Hands-on leadership – a good thing?

In times of continued economic turbulence where many organisations are cutting costs, down-sizing and demanding more for less the pressure on leaders has increased exponentially. Many leaders find themselves taking on additional tasks – the activities which were previously done by members of the team who are no longer there. It is often a natural reaction, especially where the leader has been promoted from within the team or from within the department and has the required skills or knowledge. Short-term this helps and may even boost the overall team productivity as others see the leader mucking-in.

But the long term impacts of leaders ‘doing’ rather than ‘leading’ may be stored up in both companies and the economy, leading to skills shortages through under developed people. You may have a different view and we’d love to hear it.

A lesson in leadership from the teenagers!

The pressure is mounting on those fast approaching GCSEs, with almost daily revision classes and schools running catch up sessions filling every available evening and even weekends. The expectation of many adults is to want their offspring to excel, achieve their very best, exceed their expected results and generally do better than others - understandably. Applications for tertiary education have been submitted, bearing likely grades, and the wheels on the selection machine are already turning. Yet against this backdrop of busyness many are struggling with motivation and desire to achieve. What is missing for these soon to be adults, who really shouldn’t have too much to be concerned about? Asking the question of a small group of Year 11 boys, and managing to get beyond the typically grunted response of “whatever”, was a lesson in leadership.

Asking the boys what would help encourage them to put in the effort now to get better results in the summer was enlightening. The consensus opinion was simple – it’s cash! If teachers and parents were prepared to pay a substantial hourly rate for study time, paid in cash and paid at the end of each hour then they would happily put in the time. When challenged about the quality of the output that would be generated by this payment the counter-challenge was that parents could pay extra for quality! How amusing to think that many businesses invest in management development, up-skilling them to negotiate and yet it’s an innate skill for these boys when the output is meaningful for them.

Thinking it can’t be all about money inspired further questions to try to discover what is missing for these boys, who incidentally are all of above average ability. What is missing is an understanding of the purpose for the incremental busyness they are experiencing. Yes, they know the exams are now only a few months away. Yes, they know they are expected to achieve their very best. And, yes, they are astute enough to know that the school league table of results for next year is depending on their efforts! But still the piece that is missing for them is a purpose that they can relate to. Even those with determination and a clear ambition for a future career are questioning why they have to memorise facts and learn knowledge now, that they can see no application of in their own futures. The piece that these boys want to understand is how what they are learning now will be of use to them in the future. They are lacking a vision and a purpose to align to, which means something now and longer term. So it’s not just about incentives but it’s also being able to see the value of what they are being asked to do.

How many employees are in the same position? They are driven by targets set by their business leaders, they are given resources and training and the tools to be more effective. Some are even encouraged and praised and rewarded for achievement by their leaders. But just like the GCSE students if they cannot see a purpose or a reason for the busyness that is meaningful to them, will they truly be motivated and give their best to the company or are they just thinking “whatever”?!

Exceeding Expectation: the principles of outstanding leadership

This month saw The Work Foundation publish the results of a two-year qualitative study of outstanding leadership. The researchers conducted over 250 interviews with leaders, their managers and their direct reports in six UK organisations. The research has uncovered clear differences between good and outstanding leadership resulting in the presentation of evidence to support a systemic, people centred approach to high performance leadership. Emerging from the analysis are nine themes and three principles which characterise outstanding leaders:

1. They think and act systemically
2. They see people as the route to performance
3. They are self-confident without being arrogant

So, can these nine themes and three principles be learnt? Yes, undoubtedly they can – the 77 leaders interviewed were not cloned, neither did they have equal measures of skill or ability. One of the common factors for the 77 is their individual recognition that they continue to learn, develop and evolve as leaders.

One of the most thought provoking points in the report executive summary is the implication in this sentence: “Some of the outstanding leaders featured in the research did not originally have a people-focused approach, but realised the impact they were having on people and therefore adjusted their style accordingly.”

Think about your own leadership approach and think about your organisation and its policies and procedures, especially performance management linked processes. Do they allow for up and coming leaders to examine their own impact, realise implications (either individually or supported by coaching) and make adjustments and re-invent themselves as outstanding future leaders?

Or in the current economic environment is this just not possible and is the zero tolerance approach to mistakes adopted by many organisations the way forward?

We are interested in your experiences and your views.....