Bad leaders avoid the stove
by Miki SaxonPost from Leadership Turn Image credit: Gather No Dust
Jeff Scott is the Library Director for the City of Casa Grande Public Library in Casa Grande, Arizona, and as president of the Pinal County Library Federation, a consortium of 13 public libraries, he helps guide a budget of over $3 million for the City and County Libraries. A technology advocate in a rural area, he developed the first free wireless hotspot in Pinal County and experiments with e-books and technology for the library users. You can find some of his writing at Gather No Dust, and at MCLC Tech Talk.
When we talk about leadership, we often speak of being innovative, having a vision. When we talk about management, we talk about leading teams and change management. Too often, leaders and managers are afraid to make changes or have a firm vision. There is a reason behind that, they have common sense. When you place your hand on the hot stove you get burned. In the future, you know not to do it.
Those who are innovative know that they are going to get burned, but they do it anyway.
I remember watching NFL films about the kickoff teams. These teams run downfield as fast as they can hurling themselves against a virtual brick wall of people. It is the equivalent of getting in a car accident every kick-off. One of the players was asked, “Don’t you get scared of doing that every time?” His reply, “Of course I am scared, but I do it anyway. Courage is being afraid, but going anyway.”
I learned a lot from that when I became a manager. I know there are projects that are going to be very beneficial, but after a certain number of changes and innovations, you begin to learn who is going to oppose you and by how much. What happens over time is that you avoid conflict in those areas. You are too afraid to make the change because you don’t want to deal with the consequences. This is bad. This is probably the number one reason things don’t get done in an organization.
How do avoid this trap? This is what is commonly referred to as mitigating risk. We know what is going to happen when we make this decision. You will anger some people, please others and the end result may be positive or negative based on perspective. Knowing ahead of time which burners will launch on the stove will lead to avoid being burned. Attempting to get ahead of the curve and realize the hot points will save your bacon. It will also allow space for failure.
When you make a mistake, everyone will know how and why and what you learned to avoid it again.
How do you handle your hot stoves?
Your comments—priceless
