Be a Dam Leader!

I’ve recently been fascinated to learn about some of the world’s largest Dams.  I’ve been particularly enthralled with China’s “3 Gorges Dam” (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam ).  As you’ll read, “The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW). In 2014 the dam generated 98.8 TWh of electricity.”  We could power the entire metro Los Angeles area for over a year with this output.

Although the Dam’s original purpose was to produce energy, there were many other reasons for building this mega-structure.  “The dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space.”  Not unlike many other dams’ around the world, the 3 Gorges Dam serves many purposes.  For my script, I’ll break the many purposes into two categories; Production and Protection. 

 

So, what does a Dam have to do with your leadership?

Picture for a moment, yourself as the Dam.  You have 2 purposes; produce something and protect and manage the impact you have downstream (and upstream).  

If you recognize that you, as a leader, have the ability to do both effectively and you learn how to manage the flow of information to enhance both production and protection, you’re a Dam Leader!  Sadly, however, most managers cannot effectively produce and manage downstream.  Let me give a few examples.

Example 1:  A micro manager tends to hold back too much water behind the dam and only produce the amount of product that she has direct control over.  She causes damage downstream, because she doesn’t supply enough water to “feed” her staff and therefore starves their autonomy and creativity.  She essentially fails to achieve either of her 2 objectives.  She neither produces at a high rate nor does she protect what is downstream from her.  She starves both.

Example 2: Your company is “stressed” by a series of poor performing quarters and as a result the microscope is placed on you as a leader.  Your production is low and you need to improve it rapidly.  (Again, remember, you’re the Dam in this scenario).  You might have a gut reaction to open the “flood gates” as it were, so as to produce more… At all costs…  As a result of this decision, you’re going to flood everything downstream.  You’ll ask too much of your staff and vendors, you’ll pass the “stress” downstream and heavily damage everything all in the name of more production.  This may produce near term results but will damage the environment downstream.  You are getting production, but you’ve lost the ability to protect.  Again, you’ve failed to accomplish both objectives

Example 3: You work with good friends and associates and you allow for the staff to be casual about their work in order to create a good work environment.  This leads to lower than optimum results, but does generate a very happy workforce.  You’ve let a lot of water escape from the side drains of the dam, but you’re not generating sufficing product.  In this example, your leniency is having the opposite effect of example two.  Downstream is happy and fed, but production cannot support this model for very long.  You’ve failed to be a Dam Leader.

In order to be a Dam Leader you must determine the right balance of production and protection.  You have to be hyper-aware of both at all times.  They are forces that can work very effectively together, but if you get out of balance, you’ll damage one or the other… Or both.

Here are a couple of tips to help you measure how effective you are at being a Dam Leader:

1-      How much autonomy is my leadership allowing downstream?  In other words, are the people that work for me able to work comfortably and efficiently with the amount of water and resources that I am letting through the Dam?

2-      How much product can my Dam produce?  Do you know your capacity right now?  If not, you better figure it out.  For example, can my development team produce 1000 lines of code per day?  Can my cook produce 40 plates per hour?  You must dial in your capacity per generator or you’ll quickly find your Production-Protection out of balance?

3-      How happy is your upstream vs. downstream? 

Question 3 is the winning question.  If your bosses and employees are equally happy – you’re probably a Dam Leader.  You see, Bosses are worried more about production, whereas downstream are worried more about protection.  Question 1 will help you manage downstream and Question 2 will help you manage production.  

Be a Dam Leader!

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DuVall J Laws is the Sr. Director of Information Technology at Partners In Leadership. DuVall has managed in the Insurance, Banking, Healthcare and Leadership Training Industries.  DuVall holds a B.S. in Information Systems from Utah Valley University and an M.B.A from the University of  Redlands.