Thoughts | A portrait of the leader as a fatherly football fullback playing a rhythmic drum

While at my last start-up, I was coached by several experienced managers and exposed to different management styles. As a consequence, two months in, I had adopted some new mantras:

“You will always know where you stand in my book”
“I will always diffuse any blockers you have in your way”
“The company is greater than the individual”
Etc.

6 months after resigning from that company, I wanted to stop, reflect and share the leadership style I had formed and discovered. To organise my learnings, I borrowed Dee Hock’s framework: Purpose, Principles, People. I’d love your thoughts.

Purpose

• The vision // As a leader, you might not set the vision but you’re responsible for reminding everyone what it is. e.g. every week or so, during a whole team standup, make sure to state the vision and try and ask whether anyone has any thoughts related to it. Other times, you’ll have to paint the vision or parts of it yourself. Try and use numbers to help the team envision what you’re all working towards. e.g. “In 3 months, we’ll be 100 people, your current work contributes to that. You are the coming leaders of the teams that we’ll create.”
• The plan // There will be times where inefficiencies in the way the team works together will become obvious, where the company will lose a contract or users. The leader’s job is to generate plans. It is your responsibility to think and stay several steps ahead. e.g. “A couple of you told me how reviewing each other’s’ tasks is taking too long, I have an idea I want to run by you.”
• The agreements // I’m calling agreements the basic set of things expected from each member of the team. These are members’ job descriptions and the boundaries of what they are expected to do and not do. Agreements stem from the vision or any current plan the team agreed on or the leader decided. Agreements are also the basis for 1:1 feedbacks. e.g. “I noticed the weekly CRM report was not delivered to the client, this is part of your job description and our agreement, can you tell me what happened?”. To create a space where feedback can be shared safely, ask your team members individually for feedback about you.

Principles

• Execution // Once the purpose is clear and agreed upon, getting things done is the job of the leader. She is not alone but has to be exemplary on that front. She is to set the rhythm to see things to completion. And the beat of her drum doesn’t need to be that of a galley. Quite the contrary, she is to be as exemplary on the execution front as she is on the lifestyle front. Celebrate, take breaks during the day and demonstrate the very real possibility of a work-life balance.
• Structure // Lead with structure. Just like the team looks up to the leader for a plan in times of crisis, the same goes for work structure. e.g. How many times does the team meet every week? When and how are we expected to give feedback? Is there a form? Where does this idea go on Slack? Which folder in Google Drive should I use? Decide on the lanes, create a consistent framework, give people the parameters to evaluate themselves and others on. Structure pays off tenfold.
• Resources // As a leader, you are also responsible for allocating resources. Starting with your own. The vantage point you have is unique and your team members want you to leverage it to clear the path they’ll take. Your main enemy is distraction. If you find yourself lacking time to create plans, you have 3 tools at your disposal: Delegation, automation and prioritisation. Use them! When delegating, make sure prerogatives are differentiated to avoid confusion and petty turf skirmishes.

People

• Diffuse blockers // As the title of this post indicates, a leader is a fullback. Here’s the definition in football lingo: A player who’s responsible for blocking for the running back and also for pass-blocking to protect the quarterback. Your job is to protect and shield your team so every member can do her best work. Shield them, while being transparent, from executive dilemmas and other divisions’ requests and complaints.
• Over communicate // Transparent communication is another front where you lead by example. It’s also a guardrail for your own excesses. You might have control freak tendencies that might yield passive aggressive behaviour towards members whose work you can’t supervise. Set the communication standard. eg. Send texts to say where the project is at and what you’re doing, share your work plan for the day. And just as you’re entitled to collect information about your team’s work, your team has the right to send and receive information from you. Managing by Wandering Around is a real thing! Be “there”, within reach.
• Listen with heart // Ben Horowitz explains how there are peace times and war times in a company’s life. In the former, there is time for discussion and debate. In the latter, there isn’t. War time is rare but it means an impending emergency propelled the company into survival mode: Leaders are to take decisions and the team is to execute. But whether it’s war time or peace time, there’s never actually a war and there’s always time to put the phone aside, shut up and listen. This might have morphed into a battle for you but not for one of your team members. Be kind and do your best to get them. This is the toughest part…

Kindness is the toughest part and the one I’ll close with. Kindness is the toughest part because it takes the longest to build. Longer than any company can take to build. Kindness to others starts with kindness to oneself. The slow art of building the space necessary to listen to what you’re feeling.

Once the space is built, it’s as if a living room suddenly appeared in your apartment. Suddenly, you can welcome others. Offer them a seat. Every fatherly fullback with a rhythmic drum deserves a break too.