What kind of leader are you?
“What kind of leader are you?” is a provocative question. It gets to the heart of how we see ourselves in relation to those we manage, serve, and do business with. Do you have a clear answer in mind?
If, like me, your answer evolves with the trials and tribulations you face in your career – fear not! Adaptability is a strength in leadership, not a weakness. What matters most is not if your leadership evolves as you learn and grow, but how it does.
In my previous career as a school teacher, I practiced a framework for lesson planning with my students called “Backward Design”, developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (More on that in their 1998 book Understanding by Design.) The gist of the framework: if you want to accomplish some learning in the minds of your students, begin with the end in mind. Then, identify what counts as evidence of that end being achieved. Finally, design the actions that will produce that end (instruction, in the case of teaching.)
Backward Design was revolutionary for curriculum planning in schools, because it replaced a traditional method of teaching to “cover” topics (based on national standards, personal preferences, killing time with busy work, etc.) Traditional design leads to teaching, where the outcome for the student is largely irrelevant. Backward design (done well) leads to learning, where the outcome for the student – the learner! – is everything. When you start with the end in mind, you’re also much more likely to reach it.
My eureka moment came a few years ago, when I realized that Backward Design didn’t just apply to the classroom. You can backward design success in business and leadership, too. That shouldn’t come as a surprise: teaching is one amazing example (perhaps the ultimate example!) of leading a team. And great leadership, just like great teaching, isn’t measured in what you do: it’s measured in what those whom you lead accomplish, guided and inspired by you.
Let’s look at a hypothetical example, step by step:
Shanice runs a small Sports Marketing Agency managing social media accounts for college athletes at 3 different Midwest universities. She has a full-time team of 3 (plus herself) and her Big Idea is to expand from 3 to 5 schools in her client portfolio and hire 2 more full-time employees this year, who will serve as Assistant Content Managers to two of her three existing direct reports. Revenue is growing, and Shanice believes she can grow her team and number of accounts while continuing to provide amazing value-adding services for her happy clients.
Problem: How can Shanice backward design her way to a stronger business in one year?
Step 1: Identify the Desired Results (“Begin with the End in Mind”)
Shanice wants to:
Step 2: Gather Evidence of Success (“How do I know I’m winning?”)
All of Shanice’s goals in her Big Idea to grow this year are clearly-defined, but what would progress towards these goals look like?
Let’s look at the first two goals:
Expand from 3 to 5 schools in her client portfolio
Is Shanice increasing her number of qualified leads (interested athletes) at 2 new schools? Has she increased her marketing or lead gen budget or committed more of her time (or another team member’s) to selling? Has she signed any new contracts at new schools? What is the expected annual revenue from each of these new contracts?
Shanice should develop a progress chart she can update monthly to track evidence of success on this goal – and stay on top of it! Sharing results with her fellow team members, or a trusted business coach, would be a great way to hold herself accountable for producing this evidence.
Hire 2 new FT employees
Is Shanice developing a hiring timeline for one or both of these roles? Has she built a hiring team within her existing team? Has she budgeted to ensure she can afford these new roles, under both the optimistic and realistic revenue projection models she’s built? Is her HR software prepared to accommodate the two additional team members she plans to hire?
Shanice can track her progress on this goal in the same ways mentioned above – and she owes it to herself to stay on top of it.
Step 3: Design (and Take!) Action for Success (“What do I do now?”)
Enough planning, it’s time to act. Remember: what matters most is that Shanice’s actions are tuned to produce the outcomes she wants. Because she has (1) clearly defined her desired outcomes and (2) developed assessments along the way that will tell her how she’s doing, it won’t be a surprise whether she succeeds or not. Her support system around her will be well-positioned to bolster her efforts because she keeps them informed of her progress. If she gets off-track along the way, she’ll likely know what she needs to do to pivot and course-correct.
The example of Shanice and her Sports Marketing Agency shows the power of backward design for business growth, but the framework is just as robust for strategically planning less tangible change - like strengthening your personal managerial skills. Think of your desired outcome as the improvements you’d like to see in your team (or even yourself), and ask: what would evidence that I’m growing look like? Remember: that evidence may often come from those whom you lead, so make sure that you’re assessing your team frequently and honestly so that your own implicit/unconscious biases aren’t muddying the evidence.
So what kind of leader are you? Are you ready to own the work of strengthening your team through backward design, beginning with your biggest goals in mind? It’s possible to trace a path from where you want to be back to where you are right now – and lay down evidence mileposts along the way to track your progress. And then when you depart towards your Big Idea you’ve already done so much of the heavy lifting.
