Leadership is About Putting the Pieces of the Puzzle Together - BONUS

Leadership is about being a big picture or strategic thinker.  Some people can do it, others say they can and can’t, and others admit they are better at the smaller steps.  Johari’s Window is an excellent tool to help us work out which pieces of the puzzle we need.  We need different, diverse thinkers in our team.  We need the analytics and we need the global thinkers.  I hate being boxed into one of these categories.  I don’t work well with tags and boxes.  There are times when I deal with the details and the data, I look for trends, I ensure we have the t-s crossed and the i-s dotted.  It is a skill I have taught myself.  I need this information and these skills to be good at what I do.  But I am happiest when I am creating systems and processes, when I engage with people, when I see changes.  I am most effective when I am looking across data not the depths of it, when I am designing new buildings, developing professional learning opportunities.  I love seeing the links and understanding how one system impacts on another.  A leader does this.

Each piece of the puzzle has an impact, or it should.  Understanding why you are developing a process or a system, and then how it will impact on others, how it will bring about the desired effect is foremost.  Then we explain what to do.

The leader not only looks at why they want a system, a change, but also, they will look beyond, as to HOW this process will impact on other systems already in place.  One must complete and fit, with the next.  Too often, new leaders go with an idea full of energy, passion and enthusiasm without considering the impact on person and the integration with what is already established.  Often these are added on top of current programmes and processes.  What is the impact?  Doubling up on work, duplication of data or actions, inefficiencies and then disgruntled team members and a bump in the working of the team.

Every change, every introduction of something new needs to be strategically placed into the puzzle.  It needs to fit snuggly, without an overlap, without a gap, without being forced and pushed. 

Keep this image at the fore as you bring about change.  Your job is to plan the puzzle, and then juggle the pieces, to move them about to put people in the right place to make the puzzle complete.  Keeping focused on the whole puzzle, creating the image, not the small three-sided piece, with the whole.  Yes, you must concern yourself with these details, because if you don’t, you lose traction and depth. However, do you do it directly or through others?  Do you coach? 

Not at the expense of the bigger picture.

Reference:  Johari’s Window