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Doing It Right
Seeing Yourself As The Leader: Many business leaders pick the easy definition of leading – “to have the first place.” Merely holding the highest position in the company, whether that includes owning it as well or not, may fit this simple definition of leader, but it doesn’t help one to understand how to play that role successfully. Other business leaders embrace the idea that they are “to be the principal player.” This definition continuously draws “the leader” down into the details of the work any time that there is a roadblock or an obstacle. The tendency here is to be a one-person fix-it shop. When there’s a crisis, which tends to be the case most of the time with this style of leader, there really isn’t the time to adequately teach someone else so you might just as soon do it yourself and get it done right. The end results of this leadership style often are that:
There is another definition to consider. A third way to look at the word is to understand leading as, “to cause others to go with one.” It’s this definition that opens the door to leadership that’s tailored to the needs of the 21st century business enterprise. Leading today is about causing others to follow. There are two dimensions to this idea of leadership. One dimension involves understanding how to “cause” others to follow you, and how to sustain their interest in following you. Who you are as a person, how you represent your business idea, and how you define and communicate the promises inherent in your brand will come into play here. The second dimension involves understanding which conditions can diminish others’ interest in following you. Whether you generate synergy within the company, how you go about shaping the shared identity of your people, and as the company’s architect, how you shape your company’s future. There are three critical questions here. One, “What is it that you can do that no one else can do, to serve your company?” Two, “What can you model about leadership that others could profitably adapt when they act as leaders within the organization?” Three, “What can you do, as the leader, that realizes the full potential of your company’s resources?” What are your answers? How do you live out those answers day-by-day? Look around you. How is the work divvied up? How is it decided who does what? Is your to do list filled with tasks that others should be doing? In many companies, the daily agenda of the boss (owner, executive team, etc.,) is continuously disrupted by a parade of people and problems that line up and demand attention. “Are you running the company or are events running you?” Are you leading or reacting? Take enough time to look at your schedule for the last week. How much are you leading and how much are you running to catch up with events? How can you continue to grow the leadership portion of calendar time until it truly matches your responsibilities? The first thing to do is to identify the things that only you can do (or lead). Identify the top 5 – 7 tasks that only the person in the senior role can do. This will vary depending on the size, shape and focus of your company. As a result, you’ll identify a list today that you can expect will change and evolve as your company evolves. Talk with those around you. Seek a broad range of input – not just to clarify what you need to do, but also to understand what your people expect from you as their leader. You don’t have to assume the role that they expect, but if you don’t, you’ll have to help them evolve their notions of your role, or run the risk of diminishing their readiness to follow you. When you have identified the things that only you can do – set conditions so that you can do those things. There are three facets to this initiative.
As you can see, this probably won’t be something that you can just announce and expect things to change. Investing energy into accomplishing the three issues identified above will free you to do the things that only you can do. Symbolic Aspects Of Leadership: The next question for you to consider here involves the symbolic elements of your role as leader. People look to the leader for cues and signals. (Daniel Goleman writes about this in his book, Emotional Intelligence At Work.) They tend to watch and subjectively interpret ambiguous cues. It is important to remember that as the leader, you do not simply represent yourself. You constantly represent the organization, as well as yourself. What you do, and how you do it, will always have meaning for the people whom you are trying to cause to follow you. How can/should you use this awareness to provoke the strongest desire to follow in your company? Once again, there isn’t a generic set of right answers to this question. You will have to develop a leadership agenda in connection with a sampling of people across the company. You also need to recognize your personal comfort zones – you don’t have to be someone you are not. You do have to be who you are in ways that respect your position as leader of the people involved in this endeavor. This can take some self-discipline and self-control. It certainly takes your considered attention on a continuing basis. For example, you may be naturally hot-tempered. Your instincts may be to speak without thinking when you feel provoked. However, as a leader your words carry more weight than they do when you are speaking for yourself. When the boss is mad, people get uncomfortable, people watch for what’s coming, people are distracted from their work by their feelings about the boss’s anger. ,p> You may find that it is in the best interest of you and the company to chose your words and your timing with a concern for controlling the impact you will create. Recognize that as the leader--- others will emulate how you wear your authority, when you are not around. Perhaps the most productive way to think of these symbolic aspects of leadership is in the terms that we have used to think about your brand. Think of your identity as a leader as your leadership brand---how you are known, what others expect. What is the value proposition you are making that you assume will cause others to follow you? For example, let’s imagine that your leadership brand promise includes the following two elements. First, “I will treat the people who follow me with respect.” And second, “Follow me and you will find that I’m committed to your success as well as mine.” Think about how you’d behave on a daily basis to consistently deliver on those promises. You’d have to be disciplined. You’d have to keep your focus about you. There’d be fewer unconsidered reactions to people and events. How would the consumers of your leadership brand react to this value proposition if they found it to be consistently delivered? Would they be more inclined to follow you, and to follow you enthusiastically? Keep your focus on understanding the value proposition that your customers are seeking. What are the expectations your people have for the style of leadership that they can/will enthusiastically follow? The better the alignment between what you deliver and what they seek, the stronger the bonds between you. These issues ebb and flow, just like the brand promises you are tending in the marketplace. However, the power of your leadership brand to permeate your organization, and to cause others to want to follow, will be strongest when it is well tended. |
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