Perry Maddox explains how a structured approach to cover the basics enables leaders to create, innovate, and add their greatest value.
“You’re obsessed with structures and systems.“
Several years ago, a colleague accused me of being too systems-heavy. On the surface, that might have seemed true. I was serving as a COO and had just created a new global performance dashboard.
Yet, my colleague couldn’t have been more wrong. We hadn’t built the dashboard to create structure.
We built it to unleash creativity and innovation.
A Canary in a Coal Mine.
It’s not easy to lead an organization.
You are a trained accountant, HR pro, seasoned fundraiser, whiz with outcome monitoring, and legal expert in non-profit and charity registration, right?
Of course not. But make no mistake, leaders must ensure success in those areas and more.
Small wonder that when we studied our new directors, we found too much on their plates. They were spending all of their time managing performance just to cover the basics. As a result, they weren’t looking up and out to the strategic horizon, building relationships and leading into the future.
To help, we created the performance dashboard. Designed only to cover the basics, it reported on minimum performance across each function. Like a canary in a coal mine, this dashboard didn’t report success.
It reported failure.
The idea was to simplify life for our leaders. When they glanced at the dashboard and saw red, they knew that action was needed. When it showed green, they had the confidence and freedom to focus elsewhere. Like on creativity and innovation, looking to the future, taking risk, and building partnerships for the medium term.
In other words, they were freed to lead.
Structure to Cover the Basics and Free Yourself to Lead.
To get to the good stuff, you must know that the basics are covered. If not, you’ll be pulled into reactive problem-solving. Cut the grass before you are forced to fight a wildfire.
To create the confidence and space you need to lead forward, start with structure:
- Structure Your Time. Stop multitasking and start batching. Structure your schedule around uninterrupted blocks to cover the basics. Schedule regular time to process your inbox, for routine functions, and to meet those you manage. Set these calendar slots to repeat, protecting the time you need to cover the basics. Then add your repeating slots to create, to read, to think, to learn and to recharge.
- Structure Your Goals. Examine your goals. Is there a healthy balance between managing and leading? Performance and strategy? Present and future? Structure your goals to both cover the basics and to lead forward.
- Structure Your Meetings. Divide meetings into two parts. First, cover the basics. Focus on the information, accountability and discussions to ensure good performance and risk management. Then, shift the focus and feel of the meeting to the good stuff. This can take many forms: learning sessions, blue-sky thinking, creative sessions to solve a sticky problem, bonding and connection, strategic planning, you name it. Once you’ve got the feel of this dual approach, your goal becomes to reduce the compliance section to the minimum time needed.
- Structure Your Teams & Budgets. Study your staff structure and budgets. How many of your roles are future-focussed versus current delivery? How much are you investing into the medium and long term? Take care not to underinvest or understaff growth and innovation. Watch for warning signs like minimal IT investment, staffing exclusively dedicated to delivery, or understaffed fundraising.
Cover the Basics, Reap the Reward.
When the basics are covered, leaders add their greatest value.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that operations, delivery or performance are unimportant. We only exist to deliver on our mission.
That’s why leaders must constantly ask where our greatest value addition lies in advancing that mission. We must ruthlessly prioritize our efforts to create the biggest impact, but we cannot neglect the basics. Here’s where structure and systems shine. Build the minimum needed to ensure performance and give yourself the confidence to focus elsewhere.
Don’t just take my word for it, though.
In our 2020 global staff survey, 98% of our staff believed that we held high performance standards, 93% believed that we nurture innovation, and 97% trust in our leadership.
Which is effectively how I answered my colleague years ago:
“I’m not obsessed with structure and systems, but if we don’t cover the basics, we’ll never get to the good stuff.“
