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Two Leadership Traps: How To Get Out Of Them and How To Avoid Them (Part 1)
You've heard of the Peter Principle: "People are promoted to their level of ultimate incompetence". But what the Peter Principle doesn't tell you is the nature of the incompetence. For the most part, it's leadership incompetence. A human resources director told me, "Brent, we hire people for their skills and knowledge, but we fire them or fail to promote them or promote them for their leadership abilities -- or lack thereof." In other words, throughout their careers, people are promoted to take charge of bigger and bigger groups -- until they take over a group that's too big for their leadership abilities. One main reason they come up short in abilities is they are constantly and unconsciously falling into two leadership traps. I'll describe the traps, how to get out of them, and how not to get into them in the first place. The traps can be particularly deadly because they are in many cases self-set -- and even self-triggered. What's worse: the vast majority of leaders who get into them don't have a clue they're caught. It's one thing to be in a trap and know you are in it: You try to get out. But it's a problem of another magnitude to be in a trap and not know you are in it. In that case, you'll stay there. THE FIRST TRAP: "I need ..." A marketing leader in a major global company was stumbling. His team was failing to achieve the targeted results. He told me, "The good news is they do what I tell them. The bad news is they do what I tell them -- ONLY what I tell them. Other than firing the worst of the bunch or transferring others out of the team, I can't figure out what to do. And if I don't do it soon, I'll be the one fired or transferred!" I asked if I could sit in on a team meeting to scope out the situation. "Be my guest," he said. "But I don't see what good it will do. The problem isn't in the meetings. Everybody agrees what needs to get done when they're in the meetings. The problem is the results after the meetings." The meeting had been going only for only a couple of minutes when I saw what was wrong. Afterwards, alone in his office, I told him: "They're not the problem. YOU'RE the problem. You've fallen into two leadership traps." He looked at me incredulously. "What traps?" I explained that leaders often fall into traps that prevent them from getting the full measure of results they're capable of. And the deadliest traps are often the ones of their own making. The first trap is the "I need . . . " trap. Leaders fall into this trap when they say, "I need you to hit the marketing targets, I need you to get more productive, I need you to (fill in the blank)". I NEED ... I NEED ... I NEED .... Why is this a trap? The answer: the Leader's Fallacy. The Leader's Fallacy is the mistaken belief by leaders that their own needs are automatically reciprocated by the needs of the people they lead. It's a fallacy because automatic reciprocity doesn't exist. But so many leaders go blithely along driven by the Fallacy and so fall into the "I need . . . " trap. For instance, the marketing leader thought he was motivating people to get great results. However, during the meeting, he was constantly repeating, "I need ... ". So, in reality, he was ordering people to get average results. Of course, leaders don't order people to get average results. But average results are usually the outcome of order leadership. The order is the lowest form of motivation. The order leader's focus of my-way-or-the-highway can't get great results from people on a consistent basis simply because people usually can't be ordered to undertake extraordinary endeavors. They must choose to do so. When he said, "The bad news is they ONLY do what I tell them.", he was unknowingly afflicting them. They were simply responding to an order then going into a kind of suspended animation (masked by busy work) until the next order came along. In Part 2, I'll describe how to get out of this trap. 2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved. PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at http://www.actionleadership.com
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Coaching Two Leadership Traps: How To Avoid Them and How To Get Out Of Them (Part 2) Here's how to get out of, or avoid, the "I need ... " trap. It simply involves changing what you think and what you say in very simple ways. Being an Extraordinary Leader Through Tough and Challenging Times Tough and challenging times will surely come. That is a given. The question is what kind of leadership we will demonstrate during those time. Those who are weak leaders will see lasting damage done, if not see the organization fall apart completely. With Extraordinary Leaders at the helm, however, an organization can actually become stronger and thrive in spite of the tough and challenging times. That should be our goal so here are some idea on how to be an Extraordinary Leader in tough and challenging times! 5 Human Capital Asset Enrichment Strategies for Leaders! Here's a really simple way to think about the ins and outs, the doing and practice or attitudes and behaviors of being a leader. 3 Dynamic Techniques To Boost Your Executive Leadership! Here's a really simple way to measure the strength of your executive leadership skills. Ask your people to name 3 important reasons why they enjoy working with you. The Happy Jar I just delivered a free speech. I am a great believer in free speech, but an even greater believer in paid speech. However, there are good reasons why someone like me would deliver free speeches. For instance, to support a charity or a cause I believe in. Or if the audience is full of people who hire speakers. Peek Inside The Heads of Amazingly Successful Leaders Would you like to know what really goes on inside the heads of astoundingly successful leaders? Here is your chance. Part of the research for my book Absolutely Fabulous Organizational Change? involved highly successful executives filling-out my Abilities & Behavior Forecaster? pre-employment test. What Kind of Leader Are You? There are literally millions of words written and spoken each week on enlightened leadership yet the fact remains that low morale, high stress and job dissatisfaction continue to be three of the most serious problems facing the workplace. We seem to be so effectively socialized into top down leadership that we find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to change our autocratic ways. All this in spite of the many workshops and seminars on new leadership paradigms which are rooted in the empowerment of people. Recommended Books on Leadership and Team Building The single most important thing a leader can do is lead by example, and if you want your team to be dynamic and learn more, you've got to continually innovate and find new ways to encourage, reward, and motivate YOURSELF! That's right, I said you've got to motivate YOU! If you lead by example, and you are motivated, soon your team will be too! Leadership and Power - Being the Boss Doesnt Guarantee Either of Them Some people mistakenly associate supervisory positions, or seats of power, with leadership. They presume that these two things are synonymous. While this may be the case sometimes, leadership and power are wholly separate. In reality, the boss may not have all of the power, and in fact, may not be capable of handling it, even if he did possess all of it. What do I mean? What is leadership, and what is power? How do they inter-relate? How are power and leadership obtained? Let's take a look. 3 Ds For Leadership Action... Dedicate, Direct, Dialogue! "...And winged hope, with heart of fire, To gain the bliss of thy desire." - William Winter Leadership Development for Success In today's highly competitive world, there is a lot of pressure on leaders to create highly productive organizations. To be successful with this task, leaders will need all of the talent, skills, techniques, and experience they can muster through leadership development. The pressure to succeed can create a real dilemma: whether to "manage" people or to "lead" people. At CMOE, we maintain that in order to achieve high levels of employee engagement and morale, people in authority must learn how to show others the way, be a "lighthouse," rather than to "railroad" people into compliance by telling, commanding, or controlling them. Respected leaders easily gain loyalty and mutual agreement with their followers (loyalty demanded is loyalty denied). Leadership and Followership in a Team Setting Many solopreneurs work in a team environment either with their client's staff, or with subcontractors. Having spent over 20 years in a teaming environment before becoming a solopreneur 13 years ago, I know that during the course of any highly functioning team effort, the leadership and followership roles flow back and forth between the members. 7 Excellent Ways To Improve Your Leadership Skills! Did you know that there are 7 really effective yet powerful ways to improve your leadership learning opportunities? The Compassion Paradox Effective leaders are comfortable with paradox. They can call on skills and work in ways that seem to be contradictory. Building Future Leaders As a whole we spend a lot of time filling our minds with various forms of self-improvement. Dont be Afraid to Lead! In most aspects of human activity, the pendulum of fashion swings back and forth between extremes, passing briefly through the point of balance on every swing. Transformational Leadership "What is leadership?" When this question is asked most of the people answer "leadership is the capacity or an ability of a person to lead". Earlier theories of leadership viz. trait, behaviour and contingency theories explain the meaning of leadership from different angles. But all these theories spring from the point of view of leaders i.e. "How to control the followers?" Now-a-days the most recent type of leadership is Transformational Leadership theory which also theorises from the point of view of leaders but it attempts to transform the followers or subordinates into leaders. Secrets of Creating Success with Ease Do you ever strum your fingers on the desk top as you look down at your work and think, 'Right, how can I do all this lot without really working?' The Death of Potential While reading my latest book on politics and economics, I came across a reference to a bible story called "Parable of the Talents'. In this story three servants are each give 'talents' (a monetary denomination used by the Greeks). To the first, the master gave 5 talents, to the second he gave 2 and to the third he gave 1 talent. The master gave each a different amount of money (talents), according to their ability. Two of the servants doubled their money and the master was pleased with their results. The third servant, fearful of losing it, buried his money where no one benefited from it, including himself. When the master summoned the third servant to get an accounting of what he had done with his talent, he was angry and displeased to find out the servant had simply buried it and where the money had no opportunity to earn interest. The servant tried to explain to the master that he knew how 'exacting' the master was and he did not want to lose His money. The master did not buy it. He ordered that the one talent be given to the first servant who was able to convert 5 talents into 10. (Reference Matt 25:14 and Luke 19:12). Although I believe the story or parable was strictly about economics and frugality, it can be extended to include, not only money, but true talents (i.e., ability). The cornerstone of my book, The Logic of Success, is the premise that unless you find out what it is you were meant to do, true happiness will elude you. Finding out what it is you truly want takes time, patience and perseverance. In the first chapter I discuss how to create 'search patterns' to find your true calling. (Get a Free copy at www.thelogicofsucccess.com). Now, I want go beyond the obvious of telling you about your hidden talents (you already know you have one, two or more). I want to address the 'How' talents were (and are) buried within us. As children, we all loved to discover new things. We even did things when others advised us not to (e.g., touching the stove when Mom said it was hot). We wanted to learn, we wanted to discover for ourselves the world around us. Failure and pain were not yet transformed into anxieties. As we got older, we were expected to act a little more responsible and accountable for our actions. Like in any soap opera drama, this is the scene in your life where 'society' steps in and starts benevolently imposing its norms on your behavior. You are now expected to: Leadership - L.P.B It! "Dissatisfaction and discouragement are not caused by the absence of things, but the absence of vision." - Anonymous
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