Playing Big and Doing Good

An important intention of my work is to develop more powerful leaders. I describe power as the ability to realize your intention. Power is only worthwhile if it is doing good for the world. I am a catalyst for leaders making their organizations more effective, adaptable and successful -and at the same allowing them to do more good. The process I use is additive not subtractive. When leaders get better, effectiveness expands and the ineffective habits get less play.

Playing big comes from acting on your intentions in spite of your fears. This takes an immense amount of courage. Let me give you a concrete example. Most leaders intend to evoke the best contribution from all of their employees. This is dependent upon hiring good people, creating a positive climate and providing them with accurate feedback so that they can continue to develop. Almost universally I find that delivering accurate performance feedback is difficult. Some leaders are more competent than others but many struggle. They find a way to "move someone out" instead of providing accurate and ongoing feedback.

In conversations with clients they tell me that they don't want to "hurt feelings" or they don't want to "discourage", yet somewhere (way) down the line, they will move this person over or out. As they develop more self-awareness, clients come to see that they feel fear or anxiety about providing constructive feedback. They often experience a high degree of responsibility for the employee's response. The employee is unclear of what they need to do, the team is frustrated that someone is allowed to underperform and stay, and the leader knows at some level that they have not acted on their intention. This is playing small and the outcome is not good.

The alternative is that a leader declares their intention and what actions they will take to realize it. They notice how they feel and allow themselves to observe what this is like for them. It is uncomfortable. They plan for the feedback, they deliver it and they provide clear expectations for improvement with timelines and outcomes. They offer appropriate support. The employee makes a choice to meet the expected outcomes (get support, learn something new, work harder) or not, the team either gets a full and contributing member or not, and the leader follows up on their timeline with a decision (the employee stays or goes). The team knows that their full contibution counts. The coolest part is that the employee often takes on the challenge, expands skills and contributes to organizational outcomes.

This is playing big and doing good.