Leadership requires playing the long game

Many of us have attended meetings where the leader lays out expectations and, at the close, asks, “Is everyone good?” People typically look around to see how everyone wants to answer, and nod in response to the leader’s question. But is everything really OK? The leader may feel like they have two choices. They can believe the team members or not. The problem is that neither response is automatically right. Sometimes things are just as the team says: Everything is great. But other times they aren’t, and team members may be hiding how they feel. The challenge isn’t finding the right answer in that moment. It is recognizing that one interaction rarely tells the whole story. I took me years to come to this realization because, like most leaders, I wanted quick answers. However, good leadership is not about finding the quick answer; it’s about developing a deeper understanding over time. Building trust takes time Many of us can remember our first leadership assignment. There was excitement in being a new leader and a desire to do a good job. Like every new leader, we wanted to quickly understand the people working for us and the environment. Most new leaders want to know who they can t…