A Leader’s Response…

It can be frustrating enough when we hear “I’ll get back to you on that” from a friend or family member who we know likely won’t follow through, but how much more frustrating is it when it happens with someone in a leadership role?

Let’s be honest, we hold the folks in leadership positions to a higher standard - or at least we should! It’s one thing for my childhood friend to continually drop the ball on responding but it’s a whole different ball of wax when it’s someone we report to or someone who has accepted responsibility for providing us with some type of service, even if that service is in the form direction and guidance with how we do our job.

Cindy and I do a fair amount of work with teams that provide different types of services through their business model, rather than physical products. When we work with them, I always make the case that while they may not have positional authority with their customers and clients, they absolutely have a level of leadership (that comes with influence) with each individual or business they serve. We recently heard an example of how much responsiveness matters in cases like this where the individual providing the service thought everything was in good standing but hadn’t been in communication with the customer for a few weeks. That customer apparently felt like they were left hanging and found someone else to provide the same service. By the time the service provider contacted the customer to finalize the transaction they had been working on, that customer had closed a similar deal elsewhere. The business certainly lost revenue in that specific transaction but I’m guessing the lifetime value of that particular customer would have been far greater than just this single transaction…

So how does that translate to a scenario where we report to the person who isn’t responsive? In the nearly twenty years I worked in a manufacturing facility, I never had direct supervisory responsibility over anyone. I did, however, go out of my way on a routine basis to respond to and to support the majority of the folks I interacted with on a daily basis. Be it good or bad, that often resulted in a whole bunch of folks bypassing their supervisors altogether and coming straight to me when they had an issue. While I appreciated the trust and respect they showed me through doing that, they often came to me at times where I was already juggling more than I could handle… And although I didn’t have positional authority to force many people to follow my instructions, I rarely had trouble getting support from anyone when I asked for it!

With those two very different examples in mind, why do you think responsiveness is so important in leadership? And what message are we really sending someone on our team if we’re not responding at all? I believe that whether it’s our intention or not, we’re making a statement as to how much (or how little) value we place on the individual. Knowing that showing we don’t value someone on our team is rarely the goal, I believe there are some simple things we can do to avoid that…

A Response, Even if it’s not an Answer…

One of the most valuable things Cindy and I have been able to do through our Emerging Leader Development program has been reading the immediate action steps that participants detail following each lesson. Seeing how individuals with varying levels of leadership responsibility absorb and apply what we share in that course, whether they’re working toward their first supervisory role or they’ve been leading a large organization for years, has been nothing short of amazing!

Recently, a participant in the digital version of the course shared this explaining what tangible return on investment they’re hoping to achieve from an action step they’re working to implement:

“Being relatively new to the role (6 months), I've found I feel the need to always have an answer, which is driven by insecurity in a new role driven by knowledgebase, as well as a new type of role I'm less familiar with. If I'm able to increase my confidence through being better at holding up to criticism, I'll be much better relationally with those I work with, which will notably improve the results of the service (through relationship driven collaboration by accepting I don't always need the answer if someone else has it).”

While this individual has held numerous management positions throughout their career, this new role has no positional authority and will require a very different approach. The part that stuck out to me most was the acknowledgement that they didn’t have to have all the answers - but they would still need to respond, even if the answer they provide comes from someone else!

As we think about the importance of a leader’s response, don’t get caught up thinking you have to wait until you have the right answer before you can offer a reply. The leaders I’ve worked with over the years who provided me with the highest sense of being valued weren’t necessarily the ones who had all the right answers but they were definitely the ones who made sure I knew they were paying attention. These leaders were very intentional about acknowledging my questions or concerns, even when they didn’t have an answer, and they were very proactive in letting me know that they’d be back in touch as soon as they could provide more feedback!

Make no mistake, this doesn’t just apply to issues or questions. If we, as leaders, want to be clear in showing who and what we value, we need to be sure the folks counting on us know we’re engaged in what they have going on at all times. The easiest and surest way I’ve found for doing this is by being responsive as a leader!

I can’t speak for you, but I’d rather be told no a hundred times than not hear back at all. To that end, I’ve often joked that I’d respect a kick in the shins more than I respect not receiving a reply at all. To me, a no reply reply tells me that the individual places no value whatsoever on me or the relationship they have with me. As a leader, I can’t think of a single scenario where that’s a message I’d want to send someone - even if it is just their perception!

But rest easy, I believe there’s something we can do to make sure that’s not the message we send…

Proactive Leadership: Respond and Communicate

I’ll say it again, we don’t necessarily need to have every answer but we do need to respond! If we’re not willing to at least acknowledge the questions, issues, or even outreach of the folks on our teams, should we really expect them to consider us as their leaders? This is where I believe proactive leadership makes all the difference! In searching the phrase, I found an interesting article on Forbes.com called How to Practice Proactive Leadership that opened with this:

"Being proactive as a leader is one of the best things you can do for your team. The more leaders can stay current with their team, their business, and their competitors, the better they can help their employees plan and implement new strategies. Passive leadership does not generate the productivity and development your company needs to grow and thrive."

The article went on to break down several different things that leaders should be proactive with in their roles, both inside their organizations and with the community they serve as a whole. The three main points listed for being proactive internally were building trust, showing respect, and providing feedback on performance - all of which hinge on being responsive!

Think about it… How much trust will we really ever have in someone, especially if they’re in a role we’re expected to follow or interact with in the slightest positive way, if they’re not willing to respond to our outreach within a reasonable amount of time? Let’s tie that back to the doctors and lawyers I used as scapegoats before; how much has trust eroded in those professions as a whole over the years? Remember the statistic my friend shared with me, “98% of all attorneys make the other 2% look bad”? And he’s an attorney! I won’t speak for you, but I can certainly say that I struggle trusting someone who won’t reply when I contact them - especially if it’s someone I’m supposed to be able to count on for leadership!

Now let’s connect that to respect… Regardless of their role, will we really have a ton of respect for someone who isn’t responsive? While a position may carry leadership responsibility, if the individual who holds that position isn’t willing to respond to their team members in a timely manner (or at all in some cases), who are they really leading?

The author of the article referenced periodic evaluations with regards to performance feedback. I’ll take it step farther by emphasizing that one of the most meaningful things we can do as a leader to show we’re responsive, earning trust and respect in the process, is to be proactive in recognizing performance on a routine basis - both good and bad! If the only time our team gets feedback on how they’re doing is during a formal review, can we really expect continuous improvement? To that end, should we even be surprised when performance continually slips if we’re not proactive about recognizing the behaviors involved in that performance on a regular basis?

Before you tune me out altogether on this, please know I have a clear understanding of all the tasks a leader is expected to do. When that’s the case, how can we possibly be expected to maintain such a proactive approach? If you’ll hang with me, that’s exactly what we’ll work through soon!