LEADERSHIP

Investing in Your Team: The Art of Effective Leadership

By Daniel Kopp, MA, MS, CFP^®

Have you ever wondered if leaders were born, not created? How many bad leaders have you seen in your career? Have you struggled to know if you were leading others well?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you are not alone! In a world filled with overwhelming amounts of advice, tips, or strategies for leadership, it’s not surprising there are differences of opinion when it comes to how to lead effectively.

This article came about from a session at the NAPFA Fall 2023 National Conference in Louisville that I spoke at, where I shared about my experiences as an officer in the military. Whether you are leading a small team, guiding a large firm, supporting a nonprofit organization, or just curious about some lessons learned from military leadership principles, these lessons can help anyone be a more effective leader.

Leadership has many aspects but I’m partial to the quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower where he said, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” This speaks to the heart of leadership, which is more than a power differential—it’s a relationship. By that, I mean leadership is more about the soft skills of attitude, empathy, and example than management techniques or processes and procedures. That’s not to say processes and procedures aren't helpful but ultimately a leader is a person, not a checklist.

In the military, leaders are taught several key principles to help prioritize and implement these soft skills of leadership. One is having a culture of candor where ideas can flow freely regardless of rank. Another is that leaders always eat last; in other words, good leaders see to it that their team members' needs are met before their own as they are ultimately the ones accomplishing the mission. Lastly, leaders are taught the idea of extreme ownership—everything is ultimately their fault. This is the idea of no excuses; the buck stops here.

In my leadership training, I encountered a military-created framework to understand how to develop this culture of leadership and implement effective feedback in an ongoing process.

Expectations

The first step is expectations. Specifically, the importance of having clearly defined roles, responsibilities, policies, procedures, etc. This could be wide-ranging, from the firm's operating manuals to the unwritten rules that govern your workplace culture. Have you as the leader clearly and effectively communicated all of these expectations? Even more importantly, have your subordinates heard and understood them? Have you ever asked them to tell you in their own words what they think is expected of them? The answers might surprise you.

One of the greatest challenges that arise in leadership situations is when expectations are unclear, nonexistent, change regularly without warning, vary widely, or seem to be applied unequally. Without having the appropriate and clear expectations upfront, the rest of this framework becomes untenable. Get this part right and you have dramatically upped your leadership skills!

Skills

Next is skills. That is providing your subordinates with the necessary skill sets, technology tools, workplace support, training, mentoring, etc. they need to accomplish the expectations that have been set for them. Your role as a leader is to either match the skills of your employees to the expectations, roles, and tasks—or help them bridge that gap with the skills they need. 

Feedback

The linchpin of this framework is the feedback that needs to happen regularly. Good feedback should be a two-way street between leadership and subordinates that takes place early and often. This kind of feedback should also be balanced between positive and constructive evaluations. A good leader will take the time to engage and listen to feedback as much as giving it. That in turn goes back to the culture of candor, where people have the security to recognize that their thoughts and ideas will be welcomed and not ignored or denigrated.

Consequences or Rewards

Moving through the framework, good leaders provide opportunities for rewards or consequences as necessary. This could be as simple as praise in public but criticize in private. It could also come in the form of a compensation structure or career track with promotions. The point is to reinforce the feedback with impactful follow up.

Growth

Lastly, the ultimate point of this framework is for growth, both individually and personally in the team members as well as in the mission and impact of the larger organization. Good leadership helps to lead by example in that way, as well as empower everyone else to take ownership of this same framework in other aspects.

Anyone can be a good leader as they incorporate their unique personal background as well as individual strengths and weaknesses and have a growth mindset. This framework can help provide some actionable steps to put into practice and remove the mystery out of leadership. The military has been using it for many years and now you can benefit too!

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Daniel Kopp, MA, MS, CFP^®, is the founder of Wise Stewardship Financial Planning, where he specializes in working with active duty military, young widows, and Gold Star widows, offering financial planning, investment management, and financial therapy. Learn more at www.wisestewardshipfp.com.

image credit: istock.com/Cecilie_Arcurs