Page 35 - Fearless Leadership

22 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

• People give their effort and enthusiasm when they are inspired.
• People produce extraordinary results when they work together as
a winning team.

FEARLESS LEADERSHIP IS DEFINED BY BEHAVIOR,
ATTITUDE, AND RESULTS

Leaders are often categorized as being results oriented or people oriented.
Fearless leaders excel at both. They have the ability to connect with peo-
ple and mobilize them to action that delivers exceptional business results.
The extraordinary way in which fearless leaders work together is what
allows aligned, cohesive, and seamless teams to emerge. A high perfor-
mance team requires fearless leaders. These teams are distinguished from
business-as-usual groups by their behavior, attitude, and results.
Let’s work with an accurate description of teams versus groups. Business-
as-usual groups are not really teams at all; they are “bands of individuals”
because they lack the solidarity, camaraderie, and cohesion of high per-
formance teams. In traditional groups, members deny they have blind spots
and cover up their mistakes in an effort to look good and be right. Group
members lack trust and respect for one another and are often divisive and
adversarial. Many business-as-usual groups appear polite and affable, but
this is a pretense that masks unresolved bitterness between individuals.
One client described her “polite group” as follows: “No one drives the
debate or pushes issues forcefully enough, and we don’t give each other
the real, hard feedback. I’m exhausted at the end of each long meeting.”

What cannot be addressed, cannot be resolved.
Unresolved issues sap everyone’s energy.

Business-as-usual groups are indirect, underhanded, and conspire
against each other and the organization. Although this may sound harsh,
it is an accurate description of how traditional groups behave. This is not
malicious behavior; it is automatic behavior.
Often people are unaware of their impact on others. And even those
people who are aware often lack the skill set to address unproductive
behavior in a productive way.