Nick Chatrath is an entrepreneur, Managing Director and Master Executive Coach. He has worked for McKinsey and Company, been a business founder and a CEO. Nick has a DPhil from Oxford University and has co-authored a best-selling leadership book. He has coached MBA students, politicians, special forces soldiers and CEOs. In other words, he knows what he is talking about!

Apart from being a serial over-achiever, he is also my coach and friend! Here are some key lessons that I have learned from my discussions and coaching with Nick.

Leaders need to take time to reflect

When you speak to Nick you realise that being is at least as important as doing. In other words, thinking, working out your values, and your approach to life (not just work) are as important – if not more important – than your goals or your achievements.

Being this self-aware requires time. Time to reflect upon who we are and why we do things. Coaching plays a large part in creating time for reflection for leaders, and that creative process is one of the things that motivates Nick as a coach. I have seen first-hand the importance of this for myself and the leaders I coach.

One fascinating tool that Nick employs to encourage this sort of contemplation is ‘The Labyrinth’.

The Labyrinth

The Labyrinth is a reflective tool that takes clients on a journey to explore spiritual intelligence. The idea is based upon the labyrinths designed into old cathedrals, such as Chartres Cathedral in France. The labyrinth is a physical path or a track you follow, with stop-off points to allow reflection. The inspiration at each station could be a piece of text, an object, some music, or anything else that engages the senses and triggers the imagination. In this process, people can start to connect their ‘being’ to their ‘doing’ and deeply consider vital themes and ideas.

The Labyrinth effectively creates a mindful walk, which is something I have found one can replicate (if only in part) by being more mindful on a walk, no matter where you are. If you are anything like me, then generally you like to stride out and make progress when you walk. Taking time to pause can be almost physically painful! Therefore, it has become a discipline to stop, and use my senses on these types of walk.

If you want to try and do the same, you can try this. Go for a wander, it does not matter where, as long as you can avoid interruptions and choose some good places to stop and think. For example, to help you could:

• Pick up or touch a small object such as a pebble or leaf. How does it feel? How was it made, or how did it get there? What role does it play in the larger environment? Answer the same questions for yourself.
• Smell a blossom or fresh-cut grass. What memory does it invoke? What were you like then? How have you changed?
• Listen to the wind or some flowing water. How does that make you feel? Do you feel better or worse? How do you want to feel?

There are of course many other questions you could ask; these are just examples. You can be very specific if you want and use objects to think about an issue that is on your mind. On the other hand, sometimes the best results come from just meditating on the object and letting the thoughts come on their own.

Find a leadership model that works for you

“All models are wrong, but some are useful.”

George E P Box

No model or approach is perfect, but they can be instructive. Therefore, find a leadership model that works for you – relevant to your experience – and then apply it.

One leadership approach that Nick favours is ‘Healthy Leadership’. Healthy leadership is a model based on work by Keller and Price (of McKinsey and Company, and authors of Beyond Performance) to maximise organisational performance and health.

Healthy leadership looks to keep a balance between the performance needs of the company and supporting the needs of the individual within the organisation. By contrast, an unhealthy organisation has these things out of balance and will start to fail.

Leaders help others to flourish

When things are in balance, organisations succeed, and people flourish. So, good leaders maintain the balance and help people flourish. This approach to leadership – one that promotes human flourishing – is motivated by wanting to help others.

Leadership is not just about executing a vision; it’s about fostering an environment where others can do their finest thinking and finest work. A coaching, less directive approach to leadership, gives the opportunity to help people flourish and have an impact, as a leader, through the success of others. You don’t have to be a professional coach to take this sort of approach. You just need to care about the people you lead and truly want them to succeed in life and work.

One simple way to start is by asking more questions. The next time you see a colleague or employee don’t make a statement, ask a question instead. And I don’t mean a pointed question such as ‘where is the work I asked for?’ or ‘why didn’t you do what I asked?’ I mean questions that build empathy and understanding such as ‘what are you working on?’ or ‘what challenges are you facing today?’

Acts of leadership are more important than leadership roles

Here is a challenging thought: Perhaps there are no leaders, just acts of leadership.

We often think about leadership as a role, but this misses out on large aspects of what leadership really is.

Thinking about leadership as what we do and how we do it (rather than just the role we fulfil) is a releasing concept, as it empowers us all. We can all be leaders in this sense, no matter how many people are following us when we look over our shoulder.

Don’t worry about the official number of people that you directly manage, or at least don’t make that your primary measure. If you are a pioneer, you may not have any people follow you immediately. Equally, in your situation, you may just be leading yourself. That is not a problem as leading yourself effectively is foundational to leading others well.

What matters is what you do and how you do it. Whatever your measure of influence, use it well. Take responsibility for your actions and make a positive impact.

Leadership is impact

Why are leadership acts more important than leadership roles? Because leadership is impact. It is the difference you make in people and in the world.

This impact is manifest in various spheres for example:

• Self or an individual
• A team, or community
• In a larger organisation, network, or society

We all have some level of influence in these different spheres. What you do with that influence is more important than how much power you think you have.

Leaders are servants (but not slaves)

Serving others can be counter-cultural. Western culture can be very individualist and self-absorbed. Leadership in this setting can be expressed as a cult, centred on an individual. We all know of famous sports coaches hired to magically turn a team around, or celebrity CEOs, parachuted in to boost the share price. Leaders trying to emulate this type of model can wrongly try to be the hero or the saviour in their situation.

This misses the point that leadership is service. Good leaders value the people they lead. It is about valuing the whole person – which in turn comes back to the idea of leaders ensuring that people flourish.

“Serve to Lead”

Motto of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

The paradox of servant leadership is that good servant leaders nurture themselves as well as others. They are not slaves to other’s needs or whims. It’s also not selfish to lead yourself well. You need to lead yourself effectively if you are going to lead others.

For example, if you put in long hours, just because you think you should, you will miss out on rest, exercise, and proper food. That will soon reduce your energy levels and emotional resilience. This in turn will reduce your ability to make decisions and reduce your effectiveness as a leader. Serving others may be about sacrifice at times but it is not about being a pointless martyr.

Leaders create the right environment 

Leaders create an environment where people thrive. Research has shown that this is a place of emotional safety. A place where people feel secure and supported.

The Thinking Environment is a way to create this sort of environment. The approach was pioneered by Nancy Kline (author of Time to Think) and is based on the premise that the quality of our decisions and our actions is driven by the quality of our thinking.

Leaders can negatively affect thinking and they often do. For example, they can interrupt. How many times have you been interrupted by a manager or senior in a meeting? How many times have you been that person, cutting in on someone you lead?

Don’t Interrupt

Research has shown that interruptions increase adrenaline and a fight or flight response. If we are reacting to a threat, we do not have the space to do our best thinking.

Creativity and innovation come from creating an environment where people can think and share, without fear of being shot down. We should all be fascinated by what others have to say (rather than just trying to put our points across). This is even more important as leaders.

This is counter-cultural though and therefore it takes courage for leaders to create this sort of environment.

One classic example is in meetings, as mentioned earlier. People make the mistake of interrupting because they want to get things done but ironically, letting people speak can save time as people are understood and heard without needing to repeat themselves. If being succinct is also agreed as a ground-rule, then you can transform the productivity of meetings.

Leaders often think they need to be the hero in the situation and save people with their insight or contribution. It takes humility to realise this is not the most effective way to operate. People are also much more motivated when they own the idea or the way to execute a task. Every coach knows this.

Real leadership stories are as important as theoretical leadership models

Stories are key to learning. We share experiences with each other (exactly as I am doing now) so we can gain from other peoples’ know-how and insights, even their mistakes. This practice is especially important for leaders and can often be forgotten when people are chasing after the next great leadership approach or theory. Leadership models are useful, but mostly because they help us investigate and understand the actions of ourselves and others.

The models themselves are generally born out of experience and practice, and this can be seen in the book Musings on Leadership. Nick is co-author of this best-selling book with Tor Mesoy. It is an anthology of short stories and anecdotes, real-life experiences and lessons from different domains of life and leadership. I can attest to the fact that it is a very enjoyable and accessible book; the sort of thing you can easily dip into and read a chapter on a commute.

Leaders are good at prioritisation and time management

One lesson that Nick shares in Musing on Leadership about how to prioritise and manage your time well. These skills are key to any leader and come back to the point that we need to manage ourselves well before we manage others. Nick shares some simple process and tactics for setting priorities and managing time.

Managing your to-do list

For example, if you are creating a to-do list then follow these steps:

• Make your long list of tasks
  • Then make a shortlist of what you are going to achieve the next day and
  • Next, assign time windows to each task
  • Then put it in your diary

It is important that you follow all these steps because unless you set aside the time, you are likely to never get things done. Or, you could miss the most important things, which brings us on to the next productivity hack.

The secret of prioritisation

The secret of prioritisation is simple: do the most important thing first.

That means don’t check your email or your phone until you have achieved that task! If you set your priorities in this way, it means you are much less likely to be distracted and however the rest of the day goes, you will have done the most important thing.

This concept is sometimes called ‘Be More Steve’ after Steve Jobs who advised that you should always focus on the one thing you can do, on any given day, that takes you closer to success. That task may not always be something you want to do. Hence the phrase ‘Eat that Frog’ coined by leadership guru Brian Tracy.

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If you would like the interview I recorded with Nick then check out this podcast episode from The Right Questions Podcast.

Here is a challenging thought: what if there are no leaders, just acts of leadership?

We often think about leadership as a role, but maybe this designation misses out on large aspects of what leadership really is.

It makes us question how we define a leader. What is leadership? Is it an identity, a measure of influence or the impact we have?

Leadership as identity

So what? What if there is no such thing as a leader?

The first time I heard this, everything inside cried out no! There was a rebellion at the very idea. After all, I am a leader. And if I am not a leader, what am I?

And in some ways, that’s the point.

As leaders, the threat of losing our role, position or title can be discomforting. So much of our identity is tied up with the names we give ourselves. We make the mistake of measuring our self-worth by our position and power.

Thinking about leadership not as who we are, but rather as what we do and how we do it is a releasing concept, as it empowers us all. We can all be leaders in this sense, no matter how many people are following us when we look over our shoulder.

So, don’t worry about the official number of people that you directly manage, or at least don’t make that your primary measure.

Anyway, if you are a pioneer, you may not have any people follow you immediately. Equally, in your situation, you may be on your own and just be leading yourself. That is not a problem. Leading yourself effectively is foundational to leading others well.

Leadership is influence

My favourite definition of leadership is simply that it is influence. I like it because it is simple and is one of the few definitions that can encompass the many and various manifestations of leadership, be that leading teams, self-leadership, thought leadership, and so on.

Influence is related to power, the terms are almost synonymous, but power tends to lead to negative connotations. Power conjures up the idea of hierarchy’s, the haves and haves-not, of abuses of power, or powerlessness.

What matters is what you do and how you do it. Whatever your measure of influence, use it well. Take responsibility for your actions and make a positive impact.

Leadership is impact

Why are leadership acts more important than roles? Because leadership is impact. It is the difference you make to people and to the world.

This impact is manifest in various spheres for example:

• Self or an individual
• A team, or community
• In a larger organisation, network, or society

We all have some level of influence in these different spheres. What you do with that influence is more important than how much power you think you have.

So, we need to ask ourselves: what is the impact we want to have on the people we interact with? What difference do we want to make in the world?

Leadership is…

It is hard to get away from leadership being part of our identity. We have language, we name things, to help us make sense of the world. We also have a role to play in every situation, every team and tribe that we belong to. We might well be that leader.

But let us not mix up titles with worth. Being a leader is about influence, about how we can create change in the world. The way we choose to use our influence defines the nature and measure of the impact that we have. That impact is our legacy as leaders, and that is what will matter, hopefully, way beyond the time we cling on to any title we might have.

So, it may be that there are both leaders and acts of leadership, but perhaps we should judge the former on the latter.

If you do not understand the true meaning of power, then you could be undermining your success. Studies show that you could well be wrong about the concept of power. Answer these two questions and you will see:

1. Do you think you are powerful?
2. If you had more power, would you use it well?

Hold that thought and read on. Whether you are thinking correctly about power is largely dependent upon the answers to these two questions.

You are likely to have answered no to the first question. To the second question you are likely to have answered yes. If so, then evidence suggests that you are probably wrong on both counts.

Do you think you are powerful?

Before we decide if we are actually powerful or not let’s just confirm what we are talking about. Power can be defined as:

“the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events”

This definition is important to remember. We may not feel powerful, but we all have the ability to influence others and our situation. The problem is we often think of power in terms of what we don’t have rather than what we do have. We think we could change things if we had a little more. A little more power, a little more money, a little more seniority at work.

The reality is that we actually just need to get better using what we already have. As Mother Teresa puts it:

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Mother Teresa

What would it be like to be powerful?

When you hear the word ‘leader’ what picture first comes to mind?

Studies has shown that it is very likely you will imagine someone in control, telling people what to do. It is also likely that you are picturing a man rather than a woman (Badura, Grijalva).

If you are picturing a man, it is also likely that you picture someone who is dominating their situation (Bartol), coercing others through force – be that physical or psychological. This is due to the negative stereotypes of power in our culture.

It is strange that these stereotypes are so pervasive, even today. We all know there is a problem with having too much power. As Baron Acton puts it:

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…”

John Dalberg-Acton

The corrupting influence of power

But then we hit another problem. We would all like to think that we would not do the same, that we would not be corrupted by power. Unfortunately, the evidence is against us.

Many famous studies have shown that we are all susceptible, no matter what our age, colour or creed. Jane Elliot did an experiment in 1968 to show the dangers of race discrimination with her class, giving preferential treatment to children based on the colour of their eyes. Brown-eyed and blue-eyed children took in in turn to rule over their peers. Negative behaviours were quick to set in. Children started to discriminate against classmates who had been friends just moments before.

In the equally famous university study, the Stanford Prison Experiment, students played either prison officers or prisoners. The experiment had to be abandoned after just six days. Those assigned as guards started to lose their empathy. The guards started to use force and subjected the assigned inmates to psychological torture. It was amazing how quickly intelligent, idealistic students lost their moral compass.

There are many more such experiments, as well as real life horror stories such as Abu Ghraib, that should serve as a warning to us all. None of us are immune from the potential abuses of power.

I can also speak to this from personal experience.

The Tiny Tyrant and My Part in His Downfall

The Author as a Cub Scout

Don’t be fooled by the smile, this is the face of a tiny tyrant. How do I know? Because it was me. This was me early on in my leadership journey and I did not make a good start, as we shall see.

Despite not being the ‘Great Man’ or born to leadership (see my previous post), my early leadership attempts were shaped by the notion of a leader who needs to control and dominate those around him. What I wanted was:

“the ability to impress the will of the leader (me) on those led and induce obedience, respect, loyalty, and cooperation”

B V Moore

One of the first official leadership roles I was given was around the age of 10 when I was made a ‘Sixer’ in Cub Scouts. This meant I was the leader of six other (unfortunate) children aged 8-10. Much to my shame, I thought that my power should reside in respect for my position, backed up with the threat of force to keep my team in line. First point to note: I was a skinny child who struggled to stand up in a strong wind at that age, so this did not come naturally.

One of my responsibilities was to organise my team and get them on parade in order to have our kit inspected at the beginning of an evening. To do this I would threaten to karate kick anyone who would step out of line. Second point to note: I didn’t know karate as much as I didn’t know how to lead.

Cub Scouts have got it right

At this point, as I sit here in my embarrassment, let me make this public apology to all who had to suffer under my short and ineffective reign as a tiny tyrant. At that point I failed to uphold the law of the Cub Scout, a law that could serve us well in all walks of life:

“Cub Scouts always do their best, think of others before themselves. and do a good turn every day”

Scouting UK

What I was doing aged 10, was leveraging the tiny role I had, and what little physical advantage I could muster, to ensure compliance. This was mainly born out of my own weakness and fear. It was – and still is – a counterproductive way to lead.

The Cub Scout motto holds a deeper truth. The appropriate use of whatever power we have is having a positive influence on others and the world.

Don’t be a control freak

Unfortunately, we can probably all bring to mind examples of adults who fit this tyrannical model. Do you know a manager who loves to throw their weight around, to exert their position of power and flex what little decision-making ability they have? How about an insecure team leader who threatens, bullies and coerces their subordinates, while also seeking the approval of those above them?

But coercion is generally a short-lived strategy. The more we seek to control the more we will struggle. As Princess Leia pointed out to the evil Tarkin in Star Wars:

“The more you tighten your grip Tarkin, the more (star systems) will slip through your fingers”

Star Wars

Don’t try to control everything and everybody. It is counterproductive.

Creating an environment where people flourish

I learnt from my early experiences. I went on to be an officer in the Army and when they hear that many people expect me to be a leader who shouts at people and tells them what to do.

Leadership is influence (Maxwell) but our legacy as leaders depends as much on how we achieved things as what we achieve. Leadership is not about controlling and dominating – it is about questioning things and empowering others.

Success is not just about winning. It is just as much about how you achieve your goals. And if you want to have a team who can succeed, then as the Google team-work study showed, a manager needs to provide an environment of psychological safety above all else. In other words, a place where people are not afraid to experiment, take risks and occasionally make mistakes.

You have power, use it, but use it well

So, if you are faced with a problem today, don’t immediately try to dominate the situation and enforce your solution. Try asking some questions. Understand the problem and other potential solutions first.

And if you need someone to do something for you, don’t just tell them to do it, think about how you can help them to achieve it. What information or resources can you provide to empower them?

Try this new approach to leadership and power. I think you will like it, and the people you work with, they definitely will.

If you would like access to some bonus content and get updates then please do sign up to my email list.

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References

Badura, K L; Grijalva, E (2018) Gender and leadership emergence: A meta‐analysis and explanatory model, Personnel Psychology; Vol 71(3), 335-367

Bartol, K. M. (1974) Male versus female leaders: The effect of leader need for dominance on follower satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 17(2), 225–233.

Bloom, S G (2005) Lesson of a Lifetime, Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lesson-of-a-lifetime-72754306/

Lucas, G (1977) Star Wars: A New Hope, 20^th Century Fox

Maxwell, John C (1998) The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Nashville: Thomas Nelson

Moore, B V (1927) The May Conference on Leadership, Personnel Journal, 6, 124-128

Oxford Languages (2021) Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press: Oxford

Rozovsky, J (2015) The Five Keys to a Successful Google Team, Re:Work

Scouts, https://www.scouts.org.uk

Zimbardo P G (1971) The Stanford Prison Experiment, Stanford University

I was just savouring a coffee from my newly purchased coffee maker when a wide-eyed and out of breath soldier stumbled into my makeshift office. My cup was poised in my hand – the aroma was fantastic – and the thought of drinking it was more alluring than anything I could imagine that this solider might interrupt me with. This had better be good, I thought.

“Sir! The guards think there is a bomb at the gates to the camp!”

I put the cup down; coffee time was over.

How do you make important decisions?

Let’s pause the story for a moment so I can ask you a question:

What is the most important decision you have ever made?

The most important decisions are generally not the critical, life threatening type. More likely it was choosing your school, selecting your career, buying a house, or committing to your life partner. How did you make that decision? Was it the right decision? (If you are sitting next to your spouse don’t feel you need to answer that last one just now).

As well as those big life decisions, how about the myriad of smaller decisions we have to make every day. What about those? What process (if any) did you use to make your choice? Every day we are all expected to make hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions. Research has shown we probably make more than 200 decisions a day relating to food alone (Wansink, Sobal). Yet, weirdly, despite all these decisions, very few people ever receive formal training in decision making.

Crawl, walk, run

For me it’s a bit like running.

Everyone just expects people to know how to run. For those of us blessed with full health and mobility it is a natural progression. We crawl, we walk, we run. Simple right?

But if you really want to improve your running you need to train. It was not until I started running ultra-marathons that I really started taking my running training seriously. As I did, I become more aware of the technical aspects of running such as breathing, foot fall, cadence and pace. It was only then, when I broke down my technique, I realized that I had been doing so many things wrong for so many years.

Such is the way with decision making. If you want to get better at making decisions you need to practice, but you must also understand some of the fundamentals of how choices are made.

The science and art of decision making

I started out my career as a Bomb Disposal Officer in the Army. From there I have gone on to lead in various contexts, often in some of the most challenging and hostile environments on the planet. This knowledge and experience, coupled with my love of learning, has led me to develop decision making tools that I teach, particularly to the leaders that I coach.

This is because a large part of being a leader is about making decisions. Effective leadership is dependent upon making good decisions.

The foundation of all my work is asking questions. Questions unlock understanding and understanding is a foundation of good decision making. One of my favourite quotes by Francis Bacon illustrates this:

“A prudent question is one half of wisdom.”

Francis Bacon

So, what are the right questions? This is a question I have been exploring for my whole career. I want to share with you some of the insights I have discovered on this journey over the past 20 years. My hope is that after reading this I can impart a small gift, a simple tool, to help you. Something that you need never forget and can assist you in your future choices and plans. My promise to you is a guarantee that you will be able to remember the framework. And that is because you already know it. All I am going to do is help you apply that framework.

Sound good?

Why do we need to ask the right questions?

Good questions are essential if we want to get the right information.

If we don’t ask the right questions, we won’t get the answers we need. Without the necessary information, we won’t be able to make good decisions. If we don’t make good decisions, we can lose our direction, fail in our leadership, and can end up ineffective, unhappy or worse.

As I mentioned previously, I found out how important questions are early on in my career as a Bomb Disposal Officer.

Nasty surprises

As I put my coffee down and walked out of the office, I asked my first question:

“What do you mean by a bomb?”

“There is a suspicious package, the guards think it could be a bomb.” was the reply.

It was Bosnia in 2001, and I was a young Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers leading the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (bomb disposal) team in the local region. The conflict in Bosnia had ended some time ago and we were there primarily to clear up the mess that a war leaves behind, namely the mines, mortar bombs and other explosives that littered the countryside. But in the post 9/11 world, the threat of terrorist attack was at the forefront of people’s minds. In this context, an unexplained bag, right up against the front gates of a military camp, was screaming out ‘IED!’ (Improvised Explosive Device) and required immediate and serious attention.

Red wire or blue wire?

Therefore, I went to take control of the scene and do an initial threat assessment. I met the guard commander and asked him some questions such as:

Where exactly was the package?

What did it look like?

Who had seen it first?

When had it been found?

Why was it suspicious?

How had it got there?

Very quickly a picture emerged that put my mind at ease. One of the guards had seen an old and infirm lady dropping off the parcel. Upon questioning the local interpreters, I found out that this lady was well known to them (as she was a little eccentric) and that she had made similar deliveries before. It was more than likely that this was just a gift for the soldiers. A short trip to visit the lady at her house confirmed that yes, she had just dropped off some biscuits for the troops. It just so happened that she thought that dropping off a ‘surprise’ in an unmarked bag, unannounced, at the front gate to a military base was a good thing to do!

After establishing all of this I was able to go back, safely deal with the package (no, I didn’t eat or blow up the biscuits), give the all-clear and return the security levels to normal. I thanked the lady for the kind thought and gift but asked her to refrain from such ‘surprise’ generosity in the future.

So, the right question was not ‘do we cut the red or the blue wire?’ In fact, the right questions were not technical ones at all.

The importance of questions

When you consider your life is under threat then it is very important to properly assess a situation. You have to overcome the ‘fight or flight’ response and use the decision space – the gap between stimulus and response – to work out what to do. In the time given you have to make an assessment. Asking the right questions and getting the right answers is essential before launching into action.

The military, the emergency services and medical services know this and train personnel in decision making. By employing decision making processes and then applying these first in exercises and in real-life situations, personnel can build up experience and become expert decision-makers. A good methodology coupled with experience and can help to make quick, effective decisions even in high-risk environments (Klein).

Outside of careers that deal with life-threatening situations very few people get training in asking questions and making decisions. This is despite the fact that numerous studies show that these competencies are essential to employers, particularly for leaders and managers (Harrell, Barbato). The need for decision making in leaders is often expressed in other terms such as:

• The need for analysing and overcoming problems (Zenger, Folkman)
• Taking the initiative (Maxwell)
• Setting direction and goals (Giles)
• Prioritisation (Tracy)
• Or having a clear vision and strategy (Kotter)

But all these things are related to, or dependent upon, good decision making.

Do we need decision making tools?

We generally take decision making for granted. After all, we each make thousands of choices every day, some conscious, some unconscious, and rarely need to apply more than our intuition to a decision. But there is a problem. Research, particularly by influential figures such as Daniel Kahneman, has demonstrated that our intuition is amazing, but it has limits.

Therefore, understanding decision making and how to make good decisions is critical to all of us, and good decision making starts with good questions. After all, as John Dewey says:

“A problem well put is half solved.”

John Dewey

The problem with many processes and tools, including those used for decision making, is that they are often non-intuitive and hard to remember. That is why we should start with what we already know and structures that are already embedded.

Start with the questions you already know

When I was training as a Bomb Disposal Officer we were taught a question technique called the ‘Five Ws’ which we used when we approached an incident. The ‘Five Ws’ is an interrogative style employed primarily by journalists and police officers, but it is a framework that can be used by anyone to make an appreciation of a given situation.

The Five Ws are:

• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Who?
• Why?

To this list ‘how?’ is also usually added. This ‘5Ws and an H’ provides an easy to remember checklist that is a useful starting point towards building a quick but rounded picture of a situation.

The idea is that by using the 5 Ws to construct open questions you are more likely to get factual answers and more information while avoiding presuppositions. This is in contrast to closed questions, that have just yes or no answers, or leading questions that push people down a certain line of thinking.

Using interrogatives

As I have done further research into question technique and applied the principles in my work, I have found that it is also useful to add another ‘W’ – that of ‘which?’ – to the list. The ‘which?’ question covers the concept of selection or choice and therefore helps to inspire options and to consider risk. This helps to complete the decision-making cycle, particularly when we are planning for the future, not just examining an event that has already happened.

This makes seven questions in a total and creates an easily remembered framework. It’s easy to recall as its based upon the most common interrogative words that we use in English. The methodology easily translates into other languages too. Seven is also a handy number as we find it harder to recall lists above seven or eight items (Buzan).

The application of the interrogatives provides a holistic approach to analysing a situation and making an informed decision. The use and application of these seven open questions is a technique I have dubbed ‘The Right Questions’, inspired by the question I had started with.

Applying The Right Questions

Simplicity is a large part of the system’s strength. But, as with any tool or model, the technique is only as good as its application and it is this application of the questions that we will start to look at here.

My experience of working as a coach and consultant has taught me that The Right Questions approach can be applied to everything from life direction and personal vision, to corporate strategy and organisational change.

The table below outlines the purpose and application of each interrogative word in sequence:

Interrogative	Use	Application
Why	Reason	Values, principles, priorities, passions
Where	Place	Situation (past and present), vision
What	Thing	Mission, end-state, success
Which	Selection	Options, courses of action, risks, reflection
How	Manner	Plan, route, tasks, resources
Who	Person	Self, team, network, relationships
When	Time	Timing, programming, prioritisation

When you learn how to apply the system it is very flexible. My starting point when faced with a challenge – whether it is developing a business case, starting a project, or writing an article – will be to write down the seven Right Questions (often as a mind-map) and start to brainstorm and explore my thoughts under each heading.

After trying this you can also experiment with using the system as a decision-making cycle. My experience over the years has shown that most effective order is as follows:

I agree with Simon Sinek that we should ‘Start with Why’ when approaching any problem. Asking the ‘where’ and ‘what’ questions then help to frame the problem before moving on to the ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘who’ elements that are most helpful in developing a plan.

The ‘which’ question then serves as an inflection point between these two loops. Asking the which question helps to identify different courses of actions that can be considered in the planning loop. It may also highlight risks and assumptions that send us back to the framing questions once again.

Putting decision making theory into practice

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

Albert Einstein

Having just read this last section you may be thinking that the process no longer seems so simple. Don’t worry! The best thing to do now is immediately put the basics of the process into practice.

Start with something easy. What do you have to do today? Take any one task or decision – be that as simple as composing an email, planning a party or even just going to the shops – and start by writing down the seven interrogative questions. Use these to make sure you understand why you need to achieve the task and then how you are going to do it. I promise it will help!

Done? Congratulations! You have taken the first step to becoming better at making decisions.

Now, as with the running analogy, you need to train regularly. Commit to experimenting with method, perhaps for one task every day for the next week. Once you have used it a couple of times try and apply it to a more complicated issue or more important decision.

If you struggle don’t be disheartened. You don’t go from the couch to running marathons in one week. Instead, enjoy the learning journey. If this has piqued your interest and you want to find out more then, explore some of the links above, or references listed below, in order to delve into more detail.

Happy decision-making!

If you would like access to some bonus content and get updates then please do sign up to my email list.

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References:

Buzan, T (2010) Use Your Head, London: BBC

Giles, S (2016) The Most Important Leadership Competencies, According to Leaders Around the World, Harvard Business Review

Harrell, M and Barato, L (2018) Great Managers Still Matter: The Evolution of Google’s Project Oxygen, Google/Re:work

Kahneman, D (2011) Thinking Fast and Slow, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Klein, G (1998) Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions, Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press

Kotter, J P (2012) Leading Change, Brighton: Harvard Business Review Press

Maxwell, J C (2007) The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, Nashville: Thomas Nelson

Sinek, S (2009) Start With Why, London: Penguin Books

Tracy, B (2010) How the Best Leaders Lead, New York: American Management Association

Wansink, B; Sobal, J (2007) Mindless Eating: The 200 Daily Food Decisions We Overlook, Environment and Behaviour, 39:1, 106-23

“Mindless Eating: The 200 Daily Food

Decisions We Overlook,” Environment and Behavior, 39:1 (January), 106-23

Zenger, J and Folkman, J (2014) The Skills Leaders Need at Every Level, Harvard Business Review

The action-centred leader style is a leadership model proposed by John Adair. It was the first conceptual leadership theory I remember being taught. I still recall the lesson I had on this in school and can picture the three interlocking circles, projected onto a screen, of ‘task, team and individual’ that sum up the model.

You may well already know this tool and if so, here is a refresher. If you have not come across this before then read on, it is a theory I highly recommend and still use as it is one you can easily apply in the workplace.

Adair’s place in leadership theory

The action-centred leadership approach is born of the skills and behavioural trends of management theory as it is based on the assumptions that leadership can be taught.

This means that an action-centred leadership style is closely linked to contingency and behavioural leadership theories that propose that what a leader does is more important than who they are. This contrasts with much earlier theories that supposed you needed to be born to leadership. Adair wrote before the idea of transformational leadership became popular, but that does not mean you should ignore his model.

The three core management responsibilities

The tool has served me well through my whole career and I love it because it is simple – and therefore easy to remember and apply – without being overly simplistic.

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

Albert Einstein

The most important lesson it has helped me with is balancing the needs of the following three core management responsibilities:

1. The Task – the defined goal or mission
2. The Team – managing the defined group selected to achieve the task
3. The Individual – making sure that each person who makes up the team and every role is considered and supported

The three circles

These three elements are best known in their Venn diagram form where they become interlocking circles.

This model demonstrates the need for a leader has to have an intimate understanding of each element in order to achieve success. Success is more than just the task. Achieving a project is much more of a journey of ups and downs as compared to what a simple plan might suggest.

There will be times, to ensure the final success of the task, you might need to prioritise support to one individual if they are struggling. At another time, if working to a tight deadline, the task will take precedent and the team may suffer a bit to get the project over the line. Knowing this helps the leader manage the balance over time.

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The PICSIE management and decision-making process

To complement these core responsibilities Adair also set out the core functions of a leader which can be remembered by the acronym ‘PICSIE’. These stand for:

• Plan – to define the goal, make a plan and assign resources
• Initiate – to communicate and start the task
• Control – to manage the team and measure progress
• Support – to support individuals and the team, through maintain morale,
• Inform – maintaining good communications internally and externally, providing insight
• Evaluate – assessing progress and success against the defined aims of the task

The astute among you will also see that this set of core functions also serves as a decision-making process. The process is effectively a loop where evaluation naturally leads back to another round of planning and so on.

Action-Centred Leadership: Keep it simple stupid

In the military people often used the acronym KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. In other words, don’t overcomplicate things.

John Adair really did create a useful but simple model. The action-centred leader style is one I put to good use even at school and went from the quietest person in my year to the dizzy heights of college prefect! That was just the start of my leadership journey.

Having this tool really helped me to start to grow as a leader, so, remember: “Who Adairs Wins!” No? Ok, but hopefully, you will remember the key elements of task, team and individual and use this tool!

What does a leader look like? What qualities or traits should they have? Commonly, people will say a leader should be tall, attractive, confident, charismatic, and intelligent. But if this is the case, it makes us all wonder: do we have what it takes to be a leader?

Unhealthy Leadership Comparisons

I found this stereotype of leadership very troubling when I was younger, particularly when I directly compared myself to this list and some leaders that ticked all the boxes.

Handsome Alexander the Great had unified (subdued) Greece by the age of 20 and the charismatic Joan of Arc led the relief of Orleans aged 17. How did I measure up in my teens?

Well, I was just over average height, mildly intelligent, but gawky, introverted and softly spoken. I struggled with huge self-esteem and confidence issues surrounding whether I was attractive. It did not help that I was your classic spotty and greasy-haired teenager. But this was exacerbated by suffering years of orthodontic dental work. To get an idea of how much metalwork I was displaying, let’s just say that I could set off the detectors in airport security while still at check-in!

Basically, I fell well short of the mark on pretty much every populist leader trait as listed above. But hey, Alexander the Great had achieved a lot by the age of 20, but he was born into a royal family, and he never had to deal with my dentist!

Are people born to be leaders?

Most of us are not born into privilege or are so naturally gifted that we can just switch on cruise control for the rest of our lives. So where does that leave us if we were not born leaders?

The debate around nature or nurture is one of the longest-running in the field of psychology. It basically comes down to whether one places more importance on our genetic inheritance, or on how environmental factors influence us. Nowhere has this been more hotly contested than in the field of leadership.

Initial leadership theories tended towards the idea that leaders were born, that we were sent “Great Men” to lead us in times of crisis. This Great Man theory then evolved as people tried to identify the common traits these leaders were born with.

Leadership Traits

As alluded to previously, early lists of traits included the need for:

• Height
• Intelligence
• Attractiveness
• Self-confidence
• Charisma

As we have seen, these supposed leadership qualities were not ones I could readily associate with. I was at best an ugly duckling of a leader and there was no promise of great genes suddenly turning me into some great swan. That left me furiously paddling about, trying to live up to this supposed ideal of a leader.

In this desperation, I was tempted to pursue other negative leadership stereotypes and try to dominate people to make up for my lack of natural charisma.

The trap of toxic leadership

This view of leadership can entrap us. It can lead to unrealistic expectations and disappointment, or the rise of hubristic and toxic leaders.

If we hold up an unrealistic view of leaders, such as the list above, we preserve an unachievable ideal. What we are effectively after is a superhero rather than a manager. This leads to one of two outcomes, either all the people will encounter fall short of our ideal or we put people on a pedestal only to watch them fall off it. They are only human after all.

Putting people on a pedestal can lead to hubristic or toxic leadership. Even if a leader does not start out as arrogant and self-centred they can quickly become so given power and adulation. Stories of raising up such charismatic but flawed leaders go back at least as far as King Saul in the Old Testament. But, looking at the rise of populist leaders today, it seems we may not have learned that much in the last 3000 years.

Breaking the old leadership mould

Despite the perpetuation of this flawed ideal, and my fumbling start, I was surprised to find that people did continue to give me responsibility. What’s more, I could certainly influence people, even if it was just in some small way. These people were generally few in number, and among my school friends or sports-buddies, but it was something!

Therefore, I was able to lead in some contexts despite not living up to the leadership stereotype; why was that? When I looked around me, I could see plenty of other examples of leaders who did not fit this early leadership stereotype either. In fact, most of the people I knew in leadership positions did not exactly fit this mould.

Some well-known historical figures have also had a huge influence despite not having all these traits. Mother Teresa comes to mind as someone who did not fit this typecast, yet she had a profound effect on the world. She did this from a position of genuine humility. Her view was not to worry about the power she lacked; but rather concentrate on the change, however small, she could affect:

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Mother Teresa

She was literally the antithesis of the “Great Man”, but she will be remembered far longer than most of the populist world leaders of today. If leadership is influence, then her legacy proves that she was indeed a great leader.

What makes a good leader?

So, there must be other important and useful leadership attributes. More recent research has identified and used other traits to assess good leaders. Common among these are:

• Personal Integrity
• Drive and Determination
• Emotional Stability or Maturity
• Self-confidence

These are certainly more instructive than earlier traits and I am sure we can all think of a lot more leaders who show a larger measure of these characteristics, as compared to the earlier list. But even with a new list of attributes, one big question is still unanswered.

Are Leaders Born or Bred?

In the middle of the twentieth century, the emphasis shifted from nature (innate) to nurture (learned) aspects of leadership. In other words, people started to believe that leadership could be taught. This put an increasing emphasis on what a leader did, rather than just a person’s supposed God-given right to lead.

This is somewhat unsurprising in the aftermath of the Second World War when so much of the planet had been ravaged by the excesses of ‘Great Men’ such as Hitler. Many others were still suffering under Stalin and Mao. People started to wake up to the idea that a person assuming they were in the right (just because they were in control and claimed some sort of destiny) was a flawed basis for leadership.

From Being to Doing

The emphasis on leadership now turned to the skills that leaders needed to be effective. These were grouped as technical, human and conceptual skills. There was also an appreciation that certain traits can also be developed over time. Experience certainly reinforces the idea that we can improve. This has been my personal experience and the story of my own leadership development over the years.

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Integrity

Personal integrity is reinforced every time we act in accordance with what we say. It is the opposite of the ‘do what I say but not what I do’ type of management.

The first real test of integrity for me happened at school. When I was made a prefect, I suddenly had to ensure that my standards of behaviour matched the rules I was there to reinforce. It required self-discipline and moral courage (two more important traits) as I could not just walk past things I knew were wrong, even if it was my friends who were out of line. This concept of ‘you are only as good as the wrong you pass by’ was reinforced in my career in the military. As a leader you have to uphold the values you espouse, or your credibility and authority will crumble.

Determination

You need determination as a leader if you are to persuade people to come with you, overcome obstacles and achieve your goal.

I did not realise it at the time but some of my determination was forged in the outdoors. As I pushed myself to climb mountains or explore jungles, I developed what Angela Lee Duckworth calls grit. Grit is the dogged determination that you need to see things through in the face of adversity. This grit turns out to be more important than IQ when it comes to succeeding.

And there is the rub. You have to face troubles and hardship if you want to develop grit and determination. So don’t back down from a challenge. Embrace it, even if you fail, you will be stronger – battle-hardened – afterwards. These challenges don’t need to be huge, just anything that pushes you out of your comfort zone.

Emotional Maturity

Have you ever had a boss who everyone tip-toed around? In this situation, the team feels like villagers living under the shadow of a volcano that is always on the verge of eruption. Or how about a manager who cannot read the situation? They make inappropriate jokes, try to be chummy in an important meeting but then authoritarian at the office social. They are impossible to read or predict. This is the opposite of emotional maturity and emotional intelligence.

People who are emotionally mature can manage their emotions in a way that is appropriate to the situation. That does not mean being unemotional though. We are humans, not automatons. Being emotionally mature means we can laugh when people laugh, cry when people cry, but at the same time we are not ruled by our emotions. The emotionally mature person is not the rubber dingy being thrown about by the waves. They are the harbour of calm; an environment where people can be secure in themselves and confident they can work without fear of a sudden storm.

Some parts of emotional stability and intelligence are innate, but we can also learn to be more stable and empathetic as leaders. Self-awareness, proper rest, breathing techniques and mindfulness can all help. Over the years, I have found that walking is one of my best ways to re-stabilise my thoughts and emotions. I walk regularly, for example to and from work and in between meetings, to give myself time to reflect and process emotions. It is worth experimenting with a few techniques and finding out what works best for you.

Self-confidence

As alluded to earlier, I am an introvert and was not born with huge self-confidence. My confidence has developed over time. Experience, as with the other traits above, has built my confidence. Somewhat counterintuitively, my self-confidence has grown as I have been more willing to share and learn from my mistakes. That is because humility and confidence are not opposites. Equally, confidence is not arrogance.

One area that many people struggle with, but particularly introverts, is public speaking. Getting up in front of a crowd to do a presentation, or even just to ask a question in a meeting, takes courage. Here once again I have found that with practice, taking on a new mindset and applying a few techniques I have learned to love public speaking.

Leadership development happens one step at a time

Therefore, there is hope for us all. We don’t have to be born a fully-fledged leader. Strengths and weaknesses, in our character and skillset, can all be improved upon. This has certainly been my experience and having been given opportunities to lead, over many years, my confidence and capability as a leader have certainly grown.

How about you? Which characteristic or trait do you most want to develop as a leader? Think of a small practical way you can develop that today. That might be something as small as tackling that task you have been avoiding, having that difficult conversation you have been dodging, or just speaking up in your next meeting.

Practice does not make perfect, but it does make practice easier. If you make that little bit of progress today, the same action will be a little easier tomorrow. You may not have been born a leader, but you can certainly learn to be a better leader than you are now. Make that first step!

And if you would like any support on your leadership journey, please do drop me a line via the Contact Page.

How does a team develop and achieve high-performance? What phases does it go through and what are the 5 stages of the Tuckman model?

Whatever our team role, whether we are a leader, manager or team member, it is really important to understand the stages a team progresses through before it reaches a high-performing level. 

And this is not just about work teams. Any group we are a part of has to work through steps of development. Every social circle, club or family, must progress through challenging phases, to function well. 

Not all teams are functional – let alone high-performing

I looked around the room. Various factions sat apart and determinedly avoided eye contact with each other. The whole group glowered with distrust. Somehow, in a matter of days, I would have to take this bunch of misfits and develop them into a team. Success was critical. We were about to deploy on a military operation where, if we could not work together, we faced not only the failure of our mission but also our own physical well-being.

I am sure you can empathise. Whether you are a leader or have been a member of a newly formed team, I am sure you can recall similar scenes. Experience tells us that a bunch of people is not a team. It is just that, a group of random individuals. But we also know that teams are vitally important. They help us achieve what we could not do alone. So, how does a group of individuals develop into a team and how can we help manage that process?

What is team development and why is it important?

Research has shown that a group must progress through certain development stages to become a high performing team. A leader is responsible for managing this process, but it is one that affects us all, no matter our role.

The process of development is also continual. Our situation changes, as do the challenges we face. The people in our teams come and go. Sometimes things just seem to go wrong, and a team becomes dysfunctional. Therefore, team performance needs continual management.

We are all responsible for this management, to some degree, as we are all members of teams. That could be a work team, sports squad, music band or just your family. Structures, locations, and purposes of groupings may vary but they are still teams if they share a common goal. That is what defines a team: people with varying roles but a common purpose.

Whether we are officially leading that group we can make an important contribution to team development. And that is not just in playing our team role effectively. Through understanding team development, we can all help our teams become more effective.

A career of managing team development

I started off my career as a Bomb Disposal Officer in the Army, working in situations where working together as a team was potentially a life or death matter. Creating and maintaining high-performing teams really mattered.

Since then, as a senior manager, then consultant and leadership coach, I have worked within and alongside organisations in the commercial, governmental, and voluntary sectors. In each role I have equipped teams with the skills they need to be more effective in working together and managed the development of the team as well as the roles of the individuals within that team. I will share some specific examples of these as we progress.

How to build a strong team

Team building is not reliant on away days and fun activities. These things are great but are not the foundation of team development. You can build a successful team in the harshest of environments if you understand the fundamentals of team roles and development.

A well-functioning team is dependent upon good leadership. If a team is failing in some way, then the manager must shoulder the bulk of the blame and take responsibility for finding a solution. But that does not let team members off the hook. Any individual can make things better (and they certainly can make things worse) for the rest of the team at any stage in its development.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Henry Ford

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The Stages of Team Development according to Bruce Tuckman

So, what are the stages of team development?

A group needs to evolve through certain steps to become an effective team. The most well-known (and memorable) theoretical model of this development process is the Tuckman Model.

Bruce Tuckman did research that demonstrated that every team goes through various stages. He first identified four stages and then, upon further research, amended this to five stages of team development.

The 5 stages of team development:

1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing
5. Adjourning

A manager can do things to speed the process through these steps to the performing stage, but any team member can also help. It is especially important to get through the painful storming phase, but you cannot completely short circuit the system to get straight to performance. There has to be some pain to get to the gain.

Tuckman Model

Forming

Going back to the story I started with. As the group sat in that room on the first day, we were in the forming stage. Fortunately, we had a clear mission statement, and I knew we had lots of quality people. But given the dark-cloudy looks I was getting I knew that the storming stage would soon be upon us.

Storming

Therefore, right from the start, I forced the issue of integration. I immediately re-structured the group into smaller cross-functional teams that broke down the various cliques. They would have to learn together and learn to rely on one another from the start. The storming phase could commence – as people worked out their exact roles, preferences, and approaches – and the intense work gave them focus. The enemy was now the challenge rather than other team members.

Norming

If these smaller teams still struggled it was easier to identify the problem. Team dynamics and individual characteristics were easy to identify. In a couple of cases, I moved people around until we reached the norming phase.

Performing

I would love to say we were in the performing stage before we deployed but that would not be strictly true. We finished our training and were able to operate but it was some time into the task before I would have called us a high performing team. We had been effective to a degree until that point but there was a moment where we got into a flow. We were not just getting work done, we were being creative, teams worked fluidly and independently, and results were exponential. This was high performance.

Adjourning

Sadly, all things come to an end. At the end of our tour of duty we handed over to another team and we went into the adjourning stage. We celebrated our success, shared our experience, and went off to join other teams.

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How to manage progress through the team development stages

It is useful to know these steps because it helps, particularly as the leader, to identify what stage of development your team is at. But just knowing which stage does not necessarily equip us to manage the team progression.

Being properly equipped is often down to knowing the right questions to ask. As a leader, I am constantly asking questions or myself, my situation and my team. Therefore, I have found another theoretical process, the Drexler-Sibbet model of Team Performance, a really helpful complement to the Tuckman model.

The Drexler-Sibbet model poses a set of questions that a team needs to work through to progress through each level of performance. In this model, there are seven (rather than five) stages of progression. The stages and questions are as follows:

1. Orientation: Why am I here?
2. Trust Building: Who are you?
3. Goal Clarification: What are we doing?
4. Commitment: How will we do it?
5. Implementation: Who does what, when, where?
6. High Performance: Wow!
7. Renewal: Why continue?

Let’s use another example to highlight the different stages and questions. Another very different and yet equally challenging management role I had was leading a large group of volunteers for a non-profit organisation. I did not have any of the levers of military rank, money, or contracts to make people work together or at all.

Drexler-Sibbet Model of Team Development

Orientation: Why am I here?

This question needed to be answered even to just recruit volunteers. The good news is that most people want to make a difference. What a good leader does is cast vision and link people’s values to that purpose.

My team was responsible for production; the setting up and running of large events. There were plenty of people supporting the organisation, my challenge was to link those individuals who enjoyed that sort of physical work and show them that they could contribute to achieving the overall mission by serving on my team.

Trust Building: Who are you?

Trust is the foundation of any relationship. The way to kick-start any relationship is by quickly building rapport. People do start to get to know each other as they work together but this is where I find creating opportunities to socialise really fast-forward this stage.

These can be as simple as water-cooler moments or coffee breaks where people can chat. For my team, we found that in what was a long hard day of work, eating together at lunch really helped team building and fostering inter-team relationships.

Goal Clarification: What are we doing?

The next step is to turn the vision into a tangible mission or goal. A leader’s responsibility is to articulate this end-state or success criteria.

With my production team, the mission was to set up, manage and then set down all the equipment in order to enable a successful event. The events supported the overall purpose of the organisation so in this way, I could link the what to the why.

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Commitment: How will we do it?

Then you need to work out how to achieve the mission. In other words, you need a plan. This is breaking down the overall goal into smaller tasks and activities.

In my case, we systematically took each bit of equipment we needed to set up and worked out an overall sequence (effectively a project programme) and then worked out an efficient process for each individual task. The team played a significant role in this last part. They used their creativity and experience to find the best ways to do things; I then captured and managed the activities.

Implementation: Who does what, when, where?

This question of who links the individuals to the plan. Answering the who question is about delegating tasks and roles according to skill, preference, and experience. For working out roles within a team I have found the Belbin Team Roles model the most useful and comprehensive.

As my team grew the crew leaders took on more of this responsibility of working out the who. They knew the plan and they knew their people best. They also knew how to take on new recruits and train them up.

High Performance: Wow!

The only part of this model that I dislike is the ‘wow’ instead of a question for performing teams. It can give the impression that once you get there all you need to do is just exclaim “wow!” and watch the magic happen.

But in my experience, what great teams do that keeps them at the top and maximising their performance is continual learning and improvement.

Therefore, there are some questions that teams should remember at this stage and these are the ones related to continued learning. I use a simple model based on traffic lights for this. I ask:

• Stop – What do we stop?
• Start – What do we start?
• Continue – What do we continue?

I would reflect on these questions at the end of every event. I would discuss these with my crew leaders and they, in turn, did so with their crews. In this way, we created an environment of continual learning and empowered everyone in the team to challenge and improve performance.

Team performance review process

Renewal: Why continue?

If the vision (why) and mission (what) remain the same, then things can generally continue. But projects end and team members come and go as a normal process of life. Therefore, we always need to answer this question, which as you will notice, takes us full circle.

With my production team, every new event was a small renewal and an opportunity to reinforce the why. So, we met at the beginning of the day to remind ourselves of how our actions would contribute to something much bigger.

The team grew and changed. When people joined our team, we made them part of the family. When people left, we grieved but also celebrated what they had done and shared their excitement for what they were moving on to. We made the process as natural and positive as possible. We ate a lot of cake along the way!

As a leader, when a team is functioning well, it is often easy to neglect the continued answering of this question. But you do so at your peril. Hard work is hard work. It makes people ask, “why bother?” Leaders need to reinforce the vision to stop people from becoming disillusioned.

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Combining team development theories for effective management

To bring all this theory together I have put the two models side by side in the picture below. The colours show how the 5 stages of the Tuckman model relate to the 7 stages of the Drexler-Sibbet model.

The Tuckman and Drexler-Sibbet Models combined

Putting team development theory into practice

Hopefully, you are now clear on the stages of team development and the questions that need to be answered to manage the building of a team from a group of individuals to a high-performance team.

Remember too that all teams experience change. That change might be faster or slower depending on the circumstances but that is why teams need continual leadership. Without this management, a team can get stuck, or even worse, can regress back through the development process.

Finally, remember that we all have a part to play, leaders or not. By understanding the stages of team development, we can all help our teams to improve, whatever our role or the purpose of that group.

So, think about the teams you are a part of. What stage are they in? Is it forming, storming, norming, performing or adjourning? Which question do you need to answer to help them evolve?

The rope snaked out in front of me, linking me to my three climbing buddies. I could see each one, in turn, slowly progressing up the ridge. The problem was that they were getting harder to see. The lead climber was beginning to face into the mist as she scaled higher up the peak. It was getting darker too. Not a good sign.

We had started our Alpine climb in the sunshine but had been scrambling up the ridge for hours. While we had been edging up the rock, ominous clouds were forming on the far side of the mountain. Now, as we neared the peak, we were ambushed.

When you look at a cloud from afar it is a giant cotton ball, majestically suspended in the air, silent and ethereal. But climb into a Cumulonimbus and the experience is very different. Clouds become loud, scary and very tangible.

Within seconds of summiting, we were in a gale and had to huddle together to communicate. Rain and hail started to pummel us and, just when we thought things could not get any worse, lightning struck a nearby peak. The air crackled and spat. We were in trouble.

We had conquered the climb, but the mountain was reminding us that it did not consider itself subdued as a result. It was time to beat a hasty retreat. But the strangest thing had happened. The person who had been leading all the way up the mountain just froze. When the thunder sounded, they just stood there, wide-eyed, and did not say anything. Instead, for some reason, everyone was looking at me.

Fight, Flight or Freeze

The fight, flight or freeze response is a natural psychological reaction to a threat. It is hardwired in for good reason. As with our cousins in the animal kingdom, this response can often save our lives.

But it does not always work, and we can all react differently. The leader had frozen, but when leading, you cannot afford to just react. You must think too. You have to engage in the decision space, the opportunity that lies between stimulus and response.

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Victor Frankl

In our case, we actually did need to flee, but we also needed to go together and safely. This would require leadership.

Something within me grasped all of this, even if just as at a subconscious decision-making level. And so, I had started taking command. I shouted my hasty plan as we gripped the rock and tasked the team to sort their kit quickly. I looked everyone in the eye, made sure we were good, then led the way off the peak and down the mountain.

Within an hour we were out of danger. Within two we were back in beautiful sunshine. No one thought that what had happened within our team was in any way strange. We trusted each other, we shared roles and responsibility. But what had just happened?

The situational leadership model and how it can help

To be a good leader you need to know how to vary your leadership style depending upon the circumstances. Leading in a crisis requires a different approach to managing everyday circumstances.

On that day I was climbing with an experienced team. But when managing someone inexperienced they will require more support than other team members.

Therefore, as a leader, you need to adapt your style accordingly. This is called situational leadership. Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed the most well-known model for situational leadership. This model helps to show the most appropriate form of leadership, depending upon the nature of the task and the competency and commitment of the team. In simple terms it breaks down into four key leadership styles; directive, delegating, supporting and coaching.

“We can’t always control what happens in our lives — things will go well, things will go poorly — but what we can control is our response to those events.”

Kenneth Blanchard

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Directing

Directing is telling people what to do. This is usually used for enthusiastic novices or when in a crisis. This command style is suitable for critical problems.

When things went wrong on the mountain this was the approach I had to adopt. This is certainly not my normal and preferred way of working. In my experience, if a leader uses this style the whole time or out of context then it can be overbearing, condescending or both.

“When placed in command, take charge.”

Norman Schwarzkopf

Delegating

Delegating is giving over whole tasks to people who are experienced and able to take responsibility. This is a more hands-off leadership approach used with competent team members.

On the mountain, as soon as I had taken command, I started to delegate tasks. I did have a competent team; they were just in shock and the previous leader was exhausted. As soon as I gave out tasks the team started to break out of the stupor. Their experience broke through as they went into action and became themselves again.

“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.”

Ronald Reagan

Supporting

This style suits when there is a high level of trust in the team and individuals can manage themselves independently. But the leader employing this style has higher participation than in pure delegation, by providing moral support, encouraging and communicating proactively.

For most of the climb, we had been in this situation. The leader knew that we could manage ourselves, but she had worked hard to support the team. This was the right approach but meant she was very tired when the storm broke.

“A leader is great not because of his or her power, but because of his or her ability to empower others.”

John Maxwell

Coaching

In this context, coaching involves selling the task to the individual and helping them grow to take on more responsibility. This works particularly well with individuals who may have lost confidence in what they need to do.

I had to use this approach with the person who had been leading. We had previously relied on her energy and enthusiasm up until we reached the summit. They were now exhausted, a little shell-shocked and probably embarrassed that they had frozen. I was able to share small tasks and responsibilities with her as we started to enact the plan. In this way, she quickly recovered her confidence and came alive again.

“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

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Team member development and maturity levels

On my climb that day we were all of a similar experience and so picking the right style for the situation was the most important thing. But as well as the leadership styles we also need to consider the development levels that relate to the maturity and capability of the team members. These progress from the low end of maturity and development (for example, a new worker who has just joined the firm), to the expert level, where the person is highly capable to deal with the task.

It is important to remember that someone could be very experienced in some areas but, faced with a new task, they could find themselves out of their depth. Equally, the new joiner might have expertise that long-term team members are lacking. Therefore, as a manager, it is important to think about someone’s ability to do the specific task and how to lead them in that situation rather than just assume a default approach based on the time in a given job.

This applies no matter how senior we get. I have worked with entrepreneur CEOs who are incredibly experienced and gifted but who have required coaching support as their roles and organisations have evolved. It is an important lesson in humility for all leaders as well as team members. It does not matter how capable we are (or think we are), there will always be times where we are learners and need people to support us.

To be a leader is to be flexible in style

We all have our preferred leadership style. For me, I prefer a more non-directive approach to leading. I like to put trust in my team and support them to achieve the result rather than just telling them what to do. But I can’t always lead that way.

The best leaders are not stuck in one mode of management all the time. Fortunately, the situational leadership model can help us identify the times when we need to adapt our approach. It might be the external circumstances that prompt the change, or it could be the experience level of a team member; the important thing is to be aware of the changes in your situation so you are ready to adapt as a leader.

“Effective leaders need to be flexible, and must adapt themselves according to the situation.”

Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard

Think about your team and their tasks today. As a manager, do you need to direct, delegate, support, or coach them through their next piece of work?

What is servant leadership and who is it relevant to? Can a leader really be a servant?

I never really thought about the leadership ability of my father until I became a leader in my own right. I certainly did not fully appreciate his role as a leader until I became a parent. This was mostly because – when growing up – I never really thought of my dad, and what he did as a father, as a leadership position. To me, leaders were the loud, larger than life characters who led countries, armies, or large corporations. Back then I had a very narrow view of leadership.

My father was not the archetypal leader. He was not some charismatic figure in senior management. He was not a visionary, an intellectual or a great orator. But, to make up for this last point, he has never been shy of sharing a joke (no matter how good the joke or appropriate the context!)

So, what did he do (apart from dad-jokes) that made him a leader?

The father as leader

Well, he led my family – with my mother – through shared sacrifice. He served us as a family and put that team first in his priorities. He worked hard to be a provider, to be a role model for us, and he was true to his values.

As a provider, he set the standard for reliability and hard work. He was employed for the same company for most of his working life and never took a day off sick. When he came home, he read to us children (while trying not to fall asleep) and then was off working around the house or in the garden.

He led with integrity. He kept his own standards, and his actions matched his words. One example of this was that he did not swear in front of us children or bad mouth other people. This was a small but powerful lesson for us. It is only now, as a parent, that I realise how hard this is to do!

My father’s values were founded on his faith in God. He was not ostentatious in his faith, but he was always truthful about what he believed and gave straightforward answers when questioned. These values, such as his love for others, service to the community and honesty in his words and dealings, all shone through in the little things of everyday life. In so doing, my father provided a powerful example of good servant leadership.

The servant as leader

The idea of servant leadership was popularised by Robert K Greenleaf in his book, of the same name (1977). His phrase, the ‘servant as leader’ has been shortened over time to ‘servant leader’ but it is worth reflecting on the original construction. The ‘servant as leader’ reveals Greenleaf’s premise that we are all servants and, at times, we all need to take the role of leader, while maintaining this servant-heartedness.

This phrase is a seeming contradiction. Servant and leader are often (mistakenly) seen as opposites. His wording is also both divisive and inclusive. It is divisive, and potentially offensive, by using the term servant. The word servant actually comes from the Latin servus which means slave. Who wants to be a servant, let alone a slave?

But here again, lies a deeper truth. We are all servants of something. If we chase addictive substances or behaviours we become slaves. We can enslave ourselves to ideas such as wealth, fame, or appearance. And even if we avoid these extremes, we all serve something. That might be others, a higher ideal, God or ourselves, but we all choose to prioritise some thing. That is what makes us servants. The question is:

“Whom do you serve and to what purpose?”

Robert Greenleaf

If we accept the first premise, the second is that, although we are all servants, we all have the capacity and responsibility to lead. This is because the philosophy of this sort of leadership (and much of modern leadership theory) is that leadership is influence; not necessarily an official position. We can also all learn to be better leaders; there are skills we can improve. Therefore, we can lead from whichever position we find ourselves in, with whatever measure of power.

What servant leadership is

The servant as a leader is different to the leader who seeks power, fame and fortune. This serving model of leadership stands in contrast to Great Man theory and the cult of personality, or the Machiavellian, unprincipled manipulation of people to achieve one’s ends. The servant-leader is not driven to acquire power or possessions but motivated instead to serve the community, to serve others. As Greenleaf puts it:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.”

Robert Greenleaf

Within this approach, there is an emphasis on serving and developing other people. The servant-leader seeks to share power, prioritise the needs of others and raise up new servant leaders. This is why the true test of the servant leader, their legacy, is in the growth of who they lead.

“Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?”

Robert Greenleaf

The potential pitfall of servant leadership

There are pros and cons to servant leadership. There is a potential danger of this emphasis on serving others if misconstrued. Serving others is not tending to every whim of every individual. That would seem like serving them but would actually be counterproductive. To take an extreme example, you do not best help an alcoholic by giving them a drink whenever they ask for it. Equally, any parent knows, that giving a child everything they want will not serve them in the long run.

That is why there needs to be a vision, an idea of what the future can look like. Most importantly, in this vision, the servant leader must see the potential of the person they are serving. They seek to guide that person toward their future better self; not just react to the imperfect person standing in front of them. This idea of the leader serving the person, but towards a longer-term mission and goal can be seen in the inspiration that lies behind Greenleaf’s work.

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The inspiration behind servant leadership

Greenleaf was inspired, amongst other things, by Herman Hesse’s book Journey to the East. In this story, a group of travellers is on a pilgrimage to find enlightenment. At first, things go well, but they face a crisis and their servant, Leo, goes missing. The group falls into disarray and they abandon their journey. Many years later, the main character – still on his search – discovers that Leo is actually the leader of the spiritual order he had been seeking all along.

Greenleaf also looks to the example of Jesus of Nazareth as a historical example of the servant leader. The Jesus of the Bible did not seek fame, power and riches and yet – by serving those around him and developing his disciples – had an impact as a leader that is unparalleled.

Greenleaf helped to renew these old truths and has in turn inspired famous leaders and management experts such as Stephen R Covey (author of Principled Centred Leadership), Simon Sinek (author of Leaders Eat Last) and Ken Blanchard (author of The One Minute Manager).

“Servant leaders don’t think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less often”.

Ken Blanchard

Serve to lead

This paradoxical paradigm of leadership has had a great impact, even in unexpected places. I started out my career as a bomb disposal officer in the Army. Stereotypically people think of military leaders as being confident, loud, and directive. If all you watched was war movies you could assume that martial leadership is mostly about shouting!

Directive leadership does have its place when you are storming trenches or kicking down doors to enemy compounds, but it is not the cornerstone of military management. The motto of the British Army’s leadership school, The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is, ‘Serve to Lead’. Equally, ‘Selfless Service’ is one of the seven basic values of the United States Army.

At Sandhurst I was taught to genuinely care about my soldiers, not just lead them into battle. I joined the Army for adventure, but seeing soldiers develop and grow became one of the most satisfying parts of my job. Take this short example:

When I took over my first troop of 30 soldiers, I was warned by the outgoing lieutenant about one particular soldier who was a troublemaker. After watching this young man for a while, I chose to take a risk, gave him a position of responsibility, and took him on operations. His behaviour changed and he developed into one of my best junior non-commissioned officers. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my young career, seeing someone who was destined for the scrap-pile, turned around and set on a new course.

Why servant leadership?

Without a servant hearted approach, based on a love for others, those with power can fall into two common traps.

The leader, pursuing their dream at any cost, can use people as fuel to the fire. Just resources to be burned in order to achieve the mission. I have worked with organisations led by this type of leader. Entrepreneurs can allow their passion override their compassion. Early on this can get results but it is not sustainable. I have seen start-ups fall due to this sort of approach. This risk is shared with the Transformational Leadership style as well.

The manager, concerned with efficiency and output, can see people as just a cog in the machine. That wheel might need the occasional grease but can be run until it is worn out. A cog is easy to throw away and replace. It is very transactional. I have also seen this in the workplace. I have seen good people thrown on the pile because they are inexperienced, unconfident or just in the wrong role. It is easy – in our hire-and-fire culture – just to replace someone rather than develop or relocate them.

As a boss, this also means releasing people. It is tough losing your best team members but if a move to a new position or place is genuinely the best thing for that individual then the manager should support and encourage the move, not coerce that person to stay.

From small things to great things

The examples of servant leadership, from Abraham Lincoln to Mother Teresa, show that a servant attitude and small acts can compound into great impact, even to the national and international level.

One building trend, through organisations such as B Corps, is that business leaders are once again learning to steward their people, and the resources of the planet, by measuring success against something other than pure profit.

Is this how you are building your organisation?

Starting steps of the servant leader

Whatever your position or role, being a servant leader starts with the inspiration to act and then taking small steps. For me, it was my father who gave me my first role model of servant leadership. Then being taught to ‘serve to lead’ in the army and reading Greenleaf’s writings gave me the inspiration I needed.

Being the ‘servant as leader’ has become ingrained. Wherever I am and whoever I am with, I know that I have the responsibility to serve and to lead.

This has helped me to see people differently and to act differently. I have realised that this type of leadership can be expressed in every interaction we have. It could be in a word of praise for the person serving coffee, words of encouragement to a child who is struggling, or stopping to ask if someone needs help.

It all starts with inspiration to make a difference in the small things. So, what small act of servant leadership can you do today?

If you would like to learn more about other leadership styles and theories then check out the following articles:

An Introduction to the 10 Most Influential Leadership Theories

Exploring Different Types of Leadership Styles

There are lots of list of the best leadership and management books such as those on Google, Soundview and Amazon. I have compared these against the recommendations of Time magazine, and the New York Times bestsellers lists to come up with an integrated list that I can personally vouch for, having read all of the titles.

All these books are great resources of wisdom and practical advice for leaders and managers, and I would recommend you read them all. But, with busy lives and so many books to read, where should you start?

Hopefully these pity summaries can help. I have composed these Haiku poems, each as a short synopsis of each book. Any volume would be hard to sum up in 1700 words, let alone 17 syllables, but hopefully there is enough to reveal a key lesson or inspire you to try the book.

I have included Amazon links to each publication. These are affiliate links so don’t feel you need to use them.

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1. Start with Why by Simon Sinek

Always Start With Why.

The question unlocks purpose,

To ensure success.

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2. Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

Fear is not weakness.

Be courageous, bold and lead,

While vulnerable.

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3. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

First, lead yourself well

And be principle centred.

Then influence all.

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4. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

Design your business,

Create a passive income,

Work from anywhere.

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5. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Whether fast or slow,

Understand your biases

For good decisions

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6. Outliers – The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

To become master

Ten thousand hours of practice

Is a minimum.

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7. Good to Great by Jim Collins

Connect your passion

With your world class expertise

For sustained profit.

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8. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C Maxwell

All laws here agree:

Leadership is influence.

Use your power well.

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9. The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Know your enemy

And by knowing thyself too,

One fears no defeat.

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10. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Build your prototype,

See what customers want most,

Learn and pivot fast.