Adventures in Leardership

Many people have considered the difference between leadership and management
critical to a business.  Leadership is important in keeping the business
headed in the right direction and focused on moving there. Things like
vision , strategy, and presence are all key aspects of leadership.  Leaders
deal with change and have an ability to stay focused amid a torrent of
distractions.

Management is about action.  Managers handle complexity and make a myriad of
decisions on a constant basis. They deal with things like budgets; plans;
organization charts with job descriptions; training; motivation and
follow-up to assure implementation.  Managers deal with complexity and keep
the ship moving forward through a complex and tumultuous environment.

Recognizing the difference between management and leadership and making sure
that your business has the processes and talent to achieve both are critical
to success.

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” — Abraham Lincoln

No, Management One® has not turned to advising the political hopefuls on the campaign trail.
This article pertains to you, your business and how you run it.

I recently read a survey done by a colleague, Nikki Weiss, that captured the mood which exists in many organizations today. She queried staff members about the management of their organization.

Nikki related, “While many said they liked their immediate manager and other managers in the firm, they reported that, in general, all managers are too busy doing other things (selling, administrating, reading reports) and do not take the act of managing (developing people) seriously. The surprising and encouraging note in the survey was that the survey respondents craved a culture of accountability, in which managers who proclaim their commitments to standards of excellence and vision statements follow through on their pledges.”

This survey is interesting because it mirrors what I have seen in countless organizations. The staff craves a management process which they perceive as fair, committed, organized and demanding. This is opposite to the perception that the owners and managers have of their own people. The staff wants the managers and leaders to spend more time coaching, teaching and nurturing their performance rather than rushing in to do the job for them.

I have broken down the success of business people into 3 broad needs:

• Make the right decisions –
  • Leadership
• Get the decisions implemented –
  • Management
• Implement the decisions –

• Work

Of course there are many pieces and parts to implementing a good leadership, management and work program in a company but most people in independent business have a vast number of areas where improvements at all levels will yield great results.

Are you nurturing and teaching others to make the right decisions? Too often the managers feel they must do too much themselves and step all over the people who should be getting the work done.

Are you empowering others to do more and even make some mistakes? When managers let the workers do their job, motivation, commitment, innovation, fun and results improve!

As we enter a New Year, every business owner should include the goal of becoming a better leader on the list of goals and resolutions.. Leadership is about making the right decisions for your business. Every owner should work to encourage greater teamwork to draw on the best resources and talents that each individual can bring to the table. A great leader draws on the experience, input, knowledge and ideas of all team members to make the best decision possible. Leadership starts with sharing knowledge.

A good leader must be able to listen and ask good questions. That means that the leader must understand himself in order to handle input in a non-judgmental way.. The leader’s judgment will be important later at the time the decision must be made. When a leader makes judgments too early in the process of making a decision, he or she stifles input from others and shuts down valuable sources of ideas, motivation and innovation. A good leader must also know his staff and organization and understand how they can contribute to decisions and actions.

Above all, a good leader defines the vision, values and culture of the business and then has the integrity to lead within those parameters. Vision and values tell the organization what you stand for and make you easier to trust and work for. The effective leader can use that template to guide the decision making process and the staff will understand what is expected and how to contribute .

A leadership team will require a steering team made up of key managers and those with influence in the organization. This team must be trained, coached, and guided in order to be successful in their mission. There are some decisions that remain in the domain of the leader and the steering team. Those involve

• Strategy
• People
• Crisis
• Budgets

In addition to these, the steering team must focus the organization on what is important.

If the owner happens to be a good leader, the right decisions will be made. When owners use a management process that brings a strong element of leadership to the organization, more good decisions will be made. Without a solid proven management and leadership process, the decision the owner wants often takes precedence over the decision that is best for the business. When that happens, the staff will often be less than enthusiastic and committed to implementation and success.

Once the right decision is made, the organization must spring into action to implement that decision. That is effective management. In 2008 success will require providing the organization a management process to communicate effectively and follow up on actions and results. Accountability is important but motivation and commitment are as important. The fact is, a good manager will use accountability positively to celebrate success and reward positive results.

Managing means allowing your organization to make decisions and influence decisions. The real work occurs where your organization interacts with customers, vendors, creditors and the community. That is what we call the Employee Action Interface. (EAI) The process of delegating successfully at the EAI begins with empowering effectively! A manager that delegates without effectively empowering makes success unlikely. The process of empowerment is not trivial and that is the subject of another blog. Suffice it to say that there are hundreds of operational decisions that are required each day and the more of these that are made at the Employee Action Interface, the more effective and efficient your organization will be. Real success is impossible unless it is reflected at the EAI!

Every owner and business should be establishing goals and resolutions for the New Year. Look back and see how well you did last year. If you need to do better this year, find a process to help you do that. This year promises to be a challenging one if you believe all the economic skeptics. The business is out there but you must be more effective and efficient at landing a greater share of a shrinking market. That means making the right decisions, focusing on the right actions and motivating the whole team to achieve results.

A solid management and leadership process is successful only when there is input from those closest to the issue. In 2008, why not commit to establishing the culture and the forum to gather the right input and arrive at the best decisions for your business. That is leadership. Have a very happy, prosperous and successful New Year!

As a CEO, owner or leader of a company, the networks and relationships that you build can make or break the success of your endeavors. Independent business leaders tend to overemphasize their technical expertise in driving the business forward rather than relying on their leadership skills. Leadership is what is needed to pull away from the pack, move to the next level and realize the dreams that you had when you went into business. So how do you readjust the way that you operate with the business to better serve the company as the leader? When your networking within the organization is geared toward the deployment of your directives or only meeting the objectives you assigned, people tend to only achieve what they are
told to achieve – if that. Building relationships strategically means asking questions instead of issuing directives: “Why do you want to do that?”; “What else could you be doing?” and “What do you think would help more?” These are questions that elicit strategic thinking instead of realizing short-term demands.

When you broaden the scope of your internal network and build relationships based on strategic thinking, you empower the members of your staff to achieve their full potential. Don’t constrain them to your thinking. Question their own ability to grow the business and they will exceed your expectations.

By Evan Wise 2007