No, it’s not a word from some far-off land. It refers to two of the best things a manager can do to be a leader. It stands for Leading By Wandering Around & Working Alongside. 

Full disclosure. The first part (leading by wandering around) is a variation of Tom Peters’ Managing by Wandering Around (MBWA). The additional WA (working alongside) is an idea from an attendee of a workshop I ran in Atlanta. 

Okay. Why are these two things so great?

Managing (controlling) people is a fool’s errand. You cannot control people. They have free will. They can make choices. And those choices can often run counter to what managers want. Not out of rebellion necessarily, sometimes it’s because they believe (or know for a fact) there’s a better way. 

And while the Manager hat gives you authority, it doesn’t get you loyalty. Loyalty is earned. And you earn it by being in your team instead of in front of your team barking orders. This is one reason I have swapped Peters’ managing for leading. 

So, what better way to be in the team than for the leader to get to know the team? And what better way to get to know them than to wander around and engage with them, learn from them, get to know their needs, and better understand their strengths and weaknesses? And what better way to see what they deal with and what their challenges are than to work alongside them? There is simply no better way to lead as a team member than to be one.

So, if you want to lead as part of your team (really the only way), these two activities, wandering around and working alongside, should (must) be priorities. These two activities should (must) be an everyday agenda item and to-do list entry that is every bit as important as a meeting with the CEO. 

Do not let this lapse. Do not just do it when you feel like it. Do not think one and done. This needs to become a habit. Your team should get to the point where it is expected. LBWAWA every day x365.

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