28 things I’ve learned about leading people

1. People who are given too many instructions stop thinking for themselves. Many common sense errors are made from this state.

2. As soon as the leader shares what they think it reduces the likelihood that anyone else will share what they actually think.

3. Every single one of the people you lead is far more capable than you think.

4. Every single one of the people you lead is far more capable than THEY think.

5. If you don’t let them fail they don’t have responsibility.

6. If they don’t have responsibility they don’t have a job.

7. If they don’t have a job they’ll likely be overwhelmed with busy tasks.

8. Lack of motivation is a threat indicator based on the current environment. You don’t create motivation through speeches and incentives but through clarity, direction, focus and strategy.

9. Managing isn’t about managing people it’s about managing systems.

10. When things go wrong check and refine the process with the person. It’ll take the pressure of them and create a more constructive dialogue.

11. Leadership is far more about clarity and supporting than driving and motivating.

12. Decisions made without a values based process are likely to have a survival bias.

13. Blame causes stress, hiding work, procrastination or passing responsibility that reaches far beyond the interaction. It might even inform how they work forever.

14. Avoiding conflict causes as many problems as unskillful conflict.

15. Skilful conflict is one of the secrets to great culture.

16. Learning from failure isn’t just a quote it needs to be a consistent deliberate process.

17. Empower people and give them the practical tools to lead themselves.

18. Hire people who care about the mission.

19. Have a mission.

20. Provide the opportunity for mastery.

21. Hire slow and fire fast and you’ll fire FAR fewer people and gain the respect of those that can see what needs to happen and have suffered that person enough.

22. What appears at first to be incompetence is often a lack of necessary resources, freedom and support.

23. Don’t save people when they are thinking to respond give them more time.

24. Give questions not answers.

25. Be clear about how much time you have and encourage them to do the same.

26. Decide and define how you’d like to be led and hate to be led and start there.

27. Decide on some performance measures and start refining from there.

28. Energy is contagious, check what you’re spreading.

The reality of leadership is that you’re in charge of and in control of far less than you think.

What would you add to this list or take from this list?