Sean Glaze compares effective leaders to guardrails: they set behavioral boundaries and deliver tough feedback to keep teams on track. Without clear standards, team members go off-road and toxic cultures take hold. Uncomfortable conversations are how leaders protect their teams.
So how are effective leaders like guardrails? Well, if a road has no guardrails, more people get hurt. Guardrails are there to protect people from more severe consequences. That's a leader's job—to clarify standards and to set boundaries of behavior. What happens when a leader is uncomfortable with having those necessary feedback conversations is that people go off-road, and their teammates sometimes follow them and that creates a toxic culture. Toxic cultures develop when leaders allow hurtful behaviors to occur and to be repeated. Yes, sometimes it's going to be your job to rub some paint off of the side panel of the cars on your team to keep them moving forward. Feedback conversations are not always easy, but they're necessary if you want to build and sustain a high-performance team culture. I'm Sean Glaze. That's what effective leaders do.
