Heads up. This week’s newsletter is going to be a little different than you’re used to.

I’m still going to share my thoughts on developing your people so your business can grow. But you’re also going to see a bunch of pictures of our sheep.

Because apparently, I can’t watch these creatures without thinking about leadership lessons I want to share with you.

I’ll start with the back story.

Last week I was standing in our pasture making sure our sheep had water because it was like 104 or 105F.

That was the real temperature. I don’t know what the “feels like” temperature was but I didn’t need a jacket. It was not chilly.

And when it’s that hot, one of the most valuable resources for a sheep is water.

So I ran down there in the middle of the day between meetings to top off their water tank.

Here’s what I saw.

That’s Jane and Charlotte in the back. Georgiana, the queen bee of the flock, is facing the camera. And Kitty’s lying down in the front.

It takes a while for the water that’s scalding hot because it’s been baking in the 300 feet of hose strung across the pasture between the hydrant and the tank to cool off.

So I had some time to think.

I started comparing the sheep scene in front of me to our work environments.

That water tank reminded me of various resources that are valuable to the people on our teams.

High-visibility projects, meaningful work assignments, career-building relationships, and opportunities to be in the spotlight came to mind.

The employees entrusted to our care need these things to thrive and flourish.

Similarly, this water tank was exactly what these four big, wooly Valais Blacknose ewes needed.

Based on this picture, you might assume that Kiersten and I had provided for our sheep and they were well cared for.

I’m confident you make every effort to do the same for your team members. You’ve likely given them the resources they need to be successful in their work.

A reasonable assumption is that all is well, right?

Our sheep are good. Your people are good.

All is well, right?

I can’t speak for you, but that wasn’t the case for our sheep.

These four ladies were just fine. But we didn’t have just four VBNs in this pasture.

We had eleven other sheep in there too.

Including Martin.

The little guy in the back.

For much of my career, I was rewarded for being good at work I wasn’t really built to do.

But it took me a long time to realize this.

I was an engineer and a project manager. And I was good at details.

I could take a complicated project, organize it, keep track of everything that needed to happen, and drive it all the way to completion.

So people kept giving me more opportunities to do exactly that.

It made perfect sense.

If Greg is good at getting complicated projects across the finish line, give the next complicated project to Greg.

There’s just one problem.

Being good at something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the work you should keep doing.

I didn’t fully understand this until much later in my career.

The work that energized me most wasn’t managing all those details. It was leading teams, coaching people, and helping them develop.

I’ve realized since then how easy it is for leaders to make the same mistake with our best people.

We find the person we can count on.

When a customer has a problem, we give it to Susan because Susan will take care of it.

When a project gets into trouble, we call Carlos because Carlos will get it back on track.

When something absolutely has to get done by Friday, we know exactly who to ask.

And because they’re good at it, we keep giving them more.

Eventually, we’ve built their job around what they’ve proven they can do.

But have we ever stopped to ask if that’s what they want?

That’s one reason I encourage leaders to create an Individual Development Plan with each person on their team.

It starts with questions about the person’s career interests, goals, and aspirations. Then we look at the strengths they can leverage, where they need to develop, and the experiences that will help them get there.

Notice I said experiences.

Development doesn’t have to mean sending them to a class.

Sometimes the best development opportunity is simply giving someone a chance to do something they haven’t done before.

I talked about an example of this recently with Michael Morrison on his Small Business Pivots podcast.

Years ago, I worked with a young engineer who started with us as an intern.

I didn’t hand him a major leadership responsibility and hope for the best.

I gave him opportunities to present his work.

Then opportunities to take on more responsibility.

Eventually, I put him in charge of a group of interns. He could assign their work and lead them, while I retained responsibility for things like their performance reviews.

It gave him a chance to lead without putting him, the interns, or the business at unnecessary risk.

And it gave me a chance to see what he could do.

Over time, those opportunities got bigger. And so did his impact on our business.

He became one of the top leaders in our business unit.

That’s what developing people can look like.

Not simply giving your reliable people more.

Giving them opportunities that help them grow.

So think about the person on your team you trust the most.

What work do you automatically send their way because you know they’ll handle it?

Then ask yourself a different question:

Is that work helping them become who they want to become?

If you don’t know the answer, that might be a great conversation to have this week.

Michael and I talked about this and quite a bit more during our conversation on Small Business Pivots.

You can listen to ​my conversation with Michael Morrison on Apple Podcasts​ or on whatever platform you prefer.

Or you can ​watch us on YouTube

Helping you lead with clarity and confidence,

Greg

P.S. If you want to get better at developing the people on your team, I’d love to share what I’ve learned. I’ve dedicated time on my calendar to help leaders just like you through a complimentary coaching call. Grab a time using this scheduling link and let’s talk.

I’m a big fan of process and structure. They’ve helped me lead some incredibly complex projects over the years.

But one project taught me that even a good process can create a blind spot if we’re not careful.

Here’s the story behind one of the many leadership scars I’ve collected over the years.

I was leading the development of an entirely new family of HVAC products. The program touched engineering, manufacturing, procurement, product management, quality, and nearly every other discipline in the business.

Needless to say, it was a highly complex effort involving many interrelated projects and a lot of people.

To make sure every department had a voice, we created a simple roster for each project team.

One column listed the function.

The next listed the person representing that function.

For example:

Product Management: Tom G.

Design Engineering: Rob E.

Procurement: Craig S.

You get the idea.

Compared to previous projects, this was a significant improvement. Instead of wondering whether the right departments were represented, we had a clear process that ensured they were.

Our meetings were productive. We debated product features, cost targets, manufacturability, schedules, and countless design decisions. Those conversations were often lively because each department brought a different perspective to the discussion.

I believed we were making solid decisions because we had the right people in the room.

Or so I thought.

One row in the spreadsheet simply said:

Manufacturing

Next to it was the name of one of the most experienced manufacturing engineers in the company. I’ll call him Tony.

Tony wasn’t just an outstanding engineer.

He was also a great teammate.

He listened well, contributed thoughtfully, and wasn’t afraid to speak up when he disagreed. I trusted his judgment completely.

So when we reached the formal design review, I fully expected the manufacturing organization to sign off without hesitation.

Instead, the operations leader at the plant started asking thoughtful questions about how the product would actually be assembled.

He pointed out ergonomic concerns for the people who would spend eight to twelve hours each day building these units.

Then he asked me a question I’ll never forget.

“Who from manufacturing was involved in making these design decisions?”

I answered confidently.

“Tony.”

He smiled and said something that immediately exposed the flaw in my thinking.

“Tony’s a manufacturing engineer. He’s exactly the right person for tooling decisions.

But he isn’t the right person to represent operations.”

That sentence stopped me cold.

Until that moment, I thought I had invited manufacturing into the conversation.

I hadn’t.

I’d invited one perspective from manufacturing.

The immediate fix was obvious.

Our roster no longer needed one row labeled Manufacturing.

It needed two.

Manufacturing Engineering

Operations

Thankfully, we caught the problem early enough that the cross-functional team was able to improve the product before it reached production. We addressed the assembly and ergonomic concerns before they became expensive problems.

It was a near miss.

Looking back, though, I learned something even more valuable than how to improve my spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet wasn’t actually the problem.

My thinking was.

The roster had become a shortcut.

Once I saw “Manufacturing” checked off, I stopped asking whether I truly had the right perspective represented in the room.

I assumed the process had already answered that question for me.

That’s a dangerous assumption for any leader.

Over the years, I’ve wondered how often we confuse roles with people.

We invite Sales.

We invite Finance.

We invite HR.

We invite Operations.

But organizational charts don’t attend meetings.

People do.

Two people with the same title can bring very different experiences, strengths, relationships, and ways of thinking.

Checking the right box on the roster doesn’t necessarily mean you have the right perspective in the room.

That’s one reason I encourage leaders to think intentionally about every important meeting.

Ask yourself:

• Why are we meeting?
• Which perspectives need to be represented?
• Which specific people will contribute the thinking this conversation requires?

Those questions have helped me avoid repeating the mistake I made years ago.

Maybe they’ll help you too.

Perhaps you’ve implemented systems and processes that have dramatically improved how your business operates. That’s something to celebrate.

But every process has blind spots if we stop thinking critically about the people inside it.

Good processes reduce chaos.

Great leaders never let those processes replace discernment.

I hope my story encourages you to look at your own meetings, your own systems, and your own decision-making with fresh eyes.

Another way to gain clarity as a leader is through my Leadership Clarity Scorecard. It’s a free assessment designed to help you recognize where you and your team are strong and identify areas that may deserve more attention.

If you haven’t taken it yet, click here to learn more.

Helping you lead with clarity and confidence,

Greg

I should have known better.

It only took a couple of minutes of crying over my favorite clamps, which were now pitted with rust and corrosion, to realize what I’d done.

I’d put them in an environment that was going to destroy them. Not on purpose of course. But that’s what I did.

This got me thinking about how we can do the same thing to the people in our businesses if we’re not paying attention.

I’ll tell you why my previously awesome clamps look the way they do in a minute, but I’ll start with the leadership lesson I’m drawing from this goof I made.

I’m doing my best to make lemonade out of lemons here, folks. I really liked these clamps.

Here’s the question I asked myself:

How many times have I inadvertently put a team member in a situation that would hurt them?

I don’t mean I asked them to do something physically unsafe like remove a guard from a machine on the production line.

I’m thinking about giving them a work assignment that ate away at their energy level and their mental wellbeing over time. They were fine at first. Just like my clamps.

Then one sign that they weren’t doing well appeared, as did the first pit on the slider of my clamp. But I wasn’t checking in on them, so I didn’t see it.

Then another indicator that all was not well emerged and I missed it too.

Over time, they began to deteriorate, even though they were doing their job just as well as when they had started. Again, just like my clamps.

But they weren’t in the same condition as when they started the work and they certainly weren’t ready to begin a new assignment at the level of performance they were capable of.

They had been damaged because of the environment they were in.

I’ve seen this happen too many times. Sometimes I’ve been to blame, and sometimes other leaders are at fault.

It’s almost never malicious. But that doesn’t change the reality of the negative impact on the people.

Damaging environments can be the result of many different things.

A toxic culture that disregards the human aspect of work.

A project with unreasonable and unattainable expectations.

An employee whose unacceptable behavior should have been addressed years ago.

Leaders don’t mean to put their people into situations that will harm them, but it still happens.

So what can we do to avoid being that unaware leader?

Here’s what I should have done with my clamps and I think these tips apply to the people we lead too.

• Know how each person is designed.

I should have thought more about how the clamp was designed and the impact of using it as I did. For our team members, are they built to do the work we’re asking them to do in the environment we’re putting them in?

• Pay close attention to the environment.

I couldn’t see what was there, but, looking back, I should have known. For our team members, what factors are obvious and what’s going on below the surface? Some dynamics take more time to understand.

• Check in before there’s a problem.

I should have checked the condition of my clamps more often. They were doing the job I had assigned them to do. Out of sight. Out of mind. I had no idea their condition was steadily declining and they’d never be the same. Check in with your people regularly. Great performance isn’t necessarily a sign of a healthy employee.

Those are my leadership lessons I took away from my tragic clamp experience.

I expect many more come to mind for you. I’d love to hear them if you’re willing to share. Just hit reply and let me know what’s on your mind.

If you’re interested in the details of what caused the demise of my beloved clamps, I think the picture below will help you understand what happened.

A few months back, when it was 200 degrees below zero during lambing season, Kiersten and I were driving to the barn about every 90 minutes (not exaggerating). These two newbie shepherds didn’t want to lose any of our sheep mamas or our lambs and we were nervous. And that’s a huge understatement.

So, I went to T-mobile and bought a home (barn) internet device that connects to the cell tower that’s spitting distance from the barn.

We already had two Wi-Fi cameras that we used to watch the doggos steal food off the kitchen counter while we were gone.

I connected them up with no issues. Then I rummaged around the scrap wood pile, mounted the cameras on some pieces of old siding, and clamped them to the barn rafters.

With my favorite Dewalt clamps…

Because they were right there and they got the job done.

Did I think about what was directly below the clamps and what those sheep were whizzing into the straw and filling the air with a gazillion times every day and night?

No. No I did not.

But I did the other night when I was on the ladder moving the cameras.

Sheep pee and woodworking tools are not a good combination.

Neither are good people and the wrong environment.

Helping you lead with clarity and confidence,

Greg

As Sid and I wrapped up our discussion, it was clear that he now saw the pattern that had been holding his teams back for years.

He was a guy with all kinds of ideas and a “bias for action.” And when he was an individual contributor, that served him well. Most of the time anyway.

He would have an idea about how to solve a problem and he would go do it. Immediately.

He didn’t waste time getting input from others or analyzing multiple options. His ideas were usually pretty good, and he built a reputation as a guy who would “run through walls” to get his projects done.

But as he moved his way up the org chart, he became a manager. First, he had just a few direct reports. They were good at listening to his ideas, and they did their best to turn what he had in his mind into reality.

Sid didn’t mind watching over their work and correcting them as they went along. He made sure they did it exactly like he wanted them to. He loved getting down in the weeds with his small team and guiding them through all the details as they implemented his ideas.

When I asked him whether his team members liked having him that involved, he looked at me like he’d never considered that question.

At that point in his career, that wasn’t really a concern to him. All that really mattered was that his idea was implemented just like he envisioned it.

He taught his team that they needed to take action. When he gave them an idea, he wanted it implemented. Right. Now.

He communicated his expectations clearly so everyone knew them.

They knew something else too. Frustration was building within his team.

Everyone saw it. Except Sid.

As he moved up the ladder, the number of people in his organization grew. And so did their frustration.

Because now when he shared one of his ideas, it came from the big boss. The guy who was one, two, or three levels up.

When he was with people in the cafeteria talking about how he would handle a problem, his idea was no longer one of many options to consider. It was now THE solution.

That’s not what Sid intended, but that’s what happened.

And, because that idea came from the man who expected immediate action, the people on his team who heard his ideas knew they had better get busy.

So, his ideas were implemented quickly.

Sort of.

It’s more accurate to say that people’s interpretations of what he mentioned in passing were implemented.

What was actually done rarely matched what Sid had in his mind.

How did those who took immediate action after listening to him discover this disconnect in communication?

He told them.

Sid would explain why their work wasn’t what he wanted and how he would have done it differently.

As you can imagine, he was frustrated and annoyed. But not nearly as much as the people who reported to him.

Unfortunately, scenarios like this happened regularly. Turnover was up and engagement was down.

I suspect that you’re reading this story and it’s obvious to you why things were so bad. You likely have a long list of the things Sid did wrong and how he could improve as a leader.

But let’s be fair. We’re on the outside looking in and it’s so much easier to see gaps in someone else’s behaviors than it is our own.

I know I’ve made leadership errors as bad as Sid’s and others that were even worse.

But his heart was in the right place, and he wanted to improve because he knew he had a problem. That’s why he hired me.

Through our work, he was able to see that his natural tendency to take action immediately was a big contributor to the dysfunction within his organization.

The behaviors that made him so successful were now holding him back.

This can happen to all of us if we’re not careful.

Great leadership isn’t about collecting more advice. It’s about knowing which advice fits. And, more importantly, which doesn’t.

And there’s a trap I see leaders like Sid fall into over and over again.

And, sadly, I constantly hear well-meaning authors and speakers saying things that are pushing leaders like him directly into that trap.

In fact, I heard it again yesterday on a podcast I was listening to as I was watering the sheep at the barn.

The host and the guest were talking about how important it is for leaders to act without hesitation. “Those who are successful are those with a bias for action,” they said.

That’s good advice for a lot of leaders. But not for everyone.

Some leaders, like me, tend to overanalyze decisions and take too long to get started. Personally, a reminder to just make a decision and do something is good for me to hear.

That isn’t the case for leaders like Sid.

He was taking plenty of action. Too much, in fact. And he was acting too quickly.

He improved as a leader when he slowed down. He became a better leader, and his team performed better.

When he began to ask others to critique an idea he shared before he told them to go do it, they avoided wasted time and effort.

Many times they would realize during the evaluation process that they shouldn’t go ahead with what at first seemed like a good idea. Previously, they wouldn’t have discovered this until they had invested precious time, money, and energy in something that was not good for the business.

And the overall morale of the people on Sid’s team improved as well.

You know how discouraging it is to have to go back and rethink decisions after you’re in the implementation phase of a project. You may have also experienced having a project completely stopped after you’ve invested your heart and soul in it. You know the kick-in-the-gut feeling that brings.

Once Sid began involving his team in the analysis of his ideas instead of pushing them to act immediately, things like this didn’t happen nearly as often. Their workflow wasn’t always perfect, but it improved a lot.

That’s Sid’s story, and I share it so you can be thoughtful and intentional about how you apply the advice that leaders should have a bias for action.

Do you need to stop overthinking, stop overanalyzing, and finally move on the idea you’ve been considering for your business? As the saying goes, is it time to get off the pot?

Or do you need to remember that taking quick action is something you already do naturally and you can be even better as a leader when you invite others who are wired differently than you are to help you pause and evaluate your ideas before acting?

The right answer depends on you.

Not what someone said on a podcast or wrote in a book.

Self-awareness matters more than popular advice.

I’m curious about your view on the bias for action advice and would love to hear what you think. Reply to this email and let me know. I read every one myself, and reply to as many as I can.

And, if you’d like to talk through things like I did with Sid, let me know. Here’s my scheduling link to have a free 45-minute coaching session to get us started.

Helping you lead with clarity and confidence,

Greg

“I didn’t realize I was doing all of this.”

Those were the words of a woman I was coaching a while back. I’ll call her Marie.

Marie and I were talking because she felt stuck and wasn’t sure what to do. She was looking for another perspective. So she called me.

She was overwhelmed and feeling like she was starting to burn out. Sadly, Marie used to truly enjoy her job, but that was no longer the case.

She was still doing outstanding work, but she now dreaded coming to work.

Marie felt like she was always behind and it was impossible for her to ever catch up.

I could see the deep discouragement on her face and hear it in her voice as she talked about wanting to get even a little bit of her time back. She would have been thrilled to find a way to reduce her workload by a few hours each week. But she was at the point where she would have been happy with recovering just a few minutes because she was missing out on what she enjoyed doing away from work.

Marie loved her dog, Frank. And she hated coming home to him later and later each night. And with less and less energy to play with him.

The job that once brought her fulfillment was now draining her of all her energy.

It wasn’t a good situation for Marie. Or for Frank.

Maybe you’ve been where Marie was. I know I have.

And to be honest, it sucks.

Thankfully Marie didn’t stay stuck where she was.

And if you’re also feeling like your work task list is starting to dominate your life, you don’t have to stay in the situation you’re in either. There’s hope.

Here’s the first step I had Marie take to start regaining control of her time and energy so she could enjoy her life again. And so could Frank.

I simply asked her to write down all the tasks she was doing.

You might be tempted to think that such a basic activity couldn’t possibly help fix such a painful problem.

Marie was skeptical at first too.

But she did it anyway.

And that’s when she said:

“I didn’t realize I was doing all of this.”

Up until that point, she hadn’t paused long enough to think about where she was spending her time. And she certainly hadn’t slowed down to ponder how she ended up in this difficult situation.

When I asked her to explain what she was feeling, Marie said she was surprised by how much she was doing. That encouraged her.

But she also felt like everyone was taking her time by asking her to do things for them.

Through our conversation, she concluded that part of her interpretation was correct.

People were asking her to do things.

And why wouldn’t they?

She was incredibly talented, and she consistently delivered excellent results.

So it was natural for people throughout the business to come to Marie with requests.

But as we talked about these interactions with her coworkers, Marie began to realize her perspective wasn’t completely accurate.

Other people weren’t taking her time. She was giving it to them.

Writing down her work and talking through it helped her realize this.

When she saw the list, right there in black and white, of all the tasks that were consuming her time, she recognized several things.

One observation was that many of them weren’t in her job description. Another was that there were projects on her list that she’d never discussed with her supervisor or analyzed to confirm that they were valuable investments of her time.

Then there was a set of activities that stood out to Marie and really bothered her.

Those were things that she never should have said yes to.

But she did. Because that’s the kind of person Marie is. She likes to help people. And when she can do something for someone else, she likes to do it.

As we talked, she admitted that her tendency to always say yes was harming her. She was feeling it mentally and physically.

As Marie and I dug deeper into the list of activities that were draining her energy, she had another realization.

She recognized that her over-helpfulness was harming other people too.

She pointed out how some of the tasks she took on were the responsibilities of other coworkers. She wasn’t doing them occasionally to help out another team member when they were in a bind. That’s how it started. But now she was doing these tasks for them all the time.

Marie was doing work that they were being paid to do!

This led her to make two decisions.

First, she needed to stop consistently doing work that someone else was responsible for. This was an integrity issue for Marie.

Second, she wasn’t going to just stop helping them and leave her coworkers to figure things out. She knew this wouldn’t be good for her teammate or the business. And Marie recognized that she may be partially responsible for creating this relationship because she may not have set and communicated clear boundaries with those she was now supporting too much.

So she put together a plan to talk openly and honestly with each person who should be owning a task that was currently on her list.

Some of those conversations were easier than others.

Many of her coworkers agreed with Marie and eagerly took back the work they had unintentionally let fall to her.

Some were frustrated, not at Marie but because their own task lists were already causing them to feel overloaded. Marie was quick to share the same technique that was helping her manage her overwhelming situation.

And a few coworkers who didn’t share Marie’s integrity and character did their best to talk her into continuing to do the work that they should be doing.

Marie didn’t budge.

The effort she put into documenting her tasks gave her the courage to stand strong. She wasn’t willing to continue to do work that wasn’t hers to do.

Marie had become convinced that being competent and having a strong desire to serve others did not mean that she had to be pushing herself to the point of physical and mental exhaustion.

She now felt the freedom to say no to work that didn’t belong on her plate and yes to going home at a reasonable hour and playing with Frank.

You may identify with Marie’s story and wish you could get some things off your task list so you could be home more with your loved ones too.

If you do, I’ll give you the same suggestion I gave Marie.

Take a few minutes to pause and write down all the things you’re doing. Then review those tasks to see what should remain on your list and what needs to be removed.

Like Marie, you may find work that doesn’t belong to you and can be returned to its rightful owner.

I hope that’s the case, so you can reclaim a little more of your time for yourself and the people and the dog you love. Or cat. Or even sheep…

Helping you lead with clarity and confidence,

Greg

P.S. If it would be valuable for you to have me provide an outside perspective like I did for Marie, you’re welcome to schedule a time here for us to chat. I’d love to be a part of helping you get some of your time back.

Last week, I had a surprising realization.

A few years ago, I probably wouldn’t have hired…me.

If someone had told me:

“I help leaders who feel like everything still depends on them develop their people so their business can grow.”

or

“I help you build a team you’re proud to lead.”

I would have immediately thought,

“Well, that doesn’t apply to me.”

Not because I disagreed with the idea. That wasn’t the problem.

I simply didn’t think I was the kind of leader those statements were talking about.

That realization caught me off guard because I’ve spent the past several weeks clarifying exactly what problem I help business leaders solve.

As I’ve refined that message and shared it with others, I’ve discovered that some people immediately recognize themselves in those statements while others quickly assume they don’t apply.

So before I go any further, I’d like to ask for your help.

If these statements leave you with more questions than answers, please tell me. I’d genuinely value your feedback.

Here’s what I do with my coaching clients.

“I help leaders who feel like everything still depends on them develop their people so their business can grow.”

Or, even more succinctly:

“I help you build a team you’re proud to lead.”

The process of refining those two sentences forced me to look back over my own career. I began asking myself whether my current services would have been valuable to my former self.

My conclusion was that they would have been.

The problem is that I probably wouldn’t have realized it.

Here’s what I would have immediately told myself.

1. “I don’t own a business. I don’t even own a budget in the company where I work.”
2. “I don’t have a team. No one reports to me.”
3. “I’m not a leader. Reference 1 and 2.”

And I don’t know about your inner voices, but mine are rarely kind and encouraging to me.

Those thoughts would have quickly become self-condemning messages like these:

I’m not doing enough to deserve the title I have.

I’m not performing at the level I should be.

I’m letting everyone around me down.

I’m not a leader.

I’m a failure.

As I said, those voices in my head can be nasty. I’ve made a lot of progress in this area, but I still have to work hard not to let those self-condemning words that pop into my head take root.

You may be fighting a similar mental battle, so I want to give you some encouragement.

Being on the other side of three decades of professional experience, here’s what I would want my former self to know.

1. You Don’t Have to Own a Business

You don’t have to own a business or even a budget for the phrase “so their business can grow” to apply to you.

At one point in my career, I worked for a publicly traded company. I owned a tiny bit of stock but really wasn’t a “business owner.” I also had a relatively small budget compared to the size of the company.

Because of these things, I could have been tempted to tell myself that I wasn’t in a position to help this business grow.

But that wasn’t the truth.

My very small team of direct reports and I were providing program and project support for multiple cross-functional teams who were redesigning almost every product line we built.

The investment by our parent company was well over $100 million!

I wasn’t technically the “business owner,” but I felt the weight and responsibility of helping this business grow. And the gratitude and pride when it did.

So, I encourage you to pause and consider the value of the work you’re doing to the business even if you’re not the owner. It’s likely even more important than you realize.

2. You Don’t Need Direct Reports

You don’t have to have direct reports to have “your people”.

While being someone’s official supervisor does make it easier in some ways to positively impact their lives, it isn’t required.

In fact, I once reported to the CEO and was an individual contributor. I didn’t have anyone reporting to me in the system.

But I was still able to “build a team I was proud to lead” because I found ways to help others grow as people and as leaders.

I held regular one-on-one meetings with people throughout the organization. Not as their supervisor, but as a fellow coworker. I had the privilege of leading workshops on change management and appreciation in the workplace. I made myself available to serve others as a coach and mentor.

I saw these people develop, grow, and become even more successful in the company. And I now see them continuing to do great things as leaders in other businesses.

Did they ever report to me? No.

Do I still feel proud that I was able to have a small part in leading them? Absolutely!

I’m sure you have “your people” who aren’t shown as reporting to you in the org chart but still consider you their leader.

3. You Don’t Need a Leadership Title

You don’t have to have a position of authority to be a leader.

I have to stop myself from getting up on my soapbox for this one.

For too long in my career, I thought I needed to have a certain title, have people reporting to me, or be responsible for the P&L of a business before I could call myself a leader.

I was wrong.

Anyone can lead anytime, anywhere.

If you’ve followed me for very long, you’ve heard me use this phrase often. It’s the message of one of my favorite books, Your Leadership Edge, written by my friends Ed O’Malley and Amanda Cebula. And it’s the core of the teaching of The Kansas Leadership Center, the organization Ed founded and where I’ve done extensive training.

So, if you consider my coaching services and tell yourself that these may apply to you someday in the future, but you’re not qualified for them now because you’re not a leader, hold on.

You’re already leading people even if you don’t have direct reports or a budget.

In fact, I’m confident that you are already leading the people around you.

You’re influencing how they think and what they do through what you say and how you live. And in some cases, you’re having more of an impact than their official supervisor.

This has been the case for me personally and many other leaders I’ve worked with.

I have a friend I worked with for over a decade who was such a good leader of people that nearly every person who ever reported to him continued to meet with him regularly to get his guidance. They had new supervisors, but they still wanted his leadership wisdom.

Maybe, you’ve never had anyone report to you, but you’re still the person everyone on your team looks to for advice. You’re a leader.

Or, you may have led people for years but you now find yourself in an individual contributor role. You’re still a leader.

Your experience and ability to serve others didn’t go away with your supervisor title.

You can still lead from right where you are.

Here’s the takeaway message I want you to hear.

Regardless of your title, your level of responsibility, or your place in the org chart, you can lead.

You are where you are for a reason, and you can positively impact the lives of the people around you.

If you’re doubting me (and yourself), schedule some time here. There’s no charge, and it would be my privilege to encourage you.

Helping you lead with clarity and confidence,

Greg

P.S. Kiersten was out of town a couple of weeks ago and left me in charge of our Pemberley Woolworks business. That included letting me write her weekly newsletter. If you’d like to see how things went at the barn with the sheep, chickens, and other unexpected varmints during her absence, you can read about my adventures here. Photo evidence included. Boy am I glad she’s back!

The Light Bulb Moment

The look in her eye told the whole story.

I didn’t see it but my wife, Kiersten, did.

I was coaching a young couple at our dining room table. They’re longtime friends of ours from church so Kiersten was there with us.

This couple had recently started a business together.

I was walking them through their two-person Working Genius team map when she had a “light bulb moment.”

She suddenly realized that his probing questions about her ideas weren’t negative criticisms.

She saw for the first time that he wasn’t just being “a wet blanket” when they talked about the new things she wanted to do in their business.

He was thinking deeply about what she shared with him.

His mental gears were turning as he considered how to implement her dreams.

He was trying to move the work forward, but she felt shut down.

She didn’t know what was going on inside his brain, and he wasn’t able to explain it.

The Difference Wasn’t the Problem

They were both eager to turn her ideas into reality.

But he’s wired to evaluate before implementing.

She, on the other hand, would prefer to skip that step and act immediately.

Together they made a great team.

But until that point, they didn’t see their differences as an asset.

They were a constant source of conflict.

One simple conversation changed their business relationship.

More importantly, it changed their marriage.

A New Level of Respect

Here’s how she described the shift.

She used to be frustrated and annoyed by his natural tendencies. But once she understood him better, she saw him with a new level of respect.

I’ve seen that exact scenario repeated over and over.

The Working Genius model not only improves relationships within businesses.

It transforms marriages.

“I Get My Husband Now”

I know that’s true from my own marriage and from coaching other couples.

And the creators of the Six Types of Working Genius agree.

Pat Lencioni regularly talks about people who come up to him after a presentation and tell him they didn’t think their spouse even liked them, but now they realize it was simply a difference in Working Geniuses.

He even had a woman tell him this.

“I think you just saved my marriage. Because it was kind of on the rocks and I get my husband now and I can’t wait to go home and talk about this.”

Wow.

That’s powerful.

An Hour Well Spent

I’m sure you know as well as I do how devastating and damaging a broken marriage can be.

Being married is hard.

Building a strong marriage takes work.

And you’ve got to continually invest to keep your relationship with your spouse healthy.

So, if you’re married, I’m going to encourage you to invest an hour of your time in your marriage this week.

If you’re not married, I’m going to ask you to make the same investment because I’m confident you have someone in your life who’s important to you and is either married or might be married someday.

And, as a leader, you have an opportunity to support them.

My Recommendation This Week

Here’s what I’m encouraging you to do this week.

Attend this live webinar on Thursday.

It’s titled, “Why Your Spouse Acts That Way”

You can register by clicking here or on the image above.

Pat Lencioni and his wife, Laura, will be doing this webinar along with Cody Thompson and his wife, Lindsey, and others.

Pat and Cody host the Working Genius podcast, and their conversations are always enjoyable and helpful to listen to. I have no doubt they’ll be just as engaging with their wives during this event.

In the first couple of minutes of this episode of the podcast, you can hear them describe the webinar and why they’re doing it.
Click here to watch it.

One More Thing

The rest of this episode is really good too.

In fact, I’ve shared it with several leaders who are building their leadership teams.

Pat and Cody explore this question:

“What would change if your team focused more on talents than job descriptions?”

They talk about why leadership roles cannot be reduced to generic titles or one-size-fits-all job descriptions.

So, if you have an extra 22 minutes to invest this week, watching this episode is a good way to use it.

But, if you only have an hour, don’t miss the Working Genius marriage webinar.

I’m confident you will benefit from it whether you’re married or not.

Let me know what you think about it after you watch it.

If you attend, send me an email and tell me what stood out to you. Or schedule a call and we can compare notes.

Helping you lead with clarity and confidence,

Greg

P.S. Here’s the link to register for the Working Genius Marriage webinar. It’s this Thursday so sign up now so it’s on your calendar. And, share this email with your spouse and friends so they can join too!