Creative Leadership

photo by oljmpya

A good friend just started blogging at the Harvard Business site on “creativity in leadership.”  Clearly a topic that is right up the alley for RoundPegg.   There couldn’t be two more interesting people to start the discussion on this topic.  I’m definitely looking forward to more.

Until then, a couple thoughts on the human side of creative leadership:

1.  Creativity is at the heart of engagement.  Engagement leads to creativity, innovation and problem-solving.  Each being the root of any competitive advantage a knowledge business enjoys.

But what if our leaders aren’t engaged?  Then we’re stuck with trickle-down demotivation. There has to be something more than the weight of the world on one’s shoulders, a big ego or out-sized bonuses to motivate.  People are intuitive enough to recognize when selfish motivation drives a leader.  People are inspired by being human and the excitement, optimism, creativity and passion that comes with it.

2.  Leading people is indeed a creative endeavor.  Approaching leadership with a one size fits all approach fails to recognize the differences in each of us and fails to take advantage of what we each uniquely bring to the table.  Knowing how to handle those differences requires a flexible approach and one that creatively utilizes each of us.

Get Rid Of All Your Managers

I hate the word.  Manager.  Ditto for Supervisor.

If that’s what you do you’ve hired the wrong people.  Sorry to break the bad news.

How 1950′s.  Brylcreem, horn-rimmed glasses and absolutely no room to think outside the box.  You shouldn’t have to play task master, disciplinarian or puppeteer.  If you work in a knowledge capacity then there are so many other things you should be that would make you more valuable.

The goal is to problem solve.  Doesn’t matter what business you’re in, that is at the heart of what you’re doing.

The best way to do so is to turn people loose and allow them to use their strengths to create a solution.  You’re job is to hold the reigns as loosely as possible so that you keep the horse moving in the right direction at the fastest pace possible but not so tightly he tosses you off and runs away.

Try evolving into one of these job titles instead:

photo by fez

Mentor / Coach: Everyone you’ve hired wants to learn.  Adjust your role here based on the experience level of your team.  But there are some constants.  Hold yourself to an impossibly high standard.  Teach by example rather than words – your lead will be followed.  Be transparent – share in the problems you face and trust people with the sensitive information that effects them (note: almost everything effects them).  Explain – tell what you see happening ‘behind the scenes.’  Why things transpire the way they do.  It too effects your team.  Listen – you can’t coach if you don’t know what problems exist within the team.

Leader: Provide vision.  While a manager ensures that a piece of the puzzle is complete a leader understands that he may not have all the pieces.  Instead the leader shows the box top and let’s everyone on the team hunt for the corner and the edge pieces.  Where a manager instructs which pieces to jam together, a leader provides context.

I’m a big believer that everyone wants to contribute at a valuable level and our traditional style of management only guarantees to stifle any innovation and creativity that dares to present itself.  Without that, we’re doomed to plod along in mediocrity until we can plod no longer.

Eat, Work, Sleep, Repeat

Today is Groundhog’s day.  A day I more closely associate with the Bill Murray movie than with the furry, winter-loving, Pennsylvanian rodent.  You remember, Bill Murray’s character wakes up to find he’s living the same day over and over.

It’s hard to be creative and think of better, more interesting solutions if you find yourself on auto-pilot most of the time.  I find this particularly true for me.  I very easily fall into the same patterns and can see my productivity plummet when things feel too familiar.  I try to mix it up with varying degrees of success by working from different locations, grabbing coffee with different people or varying my ‘to do’ list so that it uses different sides of my brain within a given day.

But I’m curious what others do.  How do you stimulate yourself and your team?  Please comment if you have ideas.  A few thoughts if you don’t:

Photo by Stefano Pizzetti

• Pepper in projects for your team that are important and forward-looking rather than always focusing on the urgent and immediate
• Shift around the responsibility for those mundane tasks that are redundant but that you’ve deemed ‘necessary’ – are they even really necessary?
• Ask everyone on your team (including yourself) to teach the group something new – anything of their choosing.  Give them all 90 minutes to assemble props and knock together an outline for a two-minute tutorial.  Encourage creativity and keep it light
• Take a different route to work every day for a week and take notice of something small; the different types of doors, tree trunks, whatever interests you
• Schedule a meeting outside
  

We may have six more weeks of winter this year, but I’m hoping that doesn’t mean six more weeks of the same old thing.

Morality’s Place in Leadership

Jason Seiden always has insightful posts on leadership.  His latest on A Fistful of Talent that good leaders must be amoral in order to be successful misses the mark for me, however.

While I wholly agree that leading and morality are largely independent, I bristle at the inference that leaders must be free from shackles of morality in order to be effective.  Leaders of all kinds exist including those who are amoral or even immoral (i.e. Hitler, Charles Manson).

photo by kristalynn

But, I’d suggest that there is a connection when you speak of the world’s most effective and enduring leaders.  Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi and Nelson Mandela inspired millions into action, accomplished the seemingly impossible and have a spirit that moves others to this day.  They did all this while following strict moral guidelines by which few others would have been able to abide.  Hence, one reason why they remain such lasting and inspirational figures.

Indeed morality doesn’t define a leader, actions do.  A leader is so deemed because they are uncompromising in aligning their actions to their beliefs.  The power of their leadership is in their words and actions.  The more true the former ring and the more consistent the latter, the stronger the leader.

Yes, anyone, regardless of moral standing, can be a leader.  But by defining a leader as one who gets someone to do something they wouldn’t do otherwise distorts the definition for the sake of expediency.  Going into battle is the fulfillment of an explicit contract not changing behaviors.  If anything, a leader is one who gets someone to do what they didn’t think was possible.

Mistaking titles for leaders is also a straw man.  Not all Presidents, Generals or CEOs could or should be classified as leaders.  In both war and business there is an explicit agreement made in which I will get something in exchange for my services.  My presence on either a battlefield or in a conference room means you’ve upheld your end of the obligation and I am now doing the same.

So please don’t think that your desire to be or status as a leader gives you a hall pass to act immorally.  Nor should we strive any less to be moral in our leadership.

If you want to be a leader align your words and actions.  If you want to be a great leader align your words and actions with your morals.

Getting Lucky

Just finished reading two blog posts and one seemingly answered the other.  Normally I wouldn’t blog about it, but it tied into my getting lucky this morning.  Some good cosmic juju is at play here so I have to acknowledge it.

The first post was Seth Godin’s latest on our willingness to be lucky.  The second is from Dr. Skippy on appreciation and creation.

Four Leaf Clover

Godin points out that plotting a course that minimizes risk is easy, but wonders whether we can plan to maximize luck.  Dr. Skippy indirectly answers Godin’s question with a brilliant post on the value of appreciation and how it opens doors to create, build and grow.  Definitely worth the read as it relates to leading teams and leading your life.

Approaching new situations with an open mind and a willingness to first see the possibilities is key to creating our own luck*.  Shove aside skepticism and focus outward.  It’s not about proving yourself.  When you meet someone new and they can only talk about themselves do you want to connect them to anyone?  Would you want to work with them to help them find solutions to the problems with which they grapple?

While totally lacking in science I’d be willing to bet that people who first see possibilities and are open to new experiences, people and ideas make far more luck for themselves.

Case in point…

I got lucky this morning.  A couple times a month a random collection of folks get together to talk about what’s happening in the world of startups and tech.  Today was my second time attending.  While mingling afterward I literally bumped into someone who, as it turns out, is working on developing solutions to the same problem I’m trying to solve.  We both seemed open minded to the other’s approach and, after a few minutes, thought that the other may have a lot to offer.  We then agreed to get back together and see if and how we can help each other.

It may work out or it may not.  But it never would have had a chance if we both hadn’t put ourselves in a ‘new’ environment, receptively listened to the other and saw the possibilities of what could be.

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*Continue to be skeptical of emails claiming you’ve won a foreign country’s lottery.

Photo by Merlijn Hoek