Leadership 'tough messages'

Leadership is among other things the process by which people are influenced to accomplish objectives. However, it's different from the processes of direction or management. I believe it's also a process that involves more of the intangibles, values and character then the other processes involved in governing an organization.

Leadership is also generally associated with an individual, or group... direction, and management are related to position. It's an important distinction, because in our development as people it's not unusual to see people who confuse positional power, and leadership.

Ask yourself; what kinds of leaders do you follow?

I believe, that those leaders may be good managers, good at direction, good at lots of things, but when you look at them all good leaders are uniformly people you find worthy of your trust, credible, and realistic.

A longtime coworker who managers a large organization, and works hard to lead recently talked to his people about rebuilding trust. It can be done, but it's very very hard and it takes a long time. However, it's near impossible if the would be leader broke things to begin with.

Faced with downsizing and other really hard choices his management team had (his opinion and mine) lost the trust of their team... How did he get in trouble?

It did not happen overnight... but here is what I think happened, his team failed to do three things well.

1. They did not 'call it the way they saw it', they waffeled (communicated politely and in a non-confrontational, but ineffective way) on the problems everyone knew about. I call that a failure to acknowledge reality.
2. When they were forced to make changes, they failed again to honestly acknowledge the changes and the reasons for them. That meant they could not really lay out a believable plan for the future.
3. Finally, they never clearly told anyone what they needed to do. (better faster cheaper leaves a lot of leeway, too much when people are already uncertain).

So here's what I believe; as leaders:

• Face reality, it's often hard, but facts help a lot as do measurements, so use facts that make a difference.
• Communicate to those you want to lead factually, and candidly. Not everyone wants to know about the financials (or cares) but they all need to understand what's what at some level. Be real about the problems and issues....  Remember the audience but make sure you are transparent whenever it's possible.
• Make sure people understand the values that brought them (you) to this juncture, and with those in mind....
• Lay out a clear plan of action, it might change (what doesn't?), but be clear that there is a credible plan, and what it is. (and you better believe it too)
• Tell those you want to lead what's next (right now), and how they can impact the outcome.
• Listen really hard, and act.

Values make a leader someone you want to follow. Explicit understanding of values also creates a level of resilience in the face of change that doesn't exist without them.