Authenticity + inspiration + getting down to business = a legacy of achievement!
In a world constantly being hit with one crisis after another, the challenge for every organization is to be relevant to customers, employees and stakeholders. The challenge for leaders is to create an agile and responsive organization filled with people who are passionate about delivering value to the people they serve. Managers are then challenged with the task of creating an operating environment which enables employees to act in an empowered and speedy way.
Are you getting the most from your leadership and management abilities?
It takes the skills of a leader and the capabilities of a manager to create a high performance organization fully focused on achieving meaningful results and they do this by capturing the hearts, minds, energy and talents of everyone in the organization.
The very best leaders and managers I’ve worked with, coached, or developed are adept at identifying the opportunities and dangers that exist – even in a chaotic environment. They certainly have high workplace standards and are always encouraging, some might say always pushing, people to achieve more. They certainly don’t walk past a problem and they relish the idea of creating a legacy built on creating an improved and different organization – ready and able to respond to (almost any) challenges thrown their way.
Yet in a world of increasing polarization of viewpoints it has become far more difficult to get people to see the power of finding common ground. Without common ground there is no such thing as collaboration. So what are the effective leaders and managers doing? Here is what I’ve noticed.
The effective ones recognize decision making is not a rational process – despite the amount of published (and out-dated) material – it is an emotional one. They do a great job of painting a picture of what success looks like and feels like. Leaders know energy comes from emotion not logic which is why a primary responsibility of leaders is to create a sense of purpose and direction. When that picture of success is one which is exciting and emotional getting “buy-in” is so much easier.
The effective ones know the importance of linking individual and group activities to higher level goals and aspirations. Our 30+ years of employee and organization culture research tells me, people want their efforts and energy, given on the job, to be meaningful.
The effective ones, and here is where management abilities are important, enable people to make a contribution towards success by reducing ambiguity, securing appropriate resources, defining decision making latitude, developing competencies and other important aspects for completing tasks proficiently in order to achieve results.
Are you congruent in every role you play?
Very early on in my career my mentor, Lorne Carroll National Manager of Training & Development for a very large Canadian company, said to me “We’re going to ask you to play many roles in this organization such as leader, manager, team member, team leader, analyst, consultant, and so many more.” He went on to say “knowing who you are and what you stand for are important building blocks for creating outstanding teams”.
It is about finding your own voice!
Successful organizations are not the result of leaders and managers who “take a poll” to determine what the “majority” think should be done and then go do it. People like Sir Richard Branson, Elon Musk and John S. Chen do not make major decisions based on a poll!
While I have used names of high profile people, effective leaders and managers in every organization share one common trait, they have done both the self-reflection and work to find their own voice. Those we love to work with, may not be the best at everything they do, but they show up and give their best and that is why people willingly give of their time, energy and expertise.
I believe creating a legacy of achievement is best done by talented people who are excellent at both leading and managing – we are not in an either/or world but and and/also world. When authentic people who lead from the front – inspiring people to act and managers provide the resources and tools, high performance is assured.
