Below is Lesson 2 on Gen Collin Powel's views on leadership. Before we move on to Lesson 2 though let's recap Lesson 1. Here we learned the importance of being a responsible Leader. We also learned that a good leader is not only responsible but we learned the pitfalls of a person in a leadership position who tries to please everyone. In fact, Gen Powell stated that trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.
LESSON 2
"The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership."
"If this were a litmus test, the majority of CEOs would fail. One, they build so many barriers to upward communication that the very idea of someone lower in the hierarchy looking up to the leader for help is ludicrous. Two, the corporate culture they foster often defines asking for help as weakness or failure, so people cover up their gaps, and the organization suffers accordingly. Real leaders make themselves accessible and available. They show concern for the efforts and challenges faced by underlings, even as they demand high standards. Accordingly, they are more likely to create an environment where problem analysis replaces blame."
Let's break this down from another angle. What is communication? With communication we have a sender; the message; we have a receiver; feedback and back to the sender. What is missing based on the material in Lesson 2? Yep! You got it…"Feedback".
Communication is essential in any line of business. I don't care what business you are in you absolutely are never going to reach your businesses capacity by ridiculing your team members for up channeling information. So called Leaders like this have little respect from their subordinates and they create inefficient operations.
Some people still think old school and want to run by tyranny. My wife had a boss like that and she had a name for it but I can't really put those words in print. The fact of the matter is her entire team was beaten to a pulp by his rule by tyranny approach. Can you guess what happened when her boss was moved to a different branch? Efficiencies and production is now well on the way to recovery.
How many of you remember Total Quality Management (TQM)? I know there are a lot of people that aren't too fond of TQM; however, there are many new programs to replace it. TQM drove a change in mindset in this country. The auto makers in this country watched market share erode while Toyota was booming. American auto makers new they had to do something. They could not afford to ignore it when efficiencies and production at Toyota was soaring? If corporate America didn't get on the train they were going to get run over by it. Well, many corporations did get run over lately because they just don't get it. Too much focus is placed on the bottom line for stockholders but that subject is for another day.
The people in the trenches often see the train wreck coming before leadership. Great Leaders surround themselves with great people. Great Leaders encourage creative thinking. Great Leaders Lead! What a concept, Leaders Leading! A true Leader guides their team and manages processes. If an individual in a Leadership position fails to allow subordinates to communicate up the chain does exactly what Gen Powell described; it creates gaps. In corporate America it could be devastating and expensive. In the military it could lead to the unnecessary death of a service member. One of the worst things you can do as a Leader is to alienate your team by not allowing them to communicate with you. If you are a Leader, do yourself a favor and ensure you have an open door policy and mean it. It may even give you an opportunity to master the art of listening.
Well, that's it for Lesson 2; direct and to the point. Keep looking for Leadership Mindset, 3 of 18 Lessons of Leadership.
