It’s Scandalous! Leaders Who Don’t Lead - Taking Issue
by Dawn Lennon Monday, July 19, 2010
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Dawn Lennon is strategist, mentor, advisor, and coach as each new situation arises. Dawn has an M.A. degree from Lehigh University and is author of Business Fitness: The Power to Succeed—Your Way. She’s written numerous articles on achieving success in business and will be sharing lots of insights with those of you who follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t forget to sign up for her Free Stuff.
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Why does this happen? Career-minded people knock themselves out to achieve positions of leadership. But when they get there, they don’t lead or just get it very wrong. That’s the scandal!
We expect our leaders to lead, not just sit in their offices waiting to be addressed as Your Leadness!
Leadership isn’t a crown.
There’s a big allure about “position power.” Why? Because it comes with more money, a better parking spot, a private office, and more employees. This makes us feel important. It’s like getting a spa treatment for our egos!
Our employees want to see how we’ll use our “power.” They’re waiting for their leaders to do things that will inspire them to dig deeper, perform better, excite creativity, protect and benefit them.
We want leaders who respect us as followers not treat us like subjects!
Leading is real work!
Leadership is the actual job! With or without a swanky title, when other people look to you for direction, then your job is to lead.
Considering all that’s been written about leadership, simply speaking, here’s what it takes to be a good leader:
Define reality for your employees — Explain the good, the bad, and the ugly about what’s impacting them from inside and outside the organization. Don’t sugar coat and don’t create panic either. Build balanced, fact-based understanding.
Remove obstacles — Listen to what employees say about impediments to their performance. Clear away that debris. Deflect outside requests that will interfere with their work, especially knee-jerk ideas from upper management that can throw things off course.
Be there — Show up. Learn your employee’s names and something about each one. Ask for their ideas. Participate periodically in group and individual dialogue. Let them know you’re their ally, working for them!
Communicate relentlessly — Talk to employees about the challenges you’re dealing with, issues you’re trying to balance, information you’re trying to get a handle on. When employees understand how decisions evolve, they’re better able to accept changes that affect them.
Make decisions — Take a position, intervene, and resolve things expeditiously. Don’t waiver and don’t delay. Be willing to change your decision when you’re wrong. Leaders need to keep the ball rolling.
Good leaders are a gift. Bad ones are an albatross. If it were easy to be good, every leader would be.
How do you stack up?
If you want to know if you’re a good leader, look around. Are employees following you because they want to or because they’re stuck with you?
Here are a few leaders who missed the mark:
The new CEO of an intensely mission-focused, non-profit reorganized, displacing a number of employees. He took off for a global business trip one week before the affected employees were notified, making him unavailable for any questions. It was clear he didn’t intend to “be there” for his employees.
The vice president of a financially strapped, non-profit had been fully involved in decision-making with her CEO to save the agency. The VP typically hid in her office, avoiding interaction with her employees. When she had to communicate the changes, instead of owning them, she blamed the decisions solely on the CEO. It didn’t take long for the truth to come out.
The senior leadership of a major corporation routinely promoted “favorite sons and daughters” to lofty positions. When their leadership didn’t deliver expected results, they pointed the finger at their department managers, making them scapegoats. This is all it takes to crush a band of followers!
Leadership is a moral obligation.
If no one is following, you aren’t leading. It’s as simple as that! If you’ve never read, Leadership Is An Art by Max DePree, now’s the time.
Taking the lead is a business fitness smart move—a public one. When you lead, everyone sees what you do and who you are. Let your legacy as a leader be an exemplary one and not scandal. Go on...make yourself proud!
What’s been the worst example of scandalous leadership that you’ve experienced? What was the outcome?
Dawn Lennon is strategist, mentor, advisor, and coach as each new situation arises.
A career businesswoman, author, and founder/owner of Big Picture Consulting, she has been helping individuals, solo practitioners, and small business owners achieve business and career success for more than a decade.
Before leaving to start her practice, Dawn spent over twenty years as a senior manager at a Fortune 500 energy company in customer service, management development and training, and consumer programs (a marketing function). She developed award-winning programs, provided expert testimony, led high-profile change initiatives, and implemented best practices.
While in the thick of corporate things, she was an active entrepreneur, owning and operating a commercial horse breeding operation and an equine art gallery. She also spent five years providing practice management consulting to veterinarians.
All of these experiences gave her a broad understanding of what it takes to be a success in any business. She saw first-hand what goes on behind the scenes in a big corporation and in small business. She’s hired over 100 employees, seen the impact of downsizings on good people who lost jobs, overcame political barriers, and developed talented people. She built three entrepreneurial businesses from scratch, took the lumps that go with the territory, and built a loyal customer base.
She learned that there’s nothing more valuable to the growth of a career than being tested under fire and coming out on top.
Dawn has an M.A. degree from Lehigh University and is author of Business Fitness: The Power to Succeed—Your Way. She’s written numerous articles on achieving success in business and will be sharing lots of insights with those of you who follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t forget to sign up for her Free Stuff.
We expect our leaders to lead, not just sit in their offices waiting to be addressed as Your Leadness!
Leadership isn’t a crown.
There’s a big allure about “position power.” Why? Because it comes with more money, a better parking spot, a private office, and more employees. This makes us feel important. It’s like getting a spa treatment for our egos!
Our employees want to see how we’ll use our “power.” They’re waiting for their leaders to do things that will inspire them to dig deeper, perform better, excite creativity, protect and benefit them.
We want leaders who respect us as followers not treat us like subjects!
Leading is real work!
Leadership is the actual job! With or without a swanky title, when other people look to you for direction, then your job is to lead.
Considering all that’s been written about leadership, simply speaking, here’s what it takes to be a good leader:
Define reality for your employees — Explain the good, the bad, and the ugly about what’s impacting them from inside and outside the organization. Don’t sugar coat and don’t create panic either. Build balanced, fact-based understanding.
Remove obstacles — Listen to what employees say about impediments to their performance. Clear away that debris. Deflect outside requests that will interfere with their work, especially knee-jerk ideas from upper management that can throw things off course.
Be there — Show up. Learn your employee’s names and something about each one. Ask for their ideas. Participate periodically in group and individual dialogue. Let them know you’re their ally, working for them!
Communicate relentlessly — Talk to employees about the challenges you’re dealing with, issues you’re trying to balance, information you’re trying to get a handle on. When employees understand how decisions evolve, they’re better able to accept changes that affect them.
Make decisions — Take a position, intervene, and resolve things expeditiously. Don’t waiver and don’t delay. Be willing to change your decision when you’re wrong. Leaders need to keep the ball rolling.
Good leaders are a gift. Bad ones are an albatross. If it were easy to be good, every leader would be.
How do you stack up?
If you want to know if you’re a good leader, look around. Are employees following you because they want to or because they’re stuck with you?
Here are a few leaders who missed the mark:
The new CEO of an intensely mission-focused, non-profit reorganized, displacing a number of employees. He took off for a global business trip one week before the affected employees were notified, making him unavailable for any questions. It was clear he didn’t intend to “be there” for his employees.
The vice president of a financially strapped, non-profit had been fully involved in decision-making with her CEO to save the agency. The VP typically hid in her office, avoiding interaction with her employees. When she had to communicate the changes, instead of owning them, she blamed the decisions solely on the CEO. It didn’t take long for the truth to come out.
The senior leadership of a major corporation routinely promoted “favorite sons and daughters” to lofty positions. When their leadership didn’t deliver expected results, they pointed the finger at their department managers, making them scapegoats. This is all it takes to crush a band of followers!
Leadership is a moral obligation.
If no one is following, you aren’t leading. It’s as simple as that! If you’ve never read, Leadership Is An Art by Max DePree, now’s the time.
Taking the lead is a business fitness smart move—a public one. When you lead, everyone sees what you do and who you are. Let your legacy as a leader be an exemplary one and not scandal. Go on...make yourself proud!
What’s been the worst example of scandalous leadership that you’ve experienced? What was the outcome?
Dawn Lennon is strategist, mentor, advisor, and coach as each new situation arises.
A career businesswoman, author, and founder/owner of Big Picture Consulting, she has been helping individuals, solo practitioners, and small business owners achieve business and career success for more than a decade.
Before leaving to start her practice, Dawn spent over twenty years as a senior manager at a Fortune 500 energy company in customer service, management development and training, and consumer programs (a marketing function). She developed award-winning programs, provided expert testimony, led high-profile change initiatives, and implemented best practices.
While in the thick of corporate things, she was an active entrepreneur, owning and operating a commercial horse breeding operation and an equine art gallery. She also spent five years providing practice management consulting to veterinarians.
All of these experiences gave her a broad understanding of what it takes to be a success in any business. She saw first-hand what goes on behind the scenes in a big corporation and in small business. She’s hired over 100 employees, seen the impact of downsizings on good people who lost jobs, overcame political barriers, and developed talented people. She built three entrepreneurial businesses from scratch, took the lumps that go with the territory, and built a loyal customer base.
She learned that there’s nothing more valuable to the growth of a career than being tested under fire and coming out on top.
Dawn has an M.A. degree from Lehigh University and is author of Business Fitness: The Power to Succeed—Your Way. She’s written numerous articles on achieving success in business and will be sharing lots of insights with those of you who follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t forget to sign up for her Free Stuff.