THE
BUSINESS CONTEXT
Leadership is always rooted in what exists at present. The leadership
task of the manager is to create a 'preferred future' and to lead
people towards it. But this has to be done as their organisation
cuts costs, restricts resources and expects a higher level of
output from fewer people, using increasingly sophisticated technology.
The simple fact is that this is a balancing act which is hard
to achieve.
THE
MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE
Today's managers are responsible for taking their teams forward
into the future. They have to. They can't stand still and they
can't go back. To do this they have to manage day to day activities
which deliver the corporate objectives. These tasks involve
objective setting, organising resources, establishing financial
and quality controls, and then implementing and reviewing plans.
In
order to succeed, they need to lead a team of people. Leading
a team is about empowering people to take on increased responsibility,
equipping them with relevant competencies, fostering an attitude
of continuous improvement and learning, and helping team members
to meet their diverse personal motivation needs.
In
essence, today's managers need to be both managers and leaders.
The difficulty is that each aspect of the role calls for different
attitudes, insights and skills.
THE SCHIZOPHRENIA
TRAP
Ask most managers what their organisation requires of them and
their reply will illustrate the paradoxical nature of their
role: '...be objective and deal with facts; be subjective and
respond to people; use reason and rationality; be intuitive
and sensitive; be conservative and avoid risks; take risks and
be creative...' No wonder some think we live in an era of schizophrenic
management requiring contradictory managerial disciplines and
personal leadership skills at one and the same time.
The
question is no longer 'should managers be either managers
or leaders' but 'how can we help today's managers become both?'
Most managers accept this uncomfortable role: they accept
the need to balance objective, measurable 'task' orientated
aspects of their work with more subjective, less easily measurable
'people orientated' facets. Their main problem is having to
get to grips with managing and leading others who can't or
won't accept this 'split personality' role.
EITHER/OR
THINKING
Most managers dislike ambiguity. It requires thought,
judgement and a balanced response, and because they are under
such pressure these days, managers would rather do one thing
or another. Today's business environment does not permit this;
a 'both/and' response, skill or judgement is called for.
This
makes managers uncomfortable. How do you: maintain quality,
get it right first time, yet encourage new ideas and risk-taking;
meet short term targets yet seek longer term competitive advantage;
approve and encourage individualism yet grow teamwork; marry
corporate and individual objectives; take initiatives in the
market place and yet be highly responsive to events?
This
is a genuine cry from the heart. Managers want leadership
insights and skills but are often frustrated in their pursuit
of them. Why? Very often because their organisations let them
down with fickle corporate behaviours.
FICKLE
CORPORATE BEHAVIOURS
If you want to know why today's managers struggle with
their leadership responsibilities, look at the fickle behaviours
of their organisations.
Because
of the erratic and unpredictable behaviour of today's markets,
organisations could be forgiven for not wanting to be too
explicit about their future goals; for ignoring people's needs
when pushing hard for results, and valuing them only when
they perform; for spreading doom and despondency when conditions
turn against them, and becoming euphoric when they favour
them; for complaining when there is no growth, and for complaining
when there is astronomic growth!
Managers
are constantly on the receiving end of confusing and inconsistent
signals. They often don't know if their views, judgements
and actions will receive backing. They often don't know what
they have to do, against an ever changing back-drop, to demonstrate
leadership. Small wonder that many give up in their attempts
to become leaders as well as managers, they perceive the struggle
is too great.
What
can organisations do? There are five major questions they
need to ask themselves in order to respond meaningfully to
the five issues outlined.
MINI
VISIONS IN SCARY SCENARIOS
Is
there a clear, shared vision within the team/department/division
or organisation that acts as a focus for activities and energies?
A manager's world used to be under his or her control. Nowadays,
in a world that is both rational and irrational, how is it
possible to establish any sort of control? How can managers
exercise the practice of envisioning people against a background
of ambiguities and uncertainties?
...READ
ON
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The
answer is that they must educate their people to love the predictable
and to be excited and fascinated by the unpredictable. When
sharing their vision of the future they need the confidence
to know what is possible yet at the same time prepare their
people for set-backs, disappointments and changes in direction.
In
other words, as well as a statement of a longer term vision
(which nowadays needs to be more than a statement of intent),
managers need to focus on what is going to be different over
shorter time frames. The achievement of mini visions towards
a larger vision can sustain people's energies far more effectively-because
there is quicker proof of success, and people will only continue
to follow leaders who are seen to be succeeding.
Today's
managers need to re-think their approach to strategic planning.
Unless they can think differently about how they intend to deliver
their vision they'll either be too optimistic or too black and
white in their envisioning. This can produce a subsequent loss
of confidence from their people when their plans fail to materialise.
VALUES AS A PLUMBLINE
Is there
an explicit set of values which act as an arbiter and guide
when decisions need to be made. Are these values 'lived out'
and reinforced by senior managers? The 'living out', reinforcement
and reward of corporate values are perhaps the most powerful
ways of turning managers into leaders. They state the behaviours
and attitudes every manager should exhibit when dealing with
others. In short, they're the corporate plumbline. Leaders know
that people take more notice of what you do than what you say.
Many forward looking organisations now build their whole leadership
development, succession planning, performance appraisal and
compensation schemes around their corporate values. Managers
quickly get the message that vision and values must go hand
in hand.
MANAGEMENT
SKILLS
Do managers possess the necessary management skills to achieve
results? Managers can only manage and lead if they have both
management and leadership skills. Sounds obvious, but too
often organisations provide insufficient training in both.
Unless
managers can understand the basic disciplines and processes
of management they will not have the confidence to lead, nor
will they be respected or trusted. Today's managers need to
be both specialists and generalists who understand and can
manage both the micro and the macro issues and are comfortable
at doing both.
LEADERSHIP
SKILLS
Do
managers have the required leadership skills? There is ultimately
one measurement of whether or not managers are leaders-'Is
there anyone following them willingly?' A recent survey revealed
that employees most want their managers to be; honest, forward-looking,
inspiring, competent, fair-minded and supportive in their
role as leaders. These are useful pointers for would be leaders,
but they're not enough.
Today's
managers also need exceptional interpersonal skills. As a
result, organisations are putting more and more emphasis on
self-awareness; coaching and counselling skills; facilitation
skills; presentation skills; influencing skills; innovation
and creativity skills; relationship building and team working
skills.
Ultimately,
success comes to leaders when they work with and alongside
their people. Leadership can be taught. Organisations which
are serious about their managers becoming leaders recognise
this and invest as much time in leadership skills as they
do in management skills.
REWARDS
AND PENALTIES
Are leadership, as well as management
skills, rewarded or penalised by the organisation?
It's
often said that what you reward is what you get. Yet so often
there is a mis-match between corporate reward and compensation
schemes and the results or behaviours sought. If organisations
are serious about turning their managers into leaders there
needs to be obvious reward for those who embrace and use leadership
thinking, attitudes and skills, and penalties for those who
disregard or go against them.
One
way of communicating this is via the organisation's performance
management scheme. If there are corporate values and a corporate
mission, the individual's behaviours and achievement of objectives
should be appraised in the light of them. If leadership is
important for managers to exhibit, it must be appraised. The
message should be clear: 'This is what we want to see as an
organisation. Do these things and you'll be rewarded. Ignore
them and you'll go unrewarded or even penalised'.
In
today's hostile, competitive and ever changing markets, organisations
need more from their managers than simply another day's work.
This can only happen if organisations take seriously the issue
of turning managers into leaders, so seriously that it is
seen as the most important factor in their future success-which
quite simply it is.
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