The leader as a manager (1)

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The most popular definition of leadership is the ability to influence others towards the achievement of certain goals. This sort of influence could range from inspiring people to dream and achieve certain worthy goals for themselves, to influencing them towards the achievement of collective objectives. It goes without saying that anyone who can manage people well will have little or no problem running or managing processes and systems. To greatly influence outcomes, influence people.

Success, which I have defined as the progressive internalization and actualization of inspired, worthy goals, is not in systems, structures, or processes, but in the quality of people that drive them. Success is therefore, never a solo effort. It is the quality of his connection with others and the influence that that connection has on them that will largely determine the extent to which a leader succeeds.

Managing systems and processes is no doubt a tough call. However, managing people is a more daunting task. It has been said that everything rises and falls on leadership. This aphorism is the reason many people believe that all the problems of the nation and this world are caused by their leaders whom they are quick to blame even when the sun rises rather late in the day! Wrong. The statement has more to do with dispositional than positional or situational leadership. Everyone of us will bring the best of who we have become to a position or to our response to a crisis that puts to the test, our ability to serve and take responsibility for the outcomes that we seek in our situation or environment.

A good leader should seek to excel at managing people than at micro-managing systems. An inspired people will make a formidable team that will in turn metamorphose into a strong tribe with an unassailable culture predicated on solid core values. As you would have noticed in recent times, I like using acronyms a lot. This is because I found out that it helps me to organize and elucidate my thoughts on the subject matter. Let us examine the leader as a M.A.N.A.G.E.R of people.

To manage people effectively, the leader must be capable of being a Model, a Mentor and a Multiplier. In its management structure, Microsoft implemented a framework designed to directly help senior management connect effectively with their teams through empowerment and accountability. It is anchored on three manager expectations, viz, to model, to coach and to care. A leader’s call is to go the way before showing others the way. Role-modeling is an experience, not a narrative. Members of the team want to see their leader ‘walk’ his talk especially in relation to the corporate objectives and the underpinning values. It has been proven that people learn more easily by demonstration rather than narration. Leadership must be a life lived before it is a lesson taught. In the words of a Chinese proverb, “What I see you doing is so loud I cannot hear what you are saying”! A leader’s conduct instructs his team more profoundly than his words. A leader who models admirable conduct has no problem coaching or mentoring others. His team builds confidence around his person rather than the office that he occupies. A compassionate leader places relationship above rules. He has no problem replicating himself in others because they trust him enough to want to be like him. The leader who cares for members of his team is demonstrating to them that he understands their capabilities, ambitions and even limitations and he is interested in investing time and resources in their growth.

Contrary to the Machiavellian wisdom espoused in Nicolo Machiavelli’s classic, THE PRINCE, and Robert Greene’s 48 LAWS OF POWER, which sees the follower as a mere appendage of power and who must not be given too much access, the true servant-leader is Accessible. The leader who wants people to yield control to him must earn their trust by a heart connection, not by ruthless manipulation. Emotional and physical detachment from the people he leads, simply because he wants them to see him as a scarce commodity to be revered and forever venerated might make the leader appear larger than life, but in time, such a leader is demystified, especially when he commits an error of judgment or character. When that happens, nobody to whom he had shown himself infallible is ready to cut him some slack. In fact, the general feeling in the organization about such infraction is, “Serves him right!” Accessibility implies that the leader is approachable. Allowing anyone access to his space and time also implies that the leader is willing to be vulnerable. Team members read that as a sense of identification and respect for others, irrespective of their status, on the team. To effectively be a model and a mentor to people, there must be a level of proximity that connects them with their leader. This can happen through shared activities, an open-door policy that enables team members to promptly escalate their concerns, personal or work-related, in the confidence that they have a listening ear in the leader. My experience as a leader and consultant in almost thirty years, has shown me that more often than not, when people come to see their leader to talk about a concern or to rant about a challenge that they face at work or in their personal life, they only want someone to talk to who is available to listen, and if need be, give them a word of encouragement! What is of greater importance to them at that time is the availability of someone that they can trust enough to unburden their heart to, who will listen and possibly give counsel without being judgmental or abusive. Leaders who rarify access because they want to feel “big” in an over-exaggerated sense of importance, usually make themselves susceptible to an infiltration of their space by sycophants who hijack them for less than altruistic reasons.

People naturally flow towards a listening, accessible leader. Nobody wants to be in his bad books. So, they use performance as their payback for the access and care that they receive from him. In time, such a leader becomes the organization’s go-to person who metamorphoses to the position of what one might call the Nexus of the organization. In that role, people see him as the factor that links them with the organization and its ultimate goals and outcomes. Through him, they can find an interpretation for the organization’s core values and the essence of their function in it. Because he makes them feel worthy and important, their commitment to him also translates to their commitment to the corporate success of the entire organization. Such a leader in an organization is the reason some people will ignore certain acts of indignity from other managers who treat them with less respect. He is the principal reason why some people have not left the organization. The problem with this is that if this is not the leadership model in the entire organization, when the person who demonstrates it leaves, many people will not hesitate to follow suit!… continued

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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