What is the most powerful behavior in the leader’s toolbox?

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StrategyDriven Management and Leadership Article |Leadership Behavior|What is the most powerful behavior in the leader’s toolbox?Why is it that some people who appear ready, willing and apparently able for promotion into positions of leadership either fail outright, woefully underperform, or at the very least never come close to reaching full potential? I’ve seen individuals from diverse industries and cultures who are extremely proficient as individual contributors, for example, get promoted to lead small teams and, despite great promise, simply fail to deliver. It’s much more common than one would imagine. Why is this the case?

In my experience, study and research of the topic over the past thirty-five years, one common theme emerges – many of these leaders do not lead with care and compassion. This is not to say that these leaders as individuals are uncaring. However, their focus, attention and energy are weighted too heavily in other areas of the business and not in developing relationships with their employees. For example, I’ve seen leaders struggle because they spend inordinate amounts of time focusing on results rather than their vitally important role in achieving those results.

The goal for every organization is, of course, mission accomplishment. While there are many roads to get there, leaders who have good working relationships with their employees get there with less drama, staff turnover, lower cost in labor and material, among other metrics, compared with leaders who lack these relationships. [1] Higher trust translates into higher performing team. In other words, the fastest, most efficient path to mission accomplishment is through trust.

How does a leader earn trust? Leaders, researchers and thought leaders generally agree that there are three essential behaviors. The first is technical competence. People are more likely to trust a leader whom they believe has the technical know-how and experience to make good decisions. The second is consistency. A leader must do what they say they will do, follow through on commitments and keep their promises. The last behavior is care and compassion. The leader needs to build relationships with their team members and show that they care for their well-being. Competency, consistency and caring – all three are important behaviors in earning trust. However, of the three, showing care and compassion is the most powerful and fastest way to earn trust.

In fact, leading with care and compassion is extremely powerful. I’ve seen people successfully lead teams where the leader was not technically proficient in the area of work. For example, I’ve seen Navy non-commissioned officers whose expertise was aircraft maintenance successfully lead medical teams. While these leaders were certainly not rendering care to patients – they weren’t proficient in that area – they were rendering care to the relationships they had with their Sailors. They understood the importance of building those relationships and focused their time and attention accordingly. These leaders excelled at listening to their Sailor’s concerns, showing empathy and ensuring that every single Sailor was able to feel engaged, fulfilled, supported, and recognized. In the end, they were leaders who people not only wanted to follow, but loved to follow.

My choice of the word ‘love’ is a deliberate one, and an accurate one. Fascinating research has recently shown that when a team member feels care and compassion from their leader, profound changes occur at the neurotransmitter level within the team member’s body. In fact, their level of oxytocin increases significantly. Oxytocin is a molecule also known as the “love hormone” – its release from the brain is triggered by social bonding. Oxytocin levels increase when two people hug, for example. Researchers have shown that when leaders lead with care and compassion through positive social interactions, oxytocin levels increase among team members, along with engagement, joy, and overall performance.[2] When people say they love working for their leader, they literally do love working for their leader.

When followers trust their leader, the path to mission accomplishment is much easier to traverse. The most powerful behavior in the leader’s toolbox to earn that trust is care and compassion. Show your people that you care for their well-being and they’ll consistently deliver.

[1] Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin, The Great Workplace, (San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass, 2011)
[2] Paul Zak, Trust Factor, (New York: American Management Association, 2017)

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Mark BroukerMark E. Brouker, Captain, United States Navy (retired), Pharm.D., MBA, FACHE, BCPS, is founder of Brouker Leadership Solutions, and author of the forthcoming book Lessons From The Navy: How To Earn Trust, Lead Teams, And Achieve Organizational Excellence. For more information visit http://www.broukerleadershipsolutions.com/.

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Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval Academy – Staying Informed of Current Events

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StrategyDriven Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval Academy ArticleOrganizations operate within the context of their environment; the military being no different than civilian businesses. During their plebe (freshman) year at the United States Naval Academy, midshipmen are required to read two news and one sports page article each day in order to remain up-to-date on those current events impacting our nation and its military. Plebes are tested on their news selections and overall knowledge by upper classmen to ensure they are both conversant and understand the importance of the newsworthy events. Thus, plebes have impressed upon them the value of remaining aware of current events.[wcm_restrict plans=”25541, 25542, 25653″]

A similar lesson is equally important in the business world. Organizations necessarily adapt to ever evolving market conditions; influencing the ultimate success of the business. Consequently, professionals seeking to be a positive participant in recognizing and implementing needed change must remain aware of their organization’s environmental surroundings including general market occurrences and economic forces, domestic and international industry events, and company news. Such awareness need not require long periods of time spent reading, listening, or watching news reports but rather can be gained by reviewing the headlines and summaries of broad based news reports and the in-depth narrative of a few carefully selected high-impact items. In total, the combined review should take between 15 – 30 minutes daily and be a part of a professional’s morning routine.

Unlike in days of old when the primary sources of information were print media, radio, and television, news aggregators such as feedly provide an easy way to gather large quantities of topic-specific news headlines and summaries in one place with direct links to more detailed information. (No, we don’t get a kick-back from recommending feedly, we just like it for its accuracy and availability via web browsers and mobile apps.) When available, industry-centric newsletters such as Nuclear Executive Briefing provide aggregated news to one’s email inbox. (Yes, StrategyDriven is an Executive Briefing corporate sponsor. No, we don’t get a kick-back for your subscribing… it’s a free publication.)

Final Thought…

In addition to enhancing one’s overall organizational value, environmentally aware professionals will find they can more easily relate to and communicate with superiors who themselves tend to be knowledgeable of these topics. (This naturally occurs because an individual’s role becomes more strategic as he/she rises within an organization.) Consequently, professionals who remain aware of and understand marketplace, industry, and company events more easily interface with individuals holding higher organizational positions. Such connections lead to higher visibility and memorability among organization leaders thereby qualitatively enhancing one’s career beyond the quantitative benefits of more readily recognizing and supporting needed change.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”25541, 25542, 25653″]

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is a StrategyDriven Principal and Class of 1992 graduate from the United States Naval Academy. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval Academy – Providing Effective Performance Feedback

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StrategyDriven Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval AcademyMidshipman receive feedback numerous times a day during almost every activity in which they are involved. This feedback is intended to strengthen their performance and character; preparing them for the extreme challenges of leadership in combat and other high-risk situations.

While most business professionals will not have to deal with the type of high-risk situations faced by military personnel, the proper use of feedback is invaluable in shaping personnel behaviors. Provided correctly, feedback engages and motivates employees to meet and exceed established standards of performance. Provided inappropriately, feedback isolates and frustrates employees resulting in diminished performance and undesired attrition.

How to Properly Provide Feedback

Effective feedback is provided as soon as possible after the performance was observed. Feedback itself can be positive and reinforcing or constructively correction of an undesired behavior. In this respect, feedback should follow the principle of praising in public and punishing in private.

When providing the feedback, it is often best to engage the individual in a one-on-one setting. The individual providing the feedback should first seek to understand why the person observed performed as he/she did. Next, help the individual correlate his/her behavior with established standards and procedures; identifying performance gaps and enumerating the appropriate behaviors. Finally, the feedback concludes within the individual observed devising a plan to ensure the desired behaviors occur in the future.

Steps to effectively provide feedback include:

1. Establish a non-hostile, private environment within which to provide the feedback.
2. Determine the individual’s openness to receiving feedback often done with a question or, in the case of necessary feedback (required performance correction), a statement offering feedback without the question of openness.
3. Ask the individual to recap their perception of the exhibited performance
4. Ask the individual how others might have perceived their behavior
5. Ask the individual how their performance was aligned with organizational standards and procedures

If the person has not recognized the deviations between others’ perceptions and/or management standards and procedures, present these facts to him/her along with the identified gaps.

6. Confirm the individual’s understanding of the performance facts and gaps.
7. Ask the individual what he/she might have done differently to prevent the gaps from occurring. Provide coaching if the individual does not identify all appropriate items within a reasonable timeframe.
8. Ask the individual to propose how he/she might perform differently in the future so to ensure expectations are met. Provide additional coaching should the individual not adequately address all performance improvement needs.
9. Establish a time for future observation to review progress made by the individual.

Note that these steps engage the individual in his or her own personal development. This engagement heightens the individual ownership and accountability for his/her behavior and performance improvement. It also clarifies expectations, establishes goals, and creates a timeframe bounding the performance improvement need thereby making the feedback SMART. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)

The positive engagement and non-hostile atmosphere created when using this feedback method further reinforces the leader’s interest in the individual’s performance improvement and reduces the perception that the feedback is punitive in nature.

Final Thought…

Feedback differs from correction and disciplinary action in that it seeks to engage an individual in improving his/her behaviors and overall performance. Feedback is focused on non-punitive continuous performance improvement whereas correction and disciplinary action are increasingly punitive and address more serious breaches of performance standards that risk personnel or equipment safety, organizational viability, and/or legal infractions.

While organizational policies commonly guide the provision of feedback, correction and disciplinary action may also be governed by contracts and regulatory statues. It is important for all leaders to understand and abide by these guidelines when providing feedback, correction, or disciplinary action.

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About the Author

is a StrategyDriven Principal and Class of 1992 graduate from the United States Naval Academy. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval Academy – Don’t Bilge Your Teammates

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StrategyDriven Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval AcademyBilge (n): nonsense; worthless and vain matter
Bilge (v): to damage, to fail or expel a student

Dictionary.com

Effective teamwork demands that each team member value and respect the others with whom they are working. Nothing diminishes this more than when one team member openly attacks or in some way seeks to diminish the value and respect of another.[wcm_restrict plans=”25541, 25542, 25653″]

Bilging your teammate

How do people bilge their teammates? Bilging takes place in several forms and fashions some of which include:

  • publically airing out the shortcoming of a teammate
  • blaming others for team shortfalls
  • one upping a teammate publicly
  • taking credit for the actions of others
  • being a tattle tale especially if unsolicited

The team is only as strong as its weakest link

A team’s performance can only be as good as its lowest performing member. While one might feel some justification or gain a sense of personal importance by putting others down, the act itself only serves to disenfranchise the targeted individuals; diminishing their performance and risking the same of other team members who now fear that they will be subject to similar putdowns.

Be a leader

Teams succeed when team members value and respect each other. Value and respect is gained not by covering up for an individual’s shortcomings but by constructively helping them to recognize and overcome these challenges. As their performance improves, so too does that of the team. The weakest link is strengthened.

Not bilging a teammate is about being a team player and owning the team’s results as though they were your own. By coaching instead of bilging, you forfeit a momentary sense of personal satisfaction, importance, or superiority and instead embraces team-centric accountability that serves to strengthen the team and enhance its performance.

Final Thought…

Every team has stronger and weaker members. Regardless, all team members should help their teammates improve their performance using the appropriate feedback mechanisms that include the private, constructive correction of undesired behaviors as well as the public, positive reinforcement of desired behaviors.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”25541, 25542, 25653″]

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About the Author

is a StrategyDriven Principal and Class of 1992 graduate from the United States Naval Academy. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.