#HR #RRHH Making love and making personal #branding #leadership

Let me first clarify what I mean by saying "get out of the way." I am not referring to being a passive leader nor am I saying that any good leader should be less visible. Quite the opposite. Being present and getting your hands dirty is part of the job. But there is a fine balance.

Working alongside the team in the trenches at times is important, but a high performance team must be empowered, nimble and adaptive. This is hard to accomplish when micro-managers are breathing down their necks all day. That's not a sound leadership strategy anyway and it won't lead to improving speed, efficiency or morale.

Kim Scott, the author of Radical Candor, Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, knows it can be painful to be a boss, especially when you have to fire someone.  Getting fired is painful, even traumatic.  It can cause financial hardship and damage a person’s self-confidence.  Scott knows the power of asking the right questions when making a tough decision like this.

She recalls having to fire an employee who wasn’t performing as expected and whom she liked personally.  She was nervous when the meeting started.  Then it got worse.  After she said he had to leave the company, this soon-to-be former team member, asked “Why? You never told me I wasn’t measuring up.”

Scott who has managed teams at Google, Apple and Silicon Valley startups, realized he was right.  Why hadn’t she told him?

I’m accustomed to handling clients who are at a crossroads in their lives and are looking for change—after all, I’m a career coach. So this usually involves guiding clients through some pretty heavy soul-searching to help them find the sort of truly fulfilling work that we all deserve.

This also means many of my clients are in an indecisive state at the outset—that’s to be expected. But I don’t think I’ve had a more indecisive client than Kevin. When I asked Kevin what sort of career he truly wanted to pursue, he blanked. I asked him what he enjoys doing and what he’s really good at, and he could never seem to articulate a direct answer.

Teddy Roosevelt did it. Harry Truman did it. Want to be an outstanding leader? Keep a leadership journal. As part of my executive coaching work, one of the most effective tools I recommend that powers up the coaching process is a leadership journal.  The exercise of leadership is not unlike a sport you play. When you review your actions in the field you learn what worked, what didn’t, and adjust along the way. Leadership guru Peter Drucker said: “ Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. ”

Should you get an executive coach or not? “Well, we don’t have enough money in the budget to do executive coaching, so perhaps a training program may work” I heard an HR colleague say recently. Executive coaching is a significant investment for organizations relative to other options to grow leaders. Organizations also offer less costly mentoring, training, and leadership programs. When is the right time to invest in executive coaching for yourself or someone on your team, and when will training or mentoring be enough?