The Impending Leadership Crisis

More than ever, organizations require strong leadership. Without clear direction, people cannot move the business forward. Current research is clear; most employees are disconnected or unclear about their specific roles in creating the business future.

Traditional job descriptions are not enough. It is also critical to establish each person's right to make decisions and how those decisions will be communicated upward.

We have cell phones, text messaging, e-mail, express packaging, and high-speed internet video conferencing - tools unheard of in previous decades, yet communication is one of our most pressing issues. In most businesses, people wander around looking for the right path when what's required is a clear picture of where they are in relation to where they're headed.

If you're going to build a second floor on a building and put a lot of weight on it, the smart thing to do is to go downstairs and look at the beams to see if they can hold that kind of weight. What you are doing is standing under the foundation to get under-standing. That's where the word understanding comes from. Careful and objective scrutiny of current reality is necessary in order to effectively lead the organization.

For example, in excellent companies, succession planning is not a theoretical exercise nor is it left to individual managers or employees. According to the Aberdeen Group, best-of-class organizations are 2.5 times more likely to integrate succession planning with the overall corporate strategy.

In a strong structure, no building block stands alone. Moving blocks around in isolation often creates more harm than good. Ad hoc development processes and weak hiring decisions can be devastating to future development. Don't sacrifice your long term vital future for the temporary present.

Do your best to clearly see what is really going on in your organization and in your marketplace. For example, do your strategic planning efforts result in apparent consensus, but bog down in implementation? Do people appear to say one thing and do another? What's going on here? Be careful of reacting by trying to "sell" others or accusing them of resisting change. Above all, do NOT implement a change initiative or appoint a "change management" committee, executive, or task force. These "solutions" create deeper, entrenched resistance. When "change" becomes the focus, the first thing you sacrifice is clarity of the desired end result.

Change is not the target. If you change the organization but miss your targets, is that okay?

Enough said.

You may be stuck in an enterprise that grew like the traditional Canadian farm house. As the family grew, it became necessary to add extra bedrooms and extensions. Outdated and rambling, many of today's businesses are confusing places in which people wander around expressing their latest ideas to anyone who will listen while lamenting management's failure to act decisively.

In some command and control organizations, fear of making mistakes drives people underground to CYA behaviours keeping management in the dark. People in these organizations often say, "It's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission." Dale Carnegie's advice is, "If you lay an egg, step back and admire it." Put another way, "Smart people learn from their mistakes; a wise person learns from other's mistakes."

A myth, often perpetuated by consultants, contends that Michelangelo simply "chipped away the extraneous rock revealing his cherished statue of David." Nothing could be further from the truth, and every genuine artist knows it. Michelangelo created innumerable sketches, made at least two smaller versions of his masterpiece, and then turned the vision in his head into a priceless sculpture admired by generations of art lovers. The statue of David began as a picture in the mind of the artist and was declared finished by that same artist. The process he followed is one that is sadly misunderstood or missing in most of today's business models. Instead, owners, managers and consultants often unwittingly apply faddish or benchmark processes that fail to create their desired end result.

Lead by picturing your desired end-result in concrete terms and communicate that picture often. Commit to serving the business community by providing goods and services built on a platform of genuine interest in others, value for money, sustaining a healthy environment for future generations, while willingly sharing the organization's talents with those less fortunate. Lead your industry, lead your organization and provide leadership to your community.

For example, a real estate firm conducts seminars in selling skills for any agent in their community wanting to attend. In a sense, they are training their competition. They strictly enforce a "no recruiting" rule at these seminars that are eagerly attended by agents looking for ways to improve their performance.

Action Steps

Engage others in conversations around what is important to them. Where do they see changes/challenges and opportunities? Rather than trying to secure agreement or consensus, get alignment through hearing key stakeholder's connection to what is important to their future and the future of the enterprise.

Make it clear to each level of your organization what they are responsible for, and the level of decision-making power they possess. Hold them accountable to making decisions assigned to them. Provide support and guidance but do not decide for them.

Ensure hiring practices support recruiting people that align with the firm's business values. Don't put future development on the shoulders of individuals whims or personal motivation. Instead, design and implement development plans with roadmaps for advancement and relevant skills enhancement.

Do not allow people to default to courses they are naturally attracted towards. In appraisals and performance conversations, insist that people pursue learning paths that support the direction of the enterprise.

Focus on metrics that reflect the organization's ability to groom future leaders. For example, scrutinize current practices and determine what percentage of key vacancies are filled from internal resources.

Find ways to recognize and reward managers who produce candidates for advancement. Few organizations do this. Most companies reward current performance while ignoring or paying lip-service to the all-important impact actions taken have on the future success of the enterprise.

Stop guessing at other's motives or intent. Leaders know the motivation of their players. You get this knowledge from listening and observing, not from short-lived pep talks. Your job is to achieve results through the willing cooperation of others. Any manager can do this - almost none do. The good news is, when you step up, you separate yourself from the crowd.

Resist the temptation of fad-based "team-building" exercises. Rock climbing, paint-ball battles and other outdoor activities may be fun, but they rarely produce lasting culture change. This is not a mystery. Each of these exercises clearly put people in environments where the path of least resistance moves them towards a desired end result, including a structure that depends on developing collaborative relationships. It is a leader's responsibility to construct a similar design in the workplace where the path of least resistance leads to desired results.