Episode 112 Are you a Super Hero at work?

Simplify Your Sales meetings. Lisa Thal is an Author, Speaker, and Business Coach. She wrote the book "Three Word Meetings."  Lisa coaches leaders on simplifying sales and business meetings with fun and interesting 3-word  topics to get your sales team motivated and inspired.  She has over 34 years of marketing, sales, and leadership experience.

 

Episode 112, Are you a Super Hero at work?

 

We all love Super Hero's like Superman, Superwoman, Batman, or the Avengers. But is being a Hero at work the answer?

 

So I have a question for you. Do you consider yourself a Hero Leader or an Interdependent Leader? If you are not sure, you will look at how you lead differently by the end of this podcast.

 

I participated in a 100 Wise Women Breakfast where we discussed this topic in great detail. The group included women like myself across various industries in leadership roles. Also included were Rising Professionals who were new are a few years into their job to gain different perspectives on Leadership.

 

We broke into small groups and discussed a Ted Talk: A Guide to Collaborative Leadership by Lorna Davis.

 

In the TED Talk, "A guide to collaborative leadership," Lorna Davis explains the difference between what she calls "hero leadership" and "interdependent leadership" and how the world requires collaboration to solve complex challenges.

Link on her talk below:  

https://www.ted.com/talks/lorna_davis_a_guide_to_collaborative_leadership?language=en

 

She describes the "hero leader" as someone who presents the image of having the right answer all the time. In these situations, followers often are not engaged, assuming they have no role in achieving a solution. Yet, Davis shares, "in a world as complex and interconnected as ours is, we must rely on one another…we must have radical interdependence."

 

During our group discussion, we discovered that many of us work with Hero leaders vs. Interdependent Leaders. We shared different ways we could focus on what we each could do to become more Interdependent Leaders.  

 

I started to reflect on how I lead. I made several shifts in how I coach my team. For example, I do weekly coaching sessions with my team where we meet in my office, discuss their business and any ideas to help move their business forward. It's a very collaborative meeting. But I started to think, could the environment feel or be more productive if our discussions were not in my office. I decided to meet in an open space at a table that feels more were in it together. Other account executives would walk by and smile.  

 

Another example is always looking for better ways to serve our clients, creating better processes, and growing revenue. We selected five team members to join another manager and me at breakfast ( outside the office) to get their insights and recommendations on the complex issues we were facing. We didn't need to be the Hero's. In most cases, the team has better ideas to help us solve the problems. Plus, if it's their ideas, they are more likely to be a part of solving it. As a team, we become more Interdependent. These are a few examples of what I have implemented.

 

I thought I would share her three ( yes 3) essential differences between "Hero leadership" and true collaboration through "Interdependent leadership."

 

They set goals differently.

• A hero sets a goal that can be individually delivered and measured.

 

• An interdependent leader instead sets goals that are impossible to achieve by one company or one person alone. They work with others in the industry to solve shared problems.

 

They announce goals differently.

• A hero only announces goals when the plan to achieve them is carefully crafted and precise and when there is a certainty of meeting the goal. The stage sets up for "the big win."

 

• Interdependent leaders and collaborators are willing to share their goals before they have a plan. Often, these goals they set are unable to be met without the help of others. These announcements are often invitations for others to join in the pursuit of the solution together. People want to know they matter!

 

They have very different relationships with others.

 

•  A hero sees people as either competition or loyal followers. Heroes want control over everything, and because of this, they often do not seek input from others. They often wish to the credit of success alone.

 

• Interdependent leaders recognize their need for other people. An example is how these leaders run meetings where people are encouraged to "collaborate and communicate and share ideas." People look for ways they can be involved in the process during these meetings. Interdependent leaders help others feel that their time is valuable and essential.

 

• Interdependence is a lot harder than being a hero, says Lorna Davis. It requires adopting traditionally not accepted behaviors in leadership roles: openness, transparency, and vulnerability. I think about Brene Brown and her work of becoming a more vulnerable leader. These behaviors do have some risks. However, she says, The joy and success of interdependence and vulnerability are worth the effort and risk.

 

To solve complex, interconnected problems, there is a need for interdependent leaders.

 

So the question is, do you consider yourself a Hero or Interdependent leader? Knowing the difference now, how will you begin to shift to become more collaborative as a leader?

 

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