High Performance Leadership

How firm are your boundaries? Are you willing to try new things, even if they are so new that they seem frightening? When I worked at GE there was a lot of talk about creating more boundarylessness. Yes, they made up the word. The broke a semantic boundary in service to their notion. It's not that there are no boundaries. We need those. It's just that our boundaries tend to get fixed into configurations that constrain us unnecessarily. We need to break those boundaries, or simply pass thru them without breaking them. They become (again, as we referred to them at GE) as permeable boundaries. Nature knows all about this. Got a fence? Nature will find a way around it or over it or thru it. Build a wall? Nature will find a way to slowly knock it down. Cities and states? Nature doesn't care. If a storm is headed your way, those artificial boundaries that you think are so sacrosanct will not protect you. Be like nature. Test your boundaries. Cross those borderlines som...

How tight are your boundaries? When I worked at GE an expression that was popular was "boundaries". We were boundaries in our search for solutions, in our work to satisfy customers, and in our pursuit of profit. Boundaries were permeable, not insurmountable. With one exception: integrity. That was one boundary that could not be stretched, could not be crossed, and could not be ignored. But for other boundaries much of the time our sense of what the boundary is depends on our perspective. How fixed it is depends on our creativity. How cold it is depends on our compassion. How formless it is depends on our clarity. And how limiting it is depends on our courage. We need to consider all four of these leadership strengths when we find ourselves held by boundaries. Without examining our boundaries and staying curious about why they are there or what function they serve we stay stuck. Stuck is not where we want to be. To get past stuck might take creativity, and it certainly...

Do you favor tight boundaries, wide boundaries, or flexible boundaries? When I worked at GE there was much talk about creating a boundaryless organization. But it turns out that wasn't so much without boundaries as it was to have permeable boundaries -- boundaries we could navigate as needed and expand under the right conditions. The only way that worked was to hold true to the values of the organization (some boundaries may NOT be crossed, such as "integrity"). So, it wasn't yes or no, right or wrong, when it came to defining boundaries - it was both/and. Some boundaries are flexible, and some are not. Knowing the difference is leadership. Knowing the difference is integrity. Boundaries that are impenetrable, but unreasonable, get in our way. They get built for good intentions, but outlive their usefulness. We establish rules for a time, and then that time passes and the rules remain. They are so out of tune with what we need that they can even become embarrassin...

Do you manage your team with a strong hand, controlling the details with precision and strength? Or, do you tend to maintain loose boundaries and let your team members take charge of their destiny more? Is it really one or the other? Old school leadership is all about control. Define the goals, set the rules, then rule with an iron fist. Let them know who's boss and never let them forget it. Slowly, and with great reluctance, that gave way to a newer school of thought - more participative leadership involving dignified treatment of team members (oh yes, they became more like team members than employees) and shared leadership. Used skillfully, it results in a more engaged workforce. Used carelessly, it results in chaos and unsatisfactory results. As is so often the case, it's not one or the other. As leaders we must have the strength to make decisions. We set the standards. We model the behaviors we are seeking. And we provide guidance for those who need it (hint - at on...

Do you find your projects getting bigger and bigger? Is scope creep more than a concept to you and more like a way of life? I call it the "wouldn't it be cool syndrome." Our bosses do it to us, our clients do it to us, our customers do it to us, our team members do it to us, but most of all we do it to ourselves -- we let our boundaries disappear and work expand endlessly. Do you know what that leads to? Unfinished work. That's not what you probably want. While your job might be without boundaries, your projects need them. And guess what -- if you don't set them and enforce them, why would anyone else? Centered leaders, high performance leaders create project boundaries. Shouldn't you? -- Douglas Brent Smith