Leadership In The Truest Sense

The ever present question is… “What” is leadership?

 

At the beginning of our Leadership Academy programs and workshops, the very first question that I typically open up for discussion is… What is leadership? To no surprise, the opinions about what leadership “is” are as varied as the number of people present in the room.

The factual reality is that leadership is in application invariably one thing… “situational”. You need only think back to the countless number of true war stories, books and movies that cite the bravery and leadership of everyday soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines whose combat unit was cornered and in the ensuing firefight, their ranking officers were taken out.

Yet, in the midst of these horrendous situations, there were ordinary service men and woman who stepped forward to take charge of the few remaining troops and then lead them on to heroic victory against overwhelming odds and circumstances.

Although these courageous individuals were without appropriate leadership development training, prerequisite skills or experience, they did possess the key attribute that was required in their respective circumstances… a situational “mindset”.

These individuals weren’t willing to lose the battle. Rather, they were willing to step up, step out and immediately take charge of the situation. They had a mindset that was determined to find a way to protect their comrades and then win the conflict no matter what.

This is exactly why every day citizens run into burning buildings, pull people out of burning automobiles and off of train tracks. They respond to the situation at hand and do what absolutely has to be done without ever thinking twice or blinking an eye. They are willing and comfortable about taking on the situation that is in front of them at that given moment.  

Leadership in its truest sense is ultimately not about titles, positions or even invested authority from an organization.. Authentic leadership is about being willing to make a difference no matter what situation confronts you, your people and your organization..

Are the people in your organization who hold positions of responsibility as supervisors, managers, department heads or members of your executive team appropriately prepared to effectively respond to the “situations” that will inevitably unfold within your organization on a day to day basis?

More importantly, does your organization keep reliving the same situations over and over again?

While many of the common situations in most organizations do tend be repetitive, the more crucial situations are the ones that are unanticipated and occur suddenly without warning.

Consider the situation that James F. Parker was unexpectedly confronted with after only a few months on the job as the new CEO of Southwest Airlines… the tragic events of September 11, 2001. In a mere instant, all airlines in the U.S were immediately grounded for many days, while stranding hordes of passengers and flight crews wherever they randomly happened to be at that given moment.

While the remainder of the airline industry simply sat idly by and waited for further instructions from the government. CEO Parker immediately directed the staff of Southwest Airlines to do everything possible to address the needs of Southwest’s passengers. Among numerous activities, Southwest Airlines employees even went so far as to take their customers bowling and to the movies.

In another situation when an elderly woman’s son who was to drive from Tucson, Arizona to meet his mom in Phoenix was seriously injured in a car crash, while making every attempt to so, Southwest was unsuccessful in booking her passage on another airline, as Southwest didn’t fly into Tucson. When the women landed in Phoenix, a Southwest employee without hesitation went to the employee parking lot, got his car and proceeded to drive the elderly woman over 100 miles to Tucson and her injured son.

What CEO Parker successfully helped his people to understand is that there is a direct correlation between leadership and customer service as they are both “situational”. Moreover, it is this level of comprehension for what leadership “is” that has earned Southwest the reputation for always putting the customer first… no matter what the situation.

As your valued resource partner, we stand ready to assist your organization in developing its situational leadership and helping your people to… Learn more… Do more… Become more.

Copyright © 2015 Developing Forward | Thomas H. Swank, CBC

Putting People Before Numbers

Over the course of my career I have had the opportunity to both meet and work with executives and business owners from a wide range of business genres and classifications. When I first sit down with them, I always pose the exact same question of them… “Why are you or your organization in business?”

 

With rare exception, their responses are always the same… “To make money”.

The answer is also much the same for nonprofit organizations, municipalities and government agencies. While the responses may be on the order of “To raise funds” or “To increase operating revenue”, the essence of the “why” remains basically the same, to make money.  Nonprofits still need to cover their general operating costs and the cost of the services that they provide. Municipalities in like fashion need to cover their operating costs and the multitude of services which they provide to their citizens and visitors.

In our age of cutting edge technology and the ability to micromanage virtually every facet of our business operations, there is a higher degree of focus on crunching the numbers and managing the organization’s bottom-line than at any other time in history.

Yet, despite all of the enhanced tools that organizations have at their disposal to run their business operations, employee engagement is at an all-time low and employee turnover continues to be astronomically high.

Contrary to this general business trend, there are a select group of highly successful organizations from business, industry and government that have mastered the invaluable lesson of putting people before numbers.

What these organizations have learned firsthand over time is that if they continue to simply hire people to work for their organization’s money, their organization is going to continue to experience employee mediocrity, low engagement and turnover.  

However, when they started hiring people who “believe” in what the organization believes in, their people willingly invested their blood, sweat and tears in a shared belief of the organization’s mission, purpose and goal objectives. These organizations subsequently experienced substantial increases in engagement, productivity, employee job satisfaction and improved customer servicing.

These organizations developed leaders who believe and practice the unselfish act of risking their own interests so that others may excel. With the acute awareness that people are naturally trusting and cooperative, these leaders purposefully chose to provide their people with a trifecta set of successors:

● An environment of safety in which to work freely and creatively.

● Devote their leadership abilities to the purpose of helping others to succeed.

● Provide a tangible vision and pathway to a shared belief of the future.

When people feel that their leaders have their interests at heart, the lookout for each other, work harder, collaborate openly, bring forth their best talents and innovate.

What you need to comprehend is that the peculiar outcome of this unselfish approach to doing business together is that these organizations ultimately “made more money”.

The questions that your organization needs to come to grip with sooner rather than later are:

How much longer are your organization’s leaders going to view leadership in the context of positions and titles, rather than a responsibility to the organization and the people who comprise it?

How much longer is your leadership going to fixate its primary focus on revenue generation?

And lastly… “why”?

Copyright © 2015 Developing Forward | Thomas H. Swank, CBC