The number one complaint I hear from senior public leaders is about time—or a lack thereof. This isn’t really about time, of course, but space. There is no time to work ‘on the business’ because BAU gobbles it all up.
The answer is surprisingly simple – get out of the weeds, operate at your pay grade and delegate the ‘doing’ to your capable, hamstrung managers.
Trust me when I tell you this: they ask permission to get on with it. They’re not afraid of the change you want to roll out. They’re frustrated by a lack of certainty and direction.
I regularly see senior leaders signing off low-level decisions, attending meetings and making project calls that should be handled by managers two tiers down. Ironically, these are often the same leaders who are frustrated that their team won’t prioritise or take ownership.
In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Dan Pink outlines three key elements to human motivation:
- Autonomy – The desire to have control of our lives
- Mastery – The urge to improve
- Purpose – The desire to be in service of something greater.
What does all this mean, put together? That direction is critical – but it’s not synonymous with prescription.
General Motors's dress code is only two words: ‘Dress appropriately.’
When asked about the policy, GM’s Chief Executive, Mary Barra said: “You really need to make sure your managers are empowered – because if they cannot handle ‘dress appropriately’, what other decisions can they handle? And I realised that often, if you have a lot of overly prescriptive policies and procedures, people will live down to them.”
When things are complicated, it makes sense to cling to control. You might avoid a few mistakes this way, but the price is high. When we hold on too tight, we stifle innovation, culture, and growth. Motivation drops off, and our customers and community feel it.
Like parenting, relationships and pretty much everything involving people, trust goes both ways… and someone must go first.
Real leaders trust first. Let some things go.
Alicia McKay