"He who can best describe reality without laying blame will emerge the leader." Susan Scott
I love that quote. It is such a powerful concept and skill set. And, unfortunately many leaders "emerge" or are "appointed" or "promoted" who just fundamentally have little to no ability to describe reality without blame. Those people make poor leaders.
As I grow up as a leader, I realize I need to do a better job at identifying those, coaching those, or removing those individuals who cannot show up in leadership roles in productive ways.
Warning Signs of Disfunctional Leaders:
1. It's ALWAYS someone else's fault - and it's almost always PEOPLE at fault.
Beware of leaders who will take every situation and find someone else to blame. When something goes wrong their immediate reaction is WHO made that mistake?
TRUTH IS: When deliverables are not met, there is almost always the "fault" or better said "accountability" gaps in multiple areas of an organization.
TRUTH IS: When deliverables are not met, it is almost always the "fault" or better said a result of system breakdowns (communication, training, clarity of expectations), moreso than an individual breakdown. Very few people WANT to fail or TRY to fail.
2. Through quickly EXTERNALIZING "fault" these leaders externalize responsibility and accountability also, and MINIMIZE failures.
By quickly blaming an external group, person or reason, the disfunctional leader "writes" the failure off. "If so and so hadn't made that mistake, we'd be fine. All we need to do is get so and so to not make that mistake." DONE.
If only it were that easy...
TRUTH IS: As leaders we should AMPLIFY every system breakdown and failure to uncover its roots and ensure that its not going to lead to future system failures. Effective leaders DISMISS NOTHING. They may prioritize the issues once they investigate them, and choose to work on some and not others - but they never discard them outright before understanding them.
TRUTH IS: Functional and effective leaders OWN their stuff. At EMG, anything that fails is my responsibility. I am accountable for EVERYTHING. Now, that doesn't mean that I walk around apologizing for EVERYTHING that goes wrong, but I do go around acknowledging everything I see as less than we expect and I take responsibility FIRST for my part in making it better.
Point is - NOTHING is EXTERNAL to the leader. Sure, there are external forces, but those CAN'T be CONTROLLED... As leaders we control the INTERNAL forces and we INFLUENCE many external forces. The client is an external force, but do we consider and own the things that we can do to engage the client effectively, set clear up front expectations, educate the client as to our process and procedure...
WE CONTROL ALOT MORE THAN WE GIVE OURSELVES CREDIT FOR...
3. Disfunctional Leaders speak in generalities... not in specifics.
In part because they immediately dismiss specifics, disfunctional leaders speak in generalities... "we don't have enough time", "we don't have enough people", "we don't have enough qualified people", "the client doesn't know what they need"...
What do you do with those statements? NOTHING PRODUCTIVE!
Specifics are actionable and make me accountable. "I need to train 4 people for 1 week in order to successfully deliver this project." "We need a total of 30 effort days to accomplish this - how do we resource it?" "Let's set up interviews with a fixed set of questions with every client and find out what they expect so that we can create training in the areas where we see gaps."
TRUTH IS: I hear people dismiss plans before they are even created. People will tell me they dont have time or resources before they even define how many resources they need or how much time things will take. FIRST CREATE PLANS, then find solutions. If you dismiss solutions because you create generic unsolvable issues, you never actually create a workable plan.
Ultimately, disfunctional leaders dismiss specifics and use generalities to excuse themselves from taking responsibility for that which they lead, leaving success or accountability as impossible outcomes.
Disfunctional leaders lead from a place of disharmony... from "wishing" the realities of the world did not exist. "I wish I had more people", "I wish I had more trained people." "I wish I had more time." "I wish I had clearer instruction." All anchored in thoughts and activities OUTSIDE of their control. Disfunctional leaders will bully you to keep you from holding them accountable. They are either scared to fail, so fail to plan, or often, I believe, they just don't have the knowledge or mindset to lead effectively - they don't know the difference between what they are doing and what they could be doing.
I smile when I hear it. I smile and I feel like saying, "Hmmm... If I had all the trained and qualified people I ever needed, all of the time to execute things exactly as I think they ideally should be, and clients that are both completely knowledgeable about the service that I am providing and fully engaged in supporting our consulting efforts... WHY ON EARTH WOULD I NEED YOU? ;-)"
OUR JOBS AS LEADERS IS TO IDENTIFY AND SOLVE PROBLEMS.
LEADERS WHO DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE PROBLEMS, DON'T SOLVE PROBLEMS, and THUS DON'T LEAD.
LEADERS LEAD... It's that simple. That is why leadership is not defined by a title, but by a mindset and the subsequent action. LEADERS LEAD before they are given the wheel. LEADERS take the lead.
Look through your organization and see who is leading without a title, and promote them.
And, look who is not that has a title, and resolve them.
Let's RAISE our bar for leadership!
EVERYTHING is not my fault. But as a leader, EVERYTHING within that which I lead is my responsibility. I am accountable for our success, for driving all that I can control, to influence that which I can't. And, it is my responsibility as a leader to avoid external forces that will lead to failure, and where impossible to avoid to navigate through those things that I can't control as elegantly and effectively as I can to deliver our success. But, MY HANDS ARE ALWAYS on the wheel, and whether we get to our destination or not is always ON ME.
IMPERFECTION is ON ME. BETTER EXECUTION is ON ME. LEADERSHIP is ON ME.
That makes me effective.
That gives me power.
That, ultimately, earns me respect.
So that I may serve and support those I lead...
And, continue to improve my ability to steer us forward into "calmer waters and more beautiful sunsets".
Live in HARMONY, externalize NOTHING, OWN everything, ACKNOWLEDGE imperfection, and SHOW up constantly working to improve upon it.
If you are a leader, SMILE, SHOW UP and LEAD!
Nestor