I’ve been in a dozen organisations (as a full-timer, part-timer, and now as a consultant) and seen my fair share of bad leaders, absent leaders, and really good leaders.
The bad ones micro-manage. They scan through the timesheet, they wanna know what you’re doing at all times. They micro-edit, too. They’re in the chat group giving feedback on every alignment of every copy (sending texts at 2 in am, on the weekends). If they’re ex-executioners themselves, they ended up overcorrecting all of their subordinate’s work. They take away any kind of ownership or pride from the people under them.
The absent ones are just… absent. They do come around when it’s time for annual appraisal tho, and give you flak for not measuring up when they’ve never equipped you anything, to begin with.
The really good ones are hard to find. I think I better illustrate them with archetypes, named after two of the most impactful leaders in my life:
1: The Hexs. People underappreciate how powerful a simple phrase such as “how are you doing” can be, especially in a work environment where every official manager-subordinate conversation has that pressure of it to be performance-oriented or at least revolves around any particular tasks.
But ask them how are they doing, and you’ll be surprised to learn all of the other ways you can help them. It makes them feel seen.
Oftentimes, these are also the kind of conversations that push people to either reflect or make that big move to where they think they ought to be, cause otherwise there is just no space to breathe amidst the daily fire-fighting and numbers-chasing.
2: The Chaks. The Chaks capitalise on your strengths and work around your weaknesses. They let you do your own thing and grow from your own mistakes (as long as it’s not mission-critical). At the same time, you have confidence that you can turn to them when you’re freaking out, and they’ll know what to do.
They don’t see people as a list of pros and cons, but rather as specialists in a party-based RPG. You don’t want a team full of generalist bards, but rather, a mix of knights, rogues, and wizards.
As a specialist myself, meeting Chak has completely changed my life trajectory, even if it’s not what he initially expected it to be. I don’t aspire to be a CEO or someone who manages an entire operation (cause I’m bad at it), but I’m really good (almost great) at laying out foundations, nurturing talent, and really understanding the human dynamics.
In turn, throughout my own stint as a manager, I’ve strived to nurture people under my care and give them the gentle push to pursue what they think they ought to. And I believe that what leadership should be - other than meeting the organisation’s goals - is to empower people to find their flow and fulfilment, at work and beyond.
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Originally written on July 21, 2022