Welcome to this episode of Jack Chat and another tiny lesson in leadership, straight up.
In this episode, I’m going to talk about a very serious subject: the environment. Winds coming from every direction, unable to see ahead in a fog-shrouded landscape, limited or depleted resources, and lack of consequences for bad behavior.
You might think I’m talking about the Earth’s environment. You would be wrong.
I’m talking about your workplace environment. Does any of this sound familiar?
Swirling winds of entangled priorities and ever-changing expectations.
A lack of resources to do the work expected of you.
Consequences for performance (good or bad) are missing or inconsistent.
So… is there a leadership lesson in all this, or am I just complaining? Of course there’s a leadership lesson here because we all know I never complain.
Anyway…there really is a leadership lesson here. And it’s this:
75% of the performance issues in your workplace are caused by something lacking in the environment. So, as a leader, if you want to improve performance on your team, you should get good at spotting gaps in the environment.
Here’s some questions to help you do just that:
- How can I make outcomes and expected ways of working more clear for my team?
- What resources are lacking for my team? Not just the obvious ones like technology or money, but the less obvious ones like real, protected empowerment?
- How well do I apply appropriate consequences for performance – both good and bad?
Give those questions some thought and join me again for another chat.
