How Do I Get 1% Better Today?
THE ANSWER — GIVE SUPPORT.
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been talking about what it takes to achieve results. We started with clarity. Last week we talked about accountability. Today we finish with the third piece: support.
Support is pretty simple: Give people what they need to be successful.
That support can come in a lot of different forms. Sometimes people need emotional support. Sometimes they need better resources. Sometimes they need personal, tactical, strategic, technical, or relationship coaching. Great leaders don’t assume everyone needs the same thing. They pay attention to the person and the situation and ask, “What does this person need from me right now to be successful?”
The absence of effective support will eventually undermine the very results you’re trying to achieve. This is where leaders can get caught in what is called the Doom Loop. It sounds something like this: “I’m too busy to support my people.” Why are you so busy? “Because I’m doing things other people should be doing.” Why are you doing their jobs? “Because I don’t have confidence they can do them.” Why don’t you have confidence in them? “Because they haven’t been properly coached and trained.” Why haven’t you coached and trained them? “Because I’m too busy.”
And around and around we go.
The only way to break the Doom Loop is to invest the time to equip people to solve problems themselves. As leaders, we should be developing people who can make decisions, handle adversity, and solve problems at the lowest possible level. If everybody has to come to you for every answer, you haven’t created leadership—you’ve created dependency.
Another important part of support is being what is called a positive realist. Being positive doesn’t mean pretending everything is great. That’s not positivity; that’s denial. Positive realism looks reality right in the face and says, “This is a tough situation. This is a difficult problem. This is a big setback. And I believe we can handle it.” That’s where positivity becomes toughness. That’s where optimism becomes grit.
As coaches and leaders, sometimes our job is simply to believe in people when their belief in themselves starts to fade. Everybody goes through moments when confidence slips. A player makes a mistake. An employee struggles. A team experiences a setback. Great leaders don’t ignore reality, but they also don’t allow today’s circumstances to determine tomorrow’s possibilities.
One of the best ways we can support people is by teaching them how to handle those moments without us. That’s why E+R=O — Event + Response = Outcome — is such an important part of everything we teach. We don’t control every event that happens to us, but we can develop the discipline to control our response. The outcome we want will be determined largely by the quality of the response we choose.
Our job is to help people develop responses that are intentional, disciplined, and on purpose instead of impulsive, emotional, and on autopilot. I don’t just want our players to understand E+R=O when I’m standing beside them. I want them to be able to use it when I’m nowhere around. That’s real development. That’s support.
Support also requires situational leadership. People are different. Teams are different. Situations are different. What worked with last year’s team may not work with this year’s team. What one person needs from you may be completely different from what another person needs. Leadership requires enough structure to maintain the standard and enough flexibility to give people what they need in the moment.
Ultimately, one of the primary responsibilities of a leader is to remove barriers and obstacles that keep people from performing at their best. My job isn’t to prove how important I am by doing everything myself. My job is to coach, teach, equip, encourage, and then unleash other people to go perform.
When we put all three pieces together, we have a pretty good roadmap for achieving results: Give people clarity so they know what to do. Hold them accountable to the standard. Give them the support they need to succeed.
CLARITY tells people where we’re going. ACCOUNTABILITY keeps us on the path. SUPPORT gives people what they need to get there.
And maybe that’s the question for us today. Who is counting on you? A player? An employee? A coworker? Your spouse? Your child? Instead of asking what they need to do better, ask yourself:
What can I give them today that will help them succeed tomorrow?
Give clarity. Hold accountable. Give support.
Then get out of the way and let people grow.
That’s how we Never Stop Getting Better.
John Perry
Source/Inspiration: Brian Kight, The Culture Guru