99.8% Organic

Probably all of us realize the advantages of going organic - healthier, less additives, truer to the original nature.   But do we recognize the advantage of going organic in the workplace?

The common practice in the workplace is to prescribe work - certainly the specific task to be done ("You need to meet with your team on a weekly basis") if not in fact the particulars of the specific task ("You need to meet with your team every Monday at 3:15 for a total of twenty minutes and you are to have an agenda or not more than five items, including two carry-over action points from your last meeting.  In other words - you should do it exactly as I do it.")  In other words, it is cut and paste leadership.

Here is the lost leverage.   If  individuals can come up with ideas themselves, it is then organic.   It is their idea.   It is their action point.  It will be executed in the way that is best suited to their personality and style.    It is their ownership.

So - given our propensity to define leadership as throwing around specific action points - how exactly would this work without dissolving into utter chaos?

First of all recognize that as leaders we are present to  prevent utter chaos.   It our job to consistently monitor, edit and trim.  It is our organization and focus that brings things to fruition.  Being extremely prescriptive may seem like the most efficient, but allowing the team to come up with organic solutions around which we coach and guide has the best long-term impact.

Let's create strong definition around the work to be done - then allow individuals to bring their own questions and solutions.  

In creating strong definitions - let's be unafraid to ask questions about the work to be done as opposed to issuing edicts.  What is going to be effective?    What is your belief structure about this work?   How does this resonate with your team?   What do you feel you are most skilled at doing?  As leaders we are then creating a foundation upon which the team can build a framework.

Let's be cautious and yet be unafraid of allowing people to do the work differently than we would do it ourselves.   This is the entire point of teamwork: bringing a diversity of solutions to a challenge creates the strongest house.

The point is this - if we can lead and guide the team to its own solutions, the work will be so much more resilient and forceful than if we just prescribe.   Why?    Because the solution is organic to the team.  The work is then healthier, has less unnecessary additives and is true to the original nature of the team.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.