From Managers to Leaders

Just what is the difference between a manager and a leader? A recent edition of Fortune Magazine identified nine practices that are essential for fostering outstanding leaders in organisations. Based on research that included interviews with companies renowned for their leadership development like General Electric, Nokia and Procter & Gamble, the nine points make for interesting reading for companies that want to transform their managers into leaders.

1. It’s not just talk

So many organisations and managers state that their number one resource is their people. Yet for many, this is just talk. Ask the people in those organisations if they feel like the company’s number one priority and the answer will rarely be yes.
A quick way to determine whether a company does place their employees at the centre of what they do is to examine the Managing Director’s diary and see what percentage of his or her time is devoted to staff meetings.
At McDonald’s, CEO Jim Skinner personally reviews the development of the company’s top 200 managers. At GE, CEO Jeff Immelt reviews the development of the top 600 managers. CEO’s of the companies most admired in terms of the quality of their leadership development spend around 50% of their time on people issues. This has a cascade effect, as similar percentages can be found throughout the organisation with middle managers devoting a sizeable portion of their diary time to people issues.
As a manager what percentage of your time is spent on proactively managing people issues?
Frequently the only time managers schedule staff meetings in their diaries is when they are coerced into carrying out annual performance appraisals.

2. Identify promising leaders early

Companies who lead the way in leadership development identify leadership talent from the outset. Many company’s leadership development programmes are reserved for an elite group several years into their careers and participation is often made for political rather then logical reasons. Nurturing leaders from the early stages of their careers creates a competitive advantage that can last for decades.

3. Choose assignments strategically

About two thirds of leadership development comes from job experience, one third from mentoring and coaching and a tiny amount from class room training and lectures. Leaders of the future need to hone their skills in a variety of situations.

4. Development Leaders within their current roles

There is a balance to be found between developing people within their current roles and allowing them to gain experience in other areas of the business. Departments and functions need stability, not a revolving door of managers. Short-term work assignments is one way around this. Taking on a project that is outside their immediate field will stretch a leader, broadening their skill base.

5. Passionate about feedback and support

If you don’t know how you have performed, you don’t learn and soon stop caring. Frequent, honest feedback combined with mentoring, coaching and support is vital for long term leadership development.

6. Develop Teams not just individuals

All managers and leaders achieve through others, yet traditionally learning and development happens insularly. GE, probably the most admired company in this area doesn’t just put individuals through Crottonville their in-house university; they put teams through it together, where they can make real decisions about their business. This is a very effective way of taking the theory of leadership from the classroom and back into the work environment.

7. Exert leadership through inspiration

In the short term you may be able to make people do what you want them to do by threatening to fire or demote them. But today where most workers are knowledge workers and their expertise comes from the knowledge they have accumulated and their experience, the command and control approach will not work. People volunteer their expertise and attitudes. Human nature is such that if people feel they are coerced into doing something, they will look for ways to even the score and they certainly won’t go the extra mile.

8. Encourage Leaders to be active in their community

Most companies have values that include respect for the individual and integrity. Leadership isn’t just something we do at work, it is something you are. Getting involved in community projects and charity work is another way of demonstrating and honing leadership qualities and living the values of leadership.

9. Leadership development as part of the company culture

Developing leaders isn’t just a business activity; it is a way of being. Honest feedback needs to be part of the company culture. Devoting time to mentoring has to be part of managers’ roles. Exercising leadership skills in and out of the organisation has to be encouraged not just tolerated.

Companies that lead the field realise that the business they are in is not just producing light bulbs, cars of selling insurance, they are in the people development industry. Wouldn’t that thinking change a company’s priorities? As long as you think the business you are in is hardware, software or marketing, people development is something you will do when everything else is done. That is why training is haphazard, and performance appraisals are squeezed in between the Christmas party and Christmas Eve.

 

 

Source – Adapted from 'How to be a great leader' – Fortune Magazine October 2007

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