Artifacts of Leadership
Understanding the value leaders bring
A while ago David Hoang wrote about creating value with artifacts. As a design leader, David imparts great wisdom about how to create memorable documents. The creation of artifacts is important for everyone in an org. They help us share knowledge, clarify direction and ensure we’re all on the same page.
Early in our careers most of us are rewarded for what we produce: sales, code, campaigns, and projects. These are big levers for how we show our value and how we get promoted. Leaders work has fewer of these tangible hallmarks. This means the work can look invisible to the team. This is part due to the confidential matters leaders often deal with. We can’t always be as transparent as we’d like due to privacy or legal matters. Also obscuring the picture is how we define work and value. Leaders often produce less tangible assets. There are some traditional artifacts like roadmaps, strategy presentations, and org charts but leaders don’t produce them as regularly.
The lack of artifacts makes us wonder what leaders actually do. If we aren’t delivering something tangible, the team can see us as ineffectual, taskmasters who delegate everything away, or even lazy. Leaders themselves sometimes even wonder about the value they bring if they’re not constantly “shipping.” I hear this often in my work. “I don’t ship anything. Is what I’m doing important?” “I feel like I’m not spending enough time on the real work.” “I’m not sure what I’ve accomplished this week, it feels like all I did was fight fires.”
In the early days of a new leadership role, the desire to deliver something tangible can be a costly mistake. Trying to show our value by deliver something, anything can lead to accidental micromanaging. Wanting to show our worth we take on deliverables that someone else can — and should be doing. The team stops growing, they might even begin to resent us, just a little.
What is it that leaders actually do?
A leader's real impact often lies in the intangible world — influence, collaboration, decision-making, prioritizing and guiding. Our focus on the connective tissue that surrounds the work is invaluable. It’s true that deciding which strategic goals to prioritize might show up on an artifact like a presentation. Still, that presentation represents a tiny slice of the work it took to get there. The real work lies in the hours of conversations with other leaders. The hours of thinking to estimate a reasonable strategy. The hours thinking about how to influence others to endorse our plan. The sleepless nights working through options, hoping the right one was selected. The hours spent surfacing issues, leveling up, and unblocking the team. The effort taken to align the team so we’re all rowing in the same direction. The energy spent reducing friction so the team can work more easily with less stress. The time we’ve taken to clarify and cultivate a culture where people want to come to work.
The intangible work of leaders is highly valuable to the org, the business and the team. It can also be imperceptible to others. Even we as leaders sometimes question if we're really doing anything. We ask ourselves if our work has value even if we don't produce artifacts regularly. “Does my work have value?” is the wrong question.
Better questions:
What does the org need from me?
What is the unique value I bring to the team and the org?
How can I give the team more context?
How can I communicate about the work I’m doing?
What does each audience/stakeholder in the org need to know?
Rather than question if we deserve our role these inquiries help us understand our work. They clarify what we should be doing and what we should give to others. Answering them helps realize that our artifacts look like a happy team that is growing. A culture where people can do their best work. A clear, prioritized strategy where folks know where they fit. An org that runs smoothly, allowing us to inch closer to delivering on our mission and vision. Leaders provide connective tissue that stitch everything together. If you squint, you can see them as their own sort of artifacts.
If this piece resonated with you, please let me know and give the heart button below a tap.