Who's Developing Tomorrow's Leaders?

“Don’t look down on anyone unless you are helping them up” – Jesse Jackson

Leadership, until recently, seems to have been viewed as some mystical skill that either you had or hadn’t, that either you were born with or you weren’t. Managers would self-appraise themselves as good leaders because they had achieved some tangible results, (and hadn’t received any staff complaints in the process) rather than in the method the results were gained. In too many cases, positional power is still used to cajole corporate results, negating the very concept of effective leadership.

Effective leadership is important because it has a direct impact on the organisational culture and its performance – anyone who has worked for a bad leader knows how demotivating the experience was and how this poor approach had a negative impact on your focus, motivation and operational results.

The impact leaders have on their staff is of critical importance and is beginning to get the attention it deserves. What is particularly disappointing is when I see managers in organisations that have developed poor leadership skills and who are oblivious to how bad they actually are. Leadership isn’t just about results; it’s about developing an effective working environment, driven by focused teams, where each team is lead by a highly effective leader. This means that in the best organisations great leaders are in fact leading and developing other great leaders at the next level in the organisation and so on down the organisational pyramid. Unfortunately, in today business world, there are still too many bad leaders developing the bad leaders of tomorrow.

Although the jury seems to be out on just how much of leadership is gained through nature and how much through nurture, it has been accepted that leaders are not simply born. Although nature may play a role, leadership development is more likely associated with the environment in which potential future leaders spend their early years developing their morale compass, and their basic ethics and values, rather than some divine intervention.

There have been various attempts, over the years, to identify the behavioural traits and skill sets required to be a ‘great’ leader. What seems to be clear is that great leaders embrace and utilise the following attributes;

• They are honest,
• They are passionate,
• They are excellent visionaries,
• They have excellent communication skills,
• They lead by example,
• They are inspirational,
• They encourage best practice,
• They excel at strategic planning and implementation.

Unfortunately, in too many instances, leadership development is still the exception rather than the rule and organisations need to realise that leadership training and development is a corporate necessity for sustainable future growth.
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Organisations, starting at board level, need to urgently appraise the effectiveness of their leadership skills over and above simple operational results. This means the current leadership need to have the courage to appraise their leadership skills through structured discussion and 360 degree feedback. They can then proactively take charge of their own development, as it is the leaders of today who are setting the example and developing the leaders of tomorrow – and we need them to be the best that they can be.

Does Honesty Impact Corporate Strategy?

For most business principles to work efficiently organisations require a culture of openness and honesty. But how many open and honest organisations are there?

Don’t we still teach our children to always ask when they don’t know and never to lie? If we are still teaching these basic values to our children – because we know they are right – then why aren’t we applying the same principles in business? What is there to be afraid of?

Organisations should want the best from their people and not only encourage, but demand, a culture of openness where employees don’t fear retribution or humiliation for simply being honest. In fact the very cornerstone of most business principles demand honesty – what is the point of staff appraisals, if those taking part aren’t being honest with each other; and what would be the purpose of 360 degree feedback if the feedback isn’t honest; and how can organisations evaluate their ‘real’ strengths and weaknesses, if employees aren’t honest about them? Organisations and their strategic leaders who do not strive for an open and honest culture are only limiting their future growth and fooling themselves.

It is today’s business leaders that must set the standard and continually reinforce the principles of open and honest business cultures. As Mi Troy, Chairman of Molina Healthcare, stated in a 2009 article, “There is only one agenda – the company’s agenda – and neither the individual leader nor the department’s interests supersedes it. Leaders should model the behaviour and culture they want for their organisation.”

Although, in discussion, most executives and employees will agree that they desire to work in an open and honest environment, often the biggest problem seems to be; when and how do we start to change?

The ‘when’ is today and the ‘how’ is by ensuring that ethics become an integral part of your individual and organisational vision and strategy.

Culture change must be approached like any other change initiative.

1. It must be driven by the organisational leadership, who must set the example for everyone to follow – if the leadership falter, the culture change will fail;
2. The culture change and its positive impact on the organisation must be clearly communicated to the entire organisation; as well as how the change process will take place;
3. Leadership is looking for ‘ownership’ and not ‘compliance’ of the new culture;
4. If the organisation currently operates in a climate of mistrust then the leadership must realise that although the concept may be understood and in principle accepted by the employees, sufficient time and dedicated focus must be given to ensure a fully owned and sustainable culture change;
5. The leadership and the organisation need to be patient and focus on the benefits of the end result; (without direct leadership it is to easy for the organisation to revert back to how things were);
6. As the benefits become visible to the entire organisation a critical mass will start to form. Managers, departmental teams and individuals will start reinforcing the positive outcomes from the culture change;
7. Once the ‘new’ culture takes over, it forms part of your core business principles and impacts your strategic choices.
8. The benefits of an open and honest culture, besides the working environment itself, will include a more accurate and meaningful assessment of the business environment and the organisations ‘real’ strengths and weaknesses. This will naturally lead to efficient strategic decisions that will add greater value to your future growth, compared to organisations that don’t embrace the principles of openness and honesty.

Remember, it is said, that in business, “lies may take care of the present, but they have no future,” (Cortes, 2007).


References

Atufunwa, B. (2009). The art of effective communication. Black Enterprise. Vol. 40, Issue 4, p.46-47

Green, C., Cortes, M.A., Cheung, C. and Kennedy, D. (2007). What are some communication mistakes that leaders make? Communication World. Vol. 24, Issue 5, p19.

Craving Poor Customer Service

Can it be that a majority of the global population crave poor customer service? It could be true, why else would so many companies try so hard to consistently offer poor customer service.

Organisations, through their Management and Strategic Leaders, are constantly taught to meet the expectations of the customer – so they must be in contact with this vast group of customers that crave poor service, who relish long queues, who delight in rude people and who expect poor quality and over-priced products.

It sometimes feels like I’m a member of a minority who not only seek, but expect, service quality and excellence. The return for the organisation is my patronage and loyalty – but this seems to be scoffed at.

Yet where does one find this vast group of people who crave poor customer service?

In contradiction to the above I find that the majority of people still crave service excellence and who sadly find customer service is becoming a rarer and rarer commodity.

So why the contradiction and who’s to blame? If so many people do in fact desire to receive service excellence, then do these same people always offer it when on the other side of the counter? If not, why the hypocrisy?

Customer service is one of the simplest skills for organisations to implement. You don’t need books and training courses to embrace it. Since, as is more likely, the majority of us do crave service excellence, then the first place to start is to treat your customer as you’d like to be treated. How complicated is that? If you’d expect reliability then offer it; if you’d expect quality then offer it – it really is that simple and when the customer’s expectations are unrealistic, don’t confront or lie to them, engage with them and change their expectations.

As customers we must also take some of the blame for accepting poor service in the first place. We have actually lowered our standards, as it seems to be the path of less resistance and we avoid that ‘conflict moment’. We find excuses by telling ourselves that we don’t have the time, don’t want the hassle and don’t expect to make a difference anyway.

Many of us have given up the belief that we deserve service excellence and have forgotten the power we have. As customers we need to start demanding and responding to service excellence and when we don’t get it vote with our feet and assert our right to complain!

Organisations also need to practically understand how all their employees approach customer service. Although it’s the organisation that gets the reputation for poor service, it isn’t the organisation that offers bad service, it’s the people within it – and it is often an unchecked minority who create the bad image for all to be tarnished with. If organisations don’t encourage and reward service excellence then they mustn’t be surprised when their customers, say ‘enough is enough’ and leave for greener pastures.

So in 2010 it’s time for you, the customer, to demand your right for service excellence and to realise you do have the power to make a difference in today’s technological world.

Finally there are astute organisations, large and small, who have already realised that offering personalised service excellence is a very real and sustainable competitive advantage in the 21st Century. To those special few, I thank you for meeting my expectations and making my ‘shopping’ experience such a pleasure.

It's Your Future

What all organisations need are people, at all levels, who are focused on success. It is said that;

“There are three types of businesses;

Those that make things happen;
Those that watch things happen;
Those that wonder what happened.”

(Anonymous)

Yet, business success or failure is dependent on the people within these organisations. Hence if the quote is true for organisations it must also be true for individuals as well. Simply put there must be three types of people in business;

Those people who make things happen;
Those people who watch things happen; and
Those people who wonder what happened!

Watching things happen can be acceptable in the short term, but only as long as people and organisations make things happen from what they’ve seen and learnt. For example, watching your competition so that you can create a better competitive strategy can be a source of best practice in its own right - since from watching and learning you are making things happen; but simply watching and doing nothing is unhealthy (to say the least).

There are too many people in business today who are content to watch and sadly many who are still wondering what happened!

What ‘winning’ organisations need are people who will make things happen.

So which do you want to be? You can decide today to become an individual who contributes to their own future and that of the organisation they work for by embracing a culture of best practice and being someone who makes things happen. This will not only ensure sustainable growth for your organisation but will, in the process, create job satisfaction and career growth for yourself; a perfect win-win solution.

Extract from the book ‘Be the Best in Business’ by Nigel Brownbill