Many leaders I work with cycle through feeling frustrated, to crippled with self doubt, through to feeling elated.
Our emotions are in constant flux.
So are our teams, projects, and organisations.
One leadership approach does not suit all times, the best and worst of them.
Products and services go through distinct stages of introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
Savvy leaders monitor customer interactions and feedback, as well as the broader context, to know when to start new initiatives and kill off sacred cows once they start to decline.
At the same time, our culture also cycles. Culture can go from fallow and full of potential, then flourishing, then ripe, and sometimes then to rotten.
When we overlay the product cycle with the culture cycle, we discover the need for different types of leadership.
We are more suited to some than others, either through our personal preferences, experience, skills, or inclination.
1. Are you a BUILDER?
Your product and services might be in the introduction, growth or maturity stages. Your culture might be fallow, flourishing, or ripe.
Your focus and energy is about harnessing the strengths of the organisation and its teams to build better results for the mission. You are not afraid of hard work, building new systems, and incremental change.
2. Are you a MAKER?
The time is nigh for new opportunities. You bring fresh ideas, a hunger for innovation and the panache of a pioneer. You can harness the culture which might be fallow, flourishing or ripe. Your energy is boundless and infectious.
With a grand vision and a healthy relationship with risk, you can lead great, fresh endeavours towards new horizons.
3. Are you a FIXER?
When a product is in decline, and the culture is fallow, flourishing or ripe, the Fixer comes to the fore. You are adept at revamping old systems, releasing bottlenecks, and managing restructures. You are not burdened with legacy issues and find it freeing to challenge the status quo.
Many will be threatened by your change agenda, but your insight for how the changes will make their lives better is your driving force. Your persuasive energy brings along the most reluctant of naysayers.
4. Are you a BREAKER?
There are some things that need a firm hand and a drastic approach. The culture is rotten or fallow, the product or services are dead or in decline. You love a challenge, and this is the biggest kind. New standards need to be defined and reinforced. Restructures and refocus are on the cards. Some will go willingly, others you might ask to pack their bags and decamp. You are not afraid to issue the call, “This is the ship we'll sail next. Either get on the ship, or find another berth.”
From the ashes the Phoenix rises, and you are just the person to lead brave birds through the crucible.
It is rare for a leader to be able to fulfil all these roles. The Breaker rarely has the patience of the Fixer. The Maker will soon grow bored once their initiatives mature. The Fixer may struggle with introducing new products in a maturing market. The Builder may resist the need to knock things down and build again.
If you are struggling in your leadership role, it may be that your natural talents and energy are simply the wrong cog for the current machine.
If this is the case, the best you can do is an honest appraisal of your leadership strengths and find a match for an organisation or team that can leverage what you have to offer.
