Recently, I have been thinking about something that Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter wrote in their book, 12: The Elements of Great Managing. As they note, “Before a person can deliver what he should as a manager, he must first receive what he needs as an employee.”
As the worries and uncertainties pile up about the on-going global pandemic, we often forget that a great manager needs a great manager in order to be a great manager. On one level, this feels like I am stating the obvious. On the other hand, because it is so basic and fundamental to good leadership, I think many people forget to recognize how important and powerful the above short sentence by Wagner and Harter is to the success of any action within the company.
When I grasp the power of this concept, I also need to link it to a second and equally powerful insight that Marshall Goldsmith noted in a chapter called “Recruiting Supportive Coaches: A Key to Achieving Positive Behavioral Change" from the book, The Many Facets of Leadership (Prentice Hall, 2003) by Marshall Goldsmith, Vijay Govindarajan, Beverly Kaye, Albert A. Vicere. In this chapter, Goldsmith wrote, “Another clear finding of our literature search is that positive behavioral change is much more likely to last if the individual who is trying to change has a "support group" (or at least "support person") who is assisting in the change process.”
When an employee has a good manager who is supporting people to work on highly functional teams and giving the same employee support on the one to one level, then an employee will move in the right direction and activate their talents to achieve desirable outcomes. As Goldsmith points out, "Your best coaches may often be people whom you respect and who impact your life on a daily basis.” And right now, one of the people who is impacting your life at work, and to a degree at home, is your supervisor. If they are choosing to be supportive and clarifying expectations, priorities and goals, then all involved will be engaged and effective as they rise to the on-going challenges of this time period.
This week, be the leader people need you to be, namely one who is supportive and is a catalyst between the goals of the company and the talents of all involved. Then, even in the midst of COVID-19, we will see continual positive and effective progress from everyone.
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