Do You Want Your Team Members To "just Get The Job Done"?
Some of the leaders I coach are simply too task-focused!
Well, being "too task-focused" is not exactly the real issue. It's that these leaders are insufficiently "people-focused". In their effort to get the job done they burn people up and consequently the job doesn't get done!
One leader I met a couple of years ago had a horrible nickname-"The Fireball". Yikes! That said something about the way he burned people up. As a consequence of his fiery behaviors, he was way "behind the eight ball" whenever he wanted to influence his team members or peers.
Highly task-focused leaders too frequently lose team members, and they find it enormously difficult to generate discretionary effort from their team members.
Both of these issues are huge costs to an organization. For example, I recently spoke to a Human Resource Manager who was dealing with an industrial issue that had "suddenly" flared up. I bet that a leader who was too task-focused was a part of that situation somewhere or other.
It's Not An Either-Or Situation.
It really, really bothers me when I see behavioral models that put task and people focus on one continuum.
That doesn't make sense from where I sit. People orientation and task orientation aren't mutually exclusive opposites. You know people who have a good dose of both, don't you?
In fact, if you're an exemplary leader you'll have a nice blend of task and people orientation. Rather than always opting for either a wired-in task or people preference, you behave in a contextually appropriate way, astutely attending to both matters.
How Do These "Balanced" Leaders Do It?
As I've inferred, some leaders are born with a natural inclination to attend equally to the person and the task-and most aren't born that way.
If you're highly task-focused, rather than being naturally task/people balanced, I suspect you can do with some steps to support you in behaving as an exemplary leader behaves.
Let's see how these two steps sit with you...
Step 1: Up your awareness.
Like most issues, being aware of what's actually going on is half the battle won.
I know you know that your team members aren't just robots without their own thoughts, feelings, desires, aspirations and goals. They are...people. People who are after engagement. People who don't appreciate it when they're brusquely given an order.
Just because you want something to be done pronto, doesn't mean they'll easily forgive your "command and control" manner.
Step 2: Hum a particular tune :-).
Remember that people's buy-in is almost always required to complete the task.
So your second step is to sing to the tune of...
"Money makes the world go round", "People get the task complete".
(I suggest you don't sing too loudly if there are people around :-).)
Keep on remembering that involving the other person, and building rapport, wins over "telling" any day.
The job's much more likely to get done effectively, with your team members using discretionary effort, when you take care of the people part of the equation.
Your Leadership Call To Action
If, and only if, you notice that you have a bit of a tendency to be somewhat task-focused, and if, and only if, you want to have...
-More impact and better results from your interactions with others
-More influence with your team members and peers
-More buy-in and discretionary effort from your team members...
...all in the interests of better productivity and enhanced business results, I recommend that you consciously apply the above steps consistently, every hour of every day, certainly every single time you embark on a new task.
Then once you've habituated the behavior, you can relax and let your unconsciousness support you in taking this big step towards exemplary leadership :-).
It really can be as easy as it sounds... provided you're highly, highly focused.
by: Carolyn Stevens
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