This post by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch appeared on Linked in and it struck a note with me. I feel that there is a lot in it that I think I agree with. I'm not sure if I'm entirely in agreement with the list or if it really matters whether I agree or not but there is, deep down in me, a healthy dislike of the mundane, uncreative and uninspired leadership/management here in the UK.
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130327154206-86541065-the-six-deadly-sins-of-leadership?trk=eml-mktg-inf-m-top13-0827-p3
The main headings of the article are, the six deadly sins are:
- Not giving self-confidence its due.
- Muzzling voice
- Acting phoney
- Lacking the guts to differentiate
- Fixation on results at the expense of values.
- Skipping the fun part
The trouble with these lists are that they can only dumb-down what is a very serious problem. That's a bit unfair of me as its purpose is to highlight some problems and I guess it works at that. It's generated me to waffle on in this post to no-one in particular, so at least I'm thinking about it. But dumbing-down? Well probably. Or maybe just over-simplifying. Perhaps that's a nicer way to say it.
#1 - Not giving self-confidence its due
"Self-confidence is the lifeblood of success."
I'm not a great manager, or leader in the charismatic way, but I think and learn and challenge. Sometimes when time permits I can look up and innovate. But the above list of six things are not quite right, or in the right order. You do tend to associate precedence to the order of things and, Not giving self-confidence its due, isn't number one.
There are at least two equally important and crucial additional aspects to this.
One - Not giving confidence or time to the person that lacks confidence. I have seen an environment where a person was not regarded highly for his talents. In fact the prevailing opinion of him was truely low. Behind the scenes, management would talk rather poorly of the person. I knew the person was bright, was hard-working, sharp, but there were issues. The transformation to this person's life, career and prospects are now profoundly improved because I worked at this, pressing ahead with support and mentoring. I remember that it took just one year from meeting this person to bring about significant change to him and the team.
Two - not dealing with the over-confident or arrogant.
This is tough and it takes good judgement and self-control. One person's arrogant is another person's genius. You must get it right but you must look at the personal interplay in the team and ensure that personalities are in control and in some sort of harmonious balance and that other potential stars are not being stifled. I've seen very dominant characters suppress others through bullying or sheer confidence. Whatever the method of handling this, it is important.
#2 - Muzzling voice
"Perhaps the most frustrating way that leaders underperform is by over-talking."
Over-talking is bad. Yes I agree to that. But, over-talking is different to over-driving the discussion to your favour. I talk too much after coffee, but always listen to the input of the team. Collectively we know more and are greater than the sum of our individual voices. So I agree in general with the #2 but I think it's slightly off.
#3 - Acting phoney
"Can you spot a phoney Of course you can – and so can your people. Indeed, if there is one widespread human capability, it is sniffing out someone who is putting on airs, pretending to be who they’re not, or just keeping their real self hidden. Yet too many leaders spend way too much time creating personas that put a wall between them and their employees. What a waste."
I didn't agree with this at first. I thought it over simplified what I imagined to be the real problem. But now I think I agree. There are a lot of "suits". Even if they don't wear them. Often they are well intentioned and well-ordered. Sometimes they are playing the corporate ladder of survival and progression. Maybe the companies need them. Maybe the company simply needs fewer of them. But there is a style that can be destructive to creativity and motivation. This needs to be understood and managed.
#4 - Lacking the guts to differentiate
"You only have to be in business a few weeks to know that not all investment opportunities are created equal. But some leaders can’t face that reality, and so they sprinkle their resources like cheese on a pizza, a little bit everywhere
...
But leaders who don’t differentiate do the most damage when it comes to people. Unwilling to deliver candid, rigorous performance reviews, they give every employee the same kind of bland, mushy, “nice job” sign-off."
Yes I probably understand this and agree. But headline problem for this list. I'm not sure because I haven't managed many managers.
#5 - Fixation on results at the expense of values.
"Everyone knows that leaders deliver. Oratory and inspiration without results equal…well, a whole lot of nothing. But leaders are committing a real dereliction of duties if all they care about are the numbers."
I like this one. One thought along these lines that I believe is with visual products for example. It is simply not good enough to provide function and expect to differentiate ourselves from the rest. If we can get people to love our product through aesthetics or service then we have values and we have pride. There are many aspects to this results v values equation that I need to think about. I will waffle on some more in another post.
#6 - Skipping the fun part
"What a lost opportunity. Celebrating makes people feel like winners and creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Imagine a team winning the World Series without champagne spraying everywhere. You can’t! And yet companies win all the time and let it go without so much as a high-five."
Yep.
I agree in the celebration part but celebration is not the only definition or expression of fun. Before that there is the fun of doing the job. I'm thinking particularly of a development environment here and there has to be a lot of appropriate fun. Interaction in the team, jokes, support, team work, banter - all useful where appropriate and sensitive to those who might feel alienated by certain behaviour.
Success comes daily. Solving a sticky bug, a change to a design, writing a good doc. It's not all big end-of-project celebrations.
