"As a leader, what does success look like at the end of a day?" ~ Hiring manager to me during an interview
A colleague once pointed out that people leadership is a job that is never ending. Never ending in the sense that there's no defined body of work, no milestone to mark progress, no end state to indicate that an objective or project has been completed.
This is what the hiring manager was poking at when they asked me the question. They wanted to know how I measured "success" at the end of my day, how I knew I'd done my job for the day. There are as many answers to that question as there are people leaders. My answer at the time was if at the end of the day everyone on my team was reasonably happy, then it was a good day. A fellow leader once said to me that there are about three days a year when everyone on the team was happy - we decided that would be something like New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. While the answer I gave to the hiring manager stands as a generally good answer, the truth for me is that every day is nuanced and the definition of success is variable.
Examples of interactions that give me the feeling of a successful day include:
One morning I ran into a colleague at the gym. They mentioned that their manager had presented a growth opportunity to them and wanted to talk through it with me. At first blush, it sounded like a great opportunity. I asked them what they loved about their current job as well as what sounded interesting and scary about the new opportunity. These questions led them to reflect deeper and as we continued the conversation it became clear to my colleague that it was the right opportunity for them.
During a one on one with an employee. They told me about an interaction they'd had with a leader on their project. The leader had asked them a question about their workload and what bandwidth they had to take on additional work. My employee responded off the top of their head and later regretted their response because it didn't accurately represent the full picture. Approachability is a growth area for the leader in questions, so my employee was struggling with how to handle the situation. Specifically, they were swirling about the work they thought they'd just signed up to have added to their plate. I was able to help them take a step back and realize they could simply go back to the leader and let that person know that upon further review, their plate was full for the immediate future.
A team member reached out to me to talk through their career development. Through interactions with folks on their project, several people had mentioned that they'd be good at other roles that would be coming available in the imminent and near future. This got my team member thinking about their career path and considering if they wanted to switch gears from what we'd previously discussed. They wanted to use me as a sounding board because they knew our discussion would help them sift out the noise and help them get clarity on their goals for the future.
In the technical realm as with others, metrics are often used to show or demonstrate success for a given job. People leadership has so many perspectives and angles that the metrics approach falls short. Sometimes my sense of accomplishment comes from mediating a sticky people issue, other days it's finding a creative solution to a staffing issue. Many days it comes from sharing nuggets of wisdom, guiding people to reach their own conclusions or encouraging someone to try something new.
People leadership is a job in which the objectives are fuzzy at best and the path forward for a given person or team is uncharted. I have found that it's important to understand what gives me a sense of accomplishment and take a few minutes regularly to acknowledge those accomplishments.
How do you measure success at the end of your day or week? How often do you take time to reflect on your people leader accomplishments?
I'd love to hear from you. Please comment below or send me a note via the Connect section of the home page.
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