Yes People
Few things will kill you as a leader like being surrounded by “yes” people.
The job of your team is to tell you the truth. Your job is to ask and listen. Their role is not to affirm your ego.
Healthy and robust discussion produces the best ideas and solves problems. You need to seek and hear all ideas and competing views. Silence and false consensus are your enemies.
Attract, recruit, reward, retain, and promote those who tell you the truth. As Gregory Davis says, “If you agree with everything I say, I don’t need you.” The yes person cares about their career not yours. Poor leaders attract and retain yes people.
Good leaders don’t have all the answers and we know it. We just ask a lot of good questions. Ask and then actively listen. Everyone inside and outside the company has to feel free and safe to speak. This must be the culture you lead.
Research confirms the vast majority of the best ideas come from outside senior management. Get out of the office, be an active listener, and create and sustain discussion. You never know where the next best idea will come from. Winning ideas know no title, tenure, position, or rank.
Many minds means fewer errors and more successes. The worst performing companies and countries are where one supreme leader does all the thinking.
Never assume you know the answers. Assume you do not. If logic, evidence, and ethics validates your original idea, then you have lost nothing by having the discussion. If you were wrong and the discussion reveals it, you have been spared a potential crisis or costly mistake.
Never fear the discussion. If you do and your idea is so bad it won’t survive scrutiny by others, that should tell you something.
Weak leaders love to hear themselves talk. Strong leaders love to hear from others.
#LeadershipLessonsWithDrSaviak
From the Teacher: Leadership Lessons with Dr. Saviak is a weekly column with the esteemed Joseph C. Saviak, Ph.D., J.D., M.A., M.S., Management Consulting & Leadership. Training
Featured Image: The Office
