For Lillie, this experience showed the importance not only of creating an environment for innovation, but caring about what they work on. “When an engineer wants to show you a spark, you have to listen,” he says.
Demonstrate genuine care and a safe environment: “Leaders can let you fail and yet not let you be a failure.” – Stanley McChrystal
Here, Lillie cites a book by Harvard professor Amy Edmundson called The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Edmundson defines psychological safety as a belief that no one will be punished or humiliated for their ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. She goes on to say the leader must frame the work as a learning problem, not an execution problem, and acknowledge personal fallibility.
For Lillie, psychological safety is critical to allow all voices to be heard, for learning to occur, and for innovation to flourish.
Establish goals and reward results: “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” – Zig Ziglar.
When Lillie was in the Air Force, he found he was somewhat limited in how he could reward his troops when they achieved their goals. “We couldn’t give them a promotion or more money, so all we could do was give recognition,” he says. As a result, Lillie and his fellow officers set up recognition programs: NCO of the Quarter, NCO of the Year, Airmen of the Quarter, Airman of the Year. “We’d have celebrations where everybody would wear their “dress blues,” invite family members of the award winners, and celebrate their accomplishments as a formal ceremony. We were proud of what we all did together.”
So, why spend time and energy detailing such an outline? “My purpose, core values, and leadership principles have kept me grounded throughout my career and have helped me stay in alignment whether I was leading troops or teams,” says Lillie. “When I lead, I’m doing so with intent: setting a North Star, striving for high standards of performance, encouraging creativity and innovation, creating a caring and psychologically safe environment, and establishing clear goals and results.”
Having a clear purpose and implementing core values to live by allows an executive to lead strategically and in accordance with who they are, what they care about, and what they value — and not by situation, circumstances, or reaction. “The importance of knowing who you are is at the very core of authentic leadership.”
