“Leadership is not wielding Authority …

…it’s Empowering People”

As I reflected on my coaching activity over the last several months, I realized most of my time was spent with a collective group representing a crucial leadership component in any organization - middle management. I am referring to those Senior Managers and Directors who are typically one or two levels removed from the front lines of the business as well as several layers removed from the boardroom. Yet to be successful, they keep an eye on, and understand the activities of, both ends of the spectrum. Based on recent experience, it is still a challenge as it was when I held similar positions in my own corporate career. In reflection, the expression above from Becky Brodin is a reminder of an integral part of the being a successful middle management leader.

Success in middle management requires the leader to be part tactician, part strategic thinker; part detail-oriented, part big-picture; part manager and every bit a leader! In a constantly changing business environment, middle management leaders have to continuously adapt to changes that come from senior leadership and at the same time effectively manage their teams as they interact daily with the changing demands of customers, vendors and suppliers as well as their own team’s individual goals. With all these demands, empowerment is crucial to their success!

In my own experience, there are four distinct scenarios where leaders in middle management are effective by empowering their teams or being empowered themselves to make the right decisions and achieve their desired results.

The first is being able to be the top when you have to. Being able to make decisions when needed without always having to “run it up the chain of command” is the sign of an empowered leader as well as indicative of a high performing organization. Leaders in middle management should understand the strategic intent well enough to be able to confidently make operational decisions to advance their organizations in alignment with the overall strategy of the business.

The second scenario is the opposite of the first. They need to be the bottom when they have to. Being able to filter and or translate the volume of information that comes from senior leadership requires a current knowledge of what is important to their team and what is not. Passing information on solely based on “it came from the top” has no value other than passing on the message. Effective communication is ensuring the context is meaningful to the audience. Therefore successful leaders either stop meaningless traffic or translate complex messaging into meaningful information.

The third scenario requiring empowerment comes in the form of being a facilitator when necessary. When issues cross the middle management leader’s path, they become opportunities to facilitate a solution rather that solve the problem directly. The ability to empower the parties involved to work through the issue, either directly or possibly through collaboration with other parties the leader can bring to the discussion, is a powerful leadership tool. Not only has the leader helped build new relationships, the parties involved also actively learn through their own empowerment.

The final scenario is similar to the third in that the leader acts as coach when necessary. Coaching helps individuals create their own solutions to issues with the support of the coaching leader. By empowering the individual, the leader once again creates a learning opportunity through the empowerment process and creates a more confident member of their teams through each coaching opportunity.

When I work with leaders in middle management positions, I always explore empowerment on two levels. We look at the leader’s level of empowerment with their own team as well as the level of empowerment they themselves have from their managers. How much is empowerment contributing to your success as a leader?

Lead Well!

We Need 100%...

...From 100%

As a leader in corporate organizations, the military and small businesses, this was a frequent reminder to my organization we all have a role to play in our organization’s success. It also reminded them of the importance of showing up every day with everything they have to give, not just show up. Said differently, I was promoting full employee engagement by everyone in the organization. As we reviewed the four key elements of the Total Leadership Model these previous four months, it all centers on the level of engagement by employees, associates and volunteers who create the moments of truth and points of connection between the organization and those who bring you business.

Last month I referenced the results of a recent Gallup Poll survey indicating in average performing organizations, only 33% of employees are engaged in the business. This compared to world-class organizations where the exact opposite is true and 67% of the organization engaged in the business. In addition, in average performing organizations, 18% of employees were actively disengaged. This means that only a third of the organization cares about the activities contributing directly to employee retention, productivity, customer satisfaction/engagement, safety and profitability; all measurable dimensions of organizational success. Improving employee engagement has a direct effect on customer loyalty. Last month I mentioned even a 5% increase in customer loyalty can improve profits by 25% up to 85% depending on industry.

But what if you are a small or medium sized business with few employees? Does this matter? How engaged are the employees of your larger customers, especially the ones who implement your services, purchase your products and pay your invoices? If they don’t care beyond the minimum, how does that affect your business? Employee engagement impacts every business, large or small!

And it all starts with leadership. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric once said, “Any company trying to compete…must figure out how to engage the mind of every employee.” We define organizational culture as the shared values, beliefs and actions that develop within an organization guiding the behavior of its members. Employee attitude is where it starts for leaders because it is attitude that drives behavior and it is behavior that drives the ability to achieve the desired results of the organization. The behavior observed by your customers, suppliers and other employees forms the ongoing perception of your organization and your business. As you understand the market’s perception of your business, are you getting 100% out of 100%?

Lead Well!

We Will Do That For You…

…Followed by a Firm Handshake.

One of my favorite gifts this past Christmas was a sculpture of a handshake, a gift from my sons. They know the handshake holds high value to me as a symbol of the right kind of leader to be. It is not an accident it is part of the RPC Leadership Associates brand. While difficult to trace the exact origin of the handshake, we can easily trace its origins back as far as medieval times when knights and royalty would shake as a gesture to let the other know there were no weapons present. In other words, it was a sign of trust. It is trust, which we as a culture continue to struggle with today.

We seldom go a day without seeing a headline or a story related to trust, typically a displayed lack of it. Whether in business, politics or sports names like Madoff, Blagojevich and Woods conjure up images of a broken trust between them and the relationships with the people who helped them succeed in the first place. So I believe it is here we should begin our discussion of trust by looking at what it means to have a meaningful relationship as a leader.

If we look at the buying process used by many in business for making a value based decision, we find it begins with the first thing people buy – you! It is through the strength of the relationship that starts the trust building process. Building trust is much like saving money in a piggy bank. Every moment of truth, every interaction with another person and every transaction in a relationship helps build the trust bank account. I heard it described recently as “we add trust to a relationship a nickel at a time, but we lose trust in that same relationship a dollar at a time”. If leaders are looking for trust in the relationships with their teams the first place they need to look is in the mirror. Are you the type of leader who is trustworthy? I spoke last month of the importance of self-awareness as the authentic leader’s greatest tool. This is crucial as it helps a leader’s ability to leverage candor and empathy as crucial elements to building trust. If people in an organization trust their leader as a person, they stand a much better chance of trusting their organization as a whole. A recent Gallup poll suggests only 30% of employees are fully engaged in their organization. What organization in this day and age can afford to have 30% engagement? Yet by disregarding the very elements that build trust within the culture of their organization, they may as well hang a sign outside their door stating “Employee Engagement Doesn’t Matter Here”.

Finally, a fitting quote from David Armistead I often use, “Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities for which they were previously unaware”. Are the trust levels in your organization high enough? Are you ready to discover new abilities to which you are now unaware? We will help you get there. Can we shake on that?

Lead Well.

Rick Lochner