Teamership: COO stands for Chief Obvious Officer?

Instead of leadership existing as a concept, it can live in actions.

I spoke to a Chief Operating Officer recently. She is new into her role at this organisation and said that a lot of her role seems to be pointing out the obvious.

We joked that perhaps COO actually stood for Chief Obvious Officer.

As we discussed things a little further, we realised that pointing out the obvious was exactly what her role required. 

Pointing out things like “we need to not only do the work, we need to be good at communicating about the work” means that she is able to help people realise the value that they generate beyond simply completing their tasks. 

It’s also the stuff that isn’t immediately obvious to others.

Her expertise in the industry across a range of roles means that things she sees clearly are not always obvious to others.

You may be thinking that this sounds like an elaborate way for me to point out something obvious. You’re right. Subtlety was never going to be a theme in this note!

I have been struck by the power of a research finding that seems ridiculously obvious.

In an analysis of research that included 112 studies, 31 countries and over 39 000 participants, a conclusion was that:

“In every set of analysis, more frequent use of the leadership practices was associated with more positive outcomes”

Yep. The more frequently leaders used leadership practices, the more positive outcomes.

Feels very much like the work of Captain Obvious.

The implications of putting this into practice are interesting to consider.

It may actually be the powerful simplicity that can unlock leadership in your organisation. Instead of leadership existing as a concept, it can live in actions. More leadership actions lead to more positive outcomes. That reinforces the benefit of leadership actions.

Here are some starting questions to consider this week…

• What would happen if leaders used leadership practices more frequently?

• How much of your leaders’ time is dedicated to leadership practices?

• Have leaders identified leadership practices that are best suited to their team’s needs?

• What gets in the way of your leaders consistently implementing leadership practices?