#unpretended LEADERSHIP - all about an attractive 5D, a winning half and a magic triangle!

No, I will not write today about management styles and will not refer to the characteristics of autocratic, democratic or charismatic leader. I won’t point out the differences between a leader and a manager and I will not, for sure, look for reasons why gender would play a key role in being an #unpretended leader! Instead, I will discuss and share an effective approach to building strong teams that hate pretending?and put truthfulness first in their daily implementation of tasks. Tasks that engage and develop, and their implementation gives satisfaction and contributes to the success of the team, its members and the company.

Today's business world, which is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous ?(VUCA) in its rush needs real, authentic and #unpretended leaders like never before. Is it really like never before? Jack Welch noted long ago that "when the rate of change inside an institution becomes slower than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight." Indeed, I believe that we are dealing with a situation like never before, because never before, to such an extent, we have performed remote work and never before we have used modern technology and robotic tools, that would replace so many aspects of human work. Never before have so many business guides on leadership been written, never before has there been such a rich training offer, and never before we have experienced such a huge deficit of an #unpretended leadership!

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Who is the #unpretended leader?

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On thesaurus.com we read that unpretended means: blunt, forthright, impartial, outspoken, sincere, straightforward, truthful, unbiased, unequivocal, aboveboard,?equal, equitable, fair, genuine, objective, open, heartfelt, natural, positive, real, sincere, true, trustworthy, authentic.

Is there such a leader? Of course there is, but he or she belongs to an extremely small group! Various studies on expectations regarding the attitude of a leader show, that about 20% of people in managerial roles display the characteristics of a genuine leader (e.g. the Gallup study says that only 18% of managers have talent management competencies).

So why then is it so difficult for 80% (Gallup 82%) of managers to join this group? What makes human capital management so difficult for them? I believe that it is not about the difficulty, but rather about?the approach, the methodology, the styles and patterns tested by a handful of effective leaders, and about not letting empathy be put into a sleep mode with the leaders’ concurrent increase of power. The latter is the most critical aspect. And here comes the human factor, an extremely important aspect that is gaining more and more significance in the times of #vuca, #rpa, #remotework, #multigenerations and #wellbeing in the context of new values that were recalled by the C-19 pandemic.

For me, an #unpretended leader is someone who can bring the "hidden" potential out of each team member and apply their "visible" potential, someone who can build a team that is well-coordinated and invincible, because it is inspired and motivated to look for effective solutions as their achievement gives great satisfaction. An #upretended leader leads their team through the meanders of business while being a demanding coach and mentor. It is someone who defines and gives responsibilities, equips with the right tools and strategies and infects with passion to maximize the success of the organization, the individual and the entire team!

Ever since I have become an #unpretended leader myself, I have been actively involved in discussions about the team members’ “departures”. Not only because it happens as in the famous saying that "people join the company and leave the manager", but mainly because it is avoidable. It sounds much better to me that "people join the company and the manager and they don't leave;" Richard Branson put it wonderfully - "train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to"! And if they leave, it is their next step in their professional development, worked out together with their #unpretended leader! The new saying becomes reality if 3 methodologies to talent / human capital / team management are applied: attractive 5D, winning 50% and the magic Triangle.

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Attractive 5D - ?Dare to Deliver your Dreams”

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A methodology that allows you to diagnose the potential, define a long-term development goal and an implementation plan for each team member. The first step is - DARE, aim high, aim far, because, as Thomas Fuller said, "all things are difficult before they are easy". This step releases the brakes, encourages to catch the wave, builds up inner strength and strengthens self-confidence. The second step is - DREAM about yourself in a few or a dozen years from now, because everyone, at some point in their life, thought about who they would like to become in their professional life. Children dream of becoming an astronaut, a teacher or a president. As teenagers, they choose fields of study that bring them closer to this goal. On the other hand, students, richer in new life and project experiences, reassert themselves in their original choice or even lose themselves in the maze of opportunities offered by today's business. An #unpretended leader who often manages a multigenerational team, has the task of reaching these goals or working them out with each team member. This is where the third step appears - DISCOVER your potential, the identification of which allows you to best match the talent with the tasks at the current or future job. DESIGN the way to the goal. And here we have two approaches: 1) not having a long-term development goal and accepting what “life will throw at you”, and 2) defining a long-term goal. Although for many people approach # 1 seems to be very dynamic, flexible or even agile, it carries the risk of backing you into a corner because we give control to chance and short-term preferences or even temporary weakness. The approach # 2 is much more effective as it allows us to keep control over our development and to reach the goal or change it consciously. Only when we have a long-term goal we are fully prepared to respond to whatever circumstances life throws at us. After the goal has been defined, the delivery readmap is to get ready, i.e. the 5th step - DELIVER your goal.

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A winning HALF

I am a great supporter of striving to continuously invest about 50% of the leader's time in human capital / talent. Stock market investors know very well what I mean - money alone will not do anything unless it gets into good hands and an above-average value is generated. The same thing happens with the talent / potential of the team! Only a real and #unpretended leader can apply the 5D approach to effectively "turn" the capital to increase its value!

What else consists of the "50%" approach? Depending on the maturity of the team (it can be, for example,?a "young", newly formed with developed job descriptions, goals and career paths, or "old", without current / relevant job descriptions, theoretical / disconnected from reality, and not SMART goals and no development plans) and the company's organizational culture here is what must be done:

1) properly select and "tailor" the organizational structure of the team,

2) develop a succession tree for each employee,

3) work out / define the "visible" and "hidden" potential,

4) strive to "know" the aspects affecting the well-being of each team member.

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The magical TRIANGLE??

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The main magic of the magical triangle is that it is and should remain equilateral (keeping it balanced)! The vertices are: individual (team member), team and company. This means that only when the goals of the individual (both developmental and operational), team goals and company goals are coherent, harmonious, correlated and just as important, there is a chance for their full implementation. Simple cascading the company's operational goals "top-down" will not provide the full balance, which is in the hands of the #unpretended leader! Because it is he/she who lead to the discovery of the “hidden” potential in each member of the team. Because it is he/she and the team who work out the team’s operational goals, the fulfillment of which (or the exceeding thereof when a team is so managed) contributes to the success and achievement of the company’s operational and business goals.

Critical conditions to ensure balance:

1) each team member identifies themselves with their proper operational goals, because their implementation supports professional development (work according to the 5D methodology)

2) all team members know very well how the implementation of their operational goals contributes to the achievement of results by the company (e.g. a strategic tree is useful here)

3) an #unpretended leader makes sure that the operational (and often developmental) goals of each team member are well known to the colleagues from the team (horizontal, intra-team communication), which allows for their consistent and optimal implementation (workshops, where individual goals are discussed, their interaction with each other and ways to optimize those that overlap)

4) the team develops its own mission and vision (consistent with the company's strategy), which allows each employee to identify, get involved and give their best. The most important factor of success in the “team member <=> team” relationship is the awareness of how the implementation of the team's operational goals is conducive to the professional development of each of its members.

5) The company's culture is focused on talent, on proper development of competences and on wise "turning" of the human capital, which is a valuable and main asset of the company!

The world in which we live and run businesses requires leaders to keep focus on people, on their potential and needs, despite or precisely because the level of automation of processes is reaching its historic heights (and due to the year-by-year increase of investments in modern technologies will be even higher). My?three proprietary methodologies presented above are very effective if they are implemented by an #unpretended, high EQ leader. His/her secret is how he/she creates a team => focusing on diversity, enthusiasm and unlimited energy. He/she brings out the best in each team member, develops and observes how work becomes individual’s passion, while the company and himself/herself, as the #unpretended leader, achieve success!

first published in Outsouring&more by Pro Progressio