TOO MANY BOSSES, TOO FEW LEADERS: ENLIST CO-LEADERS

RAJEEV PESHAWARIA

FREE PRESS; 222 PAGES

PART 1: SELF AND TEAM LEADERSHIP

1.2           ENLIST CO-LEADERS: Team Leadership

Being a team leader means energizing and motivating your team of direct reports, to perform at a higher level.  Most managers wanted to keep their people motivated.  The problem is that management don’t even know where to begin.  Sometimes we are so bad at motivating people because there is so much information on how to do it.

 No one specific manager has the time for all the ‘people issues’.  So the key is that you have to figure out what your people expect from their jobs, and do your best to link people’s expectations with the work you want them to do.  Most employee care about the same 3 things (RED):

1.        The nature of their Role

2.       Their work Environment

3.        Their professional Development

While each employee’s preference is unique, everyone cares about RED.

Most ineffective managers are considered ineffective because they don’t know what motivates their people.  The key to know this is keeping the dialogue going with your people.  It will be easier to energize people if the interaction and communication with employees is organized around the simple RED.

To be highly energized and engaged about something, factors and conditions, such as alignment of the work with personal purpose and values, must be present.  The absence of it does not mean disengaged or de-motivated.  It just means that the person may not operate at full energy.  There are 3 degrees of employee engagement:

1.        Dissatisfied and disengaged

2.       Satisfied but not fully energized

3.       Fully energized and emotionally engaged

HIERARCHY OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

ENERGIZED Employee is emotional engaged and performance is at full potential SATISFIED BUT NOT ENERGIZED Performance is adequate but not full potential DISSATISFIED/DISENGAGED So disruptive that the employee would leave at the first available opportunity

So, managers need to try to understand what employees need to be emotionally engaged.  Find out their expectations and their preferences about their RED.

RED: ROLE

Most people like to work in an organization that has a compelling vision and strategy; the role must provide adequate challenge, must fit meaningfully within the overall big picture, provide adequate freedom to do the job well, and must align with personal purpose and values.  Most workers want to work in a place that has a compelling vision for future success.  They also want to know if there is an effective strategy to achieve the vision.

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The next thing most employees wants to ensure is that they have a challenge but not achievable set of individuals goals that support the overall strategy, they must understand how their work fits into the vision and strategy.  Most of us have a need to recognize and appreciated for it. Hardly anybody likes to be micro managed.  Not having the freedom to do their job well is a big source of job dissatisfaction.  Control the end and not the means.  Most importantly, most people like to play roles that align with their personal purpose and values.  People will then be energized to the fullest.

RED: ENVIRONMENT

Work environment is about how it feels to be a part of your team.  Several factors make up a good working environment:

·        Open 2-way communication

·        Involvement in key-issues

·        Collaboration

·        Respect

·        A sense of community

·        Fairness

·        A culture of high performance

The first thing people expect from their manager is adequate time and understand their needs.  Great managers understand that to save time, you have to invest time in your subordinates.

Most people like to be involved in key issues.  They want their opinions to be considered before key decisions are made.  With the exception of a few people who prefer to work alone, the average employee likes and expects to work in a collaborative culture.  The manager’s job is to maximize positive emotional energy.  Unhealthy internal competition drains energy and takes the organization away from its core mission.

At the end of the day, all of us want to be treated with respect and dignity at work.  Most managers are unaware when they treat their people in a disrespectful way.  We work with people from many different backgrounds.  Managers must understand the different cultural values and norms so as not to disrespect people without intending to.  Giving negative or corrective feedback in public is another way of disrespecting someone.  Corrective feedback must always be given privately.

Given the ever increasing number of work hours, employees expect an environment of community and friendship.  For many, the workplace is the avenue to satisfy the human need of belonging to a community.

Another common expectation is fairness.  They expect to be evaluated and rewarded fairly.  Achievement-oriented employees like an environment that demands high performance.  They:

·        Like to be challenged

·        Like to work with other achievement-oriented people

·        Want to be regularly engaged

·        Want their opinion on important issues to be sought and valued

·        Want a culture of collaboration rather than competing with one another

·        Want everyone to be treated with respect and dignity

·        Want an environment of community and friendship

·        Want a fair reward and recognition system in place

RED:DEVELOPMENT

The development expectation deals with employees’ need for growth.  With the ever increasing rate of change in business, lifetime employment has become a thing of the past.  But they do expect lifetime employability.  Candidates now often opt for the job that offers better prospects in terms of learning and development.  Employees look for:

·        Challenging assignments

·        High-profile work and willing to take risks

·        Receiving regular feedback

·        Performance coaching

·        Managers who:

o   Help identify and develop their strengths further

o   Help in understanding a bit more about who they really are

o   Help them build on their strengths, passion and focus

o   Is willing to take some risk

o   Constantly urge employees to think out of the box

o   Step back from time to time and ask themselves a few questions

·        Encouragement to be innovative and entrepreneurial

Most people have more room for improvement in their area of natural talent rather than their areas of weakness.  To go from good to great, people need to possess some natural talent.  Most managers focus their development investment and feedback on subordinates’ weaknesses.  If people choose to work in an area of their natural strength and passion, they will be extremely successful and have a lot of fun at the same time.  Nobody can be good at everything.  The art of managing and leading people is all about getting the best out of people by leveraging and growing their strengths and neutralizing critical weaknesses.

HOW TO USE RED
1	Do a periodic survey within the team Discuss and address issues
2	Have an individual discussions using the set of survey questions Conversation/discussions can be short Keep the dialogue going
3	Tell the individual the importance of the work assigned and why it might be good for them Do not expect people to guess and put two and two together
4	Have a ‘common’ language Make sure everyone understands RED and its component

WHAT DOESN’T WORK
1	Putting them in your shoes The same thing that motivate most managers may not motivate everyone else Make an effort to understand how each of the subordinate is motivated Have a few simple conversations and regular dialogue
2	One-size fits-all initiatives Each of us is motivated differently Nothing substitutes individual relationship and conversations
3	Pep talks and motivational speeches Effects of motivational speeches are short-lived at best Difference between their words and actions can cause a drop in motivation
4	Team building activities May not last long Only as a temporary boost Any change is short-lived Trust=based relationship can only be formed over time and through consistent caring behavior
5	Money Will certainly keep people coming back to work But money does not have the power of releasing emotional energy

REASONS WHY SOME DECIDED TO QUIT A VERY SENIOR POSITION
1	Got tired of working for stupid people
2	Most bosses seem to be obsessed with satisfying their own ego.  They seldom bother to find out what their people want or need.  They place their own ego needs even above the needs of the business.

to be continued.....