Broom or Rake?
Autumn is one of the most beautiful seasons where I live. Leaves change colour and eventually fall to the ground, papering my neighbourhood in reds, yellows, and oranges. It’s truly stunning.
And once our yard is covered we always take a family picture in a big pile of leaves.
On Sunday afternoon I roped my eldest son into helping me build this year’s pile. That means grabbing rakes out of the shed.
A rake is a simple tool. A wood handle, metal or plastic tines. Well suited to dragging or pushing loose leaves around. It doesn’t do much else and it doesn’t need to.
It’s a very direct thing. The rake only moves the leaves it actually touches or the leaves those leaves touch. It’s blunt force gardening. Compost through the application of authority.
Other chores require a broom. Brooms are similar to rakes in many ways, but using them properly is about indirect power. You use the wind the broom creates when you swing it to move the grass, dirt, or debris more than the bristles directly. (I learned this as a teenager working for a landscaping company when my boss yelled at me for not doing it correctly).
There are times in leadership when we need to use authority to get things done. Urgent situations, lack of skill, discipline, or poor performance might all cause a wise leader to be very direct. It’s a blunt approach, but it works well when needed.
More often though, leaders can use a broom mentality. Using influence more than authority is a way to expand our impact with similar effort. Leveraging trust and relationship instead of the power of position usually gets better results from most people. And we can always use the direct force rake if influence doesn’t work.
As with so much in leadership, there isn’t a hard and fast rule.
It’s generally preferable, more effective and efficient to use a broom when possible. Direct power is a limited resource and using it too early usually means we’ll have to increase the force applied next time. But it’s also a mistake to use be indirect when the rake is what’s needed. Sometimes people need to be communicated to with no room for interpretation and healthy accountability has to have consequences.
Sweep when you can, rake when you should.
Contact me if I can be helpful to you and/or your organization.
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