61: Peak Leadership: When Leadership Appears Effortless, It's Rarely by Accident

Pete Behrens:

Welcome to the Relearning Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Pete Behrens. 

Today I want to talk about peak leadership. Not hype, not heroics. Leadership in action. When leadership appears effortless, it's rarely by accident. This is effective leadership. This is adaptive leadership. This is leadership under pressure. It works so well, you barely even notice. 

In fact, some of the best leadership I've experienced, I barely noticed, that is, until I experienced something different. It was natural. Instinctive. Invisible. Almost too easy. But here's the thing. Here’s a truth that I've learned. When leadership appears effortless, it's almost never so. 

Peak leadership is a choice.

It's intentional, and it's reachable by everyone, regardless of your role or your title.

Years ago, I had the opportunity to go helicopter skiing in the Canadian Rockies. It was a dream come true. To leave the groomed terrain, the mountain resorts of Colorado, to the untracked wild mountains of Canada was a gift. But that kind of opportunity comes with risk. Not just from the unmarked terrain, but the helicopter as well. Serious injury is a real concern. Our ski guides were not just there to show us the way they were critical to keeping us safe.

Even before we put on our skis, we underwent avalanche and helicopter safety training. Only then did we huddle into the helicopter and ascend to the mountain for the very first time. Now stepping out of the helicopter that first time, I plunged into thigh-deep powder. And then I froze. Not because I was cold. But the view, it just captivated me. The mountain vistas, the range in front of me was incredible.

And I literally froze because I was stuck in the snow. I felt like I had 50 pound weights strapped to each leg. Just heaving a boot forward and pushing to the next step to get my skis on, just swallowed it back down. It was a big effort just to get away from the helicopter. And the skiing, of course, was amazing. The mountain vistas of just beautiful s-turns that our group could make. You could look back up and see what we did. And the tree-lined glades where the snow looked like pillows and it just puffed through them. And of course, top it off, each day we would visit the hot springs to soothe our sore muscles and swap stories from the day.

Sorry, I'm making you jealous and I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. The story I want to share today, skiing is secondary to the leadership that I experienced on the mountain slopes. One of my joys in life is to witness leadership outside of the office, and this helicopter ski trip did not disappoint. Neither in the skiing nor in the leadership. 

Let me explain.

If you were to ask me on that day how effective was our guide, I'd say she was great. She offered us instruction, she kept us safe, she gave us room to ski. She was memorable. But to be honest, I didn't think much about her leadership. I simply had the most awesome day on the mountain ever. Seriously.

But here's the thing. Her leadership didn't show up to me until I experienced our next two guides. You see, each day the guides rotated groups. So, over three days we had three different guides. On day two, our guide was very different. He shared little instruction and basically just took off down the mountain. And within two turns was out of sight, leaving us perhaps just a bit uncomfortable. Not unsafe, I would say, but unsure or perhaps unsteady. He just made it difficult for us to follow him. Now, our guide on day three was quite the opposite still. He over-instructed us. He broke up beautiful runs into short segments. And it didn't just slow us down, it negatively impacted our experience. 

Now, neither of these two guides were bad. They too kept us safe, providing a positive experience. We had a good time. They each demonstrated leadership. However, each created an atmosphere that reduced our enjoyment to a degree. But it wasn't until I experienced these other two guides that I began to see how beautifully our first guide had led us.

And that's the thing about truly effective leaders, you don't even notice it in the moment. It's beautiful. But it disappears, it's invisible, it's almost effortless. Perhaps it looks unnecessary. On that day, it was as if no one was leading, or perhaps we were all leading. She simply became one of us. And I realized that she found something special: a peak. Not a mountain peak, a leadership peak. A performance peak, and also I would say an elusive peak because that peak is hard to find and it's even harder to stay on top. She created an optimal experience and the other two guides just hovered off that peak to one side or the other. 

Effective leadership lives at this peak, I'm talking about the peak between authority and respect. 

As a leader, we have the authority to enforce the rules. We also have the respect as a leader to trust us followers with them. Our first guide, she delicately balanced her authority to keep us safe and allow us to follow. Our second guide perhaps trusted us too much, giving us too much respect. He failed to exercise enough authority. Perhaps he's uncomfortable with it, unaware he even needed to use more of it. Our third guide lived on the opposite side. He gave us too little respect, overplaying his authoritative hand, seeking to control our group. Perhaps he didn't trust us or maybe he didn't trust himself. 

Effective leadership lives in this balance. Not rigid control, not hands off freedom, dynamic adjustment. Adaptive. Authority and respect live, let's say, on two sides of a tension. All leaders face this tension. And here's the thing, both sides matter. Both sides are required to be an effective leader. Yet lean just a bit too far one way or the other, and you create an atmosphere that's less impactful.

The best leaders balance this tension. Not statically, that doesn't exist. Dynamically, situationally. Some situations are going to call for more authority. Other situations are going to call for more respect. Think of it not as a place to sit, but maybe a behavior to learn. Effective leadership lives in this balance.

What looks effortless from a distance is actually the result of deep awareness, intention and practice. I'd say this is what separates transformational leaders from average leaders. Leaning on authority or avoiding authority appears to be the easier path. And sadly, sometimes we need to experience these less effective leaders to know what great leadership actually looks like.

Authority and respect are not personality traits. They're choices.

Moment by moment, conversation by conversation, decision by decision. 

So, if you want to lead at a peak level, start paying attention to the atmosphere around you. If your team appears tense, perhaps you're leaning too hard on authority. If your team appears confused, maybe you're leaning too far on respect. And if your team appears confident, clear, capable, maybe you're closing in on that peak.

But here's the truth, this mountain too will change. Conditions will shift, and the pressure you feel will grow. So finding that peak, staying atop that peak, requires awareness, humility and adaptation. Not once, but again, and again, and again.

Balance isn't something you find. It must be practiced.

So, the next time you experience something beautiful, don't just look at the situation, look at the leadership. If it appears effortless, it's not likely an accident.

That's peak leadership and it's available to you right now, regardless of your title or your role.

Thank you for listening.

Woman's voice:

Relearning Leadership is the official podcast of the Agile Leadership Journey. To learn more, visit relearningleadership.show.

If you enjoyed this episode, it's drawing from one of the dozens of stories in Pete's debut book, Into the Fog: Leadership Stories from the Edge of Uncertainty. Available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and soon to be released audio. Get your copy today from Amazon.