The mantle of leadership carries the opportunity of creating an environment that will stimulate, motivate and develop people who will, in turn, make the product or service delivered the best it can be. Why is it then that some leaders choose to create chaos rather than peace in order to accomplish this? How does this chaos create the exact failure the leader is fighting? Peace does not mean lack of activity, energy or drive. Peace means just the opposite. People and activities are motivated by accomplishment and the creation of services and products that simply make life better. Some leaders believe this chaos is healthy: the driving and motivating force behind their success. They may be right. Financial results disagree most of the time. Organizations that find themselves with a "peaceful" leader tend to be industry producers. Chaotic organizations tend to show poor financial results and to dissolve over time as people move on to work and invest in more stable, forward moving ventures. There are just a few simple things- ten to be exact that create this chaos. First , the leader truly believes that diminishment is a skill to be mastered and used liberally to keep people in line. This was never more exemplified than in the Forbes Magazine feature article on a business leader after a large acquisition. In the article the acquiring CEO took the opportunity to diminish the efforts of the outgoing President. What is lesser known, however, to be expected given this interview language, is that that type of "trash speak" or diminishment of others was a common thread in the new CEO's leadership style. The failure of the organization, over time, under this type of leadership, speaks for itself. The second chaotic habit of leadership is making judgments. Now a leader is charged with judging the right and wrong of where to go next. What they are not charged with is judging the every day processes that their executives and managers are using to accomplish these tasks. The effort to "micromanage" the entire process is often the very reason the chaos exists, just as you head in one direction, the leader has another, or a better idea. And they wonder why YOU fail. Third, the leader that is quick to squelch ideas and even use the infamous phrase, "but," to make the point will also create chaos. The world is created from the strange, maybe even weird, ideas that people have to get things accomplished. A leader who brings a group into the room and then runs the meeting, shooting down thoughts and stepping on ideas creates confusion in the ranks, and eventually creates dissention in the group as people take sides rather than welcoming all that is offered. Fourth, the role modeling that is incumbent upon leaders is often overlooked as a part of this chaos. The leader who continuously does the late nights, creating the implication that staying after closing hours is a requirement of the job, thus neglecting both health and family, adds to this chaos. People everywhere are struggling to balance work, family, health, and spiritual needs. This leadership mode of long hours "for the good of the company" sends a message that over time is resented and will show in the real loyalty to both the company and the work. It also ignores the core concept that a healthy, well- balanced individual has a lot more to offer to the company. Fifth, the failure of leaders to instill a sense of contribution is another habit that fosters chaos. The simple acts of contribution should be noted dutifully by a strong leader. The common thread in business these days is "What have you done for me lately or even today?" This inability by leaders to continuously acknowledge and encourage contributions creates an environment that eventually overlooks these accomplishments altogether. In doing this they fail to capture what is in these accomplishments and build on them for the future. This was probably never more evident than in the copious layoffs we all watched after 9/11. So many people, and so much talent were available to contribute their ideas and no one thought to ask or include the rank and file in solutions that would have and could have saved hundreds of jobs. In 1992 a major hospital in the US faced the layoff of 400 of the 2000 people that worked there at the time due to extraordinary financial challenges. The CEO of the company went before the 65 directors and managers of that organization and asked them to not make this happen. He asked that every person, no matter what position in the organization look for some way to curb expenses, generate revenue and create opportunities that would not force this layoff. Within two weeks he was able to announce that no one would lose their job. Peace came from inclusion versus the chaos created by layoffs. Sixth, leaders who lead by stock market value, EBITDA, and net profit find themselves creating chaos as people run around trying to "make the numbers" instead of providing the goods and services that make these numbers. There is an old expression; "Do what you love and the money will follow," that has a lot to offer in avoiding chaos. This is not about ignoring the bottom line, revenue streams and cost control. It is about focusing on what brings the money into your organization in such a powerful way that everyone is on board with the leader and pulling in the right direction. By doing this, everyone knows that the money will follow the quality, affordability and service that is provided. This is real peace. Seventh, making employees "earn my trust" is another chaotic leadership style. Trust really must be a given. When trust is broken, that is another story, but employees are looking to be trusted. They want to hear it, see it, and feel it in everything they do every day. Lack of trust creates chaos as people look behind their backs, cover up mistakes and worry more about "earning" trust than doing work. Eighth, how leadership handles mistakes is another place chaos or peace can reign. Leaders who teach, model and excel at learning from mistakes, literally talk about "what are we learning" or "what did we learn" create an environment that removes the stigma of error. They replace it with the challenge to get it right the first time and when we don't, "learn something we can use to make ourselves better in the future." Ninth, it is astounding how leaders make their jobs and their mantle of leadership look heavy and onerous to their employees, shareholders, and outsiders. Leadership is not easy; however, the joy in leading is one of the most inspiring and motivating forces that a leader can give to make a workplace of peace and profit. Teaching employees, by example, that work is a joy produces great products, great services and great ideas. Asking for, looking for and finding joy everywhere reduces or removes the burden of work and transforms the organization. The CEO's and Presidents that smile, walk with the ranks, listen intently, laugh and enjoy everything about the product or service they provide area joy to be around. Great people flock to work with these people, maybe in hopes the joy will rub off, maybe because they are eager to provide that joy to themselves and their work. Finally, the leaders who make the workplace soar know one secret and they distribute this secret at every opportunity. These leaders reward, recognize and appreciate ruthlessly. They know that chaos is created when people DON'T KNOW if they are doing a good job. This uncertainty will go into everything from the product quality to the service provided. Great leaders avoid this uncertainty by making it part of their job, mentoring their executives and managers on this habit and never forgetting what really makes it happen in every company. Great leaders have an awareness of how they are perceived and how these seemingly small things impact the overall profitability of the organization. Successful organizations have taken a good look at these issues and chosen their leaders to avoid the chaos and create the peace of success. Contact Playmore now to find out how we can train your leaders to avoid being chaotic leaders! |
