Values-Driven Leadership by Mike Krzyzewski
Finalized a couple of weeks ago a Masterclass by Mike Krzyzewski, Coach K, over Values-Driven leadership that I enjoyed and do recommend to all that are interested in the subject.
Must confess I did not know Coach K and his professional background and achievements (most probably a heresy for all the basketball lovers out there, but it is the truth), and it was such a pleasant surprise to go through these 17 lessons (approx. 3h40m) where he presents how he sees and practiced leadership throughout his successful and proficuous career.
I took for myself 20 lessons, advice and takeaways I could immediately use (some of them I already do) or at least ponder on how to incorporate them into my day-2-day professional life, that I will summarize below:
As a leader your first job is to clearly explain the mission of your group.
In order to enact that mission, you need to define your values.
Values are how you put your beliefs into action in your organization.
A value-based organization stands the test of time and on the long run is able to create an organization culture.
The definition of values should be shared with your team to promote a co-ownership. How can you do that? Via value meetings where you discuss the potential values and what do they mean to each of the team members.
After the definition phase you should live the defined values on a daily basis until they become a habit.
A leader should be above all respected (not feared or loved, there goes Machiavel saying). To do so you should:
Develop trust - Speak the truth → 2 ways,
Develop teamwork - 2 are better than 1, but only when 2 can work as 1,
Promote ownership of the mission, goals and values,
Define standards - how do you do things all the time, in fact are how you live your values.
When problems arise deal with them asap, provide your assessment of the situation and ask for feedback.
Know your people, respect everyone’s contribute and make everyone aspire to be greater than the sum of the parts.
Within your planning activity you should:
Listen, listen and listen,
Ask for input,
Clearly know your goals and timeframe to achieve them,
Have the willingness to adapt, if required change the overall strategy, based on what is happening and what you are seeing allow yourself to incorporate the new insights in the overall strategy (long-reads),
Believe in your plan.
Strategy vs. Tactics:
Strategy - the actions you should take to achieve your long-term goals. What you do when nothing is happening in the macro-environment. Proactive
Tactics - the actions you need to promote and execute right now, right here. What you have to do to react to specific circumstances. Reactive
Know your team and master communication:
Know how to read your team, understand body language and facial expression,
Ensure that your message gets across - it is your responsibility that everyone understands your message (no one else),
Communication is the lifeblood of your organization, thus promote communication within the team members,
Communicate in real-time if possible and if advisable.
Elevate your meetings:
Be in control,
Require 100% full attention (e.g. no phones),
Make each meeting count,
Ensure that what needs to be said is said,
Prepare them accordingly.
Lead with emotion:
A leader should be emotional,
However, a leader should not let emotion get the best of him, but let the emotion get the best out of him,
Learn psychology to better manage your team,
Work and be conscious of your attitude,
Don’t play defense on yourself,
Use emotion to achieve what they are able to.
Recruit and retain the best talented team:
Your team should be diverse,
Your team should be balanced,
Your team should have character,
Retain your talent (key).
Help your team improve individual performance:
Invest on individual growth as much as you invest in achieving your objectives,
Stretch expectations,
Push your team members beyond the comfort zone,
Focus on the right habits,
Encourage self-critique.
Give feedback recurrently and make it personally, don’t shy away of providing negative feedback,
Leadership is plural (all levels of the organization) and should be fluid.
Don’t delegate but empower.
Identify the leaders of your team
Learn how to bounce back from a loss and learn from it:
Seize that moment,
Don’t let a blame kick-in,
Tone, Time and Place and How you react is paramount and manage your attitude,
Teams listen more when they lose vs. when they win.