4 How To Build Capacity
There are four main areas of application:
1. Leading by example
2. Importance of Rest
3. Progressive Overload
4. Nutrition and Physical Training
There is an obvious element in the building and management of capacity to ensure that work loads are well managed.
4.1 Leading by Example
No “busy bragging”. No one cares how busy or stressed out you are. In fact, when you complain to subordinates about the full state of your schedule you are signaling your own incompetence at creating boundaries, and time management. Don’t. You don’t want to be surrounded by complainers so lead by example in this regard, and be effective at time management. The time you spend complaining is wasting other peoples’ time and they will resent you for it. Again, being a leader is lonely, and the larger the leadership role the fewer confidantes you will have.
As I have gotten older, one of the great pieces of advice I have come across is that we need to evaluate what is in our life, be selective about what we want to keep in our life, and eliminate those that are of negative value. This could be certain hobbies you might be doing out of habit, social media and other source of negative energy. This does not mean taking out all sources of negative energy as you will have obligations that must be kept to family that may not be a source of positive physical energy, but through fulfillment of these obligations be a source of positive spiritual and emotional energy. It sure isn’t simple. These private issues are just that, private. You can let a little leak out and be known but again, don’t “busy brag”.
In the remaining three areas of rest, overload and nutrition leading by example is important, so if as leaders we expect people to develop good habits in these areas we need to do so ourselves, visibly.
There is perhaps a great temptation to adopt a paternalistic stance on building of capacity, but it is important that we provide the base environment at work for people to succeed in building capacity and role model how to do it: If you get the right people on the bus in the right seats: by treating people like adults, they will act like adults.
4.2 Importance of Rest
A leader must protect their people’s rest. For example, the leader should not bother people about work when they are off work, in evenings, weekends, holidays unless it is something that truly can not wait. For many people in higher pressure jobs, it takes a couple of days on vacation to actually decompress and then when getting to the end of vacation a few days before the return to work, anxiety will kick in. If they are getting pestered with work calls in the middle, they will never truly be able to get the sorely needed valuable rest. This rest is in some ways similar to the “relaxation” period after completing work of some kind, setting it aside for a while and then coming back to it: upon the return to work you see it differently, gaining perspective that opens up new opportunities for improvement.
A leader MUST also engage in self-care, especially with respect to rest. The amount of sleep needed for any individual is highly variable. For myself to function sustainably and optimally so that I am not a grumbly bear I need 7½ - 8 hours a night. I can go on almost indefinitely on 7 hours a night and did so when our kids were little, but this certainly impacted my ability to do physical training. I can still function on a lot less sleep for short periods of time, but after these kinds of periods of high exertion, I have consciously decided to reduce work load to a normal 40 hour week for a few weeks to recuperate.
The leader should also take time off. If you are building an organization that you hope to outlive you (you should be), then developing people to a point where you can take at least a week off at a time, preferably two or three is imperative. The leader using their vacation time sends a signal to the staff that it is OK for them to do so as well, or even expected. While on vacation, at least have the appearance of disconnecting.
4.3 Progressive Overload
“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.”
- Horace
Taking an athletics analogy, through training and progressive overload followed by rest an athlete can increase their capacity, however an unsafe overload can result in injury; potentially catastrophic. The same applies to the workplace. Assignments can be undertaken that stretch one’s abilities, and when provided with appropriate mentoring, tools, and supporting team members (a spotter?), amazing levels of rapid development can occur with both competency and capacity. This is especially so when these periods of intense exertion are followed by appropriate rest and reflection. The next time out the individual now has the confidence to take on an assignment that would previously have been very intimidating. With the attainment of wisdom, assignments with increasing levels of the unknown will be taken on with confidence that a way will be found, and the individual will have an enhanced ability to recognize when to ask for help, who to ask for help, and when to say “no this one is not for us”.
So be careful but not so careful that everything is “nerfed”. The modern phenomena of the “bull dozer” parent is totally in opposition to the successful building of capacity in our kids. The same applies to the leader in the workplace. While Kotter is right in the fifth step of his paradigm of removing obstacles in the leading change process I would add that it is only the obstacles that the team is incapable of removing without your help that the leader should address. This is where good coaching and mentoring is important in the building of capacity. Once you help guide someone in the navigation of some obstacles they will build the capacity to do so independently in the future.
There is a good analogy in weight lifting here. The spotter in weigh lifting comes to mind and there are two main scenarios. One is in regular training where most of the lift is being done by the lifter and the spotter is there to provide a little help on the last rep or two for regular capacity building. The second is when a lifter is going to try for a one rep maximum lift. In this case it is often the case that more than one spotter is needed as the lifter may fail and need a lot more help to safely get the lift done and the weight off the lifter to prevent injury. As a leader we want to make sure that when we are spotting we do not become the lifter any more than necessary to ensure the lifter is pushing the weight and experiencing the progressive overload. In the weight room we celebrate a good lift. The same should apply in the workplace: the newly achieved capabilities should be celebrated. The body building great, Ronnie Coleman would start a big lift with “Light weight baby, Yeah Buddy!” Ronnie Coleman won eight consecutive Mr. Olympia titles and is generally regarded as the best body builder of all time. This did not come without a cost and today Ronnie is plagued with severe deterioration of his hips and lower back. This should serve as a cautionary tale, and there are numerous other bodybuilders who have perhaps not achieved the heights of Ronnie Coleman, but today do not have bodies wracked with the pain he has. A great saying of Ronnie’s to reflect on is:
"Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights"
The same goes for leadership. A lot of people want to be a leader, but most of those people do not realize the level of commitment and discipline that is truly needed in the building of your own competency and capacity and that of those surrounding you. Lifting those heavy-ass weights in the leadership world is putting in the work, grinding it out, doing more than the others around you; all in service to the people around you. If this is done with self-care and intelligence you can build capacity without burning out. Other people around you will see that it is possible.
The difference between high level amateur players and professional athletes is often the perseverance factor. Doing more when others are sitting on the couch drinking a beer. This of course does not come without trade offs; and is explored in detail in Appendix 1.
4.4 Nutrition and Physical Training
Maximizing our potential includes taking care of our bodies. You do not need to become a high performance athlete, but having some base level of fitness will enable to you perform optimally mentally in the present and provide you with more longevity. A fit person will be able to endure more and have a higher output for longer. Regular exercise is also effective for mitigating the effects of stress.
Leaders who role model discipline in the basics of fitness:
1. Regular exercise
2. Eating healthy whole foods
3. Getting enough rest
Will show their team that it is possible. Especially for the non-elite level athlete leader.
Do a form of regular exercise that works for you. You might need to mix it up to keep yourself engaged. If possible, getting a work out done early in the morning before breakfast is a great tactic to pursuing your fitness goals. Then this strategically important activity is over and done with, you have started the day with something hard, and are energized and ready to go.
We can impact the health of our people through what dietary choices we encourage in the workplace and the example we set. We should be picking healthy options. Almost all dieticians will agree that highly processed, high carbohydrate, high sugar foods are not healthy choices.
As a sugar addict this has been one of the hardest things to control. If you turned me inside out I am blue and furry on the inside (yes, a cookie monster). Cookies do not survive for long when we are in the same house. When surrounded by the unhealthy snacks it is hard at the best of times to resist. Add in stress, lack of sleep, and resisting is almost impossible. Some people will go the other way under stress and stop eating. Neither of these are healthy. When I don’t get enough sleep, and if I am stressed out sugary foods become almost irresistible. It is better that I simply do not have them in my home, and not having them in the workplace makes it easier to control the unhealthy excessive consumption of sweets. What also works for me is to pack a healthy lunch with healthy snacks as better options. Things like seeds, chopped fennel, diced peppers, lightly salted nuts, fresh fruit etc. The bottom line is your body needs to be fuelled with high quality healthy food for you to be healthy in the long run. Sugar is one of the most unhealthy things to consume in large quantities. Deep fried foods are also unhealthy. We should not sleep on a full stomach. There should be a window of a few hours at minimum before going to sleep where you are not eating to promote good sleep.
Excessive consumption of alcohol, caffeine, and other recreational drugs is to be avoided by people in a position of leadership. A great expression I heard on the Jocko podcast was
“We are all two bad decisions away from disaster.”
Drunkards are not known for their good decision-making prowess. Your likelihood to do or say things that are disastrous to the most important relationships in your life increase exponentially while under the influence. Eliminating this risk is simple. Practice the virtue of moderation. You will be at company or industry events where there will be alcohol, and moderate consumption and again being aware that you are being watched is important. Do not consume more than allows you to maintain control, and don’t be an fool. When seeing the homeless drug addict it is good to recall that “there but for the grace of God go I” to keep yourself on the straight and narrow path.
All the above on exercise and nutrition is much easier when you get enough sleep. Practicing good sleep hygiene is essential. For me, and I think most people working right until bedtime is not a recipe for high quality sleep. I need a couple of hours between stopping work and time for sleep. Things not to do in this time window include playing exciting video games, watching action movies, working out going on social media, etc. This is the wind down time where I may do some reading for pleasure, or a light walk with the dog.
4.5 Closing
The outcome of a team of people who have a coherent alignment spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically, and are progressively challenged building on personal capacity is an enhanced organizational volume of action. The leaders in the organization need to lead by example in executing good habits.
Leaders need to respect boundaries ensuring that people:
1. Have time off (T, see Appendix 3)
2. Have an appropriate workload (W, see Appendix 3)
a. Which for short periods of time may be overload, carefully and followed by recovery
In Appendix 1 there is discussion about the relationship between the volume of action taken and the meaningfulness of the result. By building the individual capacities of people in the organization the overall volume of action the organization is capable of is enhanced.
The complete model of generative aligned action presented in Appendix 1 is shown below.
Figure 8: Generative Aligned Action