“All life is problem solving.” Karl Popper
Consider this scenario. Leader: “Can you please work on your tardiness to meetings and your arrival to work in the morning? It is not fair to the rest of the team and it is not emblematic of who we are as an organization.“ Subordinate: “Yes. I’m sorry. I will.” Leader: “Ok, thank you.” Note the ‘how’ is left out and that, in my experience, is a leadership error.
Too often we, as leaders, want to shorten hard conversations like this. I’m guilty too but I’ve gotten better with age and experience. The flow of the conversation often goes like this – address the problem, get a response (even if it is not sufficient), say thanks or acknowledge the response, then bury it and move on to more pleasurable and less confrontational things. In this scenario has the problem been addressed?
Of course, there is much behind a scenario like the one above and it is worth mentioning to see the leader-led relationship as a journey and not a series of interactions and tasks. It begs several questions such as why is the subordinate late or what is causing his or her tardiness? What has the leader done or not done before this moment? Are there standards, values, and a culture of teamwork in the organization? For the purposes of this blog we focus on the missing piece – how…
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