Leadership is More than just Being the Person in Charge

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Liz Brashears in Best Practices

By Liz Brashears

Working for an HR firm brings the opportunity to interact with many fine organizations throughout the year and exposes me to a multitude of HR-related issues. There are some days however when I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day — enduring the same day over and over as I hear the same issues from clients over and over again.

A leader is more than a title

Puzzling Performance from a New Leader
I recently received a call from a client who was concerned about “John,” their newly promoted IT Manager. John was one of their star employees; he was technically proficient, reliable, competent, and had an incredibly strong work ethic. When the previous IT Manager left, it was obvious to my client who should take over the role since John appeared to be a natural fit. Now, three months down the road they had concerns about John’s performance as a manager. The team was not performing well and John couldn’t seem to get a handle on the situation. My client didn’t want to lose John but they knew that something had to change. I asked them if John ever managed employees previously. No. Did they provide him with any training for his new role? No.

What is Leadership?
Putting the word “manager” on someone’s business card doesn’t make him or her a leader. Leadership is more than just being the person-in-charge. In fact, leadership isn’t about authority at all. It’s about influence. And because of that influence we often find it matched up with authority, particularly in a professional setting. While leadership doesn’t magically appear overnight, the good news is that it involves skills that can be learned.

I asked my client: “How would you define leadership?”

He said: “The ability to manage and motivate others.”

There is much truth to that. But I think there is another aspect to it that may make it much easier to train your people.

I told him: “Leadership is a process by which a leader influences a constituent to produce a desired result.”

My client sounded a little puzzled. “You think leadership is a process?”

I do. Ultimately John, the new IT Manager needs his people to accomplish certain tasks. Isn’t that really what he needs to do – lead his team to get the job done?

The Process of Leadership
The process of leadership involves the following steps:

• Identifying the task that needs to be accomplished
• Assessing the ability and willingness of the constituents
• Matching the appropriate leader response based on constituents’ ability and willingness

This isn’t new stuff. This is Situational Leadership and it has been around for a while. This leadership model has been used by everyone from the military to Fortune 100 companies to individual parents trying to get their teenagers to clean up their rooms.

I reminded my client of TriNet’s Embracing Leadership workshops that are being held in various cities around the country and I hope to see John in one soon. There is hope for him, and my client agrees. I believe there is no investment more important than the investment a company makes in its people — it is the gift that keeps on giving for both parties.

Liz Brashears (liz.brashears@trinet.com) is a Director of Human Capital Consulting at TriNet and a certified facilitator of Situational Leadership. She also likes chick flicks, Golden Retrievers, and any combination of peanut butter and chocolate.

Photo Credits: Original photo by singhajaykr25