Teachability at a Large Level

I believe this with all my heart. If we can keep the leader growing, the organization they lead wins, other leaders around them win and the people they serve, win. And the key to a leader getting better is found in the presence of teachability in their life.

However, here’s the secret of teachability in a leadership context…

The most valuable people to help you grow are those who work with you everyday.

This means our team. They are the ones who know us best and can see our quirks and blind spots in the leadership context. However, the larger an organization grows, the more difficult it is for the leader at the top to remain teachable. Not because of a lack of desire, in most cases, but because the world has changed.

There is an invisible magic line in organizational life where a leader goes from being a “Normal Leader” at the table to being a “Large Leader.” “Large Leaders” are perceived differently by their team around them. Its just an organizational fact of life.

Suddenly, what used to be easy, effortless conversations about a leader’s blind spots become infinitely more difficult to have with a “Large Leader.” Why does that happen? And what can a “Large Leader” do about it?

3 Reasons Why:

1. “Large Leaders” are perceived to be a little bit “Larger than Life.”

When an organization grows and reaches a certain size, the leader of that organization takes on a bit of a “Rock Star” status in the eyes of people and team members. It’s just an inevitability. It’s not bad, it’s just reality. And in most cases its not something a “Large Leader” desires or wants to happen, it just does. But this presents a difficult reality for maintaining teachability for a “Large Leader.” Teammates who at one time could walk in and say things that helped keep the leader accurately grounded, feel like they have to be a bit more guarded in their words or protective.

2. People want to “Please you.”

At the end of the day, the majority of people who serve in your organization want to “please you.” Said another way, they want to know the vision, run the plays and paint the picture you see in your mind’s eye for your organization. However, when it comes to the teachability of a “Large Leader,” hearing honest feedback becomes more difficult the bigger an organization gets.
Wise team members understand the pressures on their leader at this level. The see the stress in their eyes. They know how busy they are. So the last thing they want to be is the “nagging” or “nitpicking” voice pointing out an area in a leader’s life or leadership that could use some attention.

3. Your Voice is Amplified.

A wise friend and mentor told me several years ago, “When your organization gets big, you have to understand that your whispers are heard as shouts,” to the people you lead. I can’t even begin to tell you how true this is! I have learned this the hard way over the last couple of years. As a “Large Leader” if I walk into a room and ask a simple question about the light fixtures, by next week people will be ripping them out and replacing them, if I’m not careful.
The bigger your organization grows, the more amplified a “Large Leader’s” words become. This means there will be times where you think you’re just having open dialogue, but in your team’s mind, they are hearing something completely different and much louder.

So what do we do?

How can a “Large Leader” position themselves to get feedback from those who are closest to them?

4 Ideas on how a “Large Leader” can Remain Teachable:

1. Invite It.

Unless we invite feedback, it will not happen. Our teams are not going to go out of their way to tell us what they see in our blind spots unless we proactively ask. My recommendation is to build a culture where feedback is expected, sought out and highly valued. And as the leader at the top, you must model that for your team. Our teams will be as teachable as we are. This means, leaders, we must go over and above to keep inviting feedback from those around us. Even when we don’t think we need it. And especially when we don’t think we want it.
Get in the habit of inviting feedback in the big and the small. When it becomes a habit, it will become part of the leadership culture of your organization.

2. Listen Intuitively.

I would be willing to bet that feedback concerning our blind spots exists in the meetings we are in, throughout the week. However, the majority of the time, we miss it. Leaders, this is where we need to keep our intuitive ears up and open to see and hear what is being insinuated and what isn’t being said because we’re in the room. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, there are things my team doesn’t say because I’m in the room during certain meetings.
Don’t we owe it to ourselves to know what it is and why our team feels its best to not mention it? And let me say, I’m not talking about destructive or divisive things, not at all. There are certain details we don’t need to know about because it will cause us to spend emotional energy our team knows we need to be spending on higher level things.
However, I would be willing to bet there are a few areas your team guards from the conversation because they are particular hot buttons for us or are areas in our blind spot. Come on leaders, we’ve got to humble ourselves, listen and intuit what those areas are and attempt to grow there.

3. Shun Selective Teachability.

If you ever find yourself thinking or saying, “That’s just the way it is. That’s what I believe. That’s a fact. And its not open for discussion.” Then that’s probably an area you have selectively declared, “Off-Limits.”
And we are the biggest fool in the room, if we think our team doesn’t know exactly what those areas are. Where are you particularly dogmatic about something? Is it doctrine for you, or dogma? As “Large Leaders” we must be careful not to make doctrines out of dogmas. A doctrine is a biblical imperative. A dogma is a personal preference. “Large Leaders” are capable of making dogmas into doctrines that will keep our teams from being able to speak perspective into our blind spots.
We must fight against that with everything within us. Come on leaders, there’s too much at stake for us to allow our dogmas to get in the way of the mission of the organization we lead.

4. Refuse to “Get Loud” to win.

As “Large Leaders” we have an extra card in our hand in most meetings. Unfortunately, we leaders think its a trump card, when in reality its a Joker card that will erode our credibility long term. That card is the “Get Loud” or “Get Big” card. When something is being said we don’t agree with or want to talk about, a “Large Leader” can feel the temptation to simply leverage their “Largeness” and shut the whole thing down. We do this when we raise our voice, sharpen our tone or “get big” at the table.

In spiritual circles we are tempted to take it one level further with the, “God Card.” Spiritual leaders, when we play the “God Card” we undermine our team’s voice in a huge way. After all, why should they think creatively, push hard, enter the discussion and participate when at any moment, we’re just going to throw down the “God Card” and trump all their ideas and do what we want anyway?
Many great organizations have had their potential sabotaged because of a leader who “Got Big,” got their way and then led the organization only as far as his insecurity and lack of teachability would take it.

If you are a “Large Leader” congratulations, you’ve reached a place many others aspire to be. However, you’re going to have to work 3 times as hard to be teachable at this level. Remember, your team loves you and wants you to become the best possible leader you can be for everyone’s sake. Open yourself up to them, invite them in, and watch what happens.

Challenge:

Have a conversation with 3 people on your team this week and ask them to give you 3 areas where they think you could do better in your leadership. Don’t fight back. Embrace what they tell you. And at the end of it, thank them for their feedback and tell them you want to be the model for teachability in this organization. Then give them a gift card to take their spouse to dinner.

Watch what happens next…

That’s the power of teachability. It really is the Key to Everything…

#AddingValue

@MatthewKeller