Are we adding too much value?
Imagine that I'm conducting a rehearsal and a big clarinet solo is coming up. It's a free cadenza-like passage and the clarinet player can really do anything they want artistically. They play the solo and they play well. I'm of course inclined to say to them, "great job." Though like most high-achieving leaders, I'm tempted to keep going and say, "great job, but it would be better if you did X, Y, and Z."
I'm giving a lot of value by pointing out what could be better and giving them ready-made, specific suggestions on how they can do it better. Isn't that what my job is as a conductor?
Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith calls this "adding too much value," and he says this habit can backfire for leaders.
Our work environments are still entrenched firmly in a top-down management style where the leader's job is to tell people what to do, and the people are to obey. It's what we learned, it's how we're trained, and so it's what we do. This is how orchestras operate.
What's overlooked in this mindset is that subordinates often know more than the leaders do about particular areas of expertise. In fact, an expectation of high expertise is why they were hired in the first place.
So while a conductor can strive to hold as much expertise as possible, it is more realistic to assume that I would not know more about this clarinet solo than the clarinet player themselves. Just think of all the numerous times they've performed the solo, the hours they've spent on thinking about its interpretation, plus the variety of insights they've gathered over their career about this solo from their training and mentors.
When we give praise, we recognize that expertise and the individual contribution they bring to the table. Though when we go too far and add too much value, we can quickly diminish that expertise. And this happens when we follow praise immediately with our suggestions.
When we do this, Marshall Goldsmith explains that, "It deflates [their] enthusiasm; it dampers [their] commitment. While the quality of the idea may go up 5 percent, [their] commitment to execute it may go down 50 percent. That’s because it’s no longer [their] idea, it’s now your idea."
When we add too much value, we don't realize that we are taking away the individual's ownership of that work. We stop giving space for other solutions or ideas to even show their face. We can miss out on perhaps better ideas. And we find ourselves in the common trap where the leader's suggestions automatically become orders.
Of course, when something is incorrect or technically problematic, we need to jump in with corrective measures. At the same time, we can also find opportunities to take a step back and refrain from adding too much value.
The key is to recognize that we don't always need to be adding value. It's very easy to add too much value. It's in our nature. Our tendency is to show that we know all the best ways to do something, and to maintain our standing in that top-down hierarchy.
One quick intervention we can implement is to simply stop after the praise. Pause and think if it is really worth saying the next thing you're about to say. If it is, say it. If not, you don't really have to.
You might be surprised at how many times it may be the latter.
How might you have been adding too much value in your work as a leader? What impact might that have on the people you lead?
(Here is Marshall Goldsmith's article on adding too much value.)
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