Leadership Lessons You Don’t Learn In The Classroom

Having been in leadership long enough to experience my fair share of challenges, I can attest to the saying that “leadership is not for the faint of heart” since this rings true in my own leadership journey.  I would define leadership as the ability to cast, communicate and connect others to a vision while fostering shared values that create a collaborative team environment where persons are moving in the same direction towards a common purpose and strategic goals.” 

One cannot speak about leadership without speaking about the role of the leader. As a leader you must offer the team inspiration and direction while leveraging your influence to stimulate growth of both the individual team members and the collective organization.  The fact is, achieving this level of cohesion consistently, while possible ~ is fragile and can be easily eroded without intentional care and sustained effort to maintain the desired culture. Achieving cohesion amongst a team is often times much easier said than done, even with the clearest of visions.

The Reality of Driving Cohesion

There are many factors that influence the desired culture of any organization, such as personality clashes, personal problems, poor conflict resolution practices, lack of empathy and emotional intelligence and lack of clear communication, just to name a few. These variables can all detract the leaders’ attention away from execution of the strategic tactical goals. Left unattended, minor surface level issues can escalate into cracks in the foundational systems and structures which helped to mold the company’s culture; thereby, affecting areas such as employee morale, productivity, efficiency, customer experiences,  absenteeism and ultimately financial performance. 

So how then can leaders maintain a pulse of their environment and team dynamics? And why is this so critical to the company’s success? Fact is, leaders cannot and should not separate employee satisfaction from customer experience. Typically, the core strategic pillars and values that shape and guide execution of the organization’s vision influences its potential for achieving stellar results.

For example, companies that are heavily profit driven (as in bottom line focused) tend to create a culture that can sometimes undervalue the significance of people and activities which is required to stimulate higher levels of engagement. In contrast, purpose-driven organizations, tend to leverage customer-centric innovations which require deeper involvement from teams, which naturally encourages leaders to focus more on people development, satisfaction and engagement. Of course, profit is crucial to the sustainability of any business so it’s important to get this balance right. 

You Must Be In It To Truly Get It

As I look back on the year and the subtle, but undeniable shifts in culture within my own organization, there are several leadership lessons that continue to shape my own leadership journey. Leadership in its purest form, isn’t something you fully understand until you yourself are in the trenches, leading real life people and navigating real life challenges. Until you are in it, you simply cannot anticipate what it takes to foster a culture driven by clear communication, harmony among leaders who should walk their talk consistently, the need to remain agile in leading people and processes without offsetting the balance of the team and rallying everyone to get on the same page, even after the vision and mission has been shared.

Leadership Lessons From Outside The Classroom

It’s clear to me that the complexity of striking this balance is not something we can learn in the classroom or from any leadership textbook; more so through finding our way on the job and being led by purpose and personal values. Navigating the challenges of leadership is an ever-evolving process which requires industry competency, empathy, solid leadership principles, effective communication and connection with your people. In hindsight, there are just some things that you don’t walk away with when leaving the classroom; some of which I have shared below:

1. People are people and not processes. Your approach to managing both must be different. People need to know and feel that you care before committing to go the extra mile. People also deserve to be given candid feedback that is development focused and can positively influence their career. Many leadership challenges can arise from lack of emotional intelligence of the leader. The ability to balance a genuine show of empathy and understanding, while being candid and firm when warranted proves to be a real leadership challenge. Saying yes to things you don’t support for the sake of avoiding confrontation is a classic leadership error that can blur the lines of authenticity and transparency. 
2. The need to periodically assess the pulse of the company’s culture should be a core tactic employed by leaders. Misalignment of personal values and collective team values can have a significant impact on a company’s performance. Leaders need to be in tune with the team’s vibrations and energy and treat to this by way of intervention to establish realignment. Early in my career, my inquisitiveness led me to understand why my then Managing Director practiced something he referred to as management by walking about.” High productivity levels are crucial for success but the value of getting to know and even support the things that drive your people is priceless. As a leader, your presence must not only be seen but must be felt. 
3. As a leader, it took me a while to understand and accept that I did not have to have all the answers. As I observed other leaders over the years, I initially felt like I didn’t measure up if I could not provide my team with the solutions to every problem faced. Thankfully, through curation of my own leadership style, I realize this was just a myth and the value that comes when my team and I collectively work through the challenges to identify the best solutions. As I continue to lead authentically from the core of who I am as a person, my goal daily is to offer direction and insights that provoke creative thinking within the team to spark the best possible outcomes. Maintaining positive influence however is necessary to bring others along on the journey. 

In closing, hopefully I am not alone in this final observation but it appears to me that post-pandemic, the demands in business seems to have accelerated. The pace of change is astonishingly rapid and the level of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (the academics refer to these times as a VUCA world) seems to be on steroids. The business issues presented now test our leadership principles and leadership effectiveness in a way that stretches us beyond normal capacity, forcing outside the box thinking.  The ability to both drive and balance daily strategic and operational demands, influence team dynamics that foster the desired culture while still in pursuit of strategic ambitions that help to future-proof the company, while being true to who you are is hands-down one of the greatest test in leadership of all times.