2011
This year this blog is going to be more warts and all. Last year we filled it with premeditated articles about what leaders should be doing, especially in relation to behavior. This year I want to explore more about how leaders feel, the experiences we have and what we draw on to survive them, prosper and most importantly, continue to take people forward. To me, what separates being a leader from simply being a manager is the leading / following component. Leaders have a destination and a capacity to take people to it, management tends to be more about operational execution.
Being in Touch
At iHR I like my key managers to have done some living. I think it gives them much greater capacity. I like them to demonstrate that they can touch people’s emotion by being in touch. If you can touch people, make them feel something, then your capacity to influence and guide is much greater. For example the day a former manager of mine simply told me ‘I trust you Steve’ was momentous for my professional confidence. He could have offered me a $10,000 bonus instead but the way he said it was a far more motivational tool than any other benefit. He looked straight at me and his tone was matter of fact…not slimey or an insincere rhetoric from some text book. Basically he touched me.
Touching people requires a level of emotional maturity and sense. This is generally gained through experience and then, a capacity to digest that experience in a constructive way. It is about being in touch with yourself. Most of us have had several intense life experiences; a deep love, loss of a deep love, an accident, loss of a job, an emotional blow out or a broken dream. I have found that effective leaders never forget these experiences. They embrace them, give them perspective and learn to articulate them in a useful way. To be able to explain that experience at a critical moment can be pivotal to those around you. Not only to help them deal with their own life situations, but also to create a connection.
Facebook………….
I want my leaders to be current. How sick I get of people my age (48) bemoaning Facebook, Twitter,MSN and the technologies of the modern age. I use them because they are useful and my knowledge of advanced society’s key communication tools allows me to more effectively connect with thoughts, feelings and influences of my organizations emerging talent…..and my daughter. If you don’t understand the principles of systems and tools that drive the emerging generation of professionals then you are out of touch.
I want my key managers to have their eyes and minds open. I want them to understand the key components of personal life that generate and affect performance. A workplace attraction, extra marital affair or unwelcome advance can have an impact on how a person functions hence performs. A family breakdown, change in lifestyle or a new child can all impact on people’s interaction with the organisation. I want my key manager to understand these things are happening to people and do affect them. Better still, my key manager may have even experienced intense and difficult situations themselves giving them not just empathy, but also a strong sense of perspective on how that experience affects a person. How helping someone through an intense moment in their life can ultimately give them a sense of engagement to my organisation. I want my key manager to be able to know the professional line between being supportive and getting involved to the detriment of the business.
My experience last year of finding a close relative dead, having committed suicide, gave me so many interesting perspectives on work impacts. The shock itself was immense and for many weeks impacted on all aspects of my work life. Concentration, motivation and communication all took a beating. While I wish the experience on nobody, the experience gave me some clarity about the importance of people enjoying time at work. Life is short and happiness a gift we all deserve. People who don’t feel a general sense of happiness in their daily work life should simply leave. I could never be so emphatic about that until this experience. I was deeply touched by the experience, and it can allow me to touch those around me.
Academic success alone is no qualification for being an effective modern day leader in business or any other part of life. Your ability to touch people by being relevant and drawing effectively on experience is crucial. It’s been interesting watching a whole lot of seemingly irrelevant and out of touch men losing their mantle and power across the Middle East in recent times. Men, brought down by a new sense of empowerment driven by some of the modern technologies spoken about above. Some allege that Facebook technology facilitated a revolution in Egypt. Boards of Directors and executive teams should heed the warning. Insular ‘old boys’ clubs won’t cut the mustard. Being in touch is essential . So is being able to touch; influencing, motivating and empowering by knowing what to say and how to say it to a far more socially empowered generation. I’ll never forget the executive from a large technology provider who a few years ago who told me ‘we will simply break the backs of the small internet providers that are hovering around us’. Furthermore, ‘what the hell could we learn from them?’. No wonder the company’s share price remains stagnant and its service in question! Simply out of touch and with that style no capacity to touch.
