Have you ever looked in the mirror when you woke up? Have ever you wanted to see something better than the sleepy reflection looking back at you? For most of us the answer is yes, we have looked in the mirror and there have definitely been days when we wanted to see something better looking back at us. As leaders, we must be willing to look at ourselves and be honest about what we see. This means looking beyond the superficial exterior and truly examining the skills and characteristics that we possess.
Leaders can’t afford to live with a façade; they need to live with a reality. People they lead will see through false pretenses and will not be willing to follow.
Twenty or thirty years ago, the work force may have been willing to follow a leader who put on pretenses, but this is no longer tolerated today. Employees want and demand honesty. They need a leader who is willing to work through problems and who will overcome shortcomings. I meet with many leaders, CEO’, supervisors, managers etc. who want to believe that they are effective leaders but who haven’t looked in the mirror lately to see the reflection that their employees see. They miss seeing the message they give with their actions or lack of actions. As a facilitator, I provide strategic planning retreats for businesses and associations. I make it a goal to meet with the CEO or president and incoming officers or leaders to assure that I have an understanding of their goals, directions and any needs that they are aware of from the group they will lead. In addition, I schedule an Executive Debrief with the CEO/President to review the plan and discuss observations. This background work is invaluable to me, but the debrief is invaluable to the CEO’s or leaders, because of the feedback I am able to give them.
As a leader what do people see when they see you? What do they hear you say and see you do? How do they interpret your words and your actions? What do you do that conveys to them that you hear their concern and will give it consideration? Effective leaders are usually a visionary, which means they are often misunderstood and misinterpreted by the people they lead. Visionaries are looking into the future and the majority of the people that they lead are looking to get through the day, the week or the month. Rarely are the people that they lead looking to get through the next three to five years or more, so the leader’s agenda and approach to problems is not clearly understood. If there is a problem with a department or a worker employees may proclaim the need for immediate disciplinary action or even termination. While a leader, may plan on disciplinary action, but the leader may take another step before taking this action. There are numerous instances where companies have been lead by non-visionaries and employees have been terminated only to be re-hired later on and often with better wages. It seems crazy, but it happens frequently. Why? People who do this are not visionaries. They lack the ability to see the direction that their actions will have on the bigger picture. In the case where the employee is terminated, the leader receives immediate praise for taking action. Three or four months later when the department is struggling from being short staffed and employees are complaining because they haven’t found the right replacement, the leader is frowned up for having let go a good worker. There have even been cases where the same employees who wanted a worker terminated, later petitioned the business to hire the employee back. The morale to the story is that leaders need to be visionaries. They need to be honest with themselves and to find a way to communicate with those they lead that they will hear the problems but that they may not immediately react as it may not be in the best interest of the people they lead.
Leaders have to find a way to be clear in their direction by making sure their actions, reflect their direction. The leader who is looking at the bigger picture understands the problem exist, but knows that for every action, there is a reaction. If their actions are a reaction without thought about the impact, they could set into motion some devastating long term affects. For example, I recently spoke with an author who wrote a book about ethical decisions in the workplace. In our meeting, she talked about the complexity of making decisions that were ethical. To the outsider it is often black or white. To the person making the decision, their may be gray. The gray comes from knowing more facts and information than the regular population knows. I am a skydiver and in the sport, we have a two-second rule. Falling at approximately 125 mph, if there is a problem you have two seconds to fix it. If you cannot fix it then you need to pull your ripcord and get your chute open. If the chute doesn’t fully deploy in five seconds then you have two seconds to fix it. If you can’t get it fixed then you need to pull your reserve canopy. Timing is critical in the sport and not up for debate, because delays could cause injury or death. Fortunately, in the business world there is some luxury of time. Time to examine the information and to make decisions that are ethical and in the best interest of those we lead.
Of course, we want leaders to make ethical decisions, which means we need to trust them to understand what has lead us to this point, what will happen once they make the choice and where that will in turn lead us. It is a leader’s responsibility to weight the decision, to think ahead about what the action or lack of action will cost the business or association. It is also the leader’s responsibility to know how to act in a timely manner. Sounds complex and in many ways it is. Yet we all lead and on a daily basis make leadership decisions. For those who lead small offices or lead their family, our decisions may not seem as monumental as world peace, but make a decision that limits a teenagers freedom and it may seem like war has been declared. Yet the parent has considered all the reasons why the teenager should not have the freedom at the time, they have examined the potential consequences and are ready to stand by the decision. Leading requires being honest with yourself seeing who you are and how you exemplify that in your actions at home and at work. When we look in the mirror, we see our imperfections. We people look at us as leaders they too see our imperfections. Just as many people look in the mirror and attempt to make themselves look better before leaving the house, by combing the hair, brushing the teeth or putting on make-up. A leader’s goal is to make sure that our imperfections are as few as possible.
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