The Leadership Pill

I'm already behind, but here is my first review.  Blanchard and Muchnick do a great job simplifying the fact that effective leadership is something developed over time.  There is no "pill" for it.  The book is an easy, quick read and actually reminds me of the parables heard in early childhood.

The story of the "effective leader" was earily reminiscent of the group I walked into. On page 24, "Team members were described...as lazy, disruptive and apathetic."  I would like to remove lazy but add: hostile, dramatic, negative and resentful to my own situation.  I really tried to read into and cling to how he handled smug comments, abrasiveness and negativity.  I do not remember clear examples of that in the book, but I suppose dealing with difficult people is a topic in and of itself.  What I did, however, notice was when comments were made, the "effective leader" did not let it distract him.  He pressed forward with his goal in mind.  The other interesting thing I noticed is he did not argue with his staff but "ignoring cold reception" (page 36), he stuck to emphasizing his plan - the "secret blend".  Nevertheless, the book left me craving info on how to handle difficult employees. 

The "effective leader" leads a team, which by design was compiled of the worst performers, within a year's time to success.  I had hoped to do the same but clearly did not.  A glaring situational difference I noticed is we do not hear about the "effective leader's" boss and/or bosses.  He obviously has been given free reign to lead.  He is setting the goals, mentoring the staff and so on with seemingly little to no input from his superiors.   Right or wrong, this is beyond my comprehension.  I would constantly be burdened with "should I run this by X or just do it" or "I am not sure I have the authority to handle this".  And, I would be willing to put good money on the fact that most in management in my firm would share my hesitations.  Hands tied, almost always.  Asking forgiveness instead of permission seemed to be the path of least resistance.

At any rate, the authors hone in on "integrity, partnership and affirmation".  Integrity was something we desperately lacked within and was an issue I never got control of.  I could have done a better job leading by example as could my superiors.  Inappropriate language and work conversations were commonplace among and between staff and executives.  I was shocked at how accepted this behavior was, so much so that I was apprehensive in addressing it.  I honestly did not see it rise to that level during my time in the core of our firm.  I see now that not rapidly dealing with it was a major mistake on my part.  Most days, I did not respond to the swearing or participate in the wildly inappropriate conversations.  Certainly, I do not believe the work product, itself, lacked integrity, but our service level to our clients and internal relationships did. 

As for partnership, I contend if it had been viewed as a "partnership" by both sides (the core firm and the affiliate), the experience would have been altogether different.  The practice of keeping everything top secret was pervasive.  Information was not shared, so as indicated on page 72, we emulated this statement:  "People run around in the dark shooting at targets they can't even see." And, I am fairly certain no one felt as though the leaders we reported to were "climbing the hill" together with us. 

Now, affirmation is something we rarely heard from those in our core firm, but it is actually how I began my relationship with my staff.  I really do care about people, and it gets me into a lot of trouble.  I simply praised the work they accomplished, especially under such undesirable circumstances (no management for over three years prior to my arrival, not in the same physical location, constantly ignored by the leadership).  Just acknowledging their ability bought me some brownie points.  Bringing cupcakes or lunch or snacks in went a long way too.  They had been so beat down and please remember our core firm services required credentials that had to be backed by education.  This affiliate's service did not, and therefore, they were viewed as inferior or "another class of worker" which I actually heard.  The "effective leader" actually develops a member of his staff to lead meetings, which is a great idea.  I am not sure I would have gotten support for it from my leaders, but I could have gotten away with it (gone unnoticed) for a significant period of time.  If I got anything right in my short time in this position, I came close to getting affirmation down pat.  Despite our difficulties, all of them seemed sad to see me go.  I am not stupid or naive.  It could have been a show, but they were so good to me when I left.

But, these women needed and deserved a leader.  A leader with utmost integrity, which I was afraid to practice.  I could not provide them with partnership but only affirmation.  Affirmation, alone, was not enough.

What the heck do you mean "socialist" tendencies?

See my Introduction post if you're totally confused.  Regardless of political persuasion, I am not sure what place socialism should have in the free market workplace.  My experience was everyone with similar experience levels and titles received similar benefits.  Sounds great, right?  It is great until you add performance to the equation.  In my work experience, those who worked less, did not take responsibility for their staff, did not research their own technical issues (where I could never use "I don't know") and relied on others for the "soft" stuff  (new processes, new software training, review of new technical literature or legislation) were not compensated much differently from those who worked more and did all of the aforementioned things.  For the first ten years, I was certainly among those who worked hard, took responsibility for my staff and was highly involved and visible in the "soft" stuff.  I began to lose interest.  The benchmark and/or the expectation was not clear.  And, as personal tragedies began to unfold in a short period of time, I lost my passion.  I could not find a reason to maintain the same level of commitment, because it didn't matter.  I hated who I was becoming.  It was contrary to how I was raised and to my value-based belief system.  It's my fault for allowing my character to become affected.  But, I readily admit to taking advantage of the lack of accountability in the system knowing I would always be grouped with the same individuals, regardless.  And, I would not be given any authority.  Like any good socialist group, we had a dictatorship, not a democracy.  Less than five executives made all decisions for a company of 70+.  Although forums were provided (for nothing more than courtesy) for sharing ideas,  ideas shared were rarely taken seriously, especially if it was not what the executives wanted. 

Introduction

Why am I doing this?  I worked in a firm for over thirteen years, and rather than pursue the "partner track", resigned to reflect on what I was doing and why.  The culture had "socialist" tendencies of which I was certainly a benefactor.  Regrettably, I was also an enabler and perpetrator of the culture.  The "knee jerk" response to why I left was:  I would never have any "real" authority to make the changes necessary for us to succeed, and I had lost my fight.  And, that was absolutely true.  Had true accountability been at an appropriate level, however, I am not even sure I would have deserved real authority nor would most of the firm's leadership. 

I spent the majority of my career in the traditional core of a professional services firm.  But, there was an affiliate which had not been managed in over three years.  This affiliate had seven women, including two very hot-tempered women, a gossip and one serious passive aggressive.  My new direct supervisor was a master manipulator.  This affiliate was not in the same physical location as the core of the firm.  Because the educational requirements were not the same (they were less), this affiliate did not carry the same importance as the core of the firm.  But, this affiliate had a tremendous amount of growth even in a down economy.  I had no experience in this industry but many years in our core firm and in management.  From a personal and a professional perspective, the time was ripe for me to make a change and pursue a challenge.  So, I did.  My charge was to manage the group and position this affiliate to grow. 

Suffice it to say, in my eyes, I failed.  I walked away voluntarily, but I failed.  I firmly believe, unless the group and leadership dynamic changes, any manager will be set up to fail.  I could have returned to the core, but I have too much pride.  And, I refuse to roll around in self pity.  I demand to learn from this failure. 

One way I plan to learn is to read more than a dozen books on leadership and management.  I want the benchmark.  In recent years, I have read Who Moved My Cheese, Good to Great, Fish and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  As I move forward, I welcome and will embrace suggestions and constructive criticism.  Hate-filled, belligerent comments are not welcome.

Here is my reading list so far:

1)      The Reactor Factor, Marsha Petrie Sue

2)      The Leadership Pill, Ken Blanchard/Marc Munchnick

3)      Gung Ho, Ken Blanchard/Sheldon Bowles

4)      Raving Fans, Ken Blanchard/Sheldon Bowles

5)      One Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard

6)      Peaks and Valleys, Spencer Johnson

7)      The Present, Spencer Johnson

8)      Crucial Conversations, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler

9)      Crucial Confrontations, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler

10)   Top Performance, Zig Ziglar

11)   The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, John C. Maxwell

12)   The Smart Manager’s FAQ Guide, Rex Gatto

13)   True Professionalism, David Maister

14)   Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman