The Hardest Thing to Admit as a Leader Is That You're the Problem
I have had some version of this conversation more than two dozen times. With new team leads. With seasoned executives. With visionaries who have been building companies for decades.
It usually starts the same way.
“My team just doesn’t get it. They’re lazy. I don’t think I have the right people in the right seats.”
Maybe sometimes, that's true. Before we get there, I start asking questions. (I’m a very curious person)
Did you outline your expectations for the project?
Did you give them the opportunity to ask questions?
Did they ask any follow-up questions?
Do you not have to say it over and over and show your kids how to do something repeatedly until they finally get it? Sometimes years later.
That's where we start to find what the real issue is.
Communication and expectations in leadership are not a one-time event. They are always evolving. It can be a system. Hell, it can be a core process if that is what it takes to move your business in the right direction.
The most uncomfortable moment in this work is when a leader realizes they are the real issue. Not the team. The leaders willing to, as the late great Michael Jackson said , take a look in the mirror are the ones who actually change. They stop repeating the same cycles and therefore they stop seeing the same problems.
If this hit a little too close to home, that is probably not a coincidence. Sometimes the most important thing a leader can do is take a look in the mirror and decide what to do next. This is exactly the work I do with leaders who are ready to stop repeating the same cycles and start being the reason their team excels.
