Reflection on “Strengthening Others” - K&P Chapter 10
In this chapter, Kouzes & Posner suggest that strengthening direct reports through building self-determination and confidence via competence are key essentials in the journey toward providing exemplary leadership and, thus, getting extraordinary things accomplished. “Creating a climate in which people are fully engaged and feel in control of their own lives is at the heart of strengthening others.” (250) Building confidence and resolve in people instill the belief they are able and therefore determined to succeed. K&P suggest that providing a sense of control through latitude and knowledge breeds confidence and opens the door to innovation.
A leader must also provide adequate resources in the form of time, money, people, and information to allow their staff to accomplish assigned tasks efficiently and accurately. It’s important to offer visible resources support, as well as public recognition, to build confidence levels. It’s finally imperative to conduct one-on-one monthly coaching dialogues with direct reports to create a mutually beneficial and supportive discovery process (what works, what doesn’t work, how to improve).
Power can be a very slippery slope when leading a team. K&P claim that “you become more powerful when you give your own power away” (251). They state that those who hold fast onto power and wield it to get their way are likely feeling powerless themselves. I find this claim to be quite true, for I’ve seen it in action several times throughout my career. However, I’ll use my daughter’s recent job experience as a prime example of how to quickly destroy confidence in direct reports.
After twelve years on the job, Tanya (a lead financial analyst in a global technology services organization) acquired a new boss, a vice president of the company, in her division. Her performance evaluations over the previous 12 years had all been excellent to exemplary and her increases matched. She supervised five analysts in other office locations (London, San Diego, San Francisco, Denver and Minneapolis). Three of the five had been hired and trained by Tanya within the past year, as dictated by her new boss. She was suddenly traveling 50-75% of her time to train the new hires, putting in many long hours and finding little time left for her higher-level analysis duties. Her new boss, unfortunately, was not and had never been an analyst, had difficulty understanding most of the generated reports, and subsequently relied on “the team” (mainly my daughter) to hold up the division.
In August, Tanya was told she was one of a select few employees who were being placed on the “fast track” for increased leadership responsibilities within the corporation. This fostered her desire to work even longer hours, for she felt strengthened, supported and believed in by her boss as well as the company. Then, on Thanksgiving Day last November, her boss (located in Denver) called her with a request to complete some specific reports by the following Monday, pointing out that his job was on the line and that, if she didn’t produce what his own boss expected, she “would crash and burn” with him (his exact words, per my daughter). One can imagine how that pronouncement shaped her weekend, let alone self-confidence, especially given the dictate wasn’t possible without the help from another key team member in San Diego who happened to be on vacation and unreachable. This fact fell on deaf ears with her boss.
The Friday before her scheduled Christmas week off, with a failed dictate under her belt, her boss called her from Denver and, over the phone, stripped her of her leadership responsibilities, told her to concentrate on her analysis duties, and placed her on a formal Performance Improvement Plan. The decision ruined her Christmas (and certainly dampened mine), sank her into depression, and destroyed her ability to perform at even an acceptable level for a few weeks. In just four short months, my once-lively, positive, animated, intelligent daughter went from being a star performer to a job seeker, sinking into herself and horribly afraid of losing the position she once adored. Her confidence was completely destroyed and, therefore, her ability to do her job well. As she is no longer strapped with the responsibility of training others to get up to speed, she now has the time to work on required reports and is again being praised. The experience, however, has left her self-esteem severely damaged (and, yes, she is still looking for another job).
How do you think this leader (questionable term) might have handled things differently to achieve his goals?
K&P also discuss the dynamics of group cooperative endeavors, claiming that peer pressure will increase individual accountability by forcing slacking group members to perform or leave the team. (258) This claim is backed up by cited evidence concerning the survival of species relying on collaboration to avoid extinction and eradicating “bad or inefficient behavior.” (see Note 8, 364) Aside from the fact that this cite refers to the survival of species (forcing the weak to leave), I’m not sure that this argument holds true when referring to teamwork on short-term projects. Aside from the fact that most people I’ve talked to dislike group projects enormously, I can honestly state that every one I’ve worked on, whether in a workplace or classroom situation, has consistently resulted in at least one member not producing expected results. Most often, by the time the slacker is discovered, the end of the project is near and the rest of the team members are left scrambling to achieve success. Team members refrain from exposing the weak link for fear of being labeled unprofessional or a snitch and work extra hard to make sure their own success is not damaged. As well, it’s extremely difficult to confront a teammate.
How do you suggest diplomatically yet effectively dealing with a team slacker on short-term projects?
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Comments
Cheri, My sympathies go out to you and your daughter. It's always sad when bad managers screw up a good work relationship for others. Have you ever heard of the Peter Principle? It states that in every organization people rise to their level of incompetence. It sounds like that is the case with your daughter's manager. Seems like he is in over his head and unable to effectively deal with his job requirements. I think he should have acted like a man, leveled with his manager about the time constraints, and dealt with the consequences rather than punish his workers.
I always wonder about organizations that bring in managers to oversee an operation they know nothing about. Situations like that can be managed by exceptional leaders, but I fear your daughter's boss is, lacking in both job-specific and leadership abilities, not to mention personal relationship skills. I think it takes special skills as a leader to manage a workforce who know more about the job than the leader.
The other extreme that has me stymied are leaders that micromanage their teams. To me micromanaging indicates a lack of trust. I have left very good jobs that changed when micromanaging leaders were hired. I imagine that leading an organization is somewhat like raising kids. With kids you need to provide two things, roots and wings. Teach them the basics, get them grounded, and then set them free to make their way, confident in the knowledge that mom and dad are their biggest fans that will do all they can to be helpful. Organizational leaders too then need to initially supply training and guidance and then let their employees do their thing, confident in the knowledge that a supportive network is behind them every step of the way.
Posted by: Todd Stroessner | March 10, 2008 10:06 PM
As a follow-up to my original post, for those of you who may have read my story about my daughter's horrible experience with her new boss, it might interest you to know that on Friday (4/4/08) he was fired. That person's boss (the corporation VP) called my daughter personally to discuss the decision and acknowledged the problems were not with her performance.
Sweet!
We all feel so protective of our children...I'm no different. I'm very happy about this turn of events. My daughter can now start to rebuild her confidence - and hopefully still find the strength to keep looking for a new position. At the age of 'almost' 38, she deserves recognition for her hard-earned contributions. In the face of continued change within her organization, she has been consistently flexible, acquiescent and amenable to her job transformations (I'm not sure I would have been as forgiving and accepting). It's time she received some recognition.
Being a good leader means abandoning selfishness and instead incorporating selflessness so to help others attain their highest potential. In this way, an organization can only hope to succeed (meaning, there are so many other factors to account for, with personnel being number ONE).
Posted by: Cheri Ptacek | April 6, 2008 11:12 PM