Take the Step Up

Not everyone who is promoted to a managerial role is an effective leader. Leadership requires an ability to think and act strategically, says Dr Geoff Lorigan.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

Nelson Mandela

The very things that get us ahead early in our career – hard work, intelligence, big changes, a touch of arrogance – are the very things that begin to work against us and can even destroy us as we progress up the management ladder.

People are often promoted to managerial roles as a consequence of being functional experts: the best product manager is promoted to marketing manager, the best chemist is promoted to chief analyst, the best teacher to principal and so on. Once promoted, the new manager’s personal and career development priority is to acquire managerial competence (knowledge and skills).

Management training and development is clearly essential. Typically, the manager focuses on learning ‘how to’. This includes how to prepare budgets, read financial statements, prepare job descriptions and interview new recruits. While these skills are the essential foundation for effective management, they are insufficient to ‘get results from others’.

The new manager may make considerable progress by using standard practices that seem to come naturally—most commonly a directive style of leadership. This style involves telling subordinates exactly ‘what to do’. Within this style the manager can use the ‘how to’ skills they have acquired. The manager’s priorities are focused on planning and budgeting, scheduling, setting performance goals and behaviour standards, and stressing adherence to rules and regulations.

Relationships are primarily based on the hierarchical power of their position. In ‘acting as the boss’, the high-achieving manager frequently presents as emotionally distant, intellectually expert and exacting in their demand for conformity. Initially this approach gets results, and so the manager is promoted to senior management.

However, at some point the ‘expert’ begins to be perceived as insensitive, intimidating, cold, arrogant and overly ambitious. He or she is criticised for overmanaging and under-delegating, and for being unable to select and develop good subordinates. Such failings commonly derail senior managers. They also prevent the manager and the organisation from leveraging staff capabilities and creating value.

To excel, the manager must consider the issue of leadership. Effective leadership requires an ability to think and act strategically. It requires someone who can not only get along with and inspire others, but also have the ability to provide processes for team decision-making. Only through high performance team work can successful strategy development and implementation be achieved.

Leadership at this strategic level requires a new set of behaviours as well as general management knowledge and skills. These behaviours are rarely taught. Strategic leadership requires self-awareness and the ability to understand and interact with others while appreciating differences. It requires strategic thinking and the capability to develop and work in high performance teams.

A more effective model for strategic leadership today is that of the servant leader who:

• Will ask more questions than give answers;

• Will spend more time with staff than on their own activities;

• Will involve across section of the organisation on the development and implementation of strategy using effective processes;

• Is a capable strategic communicator.
Think back to the 1980s and 1990s. Who dominated the corporate landscape? Yes, it was those hard-nosed, powerful CEOs. The ‘corporate heroes’ who led from the front, developed powerful strategies – often single-handedly – and sold them to the board. Fifty percent of their strategies failed on implementation, 80 percent of the time due to people-related issues. These general managers were the competent performers who were proud to maintain a few furlongs ahead of the troops.

Fast-forward to the 21st century and the collapse of Enron and Arthur Andersen. These important events have drawn attention to the style of leadership and the shortage of strategic leaders who can build trust with multiple stakeholder groups, facilitate strategy development and implementation processes.

Management skills, although still a necessary requirement for top-level leadership, provide an insufficient skill set for success in the 2000s. Success in the future will be led by those who have a better understanding of who they are and how their behaviours can inspire and encourage excellence in others.

“The most insightful measure of a strategic leader is the calibre of the next generation of leaders that follow in his footsteps, under his watchful eye.

A truly strategic leader may be measured by the caliber of his protégées.”