Be Deliberate
Dear Leaders, I trust you are well.
I have a confession: while writing the hybrid work guide, I used a tool to review the keywords I used and word count the number of times I used certain words.
One word I overused is deliberate.
Deliberate is also mentioned by me a number of times in the focus podcast aka the fixing the broken world of work podcast.
It is often intentional for me to overuse deliberate to reinforce why being intentional is essential for the companies success.
In recent years a worrying trend has occurred:
More ambiguity = More problems = Performance drops of the teams and individuals.
I came across a quote from the new CEO of Instacart, Fidji Simo (who was the ex Product lead at Facebook Blue aka the original app) and I wholeheartedly agree:
There is nothing more frustrating when leaders are not intentional, they operate in a scattergun way and everything is of the highest importance.
Leaders should set out a framework, an imagined roadmap and often a template for the company to follow, blending the near term work and the long term future.
A few non-negotiable areas for leaders to be deliberate with:
- Leaders have to be deliberately focused on the company’s vision, especially when explaining themselves and the leadership teams intentions, this has to be clear and concisely explained – often winning with an internal motto
- Leaders have to be intentional in explaining what leadership is and what they expect from their leadership team and then flowing through to their teams (unfortunately this is often the breaking point in larger companies than 10)
- Leaders have to help those around them to be deliberate in being crystal clear in being deliberate in
(a) what the objective is,
(b) what your expected involvement is,
(c) how teams are expected to work together (obvious but without being called out cracks appear in those who do not respect or trust each other)
(d) enabling the internal experts to take the lead but
(f) show what success looks like - Leaders have to be informed about what the future of work looks like and how the future of their workplace is going to operate and be unwavering when required to lead.
- Leaders have to be responsible with the power of their own influence and not deliberate in not misusing their control
- Leaders have to know the power of internal communications – especially with the internal influencers and how to work alongside and leverage the connection and trust built with the internal influencer
- Leaders should be deliberate when taking a step back and removing themselves, often stepping aside or bringing in those around them to help them to develop, help to evolve business lines or importantly help to coach and mentor them to develop themselves and the success of the company
Being deliberate in your leadership is a process you have to be aware of and constantly remind yourself of.
Being deliberate helps you to make better, fewer decisions not more decisions.
This week review how you are being intentional, consider creating a personal and professional SWOT assessment and be more deliberate in your actions.
Have a good week being deliberated.
Thanks,
Danny Denhard
PS – Do go and listen to The fixing the broken world of work podcast to help improve your workplace for those around you!