David L. Georgenson
Directional Leadership Group
Frustrated with the low performance of some of their employees, many leaders are searching for the causes of this low employee performance. Their search has led to mostly external (outside of themselves) causes such as lack of motivation, skills, interest in the work, focus on the important tasks, or dedication to the organization or work unit. But, the majority of employee performance problems are the fault of the leader and not the employee.
A few months ago I received a call from Sally, a CEO of a medium size organization. She was looking for an executive coach to work with her director of operations. I asked Sally, “What is the nature of the problem?”
“Joe is great technically. But he has trouble communicating. Joe talks down to his staff and his peers. He is condescending, argumentative, and always thinks he is right. He takes over meetings and does not allow any alternative ideas to be discussed.”
I asked, “What has been the impact of his behavior?”
“His direct reports are afraid of him. They are doing what he wants rather than what is best for volunteers or the organization. His peers won’t work with him or share needed information. He recently lost some very good people.”
“How long has this been going on?”
There was a long pause—I thought Sally was a dropped call. She slowly said, “I am not sure—maybe for about two years.”
I was curious, so I asked, “Why two years?”
“Look, Joe has been around here awhile, he should know what I expect. I don’t have time to babysit.”
Sound familiar? Leaders rarely complete an internal audit to ask, “What have I done or not done to contribute to the employee’s poor performance? Have I made the expectations clear? Have I provided ongoing feedback? Have I immediately confronted performance problems in a supportive manner? Have I provided all the resources needed? Have I provided encouragement when needed? Have I been an advocate when needed?”
These questions and the associated basic management skills comprise the fundamentals of leadership. When these basic skills are not performed effectively, poor employee performance results.
Many leaders have forgotten that their primary role is to execute effectively and reach the desired goals; they have forgotten that the fundamentals of management provide the path to success.
Are 'New' Leadership Skills Overshadowing Fundamentals?
There are many experts on leadership. In the last 20 years there have been thousands of books with the latest opinions on what it takes to be an effective leader in today’s world of constant change.
John Cotter from Harvard has helped us to differentiate between an individual who is “just a manager” and an individual who is a leader.
A leader has a clear vision and thinks strategically. A leader also:
- can think both long term and short term,
- sees the big picture,
- is proactive,
- does not feel a need to have all the answers, and
- actively seeks feedback.
Obviously, real leaders are needed in today’s organizations. The business environment in both for profit and nonprofit organizations has dramatically changed. Individuals in leadership positions need to continuously develop new skills to meet the new realities.
Leader roles, at all levels, have become more complex. Leaders have to work across functional boundaries, compete for scarce resources, manage a diverse workforce, integrate work activities with a strategic plan, and be able to frequently implement new business models. Customer demands are higher and nontraditional competition is popping up everywhere.
“New” leadership characteristics are required for leaders to be effective in today’s world. But, has focus on the “new skills” had a negative impact on executing the fundamentals? Being distracted by the “new” skills is only one possible reason to explain why leaders don’t embrace the fundamental skills.
The leaders I have worked with are smart and successful. They have no trouble learning, understanding, and demonstrating the basic skills. So, I don’t think it’s a learning problem. Then, why aren’t the fundamentals universally incorporated into every leader’s daily behavior? Here are the reasons leaders have shared with me over the years:
- too many other responsibilities—no time
- no reinforcement of the importance of using the fundamentals by the manager’s boss,
- the performance review system does not reward effective use of the basics,
- procrastination,
- being afraid of the reaction from employees if they are held accountable for performance,
- not wanting to hurt employees—a desire to be liked, and
- liking the technical activities of the job but not the management activities.
Are these valid excuses? The real world of management is tough, complex, overwhelmingly busy, and constantly changing. But, as I think about the reasons leaders have given me for not doing what they know should be done, I am reminded of the lesson I learned from top salespeople. When asked to identify what they do to ensure their success, these top quartile sales leaders said they do the things less successful salespeople are not willing to do: seeing five customers every day, always asking for referrals, asking for the business every time, and making 40 cold calls every day.
In other words, sales leaders practice the fundamentals of sales. They understand the cause-effect relationship between the sales fundamentals and sales results. These top quartile salespeople are laser-focused on the behaviors that lead to goal achievement.
Is there a similar cause-effect relationship between the leadership fundamentals and desired business results? Most leaders understand this relationship and could perform the fundamentals if their life depended on it.
Considering Consequences
Perhaps leaders would be more inclined to focus on the critical behaviors if they thought about the potential consequences.
- Not providing specific, measureable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound expectations:
- Less alignment of work with organizational goals
- Employees completing unproductive work
- Employee frustration
- Not providing ongoing, clear, and immediate feedback:
- Employee feels manager does not care
- Employee continues unproductive behaviors resulting in loss of productivity
- Employee discontinues productive behaviors
- Not giving assistance to improve performance:
- Employee wastes time trying to find answers
- Employee tries solutions that are counterproductive
- Employee’s development needs are not met.
- Not holding the employee accountable for meeting expectations and providing appropriate consequences when performance is not improved:
- Poor performance continues
- Employee feels current performance is satisfactory
- Future expectations are not met
- Manager does not meet work unit expectations
The consequences of Sally’s behavior of not using the leadership fundamentals resulted in Joe leaving the organization. The new product he was working on was delayed for six months while a replacement was located. The marketing director estimated a loss of $700,000 due to the delay in the product launch.
Establishing a Strong Performance Culture
Leaders have very difficult jobs. They must embrace “new” emerging skill requirements. However, leaders cannot be effective using these emerging leadership abilities if a strong performance culture has not been established based on the fundamental skill sets. These skill sets involve setting clear expectations, providing constant performance feedback, assisting in improvement efforts, and holding employees accountable for meeting expectations.
Some say this approach is too tough. My own experience and ongoing research in employee engagement tells a different story. Employees want to know what is expected and how they are doing. Effectively using the leadership fundamentals is appreciated if these fundamentals are administered in a fair, consistent, open, and positive manner.
The “silver bullet” is that effective leaders must do those things ineffective leaders won’t.
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