Leading for Impact
“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”
Have you ever been around someone who either can’t see the big picture or doesn’t pay a lot of attention to detail? For some, the big picture stuff is innate, and they are often confident that someone else will come along and supply the details. Likewise, those who are great on detail need to keep sight of the big picture of what is being achieved. Whether it’s the big picture stuff or the detail, the great UCLA Bruins Basketball Coach, John Wooden, is right, taking care to do it right the first time means you don’t need to waste more time doing it over (and over) again.
Why is this important? Taking care to get things right the first time creates an impact, often a positive one. If you present something only to find you need to redo it, that impact is often lost. That said, there are caveats around this. It’s important for scholarly work, for example, to be reviewed or for surgical teams to get the details right. In a broad sense, these review processes are part of getting things right the first time.
Being impactful is important in leadership. The reason is simple, as John Maxwell points out.
“Leadership is influence. That’s it—nothing more, nothing less.”
Maxwell, John. C. (2018). Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 (eBook). Nashville, Tennessee: Harper Collins. (Ch.1, p13 of 236 pages).
Simply put, it’s hard to have influence if you are not having an impact. The ability of the leader to have an impact is the key to them being influential. Of course, impact doesn’t just happen.
Consider the teacher who typically has results above the state average each year. If you visit their classroom, you may find that the students are highly engaged, with the teacher effortlessly guiding the students along. To the outsider, it may seem unstructured or, at best, semi-structured. Here’s the rub, though. For a lesson to seem unstructured or spontaneous requires a lot of planning and execution on the part of the teacher. The teacher will know that they have been impactful through formal and informal assessments. The quick set of 5 questions asked randomly around the room is one source of feedback; a formal assessment task is another. Surveying the students via tools such as Google Forms to find out what they liked about the lesson is also a valuable piece of feedback. For the teacher, they planned the lesson to seem spontaneous to be engaging for the students. The key here is it was intentional and they sought feedback to gain the extent of the impact. Like a well-planned lesson, positive impact doesn’t just happen; it needs to be intentional, and that means being planned. What the example from this teacher tells us is simple. To have an impact, you must first have purpose and, with that, hope. Purpose, hope, and impact are all related concepts. Pope John Paul II in 1987 put it this way.
“We cannot live without hope. We have to have some purpose in life, some meaning to our existence. We have to aspire to something. Without hope, we begin to die.”
Pope John Paul II. (1987). Apostolic Journey to the United States of America and Canada: Teleconference of His Holiness John Paul II with the Young People. Tuesday, 15 September 1987, Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, California. The Vatican.
Your purpose becomes your objective, which leads to measurable outcomes. These outcomes are used to assess impact through quantitative and qualitative data. Hope is the underlying belief that guides the process and the project. When purpose inspires hope, when the project or the process is hope-filled, it creates momentum and ultimately ‘buy-in’ by the staff involved and by those who will be impacted by it. As Pope John Paul II observes, “Without hope, we begin to die.” This doesn’t just extend to the individual but to the life and culture of organizations. Without purpose and hope, the life and culture of organizations suffer and ultimately collapse under the weight of ‘hopelessness’. The impact on the individuals in the organization will obviously be negative.
Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Ron Carucci and Garry Ridge in 2022, reported the results of an extensive global survey on activated purpose and impact.
“Having surveyed more than 100,000 employees across 26 countries, the data reveals key factors that determine the degree to which an organization has activated purpose among its employees. Factors like the following indicate the degree to which purpose has meaningful impact on performance:
- Are employees clear on the company’s purpose?
- Is management living the purpose?
- Do employees feel emotional ownership of the organization?
- Do employees feel emotionally safe to freely act upon purpose?”
Carucci, Ron and Ridge, Garry. (2022) How Executive Teams Shape a Company’s Purpose (November 3, 2022). Boston, Massachusetts. Harvard Business Publishing.
Writing on LinkedIn in 2023, the then High School Principal and now the founding CEO and Director of New Zealand-based company Lumina Consulting, Andrew Murray, noted that true leaders know how to harness the power of the real change agents, often the staff with no fancy titles, to have maximum impact.
“I think all leaders have one thing in common – they do, as opposed to just talk. Leadership is about action, not position. Some of the best leaders I have seen during my years in education never had a title…Make no mistake about the fact that many of you are surrounded by these people each day, both physically and virtually. These people don’t just talk the talk, but they walk the walk. They lead by example in what might be the most impactful way possible – modeling. These true leaders do not expect others to do what they are unwilling to do. The best part is that these unsung heroes do not need a title to make a difference. They also don’t need a title to be agents of change…Achieving the goal is to be celebrated, but not for long because it is time to push onward. Impactful leaders invite you on the journey rather than sit on the sidelines.”
Murray, Andrew. (2023). Leadership is Uncomfortable. Wellington, New Zealand. Lumina Consulting.
When it comes to building and leading high-impact teams, there are five key areas that require attention. They may seem obvious. That said, according to Mark C. Crowley in his outstanding book, ‘Lead From The Heart’, it is important to know these five research-based qualities.
“Researchers finally had (sic) conclusive answers, they announced their discovery that just five qualities characterize the best teams in any work environment. And the first four on their list were very logical and straightforward:
- They have clear goals.
- They have dependable and supportive colleagues.
- Each team member has personally meaningful work.
- The work, the team, performs is seen to have an impact on the success of the organization and on the lives of others in the world.
But what made the study so remarkable and groundbreaking was their finding that “psychological safety” was far and away the most important of the five dynamics they found.”
Crowley, Mark. C. (2022). Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century (eBook). Carlsbad. California: Hay House, Inc. (Ch 9, 197 of 264).
Your purpose becomes your objective, which leads to measurable outcomes.
Like it or not, the impact will not be great, if people feel that the environment is toxic or psychologically unhealthy. If the team members don’t feel comfortable voicing concerns or raising alternatives, then the outcome will never be optimal, and the impact will be low and negative. Harvard Business School Professor Amy C. Edmondson is regarded as a world authority on Psychological Safety. Her book “The Fearless Organization” is a must-read for any leader looking to lead high-impact, high-performing teams.
“When a work environment has reasonably high psychological safety, good things happen: mistakes are reported quickly so that prompt corrective action can be taken; seamless coordination across groups or departments is enabled, and potentially game-changing ideas for innovation are shared. In short, psychological safety is a crucial source of value creation in organizations operating in a complex, changing environment.”
Edmondson, Amy C. (2019). The fearless organization: creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth (eBook). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (p13-14).
Impactful leadership might be found in projects that an organization embarks on. Imagine the fictitious, Department of Government, wants to open up a new branch in a particular location. This isn’t an idea that is had today and it opens tomorrow. As mentioned earlier, these things require planning. The business case for the idea needs to be tested. Questions such as whether the demographic for the area matches the clientele the branch is looking to serve? There needs to be clear objectives and outcomes for the project, with ‘doable’ timelines and budgets, including personnel global budgets, being put in place.
There needs to be a clear line of sight to the leadership of the project, the steering committee and the organizing committee. Issues need to be considered as to whether they are in scope for the project or irrelevant to the project. Procurement needs to be a consideration, as does an effective recruitment strategy. Considerations need to be made, as to whether the Second-in-Charge would be hired before or after the Branch Manager is hired and should the new Branch Manager have input into the selection of a Second-in-Charge? The expectations of the leaders needs to be crystal clear. If leaders are suggesting that they have low expectations regarding the reach and success of the new branch because a similar project failed at the same location for other Government agencies, then people should not be surprised when it fails. The powerful ‘Self-Fulfilling Prophecy’ is a potent enemy to positive impactful leadership. Opening a new location is an opportunity to create not just a new branch but a new and wonderful local branch culture as well. If impact is what you want, spending time on building a great culture is what you will need.
CEO Job #1 is setting—and micro-nourishing, one day, one hour, one minute at a time—an effective people-truly-first, innovate-or-die, excellence-or-bust corporate culture. The key words in my declaration are … “one day, one hour, one minute at a time.” Culture is the chief’s obsession or it’s pretty much nothing at all. Culture is shaped by the casual comment the boss makes to the receptionist as she walks through the door in the morning. Culture is shaped by three casual comments—no more than thirty seconds each—that the boss makes as she walks the twenty-five yards from the receptionist’s desk to her office. Culture is shaped dramatically by the tone and quality and care put into the six e-mails the boss responds to in the fifteen minutes after she gets to her desk. Culture is shaped by every twitch and blink and comment the boss makes at the morning meeting.
Peters, Tom. (2018) The Excellence Dividend (eBook). London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing. (Ch 3 p94 of 467 pages).
If you have read anything from Tom Peters, you will encounter his mantra “hire right the first time!” It links well to the opening quote from John Wooden: “when will you have time to do it over?” Having the right people, not just with qualifications and experience but passion, tenacity and people skills as well, is critical to the success of the project and to the mission of the organization.
If you are unsure about the suggestion by Tom Peters, that a positive 30 second comment can be powerful and can have a huge impact on a person / a team / an organization, consider this example from the legendary singer-songwriter writer, Billy Joel, in an interview with Billboard magazine.
“He said in an interview that his favorite moment in school was cutting class to go play the piano in the auditorium. He also said he was greatly affected by one of his teachers.”
“I had a good chorus teacher and he encouraged me to become a musician. That’s my greatest memory of school – an adult said, `You should consider becoming a professional musician,’” he recalled. “I’d never heard (that) before in my life and that kind of changed my life.”
Associated Press (Eds). (2013). Billy Joel Surprises Students with Performance, Candid Q&A on Career in Billboard Magazine (May 31, 2013). New York City, New York. Billboard (Penske Media Corporation).
If that teacher had never commented to Billy Joel, the school student, the world would never have had Billy Joel, the musician. His enduring music and songs, such as Piano Man and New York State of Mind, may have never been heard. Think about that and the power of a positive 30-second comment.
Of course, hiring the right people is only the first part, though a highly significant part, of a larger puzzle. It means that developing them, growing their skills and abilities, shaping them, and forming them into the leaders they can be is essential. If, in the process, they find their growth may be better enhanced with another organization, then be happy. You have had the services and the insights and skills of this leader for, say, the last ten years. Great leaders create great leaders. Developing leaders means planning a pathway for their educational needs to be met. If the planning shows you are likely to need a manager for a new branch or a new position, then map out a pathway for possible candidates to undertake the relevant study, so that they can apply for the job. Developing a talent pool is critical in this space. All of this brings us back to Purpose-Hope-Impact. It means being focused on the goal, the purpose and what is needed to reach the goals and inspire hope. For leaders seriously wanting to have a positive impact, it means building a positive ‘can-do’ culture and taking advantage of every minute of the day to build people up, to grow them and develop them.
“Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.”
Covey. Stephen. R., Merrill. A. Roger., Merrill. Rebecca. R. (1994). First Things First. New York | NY: Simon & Shuster. p32
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