Bootstrap Leadership Blog

Let’s pick up where our last column left off.  When we last left Rocky and President Obama (an old cartoon reference for you over-50 types… remember Rocky & Bullwinkle?), we were talking about the power of critical incidents as learning opportunities.  At issue was whether the President and his team have forgotten to “turn around and see if anyone’s following” – a common leadership mistake (especially if you feel you’ve been given a mandate for change).

Seems to me what the President needs to do more of is “explain the why.”  Explaining the why is one of the leader’s most valuable tools in the citizen or employee engagement game.  Explaining the why pulls people in, creates a common understanding of the situation or crisis, and helps everyone absorb how the change relates to them.  Sometimes there’s no real need to explain the why – it’s either plainly obvious why we all need to pitch in (disaster in Haiti) or the call to action is logical and produces a “of course we’re with you” type of response (creating a set of core values for the company). 

But President Obama (and you, perhaps) often face more cloudy motivational issues.  Here’s just a few of the topics that the administration is dealing with that could use a health dose of “why” – Afghanistan, health care, the financial system bailout, and, coming soon (gulp), probable tax increases.   Given his oratory skills, it’s surprising that Obama hasn’t taken his case for each of these changes directly to the American people in plain, easy to digest language (I’ll never understand why Presidents don’t literally hold a monthly “all hands meeting” with 300 million of their closest friends to say “here’s what we accomplished this month, here’s why we worked on that, and here’s what we’re going to work on next month” – why would that be so hard?).  Seems like you become President and you forget Rule # 1 of being a leader – communicate, constantly!

Jack Welch used to talk about the need for leaders to be relentless and boring – to repeat, repeat, repeat the message until it resonated, helping people make sense of what was going on, how they fit in, and why it mattered.  That’s it, really – here’s what we need to do, here’s why, and here’s what it means to you.  How hard is that?  Yet most leaders completely under-leverage this communication trifecta – they may be relatively clear about what needs to be done, but they definitely don’t stress the why or the “what’s in it for you” nearly enough. 

It’s easy to see where Obama could be explaining the why more often, but what about you?  What are you trying to rally your people around that could use more explanation?  Why are you asking them to change, work harder, squeeze costs, etc.?  What’s that getting you (and them)?  It might even be 2 or 3 layers deep – we have to do this, to get to here, which is important for achieving this goal, etc. 

Start thinking more about “explaining the why” – it’s a powerful communications technique that never goes out of style.  Every time (yes, every time) you communicate something, add the why; notice the difference in how the message is received.  You can do this – it takes a little extra preparation, but the returns are worth it.  And if you can’t figure out the why, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it (which is part of the problem with health care reform – average American’s can’t tell why Washington wants to change the status quo). 

Let me leave you with this – leading is a lot like parenting, yes?  You explain the why to your kids when they’re young, right (don’t touch the stove, because…)?   Same thing with your employees.  Help them understand why you’re asking them to do certain things… it helps them understand.  Just don’t fall back on that old parenting standby (“because I said so!”) – that won’t go over too well with your team!

We attended a party this weekend where we knew only about half the guests.  In the course of introducing ourselves to the other half, I found myself asking the common question – “what do you do?”  Which means, of course, what do you do for a living?  We’ve all asked and been asked this question hundreds of times, right?  And what do we usually hear, or say?

The fact is, if you meet people who work in mid to large organizations, they generally respond with their title or role.  Almost everyone I meet who is senior enough to have people reporting to them still answers this question with something like this:

I’m the SVP of Marketing for…

I work in Finance at…

I’m the head of IT at…

I run XYZ for…

I get it, of course – people identify with their title or role, and believe that’s the easiest way to help the listener “get” what they do.  But just once, I’d love to hear someone say a version of this:

I lead a team of people in the X department at…

I’m responsible for leading a team at…

I have the privilege of managing a team of people for…

I’m the leader of…

Feels different, don’t you think?  Wouldn’t that response likely prompt another question from your new friend?  Here’s a suggestion - the next time you’re asked: “what do you do?” (assuming you do in fact lead others at work), try out a new way of answering that clearly stamps you as a leader.  Make your job sound bigger than just your own role or title (because it is!).  Bring your team into the answer, and see where the conversation goes from there…

This just in – leadership matters. It’s true in all walks of life, but especially true in the business world. You can’t browse the internet or pick up a paper or business magazine without reading about the power of positive leadership. And everyone wants more if it. Executive search firms have never been busier trying to fill the demand for leadership talent. Every year, the top consulting firms and Fortune 500 companies line up to grab MBA talent from the best business schools. Great leaders demand a premium on the open market, as they seek to find the right environment to apply their skills. 

If you are a business executive, you face a number of critical challenges to building a successful organization. However, of all the variables that impact your company, one stands out as the single best indicator of your success – the quality of your leaders.   By now, it’s accepted that a company’s human capital is its best single asset. If this is true, then leadership is certainly the key ingredient that powers this asset; you simply can’t become a great company without great leaders. And in today’s competitive environment, you need leaders at all levels of your organization to spark innovation, drive productivity, and motivate and empower employees. Having the right leaders also makes a substantial impact on key customers and business partners. In fact, great leaders have been proven to be significantly more effective than average leaders in every way – from producing revenue and profits to driving customer satisfaction and employee commitment (Zenger & Folkman, 2002).

As a business executive, leadership needs to be one of your top priorities. You need to insist upon and support the right processes. You need to make sure you’re being rigorous, fair, and well-grounded in your assessment of leadership talent. Finally, you need to demonstrate a passion for growing leaders, and make it known that you consider it every manager’s job to help develop the next generation of leaders.  

In the weeks and months to come, we'll explore the characteristics that great leaders share, examine specific examples where leaders are making a difference, and offer suggestions for how you can take your leadership game to a new level.  Leadership most definitely matters, and you owe it to yourself (and your team) to continuously improve as a leader.  Make a commitment to your own development by book-marking and visiting this post on a regular basis.  Its up to you to create your own leadership style and improve your impact as a leader.