How do you seek out bad news?

Our teams want us to be the leaders we read about in the books on our nightstand. Courageous enough to challenge the bureaucracy, willing to lead at the pointy end of the spear, and prove that we are all in this together. A leadership maxim is to share bad news early since it never ages well. This is a great statement for the employee manual, but are you sincere?

It is tough to hear the barrage of what is wrong. We either seek it out from those closest to us or wait for it to show up in the news. How you spend your time reveals your priorities. How much time do you spend asking the hard questions to expose the bad news?

Does your team believe bad news is welcomed, and something will be done, or is it easier to just smile and wave? The silent majority of team members will keep their opinions close to the chest for fear of reprisal unless we are intentional to draw them out. How many "whys" are needed before you surface legitimate concerns during your daily walkabouts with the team?

Today, we choose what kind of team to lead. One that is characterized by charging forward with gracious transparency or hunkering down in a protective defense of the status quo. Each day, this unique team is investing their precious lives to achieve a common mission, and the opportunity is missed if their observations and insights are ignored. Feedback is a gift, and if improperly handled, it is squandered. The team deserves better from us, and we must deliver.

Going Further: How are you building a culture that is free to share bad news early? What bad news surprised you? How has this freedom influenced the team and helped the end customer? What is your process for collecting candid feedback? What action have you taken as a result? What culture needs to change? What can you do today to start required changes?

When have you led well?

I am Frodo; I approach this inquiry as a fellow traveler, seeking to grow in my abilities. I have been in the trenches as a worker-bee and middle manager, having experienced leadership on each end of the good/bad spectrum. I have in-turn provided a spectrum to the teams I have led. Having completed some self-awareness work along my journey, I am far more aware of shortcomings than successes. This can be par for the course for a recovering perfectionist. To read how to do it all perfectly, the Amazon business section is chock-a-block of the latest leadership insights.

Take the opportunity to pause and reflect on those times when you led like you intended. You know, living the life your dog believes you live; a hero to the world. We will often skip the celebration, thinking that is for those other people and miss the chance to catalog our strengths. These pauses allow for insight into our talents and leadership styles.

Journalist, Sebastion Junger discusses how the American Indian tribes would choose their leaders based on the environment. They understood that the same leaders are not perfect for all circumstances. A reigning peace-time chief would step aside if the tribe went to war and when the fighting was complete, the war-time chief would relinquish power to a peace-time chief.

This insight may provide great encouragement as you determine where your leadership strengths exist and how they can be employed within an organization. I always wanted to believe that I was the special snowflake that was a great leader in all circumstances. This is not the case.

Insulting a contemporary, Winston Churchill stated, he is "a humble man, who has much to be modest about". This quote helps to keep me grounded and recognize that each of us has a set of strengths that need to be used just like any other specific tool in the tool belt. This realization was liberating as I was viewing leadership as an all or nothing situation. I was wrong. 

What are your leadership strengths? What was a leadership win? What historical leaders are you most alike? What successes surprised you? How do you invest in developing your leadership skills?