March 10, 1999

How to fill a leadership vacuum

An effective manager achieves results through activities. An effective leader achieves results through relationships. Managers direct outcomes while leaders achieve outcomes through more subtle means, using many tools.

While they know how to command and control, they know that greater long-term results and professional growth stem from influencing outcomes. In order to do this, leaders take more of a Socratic approach, leading employees to the fertile orchards of solutions instead of picking solutions for them, followed by force feeding.

It boils down to planting the seeds of opportunity and then allowing individuals to feel good about themselves through learning, taking responsibility and accomplishment.

These are some ways you can further develop your own leadership skills:

1. Make a confidential list of all employees who report to you.
   
2. Rank your personal feelings of trust for each one: 1=low up to 5=high.
   
3. Ask yourself why you trust the "fives" so much and the "ones" so little. What have the "fives" done to earn your trust? Would an impartial observer agree? What have the "ones" done to have so little trust? Would an impartial observer agree?

Note: When I say "impartial," I mean a stranger from outside your industry, who would look at the unambiguous, explicitly expressed expectations given to that employee, as well as both the facts and figures of actual outcomes.

Make sure that in this exercise you take due account of skill level.

For example, it is pointless to say that you trust your most experienced project manager more than a junior manager just because the top project manager can get so much more done. Each employee must be assessed for his or her ability at their current level of career development.

Here's another question.

4. What can you do to bring along the less trusted staff -- no matter what their current salary or position may be? This can be approached through phased delegation, coaching, on or off-site training, self-directed learning, tandem responsibilities or adjusted job descriptions.

The point is that an organization will never reach peak capability as long as there are people at any level who are not trusted by leaders. This is because your trust will be sensed and people who feel valued tend to perform at their peak.

Volunteers in a charitable organization usually work hard to be effective because they believe in what they are doing. How many staff members in your organization have the same "volunteer" mind set? If the leadership of your organization depended on the votes of your employees, would the same leaders be elected? This is not an invitation for you to go out of your way to become "popular," rather it suggests that people want to work for leaders who inspire them, trust them and demonstrate caring. Caring about the individual, caring about the quality of their work and caring about clients. The effects of powerful management are seen in today's results. The full visionary and trust-building effects of powerful leadership may not be seen for months or even for years.

Managers are often focused on protecting their turf. Some go so far as to claim personal or group credit for the unacknowledged results produced by one or two individuals. Leaders, on the other hand, are not afraid to publicly compliment and give credit to individuals, without mentioning themselves.

A leader who has ineffective managers on a team struggles in the same way as a master artisan's craft is hampered by ineffective tools, and the finest tools in the hands of a beginner cannot produce a masterpiece.

Previous columns:

• Communication pitfalls: reviewing the basics, 01-13-1999
• 1999: a prelude to change in 2000?, 12-09-1998
• Winners create their own luck, 11-11-1998
• High performance organizations, 08-12-1998
• Accountability, or the power of positive ownership, 07-08-1998
• Coaching tips for managers, 05-13-1998
• Client relations: Begin at the beginning, 03-11-1998
• When you run out of gas, 02-11-1998