What Leaders Do to Inspire Others to Act

Bob Chapman, Ph.D. — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:00:00 GMT

    BY BOB CHAPMAN, PH.D.

Strategic execution begins with leadership. Plain and simple. No leaders no success in execution. Leaders inspire others to act in order to achieve extraordinary performance. This process begins by generating authentic leadership, even when others around do not and may even be critical of the leader. Leaders then challenge the status quo and look for ways to dislodge the status quo. Leaders also instill confidence in others so they will begin to act. Further, leaders “turn up the juice” to increase the intensity and velocity of the actions. Leaders are often teachers, who are continually helping those around them to learn and gain from experiences.

If success in execution is dependent on leadership, why is it is so frequently missed and not provided? What do successful leaders do that is missed by others? This is a great question and one that I will attempt to answer from several different directions. Let’s begin with inspiration. Too often, inspiring others is not seen as important. Not only is it important, it is the essence of how leaders achieve results through others. Let’s look at what leaders do to inspire others to act.

Leaders inspire others to take action. They inspire others to reach for goals and achieve results that would otherwise not have occurred. In looking at how leaders make this impact, it is useful to look at their actions, behaviors and communications, said simply, to look at what leaders do. We will start at the beginning of leadership, which I call generating.

Generating Leadership

Electricity is a good analogy for leadership. While electricity happens in nature through lightening, that is of little value. To be effectively used, electricity must be manufactured, or generated, and it is distributed through transmission lines. Fuel is used to run the generators that produce the electricity. Electricity cannot be saved up or stored, so it must be continually generated. When electricity is focused and used properly, it makes things come “alive” and be very productive.

Imagine with me for a minute Las Vegas without electricity. A desert? A waste land? Yet with creativity, a dynamic city has been built thanks in large to electricity. Let’s follow this analogy as we think about leadership being the electricity that fuels an organization.

Like electricity, useful leadership is designed and intentional. To be useful in producing business results, leadership must be focused and “generated”. The “generation” station is the leader. The fuel used by the leader for generation begins with Foundational Commitments along with values, courage, and intense desire to see others produce results. This mixture of fuel is incredibly potent when blended properly. The “transmission lines” for a leader is communication with the people in the organization. Communication is how “leadership electricity” reaches the intended destinations where it can make an impact. Like electricity, when leadership is focused and used properly it makes organizations and teams come alive, and in turn businesses come alive. Once alive, teams can achieve results that were previously thought impossible. Like Las Vegas, organizations can come alive and be remarkable when fueled by leadership.

The behavior of leaders begins with being generative. This means that the leader creates whatever is needed as a result of what colleagues are dealing with. Generation means that the person creates energy and intensity for him- or herself, and eventually for others. A generative leader is not dependent on others. A generative leader creates for others rather than being a drain on others. There is a pioneer quality about these leaders. They have the spirit that conquered untamed lands and caused people to follow them even in uncertainty.

This raises an important question: What does it take to be generative? Invention and creativity are two hallmarks of an effective leader. The origin of this comes from a strong commitment to the business and to the people working in the business. One of the secrets of leadership is being able and willing to create or generate the opening or space for others in the organization. This is identifying the gap between the current way of being and what will be needed for success. At first, people in the organization cannot see nor have access to what is needed. The leader fills in the creativity, energy and intensity to demonstrate what is possible and needed for others. The leader literally creates the intellect, intensity, courage and momentum to get the team/organization moving. It is like priming a pump to get it flowing. Of course, this requires significant energy and drive. Often leaders report that they feel quite fatigued as a result of doing so much of the generation for the group. At times it seems like a mother cat that is feeding a bunch of new kittens, where there is a constant demand for more. The difference is that this is with adults, and many of whom are highly educated and highly compensated. Unfortunately, they like many, do not have what it takes or know what to do to generate an opening for action in order for a group to be outrageous and highly successful.

Demonstrating the Values

Leaders generate from their values. The values of leaders are reflected in the values of their organizations. Leaders speak from their values, and they respond from their values. Their emotions are shaped by the joy of seeing their values acted out in the organization, as well as the sadness when they discover their values are missing.

Perhaps the most crucial value for leaders in execution is integrity. For many, "honesty" is the first word that comes to mind in talking about integrity. However, it is more than that. It is being true to your word. There is absolute validity in what the leader says and does. By valid I mean reliable in that it happens as promised or predicted, and the action is highly consistent with the speaking.

Integrity is a characteristic of a leader, and integrity is one of the best gifts that a leader can give the organization. It creates confidence, comfort, and a desire for belonging by employees.

Integrity is one of the key levers used in strategic execution. Early in implementation, the leader will want to watch very closely for the slightest evidence of gaps or lapses in integrity. Often it is little things, and those involved will assert that the leader is being picky. However, the key to successful implementation is catching these little gaps and lapses early and putting a correction in place. When the team or organization comes to a point that it can self-correct gaps or breaches in integrity, the leader can be pleased as the change effort is heading in the right direction.

Lack of integrity will ultimately doom a leader’s effectiveness in strategic execution. We frequently see the negative impact that high profile executives with a lack of integrity have on companies and their employees. Too often these executives who got the business in trouble get a nice package when departing, and yet leave customers, employees and shareholders stranded. While there are numerous high profile examples of the absence of integrity in business, I assert the problems caused by lack of integrity of managers and employees is much bigger and the value destruction much larger than first meets the eye. I assert that lack of integrity always has unintended and undesirable consequences.

Thinking Critically

Asking questions and criticality thinking is a key dynamic in leadership. It pushes one’s own thinking as well as the thinking of those around them.

Often there is not much of an opening for innovation or improvement because there is little opening in thinking. That is, that which is taken for granted is blocking the ability to think creatively. Thinking creatively occurs by challenging the assumption on which the current thinking is based. That is, challenging oneself and others to explore what is fact vs. opinion, looking at assumptions based on opinion and interpretations that could actually be inaccurate or irrelevant.

Raising the level of thinking is one of the most important contributions that leaders can make to an organization. This includes asking others to look at what they have accomplished or is possible and then challenging all of the assumptions that are in place. These assumptions serve as reasons for why the organization could not accomplish a similar result, even if competitors are already demonstrating that it can be done.

Critical thinking by a team leader on a project also has a profound impact. As the leader continues to ask the team to identify assumptions that are masquerading as facts, it will become apparent that the team’s view of the challenge is shaped by assumptions based on the past. Critical thinking of how to accomplish results in the future will open up the team’s thinking. What begins to occur is that the team notices that it has reasons why it cannot even think of accomplishing these results. As a team notices this, they can start to challenge themselves and all of their excuses. Once a team can see how they stop themselves from thinking creatively, they can then start to work in a very different way. That is, they can challenge all of the reasons for why performance cannot be improved or change instituted. Usually the toughest challenge a team faces is their own thinking in the matter. Once this obstacle is overcome the group becomes quite resourceful in finding new ways to think about their part of the business. The task is to keep the challenging in thinking open and vibrant for the team.

The shortage of leadership in many companies begins with a shortage of critical thinking. That is, the inability or unwillingness to challenge assumptions imbedded in the thinking about one’s own circumstances. The ability to think critically about a situation is what leads to complacency, limited creativity, repeated mistakes, and resignation.

Challenging the Status Quo

Leaders are often asking, “What have we not considered before? If we achieved that, what would then be available to us?” Challenging the status quo is among the greatest contributions that a leader can make to an organization. Often, people in the organization have lived inside of the circumstance and conditions for so long that they have limited openings or perspectives for radically different ways of doing things. A leader helps them bring increased creativity to their thinking about the circumstances as well as new opportunities for action.

When a leader challenges the status quo, it is at first quite startling, if not frightening, to many in the organization. It is thinking the unthinkable and talking about ideas and options that would have previously been thought impossible, if not crazy, and yet, it is the key to unlocking a new future for the business. There are few who have trained themselves to be able and willing to allow the challenge of status quo to exist in thinking for more than a fleeting moment. Yet it is the executive who encourages conversations about the future to flourish that is truly special for employees in the organization.

Instilling Confidence in Others

Leaders learn to trust their instincts. This includes trust of others as well as of oneself. Trust of oneself is crucial to being an effective leader. That includes readiness to trust one’s instincts about a person or situation. I have observed that as leaders become more capable, they are more prone to act on an instinct rather than waiting to get “all the facts”. In talking with very successful leaders about their own development, I often hear this comment about coming to trust one’s gut or instinct. Further, these leaders comment that some of their most painful experiences have come from not taking action based on trusting their instinct, and waiting for more data. The time spent waiting was often crucial in a lost opportunity or postponed action.

While having confidence in one’s instinct could at first seem contradictory to good leadership, it is not. Note that having confidence in one’s intuitions does not imply being impetuous or impulsive. Rather it is being aware of an impression or observation that is forming about an individual, group of individuals, or a situation facing the business.

In the case of assessing key people in the organization, leaders come to have confidence in their assessments of others’ capability, energy, intensity and drive to do what is needed. Ironically, the most important assessments about people involve values. That is, wondering if the person(s) share a similar set of values. This is important because a leader needs to identify and act on persons in key positions whose values are inconsistent or in conflict with those of the leader. A person with different values will send very confusing communications to the employees, and will in effect undermine the intent of the leader.

Trusting one’s instincts about business situations is crucial. The opportunity for action will continue to diminish over time.

Building on Experiences

Seasoned leaders find that their experience equips them to be more confident and effective. This experience equips them to be able to get a quicker read on what is going on in the business and the areas of opportunity and threats that should be addressed. It is said that better judgment comes from experience. I suppose that is a reflection of how the person uses the experience. It is like the old saying that there is a big difference in having five years experience and one year of experience fives times. The challenge is what is learned or acquired from experience.

I think the key to building experience is the insights that the person gains. That allows for crisp thinking as well as identification of the dynamics that are present in the business and organization. The insights are often gained by the leader prior to the leader being able to articulately describe the phenomenon. That is, the leader can see or experience something before they can describe it to others. Often I hear good leaders struggling to label or identify the insight or distinction that they have. They find this frustrating as they wanting to be able to pass the insight or distinction along to others. The frustration builds if the person to whom they are attempting to pass the learning is not patient with the lack of clarity and crispness in the speaking.

Focusing on the Right Things

Direction or providing focus is another key element of leadership. The role of the leader is to provide the energy to maintain the focus. At times this is very intense, as the leader must put significant amounts of energy and intellect to keep the team focused and moving, until the team reaches the point that it can do this for itself. In the earliest stages of the team and/or organizational development, the work is to get the team formed and working consistent with the expected outcomes.

The challenge of direction and focus is ongoing. That is, individuals and groups seem to go off course in implementing large-scale change. They “lose the plot”. When the magnitude of results and level of change is high, it is common that the team will lose its focus.

I strongly recommend the development of a clear charter for each team as a tool of maintaining focus. The role of the leader is to see that the charter is developed, and that it is clear and concise. Among the points of focus is the metrics to be used to assure that the appropriate outcomes are achieved. Beyond developing charters, the challenge is what the leader can do to increase the level of focus on those things that matter most. One step is to stay close enough to the work of the team that the leader can spot when the team is losing focus. This involves more than listening to what the team is saying, or waiting for the team to say that they have lost focus. Often you will find that the team loses focus and is quite unaware. The team may be very active and hard at work, only not on those things that matter most. The role of the charter is to provide clear guidance and expectations to the team. However, the role of the leader is to spot when the team is off-course and refer them back to their charter. It is amazing how often teams will forget their charter and/or become confused. The confusion is usually reflected in the team changing the deliverables or the expected outcomes. Beyond that focus is actually a reflection of a state of being alert and shaped by ones commitments. When an individual or team loses focus, they usually also lose sight of that to which they said they were focused.

Leaders are seldom “born”. Rather they develop their skill through a lifetime of learning.

Inspiring Learning

Learning and leadership go together. Fresh ideas and experiences are the fuel for developing and sustaining leaders. Leaders are continually looking for new approaches and improved interventions to drive success in their organizations.

One of the great things about leadership is that it is a skill that one can never perfect. There is always a new challenge and learning opportunity. It could be said that leadership is like golf. There is always room for improvement. No matter how good you think you have become, or how long you have been in development as a leader, there is so much more to accomplish.

It is also interesting to note that most of the effective leaders I have met are very committed to quality education, and in fact are very concerned about the limitations or low quality of the US public school system. In fact, several have taken on trying to make improvements in the public school system as a challenge. At the same time when I talk with individuals who are passionate about improvements in education they often talk at length about the need to improve leadership in public schools. That is, the great educators are a blend of teacher/coach/leader. The interesting challenges facing education is a systemic problem that will likely be solved only through courageous leadership in the face of very strong opposition.

Communicating

Communication is the tool of leadership. Leadership cannot occur absent communication. It is essential for leadership.

Effective communication directly addresses the questions and concerns of the listener. Too often management communication is viewed as irrelevant by most employees in the organization. The irrelevancy comes from the perspective that “none of my questions were answered”. Leaders, on the other hand, talk directly to the concerns and questions of the employees. In fact, leaders seem to have a “sixth sense” for understanding what matters most to employees. My observation is that this talent for understanding what matters to employees comes from a deep appreciation for the impact that employees can and do have on the performance of the business. Many managers give lip service to the importance of employees and then do not act/communicate consistent with their stated belief.

Effective communication is open, honest and complete. Everything that needs to be communicated is in fact communicated. Effective communication is both whole and complete. Topics that are “off limits” are stated as such. That is, “I know you are interested in talking about X, but because of Y I cannot talk with you about that today. I can commit that when Z happens and/or on Z date I will be back to talk with you about that specific subject."

If the “off limits” topics are cleanly identified and communicated, these topics will not be a distraction. If the off limits topics are not dealt with directly and cleanly, they will become a distraction to the listeners and fester with others. This may be used as an example of the lack of authenticity of the managers.

Effective leaders are continually looking to upgrade their communication skills. Most are skilled in using the formal communication channels. In addition they build informal communication networks to get their messages out to the people as well as receive feedback on what is going on in the company. I will discuss this in more detail in the following chapter.

Increasing Intensity

Another indication that leadership is present is the high level of intensity. There is energy and “heat” as employees work toward achieving their goal.

Leaders who are working on strategic execution teams create opportunities for people to contribute as well as put pressure on each member of the team to contribute her/his best to the work of the team. There is also a sense of healthy friction, as the team continues to challenge the approach to assure the best result is achieved.

An experienced leader can spot a team and/or organization where effective leadership is present. There is high energy, passion and spirit that are clearly observable. It is also quite contagious, as there is a desire to join in and be part of something that is happening. By contrast, a team that seems confused, lethargic or slow is usually reflective of the absence of leadership. The intensity that is missing is reflective of the direction, engagement and empowerment of others that is so essential to success.

Acting to Increase Velocity

Velocity in action is a hallmark of effective leaders. The leader’s passions are manifested in the action of others and oneself. Often leaders use the effectiveness and velocity of others’ actions as a prime indicator of their own effectiveness as a leader. Leaders control their tendency to blame others and make excuses for non-action in others, and see the inaction as evidence of something that is missing in their own actions as a leader. This insight is the hallmark of truly effective leaders.

Leaders are impatient with delays and excuses. Often there is a complaint that the leader is being intolerant or unreasonable. To many that complaint would be heard as a criticism, but to effective leaders it is a compliment. Not buying into excuses and good reasons is a key to effective leadership in execution, as it avoids being stopped by excuses. That is not to say that a leader is a tyrant. What it is saying is that a leader is resourceful in inspiring others to work with the inevitable problems and surprises that occur in execution to find an even better solution, rather than stopping.

John Kotter has written an excellent book on this subject called A Sense of Urgency[1]. Kotter is perhaps the leading academic in the area of corporate transformation. His assertion is that too many transformation initiatives fail due to a lack of urgency on the part of business units and site leaders. This excellent book is well worth the read.

The action orientation of a leader is also seen in the mood of the organization they are working with. This can be a team, a project or an organization. When a leader becomes involved the mood and intensity changes. There is anticipation that something special is going to happen. There is a sense of confidence and a spirit in the team meetings and informal gatherings, There is movement by people on issues that have previously persisted or been allowed to linger. When watched from afar, or with a different perspective, it is possible to watch the action unfolding and heading directly toward a result. It is this movement and velocity that points to the presence of leadership.

Lee Iacocca is a well known business executive and writer. Iacocca initially gained fame because of the results achieved as CEO of Chrysler Corporation. He then gained additional fame with his book Iacocca: An Autobiography, which was his account of what happened at Chrysler during its remarkable turnaround during US automotive collapse of the 1980s. He has recently written a book entitled Where Have All the Leaders Gone?[2]

Lee Iacocca is considered one of the iconoclastic business leaders of that period. What many of you may not know was that prior to going to Chrysler, Iacocca was an executive at Ford Motor Company. One of his accomplishments there was the Mustang. The Mustang was among the most successful new car launches in US automotive history. While working at Ford, I had the opportunity to talk with a number of people who had been part of the team that designed and launched the original Mustang. For many it was the highlight of their career. I often had the experience in listening to them that I was listening to a person reliving their experience of being an athlete that was on a championship athletic team. It reminded me of the play “Championship Season”, in which the coach and players relived the remarkable accomplishments of their final season of basketball in which they had won the state championship. In the play, the actors recreated their experience and in the telling of the story, the audience could hear that they used that championship season as the experience against which many of their other experiences were measured. The guys who had worked on the Mustang project with Iacocca were very similar. They described how different that experience was from many others that they had at work and in their personal lives. As I listened to them it became apparent to me that Lee Iacocca had built a leadership team on that project that permeated leadership throughout the project. For the participants there was a unique experience of participating on a team with powerful leadership being provided. That is what leadership in execution looks like. It looks like a remarkable accomplishment being achieved by a team of people who are inspired by their leaders.

Conclusion

Strategic execution begins with leadership. It is that plain and simple. Leaders inspire others to act in a way that produces extraordinary results. Extraordinary business results are what strategic execution is intended to achieve. However, the best laid execution plans will fail without leadership. No leaders, no success in execution.

[1] John Kotter. A Sense of Urgency. Boston. Harvard Business School Press. 2008

[2] Lee Iacocca. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? New York. Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster. 2007

12-Feb-10 10:00 AM

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What Leaders Do to Inspire Others to Act