One of the things I’m continually reminded of in my doctoral studies is the immense amount of reading and writing that is required to earn this degree! I think I knew going in that it would be intense, but it has risen to whole new levels this term! I’m not complaining; I signed up for it. Any time a leader desires to reach new levels in their leadership and professional pursuits (personal as well, now that I think about it), hard work will be required. To stay on top of your leadership game, we must always be learning and growing. Whether it be in formal education or self-exploratory learning, I hope you are doing as I am doing and pushing yourself to become better in all areas of your leadership life.
This week, like all weeks, I was doing research for a paper and I came across a helpful set of leadership actions which can benefit all of us who lead others, and ultimately the people we lead. The concept has to do with “implicit coordination theory,” which is a term used to describe how a leader can synchronize the actions of their team members. It was the work of Mastrogiacomo, Missonier, & Bonazzi in 2014. Too much for you? Please don’t stop reading! I’m getting to my point. All this is is a rather academic way of saying “getting things done.” The theory includes five useful components that were developed by a group of people named Espinosa, Kraut, Lerch, Slaughter, Herbsleb & Mockus which aid leaders in keeping tabs on how their team is doing. Their premise is that in order to really know what’s going on, the leader must:
- Know why an activity or initiative is happening in the first place
- Know what is going on and when
- Know what to do and when
- Know who is doing what
- Know who knows what
I know that this seems obvious, but I bet if you think for a moment you’ve worked with a leader who couldn’t always answer these questions. Someone just came to mind, didn’t they?!!! To me, it’s all about a leader’s level of engagement. Basically, they have to show up! Let’s briefly take a look at each of these “knows”.
First and foremost, leaders need to know why things are happening in the first place. We really can’t afford the time and resources doing activities, events, or projects that really don’t fit into our strategic plan. Asking yourself, “Why are we doing this?” may shed a tremendous amount of light on the factors that are in play when it comes to productivity and the accomplishment of your mission. If something doesn’t fit, maybe it’s time to move on from it.
Leaders don’t have to do everything themselves, but they should have a general awareness of what’s going on around them. Think of a leader you know who is disengaged and not always aware of what the team is up to. You can tell by the questions they ask out of the blue, like “Now tell me, what are we doing this week?” or “Tell me again what was decided?”
Leaders are strategic. As stated above, they don’t have to and shouldn’t do everything themselves, but the strategic plan needs to either come from them or be developed with their involvement. A leader without a plan is not really a leader at all.
The next one is huge. Earlier we talked about leadership engagement, and this is another way it shows itself. Leaders know who is on the team and what they are doing. I’m not talking about micro-management. I’m saying that leaders know their team and what they are up to. Volumes have been written about this subject. Leaders are engaged in activity with their team, but even more important, they are engaged in a relationship with their team members. They never have to ask, “Now, who is doing this?” This goes right into the last point of knowing where to find out the information that they need to know. If a leader is engaged with their people, they can easily find out what they need quickly.
I think these five components are useful and I plan to keep them in mind as I lead. I hope you will, too.
Lead well.