When my brother was promoted to an officer post at Verizon several years ago he received hundreds of congratulatory emails from old bosses, clients, vendors, peers, and subordinates.  The feel of the messages was a genuine sense of gratification that ’such a good guy’ was making it.  Similarly, while interviewing a large number of middle managers at a large government contractor I was struck by the endearing comments made about the Division General Manager.  While she was responsible for yet another organizational restructuring effort which made life somewhat chaotic, there was a genuine sense of appreciation for ’such a great lady’.  What is it about these types of leaders that enables them to drive results and remain beloved?

It’s not all about them. All executives have strong egos and the two examples above are not exceptions.  However, beloved leaders are unselfish and truly recognize the contributions of others.  They foster environments of respect, trust, and appreciation in their actions and behaviors and the expectations for how they expect to be treated.  Beloved leaders recognize that their primary role is to develop organizations that are successful because of the collective contributions of talented individuals.  In simple terms, just because they are the CEO, CMO, GM, etc. doesn’t mean that the security guard, janitor or intern aren’t important players worthy of respect, trust and appreciation.

It’s not about being liked. On the contrary.  Beloved leaders spend very little energy worrying about whether people like them or not.  Their focus is on the results their organizations are tasked with achieving and the manner in which they guide their organizations to achieve.  They work tirelessly to establish and reinforce a common sense of purpose that is driven by a strong collection of practical values or guiding principles.  Being liked is a welcome outcome of these efforts.

It’s not all about stability. Stated another way, beloved leaders are passionate about establishing environments where people remain productive and creative in the face of increasing ambiguity and constant change.  They see one of their most important roles as developing organizational resiliency and adaptability rather then creating ficticious stability.

These are my observations about what causes some leaders to become beloved.  I am interested in your thoughts and experience.

Like many others, I cannot help participating in a March Madness pool. Something about the “win or go home” aspect of the competition is just too riveting not to be a part of. This year I had Missouri. I follow college basketball to some degree and I was sure the guard play of Missouri, the experience of their upperclassmen, and the momentum of their league playoff win would result in Missouri making the final four.

They lost in the first round.

First time in about 12 years that a 2 seed lost to a 15 seed, the second time was a few hours later when Duke lost to Lehigh.

With each passing year, the tournament seems to get more and more unpredictable. With each passing year, things that seem certain – don’t happen. With each passing year, teams who the experts are positive will win – lose unexpectedly.

This parallels the leadership challenge of the 21^st century. As a Vice-President of large pharmaceutical company told me recently, “The truth is, assumptions just do not last as long as they use to.”

The reality of surprise and unpredictability demands leaders who are able to integrate a collective view of the future and a collective curiosity as the organization works hard to make their view of the future a reality. This is not easy. Leaders have traditionally told their followers, “Follow me, and I will lead you to a desired future and this is what it will look like”. Going forward, leaders will simply articulate a direction and an expected destination that more often than not emerges from the organization. The real challenge is to develop an organizational ability to pursue a future with passion and commitment while maintaining an openness that a different future might be needed to allow the organization to thrive and stay vibrant.

We watch March Madness because of the unpredictability and the surprises. In fact, so many people seem to get immensely curious about college basketball around March every year. Interestingly, it seems to bring great joy. Maybe the real challenge is to maintain that curiosity in everything we do. It has the power to bring people together, to get them talking and exploring together, and to celebrate surprises instead of being anxious about them.

To lead is to integrate a collective view of the future and a collective curiosity about what is emerging. Not easy, but a hell of a lot more meaningful than a world where the higher seed always wins.

How do we know that we are being led effectively?

The greatest challenge in answering this question is the deeply embedded belief that leaders lead and followers follow along a hierarchical, pre-determined plan.  As long as we look up for leadership instead of looking in and around we will surely be unable to navigate the dynamic environment of the world today. As formal leaders communicate the importance of dialogue in understanding the environment, the current “followers” are sure to feel a new level of doubt as they begin to realize that the formal leaders do not have a unique vision of the future. The vision of the future is one that is collectively attained and also collectively questioned and revised along the way.

When a formal leader does not know the answer to a question posed by one of his/her direct reports, we have always been taught to be honest and responsive, “ I don’t know, but I will find out and get back to you”. This approach no longer works. Going forward, facilitating mutual exploration will be a critical skill for effective leaders. As such, the response will now more likely be, “ I don’t know, do you?”  If both formal leader and direct report are unsure, the next part of the response should be, “let’s find out”, as in let us both explore this opportunity and work together to co-create a way forward that is productive and creative.

This challenge of facing the assumption that “knowledge increases with responsibility” is a challenge for both formal leaders and those who report to them. We have grown accustomed to the agreement that leaders decide and followers execute. Unfortunately, this agreement has created a large number of dependent employees who are relying on the supposed genius of a select few. As the events of the past few years have demonstrated, these dependent relationships are not healthy.

Leaders do lead and followers do follow, however the reality in terms of who leads and who follows is being turned upside down, sideways, and most importantly inward. We will be thankful for this transformation in time. It calls for greater personal responsibility, greater interconnectedness, and more authentic dialogue within and between people and communities. The question is, do we have the courage to “suffer through this inevitably frustrating and awkward process of cobbling together a collectively created plan for getting where we want to go?”

I believe we do. For deep within all of us is a never-ending hunger to be part of something meaningful that improves the world.

“After 3 different configurations our current organizational construct is the same one we started with 5 years ago.”

“We’ve been told that this latest restructuring and downsizing is the last but management told us the same thing after the last 2.”

These quotes and many others just like them come directly from our clients who are facing what one coined “organizational fatigue”. Adapting to changing market conditions, leveraging product and service synergies, and realigning cost structures are all natural components of today’s competitive business environment. Unfortunately, in too many cases organizations do a less than adequate job of preparing for the inevitability of these important changes. The unintended consequence is often “organizational fatigue” and a reduction in employee discretionary effort at best or a lack of caring or commitment at worst.

In our work with clients across multiple industries including insurance, pharmaceutical, government contracting and a host of others we have experienced three best practices for getting in front of ‘organizational fatigue’, which we discuss below.

1. Foster a Culture of Resilience – Leadership is of course a key aspect of effectively managing any complex change. However, experience suggests that it is not simply the inspirational leader who views his jobs as having the vision, creating stability and motivating who has the most success. Charisma and vision are certainly important but the most effective leaders are able to foster resiliency in the organization so that when uncertainty and ambiguity increase the organization is able to remain productive and creative rather than inefficient and flustered.

2. Engage the Organization in the Purpose and Case For Change – Too often organizations simply make the announcement about the new organization, leader, integrated business units, etc. without any clear reason as to why the changes were made or what the expected benefits will be to the organization, its customers, and its employees. Effectively engaging managers and staff in understanding the rationale for change and the vision and principles that will guide the organization will pay big dividends and circumvent the rumor mill and assumptions that are made to fill the communications void.

3. Go Beyond the Communications Plan – Most complex change initiatives incorporate a thorough plan for communicating including newsletters, use of the web, and many other forms of one-way communication. The most successful efforts are those that focus on engaging managers and staff so that their voices are heard, their viewpoints are incorporated, and they become productive vehicles for disseminating the vision, progress, and challenges.

Let me be clear. With the dramatic uncertainty in today’s business environment and the inevitability of constant change ‘organizational fatigue’ is virtually unavoidable. The best practices described above are proven vehicles for positively and proactively managing fatigue.

By Jack McGuinness, Relationship-Impact Co-Founder

Jack and Gil, thank you for your insightful blogs on leadership. I always find a nugget or two in each that refocuses my thinking and recharges my leadership battery. I wanted to share a recent article with you and your followers regarding leadership in the Navy SEAL Teams.

The author, Ingar Grev, a former US Navy Nuclear Submariner, has a pretty good handle on the qualities of effective leadership in the Teams. His list of personal attributes for effective leaders includes humility, trustworthiness, accountability, empathy, clarity, competence, integrity and honor. Who can take exception with these fine qualities?

Ingar uses a football analogy to make his points tangible. Sports analogies provide a common frame of reference for many who think about leadership. But the risks inherent in combat operations quickly and clearly define what is real life and what is a game. My point is combat troops, and SEALs in particular accept risks that most people find incomprehensible, day after day, year after year. To survive, persevere and triumph in combat great leadership is essential, and great followership is also essential. In my view, the Teams have developed a Circle of Trust; that is, a fundamental, collective bond built on the core principle that my buddy has got my back and I’ve got his. The Circle of Trust creates an environment where we are all in this together, and my success or achievements are as much dependent on my teammates effort as my own. It means if I take a risk and succeed, we all win. And, if I don’t succeed, my buddy will cover me.

I have found in the world of modern business, that it is a very rare, division, group or company that creates and fosters a culture where the Circle of Trust can thrive. There are some good reasons for that. In some entrepreneurial companies, the leader is an individual who is so committed to his vision that he only wants those who will follow in his footsteps, exactly as he dictates. He’s got the vision, passion and talent to inspire others but this is not a team environment. In other cases, some folks really just want a job that provides enough income for them to pursue their avocation. They can be very good, dedicated workers but there are clearly defined limits to their commitments.

The sad and unfortunate truth for many companies is the leadership environment is non-existent or so caustic that no one will take a risk. These companies are generally bureaucratic and risk averse. These companies may be very well managed, where the leaders know the cost of every employee to two decimal places, but the management has no inkling of the value of their employees. Many mangers see the need to innovate, change and improve, but no manager will really take a risk because she knows that if she is not successful, her colleagues will be standing in line to throw her under the bus. We can all think of examples and come up with the reasons why this culture exists, but it is very difficult to change.

The bottom line is: it all comes down to leadership. The leadership in the SEAL Team works because the leaders have adopted the personal attributes Ingar describes above, and created a Circle of Trust. In some cases, the business model or employee may not suit the Circle of Trust, but, in most cases I have seen it takes a courageous leader to establish, live by and foster a Circle of Trust.

Tim Holden is a graduate of the US Naval Academy, who served at all levels of command in the Navy SEAL Teams. After retiring from the Navy in 2001, Tim has held senior management positions in a number of US and International Companies. Tim was the Founder and CEO of Advanced Integrated Systems , an engineering company focused on security technology, which is located in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Currently, Tim is the Chief Strategy Officer for IOMAXIS, a DC-based IT engineering company providing innovative technology solutions for DoD and the Intelligence Community. Tim holds a Masters in Management Science from the Sloan School at MIT.

Without hesitation Chris commented that your core leadership philosophy should never change. “Things like ethics, respect, and loyalty can never be compromised nor can the principles that guide your leadership philosophy such as resilience, establishing trust, encouraging feedback, and breaking the status quo. The only thing that changes is the emphasis that is placed on these principles.”

Build Resilience – Resilience is clearly a principle that great leaders have learned to encourage in their organizations. It is even more important with rapid-growth organizations because with speed comes mistakes. “We make sure that everyone knows that we aren’t going to go 12 and 0 and that with every loss comes an opportunity to learn.”

Establish Trust – Trust is always a critical element of leading any organization but its importance is magnified when growth is at an accelerated pace. “I can’t emphasize enough the importance of establishing an environment where people can truly rely on and trust each other. When people don’t trust each other they hesitate and hesitation slows you down.”

Create a Feedback Rich Environment – Good leaders create environments where feedback is a natural part of the management rhythm and this is even more important when the environment is fast paced and somewhat chaotic. “To ensure that we were getting ongoing, direct and honest feedback we established a number of formal and informal feedback mechanisms including one on ones with executives and employees, a quarterly survey where employees evaluate our leadership, and a survey where our direct reports could provide anonymous feedback.”

Break the Status Quo – Every good leader has a toolbox of approaches but the best leaders recognize that ‘what got us hear won’t necessarily get us there’ and recognize that different tools are needed for different situations. “One of the things we did right from the start was to squash the statement ‘that’s the way I’ve always done it’. The real trick is inculcating this mantra into the fiber of the organization and it’s not easy.”

I hope you found these simple but important lessons from Chris Taylor as interesting and useful as we did. We greatly appreciate our continued partnership with Mission Essential Personnel and have learned a great deal from the this valuable relationship.

This is the right question for organizations today. How do we know that we are being led effectively?

The greatest challenge in answering this question is the deeply embedded belief that  leaders lead and followers follow along a hierarchical, pre-determined plan.  As long as we look up for leadership instead of looking in and around we will surely be unable to navigate the dynamic environment of the world today. As formal leaders communicate the importance of dialogue in understanding the environment, the current “followers” are sure to feel a new level of doubt as they begin to realize that the formal leaders do not have a unique vision of the future. The vision of the future is one that is collectively attained and also collectively questioned and revised along the way.

When a formal leader does not know the answer to a question posed by one of his/her direct reports, we have always been taught to be honest and responsive, “ I don’t know, but I will find out and get back to you”. This approach no longer works. Going forward, facilitating mutual exploration will be a critical skill for effective leaders. As such, the response will now more likely be, “ I don’t know, do you?”. If both formal leader and direct report are unsure, the next part of the response should be, “let’s find out”, as in let us both explore this opportunity and work together to co-create a way forward that is productive and creative.

This challenge of facing the assumption that “knowledge increases with responsibility” is a challenge for both formal leaders and those who report into them. We have grown accustomed to the agreement that leaders decide and followers execute. Unfortunately, this agreement has created a large number of dependent employees who are relying on the supposed genius of a select few. As the events of the past few years have demonstrated, this is not a healthy relationship.

Leaders do lead and followers do follow, however the reality in terms of who leads and who follows is being turned upside down, sideways, and most importantly inward. We will be thankful for this transformation in time. It calls for greater personal responsibility, greater interconnectedness, and more authentic dialogue within and between people and communities. The question is, do we have the courage to “suffer through this inevitably frustrating and awkward process of cobbling together a collectively created plan for getting where we want to go?”

I believe we do. For deep within all of us is a never-ending hunger to be part of something meaningful that improves the world. As I read Kegan’s excerpt, I am encouraged to find an authentic manner in which to engage the challenge facing every community.

Enjoy the read……

Heifetz and Sinder call for an exercise of leadership on behalf of providing a context in which all interested parties, the leader included, can together create a vision, mission, or purpose they can collectively uphold. Heifetz and Snider are aware that this kind of leadership practice will have to contend with the dismay of those followers who have a different construction of what a leader should be and do. “What kind of leader are you??” some people will certainly think. “You say you want to lead us to a better place, but when we say, “We’re ready to follow you, show us the way, show us your plan,’ you say ‘We need to figure that out together.’ So what you’re saying is you haven’t got a plan! If you’ve got nothing to stand up for, how can you lead us? And if you can’t lead us, don’t stand up and say you can!

In reply, whether she says it only to herself or to those who are challenging her, the kind of leader Heifetz and Sinder are proposing might think something like this:

I agree with you that I do not have a whole cut and dried plan for how we can get to where we want to go. I have my ideas, of course, but so do you. And I agree a person has no business posing as a leader if she doesn’t have something to stand up for.

But that is exactly why I think I am a leader, why I think I’m actually being a leader right now in refusing to treat my ideas and plans as whole and complete, however internally consistent and comprehensive they may be in their own terms.

I am standing up for something right now, for the importance of our suffering through this inevitably frustrating and awkward process of cobbling together a collectively created plan for getting where we want to go. And once we have a plan, you know what? I’ll want to lead by continuing to stand up for the likelihood of its incompleteness, and for our need to keep seeking the contradictions by which it will be nourished and grow. (Keegan, R. “In over our heads- The Mental Demands of Modern Life”. P. 321)

Yesterday my 14 year old son and I attended his high school’s father-son service initiative at the Capitol Area Food Bank of Washington, DC. Over 100 fathers and sons showed up with their sleevers rolled up to sort and pack pallets of packaged foods for distribution to the areas most needy people. My son and I were happy to help but admittedly we weren’t overly enthused about getting up early and taking time out of our pre-Christmas routine; and we weren’t alone. Two great lessons emerged from the day.

The first lesson is simply that doing something for others has a profound way of lifting up the individual and collective spirits of those involved.  The motto of my son’s school is “men for others” and yesterday was one of the small ways that he and his classmates and their fathers put this motto into practice.  I also believe that the spirit of this noble motto is enhanced greatly when it is practiced with friends and family.

The second lesson reinforces RI’s belief that leadership is most effective when it emerges in the face of uncertainty and lack of control.  Despite limited instructions provided by the food bank staff and the fact that there were no designated leaders among the high school freshmen boys and their dads, the sorting and packing work was done very well.  Why? — (i) the purpose was meaningful – feeding the poor; (ii) the goal was clear – clearing bins; (iii) informal leaders (kids and adults) emerged who could organize in the face of ambiguous instruction; and (iv) others who were frustrated by the initial chaos put their egos and frustration aside and followed the leaders’ tacit direction.

Overall a great day of learning how to be “men for others” and witnessing leadership emerge.

Peace!

We believe that leadership development efforts are woefully inadequate because too much investment is placed on training alone rather than integrating customized training with initiatives to improve business performance. There is no doubt that leadership training focused on helping leaders gain awareness of how they learn and how they relate to others is essential. However, real development only occurs when the lessons learned and skills developed from effective leadership training are put into practice during the course of executing practical business initiatives. When organizations discover the power of a Performance-Learning approach to strengthening leadership capacity they will move from acknowledging the importance of leadership development to taking tangible action.

What are your thoughts?

Jack McGuinness
Partner

This is just one of the many leadership lessons we can take from Duke’s Coach K.

Jack McGuinness
Partner