Once upon a time, there was a woman named Liz who held an Assistant Manager position in a male-dominated manufacturing operation. She was smart, driven, accomplished, and determined to move up in the corporate ranks of the company. She had a total of 10 direct reports, including a couple of Team Leads, all of whom had been with the company for many years. So, it was reasonable to expect her team to be fairly productive and have created an efficient workflow.
That, however, was not the case. Her team, in fact, was a source of frequent, significant, and significantly frustrating bottlenecks in the organization. While her area was an administrative function, the work she and her team were responsible for actually touched every single employee in the 1,600-employee plant.
Her shortfall was not due to lack of education; she had a Masters’ degree. It wasn’t incompetence; she wouldn’t have been promoted to the AM position had that been the case. She didn’t shirk responsibility. She had a strong drive to win. And she was willing to work whatever long hours were required to get things done. Nor was it because her team was incapable; nearly everyone else in the organization recognized their skills and abilities.
Looking at all the needs, expectations, and variables involved in this scenario one at a time, you would think she had everything she needed, and then some, and would have been moving on up, and quickly.
As I began looking closer, however, I quickly realized what the stumbling block was. She was focused on managing and wasn’t willing to shift into leading.
Strong Leadership Equals…
In my experience, leadership is not limited to persons in specific positions, with titles, authority, and power. Leadership stems from one’s ability to influence others, and that can happen at any level, with any individual, at any time.
Whether you have a position or title, or not, if others are willing to listen to you and give you permission to influence them, then you shift into leading. Conversely, simply because you have a position with a title and inherent authority doesn’t necessarily mean you are a leader. Far too often, in this situation, the people who report to those who rest on position and title are often biding time and offering the bare minimum of effort and expertise in order to get their paycheck.
If that’s what’s going on in your organization, you’re in Trouble (yes – with a capital T!).
Strong leaders begin with a foundation of being able to lead themselves, first. Doing that requires a level of self-awareness that is sadly uncommon today. It also requires strong character, integrity, a willingness to listen, the ability to understand others, and a pervasive desire to continue to learn and grow.
Whether I’m invited in to work with an individual who is pursuing his or her own growth, or I’m invited in by the business to grow leaders as part of a corporate development effort, I always begin at the beginning – raising self-awareness.
Foundational Leadership Characteristics
Self-awareness includes recognition of, understanding of how to direct, and the ability to articulate qualities, characteristics, preferences, styles, strengths, and weaknesses. The next aspect of strong leadership is other-awareness; the ability to observe, understand, respond to, and inspire others. Awareness and a depth of emotional intelligence (EQ) is a natural outcome of these first two pieces of the strong leadership puzzle.
To inspire others, and influence them to get stuff done, strong leaders are able to cast, articulate, and connect others to a compelling vision of the future. Ideally, there is a clear and compelling vision for the overall organization, which is then broken down and refined for each operating unit within the organization, as each department will be responsible for component parts that make up the whole.
Strong leaders are able to articulate this vision in such a way as to connect each team member’s drive, expertise, and role as crucial to the viability of success in the endeavor. After all, if they aren’t important to helping achieve whatever you are striving to create, what’s the point in their being there? Leaders with high EQ are able to recognize what motivates each of their team members and are able to leverage that understanding to draw their team members in.
Finally, strong leaders lead with intention… meaning they have a plan and a purpose and they make decisions and take action based on what is in support of the vision, they reject and release activities and ideas that will only create more work on a path that don’t support the vision, and they are able to adapt to changing conditions and circumstances along the way because they are clear on who they are, what they are striving to achieve, and what is getting in their way.
Managers…
Managers are typically focused on systems, processes, and resources. They tend to be more concerned with following the rules and staying on pre-defined paths, even when they can see the path is taking them farther and farther away from their stated goal or vision.
Managers, in my experience, are not visionary thinkers nor do they dip their toes into the creative-thinking pond. They follow the tried and true, even when those ways are no longer working.
Their self-awareness is often low. They aren’t prone to taking initiative, tending to just do what they are told or guided to do by those in authority above them. And they tend to blame others when things go awry.
As I spent more time with Liz and her team, I quickly began to see where she was getting stuck, and unfortunately, what was going to keep her stuck (she hasn’t yet received the promotion she’s been dreaming of and banking on for more than six years…).
As I said, she was smart, accomplished, educated, and driven, and she was (is) a classic example of “what got you here won’t get you there.” In her rise through the ranks to her AM position, she relied on her own thinking, skills, abilities, and strengths. Those above her saw her potential (and I’ve seen it, too… it does exist), and promoted her hoping she would be able to grow those around her in the same way she had grown herself. The problem was, she couldn’t, wouldn’t, hasn’t, won’t!
Stuck!
All of them, in fact, are stuck, because of her. You see, she’s been so successful as an individual contributor, she’s not taken the time or made the effort to share her expertise, give growth opportunities to her direct reports, and allow them to expand their expertise and experience. She’s too afraid to delegate, as she’s certain none of them will do a task as well as she does. And her fear of what she predetermines will be their inadequate results keeps her from allowing them to even try.
She’s right, you know! How could they build and demonstrate expertise in a task, when they are never given the chance to practice? We all know that the first few times we do any task, we are not instant experts. We stumble along the way; it’s how learning works.
Having measured her strengths, styles, and preferences, she’s hard-wired for Responsibility, Maximizer, Competition, Achiever, Self-Assurance, and Significance (all Clifton StrengthsFinder terms). Essentially, this combination of strengths can prove to be very powerful, indeed, when used to their highest good.
When they’ve been shifted into over-use, however, which is what Liz has done, not only have her strengths become weaknesses, they are proving to be her un-doing, and all jokes aside – make her a prime candidate for some significant health issues if she continues this behavior long-term.
Liz is attempting to manage her team and is creating a lot of distrust and discontent in the process; not to mention a lot of extra work for herself that members of her team really should be doing. She’s not leading; her style is command and control, and there’s not much room to “influence” others when you are dictating and directing.
Everyone Pays When the Manager Refuses to Lead
Her team is uninspired and putting in the minimum just to survive, keep their jobs, and retain their paychecks. They are frustrated that she’s essentially created an obstacle they can’t overcome without demonstrating a willingness to break the accepted chain of movement in their organization and attempt to go around her in order to keep growing themselves.
Her peers and direct manager recognize the jeopardy she is creating for them all. She can’t move up because there isn’t someone prepared to take on her current role, nor is she perceived as being capable of getting more done at a higher level because she insists on doing nearly everything herself.
She personifies the proverbial tale of the person who complains her manager is overloading her with the work of 10 people but won’t delegate any of said work to the 10 people who report to her and are ready, willing, and most likely able to do the job!
Her direct manager is reticent to simply move her out of her role into an individual contributor role, where she would no doubt thrive, because he doesn’t want to embarrass her. And she believes she is being held back because she’s a woman in a man’s world.
As this story unfolds, I imagine you’re likely coming to the same conclusion I’m drawing, which is that the people above her aren’t strong leaders themselves, because a strong, confident leader would take the necessary action to rectify this situation – in a conscientious manner that allows Liz to retain her dignity – and do what’s best for the organization rather than enabling the dysfunction to grow further into the organization.
Leaders, on the Other Hand…
Ideally, leaders are Wide Awake – fully conscious of who they are and what they are about. They are self-aware, other-aware, vision focused, and live and lead with intention.
The most effective, and most fulfilled, leaders I’ve had the pleasure of working with are intimately aware of and can clearly articulate their values, beliefs, styles, preferences, strengths, temperament, and understand the impact of their education, culture, and the life experiences they’ve had that have influenced who they’ve become.
This depth of knowledge serves them well, as they are attuned to these characteristics and are able to recognize them in others. This allows them to discern and understand the same attributes in their leaders, peers, direct reports, suppliers, and customers. Understanding who you’re dealing with gives you the option of adapting your style in any given situation to attain a better outcome.
Don’t misunderstand; I don’t mean to “adopt” another’s style. Truly, you are far more effective and productive being the best version of you possible. Adapting, however, creates space in which others are better able to hear you, understand what you’re working toward, and are more likely to be collaborative in the effort.
The other crucial aspect of this awareness is the development of Emotional Intelligence. It’s a deep and interesting topic all its own, and I’ll spend more time delving into it in a later article. For now, it’s most important that you understand EQ is thekey for long-term, sustainable success in building and maintaining healthy relationships, inspiring collaboration, and leading yourself and others into the future. We used to think IQ was the indicator of future success, and intelligence is important… but if you can’t create and navigate healthy relationships, it’s difficult to build anything of significance.
The Vision Matters
You’ve likely heard the saying that if you have no clear destination in mind, any road will get you there. The same can be said for having a clear vision in your business and for your team. People want to feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves and that what they are working on matters.
At its very essence, every day when you go – or anyone else goes – to work, you are exchanging precious life energy and time for whatever you are doing. These things are perishable; you will never get those moments, hours, days, weeks back! Understanding this imperative should be reinforcement for the need for you, as a Leader in your organization, to craft and share a compelling vision with your people.
Obviously, your business and team need one, as well. After all, if you aren’t striving to create or achieve something more or different than you are today, what’s the point?
A compelling vision statement is always written in present tense, even though it won’t become your reality for some time (at least a year, but probably not more than three years, as the pace of change is ever increasing, and you’ll need to respond to changing conditions and circumstances in your markets). It is stated as if you have already arrived, already created whatever it is… and it needs to be a stretch from where you are today.
The next step is outlining the key milestones or definitive measures that will build toward the overall goal. I recommend no more than 10 and they need to be truly relevant to what you are striving to create.
The next step, as you share this vision with your people, is to paint such a vivid picture for them that they can’t possibly not see it! And as you are doing that, paint each one of them into the picture so each understands the unique role and contribution he or she makes to your team / organization. This requires you to know your people well. And it empowers them to take more initiative and responsibility for your success because they will own it along with you.
Finally, it’s like the old shampoo bottles used to say: Shampoo, rinse, repeat! As a leader, part of your job is to become the Chief Repetition Officer. You will need to keep reminding your people of this vision – in a variety of ways, formats, and through different stories and examples – for some length of time before they actually internalize it.
Clarity Creates the Filter
This is the “leading with intention” part of the work. As you build your team and impart your clear vision to them, you can further strengthen your leadership bench by helping them to understand the Vision is the filter.
Any strategic plan you develop, any decision you make, any crossroads you reach, and any opportunity that presents itself should all be measured against the Vision. If whatever comes up will support you in achieving the vision, the answer is “Yes!” If it doesn’t, no matter how cool, interesting, or compelling it might be, the answer is “No!”
The other piece of living and leading with intention is understanding what you are trying to achieve and being conscientious about how you show up, engage in, and behave in your life and work. It requires thinking ahead about what you might say or do so you have awareness of the potential impact and consequences of your words and actions. If you are thoughtful in these areas, and recognize a need to adapt your style, approach, and language from time-to-time, you are much more likely to create the outcomes you desire.
Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat
The last piece of wisdom I can impart to you today about how to build and strengthen leaders in your organization, moving them far beyond being mere managers, is this: Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat!
What I mean by that is that any kind of growth requires process and application over time. You know as well as I do that you can’t send someone off to a half-, full-, or even multi-day leadership workshop or seminar and expect them to be an amazing leader simply because they went.
It takes practice. It takes reflection on the ideas they’ve been presented with. It requires introspection into their personal styles, preferences, thinking, and blind spots. It requires practice, reflection, fine-tuning, and more practice. And all of this takes time.
I’m not saying those one-time workshops don’t have value; there are almost always some nuggets of wisdom included in the content and exercises. But if there’s no on-going process in place for continued application, reflection, and fine-tuning, your investment will be wasted.
You know that as soon as you, or your team, gets back to the office following the workshop, they will be inundated with everything that happened while they were gone, along with whatever is current in the moment. They will feel too overwhelmed to give themselves the time out to review their notes, reflect, and apply.
It will have been an interesting, and maybe even fun, experience that will produce no lasting change.
Managers to Leaders – The Cliff Notes
Managers manage systems, processes, and resources. Leaders inspire, grow – themselves and others, cast vision, and lead with intention.
The first step is growing one’s self-awareness, which will grow one’s other-awareness (step two). Understanding where the organization is heading and casting a compelling vision is step three. And using steps 1-3 to live and lead with intention, is step four.
It sounds so simple, and it is. But don’t mistake simple with easy. This kind of growth requires time, energy, commitment, application, and persistence. But it’s well worth it. Not only will you be strengthening your team / organization, but you will also be strengthening the families of your employees, and that growth will flow into your community, as well.
When you’re ready to dive in, there’s a compelling free resource for you at www.consciousleadershippartners.com.
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Copyright 2019 Laura Prisc, Conscious Leadership Partners www.consciousleadershippartners.com
Laura Prisc is The Most Trusted Authority on Conscious Leadership; she is a certified Gallup Strengths Coach, certified People Acuity Coach, Gallup-Trained Builder Profile Coach, and a member of the John Maxwell Team.
