The Law of the Umbrella

A lot of the focus of this blog is advice for CEOs - present and aspiring - on how to transition their firms from 20th-Century organizations to 21st. But the Law of the Umbrella dictates that what is good for the organization as a whole will also work for any team within that org.

Leaders: anywhere you find yourself in the corporate pyramid, you can act as an umbrella for your team. If your company has an unhealthy culture, think of that as rain falling down on your people from above. You can take steps to protect your staff from much of that unpleasantness - not all of it, of course, but you can deflect a lot.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also completely true. Every company, no matter how healthy and wonderful as a whole, has backwaters run by jerks. The umbrella is also in effect here: the healthy culture is still the rain in this case, and the boss opens himself to keep that sustaining moisture from his team.

I don't think we need to spend a lot of time on that last scenario. We've all suffered under tyrannical bosses, and it doesn't take a genius to list their tricks.

So back to the image of umbrella as protector against a harsh climate. Say you're a boss, and your company is... less than perfect. Maybe it's "fine," but you know full well that "fine" never inspired an ounce of loyalty. "Fine" never attracted top talent - at least not reliably - and it certainly never kept that talent on board for very long.

That's why, as leader, all you care about is building a team that is great. Here's how to be that umbrella for your people.

1. Explain your expectations of them clearly and unequivocally. Whole books have been written on this. Suffice it to say, winners want to know how to win. Tell them that. They'll go out and make the rest happen.

2. Spend 90% of your time grooming your winners. Learn from them. Think of your time as a reward that their success has earned.

3. Sort winners from losers quickly. Don't delay that pain. You can't turn a weed into an oak tree, no matter how nurturing you are to that weed. And the experience will be painful for that weed, so you aren't even being nice, at least not in the long run.

4. Explain to your winners how much you admire them. Don't assume they know. Also don't be fawning about it. Just state your appreciation, frequently and specifically, for the things they're doing right. Recognize them publicly and in talks with your peers and those up the ladder (this will get back to them, and they'll love you for it!)

5. Act on this guiding principle: "My job is to make your job easier." In other words, facilitate their success. Your role, whether you realized it or not, is to take the junk away from your team so they can focus on what matters. In an unhealthy organization, a lot of that junk comes in the form of bureaucratic nonsense - hoop jumping, paperwork, senseless meetings that take your staff out of productivity. Keep your people focused on what matters, what pays the company's bills. Be a servant leader.

6. Facilitate their success. If they truly are stars, there's a fair chance they'll have ambitions beyond their current role - not necessarily, because we're all looking for different things from our work. But quite often this will be the case. A talented leader understands when she has a winner, and supports that winner's move to the next challenge. Be a champion, not an impediment.

I've only scratched the surface on The Law of the Umbrella, but I hope this is helpful. Your comments, as always, are more than welcome: they're essential to me, and to my readers. Please, tell us what you think.

*****

This post is dedicated to the best manager of my career, C.L. Indeed, she taught me the bulk of this post through her own example.