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him?
Is being a leader really rewarding any more?
We
are concerned that the answer is no, and that
Virginia
will suffer as a result.
Everybody
talks about the importance of leadership but very
few prepare people for it.
Even worse, some go out of their way to make
the task more difficult. As a result, it is becoming
increasingly hard to attract good people to
leadership positions. The thoughtful, principled,
knowledgeable, collegial, and mission-
focused
people that really
should be at the top of Virginia organizations,
have, in many cases – but fortunately not all --
decided that the gain is simply not worth the pain.
The
conventional wisdom -- which, on this and every
other subject, is usually wrong, by the way -- is
that every organization is populated by the lean and
hungry, just waiting for their chance to occupy the
big corner office and get the great pay and the
great perks. Those
people are out there but you don’t necessarily
want the most ambitious, driven and self-centered
persons in leadership positions because they can
besmirch the organization by damaging its most
valuable resources: its reputation and its people.
If you’re not sure of that, check out the
latest round of corporate scandals wherein the super
ambitious, success-at-any-price types on both sides
of the desk have been caught cooking the books and
torching the stock.
That
conventional wisdom, again, says the leader is
responsible for everything from employees’ mental
health to whether they gets a good night’s rest.
He or she is also responsible for financial
performance, quality, organizational responsiveness,
establishing a caring and compassionate environment,
and finding a cure for organizational bad breath and
hemorrhoids. One’s
bookshelves literally bend under the weight of tome
after tome either extolling a particular leadership
formula or telling the ever-popular tale of how “I
was once a poor leader but one day saw the light and
now have this great story of how you, too, can
become a great leader just like me.” No ego there,
thank God.
Adding
to the folly of these expectations is the
well-meaning “help” that our legislators and
regulators provide. Many seem to have ignored
Franklin Roosevelt’s observation that, “The
United States Constitution has proved itself the
most marvelous compilation of rules of government
ever written.” In the process of looking out for
us poor sheep, the voters, they have compounded the
leadership hassle. Since this greatest governance
document ever produced is apparently thought
insufficient to protect our rights in some quarters,
they are going to help us all out by mandating
employee rights and grievance procedures, privacy
laws, health and safety regulations, financial
disclosure regulations, yada, yada, yada, ad
infinitum, ad barfum.
In other words, they presume that if they
just pass enough laws or prescribe enough
regulations, they can overcome all human weaknesses
and create the perfect world.
No ego there, either, thank God.
We
are personally aware of vice presidents who have
declined to even be interviewed for CEO positions
due to their extreme distaste for operating under
all of these great protections.
They look ahead and see one of two paths:
Either they slog through the muck and mire and
“move up” to being personally responsible for
every institutional shortcoming, or they choose to
“rise above” the mess and thereby lose touch
with the real world in which their institution is
operating and fail to provide adequate leadership.
For executives with real concerns for their
people and their institution and their own quality
of life, neither is a good choice. Some just opt
out. Perhaps
some healthy ego at work there, thank God.
We
are repeatedly told by colleagues and clients that a
similar dynamic is operating in the health care
professions, especially in nursing, where many
dedicated and talented individuals refuse to
consider supervisory or management positions because
of the high hassle factor involved.
It
is especially disconcerting that some of our most
important societal functions, such as education,
health care, law enforcement and other critical
governmental functions, most of which are publicly
funded and therefore often not competitive in terms
of salaries, are likely to suffer a continued
erosion in quality of leadership.
It
is difficult and can be expensive to implement
effective leadership training and development
programs. The
military services do it well, but most institutions
have neither the structure nor the resources to do
anything similar. Even so, the services do offer a
few lessons that could be broadly applied. First,
the organizational culture has to identify what is
expected of leaders, and build in the psychological
and legal support for leaders to be effective.
Second, leadership development has to be an explicit
process with specific milestones to be met and
specific content to be mastered.
Third, evaluation systems have to measure and
reward demonstrated mastery of the required
leadership competencies.
Fourth, no one advances into a leadership
position until they have achieved the necessary
level of accomplishment in points two and three.
Please
note that none of this has to do with grabbing a
sword and running around swashing buckles.
Like most things in life, it requires basic
blocking and tackling and a strong sense of purpose.
As management guru Stephen Covey says,
”Strategy is beginning with the end in mind.”
We’ve never read anything of his that says,
“Try to do everything the easy way and hope for
the best.”
Even
following these guidelines won’t guarantee the
development and succession of better leaders but
they will yield better results than the expensive,
time-
consuming
executive searches that most organizations conduct
seemingly based on the theory that “the right
person’s out there somewhere and if we just look
long enough and hard enough, we’re bound to find
her.” If the
Boss calls, get her name.
Developing
a climate for effective leadership may be simpler
than it often seems but it does demand action.
In addition to the lessons learned from the
military, there are a few straightforward
requirements. First, the organization has to have a
clear picture of its mission and a solid strategic
plan to achieve it.
Second, all members of the organization must
have a well understood set of shared values that
guide their behavior.
Third, the organization’s legal staff, be
it in house or outside counsel, must develop a solid
legal basis for these expectations and the
accountability measures that enforce them, rather
than telling management what they can’t do.
Think
about it. What
are you doing to put into place the leadership
succession you need for organizational survival? It
won’t just happen by itself. Then what? With budget cuts, employee layoffs and other
calamities befalling us, will
Virginia
have the necessary quality of leaders in place to
take advantage of the economic recovery when it
comes? What’s
our strategy? Hope
for the best? We
hope not.
--
September 30, 2002
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