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| Be Careful How You Change Your Leadership! |
I have been faced with many levels of high pressure in my leadership roles. The last three management positions were roles I was hired to repair near bankrupt business models. Stepping into that kind of arena is not a very fun place to walk. When you arrive in your new leadership position, the business model is already on fire. There are people jumping ship while others are trapped in a room waiting for a miracle to happen. The leadership style you bring to the table is put on display, immediately. The test of how you manage a raging fire is the first set of pressures you will face. The business model is very sick and needs some treatment for repair. A good portion of your deck hands are part of the reason why you are facing fires on board. They just do not know it yet. When they carelessly place open-lid gasoline cans near some empty boxes where a few of the staff go to sneak a quick cigarette, they put the business box at great risk for a fire to occur. Unfortunately, those contributors do not consider sneaking out to have a quick cigarette anything other than an act of exercising their right to have a smoke. In three attempts to fix the broken business models I was hired to repair, this is exactly what I commonly find on board those ships. The "Huns" come from within the fort.
I accept the pressure those fires produce. I accept the responsibility placed on the job to repair the broken models I was hired to lead and to find a way to put out those fires. It sounds like a really cool job. It ain't. It is always filled with high levels of increasing pressures. I can comfortably report that the increase in pressure a leader sees in the business model they manage, that increase in pressure will force that leader to change the style of leadership they practice. Increased pressure will force the leader to change their leadership style.
Most leaders will agree with that set of findings. Pressure forces changes to occur. When pressure is applied to a business model it will eventually squirt out somewhere. Try to look at a business model like you are looking at a large balloon filled with thick paste. The model can be squeezed here and there and still hold the paste inside. Different shapes of the round balloon will appear when you set it on the ground and place one hand on the top with a little bit of pressure applied. The balloon will take the shape of your hand as it impresses itself against the paste-filled balloon. That shape of your hand will be the mark of your leadership. Every place you press on the surface of that balloon will react to the pressure you apply. Your leadership job is to get that balloon to roll in the direction you want it to go without breaking the skin and spilling out the contents of the paste. Unfortunately if you are managing a broken business model, the road you need to roll the balloon to follow, is not a smoothly paved road and is filled with obstacles of rocks and sharp objects. Good luck with your job of rolling that paste-filled balloon. Guess what? You will soon discover that you will need to carry that balloon instead of rolling it. Now you need to apply two hands to the side of the balloon skin. The balloon will take the new shape of your hands from the new pressures you apply as you pick it up off the ground. New impressions of your management style will begin to appear on skin holding the soft paste inside the model you lift from the ground. Your style of leadership just changed.
More pressure has a tendency to change the style of leadership an owner uses to manage their models. Leadership will only become more successful when the leader accepts this truth. Pressure cannot always be 'fixed' by using the same methods over and over. The best leaders have learned the art of making good adjustments to their leadership style when the pressure arrives. Pressure will win if the leader does not adjust. If you squeeze hard enough, apply enough pressure, that paste will squirt out somewhere.
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| Be More Alert When You Apply Pressure |
If our employment is not at risk, who cares if the balloon will burst? Just as long as we get paid, who cares? We can always mop up the spilled paste and blow air into another clean balloon. What is the big deal? The big deal is the pressure we feel when our employment is threatened, too. Having a tough leadership job to do is one thing. Having your performance measured for managing that tough job is another thing. This is the kind of pressure that forces the leaders to change their style of management. This is exactly how pressure works to change the leadership of the person in charge. It is rarely the pressure in the balloon that causes the change in leadership. A change in leadership style is usually caused by the pressure applied to the leader for how they carry the paste-filled balloon to the road of success. Personal pressure can change your leadership style. Business pressure may not.
If you are leading a manager to perform some leadership tasks in your business model, be very aware of this truth. Where you elect to apply pressure will greatly affect how that leader will manage their style. If you do not like their style, you must consider what it produces. If it produces the results you desire, leave that style alone. Do not place pressure on the personal attributes related to the manager and their leadership role. Personal pressure will change their style. If their style changes, so will your productivity and success. Your results may morph into something less desirable. Be careful. The style has a lot to do with the success of the leader who delivers success. Know this truth. Successful leaders have developed a particular style for performing success in how they apply what they do best. Sometimes the depth of the success comes directly from the style those leaders apply. Not everybody can figure out how to roll a paste-filled balloon down a sharp object trail. When you find one who can operate well make sure you apply the pressures you need to apply onto the paste-filled balloon instead of the hands that are guiding the balloon. It will make a huge difference in how your balloon will arrive to where it is heading.
I have been the recipient of the wrong kind of pressure. I can assure you it does not improve the chances for success. In fact, it will most certainly guarantee failure. If you are managing your model with this kind of leadership, change your style. Your model is not winning for a very good reason. Your style is not a good style of leadership. It is personal instead of business. It is focused on the personal attributes of the leaders instead of the business attributes of the leaders. Know the difference. Learn how to manage the difference more accurately. Get closer to the pressures of the business model instead of the pressures surrounding the personal attributes of the leaders. Success is fickle. A good leader will eventually learn how to develop a particular style that aids them in performing well. That style may not exactly be the style you use to do what you do. Be very careful in trying to manage the style of a leader. You may incidentally apply some personal pressure into the process and cause that leader to change their style. Once their style is disrupted, they will not be able to perform their art of success. You may guarantee failure and do not even notice it.
Manage how you apply pressure. Squeezing a paste-filled balloon incorrectly will eventually cause the paste to squirt out somewhere. We all recognize that reality. However, squeezing the personal style of the leader who is directing that paste-filled balloon to the path of success is not as easily recognized. Be very careful how you apply the pressure, if you want to win. Be careful how you change your leadership.
Until next time...
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