How to scale leadership and accelerate business.

Leadership should not stop at getting people to rally around a single cause. We can judge a leader not only on their ability to provide purpose but also on their ability to scale influence.

Cognitive Offloading

Cognitive offloading is the act of using tools and technology in order to reduce the amount of burden placed on our brains. We rely on taking notes and setting reminders so that we don't have to keep consciously telling ourselves or remembering what was said or what needs to be done.

In the same manner this term inspired leadership offloading where we use our influence and actions in order to steer a business or team in the same direction without needing to be in every meeting and every room.

The influence of clarity

Great leaders tend to be clear and concise in how they give others a sense of purpose. Having a clear sense of purpose is the first step in offloading leadership if we provide team with clear expectations and trust them to perform in their role we leave ourselves free to focus on other critical parts of the business.¹

Consistency in decision making is equally important when it comes to scaling your impact. It is through consistency that we can start to affect the decisions of others through influence. A measure of this effectiveness can come from how a colleague may get an answer to their issue from framing the question as if they were going to ask you. If they can get answers through the act of framing the question; then you've provided guidance through influence.

Leaders that don't provide clarity or are wildly unpredictable create more work for themselves. If your cohort would be surprised or are not sure how you might respond then you will get more question and increase the burden of needing to be involved in most decision making.

An area that leaders can practice being consistent is how they draw focus to specific tasks and identify distractions that steer us away from achievements. Informing others of the intent of our actions, as well as how and why something aligns with business objectives can inform others of how we are making decisions. Leaders that keep these reasons to themselves are often those that are afraid of their cohort's success and use opaque information to serve their own advantage.

The influence of action

The rumour mill is another surface of influence. Stories and tales about a leader's reaction to certain characters and how they express their expectations can circulate large organisations. Through mimicry this can create cohesion or division depending on the behaviours they target and expressed.

Leaders must be on the look out for opportunities that present concrete examples what the business values. Through their own actions or through promoting the actions of others.

We should not rely on demanding behaviours vocally or use bureaucratic checkboxes to identify talent. If you want people to behave in a certain manner, leaders must be the first to provide the examples of how others can do it.

If new joiners and juniors are not asking enough questions perhaps it is because the leaders themselves are quiet.

The influence of knowledge

It is far better to offload knowledge than to restrict the team's capacity by becoming a bottleneck. Leaders should find all manners and ways of being useful without being present. One such way is by jotting down documentation and notes. Overcoming a challenging task is an experience that should be shared. We must hold the hope that the next person on a similar task can be provided with a smoother course. Instead of facing the problem again from step one.

Additionally this helps us avoid repeating the same mistakes. We don't need to restrict this to technical process knowledge. We can learn from a negative experience from candidates during the hiring phase or how a sensitive topic was raised among the team.

Leaders can encourage TDDs, post-mortem write-ups and even to make rough notes in places that are discoverable. Starting with a few pointers is better than starting from no-where and these all increase the impact one can have across a business.

Those that play the game politically and keep their cards close do so to the company's and their own detriment as this hampers influence and the scale in which you can exert impact.

Even if these notes haven't found an audience, showing the effort and having the intent can inspire others to share information. Sooner or later you will have an environment where colleagues can find context and knowledge far easier than before.

The more context and awareness people have at work. The more valuable they can be. Leading to a higher chance of moving the company from maintenance to growth.

Nudge

Don't only be a consumer of the company's culture, actively contribute to it. A positive culture and leading through example will shift the business into one that shares knowledge and has open collaboration.

It is through the subtle nudges of behaviour and habit that we can compound the impact of our teams and spread influence, all without being in the room.