Reflections on leadership #3: Signals, symbols & symbolism
After over a decade observing leaders and managers in action, as well as managing my own teams, I’ve come to the conclusion that some things are more important for what they signal than for what they actually deliver.
Data-driven business practice tells us that everything should be judged by the measurable impact that it delivers, and we should always strive to improve measurability and thus improve our decision making. Yet this can sometimes force us into a view that is zoomed in, short term, and risks winning the battle but losing the war. This could be because the return is much more longer term or indirect than can be accurately measured. Or because the value lies in signalling, either internally or externally, about this is how we do things, and thus the return actually lies somewhere totally different.
In my experience, this principle is particularly important for those in a position of leadership, and is powerful for both you and the teams that you lead.
Why?
Firstly, As a leader one of the most critical things you are solving for is agility (alongside focus and simplicity) and to achieve that you want to devolve decision making as far down the organisation as you can (see Reflection #1). Success is having to be involved in the minimal number of decisions, whilst having the greatest confidence that those decisions are in line with the strategies and values of the organisation. Whilst this can (sometimes) be achieved through systems, processes, training or communication, human nature is such that symbols (or reference points) have significant lasting power in acting as our guide. So as a team member confronted with a new situation, remembering how your leader did something in a similar but unrelated situation is a really simple heuristic to guide you.
To give an example — imagine your business strategy is to market through useful and inspirational content vs broadcast or performance channels. How can your marketing team quickly evaluate and execute against new opportunities in line with that strategy, especially when under commercial pressure. Yes, you can create a rule book or governance but that might destroy agency or slow things down. However, if instead as a leader, you have delivered and showcased clear examples where you have backed content over broadcast then these will stick in the teams mind and provide their reference point regardless of the measurable impact of those showcased examples themselves.
Secondly, beyond specific tangible business initiatives or decisions, your behaviours as a leader will consciously and unconsciously set the tone throughout your teams of not just what is tolerated within the organisation but what is expected. So your actions are not just cause and effect moments, but act as signals whose impact ripple far beyond that individual situation.
Much like dogs and their owners, the cultural norms of organisations come to resemble the behavioural traits of those who lead them. One of my team members once gave me invaluable advice that the way in which I was managing them, directly manifested in the way in which they managed their team, and so on. The signal of my behaviour, set the tone all the way through my organisation. A highly anxious CEO will create a highly anxious organisation because that becomes what is expected. A highly empathetic CEO will create an empathetic organisation. And so on.
Finally, as I have mentioned before, leadership (as opposed to managing) is something that is earned not bestowed and critical to earning that leadership position within a team is building high trust that you will act in their (direct or indirect) best interests and that you share similar and aligned values (and moral compass) and that you value their effort and their input. Much of what you do as a leader will happen, or will at least seem like it happens, behind closed doors from the point of view of your team. And therefore those small actions you do take in public view will have a disproportionate impact on how your team will assume you will behave behind closed doors. So these, often small, actions will have a disproportionate impact on the way your team perceives you, even if the individual business case for those actions points in the opposite direction, or it appears totally unrelated.
I believe this is why our politicians are held to such a high moral standard in their private life. Yes, their sexual behaviour or ways of conduct may be unrelated to their capability of delivering against their portfolio, yet these private behaviours give us all an insight into the values they will deploy to make decisions that are critical to us, and thus act as a useful proxy.
In our more every day experience as managers, running late is a very common impact vs signal duality. Yes, the practical impact of running 10 minutes late is often limited, especially if you are coming from something very important. yet the signal it sends is often “my time is more important than yours” and even if that is true (which 99% of the time it is not), would you be inspired to do your best for someone who thought like that?
I remember once being told off for apologising for missing an all company drop is session I had arranged because of a massively over-running call. I was told that apologising was a sign of weakness and undermined my leadership, but for me precisely the opposite was true and I needed the team to know that whilst I couldn’t always get it right, I recognised that wasting their team was a failing on my part.
The signalling of your moral compass often comes to the fore in difficult situations where again the signal of your behaviour can outweigh the specifics of the case. I have worked in organisations that have gone above and beyond their contractual requirements in tough situations and equally in others that have sought to shirk their contractural obligations and handshake agreements. Both send a signal about how they value people which ripple far beyond those individual circumstances.
COVID has often made this symbolism even more stark — in the face of an unprecedented global situation how did leaders, investors and managers balance the sometimes competing demands of their team, their customers and their shareholders and ultimately what did the symbolism of those actions represent. Did you lean in to look after your team, or lean out to look after your shareholders, quite literally putting a price on your team?
In summary, next time you find yourself making a decision or taking an action think not just about what that will deliver, but imagine if that decision or action became a template or reference point for the rest of your team. Would you still do the same thing?
