The leader as a manager (2)

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The swan is a bird that sings only once in its lifetime, when it is about to die! It has been said that the swansong of a dying organization is, “We have never done it this way before and we won’t start now!” Dinosaurs belonged to a family of reptiles said to have lived over two hundred million years ago. Reconstructions from archaeological findings show that the dinosaur was a huge creature. However, the size was its undoing. One of the theories surrounding its extinction is that the size did not allow it to reproduce fast enough to catch up with its fatality rate. The world is changing, and trends are evolving at a dizzying pace. People want more for less. New technologies that continue to shrink borders are emerging faster than imagined. Systems are becoming obsolete and unable to further support current and future expectations. Consumers want excellent products and services with top-notch service delivery without having to break the bank to get them. Competition is multiplying faster than innovation in many organizations can catch up with. I read recently that DSTV is losing subscribers so fast that the organization is in panic mode and reaching out with all sorts of offers to customers. This is like bolting the stable door after the horse has escaped. I saw it coming many years ago. They had the worst customer service you can imagine. Arrogant and insensitive to customers’ feelings and complaints, they ignored feedback because they had a near monopoly. Instead of reinventing their business model when alternatives started emerging for the consumer, they simply became more elitist and kept jerking up subscription rates. It was only a matter of time before the chickens would come home to roost. With more homes acquiring smart TVs, cable TV as we know it is losing grounds to the internet, which many people would rather subscribe to to power what they view with the added advantage that the hotspot also allows them to do other things on their other devices.

Organisations that want to remain relevant in changing times must have strategic, innovative and transformational leadership that is Adaptable to change. Welcome to the age of agile, nimble, otherwise known as lean management. The adaptable leader learns to think on his feet. He recognizes that any structure, no matter how efficient, is created to serve the vision. So, he constantly tasks himself with how the structure can better do that. Where the structure competes with the vision, the structure is what must be tinkered with, not the vision. The vision is the sacrosanct north or compass of the organization, the attainment of which the structure is created to facilitate, not the other way round.

The leader must unrepentantly and intentionally place a premium on personal and corporate Growth, not only in financial bottom-line but in capacity building for himself as his team. Nobody can function beyond what he knows. Knowledge shapes performance before performance impacts bottom-line. Great leaders build learning and development into the DNA and culture of the organization that they lead. In my twenty-five years of practice as a Consultant and Trainer, I have discovered that when an organization is going through a crisis, one of the first budgets to be cut or completely axed is the training budget. Rather than train, they downsize and refuse to train those who remain. More money is diverted to improving processes and models than to training the people who will operate those processes. How sad! Profit resides in people. Every corporate crisis is first and foremost, a people crisis before it is systemic. If people caused it, only people can reverse it! Even if current realities demand downsizing, there is a need to invest deliberately in developing those who are retained. Growth stops where learning stops. In the language of lawyers, “Nemo dat quod non habet”, meaning, you cannot give what you don’t have! A learning organization can only be built by a learning leader!

Race relations. Ethnicity. Religion. Gender. Sexual orientation. Political differences. Generational gaps. These and many other issues that highlight our individual differences and preferences are becoming prominent in workplace environments and discussions today. More organizations are coming to terms with the reality of unwritten and unspoken biases that nonetheless affect relationships, function and career growth in corporate workspaces. The existence of invisible, yet palpable glass ceilings that have been ignored for a long time is now becoming a subject of attention. These biases have done great damage to several organizations where merit and competence have been sacrificed in preference for a particular race or gender. To lead effectively, the leader must be a great manager of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. What this means is that he must recognize that people who come to the organisation cannot all come from the same environment, background, or race. They also cannot all belong to one gender. The divergence of backgrounds, opinions, religions and even sexual orientations brings a generous supply of ideas and perspectives to contentious issues in the workplace and provide ample sharing and learning experiences. Irrespective of these differences, people must first be appreciated as people, assets that add value to the organization because of what they bring to the table, not where they come from or whether they are male or female. Every employee was interviewed based on the role he is coming to play, not his religion, race or ethnicity. The question at that point is, “Can he deliver required value?” If you are Hindu and you cannot stand Christians, what happens if you have a life-threatening condition that only a Christian doctor is available to operate on, would you care about his religion at that point? Would you care if he was gay, asexual, or bisexual? Equity only requires that everyone be given the same rights to function, aspire and to attain any height in the organization that their value capacity deserves. Wisdom recognizes difference. Honour is the celebration and reward of the difference.

Finally, effective leadership comes with Responsibility. Leadership is not about status or a position. It is about stepping up to the plate to take responsibility for situations that arise, confronting and resolving them. Responsible leaders don’t play the blame game. This is what sets them apart from other people. They simply take the lead in seeking solutions to collective dilemmas. Leadership responsibility also implies a high level of accountability in three key areas. These are people, processes, and outcomes. It is easy to pass the buck and look for scapegoats when things are not working well. The leader of a team must recognize that the buck stops at his desk. He takes decisions that affect the collective. He must not shy away from being decisive and firm when he needs to. He should also not neglect opportunities to celebrate his team when they record successes that move the organisation closer to its goals. Responsibility also means that the leader cannot be a people pleaser. Leadership is not a popularity contest. The road is sometimes lonely because leaders are usually misunderstood. But when the positive results of some of their decisions manifest, their haters turn to their hailers!

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

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