Want to Lead Effectively? Build a Paddock

If you've read my bio you know that I grew up riding horses. And for many years, my parents and I owned and lived on a farm. 

When  we  had  our farm,  one of the things  we  made sure to do was build paddocks (fenced in areas) for the horses. With the exception of some places that still have wild horses, you see these fences on every farm because the horses need to be able to spend time each day outside, free to roam. Given no opportunity to go outside and they are just being restricted and controlled all the time. Allowed to go outside, but without these fences, they could go anywhere and that might lead to trouble. 

The fences provide them with both guidance and freedom.  Some horses like a lot of freedom, they'll go to  the very far end of the paddock alone. Other horses prefer to stay near the others or at the point closest to the barn. The  ones that like a lot of freedom sometimes manage to break out of their paddocks (we had one horse that was a master of jumping out...it really did seem like he enjoyed that act of rebellion each day!). 

This popped into my head recently as a great analogy for  how to  lead a team or company with a well-defined culture and environment, but also allow for the autonomy that is needed in order to create engagement, leverage everyone's strengths and capabilities, and enable the individuals and group as a whole to thrive, evolve, and perform effectively.

Often I see leaders struggle with this. They think their options are black and white. Their tendency is to either take too much control (yes sometimes they micromanage because they have a high need for control, but often it is out of a well-intended desire to help the group go in the right direction particularly when the stakes are high) or provide too little or no guidance (not because they don't care, but because they want their athletes or employees to have the autonomy  and ability to  step up and lead themselves). 

When leaders provide too little guidance, there is likely to be:

• a lack of clarity about the identity and culture of the group that is needed to foster high performance and keep everyone aligned,
• confusion or inconsistency about what everyone's roles and responsibilities are within the group,
• obstacles for those who prefer or need more guidance and structure, and
• a real roadblock to understanding how they are supposed  to work together effectively to achieve the desired performance, goals, and outcomes.  

When leaders provide too much guidance, there is likely to be:

• not enough autonomy to create and sustain individual meaning,  engagement, and motivation, 
• obstacles for those who prefer or need less guidance and structure, 
• a reduced ability to leverage and develop individual and team capabilities, and 
• a real roadblock  to an effective team dynamic and high performance culture. 

So, if you want to lead effectively,  build that "right" size paddock for your team/company.  Create a clearly defined culture and vision for the team, but allow for them to have ownership within those boundaries. Develop the  skills to work effectively with and have resources available for (such as coaches like me!) those who want/need more or less freedom and structure as well as to guide the group effectively  to "live" the culture. And when the team members go astray, make mistakes, fail, or lose sight of the fences, guide them back in the right direction and get them re-aligned.