Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM, ATC  

According to author Margaret Wheatley, there is a generic form of leadership that people independent of culture, age, or ethnicity really want: a leader who is focused on others, has real integrity, walks the talk, is a good listener and enjoyable to be around, and has vision and engages everyone in making that vision real.

The bad news is that, in challenging times, we often revert to a more command-and-control-like style.  In the long-run, this style has a destructive impact.  It leads to worker disengagement and creates teams and organizations that are incapable of effectively adapting to change, solving problems, and overcoming challenges.  How does your leadership need to change?

Here’s this month’s feature ...

How is Your Leadership Changing?
by Margaret Wheatley

From - Margaret Wheatley's Online Article Library (www.margaretwheatley.com)

Highlights from the article:

• Most people associate command-and-control leadership with the military.  The great irony is that the military learned long ago that, if you want to win, you have to engage the intelligence of everyone involved in the battle.  In these troubled, uncertain times, we don’t need more command-and-control; we need better means to engage everyone’s intelligence in solving challenges and crises as they arise.
    

• We do know how to create workplaces that are flexible, smart, and resilient.  Engaging people through the use of self-managed teams is far more productive than any other form of organizing.  Productivity gains in self-managed work environments are at minimum thirty-five percent higher than in traditionally managed organizations.
    

• Unfortunately, organizations increasingly are cluttered with control mechanisms (policies, procedures, protocols, laws, and regulations) that paralyze employees and workers alike.
    

• Even though worker capacity and motivation are destroyed when leaders choose power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well.  And this drive for power is supported by the belief that the higher the risk, the more necessary it is to hold power tightly.  What’s so dangerous about this belief is that the opposite is true!
    

• The higher the risk, the more necessary it is to engage everyone’s commitment and intelligence.  When leaders hold onto power and refuse to distribute decision-making, they create slow, unwieldy, Byzantine systems that only increase risk and irresponsibility.  We never effectively control people or situations by these means, we only succeed in preventing intelligent, fast responses.
    

• The personal impact on leaders’ morale and health is also devastating.  When leaders take back power, when they act as heroes and saviors, they end up exhausted, overwhelmed, and deeply stressed.  It is simply not possible to solve an organization’s problems single-handedly; there are just too many of them!
    

• Sometimes leaders fail to involve staff out of some warped notion of kindness.  When leaders fail to engage people in finding solutions to problems that affect them, staff don’t thank the leader for not sharing the burden.  Instead, they withdraw, criticize, worry, and gossip.  They interpret the leader’s exercise of power as a sign that he/she doesn’t trust them or their capacities.
    

• Too many leaders drift into command-and-control, wondering why nothing seems to be working, angry that no one seems motivated any more.  Here are some questions to help you evaluate your leadership.  If you feel courageous, circulate these questions and talk about them with your constituents.

1. What's changed in the way you make decisions?  Have you come to rely on the same group of advisors? Do you try to engage those who have a stake in the decision?

2. What's happening to staff motivation?  How does it compare to a few years ago?

3. How often do you find yourself invoking rules, policies or regulations to get staff to do something?

4. How often do you respond to a problem by developing a new policy?

5. What information are you no longer sharing with staff?  Where are you more transparent?

6. What's the level of trust in your organization right now?  How does this compare to in the past?

7. When people make mistakes, what happens?  Are staff encouraged to learn from their experience?  Or is there a search for someone to blame?

8. What's the level of risk-taking in the organization?  How does this compare to in the past?

9. How often have you reorganized in the past few years?  What have you learned from that?

10. How's your personal energy and motivation these days?  How does this compare to a few years ago?

  
For the full text article, go to ...
http://www.margaretwheatley.com/articles/howisyourleadership.html
  

Relationships: The Basic Building Blocks of Life

Organizations are a dense network of relationships.  Many of our frequent and recurring failures in organizations are a consequence of not comprehending the importance of relationships.

We approach major organizational issues - mergers, accountability, knowledge management, performance management, implementation and change - as if they were engineering issues.  We think that if we develop the right plan, work flows, job descriptions and project deadlines, everything will roll out smoothly.  This mechanical approach doesn’t work with humans, because (big surprise!) humans are not machines.  We’ve developed quite a robust mythology that humans are machines who can be bossed around, told what to do, given a minor part to play in a large enterprise, and enticed with external rewards.

If we are to evoke kindness, intelligence, accountability, and learning in our organizations, we need to promote healthy relationships.  As leaders, we need to be aware that much of what we do, even actions that are well-intended, can work to disrupt relationships. 

Our work as leaders is to strengthen relationships.  A simple means to support and develop relationships is to create time to think together as staff.  Time to think together has disappeared in most organizations.  This loss has devastated relationships and led to increasing distrust and disengagement.  Yet when a regular forum exists where staff can share their work challenges, everything improves.  People learn from each other, find support, create solutions, and gradually discover new capabilities from this web of trusting relationships.

Next Month

Becoming a facilitative leader who creates results and builds relationships means changing how you think so as to change the consequences you help create - for yourself, your team, and your organization.  Learn how to become aware of and to close the gap between how you say you want to lead and how you really lead.

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