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| Where
are you on your organization’s ladder—on
the top rung, or the bottom? Are you a boss,
or not a boss? Does your voice count, or doesn’t
it count? Are you calling the shots or taking
the shots? And now the big question—when
are we going to get rid of these kinds of
questions, anyway? This issue of VantagePoint
looks at the consequences for an organization
that restricts leadership to those in designated
roles, and explores how employees actually
participate in sustaining many of the limiting
“myths of leadership.” It invites
you to ask the provocative questions that
can unleash everyone’s greatest
potential. |
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| Introduction |
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Engaging
the services of Highest Vision, Inc.
is a commitment to creating a more conscious,
inclusive and open-hearted leadership. Across
the business world people are recognizing that
we are fast outgrowing the thinking and language
of hierarchy, but we're also struggling to create
a new, more collaborative future. The challenge
for all is to figure out how to operate in this
emerging paradigm—the one that our own efforts
are helping to shape.
As I work with
top leaders in organizations and then, independently,
the staff they lead, I’m frequently struck
by the gulf that occurs between the two in the
early stages of change. Typically what the leaders
are trying to offer employees is very different
than what’s being received by them. While
a significant number of leaders begin with optimism
about their efforts to engage everyone’s
greatest wisdom, staff members can be slow to
recognize and trust the intent of initiatives
undertaken to empower them. Many employees simply
don’t believe that their insights and decisions
will really be valued so they continue to hold
back. Some may be unwilling or feel unprepared
to share in responsibility for what the group
creates. In their hesitancy they actually work
against the changes and make it more difficult
to include them in creative and decision-making
roles.
When
members of either group become frustrated during
the creation of a new working order it’s
easy to resort to what they know best—the
behaviors of the boss-subordinate relationship.
Those with formal authority may again feel compelled
to take up too much space (by using commanding
words and actions), and followers too little space
(by silencing their voices or talking only in
whispers amongst themselves). When this occurs,
leaders once more feel all the weight of responsibility
on their shoulders, as well as the exhaustion
that comes with constant staff resistance—a
resistance they can no longer understand. For
them it can seem that regardless of their efforts,
employees are going to stay mired in resentment,
blame, helplessness, and sometimes even subterfuge.
What accounts for
the tension and the different perceptions that
exist between two groups who must rely upon each
other to maximize success? Logically, when some
parts of the whole are perceived to be greater,
more knowledgeable or more important than another,
mistrust and tension naturally follow. Unfortunately,
many myths and “old truths” about
leadership linger and keep us caught in the snare
of hierarchy. The three that stand out for me
include: 1) leaders must have formal authority;
2) leaders need to have all the answers; and 3)
leaders know (or should know!) how they are going
to achieve their visions. At every level of an
organization these beliefs undermine a company’s
potential greatness and cause unnecessary stress
and dissatisfaction. These myths must be ferreted
out and talked about in order for businesses to
successfully, and more effortlessly, create a
collaborative and effective culture. |
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| 3
Myths of Leadership |
| 1.
Leaders Must Have Formal Authority
What happens
when people throughout the organization
believe leaders must have formal authority?
People see leadership as a position, rather
than as an action or behavior accessible
to everyone. It invites those with formal
authority to value their own opinions over
others, and it keeps people who don’t
have it from stepping to the plate and sharing
in responsibility for the success of the
organization. It divides the powerful from
the powerless, and creates the tendency
for the people in these two camps to lob
blame back and forth across the fence that
separates them. Each group holds the other
responsible for the dynamics between them,
and for bringing about the needed change. |
2. Leaders Must Have All the Answers
Do leaders
need to have all the answers? People tend
to answer this question with a resounding
“no,” but in everyday business
the myth creeps subtly in to do its damage.
Many leaders secretly harbor feelings of
inadequacy and incompetence as they try
to speak with unconvincing expertise and
authority on every aspect of their complex
business. At the same time, front line workers
fault their leaders for lacking their own
particular brand of genius and, consequently,
ridicule or work against their efforts.
Employees may almost arrogantly wait for
a leader’s plan to fail, and take
no responsibility for failures when they
do occur. |
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3. Leaders Should Know How to
Achieve Their Visions
Although
at first blush it makes sense that leaders
ought to know how they are going to achieve
their visions, the speed of change in today’s
world makes it prudent to reassess the “rightness”
of the organization’s direction after
each step taken and to make regular “course
corrections.” Equally important, as
things become increasingly complex, and
people place value on contributing in meaningful
ways to accomplishing a shared vision, it
is crucial to consistently include the wisdom
that exists everywhere in the organization.
Sadly, efforts to create this agile, responsive
and inclusive workplace can be misunderstood
by many employees if they are not given
the chance to really understand why and
how things unfold as they do. Rather than
seeing themselves as co-creators of the
organization’s success, many feed
upon the idea that management already has
all the answers and is “holding out
on them” in some important and harmful
ways, or that leadership is inept for not
fully charting the course before beginning
a new initiative. |
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| 10
Simple Conversation Starters |
At
Highest Vision we believe that
leadership today is less about having the
right answers and more about having the
right questions. The next time you see an
opportunity for a meaningful dialogue in
your organization, consider posing one of
these questions to get the conversation
started. Include everyone you can in the
process. (In large organizations it
helps to host groups that are comprised
of both participants who have and do not
have formal authority, and to keep each
group small enough for genuine dialogue
to occur.) |
| 1. |
What
stories about leadership are told within
our organization? What different perspectives
exist? |
| 2. |
How
can we ensure that everyone feels like
a valued contributor to our shared success? |
| 3. |
How
can we invite people to act upon their
right and their responsibility to be
a fully participating member of the
organization? |
| 4. |
What
will entice people to contribute their
own knowledge and experience? |
| 5. |
How
can leadership be exhibited by every
person in our organization? |
| 6. |
What
will it take to create relationships
where people ask for your ideas and
offer you theirs? |
| 7. |
How
can we make sure that information and
ideas are flowing freely? |
| 8. |
What
is needed to ensure that decisions are
able to be made as close to the front
line as possible? |
| 9. |
What
can leaders do to challenge the myths
and invite forth everyone’s full
participation? |
| 10. |
What
can staff members do to challenge the
myths and invite forth everyone’s
full participation? |
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| Conclusion |
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I’m convinced
that everyone—those who are already in roles
that include formal authority, as well as those
who aren’t—could benefit from spending
time in a leadership role that comes without
a budget or people to “command.”
I can’t imagine a better way to have people
experience the demands of trying to accomplish something
through the joint efforts of many people, or a better
opportunity to learn how to foster relationships
and discover the value of shared successes. As our
organizations increase in size and complexity, “quality
of life” issues gain attention, and our businesses
continue to shape the world in ever greater ways,
successful companies must actively engage every
member of their teams in both formal and informal
ways.
So what can you
do to move beyond the myths of leadership discussed
here? Begin by recognizing that if you wait for
someone else to take the first step—no steps
are taken. With or without formal authority, find
your voice and use it well. Ask provocative questions
that invite open discussion and the sharing of
ideas. Risk joining the conversation and shouldering
the responsibility for what we create together.
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| Wisdom
Words |
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The
function of leadership is to produce more leaders,
not more followers.
Ralph Nader No man
will make a great leader who wants to do it all
himself,
or to get all the credit for doing it.
Andrew Carnegie |
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| Coming
- May 2005 |
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| Priority-Driven
Business Plans: Letting the Dollars Follow (subscribe
now) |
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Together
we can make meaningful lives, successful businesses,
and service to the greater good synonymous. |
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Vision respects your privacy. Your e-mail address
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| ©
Copyright 2005 Highest Vision and Susan Schutz. |
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