What do I need to be a great leader? I have been asked this question many times, often by my training participants who generally seek a tweet size answer. In my last workshop, my response to this timeless question was brief, “Stop worrying about being one”. As I explained why it is more important to be an “effective leader” than a “great leader”, I found myself wondering if I could explain it in a simple way.
I was reminded of this thought when I received feedback for the dish, I had cooked on a leisurely Saturday evening. “You are a great cook, but there is no salt in the dish” said my wife, trying not to crush the limited confidence of an occasional cook. As I thought about this feedback and the earlier incident, I could clearly see the following parallels between leading the kitchen and organizations.
- It’s not about the cook; it’s about the dish
The cook’s personality has very little to do with how a dish turns out. Similarly, success of an organization or team is not a function of the characteristics of its leader. As leaders, we need to move the spotlight from ourselves to two important aspects, results and people.
- Good cook knows the ingredients
Our team members are the most important ingredients in making our vision come true. A cook knows the ingredient well to use in the appropriate dish and plans a spread that involves putting all the ingredients into good use.
I like to ask these 3 questions in my training for participants to self-introspect:
- Do you know the names of spouses and kids/family members of all your team members?
- Do you know the 3-year goals of all your team members?
- Do you know the unique skills of all your team members?
Effective leaders take time and plan discussions to know their team members well
- Create new recipes to be in the game
Anyone from a homemaker to a celebrity chef needs to create new recipes, no matter how outstanding their standard recipes are.
Steve jobs had famously said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”. The only way we can create new value curves and stay ahead of the curve is to improve and innovate.
- Don’t check on the dish every two minutes
I have lost a great deal of time and cooking gas because of my urge to check on the dish every two minutes. It’s only with time that I learned that I need to let things simmer and it won’t help even if I jump into the pot.
As leaders, we need to trust that we will get the results if we have the right team members and the right process. Beyond a certain level, checks and monitoring procedures are only counter-productive and reduce the sense of ownership in team members.
- Don’t ever forget the salt
Forgetting to add the salt is the cardinal sin in cooking and nothing else will ever make up for that. So, what is the salt for business leaders?
Well, it is encouragement in dealing with people and details in dealing with processes.