Why Would Anyone Want
To Be Led By You?
Leadership is not a recipe. Unlike a package of dry soup,
there is no ‘add hot water and mix’ solution. In other words, there is no
single roadmap for effective leadership. It is not a linear process where you
clinically acquire skills[1] and gain altitude in
an organization.
Rather, leadership is a set of personal qualities and
character traits that are cultivated over time. It is about who you
are.
What is leadership?
Consider Stephen Covey’s second habit: begin with
the end in mind. To be successful, a leader must know her/his purpose (the
organization’s vision and mission), define what success looks like and inspire
others to achieve it.
A vision should excite the people who follow. It should
be inspirational so they are intrinsically motivated to realize the mission and
perform (or strive to perform) at a level they didn't know they could.
The best leaders are thus driven by a desire to serve the
organization and its stakeholders. Heart-centered leadership focuses on
understanding, influencing and empowering towards achieving a common goal. It’s
not about telling people what to do, but rather expertly guiding them towards
the goal, keeping their best interests in mind.
Best interests? Leaders and managers must learn how to
lead with their heart – not just their head – and connect with the emotional
needs of employees. This is essential to successfully motivate
employees through the rough times – and what organization doesn’t have
those - and promote productivity while fostering the need for creativity,
meaning and fulfillment à their best interests.
Leaders, no matter their title or position, impact organizations, performance
and people at all levels.
Heart-centered leadership is
a harbinger of an organization’s success. Heart-centered leadership knows that
success at the project, business unit or organizational level depends on making
each team member successful.
This type of leadership asks the fundamental question:
what do my employees want?
It considers this question at a strategic level,
examining the barriers to engagement, understanding that there is a direct cost
in terms of minimal performance and productivity that impacts the achievement
of the organization’s vision and mission.
I used to think that running an organization
was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's
quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation. —
Warren Bennis
While there is no one prescription to follow, leaders
share some common traits:
Humility: this is confidence
in motion when leaders give credit to others and recognize their contributions.
Think about what drives a leader. It is the sustainability and success of the
organization.
According to Jim Collins, leaders blend the
paradoxical combination of deep personal humility with intense professional
will … as their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not
themselves.
Responsibility and
courage: leaders accept personal responsibility and hold themselves
accountable when things go wrong. They have the courage to respond to crisis.
There is no finger pointing but an acceptance that any failure is a failure of
leadership.
Respect for others:
leaders acknowledge the value of the individual contributor and consider their
welfare and best interests. They invite an authentic exchange of ideas and
expect top performance from the people they work with.
It is a two-way street where collaborative relationships
are built on trust and respect. It requires leaders to develop through the lens
of an external focus, looping feedback into decision-making processes, thereby
increasing organizational effectiveness.
Effective business leaders who develop these valuable
heart-centered attributes understand that people have the need to be valued,
respected, listened to and involved. Heart-centered leaders realize that
failure is an option and an opportunity to learn.
Nimble leadership will involve understanding
the neuroscience of engagement.
The workplace is changing. And leadership needs to be
nimble and adapt to the new reality. The influx of Gen Y talent is shifting
traditional paradigms.
The Gen-Y worker is intensively collaborative, has a deep
understanding of technology’s role in ‘liberating’ her/him from the work
cubicle, and demands a work-life balance that does not conform to a 9-to-5
cycle. What will it take to motivate and retain this generation of employees?
Will heart-centered leadership positively
impact employee engagement, especially the Gen-Y worker?
Yes. One outcome of heart-centered leadership is
increased employee engagement. Engagement is a measure of an employee's
involvement with, and contribution to, the success of their organization.
Employee
engagement is closely linked to company revenue, employee performance,
trust in leadership, retention, customer satisfaction and profitability.
Therefore it stands to reason that a highly engaging organizational environment
will lead to employee success, and employee success in turn will lead to
organization success.
Employee engagement impacts critical business metrics
such as performance, productivity, employee engagement and retention. So what
fundamentally drives an employee to feel engaged? The three leading drivers
are:
- Sharing the organization’s core values
- Belief that their opinion counts and getting
feedback
- Opportunities to use their skills and career
development
In other words, it is the sense of belonging to the
organization and having an opportunity to participate and contribute in
tangible ways. Feeling that you are an integral and important part of
the tribe.
Heart-centered leadership creates an
organizational environment where everyone is treated with respect regardless of
who they are.
Heart-centered leaders realize the fundamental need to
communicate frequently, openly, and honestly with employees about the company's
strategy and goals, what it means for the department, what it means for them
personally, and their on-the-job performance.
What is Employee Engagement? Exactly
what are we engaging our people to do? Engagement is not about showing up to
work. And it’s not about meeting expectations. It is about talent that is
motivated to produce unexpected value[2].
Creating unexpected value. A novel concept? Not for
Gen-Y. Engaging this cohort of ‘digital natives’ will need to focus on
promoting intrapreneurship and applying principles of gamification.
Peter Drucker famously said that management is
doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. A heart-centered
approach to leadership will go a long way to defining what those “right things”
are and nurture employee engagement.
Person 2 Person Engagement
