{"id":473,"date":"2017-12-01T02:58:50","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T02:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danielvlopes238992071.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/01\/the-10-qualities-of-a-true-leader\/"},"modified":"2024-08-08T13:13:44","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T20:13:44","slug":"the-10-qualities-of-a-true-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2017\/12\/01\/the-10-qualities-of-a-true-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 qualities of a good leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

What I\u2019ve observed from effective leaders and tried to keep in mind as a CEO these past few\u00a0years\u2026<\/h2>\n
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\u201cThis is somewhat terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I remember thinking this when I became the CEO of Canopy<\/a> back in January 2014. Sure, I\u2019d started two companies beforehand\u200a\u2014\u200abut one was with close friends, and the other was by myself. With Canopy, it was the first time I was to lead a team of people who weren\u2019t friends of mine.<\/p>\n

At the time, I hired one programmer part-time to help me out at Canopy. And while he was just \u201cone direct report,\u201d it was imperative to me to be the best manager and leader to him, as possible.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the first thing I noticed in this process: Being a manager feels different than being an employee. And, it feels very<\/em> different than working by yourself.<\/p>\n

Your words carry more weight than before. Your actions are watched more closely. You aren\u2019t accountable just for your own results, but also the results of others. How you handle tough decisions sets the tone for \u201cThis is How We Do Things.\u201d<\/p>\n

It can be a bit terrifying. If you\u2019re currently a manager, you know what I\u2019m talking about. If you\u2019re a new manager, brace yourself\u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Now, I share this not to overwhelm you! Rather, it\u2019s to underscore how hard this is for all<\/em> leaders, whether you\u2019re new to the role or not. Personally, with almost four years as a CEO under my belt, I still consider myself a \u201cwork-in-progress,\u201d and constantly aspire to be a better leader.<\/p>\n

Where to start? Over the past few years, here are ten things I\u2019ve learned from observations and conversations with hundreds of managers and CEOs. It\u2019s what I try to keep in mind each day as I lead, and what I believe the best managers do\u2026<\/p>\n

Know the purpose of your role: It\u2019s NOT to\u00a0manage.<\/h3>\n

As a manager, you may think your job is to manage<\/em> others. Sounds straightforward enough. However, the word \u201cmanage\u201d is misleading. By definition, it means to \u201crun, control or supervise\u201d\u2026 which isn\u2019t what I see as the role of a manager at all.<\/p>\n

I believe the best managers focus on doing one thing: They try to understand what intrinsically motivates people, and create an environment that allows people to tap into that intrinsic motivation themselves. You\u2019re not telling anyone what to do. You\u2019re not controlling anyone or exerting influence on anyone. You\u2019re not even trying to empower anyone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead, you assume that people already have innate talents, gifts, and capabilities within them. Your job as a leader is merely to provide an\u00a0environment<\/em> for those inherent qualities to come to light.<\/p>\n

How do you create such an environment? Read on\u2026<\/p>\n

Create clarity.<\/h3>\n

To create the best working environment for your team, you must create clarity. Do people know what needs to happen, why the work is important, and what success looks like? Do people know how their work fits into the bigger picture<\/a>? Do people know what standard of quality needs to be met before their work is shipped or goes live? The best managers constantly clarify these things\u200a\u2014\u200ain meetings, in emails, during one-on-ones<\/a>. They also ask their team, \u201cWhat isn\u2019t<\/em> clear?\u201d or \u201cWhat\u2019s confusing?\u201d or \u201cWhat am I not explaining enough?\u201d. Without clarity around the work, the work can\u2019t get done well.There is literally no one else on the team whose job it is to create this clarity.It\u2019s is solely up to you, as a manager, to make things as clear as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Provide context.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve made it clear what needs to happen and why, you have to make sure your staff has enough training, historical background, tools, and understanding of the stakeholders to make informed decisions. In other words, they need context<\/a>. If you don\u2019t give them context, you\u2019re leaving them out to dry. As an employee, there\u2019s nothing more frustrating than being expected to execute on something when you don\u2019t have enough context to execute it well. As a manager, asking the question, \u201cHow am I getting in the way?\u201d or \u201cWhat do you need from me to be successful?\u201d can help you uncover what context you need to give your team so they feel supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ensure psychological safety.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your success as a manager is contingent on how honest people are willing to be with you. Without people shooting you straight as a leader, you won\u2019t be able to course-correct should things start to go wrong. For example, if a project starts to run behind, will someone bring that up proactively to you so you can take immediate action? Or will you only find out about it when the client is furiously emailing you after business hours?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating a safe environment for your team to speak up starts with going first\u00a0<\/a>and showing vulnerability as a leader. For instance, do you admit when you\u2019re struggling with something as a manager? If so, that will give others permission to admit where they\u2019re struggling too. Or, when an employee points out a mistake, do you thank them for being forthcoming and commend their honesty? If so, you reinforce that you want to hear the truth. Consider how every action you take as a manager is an opportunity to show your team that it\u2019s safe to say what\u2019s on their minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask meaningful questions.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re predisposed to believe that leaders must have all the answers in order to do their jobs well. As a whole, our society praises people who have the right answers: We give gold stars and A\u2019s to students in school who have the right answer. We award thousands if not millions of dollars to game show winners who have the right answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our society never seems to reward people who ask the right questions<\/em><\/a>. It\u2019s unfortunate, because I believe asking meaningful questions is a core tenant of what makes a manager good at her job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you ask questions as a manager, you do two things: (1) You show you care and have deep interest in learning more about your team. As a result, you foster a sense of psychological safety in the workplace. (2) You give yourself the opportunity to unlock valuable information that you might not have known about before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a leader, never forget these benefits of asking questions, and how helpful they can be for you. Not sure what to ask your team? Here are some questions you can start with.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(You may want to use Canopy<\/a> to continually have effective meetings and interactions, where you ask the right, meaningful employee pulse questions<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Respond within 24 hours.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

About five years ago, I was an employee at another company. During that time, my coworker vented to me one day: \u201cI asked our boss if I could take a 3-day vacation this summer\u2026. It\u2019s been several weeks, and I still<\/em> haven\u2019t heard back from him.\u201d I\u2019ll never forget how livid she was. For her, it was a sign of disrespect for her manager not to respond. Take note of this. Your team\u2019s engagement is directly tied to how responsive you are to their ideas, comments, and requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, a recent Gallup study<\/a> shows how much responsiveness matters. They found that the most engaged employees said that their managers returned calls or messages within 24 hours<\/em>. Keep this in mind the next time you receive an email with a question from an employee, or a suggestion that an employee mentions to you in-person. Let it disappear into a black hole without any response and it will feel maddening to an employee\u200a\u2014\u200awhether or not you intend it to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let go.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re an individual contributor, you\u2019re used to doing everything yourself. The minute you become a manager, that changes. Your job is to create an environment<\/em> for others to do their best work\u200a\u2014\u200ayou should not be meddling in other people\u2019s work, yourself. You have to let things go. You can\u2019t be thinking to yourself, \u201cI can do a better job at that\u201d\u2026 Stop it. You may not be willing to admit it, but that\u2019s micromanagement. I had a friend who\u2019s a CEO once tell me: \u201cIf someone can do your job at least 70% as well as you can, they should do it.\u201d 70% is good enough. Just let go, and let them do it. Doing too much yourself encourages bad habits on your team, bottlenecks your team\u2019s growth, and pisses off team members since they can\u2019t operate freely. You know what it feels like\u2026 You\u2019ve probably been micromanaged before, yourself! Don\u2019t commit the same sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead from the front.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you want your team to do something, set the example for it. If you want people to show up on time, show up to a meeting early yourself. If you want people to share more analytics and data around certain decisions, explain and support your own findings with data. If you want your team to be more proactive in taking on responsibility, actively seek out ways to pitch in and take things off your coworkers\u2019 plate. No one\u2019s going to do anything differently if you don\u2019t do it yourself first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be consistent.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It might be easy to ask employees to expense only up to a certain dollar-amount during conferences\u2026 but then make an exception for a friend on your team and cover more of her expenses when she asks about it. \u201cIt\u2019s a one-time exception,<\/em>\u201d you say to yourself. Bullshit. Acting inconsistently\u200a\u2014\u200aapplying different rules and standards to different team members\u200a\u2014\u200asets a dangerous precedent for how you\u2019ll behave in the future. While seemingly harmless, that inconsistency bleeds into other areas, and it will be picked up by someone else on your team sooner or later. Regardless of how long someone\u2019s been at your company or what relationship you have with them, treating employees equitably is important. You want to be a fair, just leader. That only happens by being consistent in how you treat all<\/em> members of your team, all the time<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Build rapport.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

People are naturally skeptical of those in power. A recent 2016 study<\/a> found that one in three employees don\u2019t trust their managers. You don\u2019t want to be a victim of this statistic. To build trust, build rapport<\/a>. Your team wants to know you as a whole person\u200a\u2014\u200anot just as a boss. So revealing what you care about, what social causes you support, and what hobbies you enjoy outside of work etc. matters. You\u2019re not making a superficial, desperate plea to be liked\u200a\u2014\u200athat\u2019s not what I\u2019m talking about here. Rather, the more you can show that you are a real, multifaceted person who they can empathize with and relate to, the stronger your relationship with them will be. And, the more trust they\u2019ll place in you as a leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019ll be the first to admit that I don\u2019t flawlessly practice each of these 10 things as a leader every day. It\u2019s hard! Just last week, I realized that I should do a better job creating more context for our team, and of letting go. But, in writing these 10 things here, it helps me commit to doing each of them better . Hopefully, it is equally helpful for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2728 How do you consistently act on these 10 qualities as a leader?<\/em><\/strong> You may want to explore Canopy<\/a> \u2013\u00a0our Leadership Training Product<\/a> can guide you in putting each of the 10 principles in this article into practice<\/em><\/em> and help facilitate getting regular <\/strong><\/em>team status updates<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, asking for <\/strong><\/em>honest feedback<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, building <\/strong><\/em>team rapport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, and holding effective <\/strong><\/em>one-on-one meetings<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Check out Canopy<\/a><\/em><\/em> today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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