“I can’t get them to report their numbers,” he said with
some frustration. It wasn’t just the reporting of the numbers that was an issue
for this sales manager, it was the productivity of the entire team that was
down, as well. This manager was more than frustrated, he was border line
discouraged. I often heard, during our one-on-one coaching sessions, there was
not enough time to ensure the numbers were reported. He would say, “The staff
was already overloaded.” He would express to me that his organization was, “Short
staffed and it wasn’t the staffs fault” Delegation of his tasks were not an
option because the current assignments that he delegated were not being
completed. I told him that if he was going to be a great leader, then he must
embrace evolution management.
Does the case above seem all too familiar? In the book, Servant-leadership Across Cultures: Harnessing the Strength of the
World's Most Powerful Management Philosophy, the authors express the
following about leadership; “Obviously, being rational and expressing emotions
are both important elements of functioning in life” (Trompenaars & Voerman,
2010). Because leadership requires both emotion and controlled thinking,
leaders often become conflicted when dealing in the complex situation encountered
by mid-level management.
The manager in this story had already read my book, Leadership Coaching as a Strategy for
Employee Development, and knew all about the Cycle of Resistance caused when a manager blames their staff
or specific team members for issues. He wanted to remain positive. He did not
want to show his emotions in a blaming or judgmental way. He wanted to build
positive outcomes and this was a challenge. My question to this manager was, “When
you have the conversation with your staff about the change in behavior you need
them to make, are you having the conversation from a place of care or
correction?” You can have the same conversation, say the exact same words as
another leader, and get two very different outcomes. This type of situation is
what I refer to as the leadership double-entendre. There are three critical things
that keep leaders from effectively using emotion and controlled thinking to
gain the results they want from their team.
1.
Using Authority Instead of Influence
Without a full embracing of evolution management, you are
controlling outcomes, utilizing authority. Authority has its place in business
but is contrary to the leader's ability to lead. Most people believe, that to
be a leader, you need authority. Authority is dangerous. Anyone can be a
leader. Leaders do not need authority to influence. As a general rule if you
are embracing authority then you are not truly leading. You are controlling.
Evolution management is a management philosophy in which, managers and their
team fully embrace the concept that their job is to help the company evolve
into a strong more efficient and successful enterprise.
Evolution management embraces input from each employee and
gives them ownership of their role. Evolution management can be defined in
three distinctive pillars and they are adaption, improvement, and growth. Leaders have to adapt to win, no matter the
environment or company culture. Companies that are unwavering in old marketing,
forms, policies, procedures, and processes are unwilling to adapt. This “set in
stone attitude” is a sure path to resistance with your staff. There is an internal need in every human to
be of value to others. Your unwillingness to be flexible reminds people of your
position of authority but not your leadership. True leaders listen to feedback
and adapt. “Unlike [a] transactional processes, in which the employee, doing
well, is rewarded for his or her efforts after the fact, here leaders take the
initiative. First creating the conditions in which people love to work and then
gaining the benefit of increased employee effort that is the reciprocal
response to a great place to work that brings out the best in people” (Pendleton &
Furnham, 2012). This willingness of the leader to allow the employee to
make changes, have more authority, engages the employee in the improvement
process. Look for what that employee could improve in their current role and
sing their praises.
Once the employee is engaged in the improvement of the “business”
they will be generally engaged in the role. You goal as a leader is not to
solve the challenges for them but coach them in their endeavors to improve. With
strong engagement leaders will inevitably see growth.
2.
Using Positive Emotions Instead of Negative
Emotions
It is extremely important that leaders master negative
emotions. It is often a leadership challenge with the leader only embraces
positive emptions. Understanding your team’s negative emotions and delivering
negative emotion is required of leaders. Business is not always rainbows and
sunshine. You cannot burry your head to the reality of the situation. The use
of a negative emotion can transform a person, team, or organization. “With age
and maturation, emotions begin to direct a person’s attention to important
changes” (Adams, 2010). As a leader the evolution of your emotions from
negative to positive in any situation is the solution to productivity with your
team. Because humans are emotional creatures this emotion is important in
connecting with your team.
I often adapt situations that I feel frustration and
evolve the emotion to fascination. The important part of your goal as a leader
is to recognize your emotions. Your staff has to recognize the evolution of
emotion, as well. Team members will adapt right along with you. Let that fascination evolve into improvement for
the business. Engage your team in the current strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats of the situation.
Get really fascinated with the situation. Negativity
defines a moment in time that it’s time to change something. Your team seeing
you pour your heart and soul into managing emotions will garner you a lot of
respect. Teaching your team what you know about negativity now will speed this
process up. In our case study above the manager was encouraged to ask his team
for solutions to his “challenges!” Great things can happen when the leader
starts from the emption of disgust. Think about it, the person who is
overweight that say, “I had it!” This person changes. They adapt, improve, and
grow in their goal to lose weight.
3.
Using Mr. Excuse Instead of Mr. Resourceful
Everyone has in their mind two subconscious voices Mr.
Excuse and Mr. Resourceful. Mr. Excuse often delivers excuses no matter the
situation. Theses excuses are “reasons,” why growth can’t happen. Mr. Excuse is
the voice that often says, “We don’t have the time, money, energy, skill, or
any number of other excuses.” Mr. Excuse is known for saying, “I’m too old,
young, smart, dumb, skinny, fat, lazy etch.” On the other hand, Mr. Resourceful
is looking at every situation for the advantage in the situation. Mr.
Resourceful is known for making comments like, “We all have the same 24 hours
in a day and clearly there are other companies and leaders who can, I’ll find a
way.” Mr. Resourceful draws to your consciousness all the resources you have at
your disposal and other resources that you did not know were available. This is
the creativity that is deep within you. These two men are governed by your
personal and company values. “The objectives of this leadership construct are
to encourage high organizational performance and, equally, self-led followers” Fairholm
& Fairholm, 2009). Evolution management really picks up
growth in an organization once the team understands Mr. Excuse and Mr. Resourceful.
When an organization can limit Mr. Excuse and grow Mr. Resourceful the
organization grows and becomes extremely profitably and productive.
In our case study, there were a number of factors keeping
this manager from reaching his organizational and personal goals. To begin
with, he was trying to get his staff to do things utilizing authority instead
of influence. Second, he was trying to start with positive emotions when truly
negative emotions needed to be addressed. Lastly, Mr. Excuse was working strong
in his team’s mind and he needed Mr. Resourceful working hard for him. Leaders
who can embrace influence, understand the important negative emotions, and engage
Mr. Resourceful every day is a practitioner of Evolution Management.
References
Adams, T. H. (2010). The Nonprofit Leadership
Transition and Development Guide : Proven Paths for Leaders and Organizations.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Fairholm, M. R., & Fairholm, G. W. (2009). Understanding Leadership Perspectives
: Theoretical and Practical Approaches. New York: Springer.
Trompenaars, A., & Voerman, E. (2010). Servant-leadership
Across Cultures : Harnessing the Strength of the World's Most Powerful
Management Philosophy. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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Nathan Bush, MBA, NALP is the leadership and influence expert for real estate professionals. He is the Accounts Receivable, Accounting Manager for Affinity Property Group and a licensed Missouri Realtor. Nathan’s book Leadership Coaching as a Strategy for Employee Development serves real estate professionals and property managers to break the “Cycle of Resistance” facing their organization. For more information visit: www.nathanbushmba.com and download his book for free.
======================================================================
Nathan Bush, MBA, NALP is the leadership and influence expert for real estate professionals. He is the Accounts Receivable, Accounting Manager for Affinity Property Group and a licensed Missouri Realtor. Nathan’s book Leadership Coaching as a Strategy for Employee Development serves real estate professionals and property managers to break the “Cycle of Resistance” facing their organization. For more information visit: www.nathanbushmba.com and download his book for free.
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