The leader as a driver in the great race for good results; Gone is the time-wasting focus on why something happened and finding who is responsible. When something isn’t going well, a “high-octane leader” will probably completely skip the “why” and root cause analysis, and instead ask and get answers to a series of questions that keep the race car (team) moving forward and adjusting their approach as the car continues. Everything is about what can and will be done

The leader as a driver in the great race for good results

James Engel
senior executive director and director 
The Centre of Excellence at The APMGroup.
November 25, 2013 1:00 am

Let’s have a race – a race for business results. The winner gets increased profits, market-share and growth in the Asean Economic Community (AEC) marketplace; the loser, a lot less. You, as a leader, are the driver. Your team is the car. The racetrack is your strategy. The finishing line is achieving your key performance indicators (KPIs). Now imagine that the “fuel” is supplied by your mouth and ears. Remember, you can have the best race car in the world, but without fuel, you’re going nowhere. As with organisations, you can have the best talent in the industry, but without a good leader listening and motivating, you won’t win the global race.

What would constitute “high-octane” fuel? What kind of “fuel” pours into the engine and allows that car to perform at its peak? Properly mixed, your ears and mouth will supply the additional octane to high performance. Let’s list the differences between high and low octane leaders (see box).
The left column will sustain and increase performance over the long-term. The right column may be good for a very short race (for instance, a crisis), but it won’t sustain a team or an organisation in today’s business climate.
Let’s move this approach into the workplace and give a few key points to all the “Driver Leaders” reading this; this fuel (how you listen and communicate) is delivered throughout the race at the right time, in the right amount to the right people. This is about numerous and frequent solution-focused conversations over time with the goal of continuously moving your team forward while simultaneously building capabilities in your talented people. The capability to consistently maintain a positive, solution-focused mindset in your organisation and your teams is a critical next-generation leadership skill. The challenge is that this high ROI skill requires most experienced leaders in Thailand and Asia to “unlearn” their current leadership approach. At the same time, you must build a highly trusting and safe environment where your people can openly contribute and share without the cultural and generational barriers that currently limit their contribution. You can do this by practising and exhibiting the 11 “high-octane” behaviours consistently over a sustained period of time.
What we are describing above is part of a much larger shift in how |successful leaders will need to lead in the future. A leader is no longer expected to know everything, but rather be an expert communicator who surfaces meaningful information and possible solutions from multiple sources and then quickly selects and executes the best available path to success. This requires the application of one of the many solution-focused frameworks showing up in organisations today.
At the core of the solution-focused approach is a relentless focus on what WILL work and what the future looks like. Gone is the time-wasting focus on why something happened and finding who is responsible (you can view this as stepping on the brakes and backing up the car to see what happened at the last curve).
When something isn’t going well, a “high-octane leader” will probably completely skip the “why” and root cause analysis, and instead ask and get answers to a series of questions that keep the race car (team) moving forward and adjusting their approach as the car continues.
Everything is about what can and will be done.
An employee with a boss who does this will be a motivated employee moving forward. So, print out the high-octane practices above and use them in your next meeting. When working with your team or peers, show them the list and ask them if they are high or low octane leaders in terms of the “fuel ingredients”. As you “unlearn”, others will grow and accelerate. Your team and company will be well prepared for the AEC race ahead.