What’s at stake?
This is one of my favourite coaching questions. It makes us examine why something matters to us, what’s so important about it and, ultimately, what’s really driving us? For many of the leaders I work with the answer is simple: results. They want their work to have an impact. They want to improve the lives of others, through better education, a fairer justice system or improvements in health services, to name but a few. Whatever the area, the drive is the same: they want their hard work and their leadership to make a difference in the world. I think of this as Leading for Impact.
So, what does it mean to Lead for Impact? What questions does it raise for leaders?
- Some come to coaching looking for ways to increase the focus on results in their organisation or system. They want to understand the tools and techniques of effective implementation and to reflect on how their leadership can motivate and inspire others to change
- Driving this sort of shift can be tough, especially in an established bureaucracy. More often than not, leaders also look for a space to regroup and recharge in the face of dogged resistance to the change they’re trying to bring about.
- Collective leadership is a recurring theme – how do we build the kind of trust, collaboration and productive conflict that we need to solve the complex problems inherent in delivering social impact?
- And, lastly, I see many leaders who are working out how to do all of this without it coming at too great a cost to themselves, their families and their own well-being.
Not much then.
Here are a few suggestions on what has worked for me over the years, and what I see coming up in coaching conversations with those who are striving to Lead for Impact:
🎨 Paint a technicolour picture of success. This means getting really detailed about what results you want and why. What will be different? Why does it matter? How will you know your strategy is working? Be specific – you need to focus your energy or your efforts will be diluted. This isn’t just about having concrete metrics. It’s about building a vision for the future that will sustain you through the hard times; one that will keep you motivated and, crucially, bring others along with you.
😰Get real. I rarely work with people or organisations who don’t have enough to do – if anything, we’re trying to do too much most of the time. If you want to lead for impact you need to get real about your priorities and you need to let go of getting everything done. I’m not saying don’t be ambitious. A challenging vision is a powerful motivator. But having too many things on your plate can quickly become dispiriting for you and your team.
😶Be brave. Sometimes the choices about the vision and priorities aren’t within our gift, especially in political systems. If that’s the case, you can prompt those in power to be clear about the results they want, advise them on how best to achieve them, and challenge when a failure to prioritise puts everything at risk.
🤝Make connections. It’s tempting to think that having a clear plan and the systems and processes in place to ‘make stuff happen’ is enough. It’s not. Building and leveraging the right relationships across the system is critical to Leading for Impact. Who matters and why? What are their values and interests? How am I connecting with them, listening to them, recruiting them in the mission?
🤯Keep going. Delivering results is hard. There are no quick fixes or clever wheezes that will suddenly solve the challenges you’re facing. So-called ‘best practice’ doesn’t always work when you transplant things from one environment to another. Legislation and guidance are necessary but usually not enough on their own to ensure results. The system will probably respond to your intervention in unexpected ways – a leak plugged here can suddenly spring up somewhere else. And this is before you even get to the cynics and detractors on the sidelines saying ‘This will never work’. So be humble in your approach: respect complexity but get out there and test and learn. And don’t let those who are more interested in talking about problems than solutions deter you from your work.
🎭Let the mask drop. It’s precisely because of this complexity that we need safe spaces to admit our uncertainty and share our mistakes. If you’re the leader, who do you go to when you’re not sure what to do next or when you think you might have taken a wrong turn? It can be hard to open up on this with your team or your boss, especially early on in a role when you’re still trying to build credibility. So look for opportunities to let your guard down, perhaps with a trusted peer group or a coach. Action learning groups can be hugely powerful in helping you think through your approach with others who are in the same boat. Just knowing you’re not alone helps you feel more effective.
How do you Lead for Impact?
