Image Credit: Rebecca Plett, Rocks2Clouds
I’ve always thought Mary Poppins was an iconic leader. Go back to the recesses of your mind and reacquaint yourself with the plot: the Banks family is in a high state of distress, they can’t find the talent they need, and then miraculously, Mary comes floating in with her umbrella and turns the entire situation around. When her work is done, she leaves. No land and expand. No added-on scope. Just people left better than she found them, and ready to handle the work themselves.
So what’s the leadership lesson?
First, recall that there were two briefs. The one Mr. Banks sang, seeking a disciplinarian. And a second one that the children sang: “rosy cheeks, no warts!”
The Banks hired a nanny for the children, but Mary identified that it was actually Mr. Banks who needed her magic most. This is the third brief, unwritten, unsung. This is where the fractional leader’s opportunity lies, because the secret is that the brief is rarely the real job. The excellence comes from paying attention to the problem no one put in the scope.
Here’s how I’ve seen it work. I led a European unit on a 10-month interim contract. We stood up the largest CRM team within a global company, planned and executed tens of millions of dollars in media, and overhauled e-commerce reporting, but my greatest impact was to the team dynamics. Dropping into a team moving 1,000 miles an hour towards a new and moving target, you can quickly see where dysfunction lies. Time-worn tensions and grievances amongst leaders had solidified and compounded over years like sedimentary rock and were wearing the whole team down.
Had I been a permanent hire, I would have been seen as another executive with an agenda to protect and an axe to grind. As a temporary leader, I was neutral, non-threatening, and able to defuse tensions with objectivity. I was curious to see how I could nudge two imposing leaders, who could not be in the same room together, towards a softened stance and workable solutions. Little doses of medicine with spoonfuls of sugar won them over enough to come to the table, literally. The team saw progress, effort and willingness to compromise for the first time in years.
As Disney’s film closes, the wind changes. Mary is off with it, and Mr. Banks strolls to the park with his children, armed with a kite. The story is about Mary, but what pulls our hearts is the functioning family, and the impact that lasts long after she’s gone.
