Anton Guinea
Entrepreneur, Speaker, bestselling author, and founder of The Guinea Group of Companies. For over 15 years, Anton has helped leaders move their teams to become psychologically safe, physically safe and overall better versions of themselves.
Based on the leadership lessons from an amazing Grade 5 Teacher.
When I think about leadership, and adding value to the world, I think about Mrs Guinea, my amazing wife of 27 plus years. She has been through the highs and lows of being married to an entrepreneur … from the multi-million-dollar years to months without a pay check (for me at least). Mrs Guinea (as everyone knows her – she is a primary school teacher), has some great sayings, that I live by, and that we teach in our leadership training. That is because I see teaching as very similar to leadership. People (little people for Mrs Guinea) are looking for guidance and direction, they are looking for inspiration, and they ‘generally’ follow direction. Yes, they might ‘play up’ occasionally, but in essence, the two jobs are very similar.
Teaching is a verb (thanks Mrs G). So is leadership
Leading others is a doing thing, it is not a naming thing. You aren’t a leader, unless you are leading. That is not done from afar. Or from an office. It is not done on a whim, and it is certainly not done without a high level of conviction, consciousness, and care factor. Too many leaders think their job is to delegate or to direct. Leaders are there to support the team and sustain high performance. Too often, leaders I coach are too removed from their team members, they don’t have one on ones, they don’t set clear ‘expectations’. They have a lot of ‘acceptations’ (what they tolerate), and they don’t LEARN about what is important to their team members, and their team in general. They don’t even learn about themselves, but that is a whole other story …
Be kinder than is necessary (thanks again Mrs G)
I wonder how many team members out there in the world would like a leader who is kinder than is necessary. But what would that really take, as a leader? Firstly, putting your ego aside. You don’t have to be right all the time, and you certainly don’t have to make others wrong. Would you rather be right, or be happy? That doesn’t mean that you don’t have robust conversations, but you have those in an ENGAGING way, where you take extreme ownership for the part you have played in the situation or the circumstance. An engaging leader is one who will listen more than they talk, and they listen with an open heart, not just an open mind.
Say it as simply as you can (keep them coming, Mrs G)
In their book ‘Extreme Ownership’ Leif Babin and Jocko Willinck talk about their experience on the battle fields in Iraq, and how removing complexity in communication made information sharing so much more effective and it saved lives. Say things as simply as you can as a leader. Make systems and processes as simple as possible. ARTICULATE with authority, but with a simplicity that ensures everyone gets the message. And that doesn’t mean dumbing it down so that a grade 5er can understand it, it is about taking and writing in a way that is unambiguous and is easy to understand. The more complex you make it, the less people buy in, and the less they will ask you to explain it – they don’t want to look silly …
Finally, if you can’t model the right behaviour, you can’t expect it (this is mine ?)
Leaders need to be the example of what they expect. This is about DEMONSTRATING what is important to you as a leader. The challenge with leadership, and the biggest thing that most leaders just don’t get is that people don’t hear them as much as they see them. They are not listening to your words; they are watching your behaviour. And the standard of behaviour that you demonstrate is what you will get from your team. Your team members are a reflection of your leadership, they will follow your lead (following is also a verb) … be very clear on the standard that you want to set and set it by the way you act. By the way you walk, by the way you talk, by the way you dress, and the way that you address others. Be the example.
There you have it, the Mrs Guinea inspired leadership lessons. In short, Learn about yourself and others, Engage with your team, to understand them, Articulate what is important to you, and why, and Demonstrate the behaviour you expect from your team. LEAD.
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UPGRADE your Mindset
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