Driving Change: The Harmony of Self-Management and Trust in Leadership
Renelle Everett Darr
Leadership & Business Transformation Activator | Experiential Speaker | Culture & Strategy Partner | CEO Mentor |"Play" shop Creator | Vision Synthesizer | Emotional Intelligence | Conscious Leadership
Recently, while re-watching "Ford v Ferrari," I was captivated by a scene that illustrates an ongoing challenge in leadership. After a disappointing performance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Henry Ford II confronts Carroll Shelby (an automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur best known for creating the Shelby Cobra and helping to redesign the Ford Mustang), questioning his role and threatening to fire him. In this critical moment, Shelby passionately challenges Ford's bureaucratic management style.
He highlights how layers of bureaucracy and management by committee are stifling innovation and performance. Shelby makes a compelling case for a leaner approach, urging Ford to trust his vision and grant him the autonomy to make crucial decisions, including the choice of Ken Miles as the race car driver—despite Miles not being the typical "company man."
I love this scene and how it underscores the need for trust and self-management in leadership, demonstrating how even the most structured environments can benefit from more organic, adaptable qualities.
Understanding Self-Management in Leadership
Self-management in leadership is about empowering leaders and teams to make decisions autonomously, free from cumbersome hierarchical constraints. This approach not only fosters innovation but also accelerates decision-making processes. In the context of Shelby’s plea to Ford, it meant cutting through the red tape that bogged down their operations and trusting someone who knew the ins and outs of racing—Ken Miles.
"If you've got a problem with your car, you don’t take it to a committee meeting, you give it to the mechanic." -Ford v Ferrari
While self-management emphasizes autonomy and minimal hierarchical structures, akin to natural ecosystems, it does not imply a lack of order. Like ecosystems, where diverse elements work harmoniously without central control, self-managed teams thrive under guiding principles that ensure alignment with the organization's goals, balancing freedom with coherence.
These frameworks empower individuals to make decisions that align with the organization’s overall vision and strategy, ensuring that autonomy does not lead to chaos but to coordinated efforts and innovation.
While it may seem paradoxical to use Ford Motor Company and car racing—domains deeply rooted in mechanical precision—as metaphors, they exemplify the necessity of injecting organic, adaptable qualities into traditionally rigid systems. This paradox highlights how even the most structured environments can benefit from the principles of self-management, mirroring the adaptability and resilience found in natural ecosystems.
Implementing Self-Management in Leadership
The heated exchange between Shelby and Ford underscores a crucial lesson for today’s leaders: embracing self-management in leadership can lead to more dynamic and successful outcomes. By reducing bureaucratic overhead and empowering individuals like Shelby and Miles, organizations can create an environment where unique talents and innovative thinking thrive.
To effectively implement self-management in leadership, organizations can:
These three items seem simple though they are some of the biggest issues organizations face in improving culture, strategic advantage, and helping people flourish.?
In my blog, Humanizing the Workplace: The Teal Organizational Shift , I discuss how Frederic Laloux highlights in his book that self-management is built on a foundation of interlocking structures and practices. This framework ensures that decision-making authority and power naturally flow to those with the requisite expertise, interest, or willingness to address a situation. By adapting processes to empower individuals in decision-making and communication, they can better handle complexity, keeping the flow of work and innovation vibrant across the organization.
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"Every time we propose a new idea, it goes up to a committee, and by the time it comes back down, it’s so compromised, it’s beat to hell." - Ford v Ferrari
It's important to recognize the seeming paradox in self-management in leadership. On one hand, it calls for decentralization and autonomy, reminiscent of natural, organic systems. On the other, it requires a framework and guiding principles that provide structure—much like the skeletal systems that support the bodies of living organisms. This blend of structure and flexibility is crucial for nurturing an adaptive and resilient organization.
From Movie to Modern Workplace
The confrontation between Shelby and Ford in "Ford v Ferrari" is a powerful metaphor for the transformative impact of self-management in leadership. After embracing Shelby’s approach, the team went on to achieve remarkable success, winning several Le Mans titles (and continued to creatively face bureaucratic challenges of the time).? Just like in racing, where precision and adaptability are critical, in business, empowering leaders and teams can lead to significant cultural and strategic advantages.
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I've been practicing organizational consulting and leadership coaching for many years and am finding new depth and urgency in this work. Yes, we are facing more and more complexity and uncertainty and we are also facing a time to embrace the fullness and magic of being human.
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6 个月This is a great read! Death by committee is a real big problem. The fastest way to have horrible marketing is to create it by committee. I like this quote, "If you've got a problem with your car, you don’t take it to a committee meeting, you give it to the mechanic."
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6 个月This concept is so applicable in so many realms Renelle Everett Darr. A friend of mine likened standardized testing to farming, much like you refer to in the quote about the mechanic. It went like this..."If you want to fatten a pig, you don't weigh it more often, you feed it." Students, in his opinion, were not given the nourishment they needed to thrive and more frequent testing was not the answer. Committees and layers of bureaucracy often muddy the waters. Trust the people you hired (including yourself) to "attune to the environment" and "see it as it is" in order to act with clear vision. Micromanaging and stifling autonomy is counterproductive to healthy workplace culture.
Executive Coach and Organizational Systems Consultant
6 个月(continued from post below...) To that I'd add that true responsibility/ownership and power of authority for decision-making also go hand-in hand. Leaders are often talking about needing their direct reports to have an ownership mindset, and that only works with trusting them with the power of truly granting them decision making rights, and not undermining them. I remind them of that and they don't always like it :) More broadly, in the principles of Teal organizations, self-management works best when the person who takes the ball and volunteers to lead, is given the power and trusted with the authority to make the final calls, while considering any input shared. And the rest of the group trusts, respects and accepts that power and authority in the decisions that are made, even if they don't agree. If that can happen, then ownership and leadership works well organically across many domains. If the individuals can't accept that, then they should be willing to take on that onus of responsibility as leadership themselves, not criticize, undermine or control from the sidelines, which is all too easy and toxic. I think I'm going to watch this movie again!
Executive Coach and Organizational Systems Consultant
6 个月Hey Renelle, thanks for writing and sharing this! F v F is one of my favorite recent movies. I saw it on a long flight where I couldn't sleep, expecting another glossy Hollywood quasi-historical movie with big stars and a mushy ending. Instead what I experienced was the beautiful and riveting story of what it means to be an underdog, under-appreciated, quirky as hell and to give one's life (literally in the case of Miles) to a passion. Moving, inspiring and in part tragic. This key scene you mentioned was certainly a turning point in the movie (and Ford's future fate at the races). A true leap of faith and trust. So often in organizations people give managers or leaders responsibility without actual power/authority to make the right calls. I call it responsibility without power. It is this power and entrusting it, including when one makes calls (that might raise eyebrows, or not be met with popular consent by a committee), that is essential for magic and innovation to unfold, with the caveat it fulfills the broader principles laid out to be followed. I like what you shared about the double helix bond of structure and flexibility that allows this to unfold.
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6 个月I have so many words! I am so excited about the direction you are taking. I can’t wait to catch up about our shared experiences :-)