Using the Right Tool

Last weekend I was working on my bike (something I normally leave to a shop but with the pandemic…). I thought it would be a very simple thing to just swap out the pedals for a new set. As usual, I made things more complicated than they needed to be. But there is some application to leadership (beyond not overcomplicating things).

Lesson One - Do A Little Research

While I thought I knew what I was doing, turns out there was a key piece of information that I needed. Pedals on bikes are not both righty tightly lefty loosy (which is what normally applies to bolts, screws, etc.).

Lesson Two - Have the Right Tools

Even once I had that key piece of information, I still couldn't get one pedal off. I didn't have a pedal wrench and thought I could do it with a standard crescent wrench. That worked fine with the first pedal but he second one just wouldn't budge. After a lot of time and effort yielded no results, I gave up and decided to leave it.

Over the weekend I got a pedal wrench and the second pedal came off almost effortlessly. It was amazing that what I had struggled with for way too long was resolved in less than 2 minutes with the right tool.

Leadership Application

One of my original posts talked about having a leadership kit that has various tools in it. I think this is a great example of why we need leadership kits. Specific situations call for specific knowledge and tools. What worked in one situation may only partially work in another. Or it could make the situation worse.

We need to have different approaches for different people, situations and problems. Too often we try a one size fits all approach and we end up with less than spectacular results.

Knowing which tool to use in which situations may also require just a little bit of research. If you already know your team's styles, that is one consideration. Then you need to understand the urgency of the situation to know if you can use a tool that may take some time to show results or if you need to use something that will immediately bring about the desired change.

Summary

These are simple and basic principles yet they can have a tremendous impact on our leadership ability. So keep working on your toolkit. That way when unique situations arise, you can reach into the kit, find the right tool and move forward.