14-Feb-11 10:00 AM CST

Choosing to Lead

Leadership Begins with a Strong Personal Commitment to Being a Leader for Others

BY BOB CHAPMAN, PH.D.

Choice is Essential. Each person who is to become involved in leadership should have the freedom to choose whether or not to take on this role. Inspiring others requires a clear personal commitment to being a leader. This commitment comes through choice. That is, having made the choice to lead and having done so wholeheartedly. While at first this may seem like a small point, it is not. A person who chooses to accept the opportunity to lead brings authenticity and freshness to the role. In contrast, people who feel “nominated for the role” or for whatever reason have not freely chosen to take on leadership, will communicate that to those around them. A “reluctant leader” will not inspire others and further will be perceived as a “non-leader”.

This may seem counterintuitive, as often people are in positions where involvement is expected. Nonetheless, it is a mistake to assume that someone is committed to becoming a leader simply because of the position they currently hold. In many cases persons in higher ranking positions are often the most resistant to changes that will occur as part of the strategic execution. Often I find myself in conversations about this dynamic and hear an executive or manager say, “But they should be committed.” While the point may be valid, simply because someone should be committed does not in any way mean that they are or ever will be committed.

“Commitment is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism”

Abraham Lincoln

Commitment Is an Act of Volition or Choice

Commitment is not something that one can be forced into. People will momentarily act based on direction or threat, but that does not mean that they are committed to continuing the actions once the direction and threat are removed. So it is with leadership. Leadership is a choice that must be made by each person. Further, like any commitment, it is a choice that one gives oneself to on a day to day basis. Leadership is not a position or title. It is a condition in which one commits to influencing and inspiring others to act in ways that will produce extraordinary business results.

The question then is how one chooses to become a leader. I think the following questions are a good place to start:
Do I feel free to say no? Can I decline to be a leader in this situation?
Which of my personal commitments compels me to take on this role of leader?
Have I confronted the realities of the situation I am facing, as well as, the possible to probable consequences of my stepping forward as a leader?
Am I willing to face these possible consequences and continue on?
Am I willing to be of service to others?
Am I willing to deal with the “milk of human kindness” that is often poured out on leaders?

Coming to a personal answer for each of these questions will provide clarity on a personal willingness to be a leader. Choosing to be a leader in an execution project is essential, since choice is a crucial element in transformation. All those who are involved should do so because they want to be involved. No one should be coerced or forced into involvement:

If a person feels like they do not have a choice in the matter, they will say yes to participation and yet not be able to fully commit. Often they adopt a context of “I was forced”, “I didn’t have a choice”, “They made me do it”, etc. All of those contexts are weak and result in weak leadership.

If a person is not participating as a consequence of choice, they will not be successful. They will find it very difficult to create and exhibit the level of commitment required for effective participation. Personal involvement will become increasingly challenging and difficult to the point that it evolves into dread, frustration and sabotage of the transformation.

Choice to Confront the Challenges in Execution and Transformation

Strategic execution and transformation of a business means literally changing the very essence of the organization. This change is necessary to allow the business to succeed and thrive. It is by definition a large scale change. In addition to being large, it is also difficult. Many organizations need to transform but only a few actually accomplish the transformation. Most fail to achieve the promise of the possibility of transforming their organization. That is, only a small part of the possibility that was present for improving performance of the business and impacting the organization is accomplished. Rather than accomplishing a breakthrough in business performance and becoming a transformed organization, most settle for a compromised level of business improvement and a watered-downed version of the envisioned organizational change.

Strategic Execution is very challenging to the leaders because transformations are caused by the leaders and accomplished because of the actions of people throughout the organization. The challenges of leading a transformation should NOT be taken lightly. Too often I see managers who say all the right things but appear to be unwilling to do what is needed to achieve the transformation. This includes being willing to:

Ask people of a lesser rank to step up and take the actions to accomplish the transformation.
Challenge yourself to change.
Challenge yourself to grow as a leader and a person.
Challenge yourself about your issues with control, engagement of others, risk and trust.
Challenge what you think you know about the business. Be open to other points of view and to the possibility of discovering that the business is not exactly as you have previously considered it to be.
Challenge prior decisions that you have been made, especially those you were involved in making.
Question processes that you like and may have helped create.
Relinquish your “right answers” for how the transformation can be best be achieved.
Let go of the informal privileges of your position in the organization, e.g., being deferred to when you give an idea and wanting to have the last word on any subject. Are you willing to “check you title at the door”?

Leading a Transformation Requires Developing Other Leaders

Being a leader includes being a mentor and sponsor of others. It requires standing on the sidelines like a coach watching others playing the game. It involves resisting the temptation to want to run on the field and jump into the game.

One Leader Can’t Do It Alone

One leader cannot transform an organization alone. The leader will need much help, and, in fact, will need many others to step up and lead. A transformation requires a cadre of leaders. These are people throughout the organization who step up and provide leadership at the moment it is required. It is interesting to me that often the leadership comes from unlikely persons in unexpected roles. A phrase that captures this is, “Look for leadership where you do not expect it, and do not be surprised when you do not get the leadership from those of whom you have the highest expectations.”

Promoting Leadership by the Front-line

I have observed that the most inspirational leadership often comes from non-management employees. These front-line employees are closely involved with the customers, makers of the products or providers of the services. The passion they bring to their work is amazing, and the challenge in leading a transformation is to unleash it. You may be thinking, “Well, that may have been the case in other companies, but you haven’t seen the dolts that work here.”

I suppose there is always a first time, but I’ve yet to see a company that did not have front-line employees who step up and provide outstanding leadership. These employees turn out to be the most amazing employees when they are encouraged to lead. When I am told about employees who are dolts, I have a very good read on the type of management that has been provided, as well as the absence of leadership as the source. By that, I mean the “dolt” is in management, not the front-line.

Leadership is More Than a Title

Leadership is needed from the management positions. If you are in a management position and cannot in good conscience commit to the transformation and choose to be involved, your duty is to make this public and find some other role to play where you are not being asked to participate in leading a strategic execution and transformation. If you say you are willing to be a leader and then do not follow through, you are creating a problem of integrity that will hamper the efforts of other leaders.

In many companies the term leadership is included in the position title. There has been an interesting increase in the use of the word “leader” in job descriptions and names of management teams in companies in the Western world. This is our regional leadership team. This is our lead geologist. She is our group leader. Even so, that means nothing when it comes to being a transformational leader.

While the use of the title leader has increased, I see little evidence that the number of leaders or the effectiveness of leadership has actually increased. That is because being called a leader and being a leader are worlds apart. It is only those folks who are being a leader, as contrasted to those folks who have the title of leader, whose companies achieve the transformations they must have in order to be successful.

Dealing with Colleagues and Friends

It would be advantageous if the leader could look at her/his direct reports and know that this group was in full support of the change effort and actively involved in becoming effective leaders on their own. While that would be advantageous, it virtually never happens. Rather, the most difficult group of employees to engage in the transformation is usually the direct reports of the leader. There is usually considerable resistance to the direction that the leader is attempting to take the organization and personally to the leader.

In a cartoon called Pogo, there is the classic saying: We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us. It seems that in the world of organizational transformation we could modify that saying to be: You will meet the enemy and the enemy is your direct reports. It is a major mistake for a leader to assume that the direct reports are on board, regardless of what these direct reports say.

It is much easier and politically correct to blame the failed change effort on the employees, rather than a lack of courage in managers.

Conclusion

Choice is essential to successful leadership in strategic execution. There is no question that achieving a transformation is challenging. At the same time it may also be the most exhilarating experience in a person’s career. Many leaders that I have worked with look back on the challenging times in leading a transformation as among the highlights of their work life.