Are Your Managers Becoming Leaders

If you are an employer, you have certainly witnessed a change in today’s workforce.  Today’s worker thinks differently, acts differently, and barely resembles the employee of decades ago.  As a result, the days of managing a workforce with yesterday’s methods are gone as well.  Today’s worker cannot be simply managed, but rather invested in, developed, and yes…led.

 To be effective it is imperative that managers learn new skills to deal with a workforce that must be influenced rather than directed, taught rather than told, and regarded as an investment rather than an expense.  Managers must develop the ability to communicate the vision of the organization and engage people in a manner that elicits results. In short, our managers must now become leaders – not only in title, but in action.

 For years, people have been discussing the meaning of leadership and whether leaders are born or made. After all these years, the debate continues, leaving a constant that most thought leaders can agree on – effective leadership is critical to the success of an organization. 

 For employers, time is best spent not on defining what leadership is, but in identifying what leadership – good and bad - looks like. Leadership is a series of relationships, actions and outcomes and can be tangibly measured only by results.  Ineffective leadership, however, is stagnant and detectable. This type of leadership can be recognized by the observation of some key “giveaways”.  The following are three indicators that your managers are not leading and may need some development before things get out of hand.

The Archimedes Concept – I call this symptom the Archimedes Management Concept in tribute to the Greek mathematician.  Legend has it that Archimedes, while getting into a full bathtub one evening, realized that there was a relationship between the amount of water that spilled over the top of the tub and the mass of his submerged body as he entered.  This was later referred to as the Archimedes principle.

 Think of ineffective leadership as the object entering the water.  As poor leadership becomes introduced, key players will begin spilling out of the organization in near-direct relation.  Many poorly led organizations can temporarily retain employees, but the true candidates for future leadership will inevitably exit.  This is because future stars can often sense trouble. They know when to get out of a bad situation and move on with their careers.

 Action – look at your turnover outside of the numbers.  Are people you thought would be future stars leaving the organization?

 The Charisma Crutch – Charismatic leadership is often mistaken for quality leadership.  Thus, an organization should ensure that leaders are not using charisma as a crutch. To modify an old proverb - Charisma can be like a lamppost to a drunken man – more to lean on than to enlighten. The fact is that many of our nation’s best leaders were anything but charismatic.  Peter Drucker, in his book, Managing for the Future, pointed out some very effective leaders who lacked this characteristic. Says Drucker, “Effective leadership doesn’t depend on charisma.  Dwight Eisenhower, George Marshall, and Harry Truman were singularly effective leaders, yet none possessed any more charisma than a dead mackerel.”

This is not to say charisma is a negative characteristic, but it can often camouflage a lack of actual work and the poor results that reside underneath.  The truth is leadership is not always a knight riding in on a white horse. It can be a daily grind.  It is about vision, goals and work. 

 Action – Remain focused on results.  Apply performance measures to supplement the observation of people skills.  Measuring performance is the key to determining effective leadership.

 The Boiling Frog – When talking about organizational change, I often think of  and anecdote Charles Handy once shared in a speech I attended.  He described how a frog placed in slowly heated water would - rather than sensing danger - adapt to the temperature change until it reached 100 degrees centigrade, at which point it would be too late to jump out of the pot! Many managers simply bear witness to changes in the surrounding environment, when in fact they should take action before they are boiled alive!

Action – Talk to your managers.  Do they proactively look for ways to change for the better, or do they change only when the “water gets too hot”?

 As our workforce continues to change, the need for effective management will only increase.  Dedicate time to leadership development in your organization.  Don’t wait until the water gets hot!

 Look for these signals to see if you managers are effectively leading.  Intervention now will save you a significant time and money later. Remember, as organizational leaders, we get the leaders we deserve!

PERFORM BETTER.

www.vieassociates.com