also putting a great deal of time and energy into rejuvenating the culture.
He was working with his folks to clarify the company’s core values and then figure out how to ensure that leaders modeled those values. He also supported them in making changes in the organization (how people were hired, trained, developed, and rewarded) so that people would be both supported and held accountable for meeting their business goals and working together in ways that supported each others’ success.
Balancing Results and Support in Leadership
It was instructive watching him reinforce his belief that neither of these two things is optional. In fact, in one meeting when one of his senior leaders said something to the effect of, “These values are very positive and aspirational, but sometimes you just have to focus on getting things done,” he was quick to respond. He let everyone know that he thought it was even more important to be honest, empathic, and brave in dealing with each other in tough times—that this was how he expected they would all work with each other in order to get the aggressive results they were targeting. And—tellingly—he said it clearly and respectfully; there was no sense that he was scolding or punishing the executive who had spoken out.
As this new approach began to resonate throughout the organization, and employees started to trust the leaders’ commitment to establishing both a strong team-oriented culture and better business results, I witnessed the positive impact.
People began working across functions, taking the time to pause and communicate before doing things that might make it harder for others to fulfill their commitments. There was more hopefulness and willing energy now in this organization than there had been for a number of years.
Holding Each Other Accountable to Achieve Bigger Goals
Of course, some people had a hard time with this new approach. They may have felt more powerful or more in control under the previous regime; they might not have wanted to have to focus on supporting others’ success as well as their own. Others could have felt fine about supporting their colleagues—but may have believed the “business bar” was being set too high, and weren’t willing to be held accountable for breaking out of old ways of operating to achieve bigger goals. Some of these people may end up leaving—or being asked to leave—the organization, if they can’t or aren’t willing to operate in this different way that’s based on the premise that results and team are equally necessary.
Integrating Results and Support in Your Leadership Style
If this CEO remains true to this balanced vision of organizational success—as I believe he will—everyone in the organization will ultimately have to make this decision about whether or not this is the kind of organization they want to be a part of, and whether they’re willing to support that decision with action on a daily basis.
And that’s what I meant, in the post’s title when I said “And you can too.”
Whatever your job or level in an organization, you can become successful and build a great reputation by getting excellent results and supporting those around you to do the same. But—and this is a big but—this will be most true if you’re in an organization where both those things are valued.
So, if what I’ve said resonates for you; if you believe that an organization will thrive when each person takes responsibility for achieving results and supporting his or her colleagues to succeed—I encourage you to find that kind of an organization and give it your all.
