Helicopter Leadership: When You Should Hover
Helicopter Leadership: When You Should Hover
Helicopters are known for their unique ability to hover, take off and land vertically, and move in ways that traditional fixed-wing aircraft cannot operate. They are the air vehicle of choice for emergencies and crises. They transport people and things to locations where airplanes can’t land. They aid up-close sightseeing, aerial videography and photography, and agricultural work. They can maneuver into hard-to-reach locations, hover close to, or land on the ground. This makes it easier to off-and-on-load resources, observe the terrain, or support land operations. (more…)
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Almost daily, the business media reports on organizations announcing searches for, or the appointment of, new C-suite leaders. Sometimes this is prompted by the prior leader’s long-expected retirement or movement to another role. But often the vacancy reflects the emerging need to improve financial results and to bolster trust in their brand and the products and services they provide.
These days, leaders are increasingly facing expectations to respond to circumstances and situations occurring outside the work environment about which their employees and society have strong and differing opinions. No matter how or if they respond, many will be criticized, either for not doing enough or for doing too much.
Think of being in one of the following situations. How will you respond to it? Or if you’ve already been there, how did you respond?
An anchor serves a common purpose on a ship or boat…to stop it from moving. Lower the anchor and it engages and connects the vessel to the seabed, ensuring it stays put. It prevents drifting in the wind and current which would put those onboard at risk. It is a basic requirement for vessels on the water, typically with a sharp projection that hooks into the rock and soil. The stability it provides enables a variety of productive and pleasurable activities for those onboard.
I’ve become a recent fan of playing the New York Times’ daily puzzles online, and one of my favorites is Connections. Sixteen words are provided, and the goal is to form four groups of four words that are in some way connected. You have to figure out what the connection is, and you get four mistakes, after which the game ends and the correct answers pop up. For example, on the day that I’m writing this, four connected words are bar, dinner, liberty, and tinker. They’re all “words before ‘bell’”.
One of the most important roles of leaders is making the tough decisions.
My baking skills are marginal at best. I can follow a recipe to bake a loaf of bread, but if it doesn’t rise properly, I likely won’t understand why. Skilled bakers on the other hand know the secret to preparing a fully risen and delicious loaf of bread. They recognize the importance of a small but powerful ingredient…yeast. And they can perform consistently by making loaves that look and taste identical, time after time.
Many years ago, when I was newly appointed as the leader of a large team, I met with them to introduce myself and to learn more about them. And I shared an analogy that continues to ring true in my mind today; that we’re an orchestra and I was their conductor.
Communication is simultaneously one of the most simple and complex activities we engage in as humans. Two or more people can talk about a topic and completely understand each other in one moment, and in the next moment recognize a disconnect has occurred. Colleagues who have trusting relationships will typically recognize this more quickly and get back on track. But often in organizations, leaders with contrasting priorities will continue to move forward without recognizing the growing divide between their work and that of their associates. They focus more on talking than listening. And failure to listen to colleagues ultimately impacts organizational productivity and profitability.