29 Aug UNLEASH THE POTENTIAL IN YOUR PEOPLE AND SEE PERFORMANCE SOAR
Are you finding it hard to know what your leadership role is right now?
There are lots of dynamic changes happening in our world which impact leadership, and sometimes it is not easy to figure out where you make the most difference. Yet some things remain for you to lead.
When I was working for a global telecommunications organisation, I was part of the Pacific CEO’s ready team, to assess new acquisition opportunities. At one point there was a significant opportunity to acquire one of the other top Telcos in Australia. I was included in the due diligence team for this opportunity. Assessing the billing and customer service systems and processes, as this was my area of domain expertise.
On the first day of the formal due diligence process, the team met in the foyer of the designated building in the city. We were escorted, after security checks, upstairs through another set of security doors and into what was effectively a big glass box in the middle of the floor. In that glass box were floor to ceiling compactus filing units, which contained all the documents we would be allowed to review as part of the due diligence process.
All of this is normal. The requirements were clear. We were not allowed to remove documents from the room or the building. We had to leave all of our personal effects outside of the glass room. We were only allowed to take in blank note pads and one pen. No phones, laptops etc.
All of this was typical in this situation, because we were getting access to incredibly confidential information, and at this point we were still a competitor organisation, to assess whether we were going to acquire this company.
This next part was not quite business as usual though….. Standing inside the doorway of our glass box, watching us as we were working at the bare desks, was a security guard with a gun. And he always kept his hand on the gun, even though it was holstered.
This was hugely disconcerting.
I know I was not the only one of our team who was very challenged to stay focused.
When you have someone basically staring you down with their hand on their gun, ready to act if you so much as lift a piece of paper towards the doorway, it makes it very challenging to concentrate.
While I was exceptionally good at my job and while I knew exactly what I needed to do, I wasn’t making a lot of progress on day one because I was really distracted by that security guard.
About lunchtime on the first day of this process, I said to the due diligence team leader that this situation was really disconcerting me. And he said, “Yeah, I agree, but I’m not sure there’s much we can do.”
So, we soldiered on and spent the rest of the day trying to focus with this big shadow looming over us.
That night, my regular boss gave me a call to see how the first day of due diligence went. I gave him a little bit of the backstory and what was happening. At the end of our call, he wished me luck for the rest of the week.
The next morning, we walked into the same scenario. We were signed in. We were checked. We went through the first security point. Then we went through a second security point, we were escorted into our glass box, and the security guard was present with his hand on his gun.
About 20 minutes after we sat down and started work, somebody else came into the room and whispered in the security guard’s ear. Then he left the room. And we did not see him again for the rest of the day.
He was still there, yet out of our sight. He was standing at the exit for the secure floor in which the glass box stood.
He was still performing his duty but out of our sight. And it was a massive relief because we could focus on what we were there to do and not be distracted by this presence of someone just waiting for us to do the wrong thing, when we had absolutely no intention of doing the wrong thing in the first place.
While the security guard was not getting in our way, he was interfering with our ability to do the job we were there to do.
What I discovered later is that my regular boss had made enough calls to change the situation and remove the interference. Of course, this allowed us to get on with what we were there to do and to perform at a much higher level.
Performance equals potential minus interference.
Tim Gallwey, The Inner Game of Tennis
Imagine this circle represents potential.
Now if Performance Equals Potential Minus Interference, the greater the interference, the lower the performance.
And the lower the interference, the greater the performance opportunity.
One of the key things a leader can do to optimise their team’s performance right now is to work on the interference. To remove or mitigate the interference, whatever this may be. Blockers, obstacles, resources, tools, lack of focus, unclear priorities, clunky process, slow decision making, unclear authority and so on.
Consider the things currently getting in your team’s way:
- What is the interference?
- Where is it coming from?
- What can you do about it?
As the world changes dynamically around you, you still have opportunities to lead. How can you make it easier for your team to get on with doing what they do best, and to perform at a higher level? A few simple changes might make all the difference.
I’d love to know your thoughts.
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