Effective Leaders Think on their Feet

 

An important element of leadership is learning to “think on your feet“.  Let me share a football analogy.  As we enter into the Bowl season of college football and continue with a full schedule of pro games, each game takes on added importance.  How does a winning team’s quarterback meet the challenge?

He needs to be able to read the defense of the opposing team and change the play at the line of scrimmage within a few short seconds.  No matter how good the coach’s strategy and game plan, or how well the team executed the plays in practice, on the field and in the heat of the battle it’s a totally different ball game.
 
The same applies to leaders at every level of an organization.  We need to read the needs of our team before we can lead effectively.  Just as a quarterback has to throw the ball away on occasion in order to keep from being “sacked”, we, as leaders, must realize that we don’t need to have all the answers.  We, too, can “throw the ball away” by responding honestly to an associate and saying, “That’s a really good question.  I don’t know the answer, but I’ll check and get back to you.”  

Of course, the key here is making certain that we do, in fact, get back to that person lest we lose credibility. 

The bottom line is this: as leaders we don’t need to have all the answers, but we always do need to take time to listen to our associates, care about them and think on our feet.

Hospitably,
Fred Cerrone