Leaders Without Title. . . .Why it Matters to Accelerate Growth

 Sukhwant Bal PhD is a business psychologist who has written over 10 handbooks on leadership and culture, his work and opinion influences our own talent agenda. We asked Sukhwant to elucidate on why, today, businesses need leaders everywhere.

Now more than ever, we need leaders everywhere – not just the big chiefs at the top. Robin Sharma coined the phrase ‘leaders without title’....a rallying call for colleagues to get things done based on their positive attitude and without formal power. We need leaders without title – in every organisation and here are 5 reasons why it matters.

1. Let’s bust the notion that leadership resides at the top. Complexity abounds. It’s just unrealistic to think a few smart players at the top can go-figure it all and then cascade the solutions. Don’t think senior players have not tried this tactic. Problem is it rarely works. We live in a world where employees want the context, the story and narrative and their role in making things happen. They want engagement not edicts. Complexity and pace mean we need empowered leaders at every level in the organisation. Failure to wake up to this means ‘the few’ get burned out and ‘the many’ feel like onlookers. To accelerate growth we need front line colleagues responding in real-time to changing consumer needs and habits. We don’t need more reports and ‘big data’, we need more experimentation and willingness to fail small and learn fast. This is how real-life works.

2. Leaders without title inspire the best in others. When senior players call all the shots, they unwittingly create ‘learned behaviour’. A culture of ‘wait and be told’. Colleagues learn to be reactive. They learn not to use their judgement or take intelligent risks. The modus operandi is ‘play not to lose’ vs ‘play to win’. And as we know this goes against the grain, when you’re striving for growth. Encouraging more leaders without title – inspires others to step-up, to make a difference and to turn up as the best version of themselves. When you have leaders everywhere, you no longer have ‘them and us’. The enemy is no longer ‘in here’ – it’s ‘out there’. And just image the energy this unleashes.

3. When colleagues turn up with an ‘owner-manager’ mindset – remarkable things start to happen. Leaders without title turn up for work for more than a pay cheque. They want personal development, a sense of pride from being part of a brand improving the well-being of their customers and being part of a team they respect. Intrinsic motivators trump extrinsic motivators. The ‘glow’ from pay and perks last a few months before this monster needs feeding. Enjoyment and satisfaction from doing worthwhile work endures. Self esteem and self confidence fuel growth. Colleagues face into problems and challenges and refuse to look the other way. This means small scale issues get resolved locally, before they have time to turn into raging fires. This is the power of ‘heart’ work over ‘hard’ work.    

4. When ‘the many’ show up being fearless – you endorse a ‘make it happen’ culture. When too many colleagues strive to ‘fit in’ and not get noticed, you end up with a ‘bland culture’. One where excuses abound. Where it’s OK to point the finger and deflect blame from yourself. When people refuse to step up – guess what – you end up with more rules, more edicts, more bureaucracy...further slowing down the organisation. Too many ‘thou shalts’ kills the entrepreneurial spirit. By all means set some simple ground-rules – but then get out the way. Encourage intelligent risk taking. Learn from success and failure. Socialise the learning. Growth is never smooth and rarely easy. Failure and growth are close cousins. In being willing to fail small and take the learning – new doors and horizons open. Growth can emerge in the most unexpected ways and places. So be wide-eyed. Free up colleagues to use their best judgement and make things happen. If you want to kill innovation – do things slowly.

By inverting the pyramid, those at ‘the top’ create headroom to think. Ask any senior leader what they lack the most and TIME will be up there. Senior players get caught up in a vortex of never-ending meetings, emails, conference calls and operating in different time zones. From the moment they wake up to the moment their head hits the pillow – they’re ‘on’. With barely a minute to pause, sit back and reflect. And this comes at a heavy cost. In being so busy senior leaders end up being less productive. Caught-up in short-termism, future innovations and future leaders are an after-thought...perhaps raised in some once a year meeting. We live in a ‘brain economy’ not a ‘brawn economy’ and for this reason alone leaders need to shape their future. Putting it on hold is a gross dereliction of duty. In reversing the pyramid and empowering customer-facing colleagues...senior leaders are able to unleash an invaluable and scare resource – time to think.