Expectations on leaders – issue 3: Your Role & Yourself

Expectations on leaders - issue 3 of 3: Your role & Yourself

Leaders, what can you expect from your peers? What do they expect from you?

Issue 3 of the three-part series focuses on my expectations of leaders in terms of Your Role & Yourself.

On my journey to my personal core values, I have addressed a number of topics. Among others, I asked myself: “What do I expect from colleagues in leadership positions?” and also “What is my role as a leader?” These questions are anything but easy to answer. My expectations in this series of three posts reflect the bare “minimum” that I expect from a reflective leader. Beyond this minimum, only the sky is the limit.


Know your job – willingness to delegate

Delegation is a core principle of leadership. To achieve a vision as a team, a leader must ignite enthusiasm for this very vision and create a culture of willingness among people to achieve the vision, to implement it. People are the heart of every company. They are knowledge carriers, experts and carry the organisation on their shoulders. The willingness to implement a tactic and a strategy to achieve a mission and ultimately a vision depends on the ability of individuals to contribute to the achievement of the vision. Huge companies, such as Google or Amazon, have built a strong vision and an organisation that enables people to move towards that vision. The individual contribution to achieving the vision is marginal. But the reward for the individual is a high salary and working for a great brand. Smaller organisations can attract great talent only with much lower salaries if they promise them that they will have a big impact on the process to achieve the vision. This motivates employees to go the extra mile and exceed expectations.  

All this is ONLY possible if top management is willing to delegate responsibility and ownership to their subordinates*) **). Delegation must be done in a transparent way with clear boundaries – both in terms of expectations and the freedom of subordinates to decide to the best of their ability. Delegation requires leaders who are willing to relinquish control, lower their expectations of results, and change the standard for evaluating results from their personal standard. Other people will perform, in different ways, with unexpected results, with aspects not previously considered. The unwillingness to delegate is a major barrier to organisational growth and development. Great ideas will remain ideas because they are not operationalised. They will not be executed. So, one of my expectations on leaders is to delegate work to their teams.


You to communicate – acceptance of responsibility

The actions of leaders are always under observation. The organization misses no step, no word, no communication. Not communicating is not possible, not speaking out is a message to the organisation. Therefore, leaders in particular must take responsibility for their own actions at all times and also stand up for them accordingly. There is no concept of “non-communication”.


Watch yourself – recognizing limits

Top management – also consists of: People. People also reach their limits at the leadership level – and grow. Especially in growth phases, it is important not to forget what tasks every executive has. When someone reaches limits, it is crucial for the senior leader – but moreover – for the entire organisation that these limits are recognised and actively shaped. Actively asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. Doing so, multiple minds can tackle the challenge at hand. On of my expectations on leaders is to ask for support, reach out for help – if needed. 


Next level leadership – lead the leaders

Managing regular employees is already a very complex process. Providing perspectives, communicating purpose, defining goals, tracking progress, instilling confidence, tracking personal development and helping to grow into the role.

Leading employees who are themselves in the role of leaders is even more complex. Now the staff member wants to be led themselves, but needs freedom, information (e.g. budget) and clearer boundaries within which their own staff can act. This is a task that senior executives must master – especially in a fast-growing organisation.


Expectations on leaders – issue 1: People, Respect & Appreciation

Expectations on leaders – issue 2: Company Culture

Expectations on leaders – issue 2: Company Culture

Expectations on leaders - issue 2 of 3: Company Culture

Leaders, what can you expect from your peers? What do they expect from you?

Issue 2 of the three-part series focuses on my expectations of leaders in terms of Company Culture.

On my journey to my personal core values, I have addressed a number of topics. Among others, I asked myself: “What do I expect from colleagues in leadership positions?” and also “What is my role as a leader?” These questions are anything but easy to answer. My expectations in this series of three posts reflect the bare “minimum” that I expect from a reflective leader. Beyond this minimum, only the sky is the limit.


Top senior leadership responsibility – culture building

Culture is so intangible, so abstract. It’s so difficult to actually create it and to steer it purposefully in any direction. It is so indirect, there are so many levers to turn. That is why I have observed that many leaders do not consciously invest time in working on culture. They don’t have a clear goal in mind and don’t know what kind of culture to create.

Nevertheless, Peter Drucker nailed it with his famous statement:

“Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast” *) **)

PETER DRUCKER

Means? It means that the culture of a company always determines its success, regardless of how effective your strategy is. However, a strategy is easier to define, easier to extract. It is a much easier task than working on culture. Nevertheless, corporate culture is largely determined by the leadership team. Take your responsibility and work on the culture! Don’t leave culture to chance, but try to influence the outcome. One of my expectations on leaders is to work hard to create an excellent company culture!


Foster fast learning – mistake culture

Mistakes are the fastest way to gain experiences – to learn*). Mistakes are okay. In the right culture, mistakes are celebrated and no one is afraid to make them. If mistakes don’t have negative consequences, people will stand by their mistakes. A cornerstone for invention! People want to think about problems and find solutions. Allow this to happen.

I Have Not Failed. I’ve Just Found 10,000 Ways That Won’t Work. *)

Thomas edison

Admitting mistakes is often interpreted as a sign of weakness in some societies. That is why mistakes are all too readily covered up, passed on. In my eyes, admitting and standing by mistakes is a sign of strength, of self-confidence. A strong leadership team fosters a culture where mistakes are allowed and encouraged so the whole organization can learn as quickly as possible. Naturally so, one of my expectations on leaders is to create a mistake culture.


Expectations on leaders – issue 1: People, Respect & Appreciation

Expectations on leaders – issue 3: Your Role & Yourself

Expectations on leaders – issue 1: People, Respect & Appreciation

Expectations on leaders - issue 1 of 3: People, Respect & Appreciation

Leaders, what can you expect from your peers? What do they expect from you?

Issue 1 of the three-part series focuses on my expectations of leaders in terms of People, Respect and Appreciation.

On my journey to my personal core values, I have addressed a number of topics. Among others, I asked myself: “What do I expect from colleagues in leadership positions?” and also “What is my role as a leader?” These questions are anything but easy to answer. My expectations in this series of three posts reflect the bare “minimum” that I expect from a reflective leader. Beyond this minimum, only the sky is the limit.


Leading by example – appreciation and respect

Punctuality Top-level management is punctual to agreed appointments. Nothing to add. Time of employees is as valuable as time of senior management.

Appreciation and Respect are due to people, but also to work results. For me especially appropriate language expresses appreciation and respect for people – employees, colleagues, customers, suppliers, janitors.

Verbally degrading people and results in public (e.g. ‘… we need to get this sh*t out …’ or ‘… this stupid idiot of a janitor …’) raises questions with people – ‘Why am I working on this sh*t?’, ‘How do they name me when I’m not present?’. This doesn’t create a culture of trust and willingness to out-perform.

I expect any level of management to show appreciation for the effort that is being put forth within the organization. Teams that go above and beyond and deliver need appreciation. This can come in the form of praise, recognition, and especially appropriate language.

Employees are adults management members are not mommy and daddy. Employees are grown-up, intelligent people who enjoy coming to work to contribute. If this were not the case, we should ask ourselves why the organization employs them. One of my expectations on leaders is to treat employees as grown-ups!


Attitude towards people – empathy

Empathy (= the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another’s position *) )

Empathy is the ability and willingness to recognize, understand and relate to sensations, emotions, thoughts, motives and personality traits of another person

Unknown, but hits it very well

This personal ability to understand people, their motivation, sense their thinking, get an understanding of their needs is fundamental for any leader. Empathy is for me a form of appreciation of people. Leaders have this ability, some more developed, some less so. The degree to which it is developed is irrelevant, but it is important for individuals to recognize how much attention needs to be paid to empathy. Empathy is important in coaching situations to recognize how to support others and by what means. Empathy is also important for recognizing organizational shortcomings and being able to initiate appropriate countermeasures.


Listen to people – demand and encourage

An organization is able to attract great talent if – and only if – the overall interview process is a great experience and the players involved are fully motivated and willing (!) to attract new people. The interviewers need to fully stand behind the organization, the values and the culture. The organization can not attract people if that’s not the case.

PEOPLE QUIT PEOPLE, NOT COMPANIES *)

John C. Maxwell

As a leader one of your biggest duties is to work with your people. Apply the principle “Demand and Encourage“. As a leader you’ve hired great talent – and why shouldn’t you use the talent? Demand from people to fulfill their tasks, to reach goals, to outgrow themselves, to lead the company to success. Encourage them to go the extra miles needed to achieve personal growth. Listen to them, work with them – together – to master challenges ahead. Work together with them through the “LOVE, CHANGE, LEAVE” cycle.

Typically, people leave quite soon after they enter the “LEAVE” phase and it’s the leaders’ job to prevent people from entering the “LEAVE” phase. Another of my expectations on leaders is to give people reasons to stay, to support them, to encourage them to grow.


Expectations on leaders – issue 2: Company Culture

Expectations on leaders – issue 3: Your Role & Yourself