10. Get out of your own way

Often leadership is more about listening and observing than it is about talking, particularly in team meetings and other group settings.

I assumed that running and facilitating large meetings was one of the many superhero abilities you needed to succeed as a leader.

It’s bullshit. You don’t.

I suspect it’s a common misconception that stems from the years of passive programming we received as children, sitting in a classroom where only the smartest and most senior person in the room gets to stand up front, doing all the talking while holding a writing implement in front of a large board.

And it’s then probably sustained by the fact that many leaders struggle to get comfortable a) demonstrating the vulnerability required to b) concede that they can’t do something, c) by accepting that someone else can do a better job, d) in front of the team they’re supposed to be leading.

Leaders, lead — right?

Plus, there’s often also some weird status or power dynamic that says nobody can have a higher word count than the boss during meetings. This is also bullshit.

The truth is it’s not about whether you can or cannot lead and facilitate a meeting — it’s about whether you should.

Because unless you have two brains, you can’t effectively facilitate a group meeting and simultaneously participate in it effectively. The truth is it’s not about whether you can or cannot lead and facilitate big meetings — it’s about whether you should.

You can’t do everything and shouldn’t

Appointing or hiring a great facilitator for your next quarterly planning off-site or strategy meeting will significantly improve the meeting experience for everyone as well as the quality of the resulting outputs. It will also enable you to contribute objectively and meaningfully to the discourse, mindfully moderate your contribution, and create the space for others to make theirs.

Even more importantly, it will free up the cognitive bandwidth required for you to observe how your team works, interacts and functions (or not).

The how and the who are just as important as the what.

If you already know someone who can facilitate, great. Otherwise, find an outside contractor who can regularly do it for you, enabling them to develop their fluency with the group and your business as you progress.

It’s a little-known fact that the Two ears, one mouth rule actually applies 10x to leaders, so the sooner you start listening and observing more, the better a leader you’ll become.

GT

Reading Recommendation
The Cadence: How to Operate a SaaS Startup
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One of the topics on the list for a future update is how best to organise and set up product, marketing and sales to maximise how they work together, but David Sacks, who led operations in the earliest days of Paypal, was then CEO & co-founder at Yammer and someone with huge exposure to the best B2B SaaS operating models shared his thoughts in the Medium post, The Cadence: How to Operate a SaaS Startup.

It’s equal parts a philosophy and a practical framework. It’s excellent and well worth the 13 minutes of reading time it’ll take you.

---

Thank you for reading Everscale. Please leave a Like, Share with your network or Comment below with your thoughts. Thanks!

---

PS If you’re reading this and you haven’t already subscribed, it’s free to join over 600 other founders, CEOs and thought leaders in the world of B2B SaaS who receive Everscale direct to their inbox every Monday.