Guest Post: How Being a No-Nonsense Lawyer Influences My Work with Leaders
This is a guest post by Hanna Hasl-Kelchner.
When I was growing up, the idea of being a lawyer and fighting for truth and justice was irresistible. Deciding between right and wrong would be so easy, thought my 10-year-old self. Boom. Case closed. Yes, I could do this.
Real life proved to be a bit messier of course. Painfully slow timelines and multiple hurdles had to be cleared before achieving my “case closed” fantasy -- pesky and annoying things such as procedures, evidence (couldn’t they just take my word for it?), and people. Oh. My. Gosh. People.
Get out of my way and let me fix it!
People obstacles came in all shapes and sizes: opposing counsel, judges, juries, boards of directors, CEOs. It was an endless parade. Everyone had an opinion. Couldn’t they just get out of my way? I can fix this.
No. They wouldn’t. They couldn’t. They all had a stake in the outcome and were fighting just as hard to do their job as I was mine. I quickly discovered there were as many points of view as there were people looking at any given situation. Sometimes their differences were small and nuanced, other times they were on different planets.
Business leaders face a similar struggle every day.
You got promoted, or have your own business, and achieved a position of greater responsibility because you’re good at what you do. You’re smart. You have answers. And it would be so much easier for people to get out of your way. But I can tell you from personal experience, it won’t work that way.
Transitioning from Being the Solution to a Constructive Catalyst
As much as my younger self was impatient and wanted to lead the charge, to always be right and never lose a case, I quickly discovered that getting things done through others was really the fastest, most efficient way to “win.”
That “aha moment” was the turning point and influences my work with business leaders today.
What this means for you, as counter-intuitive as it sounds, is that you don’t actually need to solve the problems that cross your desk. You only needed to know how to go about solving the problems: to make the necessary resources available and to ask the right questions that empower others to help carry the load.
I appreciate how difficult that pivot sounds when you feel the burden of fixing problems resting on your shoulders. But I promise you that being a Constructive Catalyst, the person who sets things into positive motion without becoming part of the chain reaction has valuable benefits and can vastly expand your influence.
Real leaders have followers
Anyone can have a fancy title and be a leader in name, but those who can ask the right questions are infinitely more effective at building stronger teams and resilient organizational cultures in a way that handing out answers or solutions never can.
More employee engagement: Being curious engages others in the process of problem-solving. It respects their opinions. It gives them a voice and lets them be seen and heard. Together, you can figure out what you know, what you don’t know but need to know, and what you use to know, but forgot. It elicits valuable information and establishes solid action plans.
It also builds trust. After all, everyone has a point of view, and understanding their perspective gives your team the building blocks needed to craft more durable and satisfying solutions. It strengthens relationships by drawing people in and promotes more discretionary effort from employees in the process because you’re demonstrating you care about what they think.
More buy-in: People tend to support that which they create. When people are treated as part of the solution instead of the problem it promotes more buy-in and support for the solution. It generates goodwill. That’s priceless.
More commitment: With more buy-in comes more commitment to succeed and to make the game plan work because no one wants to see their ideas fail. That commitment ignites even more discretionary effort and employee engagement.
Asking no-nonsense questions doesn’t mean you have to agree with everyone. The growth mindset, however, opens the door to a powerful dynamic. It allows you to learn about the past from those who’ve been there and done that. It helps you develop peripheral vision because the trust you’ve earned means your team won’t be afraid to give you the news that could otherwise blind-side you, and it allows for course corrections. And best of all, the combined collaboration and support you garner helps achieve a stronger, more successful, and prosperous path forward. Now that’s winning.
Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, MBA, JD; helps business leaders build healthier organizational cultures through her writing, mentoring, and her Business Confidential Now podcast that helps you see business issues hiding in plain view that matter to your bottom line. Join Hanna on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.