Roll Up Your Sleeves Leadership

Being a leader can be fun. And it should be fun.

Celebrating with your team an 18-month implementation of a new $7 million machine tool that improves productivity by 7 points is exciting for a leader! Presenting a gold watch to an employee for 25-years with the company is fulfilling for them as well. Recognizing the team responsible for the successful completion of a $50 million capital expenditure project that doubles the company’s campus makes everyone feel good. Even recognizing an employee’s performance for the way she resolved a distraught customer’s problem can be rewarding, too!

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Taking the Good with the Bad

Having fun and bestowing compliments and awards on deserving associates is the right thing to do. And for most of us, it gives us much enjoyment. However, being a successful leader also means dealing with the not-so-pleasant responsibilities of having to make tough decisions from time to time. These could be things such as turning down a request for a software upgrade due to lack of capital; or deciding you need to cut 15% out of the budget due to an economic down turn; or having to terminate an employee due to poor performance.

Successful leaders take the bad with the good.

Being a successful leader in today’s business environment requires fortitude and conviction. It takes fortitude to stand up to difficult situations in these tough economic times by making the tough decisions that are not popular to the masses, but necessary for an organization’s health and success. It takes conviction by following through with issues until they are resolved. It means rolling up your sleeves, taking the bull by the horns and making the tough decisions when the time arrives to do so.

Leadership is Not a Popularity Contest

How does your organization react when you have to make a tough decision? Do they moan and groan they are losing something or someone? Have you been honest with them in the past by communicating the good with the bad during the journey? Have you developed a level of trust with your team members so while they may not like your decision, they trust you are doing the right thing for the success of your organization?

A good leader is not only involved with the “fun” things, but takes responsibility and accountability for the unpopular decisions that come with the job. Good leaders do not abdicate to their “lieutenants” the responsibility for unpopular decisions.

That’s why they pay leaders the “big bucks.”

How do we build the trust that is necessary in an organization so when we do have to make tough decisions, we don’t lose productivity, absenteeism doesn’t increase, or even worse, we don’t lose key employees?

Walking Around Leadership

From my three decades as an HR professional, I have learned it is hard to build relationships and trust sitting behind a desk. It starts with MBWA (management by wandering around) and utilizing active listening skills. You need to meet your associates on their turf Whether it is the engineering department, the skilled nursing center, or the manufacturing floor. Successful leaders talk and listen to their associates on their turf, speak their language. This will resulting in growing trusting relationships by showing associates they care by listening and empathizing with them while walking the talk.

In addition, leaders need to develop their organizational skills and build a strong team allowing them to spend less time in their offices and more time with those that make the day-to-day operations flawless. Leaders surround themselves with people smarter than themselves. They train them, delegate to them, empower them, hold them accountable, and then get out of their way and let them run the show.  It is good for leaders and good for organizations.

Leaders enlist the help of a coach, someone they can meet, work on developmental areas and bounce ideas off to get constructive non-threatening feedback. Leaders make it a part of their routine to network with other leaders to get ideas and discuss current initiatives.

Leaders develop a rapport with peers by going to lunch and asking about their challenges.

They learn their language whether it be productivity, service, quality; compliance, etc. How can you impact these areas to help them? Question them on things others may not comment on. Leaders’ roles are not necessarily to agree with everything, but to question and say “what if you did this a different way?” or “have you thought about this other direction?”

Have you “rolled up your sleeves” to make the tough decisions necessary to ensure the success of your organization? Are you sweeping unpopular decisions under the carpet and not addressing them? Have you developed a level of trust that allows you to make the tough decisions without causing a major hiccup in the organization? Are your leaders trained and rewarded for exhibiting positive leadership skills? Are you building strong teams while delegating and empowering them so you can work on strategic issues? Do you have the fortitude and conviction to be a successful leader in today’s business environment? I’d love to hear your thoughts and reactions!

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Mark Fryer is owner of Mark Fryer and Associates
Helps clients with Succession Planning, Exec Coaching, & Org Development
Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web | Blog | 706.718.2349

Image Sources: ozerik.homeip.net, blog.nj.com

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