Jim Johnson and a guest discuss standing in the gap: a leader's willingness to absorb responsibility and take hits to protect their team. When things fail, the leader falls on the grenade because the business owner bears final accountability.
So we always have this problem with contractors this day. They come to us with like, man, there's just so much drama. In my business, that drama is usually brought in by people making excuses why something didn't get done or they didn't turn something in, or I didn't execute on the time, or I didn't send this message. There's always some reason. Right. And we talk about this concept of stand in the gap. You've been really great about teaching our contractors kind of what that is. What does that mean to you? What does stand in the gap mean?
Stand in the gap, for me, I think means being willing to take the hit. And by take the hit, I mean either a hit you created yourself because of a mistake maybe you made or a deficiency you have. But sometimes it's a hit that comes from somewhere else that isn't necessarily your fault. And so standing in the gap, I think means really doing what needs to be done without worrying about who's to blame or who's at fault. It's just this thing needs to happen, and I'm here now, and I can do it. I should do it.
Yeah. I really like the idea of it being. Defending the one that needs to be defended.
Right. And sometimes it's being a bit of a shield. Right. There's a gap between this person and this person or a person in a situation, and that person might need a defender. And you can stand in there, stand in that gap, and defend, protect, as well as initiate solutions.
It's a lot like the concept for leaders of falling on the grenade. When something doesn't go right, you fall on the grenade and you accept the responsibility of why they didn't. Because it really does come down to you. It's not necessarily that somebody on your team didn't do something. Right. You probably didn't give the right expectation, the right result that you were looking for. Got lost in translation. You've allowed for a lack of accountability. Excuses start to come up, and everybody stops standing in the gap.
Right. And at the end of the day, especially if you're a business owner, the people who work for you can find another job or they might get another job. Right. But your business goes away. So when it's all said and done and the dust settles, it's kind of all on you. Where the buck stops, ultimately.
Yeah. You're the ultimate fall in the grenade standing the gap guy.
Right. I mean, if the owner of the company doesn't have a job, nobody does.
Yeah, exactly. Awesome. Cool.
Yeah.
