I work with many leaders who embrace servant leadership. They lead selflessly, never asking their teams to take on something they wouldn’t do themselves. I like to think this describes my leadership style as well.
There’s a common pitfall that comes with this leadership style. Often, leaders fail to recognize their value to the organization, relative to their teams. When this happens, servant leadership can result in poor utilization of a precious company resource – the leader themselves.
A Story
Recently, I worked with a CEO who felt out of the loop on key projects. As they discussed their frustration, they offered what appeared to be a straightforward solution. “If everyone would just copy me on their emails to clients, then I would know what’s going on. That’s all I ask.”
While I didn’t delve into their thought process, I can make an educated guess, having been there myself. The leader is faced with a problem they want to solve. Their team is stretched thin. The leader seeks a solution that can address their problem with minimal impact on the overworked team. Conclusion? Copy me on the client emails. Simple for the team, and I can review the emails to stay informed about what’s going on.
My Learning
I think I managed to avoid this pitfall more than most, thanks to a pivotal moment in my leadership education. As my leadership talents began to emerge, my company sponsored me in the inaugural offering of George Mason University’s Technology Management leadership program. It was essentially an Executive MBA for technology professionals. The timing was perfect for me, and the learning invaluable. We continued to put two leaders through the program every year for years to come.
My very first class was Communication Skills. On the first day, the professor shared something simple that has stuck with me ever since.
“Always remember – your boss’s time is more expensive than your own.”
That simple reminder shaped every communication I prepared from that day forward. When writing something for senior leadership, I always include an executive summary at the beginning that communicates everything I want the leader to know, followed by supporting details if they want to dig deeper. I assume that the executive summary is the only thing they will read, and make sure it covers all the key points.
I adopted the same approach with presentations and any significant communication, regardless of the medium. I always kept in mind how expensive someone’s time was, and was thoughtful about how I used that person’s time. This becomes even more important when you’re communicating to a large audience. If you lead a 1,000-person organization, and you send a 20-page document to every member of your organization expecting them to read the whole thing, that’s going to be very expensive for the organization.
Understanding the value of someone’s time when managing up is the easy part. The more challenging part (for most of us) is to embrace this same principle when managing down. Many of us learn to respect the value of our leaders’ time, but we often don’t expect our direct reports to respect our time in the same way. I learned to do it.
As much as I wanted to be a “selfless leader” and make things “easy” for the people who reported to me, I quickly realized I needed to coach my leaders on communication just as I’d learned in my Master’s program. My time was expensive. My boss’s time was even more so. Tolerating inefficient communications from my leaders was wasting one of the company’s most precious resources.
And so, over time, I leaned into my delegation skills. I valued my time and did not hesitate to ask my team to put in extra effort to make things more efficient for me. This wasn’t about me being lazy or entitled. This was about being mindful of not wasting an expensive company resource.
The CEO
I shared this wisdom with the CEO I was working with and offered them a different perspective on how to solve their challenges. This CEO is already inundated with email. They didn’t have time to read more emails, especially since 90% of the email contents would be irrelevant to them.
I pointed out how valuable their time was. Together, we devised a different strategy. It’s perfectly reasonable for the CEO to expect regular, concise updates on the status of key projects. They developed a straightforward status reporting mechanism that provided them with the essential information they needed about each project, without any unnecessary details.
If this CEO’s story resonates with you, consider how you work with your direct reports today, particularly in your one-on-one interactions. If you’re spending that time getting status updates, consider shifting to a simple status report mechanism that provides a concise update, allowing you to focus that precious one-on-one time on more valuable activities, such as coaching and mentoring. I outline the structure I used here.
Putting It Into Practice
Consider the value of your time to the organization. If you find yourself accommodating your direct reports, saving time for them but making more work for yourself, do the math. Recognize that these decisions may be wasting precious company resources.
If you find yourself making more work for your boss, rethink that as well. If your boss’s time is more expensive than your own, are you working with them in a way that is mindful of the cost to the organization?
Walkabout Corner
My formal Walkabout has come to an end, as I am now settled in Santa Fe. I’m amazed at how natural everything feels here. I’ve formed many new friendships organically. I feel an incredible energetic attunement to the land around me.
I have spoken to a few friends recently who feel like their current home isn’t where they belong. One recently had the courage to pick up and relocate across the country. If you find yourself in this space, I urge you to take at least one step towards finding a home that feels more resonant.
That being said, I miss my family and friends on the East Coast! And so, October will be a mini-walkabout for me. I’ll spend a week back in Virginia visiting family and friends. If you’re in Northern Virginia, come out to the No. 9 Lounge in Alexandria in the evening on October 9th to catch up with me! I’ll spend a few weeks at other locations in the East, connecting with family and friends, before closing out the month at EDUCAUSE in Nashville. If you’ll be there, please message me so we can arrange a time to connect!
I am an executive coach and life coach with software executive roots in higher education and EdTech. I coach because I love to help others accelerate their growth as leaders and humans. I frequently write about #management, #leadership, #coaching, #neuroscience, and #arete.
If you would like to learn more, schedule time with me.
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