Leader should develop others!!

The righteous cycle to teach and learn

Even before I delve in to the need of teaching and learning in organizations, it is essential to know why leaders are hesitant to become teachers. The possible reasons can be, but are not restricted to –

1. For many leaders, taking on teaching, coaching and other development activities can seem daunting.
2. Then there is lack of time, resources, or complete lack of comfort with teaching as a role.
3. A cat never teaches a tiger to climb a tree!!

However intimidating the task may seem it is essential to develop and evolve in to a teaching organization. There are strong and compelling reasons for leaders to develop a teaching point of view –

1. We have entered an era where organizations need leaders who can make decisions, make judgment calls at every single level; all the way down to the interface with the customer.
2. A lot of innovation today is happening right at the front line. Try it, put it out there, and learn from it. This isn’t possible without commitment from senior leadership to develop leadership capability and the business through engaging people at all levels of the organization.
3. The role of a leader is to ensure the people who work for them and around them are better every day.
4. In the 21st century we are not going to get by with command and control. We are going to have to get by with knowledge creation.

Thus, the way to create knowledge in an organization is through the righteous cycle to teach and learn concurrently, responding to customer demands and changes, responding to changes in the global environment. The key to building a successful organization is through teaching. If you’re not teaching, you’re not leading.

As Harvey S. Firestone, Founder – Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., has aptly put, “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”

How to develop others?

1. Start with a teachable point of view

A leader should be aware of the value system he or she wishes to instill among his people in the organization. There should be a ‘how’ addressing thousands of people all-encompassing emotional energy, making the yes/no judgment calls on people and on business issues.

2. Lead with questions

Questions are hugely important because not only they create dialogue and again, but also they craft a cycle where the teacher learns from the students and vice versa. Thus, everybody ought to be free to ask whatever is on their mind, whatever it will take to get clarity and understanding. The leader, however, does have the responsibility to frame the discussion, make it interactive and develop an environment to teach and learn.

3. Make it a part of the routine

It is essential that the leader coaches the team on how as a team they can perform better. The challenge is for all of us as leaders is to make it a way of life and build it into the fabric of how we lead and it is not a one off event, three times a year. It has to happen every single day, in every single meeting.

4. Make it a priority

The only way to overcome any resistance or anxiety on how well as an individual I can do it, is the mantra – If this is important, of course I can make the time. It is a commitment to get on the path to drive not only individual performance but also the performance of colleagues.

5. Learn to teach

Definitely one cannot be good at it right off the bat. The first time one tries to coach, one does falter, but the trick lies in sticking to it, getting feedback and improving with every session. Leaders have to engage people in helping them make better and in turn making them better. It is a journey and no one is perfect in the beginning.

Bet on People!

A leader’s most important role in an organization is making good judgments – well informed, wise decisions about people, strategy and crises that produce the desired outcomes. When a leader shows consistently good judgment, little else matters. When he or she shows poor judgment nothing else matters. In addition to making their own good judgment calls, good leaders develop good judgment among their team members.

In today’s global business environment, markets and regulations change quickly. Competitors constantly innovate. Technological changes are the norm. In order to outmaneuver the competition and meet the demands of the moment, organizations must be agile, they must execute flawlessly. And they must transform themselves in to learning organizations. After all as Larry Bossidy, Former CEO – AlliedSignal has famously quoted, “At the end of the day, you bet on people, not strategies.”

Are your leaders ready?

 Note: In writing this essay I have painstakingly referred and read books by Dr. Noel M. Tichy, Professor, University of Michigan Ross School of Business. He is the author and co-author of books – The cycle of leadership, The leadership Engine.