The buried leadership fundamental

The volume of stuff out there on leadership has buried a fundamental.  Amongst the personality-based fads and need to become motivational, inspiring (or resilient and courageous as the latest additions), we’ve buried what leadership actually is –  the act of getting of group of people to work collaboratively and effectively together toward achieving a goal.

And in burying this, we’ve buried that the key contribution from anyone in a role that requires leadership (which applies to all managerial roles), is to develop plans that will successfully get the group to where it needs to go.

The military is not to everyone’s taste, but it can be agreed that leadership tends to be a no-nonsense matter in a situation where people can actually be killed.  General DePuy, US Army leadership trainer wrote:

“Concept of operation is the supreme contribution of the commander to their command and to success”.*

Think about that term – concept of operation.  And take comfort in the fact that you’ve done exactly this if you’ve ever got friends around for a working bee to clear out under the house, organised a party for your 3 year old …or successfully reshaped a global organisation to ensure more sustainable businesses and communities worldwide.

All of the above require a ‘concept of operation’.

So what can you do right now?

Start thinking in terms of destination or future state.  Go to your manager and  say “Hey Janine, where do you need my area to be in (see previous posts for appropriate timeframe) to fit in with where the organisation needs us to be?”.  You might have to propose some destinations to get the talking started, but you need to reach clarity.  And write it down as a what-by-when.

Then…over to you.  Draft up your rough ‘concept of operation’ as to how you’re going to get to the destination.  What people, what equipment, what budget, what approaches will you take, will you not take.  Treat the destination like a project, or a huge working bee and write down how your area is going to get there.

Now take it to your team and get their input.  Then finalise the thing with milestones and assign the work to your people.  They can then make their own concept of operation to get their bit done.

Don’t be fooled, this work is hard.   And your mind is going to find reasons to resist doing it, some of which will be based on the fallacy of ‘giving my people the freedom to come up with their own goals’.  Don’t succumb.  Do your managerial work so your people can do theirs.

A clear destination that makes sense plus a solid plan to get there that is understood by all…i.e. a clear concept of operation…this is where great leadership starts.

Without it, no amount of 360 feedback, spider-web diagrams, style indicators or the like will matter.  They might help you become more popular, but not with your manager.  And not with your people as they realise the train goes nowhere.

Now…lets get to work.

* InDePuy, W;  Army, 1988, p47 as quoted in Jaques, E; Social Power and the CEO,  2002