The Real Work of Leaders
Leading begins when the performance of others becomes top priority.
The real work of leaders:
- Create environments where people love coming to work. I just got off the phone with Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat, and author of, The Open Organization. I’m summarizing some of his comments in the three bullet points that follow.
- Manage interaction and model the way. Organizations are people not organizational charts.
- Great results are the result of great relationships. You don’t have to choose between the two.
- Provide context. Help people see how they fit in. Purpose motivates.
- Describe shared vision in the short-term and long-term. Vision gives meaning to work. Meaningful work inspires energy, commitment, and fulfillment. It’s difficult to feel excitement over things that don’t matter.
- Where are we going in the next three months? Vision is the picture. Goals are the steps.
- Where are we going with the distant future in mind. How does short-term vision align with long-term? What matters now?
- Spend more time on the next three months than the distant future. It’s within your control. The distant future is too distant to guide an immediate decision. You need a near future to make immediate decisions.
- Exemplify values.
- Share information. The need for secrets reflects inequities. (Apart from trade secrets and conforming to guidelines for publicly traded companies.)
- Energize positive emotion. (An often neglected leadership behavior.) “Just do your job,” doesn’t work with smart, talented people who are doing jobs that require brain power. 5 steps to positive environments:
- Define “positive environment” with your team.
- Describe negative behaviors to avoid.
- Identify and reward behaviors that produce positive environments.
- Evaluate progress every month.
- Adapt and start again.
- Bring up issues others avoid.
- Develop talent.
- Affirm strengths.
- Offer training opportunities.
- Provide stretch assignments.
- Give feedback. (More than you think is necessary.)
What is the real work of leaders?
What work should leaders do less?
The real work of leaders is inspiring others. Very inspiring post. Each and every sentence of the post is well written.
Thanks lilitbhojwani. You remind me of a collection of leadership terms that need more attention: energy, enthusiasm, excitement, happiness, fun, drive, passion, and fulfillment.
Give feedback – more than you think is necessary….
Give ALL OF IT – more than you think is necessary. Folks don’t hear you the first time, the second time, even the third time – in many cases. The vision, the mission, the values, the feedback… it almost needs to come by firehose.
Thanks Kathy. True, true, true, true. 🙂
The flying V is so fitting…vision, values voiced in volumes is a vibrant leader to get all to “fly”. Great post Dan. Great insights and love “near future” as being the needed mindset
Stephen, fun alliterative post!
I keyed in on the symbolism of the birds, as well. I love the fact that when birds migrate, they share the lead position to get them to their destination. They let the leader be the bird who is most capable at the moment. Everyone shares in the leadership and supportive roles. Nature knows!
Thanks Stephen. I hear a very vibrant voice in your comment.
Glad you caught the “near future” idea. I think we can be crushed by a distant dream that is so big it paralyzes us. How does a person become the president, for example? By running for a local office today.
Chunks of… 90 seconds, 90 minutes, 90 days leads to 90 wonderful years…appreciate the interaction and recognition Dan!
Agreed. By partitioning the distant dream into chunkable, incremental visions – and then acting on each small vision, we begin to have steady small wins. Each small win solidifies the knowledge that you have the ability to reach the big dream. Soon, you look up and the dream is present.
I like the idea of having an environment that is welcoming and inclusive. That kind of space linked with shared vision can really motivate people to be a part of what is happening and give their best effort. I think what you’ve shared also points to transparency which I think is key for leaders. Thanks for another great post, Dan!
Thanks Jan. The days of intimidation need to come to an end. It might work in the short-term but not in the long.
Keeping people in the dark is a tool of intimidation. Transparency strengthens connection and lowers intimidation.
Dan, I personally enjoy most when you give BIG PICTURE vistas for leadership, like this post on shared vision. It allows and encourages us to look beyond day-to-day operations, and to peek at what’s possible. You pose a great definition of leadership: Someone who demonstrates what’s possible.
Yet, there’s a giant chasm for leaders between “knowing” what is and “believing” what can be.
Research shows how using a distinctive word, offering a small choice, or making a subtle change in the physical environment can improve health and well-being. Small changes can make large differences, so we should open ourselves to the possible–and embrace possibility thinking. In fact, little by little…a little becomes a lot.
Little by little a water pot is filled by drops of water. Little by little a person becomes strong or weak–as a water pot is filled drop by drop.
Possibility requires that we begin with the assumption that we do “not” know what we can do or become. Rather than starting from the status quo, it argues for a starting point of what we would like to do and who we’d like to become. From that beginning, we can ask how we might reach that goal and make progress toward it. It’s a subtle change in thinking, although not difficult to make once we realize how stuck we are in culture, language, or modes of thought that limit our potential.
We need to differentiate between “difficult” and “impossible.” It may be hard, yet it’s do-able. We learn it’s possible. The cliché is true: Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Our will doesn’t prove what is impossible; it confirms what’s possible.
It’s always, first, the power of our dream and then our will that makes the possibility of reality come true. Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of others. When persons believe in themselves, their possibilities are infinite and it’s amazing what they will accomplish.
Thanks Books. I feel compassion and conviction in your comment. There’s an element of encouragement and challenge. Much appreciated.
We might minimize the power of belief. Believing allows beginnings. Without it, beginnings aren’t possible. Believing enables endurance. Without believing, we quit.
Thanks for the encouragement.
#7 above: “Develop talent A. Affirm strengths. B. Offer training opportunities. C. Provide stretch assignments. D. Give feedback. (More than you think is necessary.)”
This raised memories, good and bad. My last position prior to becoming Emeritus faculty was a three-year appointment as Assiciate Dean of Engineering. Part of my duties included Deanery staff reporting to me. A yearly task was the Annual Review with each employee. As I found out, the previous person in this position rated everyone superior across the board and split the merit pool evenly among all staff.
My approach was along the expected lines and was important to me: I used the self-reflection each staff member had to write. My contributions listed the strengths of each as well as the opportunities to improve, suggested opportunities for training, discussed their suggested stretch goals, and – in general – provided feedback in writing and through one-on-one discussions. Very much in keeping with #7 for sure!!!
The good and bad memories: Most of the staff valued highly my approach with them to this task; the training and stretch goals improved the efforts of the Deanery. BUT a small but vocal minority of the staff strongly railed against my ‘changing of the process.’
Thanks John. Hats off for your candor. It’s a pleasure to find that the ideas about developing people make sense to you.
Education is one of the tough areas to institute change, even though it should be a hotbed.
In organizations where top leaders try to please everyone, a vocal minority wins the day. It sounds like you kept moving forward. Congratulations.
Dan, this is so true: “Vision gives meaning to work. Meaningful work inspires energy, commitment, and fulfillment. It’s difficult to feel excitement over things that don’t matter.”
Great leaders help others feel important and to feel proud of the work they do, no matter what it is. Both the surgeon and the one who cleans the operating room are doing very important work that contribute to saving lives.
Thanks Alan. Weak leaders need to make others feel weak. Strong leaders make others feel powerful.
Dear Dan,
I agree that the real work of leaders is to create context. It provides platform where people visualize their direction and goal. It is important to create clear path where people can see where they are heading. This helps them to connect their potential with their purpose. And it is very essential for leadership journey. Secondly, it is important to know why one is engaged in the particular project. One should know what values he is getting out of it. In the process, clarity is very much essential. People disengage unless they know what are they suppose to do and what they are doing.
While discussing any point, it is important to create openness. It helps to generate and invite as many ideas as required. Leader should not not engage into any activities that show some command and control feelings. However, it is also essential to provide direction when other members are diverting from the path.
Hi Dan, thanks for this post, I fully agree with your point on vision, if your team members do not see the vision, it is going to be almost impossible to motivate them. And you as the leader are the only one who carries that vision. I also like the 5 steps in point number 5! Thanks!