Most of the organizational (Strategy & Operations) and personnel issues (within the given systems & processes) that a leader has to address during the course of business are extremely challenging and getting complicated with the pressure of performance and global competition. The challenge of being a true leader who is the hero of the team members exerts tremendous pressure on the mind and body of the leader. Right from personal effectiveness, effective communication, goal setting, building self motivated teams, conflict resolution and organizational alignment are some of the activities that a leader has to perform in his role.
Most of the Fortune 500 companies recommend every manager to read “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and “Principle Centered Leadership”, and also provide in-house workshops on the same. The effect of these workshops is so pronounced that managers and leaders of many organizations have transformed their businesses into global organizations by taking advantage of the global market opportunities. These books are not technical, rather they give an insight into the makings of highly effective teams, managers and leaders. I thought of sharing some of the lessons I have learned from these two books and pray you will also share your learning’s over a period of time.
I was always intrigued with the word ‘leader’ during my college daysand I understood it as someone who is the chief executive of an organization or a general in an army or the head of a political party or an elected representative of the people. Having worked in various organizations over a period of time and read various philosophies and established principles of leadership, I have come to an understanding that leadership is at every level of an organization and society. Leadership is not about leading people but leading oneself. A true leader does not lead anyone but rather knows what his purpose in life is and works hard towards achieving the same. Some people say ‘leaders are not made but they are born’. This is a contentious statement but the fundamental fact is every one of us can become a highly effective leader. A lady who mops the floor in the office is a highly effective leader because she knows how to perform her job effectively and give the best shine to the floor, and keep it clean. A tea boy who serves tea is a highly effective leader, if he knows his customer’s choice of tea, and when and how should it be served? Therefore, a true leader exists at every level of an organization and in fact every individual needs to be a true leader in order to work interdependently to achieve personal and professional goals.
I would like to share the four levels of leadership in the context of an organization and the principles that operate at each level. Every leader has to manage from the left brain (logical, factual, analytical, time bound) and lead from the right brain (creative, emotional, imaginative, time free). As they say management is about doing, “Things Right” and leadership is about doing, “Right Things”. I hope this will help you in the journey of becoming a highly effective leader, irrespective of the position that you might be operating from.
- Personal Level: Trustworthiness - The principle that works at the personal level is Trustworthiness, unless leaders are trustworthy they will not be trusted. Trust cannot be demanded, trust cannot be requested, and we cannot say, “Please trust me”. Leaders also cannot say that they were trusted in ‘their’ past and hence they should be trusted now. Trust has to be earned at every phase of the life of a leader. Trust is the fruit of trustworthiness which can be harvested only when we have cultivated the plant WE and have the right character and competence to become TRUSTWORTHY and BEAR the FRUIT called TRUST. This is the level where we have to become a role model. Trustworthiness is a combination of two attributes – character and competence. Character – who you are? And competence – what you can do?
The amazing fact of life to be an effective leader is to work on these two attributes – character and competence. Every morning when we wake up, we need to ask ourselves what activities we shall undertake for the day that will enhance our character and competence, which will reinforce and build our trustworthiness. While a leader is working to become trustworthy based on character and competence his/her peers or team members will see if the leader is worthy to be a role model? The leader’s actions demonstrate the value to the team members regarding the acceptance of this leader as a ROLE MODEL. Personality styles determine how effectively a leader can become a role model. There are personality styles that leaders cultivate based on experiences and the four aspects of determinisms which drive their leadership style as well. Based on various theories propounded by leading school of thoughts of this century every one agrees to one theory – “Leadership based on a set of established principles and values, which can be demonstrated on a consistent basis and can drive a group of people to achieve superior results towards a common vision, will lead to the acceptance of this Leader as a Role Model”.
Being a Role Model is paramount for effective leadership. One issue which baffles most of the leaders is the issue of personal and professional effectiveness -- the issue of balancing professional and personal lives. Effective leadership is not about balancing all the aspects of life. Effective leadership is about being a Role Model in that aspect of life for which you are looked upon as a leader. All the great leaders of the past ten centuries were not balanced in all aspects of their lives, but they made a difference in the area they excelled and were looked upon as leaders. There are many aspects to leadership and one of the aspects is social as well. A true leader apart from being a Role Model, brings out the best in the team members based on their strengths and helps them achieve their lives Goal. As Zig Zigler says, “If you want to achieve your goal, just help other people achieve theirs.” This simple principle helps leaders to bring out the best in their teams in order to achieve superior results on a consistent basis.
- Interpersonal Level: Trust– Once a leader demonstrates trustworthiness based on his character and competence, he/she is accepted as a Role Model. Once a leader is accepted as a Role Model, every member of the team respects and trusts the leader. Hence, a true leader builds effective teams by working at the interpersonal level on the principle of TRUST, and commands trust based on the acceptance of his character and competence by his team members. The foundational principle that operates to build highly effective and motivated teams is TRUST. Most leaders think that systems and processes will deliver the results and one need not worry about any other dynamics in an organization. However, highly effective leaders understand that good work and group behavior based on TRUSTWORTHINESS at the individual level and TRUST at the interpersonal level are paramount within established systems and processes to achieve and exceed organizational objectives.
TRUST at the interpersonal level enables the team members to communicate effectively without being threatened, they enjoy empathy, synergy and understand the value of collective collaboration to achieve and excel organizational objectives. TRUST also eliminates the chances of team members hiding behind processes, every one works proactively to rise above the systems and processes, and focus on the expectations of the stakeholders. Highly effective leaders always strive to establish TRUST at the interpersonal level within the team members. Once the trust is established, then the team members need not invest additional time in clarifying the expectations. Trust within the team members also eliminates any hidden agenda, as every one is valued for their contribution based on their CHARACTER and COMPETENCE. Trust at the interpersonal level emanates positive energy that binds the team members. Just as, we can bring smaller magnets together to produce a larger magnetic field, effective leaders work with individuals with pockets of positive energy and form teams that produce magnified energy, which is in multiples of their individual positive energy.
True leaders also know how to amplify and harmonize the teams’ energy fields and direct the same towards achieving organizational objectives. Just as, a good car driver understands how to use the engines torque in various proportions when he/she is driving the car, from the first gear to the fifth gear depending on the stages of acceleration; an effective leader understands and masters the usage of individuals positive energy, and directs this energy at various levels during the various stages that the team has to go through, to face the business challenges in order to achieve organizational objectives.
- Managerial Level: Empowerment – A true leader will always strive to build a culture within the team members that will foster, and nurture growth and development at the personal level, and lead to empowerment at the managerial level while managing the team towards the realization of organizational goals. Having understood the principle of TRUSTWORTHINESS at the personal level and TRUST at the interpersonal level, highly effective leaders work on EMPOWERMENT at the managerial level. Trust leads to setting up performance agreement by the team members and not by the team leader. This facilitates self supervision of the team members instead of control. Empowered teams develop win-win agreements and have self accountability. They judge themselves against the established principles and values of performance which supersedes any performance measurement system.
Highly effective leaders build empowered culture, driving the systems and processes to support empowerment rather than control. Empowerment is the goal of every effective process where control is just the means. Empowerment at every level of operation based on trust, delivers superior results and builds agility within the team members thus empowering the organization to face extreme uncertainties which is common in today’s global economy. Empowerment also results from having a shared Vision, Mission, Values and a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of the organization. Therefore, a true leader invests quality time in communicating the Vision, Mission, Values and the consequences of achieving the organizational goals and objectives. Instead of creating an individual competition, a true leader establishes rewards based on collective collaboration which facilitates optimization of organizational resources for sustained performance.
Empowerment at the managerial level is a principle and not a personality style of a leader. Hence, a true leader might have any personality style demonstrating the way he/she behaves and performs the job; but the foundational principle that the true leader continuously works on is empowerment. Law of abundance mentality which states that every one can achieve whatever they want without stepping on each other also fosters empowerment. Therefore, a true leader also demonstrates in action the law of abundance mentality and the rewards are shared in the proportion of contribution by every member of the team. Whenever there is a shared reward and empowerment to serve the various stakeholders across the value chain of the organization, a volcano of positive energy is unleashed, which propels the organization to heights that are unconventional in today’s management style. This leads to ordinary organizations achieving extraordinary results thus becoming the benchmarks of the industry. Sustained, consistent, optimized and profitable results are only possible when a leader understands that every member of the team has to be EMPOWERED based on their roles and responsibilities.
- Organizational Level: Alignment – A high TRUST environment will lead to a flat, flexible and scalable organization with empowerment as the principle rather than control. ALIGNMENT of the organization to achieve the goals and objectives will become easier for a true leader if he/she builds the systems and processes based on established principles and values. The challenge that a true leader has to face - is to continuously monitor and align the stakeholder needs (shareholders, customers, employees, vendors, society and government) which drives the Vision, Mission and Values, in turn which drives the organizational strategy; this in turns drives the structure, systems and processes of the organization; which then drives the work group behavior eventually driving the organizational results, which in turn drives the stakeholders needs.
Alignment across the organization is a result of the collective conscience of the stakeholders; a shared Vision; a strategy that supports market dynamics; processes and systems that are driven by the principle of true North (Compass), work group behavior based on trust and abundance mentality. In the world that is not only industrialized but also super automated, there is very little room for human feelings and emotions. However, the very fact is, it is the human factor that drives the organization rather than automation. The very need of industrialization and automation is to fulfill human needs. Automation of an organization is not the goal but fulfillment of human needs is the very reason why the organization exists. Therefore, true leaders understand that it is aligning of individual’s life goal with the organization’s goal that will lead to sustained performance and long term growth & development of every stakeholder.
Highly effective leaders also understand that an organization may have many managers with various styles of operation. But as long as people are anchored to established governing principles which will continuously align the organization to achieve superior results, will become a habit and every stakeholder will be empowered to face the current and future critical business challenges.
Thanks,
Mohammed Shams Qamar