This week while watching my favourite TV program, Location, Location, Location, it struck me that if LLL is the secret to smart real esate, then the secret to smart latteleadership is engage, engage, engage.
The real kind. Not the gather round for treats on a Friday afternoon at 3pm kind of engagement. Latteleaders engage their teams, constantly. Ongoing. All the time. Everday. I had a friend who lived in a very posh apartment building at Avenue Rd and Lawrence some years ago. My friend was a struggling writer who held a day job in a large financial insititution to pay the posh rent on the posh apartment. One day she met a fellow resident, clearly well to do, clearly not a struggling writer with a day job. As they chatted while waiting for the elevator, the resident asked my friend if she was going to work. As my friend confirmed she was indeed on her way to work, the response from the resident was a resounding ‘good for you dear’ followed by the rather puzzling question of ‘everyday dear? do you work everyday?’. This is of course a lesson in life, and the lesson here for the latteleaders is that leadership is what we do. Everyday. You don’t just do it on Fridays. Your team look to you everyday for leadership and you need to engage them everyday. Oh and not through more emails. How many of us are trying to lead a team through emails. Give it up my friends, your team do not need another note from you. They need dialogue, context, communciation, trust, loyalty and belief. And you need to be authentic. If baking is your thing then the Friday treats might work for you. If it isn’t, it won’t.
This week I read the ‘Future of Management’, which is a wonderful book by Gary Hamel, and a must read for every latteleader. One of the many take -aways from Hamel’s book for me is the reminder about McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y management styles. The big revelation for me on reading this is that I am a Theory Y leader in a Theory X organization. I’ve always known I was a Theory Y leader, but recognizing that I have been struggling with this in an organization where the prevailing culture is Theory X was a breakthrough. I tried for a while to modify my style, actually subconsciously, hence I barely noticed the misfit, and naturally it did not work. No results, no success, and no smiling – trust me I did not smile for 6 months. I’ve taken back control and am practising my usual Theory Y style. I decided the struggle to fit with the organization is better than the struggle to fit with myself. I am now an authentic, Theory Y leader and I believe I even cracked a smile last Saturday….actually when I saw the month end sales….
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