What a 12 months it has been!
Financial institutions that once swaggered now stagger. Governments are saving banks that still dish out massive bonuses to their executives. Politicians call for us all to tighten our belts while using taxpayers’ money to maintain their expense driven life styles. Once mighty employers shed staff every hour of every day.
And the concept of leadership in the last 12 months? What leadership?!
The 2009 model of leadership is not winning too many awards right now and the brand of being a business leader is tainted in a way that the role of clergy has in the recent past – not to be quite trusted.
So will a new perspective of leadership emerge from the rubble? Will “followers” place different demands based on what has and is happening around the world? What flavour of leadership might we be heading into? Below is a sample of leadership styles that I am hearing more and more about in recent months
The idea of “servant-leadership” is more and more visible in blogs and HR magazines. It sees great leaders as being those motivated by the desire to serve others. Its success is measured by the growth of those being served by the leader, in terms of their development, their autonomy and their wisdom. It seeks to combine two opposite notions of leadership a and service. Simply put, if you lead people, are the growing under you or not?
“Authentic leadership” seems to be referenced in every second email I get from leadership consultant these days. It can mean a lot of different things to different people. The Authentic Leadership in Action council state that when we are authentic and true to “our internal compass” we get the most out of others. So are you truly yourself when you are with your team?
One of my favourite leadership books, “The Extraordinary Leader” by Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman now has a follow up called “The Inspirational Leader”. While initially claming that no one of the sixteen leadership competencies identified in “The Extraordinary Leader” was more powerful that an others, the authors have now identified “Inspiring and Motivating Others” as the one competency that separates good from extraordinary. Do you inspire and motivate your people? Have you asked them this recently?
One of my mentors, Pete Bluckert, has identified the combination of strategy and intimacy as the next focus for leaders with the intimacy element being about the heightened connectedness of a leader to themselves as well as others. Are you capable of real intimacy with your team?
Much more will be heard about these and other visions of leadership but at the core of each of them is the growing importance of connecting with people at an individual and group level through the leader’s use of self.
I am in no doubt that our concept of what it is to be a leader in the 21st century has been changed by the revelations of the last 12 months. Leaders can never again expect their word to be taken blindly without proof of character and deed.
Welcome your comments and thoughts!
Colm Murphy
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
"No Alarms and No Surprises"
“with no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
Silent silence.”
For many of my clients its coming up to annual appraisal time. And despite the mantra from HR and senior management that a process of regular feedback means that the annual review meeting should not include any surprises for the appraisee, I would feel safe in betting money that for many the annual review is still akin to going to the dentist every five years – there is going to be some unexpected bad news and its likely to be painful.
For me its very clear – it is a manager’s job to provide constant feedback (positive and negative) and support throughout the year, and those who save 364 days worth of feedback for that once a year review are failing their people, failing their organization and failing themselves.
People deserve to get feedback on a timely basis so that they can recognize what they do well and appropriate adjust not so good behaviour if required.
Organisations deserve managers who will earn their salary and actively manage performance.
Managers deserve a team of performers but how can that happen if the manager doesn’t give feedback on what is working or not working?
The authors of Crucial Conversations (a book I highly recommend, that takes the concepts of emotional intelligence and puts them into tools and tips) talk about “Suckers' Choice” being often behind a managers inertia when it comes to feedback.
“Suckers Choice” is about setting the brain a false either/or situation. For example
“I can be liked by my team OR I can be honest”
“I can give tough feedback OR not hurt their feelings”
The point being that this choice makes it simple for the brain to do one or the other.
However can a manage be “liked by my team AND honest” ?– of course but it takes more effort, more preparation, more energy.
We all create “Suckers’ Choices” – but they are short time in value and the easy choice now often results in even tougher conversations down the line.
Never more than now, with the risk of RIFs and redundancies hanging over so many organisations and people, is the need for regular honest feedback required.
Making someone redundant, without ever having given that person the appropriate feedback and the time to address the feedback, is more than a question of fairness or poor management – it’s a human rights violation.
So if you are a manager and you are doing an annual appraisal soon, ask yourself “Have I done enough to ensure there are no surprises for the individual in this review?”
Welcome your comments, and thanks to Radiohead for the title and quote.
Colm
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
Silent silence.”
For many of my clients its coming up to annual appraisal time. And despite the mantra from HR and senior management that a process of regular feedback means that the annual review meeting should not include any surprises for the appraisee, I would feel safe in betting money that for many the annual review is still akin to going to the dentist every five years – there is going to be some unexpected bad news and its likely to be painful.
For me its very clear – it is a manager’s job to provide constant feedback (positive and negative) and support throughout the year, and those who save 364 days worth of feedback for that once a year review are failing their people, failing their organization and failing themselves.
People deserve to get feedback on a timely basis so that they can recognize what they do well and appropriate adjust not so good behaviour if required.
Organisations deserve managers who will earn their salary and actively manage performance.
Managers deserve a team of performers but how can that happen if the manager doesn’t give feedback on what is working or not working?
The authors of Crucial Conversations (a book I highly recommend, that takes the concepts of emotional intelligence and puts them into tools and tips) talk about “Suckers' Choice” being often behind a managers inertia when it comes to feedback.
“Suckers Choice” is about setting the brain a false either/or situation. For example
“I can be liked by my team OR I can be honest”
“I can give tough feedback OR not hurt their feelings”
The point being that this choice makes it simple for the brain to do one or the other.
However can a manage be “liked by my team AND honest” ?– of course but it takes more effort, more preparation, more energy.
We all create “Suckers’ Choices” – but they are short time in value and the easy choice now often results in even tougher conversations down the line.
Never more than now, with the risk of RIFs and redundancies hanging over so many organisations and people, is the need for regular honest feedback required.
Making someone redundant, without ever having given that person the appropriate feedback and the time to address the feedback, is more than a question of fairness or poor management – it’s a human rights violation.
So if you are a manager and you are doing an annual appraisal soon, ask yourself “Have I done enough to ensure there are no surprises for the individual in this review?”
Welcome your comments, and thanks to Radiohead for the title and quote.
Colm
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