I happen to be heavily involved in a
book about followership as it pertains to leadership and one of the
principles we’ve been discussing lately is that those in the
followership role have an obligation to step forward and challenge the
leader when necessary. This line of thinking spurred an exceptional
vision call that I had with our team last Friday that centered around
them challenging me more. Often times I have felt like my team is
reluctant to challenge me because I am the boss, because I sign the
checks. And while I would love to say that I have all the answers, I
simply don’t.  I’m really making this up as I go. Aren’t we all???

The analogy I used to help my team to better understand my position
was another film analogy.  Something I learned as a filmmaker is that
if a director is dictatorial in nature, he creates a product that is
only as good as himself. But if a director works to serve and nurture
the department heads around him, they will take care of his film and
create a product that is truly exceptional and complex; and ultimately
far more incredible than anything the director could have accomplished
on his own.

When I challenged my team to come forward and tell me what I was
doing to get in their way, we found that a common issue among a few of
them was micromanagement–feeling like I was over their shoulder. Simply
having the conversation allowed me to invite them to challenge me in
the moment the next time I was behaving in such ways with each of
them.  Everyone feels things like this differently and this will give
them an opportunity to help me to help each of them specifically.

Ultimately what I needed to do was give them permission to step into
that leadership role and ask for what they need to do their jobs better
and enjoy their time more. They needed an invitation. Some might say
that they should have taken the initiative themselves, and I certainly
would have respected it if they had; however, such issues are complex
for employees and it takes time to build a certain level of trust and
comfortability. Some of my staff have been with me for three years now
and they understand that this company is like my child, and they
respect that; so it is not that they feared for their jobs as much as
the dialogue that they were having in their heads was that I had the
right to behave in such a way.  It took me inviting the criticism to
help them to understand their role in the system.  I want this company
to be a machine that is created by all of these talented people pushing
for what they feel is most important. That only happens when there is
an environment where pushing back is acceptable, appreciated, and
rewarded.  Consider your environment and whether or not you are leading
your company to be as good as you alone can be, or as great as it can
be with the exponential benefit of the greatest assets of each and
every member of your staff.