Myths of Leadership
or why your team isn't performing as well as they could
Here are three myths that kill team performance.
ONE: I hired smart people, they know what to do.
I bet the person who hired the team lead thinks this exact same thing and is settling for poor performance because they carry the same myth.
Smart people need feedback, coaching, and recognition just like regular people do. Just because they are smart doesn't mean you abdicate your responsibility to help them improve.
Work teams are like sports teams - they can improve and they need leadership input.
TWO: They will ask me for what they need.
This myth has two huge problems; first, people won't ask and second, they won't ask well so you will say "no". Either way, your team doesn't get what they need and their performance goes down.
Smart leaders recognize that their teams always have friction and that it's the leads job to find that friction and then provide what the team needs so they can do better.
THREE: I can't do anything that is emotionally uncomfortable.
Grrrrr.
This may be the worst of the myths.
I don't care who you are - something that benefits your team is going to be emotionally hard. Doing the uncomfortable thing will unlock another 5% improvement in their productivity. You can find a way to take baby steps and arrive at doing the scary thing. I'm still scared of doing things and I've got decades of practice.
Leaders rarely consider how to improve their performance in service of their teams. This is why their teams don't perform as desired. Sadly, leaders then look for easy solutions which don't solve the core problems. This is a sign of lacking self awareness.
Don't fall for the myths.
This was previously published on LinkedIn
