Leadership and Noble Followership

My leadership book club finished a book last month by Frank J. Barrett titled Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz. This book introduced an important concept I hadn’t thought much about before… the importance of Followership in a person's Leadership journey.

What do great Symphonies and Jazz ensembles generally have in common? They both have musicians who are technically proficient, passionate about their work, continuously learning and, when they are performing, create experiences that can be a tremendously emotional and impactful experience for their audiences.

Where do they differ? Symphonies have one conductor who holds a vision for the piece of music, and is singularly accountable for each member bringing their talents together to play technical pieces EXACTLY as it is written (Watch Maestro or Tár!). They alone are the leader of the group and each member does what the conductor expects of them without deviation. Jazz ensembles, by contrast, have one person accountable for each instrument - the one they are playing - and they take turns leading and following throughout a piece of music, depending on what the moment calls for and, in the end, they are jointly responsible for making the music come together…Time for a piano solo? The drummer better be able to provide the timing and fill the gaps! Time for a horn solo, the bass player better be able to accentuate the rhythm in the background! They all know the direction they are going with the piece, but they must be adept at leading in one moment and following in another, responding to the cues and improvisations of others!

Which feels more like real life in your office? If you’re anything like me, the feelings of being a great conductor happen from time to time but are generally short lived and real life quickly takes over!

Are recruiters aligned with developers to set expectations for the experience new advisors will receive in their first 6-12 months of learning the business to help set expectations and increase retention? Do developers know what recruiters are hearing from new recruits to tailor development where they may need mentorship the most to help increase retention? Maybe the best example in my mind: When we invest time to help new GDDs learn mentorship skills, do we also help the mentees develop skills on how to be mentored to maximize the impact of the relationship…these are examples where people need to be both leaders and followers depending on what the moment calls for! (See Driving FPP #5 from 3/22).

Questions for you to reflect upon and discuss with your team (MD, Recruiting, Advisor Development, Leader Development, Finance, Compliance, Operations, etc):

• Is each leader on your team technically proficient in their discipline and do they have an intellectual curiosity to continue developing and growing?
  • Right person? Right seat? Right development plan?
• Do each of your leaders feel accountable to their division alone, or do they proactively collaborate across divisions knowing they are a key component of broader Firm goals?
• Do your division leaders contribute to the strategy and thinking outside of their accountability, and seek others' input for their area?
  • Is everyone driving to a goal bigger than just their area, such as: Driving to 5th year graduates? 5-19 LOS FYC growth? Leadership development, business planning for Ensembles, etc?
• Do your leaders feel empowered to make and run with their decisions for their area of accountability, or do they always rely on you to "OK” decisions?
  • What does that say about your development opportunities?
  • What does that say about your leader’s development opportunities?

I learned a lot from Yes to the Mess, as the lessons were a great parallel to building an effective leadership team in the real world.

• Consider reading it in your study group and debriefing both what you learned and what you will implement to increase the effectiveness of your team.
• Consider having your study group’s leadership teams have a book study together without you and then bring your learnings together for a great team discussion.
• Consider giving the book to your ensembles who are working on their leadership skills as their teams are continually growing.

If any of these options are interesting, and you’d benefit from a moderator to help facilitate a discussion, let me know! As always, if you’d like anyone from your team added to the distribution list, just send me their names.

I look forward to seeing you all here in MKE next month at the Summerfest grounds!

Think Differently,

Steve

P.S. If you have Apple Music, here is a cool Miles Davis piece called Freddie Freeloader - Listen for the Leadership and Followership between the band members!

Freddie Freeloader – Miles Davis (Apple Music)