Empowering Principles
Almost a decade ago, I was given the amazing opportunity to dive into corporate innovation consulting. I had a startup background and experience working inside large corporations and consulting with small businesses, but this was an exciting chance to work with senior leaders of Fortune 500 clients, look at their product portfolios and ask ‘what’s next?’. While my enthusiasm was hard to hide, it was also intimidating. A number of the tools and theories that were foundations for our client’s beliefs and practices were new to me. Thankfully, I was surrounded by experts in the field who supported my learning curve, challenged me and caught me when I veered off course.
This was an amazing learning experience for me and was incredibly fun, however the goal of the 40 person consultancy was for everyone to carry their own weight and I needed to grow fast. The owner provided a great deal of autonomy with high expectations, and she led with a unique leadership approach that greatly helped me, has stuck with me and become core to my own leadership style. She led with principles.
Leading with principles provides a consistent grounding for decisions, an underlying purpose for why you’re saying or doing something, and removes the leader vs. employee dynamic in principle-based decisions. It also gives the team a way to drive success without you present, holding these principles in the actions and decisions they drive forward. We all have leadership beliefs that ground who we are and why we do what we do, but putting them down on paper and intentionally communicating them to the team in a way where they can use, leverage and build on them makes them leadership principles.
The following 8 principles are ones that have helped me in moving teams forward, in developing aspiring leaders and creating a successful environment of accountable autonomous teams.
PURPOSE
“What do we collectively believe to be our purpose? How does this work or this decision further the purpose of the team and the company?”
It’s important teams are aligned on the purpose of the work, The Why, and how it connects to the broader strategy of company, What success looks like. In any decision that is made, it should be possible to show how this is connected to the broader purpose, desired outcomes and measurable targets for the team and the company.
INTENTION
“What will be the collective outcome of this in 6 months, 2 years and 4 years?”
Leading with the outcome in mind helps prevent isolated decisions, chasing shiny objects and investing in disconnected ideas. Connecting intention to purpose, keeps the team focused and drives successful outcomes for the company.
CONTEXT
“How is this impacted by other decisions in the organization? What is the impact on other teams? Other goals? Other leaders?”
Providing clear context pushes leaders to think like the owner of the company, drives empathy for other cross-functional stakeholders, makes them consider the broad ramifications of any action and empowers collective buy-in and aligned forward progress.
MOMENTUM
“How does today’s success drive tomorrow’s opportunity?”
Every successful action, positive moment and win (however small) builds energy. When a leader or team is able to channel this energy towards the next success and the following and so on, you, your team and your customers can start to feel momentum building. This feeling underpins intrinsic motivation & team engagement, accelerates growth, creates new opportunities and empowers a culture of success.
EMPATHY
“Where are my stakeholders coming from? What do they value? How do they measure success?”
When we truly work to understand someone and to put ourselves in their shoes, it changes our perspective, opens our minds and allows authentic collaboration, deeper relationships and better outcomes driven by a real sense of leadership.
ENROLLMENT
“Who do I need to support the outcome I’m working towards? How can they become a part of developing the solution?”
When stakeholders are involved early and brought along in the creation journey, they develop a natural sense of ownership in it’s success that translates to support, enablement and a growth mindset.
FOCUS
“What are my priorities? Why? How do I communicate and protect my priorities? What should I be saying “no” to?”
One of our most valuable resources is our time and energy. The ability to optimize your and others time and energy will translate to effectiveness and efficiency, build intrinsic motivation and drive better outcomes.
PRESENCE
“How do I objectively learn from yesterday, have goals for tomorrow but live for today?”
Being present in the moment allows us to relieve the pressures of the past and future, focus our perspective on the impact we can make today and bring our best selves to the workplace and our colleagues.
Your leadership principle list does not need to be exhaustive and your principles can change and evolve as you do as a leader. The most important part is that they are laid out with intention and that you empower your teams to understand and practice these principles as they grow.
What are you leadership principles?
How do you communicate those to your team?
How do you help your team understand the purpose behind them?
How do you incentivize those leading with your principles?
