Tackling issues requires different—often multiple — leadership approaches. The complexity of the situation will dictate the response. While routine problems are generally solved through experience and expertise, complex issues tend to be tackled more effectively with innovative solutions.
Ronald Heifetz, Harvard professor and co-founder of its Center for Public Leadership, encourages leaders to act according to these principles when the going gets tough, like today:
- Openly acknowledge the complexity of the issues head on, without attempting to minimize the difficulties involved. Research has found that ignoring or oversimplifying complex challenges does not work.
- Avoid authoritative (top-down) solutions. Shift responsibility for problems from the leader to the primary stakeholders.
- Consider how individuals’ differing values influence their views and behaviors. This is not a “right” or “wrong” analysis. Rather, it is an acknowledgment that, as everyone views situations differently, buy-in necessitates a multi-pronged approach.
A way forward
Consider the challenges that you are facing. What is and is not working? Map it out. Think about how you are communicating with your teams. Heifetz suggests those who are think about and incorporate the concepts noted above manage more effectively.
Now try these five tips, which I have based on his principles:
- Confront the problem. Don’t dodge the issue. Acknowledge it openly.
- Reject absolutes. Get comfortable with the idea that there is no “right” answer.
- Avoid expressions of power or dominance. Promote and encourage an atmosphere in your teams that is conducive to cooperative thought and execution.
- Celebrate differences. Acknowledge that differences are vital to a full appreciation of issues and their most effective resolution.
- Recognize your own built-in bias. No one person’s ideas will ever represent an absolute truth— and that includes yours.
There is no one, single, perfect way to get a difficult job done—quite the contrary. Eliciting the best performance possible demands an environment that rewards innovation and cooperation as a means to results. But should things turn sour, and a complex problem become a “crisis”, the best way to begin turning your issue around starts with slowing down and thinking fully about the issues involved.
Theodore Roosevelt said: “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good [people] to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” Make an assessment of your own performance in dealing with tough times. Try implementing some of the ideas above in areas needing improvement. I believe that you’ll see more innovation and a wider ownership of the need for action as a result.
Technorati Tags: handing tough issues, leadership principles, facing up to problems, innovation, celebrating differences
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October 28th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
It’s interesting to see these 5 tips and know that our students who participate inthe Entrepreneurial Course for High School Students run up against these issues when we ask them to create a business - with a team of 4 to 8 students - in only 8 weeks. You get the students who try to be authoritarian or “know it all,” those who don’t want to face the fact that yes, they really do have to start a business! and so forth. The teams that can work through the issues and come to terms are the most effective at creating businesses and being prepared for their “Business Fair.”
I’m impressed to see Nina on the board of YES Reading - though I’m not familiar with them (yet), EntrepreneursNOW (www.EntrepreneursNOW.org) is all about empowering students!
October 28th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Dorothy,
I think it is great that you have your students go through the process of creating a business and thinking about all of the related issues. Especially when doing so in teams, these issues will certainly find a way to the surface and enable your students to confront them head on.
As for YES Reading, they have recently changed their name to Reading Partners and can be found at http://www.readingpartners.org
Thanks for sharing your insights and students’ experiences.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Nina
Thank you for a very interesting and informative post.
I particularly appreciated your quote from Teddy Roosevelt. That to me has always been the recipe for success, but unfortunately, judging from our current economic predicament, it appears to be difficult to find a balance between too much meddling and abdicating completely.
One question that occurs to me is, how do you define “the team.” My own “bias” is that I see the entire organisation as a team, and thus I see the principles you espouse being pervasive throughout the entire organisation and not just to the “hand-picked” few surrounding the chief executive. How many good ideas and possible solutions are killed at source as a result of too narrow a focus and a lack of respect for the individual at lower levels?
That is why I am convinced that the way forward lies in the principles of “organizational democracy” espoused by Worldblu. You can learn more by checking out the overriding principles (which build on your basic 5 points) from their website at http://www.worldblu.com. These are the principles that will help us out of the current mess and ensure a better future and need greater support from the enlightened people reading these blogs.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:22 am
I think there is an older article from this blog that should get mentioned in relation to leadership in difficult times:
http://www.slowleadership.org/blog/2008/08/how-to-renew-yourself-as-a-leader-part-1/
October 29th, 2008 at 7:51 am
@Martin Wildam: Thanks for this reminder, Martin. Keep reading, my friend.
October 29th, 2008 at 8:00 am
An excellent referral Martin. Thanks for that.
October 29th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Hi Bay,
I particularly like Teddy Roosevelt’s quote as well. Unfortunately, we’ve all experienced “meddling” bosses who possess a propensity for micro-managing … often to the point of pushing people away. I try very hard to follow the advice implied within this quote each and every day. And, for the most part, I am amazed at the results achieved by smart people left to their own devices.
Indeed, I concur with your broader definition of “the team” being the entire organization. There are circumstances, of course, wherein “the team” may be defined more narrowly so as to allow for parallel processing and to ensure efficiency. However, I am a proponent of inclusiveness vs. exclusivity when it comes to managing.
I will review the Worldblu site, but as it relates to “organizational democracy”, I wrote a piece a while back on a closely related topic [ http://ninasimosko.com/blog/2008/06/27/democratic-dictatorship-2/ ]. I believe, as you do, that these principles and approaches will see us through to better times.
Thanks as always for your insights and support.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Avoid authoritative (top-down) solutions - Our management/supervisors are to be SERVED! No questions ask! (rather than serving the customer) I mean we “serve” the customer, but we dictate HOW and sometimes WHEN we will serve them! We eve tell the customer how to do their job even though we may not be experts (or experienced) in that area - after all, WE are the EXPERTS!
Confront the problem - Management confronts the issues by delegating to the supervisors to “make the problem go away.” And if the “problem” is a person, they STILL make the “problem” go way (fired or reloacted).
Avoid expressions of power or dominance - WHAT?!? Question the power of the self appointed GODS?!? Are you NUTS???
Recognize your own built-in bias - “No one person’s ideas will ever represent an absolute truth” and management KNOWS who’s opinions count (boot-licker) and who’s doesn’t.
Oh! I’m sorry! Didn’t I explain that I work in Bizzarro-land? Dispite what all the experts say and write, our organization does the opposite! After all, THEY know better!
October 30th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
CK,
I guess all I can say is that I am sorry that you are working in Bizzaro-land. It’s not like that everywhere, I promise you that.
November 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 am
Today’s world has indeed become much more complex and needs multiple abilities to handle any crisis- in fact any challenge (challenges of development included). In such a situation the pyramid structure of leadership model tapering to a single point head of the institution who gives new technological inputs, management inputs,Human resources inputs, problem analysis and problem solution as well as implementation of the solutions with increasing complexity has become well neigh impossible for a single individual to handle. The enormity of the task is churning out increasing number of failures.What we possibly need is to have more leadership i.e. more number of points of leadership each contributing in there area of specialty and working in a group towards the target. This will also make the organizations more democratic and more humane as the probability of getting bad bosses in a group is less probable than a single bad boss.
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
Hi Sambit,
I completely agree that leadership is more of a group thing, especially in difficult times. In fact, back in April I wrote a piece that I wholeheartedly believe in called “It Takes a Village” [ http://ninasimosko.com/blog/2008/04/02/it-takes-a-village/ ]. It is a bit analogous to a baseball team. If we let each player best suited for each position play those positions, the outcome will be more favorable. Leadership is much this same way wherein we must let the best person equipped to handle each particular challenge do just that and the collective result will be better than had we only let one person manage it all. A sign of a good leader is knowing what they know, and equally if not more important, what they don’t know. Then, surrounding themselves with those that fill in voids or bring non-existent skills or value to the team.