Having Teeth As A Leader

Ahoy again, leadership legends. Welcome back to Episode Two of the team buffalo leadership podcast. I'm Travis Thomas for those who don't know me, and today, I'm going to take you into our next topic, which is around weak leadership, creating weak results. Now, I don't mean weak as in not strong can't handle it, but weak as in not ready or willing to jump into the chaos, the fray the difficult things when we need to. So I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about what that looks like, what you can do about it, and how you can make sure that you're not in that bucket of leader, that just isn't really willing or able to dive into the stuff that makes a difference in the results and trajectory and where you're trying to go. Now one of the great joys I have of having been in this industry for more than half of my working life, well over a decade, is I've seen, that all the leadership puff pieces, and all the different principles and theories never really quite take you into the difficult thing. The difficult thing isn't generating hype, it isn't galvanizing people around a random vision that doesn't really translate into their work. It's around a few key elements that I believe and have seen make a huge difference to the trajectory of someone's leadership, their outcomes, and invariably their career. So for you, there's a couple of questions, I'll give you that will help you unpack, you know, am I doing this as well as I could be? Am I leaning into the difficult shit? Or am I avoiding it? Because it's too difficult? Some questions first for you are, do you do the hard thing? Not the easy one, you know, if an opportunity comes up to address something, to deal with an issue to nip it in the bud right then and there? Do you do what's easy? And just let it go away? And hope you never see it again? Or do you do the hard thing, lean into it, address it there and get the outcome? The second is, Are you clear on your strategy and where you're trying to go? If you are not clear, and you're just stuck in the daily operating cycle, which is a whole other topic for another episode, you run the risk of getting to the end of this and going "What the hell happened"? I'm so far off track every year, I feel like I'm not achieving what the hell is going on. Without that clarity. And the intent being communicated out you're just not going to get there. Now next is about you. Do you believe in yourself at a deep level enough that you go you know, when this shit gets hard? When everything around me is difficult, when the only thing I see around me is my own damn shadow: Do I still believe in my ability? Do I still believe in where I'm trying to go that strategy and sticking through the hard things? Now next is Do you understand and value the stakeholders? The people around you? Do you understand what motivates them where they're trying to go and how you got to get them onside to where you need to go? And then last is do you have the teeth to get the job done? Are you willing to jump into it and have those street fights that you don't really need to have all that often, but when they come up, if you don't address them, you will lose? At some point in every leader's career, you have to tackle those things. You can't avoid these things and be successful, you'll lead a leadership life of mediocrity, and people will know that that will become your reputation. They're fair-weather leaders, when stuff is easy, they're fine. When stuff is hard, you can't find them, they just disappear. Now, a lack of ability to lean into these things, and address them and do the hard things and get clear and do the work will manifest itself in a few different ways. You know, they'll be avoidance, outright avoidance of people raising the important stuff because they won't feel like you have the teeth or the stomach to deal with it. You don't have the teeth to go Yeah, I'm gonna bite this and get stuck into it and go after what the issue is. And the stomach will be "oh they just can't deal with the stress of it. They're just not up to the task". Then another symptom is gossip, people start rumors and conversations about the shit that never gets solved here. And the fact that the leader really doesn't lead they're just kind of in the chair. And that turns into dissent. And you know, people kind of not really being onside, but not outright saying they're not. And then eventually, if you don't address that becomes outright refusal. People just aren't going to do the shit you want them to do that they don't feel like doing. So that's not great right? Look at all that and go: "That's not really where I hope my career gets to". And you'd be right that isn't the aim. The aim is to have some level of control and mastery and satisfaction from the thing you're doing as a leader.
So what are some ways you can take back control. What are some of the ways we can go? You know what, Travis shit up to this point, some of the things that have been hard, I've avoided a little bit I've danced around them, you know, maybe my reputation isn't 100% maybe it's not bad. And you're at that inflection point where you're just like, I don't know, am I really up to the task? Now there's a few tips I want to give you to really get stuck into that. The first is to remind those around you that you're not afraid to step into the difficult things to get into the arena, and have those hard conversations. Is someone in another division f@cking with your team? Well, guess what you're gonna show up and deal with that? Is there someone on the team who isn't carrying their weight, and the whole team knows it, and they are kind of waiting for you to do something about it. And guess what, you haven't done anything yet. And they go, Well, you know, everyone else before hasn't really dealt with Bob, Bob's not pulling his weight, what's going to make this person different? No, you're not going to shy away from that, instead, you're going to step in and deal with that conversation. It's just what's required, it has to be that way. Then the second tip, after reminding others around you that you're willing to jump in, is to make others aware that you will fight for what you and the team deeply believe in. Remember, I talked about being clear on your strategy and knowing where you want to go, you have to be clear on where you're trying to go. And from that, you then have to defend that position. Obviously, things change, sometimes your position needs to change or your view needs to change, new evidence comes out, that's fine. We're not talking about the exceptions, we're talking about the rule that you have to go after the things that matter if your team has a particular agenda, or particular value set, protect that show them that you're willing to step into that. And you will push out people who do not subscribe to that, because it's just not going to happen that way under your watch. And then third, is to use positional power when you have to, you're the damn leader, you have a job and a title that sets you apart from others. Now, I'm not saying walk around with a name badge that says General Manager of X or Department Head of Y no one gives a shit about that for the namesake. But what I want you to be prepared to do is to use that power when you have to, there's a reason that the lowest standard in any organization is whatever the leader will tolerate. If you do not use that power to formally exercise and create change, then it's never going to change, it just becomes the standard. That's the standard you accept. Now, you have to be willing to go: You know what, I've tried persuasion. I've tried having the hard conversations, but at this stage, if you do not do the thing we're talking about, this is a performance management issue, and I'm going to pursue it with you because you're not up to the task. It has to be that way there isn't an alternative. So I want you to think about just for a moment, the stuff we've talked about the opportunities, you've had to really, maybe have some tricky conversations and have avoided them or the times where you haven't really taken the time to assess if you're fighting the right battles. way to think about if you're doing that well and if not, what can you commit to? What can you walk away today and go You know what, I'm gonna get stuck into this. Listen to this weird guy on a podcast talking about, you know, the responsibility I have and owning this stuff. What are you going to do about it? You're gonna own it, you're gonna lean into it? Are you gonna take it and run with it? Or is it just gonna be another nice thought that kind of disappears into all the theory and articles and everything else we all enjoy. But don't always apply. If you want to share with me knowing what you know now, what you've chosen to apply or think will be useful going forward, you can check me out on our socials, Instagram, Linked In, YouTube, or you can drop us an email at admin@teambuffalo.co. I look forward to hearing from you and how you're going out and kicking ass. I look forward to seeing you at the next episode. Thanks