Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 617 - "A Rapid Response Isn’t Always The Best One" (Liz Wiseman and John Wooden)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 12	Issue 617
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"A RAPID RESPONSE ISN’T ALWAYS THE BEST ONE" (LIZ WISEMAN AND JOHN WOODEN) John Wooden Video Clip (57 sec.): Coach Wooden discusses "Friendship" Liz Wiseman is a bestselling author, researcher, and elite leadership coach. In her New York Times bestseller, Multipliers: she researched over 150 leaders worldwide. Liz Wiseman and Coach Wooden both agree that Self-Control and Initiative are essential character traits for good leadership. In her book, Wiseman describes how a leader who sometimes acts as what she calls a "Rapid Responder" can inadvertently hurt the team’s performance: "The "Rapid Responder" is the leader who prizes fast turnaround. He takes responsibility and is "on it"—he is quick to respond, troubleshoot problems, and make fast micro decisions. He sees a problem; he solves it. Emails don’t last long in his in-box. He opens, reads, and resolves immediately. Consider what happens when an urgent email hits an employee’s in-box. She opens the email and recognizes its importance. She sees that her boss is copied on it, but the issue falls in her area of responsibility, so she jumps on it. She rereads it carefully and thoughtfully contemplates the options. She realizes that she needs more information and consults a colleague. When the employee returns to draft her reply, she notices she has new mail and gets that sinking feeling that her boss may have already responded in the interim. And of course, he has. Not wanting to get out of synch, she just lets it go. When this happens frequently enough, employees learn to just let the boss deal with the issue—even when the issue at hand was actually theirs to handle. The leader reacts quickly, but the people around him tend to react slowly, if at all." When a leader always "rapid responds" they are lacking "Self-Control". They are stopping team- members from taking "Initiative" to do their job. Giving the team member 24 hours before you jump in, when possible, is usually a good solution. Do your leadership behaviors encourage "Initiative" by all team-members? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 617. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 617. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE My Land My land is where the kind folks are, And where the friends are true, Where comrades brave will travel far Some kindly deed to do. My land is where the smiles are bright And where the speech is sweet, And where men cling to what is right Regardless of defeat. My land is where the starry flag Gleams brightly in the sun; The land of rugged mountain crag, The land where rivers run, Where cheeks are tanned and hearts are bold And women fair to see, And all is not a strife for gold— That land is home to me. My land is where the children play, And where the roses bloom, And where to break the peaceful day No flaming cannons boom. My land's the land of honest toil, Of laughter, dance and song, Where harvests crown the fertile soil And thoughtful are the strong. My land's the land of many creeds And tolerance for all It is the land of 'splendid deeds Where men are seldom small. And though the world should bid me roam, Its distant scenes to see, My land would keep my heart at home And there I'd always be. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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