How do people shift from being a manager or supervisor into becoming a leader? - part #1

I have come to the conclusion that right now there are a lot of cotton-candy leaders who are offering sweetness without substance. These individuals are choosing popularity instead of accountability and status instead of results. We need more leaders right now, but the shift from being a manager to becoming a leader is not quick or easy. To help me explain this concept, I am going to utilize the following article: Watkins, Michael D., “How Managers Become Leaders:The seven seismic shifts of perspective and responsibility”, Harvard Business Review, June 2012. I also will add in my own thoughts.

One important thing to becoming a leader is to shift from being a problem solver to an agenda setter. As Watkins writes, “Many managers are promoted to senior levels on the strength of their ability to fix problems. When they become enterprise leaders, however, they must focus less on solving problems and more on defining which problems the organization should be tackling.”

On one hand this seems simplistic, but it is not. We get a lot of kudos for being problem solvers. We get a lot done as problem solvers and everyone loves us and wants us to be a part of things. The problem with of this level of work is that people become dependent on us. All our time is consumed by other peoples’ problems. All roads lead to us, and we become the hub of execution.

The solution to this situation is greater than our ability to delegate, motivate people, and promote teamwork. Setting the agenda for a team, a department or a division requires us to figure out what are the goals for the team, the department or division. We also need to figure out what are the problems that need to be solved by the team, the department or division. Next, we must prioritize which goals and problems need to be addressed and communicate those priorities in a way that people can respond from clarity rather than fear. In short, we need to set the agenda, and then hold people accountable for getting them done.

Hermina Ibarra in her book, Act Like A Leader, Think Like A Leader (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015) notes that leader can be a hub or a bridge. For example, when a leader is a hub, they set goals for the team, assign roles to your people, assign tasks, and monitor progress toward goals When they do these things well, the leader creates a good climate inside the team, the department or the division.

When a leader focuses on being a bridge, they align team goals with organizational priorities, funnel critical information and resources into the team to ensure progress toward goals, and get the support of key allies outside the team. When this is done well, the leader enhances the external visibility and reputation of the team.

However, the best leaders I have met focus on bridge building within their agenda setting. Here, they build bridges to relational space, i.e. hubs that are focused on people working together with other people. Rather than getting caught in the fallacy of centrality where I, as a singular individual, needs to be at the center of everything, the best hubs are relationship centric spaces. 

Furthermore, before you set the agenda, you also have to build capacity, and create healthy team relationships. Then, the agenda will be executable. It’s not problem solving that is the secret as much as relationship building!

Still, some people want to skip building people centered bridges and hubs. Instead, they want to build a tunnel, i.e. a linear pathway, through the problems and obstacles before the organization. As John Paul Lederach writes, “The difficulty is how do you tunnel through an active volcano?” As he continues, tunnel vision looses “peripheral vision”, i.e “the capacity to situate oneself in a changing environment with a sense of direction and purpose and at the same time develop an ability to see and move with the unexpected.” He continues, “people with tunnel vision can only see forward.” From my experience, successful leaders can see forward, backward, and sideways.

Another challenge for people right now is project management. So many say we should “forget all this people stuff” and instead focus on project management. As they point out to me, a goal is a project and we just need to manage it better. However, Lederach’s research and experience points out that “It is important to recognize that the project mentality assumes two important but rarely accurate truisms: (1) Social change is linear; and (2) social change is best measured by visible and verifiable results.” 

As a consultant, executive coach and trainer for over thirty years, I like results. As leaders, we focus on outcomes, especially successes. However, we rarely study the processes leading up to an outcome. Furthermore, we reward people who solve problems, but do not reward those who prevent them. as noted by Emre Soyer and Robin H. Hogarth in their article, “Fooled By Experience”, which can be found in the May 2015 issue of the Harvard Business Review.

For me, I like connections even better, i.e. people to people, people to systems, systems to systems, people to environment/context, and people to history, i.e. remembered history, shared history, and lived through istory. With these connections, we as leaders can create clarity and capacity for multiple results over time.

Another shift that managers need to make to become a leader, according to Watkins, is to move from being a warrior to being a diplomat. In our old roles as warriors, we spent a great deal of time “marshaling the troops to defeat the competition.” We routinely put on the battle armor , picked up the horn, summoned the troops and led the charge. We took no prisoners, defeated the enemy, and celebrated victory.

However, as a leader, there is not enough time in the day to do all of that. Now, we have to deal with various stakeholders rather than the competition. We have to interact with them and address their concerns. In these situations, we need to use the tools of diplomacy, i.e. negotiation, persuasion, conflict resolution and alliance building, in order to shape the the external business environment to support our strategic objectives. Therefore, as a diplomat leader we need to understand how decisions are being made, develop strategy, recruit and retain key people, and play the long game as in 5-7 years rather than monthly, quarterly or even yearly goals.

Finally, to successfully shift from being a manager to being a leader, we need to move from being a bricklayer to an architect. Most people when becoming a supervisor or manager want to do two things: they want to get things done better and they don’t want to make any mistakes. The challenge is that they do not think about impact or precedence. Instead, they think action, change and survival. Therefore, they default to old ways of doing things. When we shift from being a supervisor or a manager to a leader as architect, we need to focus on how all of the above pieces fit together

This week, I encourage you to read the following article: Watkins, Michael D., “How Managers Become Leaders: The seven seismic shifts of perspective and responsibility”, Harvard Business Review, June 2012. Then, share it with others. I am sure you will have much to discuss together after you have read it.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

The Problem with Problems

During interesting times and when working through a trough of chaos, leaders spend a vast amount of time and energy dealing with problems. Big problems and little problems, tactical problems and strategic problems, technical problems and adaptive problems, complex problems and complicated problems.  Every day more problems show up. They just keep coming and coming.

While many leaders focus on solving problems and fixing problems, great leaders in the trough of chaos do something else which changes the whole situation. They figure out how to sell the problem.

The problem with problems is that leaders can end up being the hub of all solutions. Everyone has a problem. And everyone brings the problem to the leader. The leader solves the problem. The people learn that this works. Bring a problem to the leader and the leader will solve it. 

So, what does everyone do? They bring all the problems to the leader and wait for him or her to solve them.  What at first glance is a solution now becomes a problem. No one solves their own problems. They just bring them to the leader and wait.

Here is where selling the problem is the solution. Rather than the leader becoming the hub for all problem solving, the leader needs to be a bridge builder, connecting competent groups of people who can figure out how to solve the problems themselves.

Selling the problems means that one knows how to place the problem within the larger context of what is happening within the company and within the environment that surrounds the company. It means that a person in a leadership position understands and can explain the strategic direction of the company as well as the core values of the company. Connecting the strategic direction of the company to the problem provides a reason why we need to address the issues that are causing the problem. Explaining how the core values come into play provides a set of guidelines about how to solve the problem. It is the combination, strategy and core values, that will make a difference.

Everyone is busy when they are in the trough of chaos. Most are just trying to cope with all of the work that needs to get done. When an exceptional leader sells the problems rather than simply fixing it themselves, they build capacity, clarity and confidence in the organization which is very helpful as people move through the trough of chaos and on to a new level of personal and organizational performance.

This week, sit down and define three of your top problems. Then, figure out how they influence or are connected to the current strategic plan. Next, write out how you would sell these problems so that people will come together to fix them rather than simply hand them off to you. In the short run, this will take more time than solving it yourself. But in the long run, you will be making a profound difference for yourself and the company.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

A New Book on Leadership

I read all the time. Whether it is articles on the web, the latest issue of Fast Company magazine or the Harvard Business Review, I am always on the hunt for new insights or perspectives to help me better understand the fascinating and complex world of leadership and organizational change. 

Over the decades, I have found that certain authors are good sources of new insights. For example, Stephen Covey, Tom Peters, and Ken Blanchard in the 80’s and 90’s always provided solid research and ideas. More recently, one can always count on Jim Collins, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Patrick Lencioni, Margaret Wheatley, and Marcus Buckingham to present thought-provoking ideas and new perspectives.

However, over the last few years when reading the Harvard Business Review, a new author, Herminia Ibarra, has started appearing on my radar screen. Her research and ideas are intriguing and helpful. They have caused me to pause, reflect deeply, and rethink some things. Thus, I was delighted to see that she just published a new book  last month called Act Like A Leader, Think Like A Leader, Harvard Business Review Press, 2015. Now having read it twice, I think she offers some good, new ways of thinking about the world of leadership. 

The foundation of her new book can be summarized by the following quote by Richard Pascale: “Adults are more likely to act their way into a new way of thinking than to think their way into a new way of acting.” As she explains, “you can only learn what you need to know about your job and your self by doing it - not by just thinking about it…. we only increase self-knowledge in the process of making changes.” As she continues, “This cycle of acting like a leader and then thinking like a leader - of change from the outside in - creates what I call outsight.” 

In the book, she notes that “Contrary to public opinion, too much introspection anchors us in the past and amplifies our blinders, shielding us from discovering our leadership potential and leaving us unprepared for fundamental shifts in the situations around us.” Outsight comes from actions that revolve around redefining your job as a leader, redefining your network and redefining yourself. “As psychologists remind us, knowing what we should be doing and actually doing it are two very different things.”

Her case for a change in thinking how we approach leadership is solid and well thought through. Each chapter of the book contains excellent summaries of the material explored. For example, in the Chapter 1 Summary, she points out that “Outsight comes from a “tripod” of sources: new ways of doing your work (your job), new relationships (your network), and new ways of connecting to and engaging people (yourself)…. Sustainable change in your leadership capacity requires shifts on all three legs of the tripod.”

I was particularly impressed with her notion in Chapter 2 that effective leaders need to be a hub and/or a bridge. As she explains, leaders who are hubs do the following: set goals for the team, assign roles to their people, assign tasks, monitor progress toward goals, manage team member performance, conduct performance evaluations, hold meetings to coordinate work, and create good climate inside the team. On the other hand, leaders who are bridge builders do the following: align team goals with organizational priorities, funnel critical information and resources into the team to ensure progress toward goals, get the support of key allies outside the team, enhance the external visibility and reputation of the team, and give recognition for good performances and then place team members in great next assignments. Understanding when you are a hub and when you are a bridge builder is a good step in learning to be a better leader. 

I also was delighted to read about the role of operational, personal and strategic networks in Chapter 3 of this new book. “The first helps you manage current internal responsibilities, the second boosts personal development, and the third focuses on new business directions and the stakeholders you must get on board to pursue these directions.” I enjoyed how she framed up strategic networks as a one “made up of relationships that help you to envision the future, sell your ideas, and get the information and resources you need to exploit these ideas….A good strategic network gives you connective advantage: the ability to marshal information, support, or other resources from one of your networks to obtain results in another.” I completely agree with her when she further explained “You need operational, personal, and strategic networks to get things done, to develop personally and professionally, and to step up to leadership. Although most good managers have good operational networks, their personal networks are disconnected from their leadership work, and their strategic networks are nonexistent or underutilized.”

Overall, Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader is a good new addition to the lexicon of well written books about this subject. I enjoyed reading it, and recommend it to others. I also look forward to her on-going work in this area.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257