Walking to the postbox with a thought in mind

As I took my Saturday walk through the familiar streets of my local neighbourhood, the rare UK sun’s golden rays gently illuminated the path before me. In the midst of this ordinary morning, I found myself lost in thought, pondering a concept as ancient as human civilisation itself: leadership. The art of leading, the power to inspire, and the responsibility of guiding others towards a common goal have intrigued and perplexed thinkers, scholars, and ordinary individuals like me for centuries.

So, put on your walking shoes, join me on this short walk to the post box this morning and an expedition of the mind, and let’s embark on a quest to uncover one real solid aspect of leadership.

The question I was thinking about was a question asked to me by a young leader I mentor. They were asking about how they ensure the team listen to them. Do they have meetings, do they assign clear emailed actions, do they run best practice clinics. I said I would think about it and write if they didn’t mind as it was a good question. A real tangible real life question which might help others including myself.

So as I walked the few miles to the postbox I started to think, this is as I recall it was my thought process:

• Why are they asking the question?
• What does the team need to learn?
• What methods are best for demonstrating a best practice, edict or behaviour
• Meetings encourage group think, can be not efficient
• E-mail though written is a bit impersonal
• What about demonstrating the way of working or behaviour?
• If it were possible then it’s do as I do, not do as I say…
• Yes that is the most leadership thing to do..
• but hold on, if they watch a leader all the time then what you do all the time is more important than the original question ‘ How do I ensure my team listens’ … and I arrived at the postbox.

So I got to the end of this path at my little red postbox with this thought in my head. Rather than asking how can I get my team to listen more to me. Be more concerned about the team watching what you do all the time. Be the leader you expect and behave in the way you expect from them. If you don’t that is not really leading is it?