Young and aspiring leaders are often advised to secure “quick wins” when they take up their first job and when they shift jobs. The advice is, of course, well-intended and meant to help the new entrant establish credibility with key people in the organisation.
As a result, such leaders are noticeably restless, show initiative and enthusiasm, and eagerly take up new projects and look forward to solve problems. This not only reaffirms their importance, but also reassures their bosses and others involved in the success of such leaders.
Problematic behaviour
Interestingly a study published in Harvard Business Review reported that leaders who struggle in their jobs showed what the researchers call as problematic behaviours. Such leaders:
-- Focus too much on details
-- React negatively to criticisms
-- Intimidate others
-- Jump to conclusions and
-- Micromanage the people reporting to them
Now, brace for an even more interest and insightful but scary takeaway from this same research: The characteristics listed above are precisely also the traps that leaders fall into when they are keen on quick wins!
Paradox
The conclusion, therefore, is that the relentless pursuit of a quick win is what eventually prevents new leaders from benefiting from it. This clearly presents a paradox for the leaders, something they must come to terms with and even more importantly manage it.
The key is to move the focus from individual quick wins to collective quick wins. This may sound counter-intuitive for leaders who are focused or even obsessed with personal brownies. Studies reveal that collective wins are as powerful as individual wins in terms of earning and building credibility for new, young and experienced leaders.
Colletive win
Some useful tips to make collective wins possible are:
-- Make people believers and not by-standers. Leaders should ensure that the teams they manage do not sit on the periphery, but are engaged in collective team work.
-- When a new leader comes on board, the team members do experience some anxiety. Understanding this and alleviating the same by enlisting everyone’s cooperation and participation is another thing leaders can do.
-- Demonstrating humility is also important. They do so by seeking help and advice from the team members who are familiar with the project, task or even more importantly the culture of the organisation.
-- Sharing credit is a time-tested behaviour for leaders to get the team on board and put their hearts into what they do.
-- Leaders should welcome feedback, even if it is not all positive. Leaders benefit the maximum from unadulterated feedback from people they work with. Not all of this feedback is necessarily positive or heart-warming.
-- Listening to different views prevents jumping to conclusions and regretting later. It is a no-brainer that a new leader is more likely to make wrong decisions by jumping to conclusions than the right ones.
-- Micromanaging is a very sensitive issue. Leaders who micromanage are not likely to believe they do so. As a consequence, even when they receive this feedback, they deny it stoutly. In my experience as a Coach, one of the most frequently seen leadership feedback is micromanagement by leaders. It takes a lot of conscious efforts on the part of leaders to trust, empower and be willing to take calculated risks when they delegate tasks to their teams.
Leaders need to ask who the quick wins are for. Research shows quick wins are for teams, not for individuals. But what works in favour of the leader is the credibility which the leader gets as the by-product of the team’s quick win!
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