{"id":2276,"date":"2023-04-30T14:35:47","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T18:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/how-to-manage-the-leadership-see-saw\/"},"modified":"2023-04-30T14:35:47","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T18:35:47","slug":"how-to-manage-the-leadership-see-saw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/how-to-manage-the-leadership-see-saw\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Manage the Leadership See-Saw"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Profit<\/a>
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Leadership is a balancing act<\/a>. Almost every quality of great leaders can be overdone and its polar opposite can be needed on occasion (except for integrity). For example, being outspoken is a great quality, but there are also times to hold back from giving your point of view so that others speak first.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Great leadership requires constant adjustments in style and approach to get the best out of a broad range of people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The one balancing act we speak too infrequently about is the balance between, on the one hand, knowing, doing and executing \u2013 in effect being the go-to expert who can help the team solve any problem and, on the other hand, enabling, orchestrating, and not knowing \u2013 something I call \u201cspanning.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s knowledge economy, expertise is highly valued. Leaders use their expertise to gain credibility, to win over the loyalty of their team, and to solve team problems. Expertise driven leaders add value because of their ability to provide answers, do the work, and control quality and risk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, expertise driven leadership keeps the leader from stepping out of the details, letting the team wrestle with problems, and taking a broader view. Spanning leaders add value by focusing on priorities and direction, by connecting across the organization, and by tapping their broad network for information and perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.\u201d \u2013 John Maxwell<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Keeping Your Balance<\/b><\/h2>\n

Every leader needs to understand how to add value to the job, how to get the right work done, and how to interact with people. <\/span>L<\/span>eaders must learn to lead at times as the expert and at times as a non-expert \u2013 that is, as a spanner who can span across knowledge domains. The core challenge is how to balance the two approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Karen is the Chief of Internal Audit and a deep expert in audit. She is very intelligent, highly personable, and brings much needed depth to her team. The challenge Karen faces is not about abandoning her expertise \u2013 those strengths are definitely valued. However, her company also needs her to weigh in on the broader challenges they are facing, not just represent her functional perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She needs to be able to drill deeply when necessary and quickly come back up to the 30,000-foot level. In effect, her challenge is a balancing act between the depth of expertise and the breadth of spanning.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Spanning Checklist<\/b><\/h2>\n