At some point in their careers, many people move from value adding roles, to value multiplying roles, where they influence and lead other professionals to achieve business outcomes. But how do you make that move yourself, and how can you help others make it?
Most employees of an organisation (hopefully) are in a value adding role. But a value-multiplier is someone who motivates valuable action in groups of people by the ripple effect of their leadership practices.
In highly technical professions, it can take many years to get to a senior level in an organisation. This means professionals often make the transition to people leadership later in their working life. They have deep expertise when it comes to providing specialist advice or problem solving, but their default setting is to get immersed in detail. The transition from value adding as a technical expert to value multiplying as a leader requires conscious shifts in professional identity and day-to-day practice.
The passion beneath the practice
There is a reason why technical professionals enjoy their individual value adding jobs. It is often the satisfaction of complex thinking and solving difficult problems while continuing to absorb new knowledge. But these moments of deep motivational payoff can also be experienced in other forms of work and a shift to that mindset can help new leaders to find the same passion in new practices. There is a great potential for satisfaction when it comes to thinking through complex people and organisational issues, if the person approaches it with the same mindset as they would a technical task.
Resetting the default
People have different default settings when something has to be done. Some get in and do it themselves while others are better at delegating.
While technical experts are often programmed to get in and do things, the right default setting for a new people leader is to ask: ‘Who else can do this?’ Then let them to do it.
It is always hard at first, as it goes against the mentality of value adding, but as time goes by it is essential for new leaders to understand how to best mobilise others to get things done.
Outcome obsession
An important motto for new leaders is there are more ways to get things done than are in your head. Different people find different ways, so it’s important for leaders not to obsess about how things get done, and instead get obsessed about the outcomes that matter.
Tickle people’s curiosity
The people who most effectively transition from value adding to value multiplying are those that tickle people’s curiosity and generate engaging conversations and energy by asking open questions. While technical experts need to have all the answers, leaders don’t. In fact, leaders acting like they know everything can stifle the engagement and growth of others.
Build sandpits
Sandpits are chunks of work that come with real responsibility, accountability and authority to make decisions over how things get done. The best leaders build the biggest sandpits. They educate people about business requirements and then let them get on with it. To effectively multiply value, leaders need to get out of their team members’ way and let them learn, innovate and deliver the outcomes.
One last simple thing that can help experts make these shifts happen in real life is…switching off and seeing what happens! Turning off mobile and emails from time-to-time is an easy way to put the above into practice. It’s amazing how much can be achieved when people are given space and accountability.