About the Mentor:
Linda A. Hill
From her more than 20 years of extensive field work, Professor Linda A. Hill has helped managers create the conditions for effective management in today's flatter and increasingly diverse organizations. She is a Professor and chair of the Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School. She is also the author of the best-selling Becoming a Manager (Harvard Business School Press), now out in paperback. Linda served as the content expert for Coaching for Results and Managing Direct Reports, two award-winning interactive programs from Harvard Business School Publishing. She also served as a mentor for many Harvard ManageMentor topics.
Source Notes:
Learn
John Baldoni. "Effective Management Communications: It's More Than Talk." Harvard Management Communication Letter, April 2002.
Daniel Goleman. "Leadership that Gets Results." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000.
Daniel Goleman. "What Makes a Leader?" Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000.
Harvard ManageMentor on Leading and Motivating. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2003.
Ronald A. Heifetz and Donald L. Laurie. "The Work of Leadership." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000.
Frederick Herzberg. "One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?" Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000.
Lauren Keller Johnson. "Great Expectations: The Key to Great Performance." Harvard Management Update, May 2004.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter. "The Middle Manager as Innovator." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2001.
John P. Kotter. "What Leaders Really Do." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000.
John P. Kotter. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1996.
"Five Questions About . . . Employee Recognition and Reward: An Interview with Bob Nelson." Harvard Management Update, September 2003.
Nigel Nicholson. "How to Motivate Your Problem People." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2003.
Robert E. Staub, II. The Heart of Leadership: 12 Practices of Courageous Leaders. Provo, UT: Executive Excellence Publishing, 2000.
"Situational Leadership II: The Article." Sunrise, FL: The Ken Blanchard Companies, 2001.
"Situational Leadership II: The SLII Model." Sunrise, FL: The Ken Blanchard Companies, 2003.
Steps
Rosabeth Moss Kanter. "The Middle Manager as Innovator." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2001.
John P. Kotter. "What Leaders Really Do." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000.
John P. Kotter. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1996.
"Situational Leadership II: The Article." Sunrise, FL: The Ken Blanchard Companies, 2001.
Robert E. Staub, II. The Heart of Leadership: 12 Practices of Courageous Leaders. Provo, UT: Executive Excellence Publishing, 2000.
Tips
Kurt Hanks. Motivating People: How to Motivate Others to Do What You Want and Thank You for the Opportunity. Menlo Park, CA: Crisp Publications, 1991.
Ronald A. Heifetz. Leadership Without Easy Answers. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1994.
Kenneth H. Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi. Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership. New York: William Morrow & Company, 1985.
Tools
"Five Questions About . . . Employee Recognition and Reward: An Interview with Bob Nelson." Harvard Management Update, September 2003.
Daniel Goleman. "What Makes a Leader?" Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000.
Ronald A. Heifetz and Donald L. Laurie. "The Work of Leadership." Harvard Business Review OnPoint Enhanced Edition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000.
John P. Kotter. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1996.
What Would You Do?
When Jessica took over the department, she turned to Mary, her mentor and boss, for support. On several occasions, Jessica asked Mary where she saw the department going. Each time Mary would make a vague comment or suggestion and then turn the question around, and ask her—"Where do you see the department going?"
Jessica became increasingly frustrated with this response.
Mary was the boss, the person with the grand vision. Why wouldn't she tell Jessica what she was supposed to be doing?
What would you do?
Mary is purposefully being vague and not answering Jessica's question because it's Jessica's job, as a new leader, to create the vision and direction for her department.
Jessica needs to think about where she sees her group going, what it will take to get there, and how this fits into the company's overall strategy. The vision that Jessica arrives at will be her most important motivational tool, and will help her to align resources and to keep people focused on the tasks at hand.
In this topic, you'll understand what makes an effective leader, as well as learn how to create a vision and motivate others to do their best.
As a leader, it's your job to craft your team's vision — and then motivate team members to attain that vision. But where do you begin?
This topic helps you:
Key Idea
A common misconception about leadership is that it's the province of a chosen few. Some think that it's just a matter of possessing certain quasi-mystical traits — like charisma and vision — which you either have or you don't.
The fact of the matter is that leadership skills are not innate. They can be acquired and honed.
In order to understand what leaders do, it is important to understand the difference between management and leadership. They are two distinct and complementary systems of action.
Management involves coping with complexity; leadership, coping with change.
Managing requires bringing order and predictability to a situation, while leading requires adapting to changing circumstances — an increasingly important skill in today's volatile and competitive business environment. As such, the work of management is significantly different from the work of leadership.
For example, while managing requires planning and budgeting skills, leading requires the ability to set direction. Organizing and staffing are management tasks, whereas aligning people falls under the domain of leadership. Finally, while managing concerns controlling and problem solving, leading is about motivating and inspiring a team.
On my first day on the job as Harvard's Vice Provost for International Affairs, I didn't know what to do, because Harvard had never had a vice provost. But on the twelfth day, I realized what the job was. War began in the Middle East, Israel bombed Lebanon, and I had to ask myself the question, "Do we have anybody there? And if so, what do we do?" The answer, Harvard being a very decentralized organization, is, "We have no idea whether we have anybody in Lebanon or, for that matter, in almost any other country in the world." We began to discover, almost retail, one by one, that in the end we had 47 Harvard affiliated people in Lebanon.
The question then became specifically, "And so what?" So the first decision — and it had to be made just like that, because there is a war going on — is, "Yes, we will try to evacuate each and every Harvard affiliate who is there. We will evacuate our people."
The second question — just as instantaneous because there's a war going on — "Who are our people?" Not only those 47, but many of them were there with others. They were with spouses. They were with kids.
So we had to make a series of decisions and we had to make them quickly, that we would evacuate them with their spouses. And we would evacuate them with their partners, if they had them there. Then, the next obvious question is "Well then, who is a partner?" Well, there's a war going on, you're being shot at, a partner is whoever you tell me is your partner.
We also had to make some decisions about, "Who is not part of the 'we'?" So we evacuated spouses, partners, and children, but not parents. And then, of course, we had to actually carry out the evacuation. We had a subcontractor. The next part of the "we" was, "Do we just evacuate people who are returning to the U.S., but not the Lebanese?"
And the answer was, "The Lebanese, of course, we're taking them from home, but they too are part of Harvard University." I discovered that Harvard really was a global enterprise and that the key question is to realize that Harvard is wherever its people are.
That's what makes each and every one of us who works for Harvard valued individually and what makes Harvard the organization that it wants to be.
Jorge Dominguez
Vice Provost, International Affairs, Harvard University
Jorge I. Dominguez serves many roles at Harvard University. He is Antonio Madero Professor of Mexican and Latin American Politics and Economics, Vice Provost for International Affairs, Senior Advisor for International Studies to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Chairman of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies.
He has authored and coauthored various titles including "Consolidating Mexico's Democracy: The 2006 Presidential Campaign in Comparative Perspective," "The Construction of Democracy: Lessons from Practice and Research," and "Between Compliance and Conflict: East Asia, Latin America, and the 'New' Pax Americana."
A past President of the Latin American Studies Association and a past Board Chairman of the Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities, Jorge currently serves on the Editorial Boards of Political Science Quarterly, Latin American Research Review, Foreign Affairs en espanol, Cuban Studies, Foro internacional, and Istor, and is a Contributing Editor to Foreign Policy. He was Series Editor for the Peabody Award-winning Public Broadcasting System television series, Crisis in Central America.
His current research focuses on the international relations and domestic politics of Latin American countries.
The aim of management is to obtain well-defined, orderly results. Therefore, managers engaged in the planning and budgeting process typically:
On the other hand, leadership's function is to enable change. Setting the direction for that change is of paramount importance. While there's nothing magical about this kind of work, it is more inductive and intuitive than planning and budgeting, and does not result in detailed plans. Setting a direction for change requires leaders to:
The definition of leadership is to have inspired, energized followers.
-Warren G. Bennis
Organizing is a management process that, at its core, involves creating systems that enable people to implement plans as precisely and efficiently as possible. The processes of organizing and staffing require managers to:
The organizing and staffing processes critical to effective management illustrate the complex problem of designing a well-functioning system. However, its leadership counterpart, aligning people, is not a design issue, but rather a communications challenge.
To align people to a vision, a leader must:
While organizing people to fulfill a short-term plan is difficult, getting a large number of people from inside and outside the company first to believe in an alternative future, and then to take initiatives based on this shared vision, is often even more challenging.
Processes like controlling activities and solving problems are mechanisms managers put in place to make it easy for people to complete their daily jobs. Managers use these processes to:
The leadership processes of motivating and inspiring are quite different. Motivating and inspiring energizes people not by pushing or pulling them in the right direction, but by satisfying basic human needs for achievement — a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, and having control over one's life.
Effective leaders motivate in a variety of ways.
For example, they:
Management skills are essential. But in response to an ever-changing economic and social marketplace, managers are increasingly being called upon to be leaders as well. As a result, the ability to lead — that is, identify a vision, align people to it, and motivate them to achieve it — has become even more critical for today's managers.
Management and leadership are two distinct and complementary systems of action. Identifying the differences between their components will help you understand each system.
Decide which of the following actions show management and which ones show leadership.
Establish detailed steps for achieving the desired targets
Allocate the resources required to accomplish desired targets
Gather a range of data and look for patterns, relationship, and linkages
Choose a job hierarchy and justify reporting relationships
Solicit input and discussion from a wide range of people
Decide on how much authority to delegate, and to whom
Recognize and reward success
Support employees' efforts to realize the vision by providing coaching, feedback, and role modeling
Efficiently compare the behavior of the system they've organized and staffed with the original plan and budget
If the comparison reveals a divergence from the original course, take the corrective actions necessary to get the plan back on track
In the past, leaders generally knew they were invested with formal authority. As such, their directives carried organizational weight. Today's organizations are flatter and less hierarchical. Many leaders now do not have formal authority and, even if they do, find it is not particularly useful. Instead, they recognize that leading requires the mastery of certain skills, all of which can be learned and developed.
Successful leadership requires strong:
In addition to mastering certain concrete skills, effective leaders generally share a cluster of essential characteristics. These characteristics can be categorized as components of emotional intelligence—the ability to manage yourself and your relationships effectively. Research has shown that what distinguishes outstanding leaders is their degree of emotional intelligence, not their technical or analytical skills. Five key components of emotional intelligence (EI) are:
I had the good fortune last year to be involved in the development and editing of an incredible book, which was the secret memoir of Zhao Ziyang who had been the leader of China. He was the ruler of the country in 1989. During Tiananmen, he is the man who tried but failed ultimately to stop the Tiananmen Massacre. He recorded 30 hours of tape secretly while he was under house arrest after 1989. It was smuggled out of the country and a colleague and I turned it into a book last year. So during the process I really got inside Zhao's head and learned a lot about him and what made him a great leader.
While he failed in 1989 to stop the violent putdown of the peaceful protest in Beijing, he had succeeded incredibly in the years before that in bringing the early roots of economic reform to China. So the China that we think of today, this incredible economic juggernaut, this incredible export machine, he really planted the seeds for that when he was a provincial leader.
So going through that and looking at his experience, I kind of drew from it a few lessons that I think he offers to leaders and managers. And number one was experimentation. In Russia — when the Soviet Union fell apart and Russia was trying to reform that economy, they tried to do it all at once. They tried shock therapy and it failed miserably. It was too much for the system to handle.
What Zhao had done as a provincial leader in Sichuan province, in Guangdong province, was pioneer some reforms locally that could be observed, could be tested, and you sort of look for early wins and if they succeed, then you can adopt them nationally. And he did just that, some ideas that let peasants grow some extra grain for themselves after they had met their state quotas.
And this kind of minor tweaking of the old Maoist system really worked and people's living standards increased, production increased and he didn't have to put the entire nation at risk with a big experiment. Rather they tested things locally, they worked and they were adopted elsewhere. So that's number one.
Second lesson from studying Zhao is how important it is to get buy in and to get buy in from everyone, from your friends as well as your foes. Zhao was in a complicated position trying to reform a Maoist economy and dealing with colleagues, some of whom were still Maoists, who didn't see anything wrong with the previous system.
Zhao's goal was to modernize the economy, but he understood that to bring everybody along he had to be very cognizant of what their arguments were, what their objections were, and even the language that they used.
For example, he didn't say we should develop a capitalist economy or even a market economy, he talked about developing a commodity economy, which is sort of a code word it turned out for a market capitalist style system, but it was in the language that the skeptics could accept and enabled him to go forward.
And the third lesson that I draw from Zhao is to be open to change. I mean he was a lifelong communist party technocrat. That was the only professional life he knew. And at a certain point when the facts suggested that the system wasn't working, that the system needed to change, he was able to pivot. He sort of looked objectively at things.
It is very difficult when you have staked your life based on a certain sustaining myth to suddenly say, OK, it's really time to make a dramatic change. So in the book, those are really the three lessons that Zhao's life sort of leaves to us. Again even though he failed to stop the Tiananmen Massacre in the '80s, he really did deliver kind of the seeds of economic reform that continue today.
And again the lessons are gradualism, experimentation, getting buy in, and being willing to switch when you realize things are not going the way you had planned.
Adi Ignatius
Editor-In-Chief, Harvard Business Review
Adi Ignatius is the Editor-in-Chief of Harvard Business Review. Founded in 1922, Harvard Business Review sees its goal as providing required reading for business and organizational leaders around the world.
Previously, Adi was the Deputy Managing Editor at Time magazine, where he was responsible for many of Time’s special editions, including the Person of the Year and Time 100 franchises. As Executive Editor of Time, beginning in 2002, he was responsible for the magazine’s business and international coverage.
Prior to joining Time in 1996, Adi worked for 13 years at the Wall Street Journal, serving as the newspaper’s bureau chief in Beijing, where his work was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
He was awarded a Zuckerman Fellowship at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in 1990. He received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Haverford College. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I have expertise in building and leading teams.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I have a knack for finding common ground with others.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I am self-confident.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I have expertise in coaching and retaining talented people.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I am in control of my feelings and impulses.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I constantly try to improve.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I know when to ask for help.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I am sensitive to cross-cultural differences.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I have a strong drive to achieve.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I am trustworthy.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I know my strengths and limitations.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I suspend judgment and prefer to seek out information.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I am optimistic even in the face of failure.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I enjoy collaboration.
How accurately does the following statement describe you?
I intuitively know how people are feeling.
Emotional intelligence capabilities can be directly mapped to specific leadership traits. The following table illustrates this mapping and outlines the corresponding behaviors:
|
Competency |
Leadership Trait |
Behavior |
|
Self-awareness |
Self-aware |
Know their weaknesses and strengths as well as how their behavior affects others |
|
Self-regulation |
Level-headed |
Stay calm in the midst of turmoil and confusion |
|
Motivation |
Persistent |
Maintain a positive, focused attitude in pursuing a goal, despite obstacles |
|
Empathy |
Caring |
Empathize with other people's needs, concerns, and goals |
|
Social skill |
Humorous |
Know how to interject humor when the situation warrants it |
Fortunately, since emotional intelligence is not genetic, strengthening your EI capabilities is possible. You can learn to improve your EI skills through extended practice, feedback from colleagues, and your enthusiasm for making a change.
Contemporary business leadership calls for generous portions of decisiveness, coolness under fire, and results-oriented thinking. It also calls for courage in the face of conflicting demands. The ability to make trade-offs between people, resources, money, and deadlines — often causing short-term pain for the sake of long-term benefit — remains a vital element of effective leadership.
Likewise, leaders must be future-focused; they must know how their group or unit fits into the bigger organizational picture. They must be able to efficiently organize short-term tasks according to long-term priorities.
Perhaps one of the most important responsibilities of today's leaders is creating the conditions that enable employees to excel. To achieve this aim, the most successful leaders are also the most flexible: they have learned to adapt their leadership style to the situation.
Key Idea
While recognizing the characteristics and skills that leaders have is useful, it is equally important to understand what they do.
Any organization, team, or group is directly impacted by the way its leaders motivate direct reports, gather and use information, make decisions, address change initiatives, and handle crises.
Many managers mistakenly assume that leadership style is a function of personality rather than strategic choice. Therefore, they believe that people have only one leadership style — the one that best suits their temperament.
However, savvy leaders recognize that no single style is appropriate. Rather, they recognize that leadership is contextual, and choose, from a suite of styles, the one that best addresses the demands of a specific situation.
There are a number of ways to classify leadership styles. One approach categorizes styles according to emotional intelligence competencies, some of which work better than others in specific situations, and affect the organization or group in different ways. These styles are:
While some styles may be more comfortable for you to adopt than others, the more you stretch yourself to learn a range of styles, the more effective you will be as a leader. Generally speaking, being able to switch among four styles — authoritative, affiliative, democratic, and coaching — as conditions dictate tends to create the optimal work environment.
When leading people in a one-on-one situation, the style you adopt should reflect the needs and personality of the individual you are working with. It is important to remember that everyone has different capabilities and strengths which will likely fluctuate on a project-by-project basis. Therefore, the same person may need you to provide a different leadership style, depending on the task at hand.
Leah is the head of her company's sales team. She's cool, calm, and a little aloof; when she praises her direct reports, they know they have earned it. They sometimes joke about her "hands-off" management style, but it gets results. She comes up with new strategies on her own, but holds regular meetings to set out ambitious goals for the team to tackle. While she proposes bold strategies for achieving those goals, her team appreciates that she doesn't micromanage them. Leah's strategies always seem to get her team motivated, even though business has been slow for the company for the past few years.
Araj leads an extremely talented and competitive group of developers at a top apparel company. When a new product comes down from management, Araj doesn't waste much time with meetings or strategy sessions; he gets to work. The team has gotten used to observing him and following his lead. Though they are sometimes unsure about what to do in certain situations, Araj's high level of personal performance inspires them to be self-motivated problem solvers.
Mark runs his company's R&D department, which is a bit different from other departments. Half of his employees are actually interns from the local technical college, some of whom will stay on for full-time jobs after graduation. He has found that the best way to get results from these staff members is to provide them with very clear goals and directions for achieving these goals. Then he pairs up each intern with a full-time staff member, with whom the intern meets once a week to discuss problems and plans for improvement.
Key Idea
Effective leaders create a vision that others will support with their hearts and minds. Simply stated, a vision is a description of an altered and improved future. Your vision need not be grand or necessarily innovative. However, it does need to be sensible, and to motivate people to achieve it.
A vision has three important purposes:
My personal definition of leadership has really evolved over the past 14 years, during my tenure as CEO. And I think a good starting point is to talk about some of the things that leadership is not. It is not an abstract concept, it is not strictly philosophical, and it is not something that is just reserved for top management. Leadership, to me, is alive, it's real, it's vibrant. And it's personal. In our organization, we view every individual, regardless of where they are in the company, as a leader.
And the reason we do that is because we recognize that every individual has a unique set of experiences that can help our organization grow. And it was based upon that philosophy that we developed our concept of leadership around three pretty simple principles.
The first one is learning, because that is really the essence of organizational growth. The second one is teaching, because every individual in the organization has gifts and talents that they can share, both personally and professionally, to support the growth of the organization. And then finally sharing, because that's what ties together the process of learning and teaching and makes it real.
And what we have found is the more that we're able to do that and the more successful we are, the more we are actually nourishing the ideals inside of the company.
There's an example that I like to use. Our main business is natural gas distribution, which means that we keep people warm in the winter. And if you take an example where it's January and it's cold outside, and you go to turn your heat on and it doesn't go on, and you call the company, who is the last person that you want to see showing up at the door?
That answer is easy: it's me, the CEO, the so called leader of the company. And at that moment the woman or the man who is out representing the company, solving the problem for the customer, that person is the leader of the company.
Because what I have learned is that the power of the organization is really driven by the power of the individual. And the success of any organization is really a function of how well we're able to capture those unique talents, experiences, and gifts for the better of the company as a whole. That, to me, is the essence of leadership.
Larry Downes
CEO, New Jersey Resources
Larry Downes is Chairman of the Board and CEO of New Jersey Resources (NJR) and its principal subsidiary, New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG). New Jersey Resources, a Fortune 1000 company with over $3 billion in annual revenues, provides natural gas and clean energy services to customers in New Jersey, and in states from the Gulf Coast to New England and Canada.
He joined NJR in March 1985 and was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in January 1990. In March 1995, he was elected President and CEO of NJNG and a member of NJR's Board of Directors. In July 1995, he was named President and CEO of NJR. In September 1996, he was named Chairman of NJR's Board of Directors.
Larry received a bachelor's degree in business administration in June 1979 from Iona College, as well as a master's degree in business administration from Iona in June 1981.
He is a Director and past Chairman of the American Gas Association and the Natural Gas Council, and a Trustee of the American Gas Foundation. He is also past Chairman and serves as a member of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education.
–Lieutenant Colonel Bob Staub, II
An effective vision should be:
Consider the following example of an effective vision, taken from a large corporation:
"It's our goal to become the world leader in the pharmaceutical industry within 10 years. This means we will increase profits, focus more on customer-centered innovation, offer better employee benefits than any of our competitors. Achieving this objective will require that we become more globally focused. If we all work together, we can achieve this vision."
Here is another example of an effective vision, from a business unit:
"It is our aim to reduce our costs by at least 25% and increase our sales group's revenues by at least 25%. These are stretch goals but, based on our analysis, we know they are achievable within four years if we all work together. When this is done, our unit will be publicly recognized for our achievement. Likewise, our unit will serve as a model for process improvement across the organization."
Be sure that the vision you craft is consistent with your organization's overall mission. A vision should appeal to an organization's core values — the guiding principles by which the organization navigates — like honesty, creativity, or social responsibility. It should also draw upon an organization's core purpose — its most fundamental reason for being — like helping people to do something or improving a practice worldwide.
A clear, simple, and enduring vision of a better future is a leader's most important motivational tool. It becomes a guide as a group, unit, or organization moves away from past beliefs, activities, and goals to a future more suited to the changing needs of the organization and the demands of the economic environment.
You will likely find yourself referring to your vision time and again, explaining its benefits and relevance to various audiences as you work to keep them on course.
As a leader, your job is to motivate others to achieve your vision. That means you need to be able to communicate your vision to a wide audience in a way that they can understand, relate to — and ultimately believe in.
Your audience comprises anyone who will be affected by the outcome of your vision. These stakeholders may include: supervisors, peers, colleagues in other parts of your organization, and direct reports, as well as suppliers or vendors, shareholders, and even customers. Although each of these people may react differently to your vision, everyone needs to be properly aligned and focused on achieving the common goal.
How do you achieve this alignment? Effective communication.
Key Idea
It's important to effectively communicate your vision to key stakeholders on your project. To communicate your vision, start by looking at it from the perspective of each of your key stakeholders. Try to identify what would most energize and inspire them to achieve your desired end-state. When you communicate your vision to stakeholders, clearly spell out the benefits of your alternative future in terms of its impact on them. Be sure to use terminology and concepts that they will easily understand and relate to.
One prerequisite for communicating your vision effectively is the credibility you establish with your audience. Credibility derives from two factors: expertise and trust.
When you exercise sound judgment that proves you're knowledgeable about your ideas, and accumulate a history of successes, people perceive you as an expert. If you are candid and sincere and put others' interests ahead of your own, you will earn people's trust.
Only by establishing your trustworthiness and your expertise will you build the credibility you need to get your audience to believe in — and follow — your vision.
-William Butler Yeats
When communicating a vision, you should:
If you fail to communicate your vision effectively, people will not move in the same direction. Without proper alignment, it will be difficult — if not impossible — to motivate your stakeholders to make your vision a reality.
To realize a vision, leaders need to ensure that people are constantly aligned throughout what can be a long and arduous process. The key to keeping people energized and moving on the same path is motivation.
Leaders do not achieve their goals by force or pushing people in a certain direction. Instead, successful leaders get the results they seek by appealing to people's inner drives, needs, and desires.
–Dwight Eisenhower
There are numerous ways to get people motivated. One popular approach relies on enhancing or improving factors that are external to the specific job a person performs. These "external" factors are aspects of a job that are related to job environment, not the job content itself. External factors include:
Some experts have demonstrated that externally focused incentives provide only a short-term means of motivation. They argue that, to be effective and keep people moving forward, leaders need to continuously provide these rewards — while upping the ante each time. Using only external factors to motivate employees, therefore, can become increasingly costly over time.
An alternative and more sustainable approach to motivation draws upon tapping into employees' desire to perform. Using this approach, leaders try to inspire people by enriching their jobs and giving them broad responsibilities that increase their overall job satisfaction. This type of intrinsic motivation relies on "internal" factors that are related to job content (the nature of the work itself), and comes from within employees. Internal motivational factors include:
Some experts note that the presence of a strong external reward structure diminishes an individual's ability to react to internal motivators. Others maintain that these two means of motivating people are complementary, and that leaders should strive to provide both where possible. One thing is certain: all people have individual drives, needs, and desires. Because of this, they will be motivated by different factors.
Finding out what motivates people on an individual level is critical. Taking the time to discover what inspires each of your key stakeholders, and devising the plan that best meets their needs, will help ensure that people stay motivated for the long term.
Early in my Goldman career, I got invited to John Thornton's office. John was the co COO of the firm, one of the top three people, the president, co-president, and he was bringing me in to basically give me positive feedback to thank me for some work that had been done in my unit. He was about five minutes in, and it occurred to me this is something that I had very little to do with, and I was feeling uncomfortable. He was getting quite lavish in his praise and it was just unearned. So I said, "Look, John, let me stop you for a minute." And I explained what I just said, that the work he was praising me for was really done by various members of my team. And I guess I didn't prevent it, so you could say I abetted as a leader, but basically some of that was en route, underway before I even took the job.
So I said, "John —" It was a 20 minute meeting; we had about 10 left. "What I'd like to do, if it's OK with you, at your convenience, let me schedule 10 minutes. Let me bring my team up here and tell them what you just told me, because they're the ones who should be hearing it, not me." So he agreed, and we came back at a time convenient to him, and the 10 minutes became 50 — 5-0 — minutes.
And he went through, he elaborated on what he liked and how important it was, went on to tell the team — my team was eight people, that's all I had working for me at the time, many junior people. Some had never been up to the 30th floor before. You sink their knees in the carpet and all this.
And he's telling them how much he valued what they've done, and that there's huge opportunities to remake the firm and what a valuable role they could play...and he went on to describe the barriers and things he'd be expecting.
I mean, they were on cloud nine when they left, and there's nothing I could have said or done that was as powerful as him just kind of selling it. But to an executive, words are easy. But giving your time, [that's something]. The 10 minutes became 50 minutes that he devoted, because he got so excited talking to the team.
The ancillary benefit is that he became a better friend to Pine Street and was more in tune with us afterward. But the motivation for the team of just getting a chance to listen to the boss say how it helped and to be given marching orders was invaluable.
Steve Kerr
Senior Advisor, Goldman Sachs
Steve Kerr is a Senior Advisor to Goldman Sachs and is Executive Director of the Jack Welch Management Institute. From 2001 to 2006 he was Goldman’s Chief Learning Officer and a managing director. Dr. Kerr came to Goldman Sachs from General Electric, where he was Vice President of Corporate Leadership Development and Chief Learning Officer and had responsibility for GE’s renowned leadership education center at Crotonville.
He previously served on the faculties of Ohio State University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Michigan, and was Dean of the Faculty of the USC Business School from 1985 to 1989. He is a past president of the Academy of Management, the world’s largest association of academicians in management. His most recent book, “Reward Systems,” was published by Harvard Business Press in 2009.
Dr. Kerr is on the board of directors of The Motley Fool, the Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation, and Harvard Business Publishing. He has a doctorate in management and organizational psychology from the City University of New York.
Celebrating milestones, whether large or small, is critical to keeping people motivated. Good leaders not only recognize individuals for their efforts, but also the successful completion of goals on the group, unit, and organizational level.
Broadcast every milestone reached or project completed to upper management, colleagues, and even outside stakeholders. Recognize everyone responsible for achieving the milestone, and strive to provide each person the type of "reward" that best motivates him or her.
Taking the time to celebrate is essential because it acknowledges people's hard work, boosts morale, and helps keep up the momentum necessary to achieve your vision.
Key Idea
In an ideal world, everyone in your organization would be inspired by your vision and willing to work toward your end goals. However, in reality, you will likely find people who do not want to follow your lead. As tempting as it may be to ignore such individuals, you must deal with them head-on. If left alone, they can undermine your efforts by lowering levels of productivity and morale.
In trying to motivate intractable employees, inexperienced leaders often make the mistake of forgetting that everyone has different motivational drivers, values, and biases. They think that if they position their perspective in a certain way and use the "right" language, problem employees will see the logic of their views. Unfortunately, efforts such as these are doomed to failure. So, how do you energize difficult people?
To successfully motivate problem employees, you must uncover their inherent motivations.
Everyone has motivational energy, it just may not be directed effectively in the workplace.
As a leader, then, your role is not to try and motivate your problem employees; rather it's to help them motivate themselves. Instead of trying to impose a solution on your employees, work with them to uncover the barriers that prevent them from achieving desired goals.
The following three-step approach can help you to tap into an employee's inherent motivation:
While trying to turn around a problem employee takes time and energy, it is well worth the investment. The payoffs of using this method extend far beyond the situation and specific person involved; the method boosts morale and can help motivate others as well. In addition, your efforts will send the strong message that you are willing to grapple with difficulties head-on, instead of simply dismissing them.
Motivating a problem employee takes time and energy. Handle it correctly, and you make it all worthwhile.
Motivating a problem employee takes time and energy. Handle it correctly, and you make it all worthwhile.
Hank has been one of your direct reports in the production department for two years. Though his work is generally solid, he often seems to lack a real drive to excel. He also tends to bring a pessimistic attitude to new projects. You worry that this attitude could negatively affect other employees. You want to motivate Hank.
Which of the following steps would you not take?
You review Hank's résumé. Nothing in it indicates to you that he would be dissatisfied in his current job.
Next, you try talking to his fellow team members. Some of them have worked with Hank for more than two years—including the time before you became head of the department.
Several of these employees say that Hank used to be a very positive, energetic, and exceptional performer. Then, at some point, he just seemed to lose interest in projects.
Given this information, which of the following reasons can you rule out as an explanation for Hank's loss of motivation?
You meet with Hank to discuss his apparent lack of enthusiasm. After some prying, it becomes clear to you that Hank has some difficulties with your managerial style.
You have had great success with encouraging your direct reports to solve problems and develop plans to meet department goals on their own. Hank prefers the style of your predecessor, who gave staff members far more incentives and recognition for working collectively on problems and projects.
What should you do next to continue addressing Hank's motivation problem?
When leaders offer their vision of a new future, they recognize that the change required comes with inherent challenges. They recognize that a certain level of stress is healthy and necessary for change to occur. However, they also know that people can't — or won't — learn new ways of doing things if they are feeling anxious or overwhelmed.
To help motivate people without immobilizing them, create a holding environment — a "safe" organizational space in which the conflicts, emotions, and stresses related to the change associated with your vision can be worked out.
In the early stages of implementing a vision, a leader may establish a holding environment for the team to talk openly about the initial challenges, to frame and debate issues, and to clarify assumptions. Over time, the scope of the issues discussed will likely broaden.
While a certain level of conflict is likely to be the norm, it is your responsibility as a leader to identify whether it is destructive or constructive. Destructive conflict undermines the trust that is vital to a working relationship and includes:
Handle destructive conflict by acknowledging the problem and using persuasion, reminding others of the vision, or otherwise deploying your power as a leader to resolve the conflict.
Constructive conflict, on the other hand, concerns divergent perspectives on your most important tasks or priorities — and needs to be incorporated into your vision. Ask pointed questions to draw the issues out, then insist that your employees discuss them openly and work out solutions.
In an environment of change, a leader is responsible for regulating the distress that team members are feeling; this entails ensuring that the team members remain motivated and in control of their workloads. Effective leaders are masters of sequencing and pacing work. They know how to prioritize and order tasks to minimize confusion and chaos. Successful leaders do not strive to eliminate all of their team's stressors, but instead help team members manage them.
You can establish a holding environment that fosters motivation by:
There are many benefits of establishing a holding environment. Specifically, it:
In a holding environment, your team members should feel comfortable sharing the fears, frustrations, and pain associated with the realization of your vision. One of your greatest challenges, then, is to be able to understand and empathize with team members' experience without easing up on the tension necessary to see the vision through.
This assessment can help you evaluate whether you have built an effective holding environment.
This assessment can help you evaluate whether you have built an effective holding environment.
Would colleagues at any level say they have never heard you put another person down?
Do you show that you will not tolerate "scapegoating," or misapplied blame?
Do you listen fairly, kindly, and with courtesy to the opinions of others?
Do you respect other people's ideas and give each one the same amount of consideration, regardless of level?
Do you go to bat for your team to get the resources you need?
Do you shelter your team from interference and show courage in sticking up for your people?
Do you protect voices of dissent?
Do you admit it when you make a mistake?
Do you disclose when you don't know the answer?
Do you use every reasonable opportunity to foster others' professional growth?
This section provides interactive exercises so you can practice what you've learned. These exercises are self-checks only; your answers will not be used to evaluate your performance in the topic.
Scenario
Assume the role of a manager in a fictional situation and explore different outcomes based on your choices (5-10 minutes).
Check Your Knowledge
Assess your understanding of key points by completing a 10-question quiz (10 minutes).
Part 1
Owen manages the product development group at InfoMed, a small, public company that creates information resources for the healthcare industry. InfoMed is struggling financially, and Owen is trying to think of ways his group might help revive sales. Owen has an idea for a new product: an online resource containing up-to-date information on healthcare providers, which people could consult while selecting health insurance plans.
This resource would represent a new direction for InfoMed and would involve substantial investment and risk. Yet Owen believes it could succeed ;if he can get enough support behind his vision. Excited, he researches the potential market and prepares to present his idea to his group and other key InfoMed players.
Besides explaining how the product would work, how might Owen express his vision?
"If we give it a chance and all pull together, I believe this product would put InfoMed at the top of our industry within four months after its release."
Not the best choice. This vision may be inspiring, but it isn't realistic. As a small, struggling company, InfoMed isn't likely to rise to the top of its industry in just four months by introducing any new product. Also, it's unrealistic to expect Owen's team to develop the new product's content quickly enough to realize that vision—given that the product represents a completely new direction for InfoMed. An effective vision should touch people's core needs for achievement, recognition, and belonging. However, if it can't easily be translated into a realistic competitive strategy, people won't know how to make the vision real.
"My research suggests that introducing this product next year could boost our revenues by 30%, make us known on Wall Street, and improve consumers' lives. Of course, we would all have to work together to make this happen."
Correct choice. This vision paints a clear and compelling picture of how the new resource would benefit all major stakeholders: InfoMed employees, investors, and customers. It's also expressed in easy-to-understand terms. Finally, it's realistic and achievable. An effective vision is a leader's most important motivational tool. You should refer to your vision often, explaining its relevance to various audiences as you work to keep them on board.
"InfoMed needs to enter this market if we hope to make value-added contributions to the emerging consumer-driven healthcare industry. If we can start production rollout soon, we'll gain first mover advantage."
Not the best choice. This vision is vague and contains uninspiring jargon ("value-added," "emerging consumer-driven healthcare industry," "first mover advantage"). An effective vision is easy to explain and understand—even if implementing it will be a complicated process. If a vision is unfocused and overly complex, people won't understand it—and they can't support what they don't understand. When crafting a vision, use plain but inspiring language. Explain how the new product or idea would work, and how key stakeholders—employees, investors, and customers—would benefit.
Part 2
By communicating his vision effectively using realistic, inspiring, and easy-to-understand terms, Owen gains support from key stakeholders both inside and outside InfoMed. He understands, however, that to realize his vision, he'll need to ensure that everyone involved stays energized, aligned, and working toward the same goal.
What would be the best way for Owen try to ensure that all of InfoMed's employees remain motivated?
Inform all employees involved with the project that there will be a significant bonus for everyone involved if they work hard and develop the product in the expected time frame.
Not the best choice.
Financial compensation will motivate some people, but not necessarily all of them. All people have individual drives, needs, and desires—and thus will be motivated by different factors. While some are motivated by "external" factors that are related to their job environment (e.g., company policies and benefits, working conditions, salary, status), others are motivated by "internal" factors that are related to their job content (the nature of the work itself).
Finding out what motivates people on an individual level will be critical to Owen's success. If he takes the time to find out what inspires each of his employees, and devises the plan that best matches their needs, he will help ensure that they stay motivated for the long term.
Provide employees with opportunities for growth and learning as well as positive feedback on the quality of their work.
Not the best choice.
Opportunities for growth and positive feedback will motivate some people, but not necessarily all of them. All people have individual drives, needs, and desires—and thus will be motivated by different factors. While some are motivated by "internal" factors that are related to their job content (the nature of the work itself), others are motivated by "external" factors that are related to their job environment (e.g., company policies and benefits, working conditions, salary, status).
Finding out what motivates people on an individual level will be critical to Owen's success. If he takes the time to find out what inspires each of his employees, and devises the plan that best matches their needs, he will help ensure that they stay motivated for the long term.
Ask employees what motivates them, and develop individualized plans accordingly.
Correct choice.
Finding out what motivates people on an individual level will be critical to Owen's success. Understanding that some people are motivated by "external factors" that are related to their job environment, while others are motivated by "internal" factors that are related to the job content, is Owen's first step.
If Owen then takes the time to find out what inspires each of his employees and devises the plan that best matches their needs, he will help ensure that they stay motivated for the long term.
Part 3
Owen sits down with his direct reports individually to discover what motivates them best. Within reason, he devises individualized plans that meet their needs. He then encourages other managers to find out the same information from their teams. He is satisfied that he has set the project up for success. But as the work proceeds, long hours begin adding up and expenses climb beyond initial expectations.
Despite a small victory, a team member has enlisted the help of a highly esteemed outside researcher; some of Owen's direct reports begin arguing over how to prioritize tasks. Owen's supervisor starts questioning him about the project's progress and what he's overheard about his team's internal conflicts. Owen fears that his project is losing momentum, just when he needs it the most. He wonders what he can do to keep the project moving forward.
What should Owen do to keep his project moving forward?
E-mail key stakeholders, including his supervisor, peers, direct reports, and affected customers, announcing the participation of the external researcher and explaining the positive impact this will have on the project.
Correct choice. A good way to keep people motivated during the difficult stages of a project is to regularly acknowledge and celebrate successes—no matter how minor the victory. By sending an e-mail to upper management, colleagues, and outside stakeholders, Owen lets everyone know that the team is making concrete progress, despite some setbacks.
Honestly admit to his supervisor and peers that there has been some tension within his team. Enlist the support of his supervisor in resolving disagreements.
Not the best choice.
When motivation starts to falter, Owen should protect his group rather than expose tensions within it. This means defining a boundary around the team and sheltering members from interference. It entails showing courage and sticking up for his people—and going to bat for his team for any resources it may need.
Protecting your group is one way to create a holding environment, a safe place where employees can feel secure and heard. By establishing such an environment, you help your direct reports do their best work and maintain their enthusiasm for the project. You can also help relieve tensions by refocusing on the vision and emphasizing short-term wins.
Ask his team members to set aside any disagreements about how to prioritize the project's tasks until he can revive the project's forward momentum.
Not the best choice.
Disagreements about task priorities actually represent constructive conflict within a team and should be addressed immediately. When such conflict arises, team members' various perspectives should be incorporated into the group's strategy or vision, not repressed.
In this situation, Owen should ask pointed questions to draw the issues out. Then he should insist that the employees involved discuss their differences and work out a solution.
Which of the following tasks represents a leadership responsibility?
Organizing projects
Not the best choice.
Organizing projects is a management, not a leadership task. Other management tasks include staffing, planning, controlling, and problem solving. Managing and leading are distinct but complementary tasks. Managing involves coping with complexity, while leading involves coping with change. Managing requires bringing order and predictability to a situation, while leading involves adapting to changing circumstances.
Aligning people
Correct choice.
Aligning people to a vision is a core leadership task. To align people, you solicit input and discussion from a wide range of people, help people to comprehend a vision of an alternative future, and get them to believe in and become energized by this vision once it is understood. Other leadership tasks include setting direction and motivating others. Managing and leading are distinct but complementary tasks. Managing involves coping with complexity, while leading involves coping with change. Managing requires bringing order and predictability to a situation, while leading involves adapting to changing circumstances.
Budgeting
Not the best choice.
Budgeting is a management, not a leadership, task. Other management tasks include staffing, planning, controlling, and problem solving. Managing and leading are distinct but complementary tasks. Managing involves coping with complexity while leading involves coping with change. Managing requires bringing order and predictability to a situation, while leading involves adapting to changing circumstances.
Which of the following statements about how a leader functions in a holding environment is true?
A leader sequences and prioritizes tasks to minimize confusion and chaos.
Correct choice.
A holding environment is a "safe" organizational space in which the conflicts, emotions, and stresses related to the change associated with your vision can be worked out. In a holding environment, you are responsible for regulating the distress of your team. To carry out this responsibility, you can sequence and pace work to avoid overwhelming your direct reports. Leaders understand that people cannot make the changes necessary to realize a vision if they are anxious about their workloads. However, leaders also understand that a certain level of stress is healthy—and necessary—for any change to occur.
A leader strives to eliminate all stressors to improve his or her team's productivity.
Not the best choice.
A certain level of stress is actually healthy—and necessary—for changes to occur that will enable a team to realize a vision. In a holding environment—a "safe" organizational space in which the conflicts, emotions, and stresses related to the change associated with your vision can be worked out—you're responsible for regulating the stress felt by employees, not eliminating it altogether. You can regulate stress by sequencing and prioritizing tasks to minimize confusion and chaos.
A leader discourages people from complaining and being negative in order to foster a comfortable environment.
Not the best choice.
A holding environment is meant to be a "safe" organizational space where people can come together to work out the conflicts, frustrations, and stresses related to the change required to realize a vision—candidly and without fear of reprisal. Discouraging people from complaining may send the message that the environment is not safe. The correct answer is "A leader sequences and prioritizes tasks to minimize confusion and chaos"; doing so can help you regulate the stress felt by your team as they work toward realizing your vision.
Which of the following describes a person who has extensive social skill (an emotional intelligence competency)?
Humorous and politically astute
Correct choice.
Socially skilled leaders know how to inject humor when the situation warrants it. They also have a solid sense of their organization's power structure, and know where to turn for the support and resources they need. Social skill is one of the five competencies of emotional intelligence, or the ability to manage oneself and one's relationships effectively. The other competencies are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and empathy.
Comfortable with ambiguity and level-headed
Not the best choice.
Comfort with ambiguity and level-headedness describe the emotional intelligence competency of self-regulation, not social skill. Socially skilled leaders know how to inject humor when the situation warrants it. They also have a solid sense of their organization's power structure, and know where to turn for the support and resources they need.
In addition to self-regulation and social skill, emotional intelligence competencies include self-awareness, motivation, and empathy.
Persistent and knowledgeable about his or her own weaknesses and strengths
Not the best choice.
"Persistent" describes the emotional intelligence competency of motivation, not social skill. And "knowledgeable about one's strengths and weaknesses" describes the EI competency of self-awareness, not social skill.
Socially skilled leaders know how to inject humor when the situation warrants it. They also have a solid sense of their organization's power structure, and know where to turn for the support and resources they need.
In addition to motivation, self-awareness, and social skill, emotional intelligence competencies include self-regulation and empathy.
Which of the following is the most effective leadership style to use on a daily basis?
Affiliative
Not the best choice.
While the affiliative style is useful in situations where team cohesion is needed, no one leadership style is appropriate for all situations. Savvy leaders choose from a range of styles the one that best addresses the demands of the situation at hand. Being able to switch among four styles—authoritative, affiliative, democratic, and coaching—as conditions dictate tends to create the optimal work environment.
Democratic
Not the best choice.
While the democratic style is useful when trying to build consensus, no one leadership style is appropriate for all situations. Savvy leaders choose from a range of styles the one that best addresses the demands of the situation at hand. Being able to switch among four styles—authoritative, affiliative, democratic, and coaching—as conditions dictate tends to create the optimal work environment.
Change style as needed
Correct choice.
There is no one "best" leadership style for all situations. Savvy leaders choose from a range of styles the one that best addresses the demands of the situation at hand. Being able to switch among four styles—authoritative, affiliative, democratic, and coaching—as conditions dictate tends to create the optimal work environment.
Which of the following is a leader's most fundamental motivational tool?
A clear vision of a better future
Correct choice.
An easy-to-understand description of an altered and improved future is the most fundamental tool in a leader's arsenal. This vision functions as a guide as your group, unit, or organization moves away from past beliefs, activities, and goals to a future more suited to the company's changing needs and the demands of the economic environment.
A well-established rewards structure
Not the best choice.
While having a solid rewards structure in place may help motivate some employees, having a clear and simple vision is the foundation on which everything else rests. The vision functions as a guide as your group, unit, or organization moves away from past beliefs, activities, and goals to a future more suited to the company's changing needs and the demands of the economic environment.
An ability to empathize with other people's experience
Not the best choice.
While a leader's ability to empathize is critical for creating an inspiring work environment, having a clear and simple vision is the foundation on which everything else rests. The vision functions as a guide as your group, unit, or organization moves away from past beliefs, activities, and goals to a future more suited to the company's changing needs and the demands of the economic environment.
Is the following statement true or false? It is possible to strengthen your emotional intelligence capabilities.
True
Correct choice.
Emotional intelligence (EI) is not genetic; it is learned. Therefore, strengthening your EI capabilities is possible. Leaders can improve their EI skills through extended practice, feedback from colleagues, and their own enthusiasm for making a change.
False
Not the best choice.
This statement is actually true. Emotional intelligence (EI) is not genetic; it is learned. Therefore, strengthening your EI capabilities is possible. Leaders can improve their EI skills through extended practice, feedback from colleagues, and their own enthusiasm for making a change.
When communicating your vision to stakeholders, you should:
Try not to repeat yourself
Not the best choice.
When communicating your vision, you actually should be willing to repeat yourself. Repetition helps everyone stay focused and understand exactly what they are supposed to do to help realize your vision.
The correct answer is "Be sensitive to the delivery media you choose." While leaders need to use a wide range of media to communicate their message, they must be judicious. For example, electronic communications such as e-mail should never supplant face-to-face conversations, which are far more effective for communicating your vision.
Keep yourself contained emotionally
Not the best choice.
When communicating your vision, you actually should not contain yourself emotionally. By communicating with feeling, you increase the odds of activating others' desire for the same end result you're depicting in your vision.
The correct answer is "Be sensitive to the delivery media you choose." While leaders need to use a wide range of media to communicate their message, they must be judicious. For example, electronic communications such as e-mail should never supplant face-to-face conversations, which are far more effective for communicating your vision.
Be sensitive to the delivery media you choose
Correct choice.
While leaders need to use a wide range of media to communicate their message, they must be judicious. For example, electronic communications such as e-mail should never supplant face-to-face conversations, which are far more effective for communicating your vision.
You have been asked to draw up a plan for motivating the 25 employees in your department during a difficult restructuring period. Your first step is to:
Use external sources of motivation such as offering bonuses. If that doesn't work, tap into internal sources of motivation such as providing growth opportunities for each individual.
Not the best choice.
This is too formulaic an approach to motivating employees. All people have individual drives, needs, and desires, and will be motivated by different things. Therefore, your first step should be to find out what motivates people on an individual level. Crafting a plan that includes the blend of motivators that best meets an individual's needs will help ensure that he or she stays motivated for the long term. Motivators may be external, or not related to the job itself (such as raises or bonuses) or internal; that is, related to the job (such as employees' sense of achievement, pride in their work, or working conditions).
Tap into internal sources of motivation, such as employees' pride in their work and sense of achievement. If that doesn't work, improve external sources of motivation, such as working conditions.
Not the best choice.
This is too formulaic an approach to motivating employees. All people have individual drives, needs, and desires, and will be motivated by different things. Therefore, your first step should be to find out what motivates people on an individual level. Crafting a plan that includes the blend of motivators that best meets an individual's needs will help ensure that he or she stays motivated for the long term. Motivators may be external, or not related to the job itself (such as raises or bonuses) or internal; that is, related to the job (such as employees' sense of achievement, pride in their work, or working conditions).
Try to determine what most inspires each of your employees, and devise a motivation plan tailored to each individual.
Correct choice.
All people have individual drives, needs, and desires, and will be motivated by different things. Therefore, finding out what motivates people on an individual level is critical. Crafting a plan that includes the blend of motivators that best meets an individual's needs will help ensure that she stays motivated for the long term. Motivators may be external, or not related to the job itself (such as raises or bonuses) or internal; that is, related to the job (such as employees' sense of achievement, pride in their work, or working conditions).
An effective vision is always:
Innovative and awe-inspiring
Not the best choice.
A vision need not be innovative or awe-inspiring. In fact, visions are often quite mundane. As a description of an altered and improved future, an effective vision must be realistic and compelling. A vision must also clarify the general direction for the future, efficiently coordinate the actions of different people, and be desirable enough to motivate people to take action in the right direction, even if such changes are personally painful.
Complex and multifaceted
Not the best choice.
A vision need not be complex and multifaceted. In fact, as a description of an altered and improved future, it's more important for a vision to be realistic and compelling. A vision must also clarify the general direction for the future, efficiently coordinate the actions of different people, and be desirable enough to motivate people to take action in the right direction, even if such changes are personally painful.
Realistic and compelling
Correct choice.
As a description of an altered and improved future, an effective vision must be both realistic and compelling. A vision must also clarify the general direction for the future, efficiently coordinate the actions of different people, and be desirable enough to motivate people to take action in the right direction, even if such changes are personally painful.
You are trying to motivate an employee who just doesn't seem willing to work toward your end goals. You have taken time to gain a better understanding of the individual, your role in the problem, and the context. What is your next step?
Schedule a formal meeting with the employee to discuss the problem
Not the best choice.
While discussing the issue with the employee is critical, it is not the next step. Well before you hold your meeting, you should take the time to actively switch your mindset from seeking a single, predetermined "solution" (e.g., termination) to considering a range of possible desirable outcomes. By reframing your goals regarding the employee and being open to changing the definition of what the solution might look like, you will likely discover novel and rich alternatives. For example, perhaps the person would benefit from coaching or would do better in another department.
Reevaluate your goals regarding the employee and consider a range of possible solutions to the problem
Correct choice.
The next step after gathering information is to switch your mindset from seeking a single, predetermined "solution" (e.g., termination) to considering a range of possible desirable outcomes. By reframing your goals regarding the employee and being open to changing the definition of what the solution might look like, you will likely discover novel and rich alternatives. For example, perhaps the person would benefit from coaching or would do better in another department.
Be alert for a casual opportunity to discuss the problem with the employee, such as immediately after a staff meeting
Not the best choice.
While discussing the issue with the employee is critical, it is not the next step. Well before you hold your meeting, you should take the time to actively switch your mindset from seeking a single, predetermined "solution" (e.g., termination) to considering a range of possible desirable outcomes. By reframing your goals regarding the employee, and being open to changing the definition of what the solution might look like, you will likely discover novel and rich alternatives. For example, perhaps the person would benefit from coaching or would do better in another department.
Work with employees to identify their developmental level related to the task you have assigned them. An employee's developmental level can be assessed by examining two factors:
In general, there are four different leadership approaches that you will employ when working with employees. They are directive, coaching, supporting, and delegating.
People who are in this stage need very specific instructions and ongoing feedback. As a leader, your responsibilities include:
While these people may still need a certain level of direction, they also need the freedom to make some mistakes, and encouragement to keep going. As a leader, your responsibilities include:
Use positive reinforcement to help these people recognize their developing abilities. As a leader, your responsibilities include:
Don't just delegate work that you find unpleasant. Determine whose expertise or personal experience is suited to a "stretch" assignment, then give that person the freedom and support she needs to succeed. As a leader, your responsibilities include:
Failure to listen to a powerful group or voice can spell disaster later on: Stakeholders may be unwilling to support you at a critical juncture. More important, not incorporating the opinion of an important group may mean that your vision won't address all the relevant organizational needs.
To be effective, a vision must be achievable. Even if it is ambitious, you and your stakeholders must be able to imagine the outcomes described actually occurring. And it needs to be focused enough to ensure that all stakeholders are imagining the same set of outcomes.
Determine the benefits not only to your unit and company, but to employees, stockholders, and customers as well. If people know "what's in it for them," they'll be more likely to embrace the vision and offer assistance when asked.
This vision statement will become your most important motivational tool. It must be clear and specific, but not so detail-oriented that it loses its ability to inspire.
Conflict is a natural response to change, and some conflict can be healthy and constructive. Use your communication skills to regulate the temperature of the conflict.
Throughout any stressful and complex project or initiative, it's vital that you take a step back every now and then -- so that you can see the broad sweep of what's happening. It often helps to talk through problems and issues with a close friend, spouse, mentor, or other confidant.
Listen to voices from the front lines. Maintain connections with those in different areas and levels of authority so that you don't lose touch with any critical perspective. Be open and approachable so that people are willing to share information with you in a way that is timely and honest.
“
Larry Bossidy
Former CEO, AlliedSignal
In today’s global business environment, markets and regulations change quickly. Competitors constantly innovate. Technological changes are the norm.
In order to outmaneuver the competition and meet the demands of the moment, organizations must be agile. They must execute flawlessly. And they must transform themselves continuously.
Are your leaders ready?
Dr. Noel M. Tichy
Professor
University of Michigan Ross School of Business
We have now entered an era where I don’t care what industry you’re in, you need leaders who can make decisions, make judgment calls at every single level. All the way down to the interface with the customer.
If you go to a company like Google or any of the high tech companies, a lot of the innovation that Amazon does is happening right at the front line. Go ahead, try it, put it out there, we'll learn from it. That cannot happen if the senior leadership doesn't have a commitment to both develop the leadership capability, but develop the business through engaging people at all levels of the organization.
Becoming a teaching organization
I like to tell parents that they cannot delegate their responsibility to develop their children. And I think it is the same in an organization. Day in and day out the person that has the biggest impact on people in the organization is the next level above and the associates around and below. And so to build a learning organization I say is not enough. Learning could be, you know we are learning cooking, we are learning this or that, but teaching organizations, when I learned something, I have a responsibility to teach my colleagues.
So everybody takes responsibility for generating new knowledge and it is not enough to be a learner, you then have to translate it into teaching.
The Virtuous Teaching Cycle
The role of a leader is to ensure that the people who work for them and around them are better every day. There's only one way to make people better. It's to teach them, learn from them, create what I call "virtuous teaching cycles”, not command and control.
A virtuous teaching cycle is teach learn, teach learn. And the leader has a responsibility for reducing the hierarchy, for having a point of view to start the discussion, but then to be responsible to hear everyone's voice, get everyone involved in a disciplined way. It is not a free for all. But it is the leader's responsibility to create that virtuous teaching cycle.
A wonderful example of virtuous teaching cycle is the program that Roger Enrico ran at Pepsi, where every one of the 10 vice presidents comes with a business project.
Roger Enrico gets smarter as result of five days with 10 vice presidents, because he's learning from them. He needs to lower the hierarchy. He needs to be open to learning. And in turn, the people participating need to be energized and empowered to come up and engage in problem solving.
Another example is at Best Buy, where every morning in the stores you would bring 20 associates or so together and they would review the profit and loss statement from the day before, what we learned from the different customer segments in our stores, what we can do to improve our performance this day. And they do that every single day. The store manager was learning mostly from the associates on the floor.
That was a virtuous teaching cycle were everybody is teaching everybody, everybody is learning and the result has been an incredible result at Best Buy.
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- Harvey S. Firestone
Founder, Firestone Tire and Rubber Co
There are clear advantages to leader-led development.
But for many leaders, taking on teaching, coaching, and other development responsibilities can seem daunting. You might avoid taking on these roles due to lack of time, resources, or your own lack of comfort with this role.
The following tips and resources can help you impart valuable learning to your team every day.
To develop others…
• Start with a Teachable Point of View
The first requirement of being able to develop other leaders is to have what I call a teachable point of view. I often give the example of, if I ran a tennis camp and you just came to day one of the tennis camp, I better have a teachable point of view on how I teach tennis. So you are standing there looking at me and it has got four elements. One, the ideas, well how do I teach the backhand, the forehand, the serve, rules of tennis. Then if I am a good tennis coach, I have a set of values. What are the right behaviors I want, how do I want you to dress, how do I want you to behave on the tennis court.
But if that's all I have, what do I do? Show you a power point presentation and then expect you to hit 500 backhands, 500 serves, run around for eight hours. I have to have a teachable point of view on emotional energy. How do I motivate you to buy in to the ideas and values?
On one end of the spectrum it could be I threaten you with corporal punishment, the other I can give you stock options, I can make you feel good about yourself, I can help you develop as a human being, what motivates you.
And then finally, how do I make the tough judgment calls, the yes/no, decisions as the tennis coach, the ball is in, the ball is out. I don't hire consultants and set up a committee, it is yes/no. And the same with running a business, what are the products, services, distribution channels, customer segments that are going to grow top line growth and profitability of the organization.
What are the values that I want everyone in the organization to have, how do I emotionally energize thousands of people, and then how do I make the yes/no, judgments on people and on business issues. So the fundamental building block of being able to develop other leaders is to have that teachable point of view just like the tennis coach.
To develop others…
• Lead with questions
Questions are hugely important because you want to create dialogue and again, what I call a virtuous teaching cycle where the teacher learns from the students and vice versa. Which means everybody ought to be free to ask whatever is on their mind, whatever it will take to get clarity and understanding, but it is not the leader just coming in and freeform asking questions. I believe the leader has a responsibility for framing the discussion, for having as best they can a teachable point of view, they may need help from their people in flushing it out, but they need to set the stage but then it has to be a very interactive, what I call virtuous teaching cycle environment, teach learn, teach learn, teach learn.
To develop others…
• Make it part of your routine
A good example to me of an outstanding leader developing other leaders is Myrtle Potter who at the time I am commenting was Chief Operating Officer of Genentech running the commercial side of the business. And she would take time at the end of every single meeting and do some coaching of the whole team on how we could perform as a team better, and then she would often take individuals and say, could we spend 10 minutes over a cup of coffee, I want to give you some feedback and coaching on that report that you just presented on or how you are handling a particularly difficult human resource issue, but it was part of her regular routine. And I think the challenge for all of us as leaders is to make that a way of life and it is built into the fabric of how we lead and it is not a one off event, three times a year. It is happening almost every day.
To develop others…
• Make it a priority
One of the biggest challenges in getting people kind of on this path is to overcome some of their own resistance, either fear or the way I view the world I don't have time for this, everybody can make time. Roger Enrico is CEO of Pepsi. He didn't have time to go off for a week at a time and run training sessions. He had to readjust his calendar. So it requires you to look in the mirror and say, is this important. If it is important, of course I can make the time. Then I have to get over my own anxiety on how well I can do it, but it is a commitment to get on the path that says: this is how I am going to drive my own performance and the performance of my colleagues.
To develop others…
• Learn to teach
I think the biggest mistake is to assume you are going to be good at it right off the bat. It is like learning anything else. First time you go out and try and play tennis, good luck. But you got to stay with it and you got to engage your people in helping make you better and them better. And so it is a journey you need to get on, not I am going to do it perfectly when I start out.
If you want to be a great leader who is a great teacher, it's very simple. You have got to dive into the deep end of the pool. But you've got to dive into the pool with preparation. I don't want you drowning. I want you succeeding. It is extraordinarily rewarding for most human beings to teach others. I think once you can turn that switch on, it is self perpetuating. You get a lot of reinforcement, your team is better. You perform better because your performance goes up and it becomes this virtuous teaching cycle.
Your opportunity to develop others
We’ve heard why developing others can drive greater business results, and how to make the most of your leader-led development efforts. The materials provided in Develop Others enable you to create personalized learning experiences for YOUR team within the flow of their daily activities. Use the guides and projects to engage your team quickly. And to explore how key concepts apply to them in the context of their priorities and goals.
The value of teaching is the performance of the organization is totally dependent on making your people smarter and more aligned every day as the world changes. In the 21st century we are not going to get by with command and control. We are going to have to get by with knowledge creation. The way you create knowledge in an organization is you create these virtuous teaching cycles where you are teaching and learning simultaneously, responding to customer demands and changes, responding to changes in the global environment. My bottom line is if you're not teaching, you're not leading.
A leader’s most important role in any organization is making good judgments — well informed, wise decisions about people, strategy and crises that produce the desired outcomes. When a leader shows consistently good judgment, little else matters. When he or she shows poor judgment nothing else matters. In addition to making their own good judgment calls, good leaders develop good judgment among their team members.
Dr. Noel M. Tichy
Professor, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Dr. Noel M. Tichy is Professor of Management and Organizations, and Director of the Global Business Partnership at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. The Global Business Partnership links companies and students around the world to develop and engage business leaders to incorporate global citizenship activities, both environmental projects and human capital development, for those at the bottom of the pyramid. Previously, Noel was head of General Electric’s Leadership Center at Crotonville, where he led the transformation to action learning at GE. Between 1985 and 1987, he was Manager of Management Education for GE where he directed its worldwide development efforts at Crotonville. He currently consults widely in both the private and public sectors. He is a senior partner in Action Learning Associates. Noel is author of numerous books and articles, including:
For more information about Noel Tichy, visit http://www.noeltichy.com.