I recently came across a video with content from a talk by L.David Marquet, a retired US Navy Submarine captain who had to completely change his leadership style in order to get the best out of his people.

Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYKH2uSax8U

As you can imagine, the US Navy (much like most military organisations) is highly hierarchical where the Commanding officer well…. commands and those they command do. This leadership style can work to a certain extent (which is why it is still widely used) but it relies on the commander to make all of the decisions which is inefficient, tiresome and disengaging for everyone else.

What L. David Marquet learned while leading his submarine crew, was that he had to be a teacher and not a puppet master.

Leader as puppeteer

In practice, being the teacher often comes with short-term pain but long term gain, and there are outside pressures (both real and perceived) which try to keep us as the puppeteer rather than becoming the teacher.

Here are some of the pressures that might be keeping you as the puppeteer that you need to be aware of:

Performance anxiety: if you lead a team which aren’t performing, you may feel the need to get a handle on things and becoming highly directive to those you lead because it gives you a sense of control within the chaos.

Insecurity: This plays a crucial role in how you lead; if you are insecure about your abilities, your own performance, your authority over others etc and don’t manage that insecurity, your team will initially pay the price for it and then you won’t get the results you want which means you then pay a price as well.

A bad boss of your own: If you have a line manager who leads as a puppeteer, you are more likely to do the same with your own team.

Wanting to be the hero: The performance of your team shouldn’t start and end with you; the best outcome is when your team solve problems and get things done without you, your role is the enabler not the hero who carries the whole team and who takes all of the glory.

The performance of the puppeted team

The worst performing teams I have come across are those in which the leader is a puppeteer and not a teacher.

The situation I joined:

I joined a team of shift managers at a a large organisation; it was our job to manage the people and the performance of the factory. When I joined, there were 3 shift managers running 4 lines in the factory and each one was expected to manage all of the lines simultaneously. Historically, any one of the shift managers could get a call from the OPS manager about any line in the factory and were expected to have an answer; if an answer couldn’t be given, their competence was put in to question and were berated by their line manager.

When a mistake was made, rather than it being seen as a teachable moment, an opportunity for learning and growth, they were shouted at.

The team were fearful and disengaged by this way of being lead but had adapted as best they could but weren’t performing anywhere near their capability.

A poor cycle, perpetuated:

I later found out that the OPS manager in question had been given the role some 10 years prior after the majority of the senior leadership team were fired. This person had some experience line managing but not much and had a history of being managed by a puppeteer who shouted at her for mistakes and told her to “just get on with it” whenever he she a question about her role or decision making so that is how she managed others.

The thing was, she was given the role when she wasn’t ready for it, not taught how to do things right by her own line manager and thus perpetuated the cycle of puppeteer with her team.

In a time of high turbulence and unknown, sometimes you need to be highly directive, because it gives people specific actions to take thus removing ambiguity and creating calm from chaos.

You may see an uplift in performance as the puppeteer because you will likely bring some order and swift decisions which is why it can feel like evidence that you should continue being the puppeteer rather than becoming the teacher.

However, as you have solved some of the simple, high level problems by giving the answers, more complex issues with rise to the surface and become priorities and you can’t get all of the detail you need for every decision in oder to take the right course of action.

This stalls the performance of your team because they are at the mercy of your decisions and your blindspots.

Ultimately, you will hit a ceiling in performance, your team will be less engaged and happy with their work and they will likely lead others in the same way that you do which perpetuates the cycle.

Turning performance around:

The OPS manager then went off sick for 4 months and a vacancy for the production manager was filled by someone who was a great teacher and we took the opportunity to manage our team differently; we split the factory in to 3 areas and we’d each manage that area (2 of us got 1 difficult line to manage and the third had the remaining 2 smaller lines). This way, we could focus all of our attention on managing those people and that process, becoming the main point of contact about issues on that line. Both performance and engagement started to rise because of the new found support and guidance from our new teacher.

Leader as teacher

The theory

A good teacher will adapt their style to suit the competence and confidence of each of their pupils. When a pupil is new to a task, they will be highly directive and encouraging, meaning that they will tell you want you need to do and give you encouragement while you are doing it to make sure you know that they are there to help if you are struggling.

As the pupil’s aptitude grows, the teacher should be less directive and should instead should ask you questions that lead you to the answer. Asking the questions is actually a way to teach you the questions so that next time you are faced with a similar problem or task, you can ask yourself the right questions and lead you to the answers.

Situational leadership

The progress through the various stages of your role as teacher is best illustrated by looking at situational leadership as a model; you can find articles about the theory of situational leadership here and an article illustrating the process in practice here.

The practice of being the teacher

Being a teacher may seem hard at first and will come more easily to those who have had practice at it in some way or another. The only way to become a teacher is to practice.

The hardest part about being the teacher is to resist the urge to just tell someone the answer / what to do. If someone comes to you with a question about a decision or a task, you can start by asking them some or all of the following questions:

• How can I help? – this teaches them to articulate what they want and also prevents you from assuming what they need from you.
• What are the known factors? – this asks them what factors they have considered already and what they know for certain.
• What are the unknown factors? – this asks what they currently don’t know which is preventing them from making the decision.
• What do you think we should do and why? – this is an insight in to their reasoning.

Think of this process like them showing their work on a science or maths exam; giving the right answer is worth 10% of the points, whereas showing your work is worth 90%. Use these questions to understand their reasoning and what they have done so far; they are likely coming to you because they have done steps 1 to 4 but don’t know where steps 5 to 8 are. Resist the urge to give them the answer that they will find at step 10, just ask questions (and give some direction if required) to help them figure out what the next step is.

You need to really listen to what they are telling you so you can decide how best to make this a teaching moment. So each question can have multiple follow up questions which you can use to help your direct report get to the right answer.

Exercise:

The next time someone comes to you wanting direction, explain that you are trying this new thing called “leader as teacher” and go through the process with them so they are fully aware of what to expect from you during this interaction. You can also ask for their patience as it’s something new you are trying to learn.

1. Take them in to a room in private and ask them to explain what they’d like from you.
2. Spend the time going through the work they have done to understand their reasoning and what they are stuck on (this can be a conversation, they don’t need to actually produce work they have done)
3. Get them to draw or write out the process they have followed to get to this stage, list the known factors and unknown factors (Sometimes this in itself can help lead them to the next steps).
4. Get curious and ask the questions that are coming to your mind about the process and the chosen direction.
5. Make it conversational and aim to get to the point where you fully understand where they are in the process and what they are stuck with
6. If you know the answer, don’t give it, try to ask them questions which will lead them to the answer
7. If you don’t know the answer, then take the opportunity to reason through the whole thing together and agree on next steps

Conclusion:

How you yourself are managed and how you manage other can have a drastic impact on engagement and realists. Look for opportunities for teachable moments for your team, grasp them when they arise and take the time to be a teacher.

The best line managers I have ever had were teachers and the worst ones were puppeteers. If you want to know how to manage performance in the right way, see the articles on situational leadership and on performance improvement plans.