“Lead Singer Disease” describes a singer in a rock band whose ego grows unchecked and eventually breaks up the band. (Or starts judging American Idol.)
LSD can also describe any supervisor whose ego outstrips his or her performance.
Want to know if you have LSD? Diagnosing the condition is easy. In the last month, did you:
- Make a mistake?
- Admit you were wrong?
- Have any bad ideas?
- Say, “I’m sorry”?
If you answered “no” to all of the above (or, really, any of the above) you have LSD.
Here’s the cure:
- Talk less — a lot less. No interrupting, no digressing, no hijacking conversations in progress. LSD runs screaming from silence — your silence.
- Listen more. Ask employees for their opinion or input and then actually listen. Keep your thoughts and opinions to yourself. If you must speak, only ask clarifying questions. You’ll be surprised by how smart your people really are once your LSD is into remission
- Let others run with a task or project — and stay out of their way. A primary symptom of LSD is the compulsion to inject your own thoughts and suggestions into a crew member’s idea. When you do, you kill your employee's engagement and motivation. If their idea needs tweaking, ask leading questions to help them identify the necessary modifications themselves. In short: Let an employee’s idea remain the employee’s idea.
Feel free to convert LSD as applicable: Lead Manager, Lead CFO, Lead CEO, Lead District Manager… the LSD shoe can fit a lot of feet. Just make sure it doesn’t fit yours.
All the Success!
PM in the AM
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