Pics Or It Didn’t Happen
Sometimes it’s the little things.
Recently I saw a LinkedIn post from Allison Alley, the newly appointed President and CEO of World Vision Canada with a picture of their whole team from a recent staff event. Finding Allison in the shot was a little like playing Where’s Waldo. (Here’s a clue: She’s wearing a very similar outfit to the one in her profile image).
You won’t have much luck finding most of the senior leaders and Executive Directors from Karis Disability Services in pics from their recent Annual Community Meetings or Family Camp. They’re not in them, at least not often.
I could give a dozen more examples off the top of my head from organizations like Kentro Network, Live Different, Sanctuary Toronto, Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides and others.
I’m not saying leaders shouldn’t pose for pictures. I place a higher value on the representative aspects of leaderships roles than many people do because of how crucial I believe organizational culture is. But it says something when leaders choose not to always be the centre of public facing things.
Of course there are unhealthy versions of this. False humility or stringent insistence on avoiding the limelight could be as damaging as demanding the microphone at every opportunity. But I think most of us sense the difference pretty easily.
And it helps that so many of the leaders I get to work with are genuinely intentional about developing their people and giving away credit freely. Sometimes I find myself urging them to be more prominent.
The heart of it is to recognize that leaders make choices about how high profile they want to be, and when, and why. There are benefits to being seen, and also benefits to shining the spotlight on others.
Healthy leaders aren’t necessarily egoless, but they understand their own egos. They don’t need to be the centre of attention, but they recognize the value that can come from doing it at times. They live in the tension between internal operational functions and external representative ones. And they have enough self-awareness to notice when they are tempted toward the wrong type or amount of exposure.
Or maybe they just like being the ones taking the pictures…