Becoming a great leader is an evolutionary process. The best leaders are lifelong learners and take total ownership over their continuous improvement. And while many high-performing organizations out there have droves of solid managers, many still lack great leaders at every level. In the Navy SEAL teams, our philosophy is that everyone leads on the battlefield, regardless of rank or tenure. Decision-making is decentralized so teams closest to the enemy can move at the speed war requires while still being supported by battlefield commanders keeping their eye on the “big picture.”
Leadership in today’s modern business landscape requires different skills than organizations of the past. The environment and workforce have evolved - and will continue to do so – which means we as leaders must be in a constant state of self-awareness and improvement.
Here are seven strategic imperatives for great leadership.
Coaching, Not Commanding
It’s not uncommon that people in management positions have been promoted or hired based on track record, subject matter expertise or tenure. Sometimes all of the above. Often, they have been a top performer within a certain division, so the obvious move was to place them in charge of that division. I know - I’ve done this many times in the past. What is frequently overlooked however is their actual ability to lead, coach, mentor and inspire others to take action and achieve results.
Today’s manager has to have the ability to lead. Why? Because it has a direct impact on their team’s level of engagement. And as most of us know, the data still points to the fact that only about 34% of an organization’s employees are truly engaged – the rest being passively or actively disengaged. While its nice to think that all employees in an organization emotionally connect to the overall culture, values and vision, its more typical that they more closely associate with the sub-culture and tone their direct manager sets. Which means coaching is an imperative skill for managers. How do managers learn this skill? By investing in their own coaching, mentoring and leadership development. And research shows that in the highest performing organizations, senior leaders invest time and resources in enhancing their managers’ (at all levels) ability to lead.
Adaptation Without Chaos
The ability to adapt is critical on the battlefields of both combat and business. But what we often see is leaders creating an environment of competing priorities and constantly shifting goals as opposed to true adaptation. This creates chaos, confusion and misalignment on what the goals and priorities need to be. Especially when the “why” hasn’t been communicated. High-performers being managed this way (notice I didn’t say “led”) will often take on ALL of the new initiatives which leads to total burnout and high turnover.
Great leaders create alignment around the vision and mission and only course correct when the data and external factors require it. When they do make the decision to adapt to the changing landscape, (1) they enlist feedback from the team, (2) develop the adjusted battle plan, (3) ensure total alignment, (4) remove barriers, (5) deprioritize other goals as needed and (6) execute. Everyone knows why the change is happening and buy-in has been created. This eliminates the chaos and confusion factors and increases engagement and action.
Versatile Communication
A key skill we work on with our clients is communication. Seems obvious when developing leaders, but what does that really mean? It breaks down into three areas: emotional intelligence, adapting to different styles and understanding motivation theory.
The best leaders spend time understanding what motivates each member of their team as well as their preferred communication styles. This requires a heightened level of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, relationship management and social awareness. They also know how to adapt their communication to the situation. They can quickly read the landscape and have control over their emotions. These skills don’t come easy which is why the best leaders make a point to work on these behavioral necessities frequently.
Fostering Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. It can be defined as "being able to show and employ one's self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status or career". In psychologically safe teams, team members feel accepted and respected. It is also the most studied enabling condition in group dynamics and team learning research.
In the SEAL Teams, everyone has a voice regardless of rank. It’s a critical part of our after-action review process, feedback loops and learning culture. The best leaders foster this environment thereby getting the most out of their people.
Balance Centralized and Decentralized Controls
In any high-performing team there are times when leadership and decision-making must be either centralized or decentralized. Centralized decisions support long-term goals, solidarity and consistency. But when speed of execution is required, decentralized decisions make more sense.
Decentralization creates a culture where autonomy thrives and engagement soars to new heights. But hold on, before you run and off and “delegate” a bunch of stuff to a bunch of people there are a few key foundational elements required: leadership ability, skill and resources. We can’t create an authentic environment or autonomy without setting the team up for success. Those we lead must have the skills and resources available to execute. They also need a psychologically safe environment because mistakes will be made. When great leaders decide to decentralize decisions or projects and things don’t turn out as planned, they allow the team or individual to stay the course. This is where coaching comes back into play. They don’t take that project or decision away because they know that destroys trust, morale and engagement.
Create a Culture of Accountability
The best leaders understand that accountability is the most critical cultural pillar for any team. Accountability starts at the top when great leaders take total ownership over the team’s failures and push praise down the chain of command.
A culture of accountability is achieved when everyone embraces the team’s guiding principles, behavioral expectations and abides by clearly defined accountability mechanisms. All of which are designed to achieve specific results. And guess what? This actually improves morale, engagement, performance and profitability!
Build Trust from the Top and Bottom
The other most important cultural pillar of elite teams is trust. And it goes both ways. Sure, leaders at the top have to be able to trust those beneath them. But in the highest functioning teams, trust is the strongest from the bottom up. All research points to the fact that the top organizations show a high degree of trust in leadership due to servant leadership, consistency, communication and follow-through.
The two areas trust impact most in any organization are productivity and employee engagement. And since we’ve established that engagement is both a challenge and opportunity for leaders, why not make trust-building a key strategic imperative in any organization?
Now that we have established these critical components for leading in the modern organization, get out there and take point!