Rogue Leadership

by Paul Rosenberg

  3. Leadership requires respect. True, but it also needs influential feedback and input. Great leaders make sure they have robust relationships with influencers at all levels of the organization—they help move your agenda forward.

  4. Leading by example means highly visible action. Make sure to avoid atypical or grandiose gestures. Smaller examples introduced into daily conversations make leadership by example more effective long term.

  5. Leaders must be decisive. Not true all the time. An effective leader sets up an inclusive decision-making process that strengthens the outcome.

  6. Leaders need to have authority. Not true. As noted above, they need respect and influence. Look at Richard Nixon’s cabinet in the final days. His team had set up a parallel system to work around him because they had lost faith in his credibility and decision-making. JFK did the same, setting up an alternative system to sideline his CIA chief during the Bay of Pigs crisis.

  7. Leadership is about success. Leadership is also about how you act in complex and difficult times—for example, not just seizing a market opportunity, but also avoiding a disaster for the business.

  8. Aim for the bottom line always. Most heroes remain hidden in untold stories. Being invisible and helping your organization, team, or group thrive takes some real power and focus. Coach Bobby Hurley of Saint Anthony’s High School basketball team, a great example of an effective leader, talked more about college degrees, careers, and good citizenship—not wins. Yes, he won a lot of championships, but his greatness shines through from his wider focus. Think about the leaders in your life who continue to influence you to this day without even being present. To me, that reveals a greater measure of success.

  9. Servant leadership as a badge. You serve shareholders. You serve clients. You serve your employees. If you want to lead, you have to understand it is not about you—although, of course, you have a lot to do with the outcome. Let the results speak for themselves.

  10. Reward team loyalty. This cliché qualifies as a bunch of BS in so many ways. This phrase often gets used to extract more work from employees, but I have rarely seen it pay off for them. “War is old men talking and young men dying,” as Brad Pitt declared in the film Troy. Nevertheless, if everyone—from the top down—pulls their weight and supports one another, then magic can happen.

  Leaders need people to lead. And this takes us to the final piece of the puzzle: the forgotten middle managers and front liners—the people you really serve.

  In reality, you don’t lead—and you don’t achieve anything—without the people you lead. Simple and basic, but often forgotten when the ego of “I’m in charge” dominates. Don’t get fooled by the illusion.

  Rogue leaders know that results are not their own but shared. As a leader, you have a single role to play. You can be effective or not. You can be inspirational or not. You can be focused or not. It’s up to you.

  36.

  Sparking Your Team

  Flipping the Pyramid

  Today no leader can afford to be indifferent to the challenge of engaging employees in the work of creating the future. Engagement may have been optional in the past, but it’s pretty much the whole game today.

  —Gary Hamel, author

  The crusty welding supervisor looked me up and down, and as he turned away, he let one fly, the spittle landing at my feet. “No f**ing way are you going to coach me.” And he walked away.

  Off to a flying start the first week as a coach at the shipyard. While his fellow supervisor and I stared at him incredulously, I fought my primal reaction, which was to scream loudly and say something very Scarface-like: “You talking to me?” I turned to John, smiled, and said, “I have him right where I want him.” I knew I didn’t sound convincing, but I had to control my impulses and not back down.

  The odds of my actually forming a trusting coaching relationship with Mark, a hard-nosed thirty-year veteran who had a year until retirement, were steep.

  My instincts told me he was afraid I would mess up his last year of his working life with “soft people focused on namby-pamby-mumbo jumbo,” as he put it. I had some digging to do.

  I discovered some interesting facts about him. His team loved him for his experience. He spent time with them on the boat while they worked their craft, instead of in his office. He dropped F bombs all the time. He was a lone wolf. He had survived by being a hard ass. Technically, he was a great welder, but a lousy communicator about performance.

  Instead of asking permission, I showed up to his morning team meeting.

  “Who invited you?” he grumpily demanded when I strolled into his work area.

  “Your team told me you ran a great meeting, and I came to see how you do it.” Resigned, he let me stay—to one side as an observer. I saw a natural leader who needed some help to talk about performance in a clear way.

  Afterwards, I congratulated him on a wonderful meeting. I asked him about his team and what he thought they excelled at and could improve on. “Can I help you make it even better?” Knowing that he struggled with numbers, I offered to set up a self-calculating graph for him in Excel. All he needed to do was plug in the numbers.

  He reluctantly agreed and came to appreciate the help. For the next year, I would swing by his meetings, and he would ask for feedback on how he was doing.

  I worked with Mark for a year. He used his graphs diligently and became a better leader for it. When he retired, he didn’t mention me in his “thank-yous.” And he never apologized.

  Was the partnership successful? Absolutely. We found a common, if not small, space that worked for both if us. He had changed and grown, even though he would never admit it. Most important, we respected each other. I am as proud of that achievement as one of the bigger, more visible wins for the shipyard. And that’s nothing to spit at.

  I learned a valuable lesson from this, something I want to share with all managers: Find a way to engage your front line in a meaningful way—not the “let’s do a flip chart and thank you for your input” approach. Unfortunately, many leaders throw around words such as “engagement” and “empowerment,” yet their actions hardly go beyond inviting employees to a meeting every now and then. To work at all, “empowerment” really needs to mean giving up control and decision-making power to others.

  One truth remains constant in any business: Given the chance, the frontline team will grasp things quicker than the leadership. The higher up you go the corporate ladder, the more baggage and fear you encounter, resulting in rigid behaviors.

  TEAR UP THOSE ANNUAL REVIEWS

  Look for ways to foster feedback and dialogue with your frontline team, creating opportunities that allow you to give feedback too.

  One way most organizations check the box is through the annual review process, which can help you shape your team and coach them. But make sure you also initiate an immediate response loop between you and your employees. Most information needs to be delivered and addressed well before the once-a-year ritual, when it’s too late for the employee to make any adjustments. You are throwing away the opportunity to realize potential.

  The longer the time between action and feedback, the less effective the feedback is for driving performance. Think about training a dog: If you wait two months (two hours!) to correct him after he behaves a certain way, he’ll never change his behavior.

  Improvement requires continuous feedback—not some flip chart exercise (with food catered by that really crappy sandwich place down the road). Try this with your team members:

  Thank them for that great idea in the moment.

  Ask them to speak to the team.

  Pull them aside afterwards and tell them what went well and what can be improved.

  As you end every meeting, review what you liked and what you would like to see done differently in the future.

  Ask for feedback in public to model that it’s okay.

&n
bsp; Drop by for five minutes to talk to someone you don’t know well on the team.

  Eat lunch with the workforce—not some “special lunch with management” program. Just stroll in and share that bologna on white bread with someone.

  Stay in touch with your influencers and keep them in the loop.

  Be firm in private. Public floggings belong with the Marquis de Sade.

  Show that feedback is safe and not personal.

  THE POWER OF BEER

  A customer waited on a delivery of doors to open a new facility on the weekend. The installation team had been unable to locate them, so the sales director asked the warehouse supervisor to solve the problem and take care of the customer. He even promised some beer if the supervisor could fix the problem.

  The warehouse supervisor called the director later that night to say they had tracked down the doors—they had been on the wrong truck, going in the wrong direction.

  Taking a risk, wanting to make sure the doors arrived in time, the supervisor signed off on a special delivery—beyond his level of authorization. Later that Friday evening, the director turned up at the warehouse, in the rain, with a case of beer for a very surprised supervisor.

  Here was action that not only supported the front line, but also sent a strong message to the workforce about serving the customer and recognizing heroic work.

  37.

  Leadership Assassins

  Types of Leaders Who Can

  Kill the Front Line

  I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.

  —Alexander the Great, ancient Greek king

  Before we wrap up, here is a list of the top enemies to successfully engaging the front line. Do a self-check, and ensure you are not unintentionally getting in your own way.

  1. Big Daddy/Big Momma

  Leaders whine and moan about having to make all the decisions—precisely because they make all the decisions. If employees know their bosses will take care of everything for them, then the result is usually passivity about decision-making, enabling the leader to continue his or her big-daddy behavior.

  Leaders at all levels need to be freed to leverage their energy and actions. By taking care of others at a level below their pay grade, they end up impeding productivity and progress.

  2. Chameleon

  These leaders always take on the latest initiative—usually with fanfare (see chapter 18, “Stealth Change Management”). We have all experienced flavor-of-the-month initiatives and how organizations complain about all the energy expended for very little return. Instead of always going for the next-new-thing, managers typically do much better by adopting a slow-and-steady approach.

  3. The King

  Easy one to spot: “I am the leader, so I must be right.” “Execute my vision” turns the workforce and your team into worker bees and drones, not “honey makers.”

  4. Policy Wonk

  Nothing ever remains solid and static—as molecules vibrate, so do organizations. If you overdo policies and procedures, you risk squashing opportunities for growth and innovation.

  5. The Fearmonger

  These leaders dwell on crises, spending hours evaluating, delaying, pondering, and thinking about getting input—until the next big disaster comes to town. Afraid of making a mistake, they almost never do—which is itself a mistake. And the message to the front line? Usually paralysis.

  6. The Hierarchist

  Everyone has a boss. Though managing upward and externally does take time and skill, it hurts the front line when they focus more on what those above think than on what those in the trenches think.

  If you truly want to “flip the pyramid” of management, then do so—but spend most of your time with those who can give you the best value and insight. To look only upward and outward harms business in the long term.

  7. The Fixer

  The general manager of a fish food plant visited the shop floor every week, but only to point out failures and to remind his workers who was boss. He focused on “fixing his people,” not on fixing his style or his senior team’s impact on the bottom line. Managing by walking around, in and of itself, does not improve management.

  As noted previously, managers need to not only “show up,” but also pay attention to how they show up to the front line. Meaningful conversations lead to improvement ideas from the workforce.

  8. The Illusionist

  The need to really connect to the workforce shows up most clearly in continuous improvement programs. Many CI programs fail because management invites the front line for their ideas but offers no follow up or feedback. As a result, many workers contribute only mediocre ideas or stop sharing input altogether.

  9. One-Trick Pony

  Because of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in 2010, oil company safety protocols shifted dramatically, and companies became focused on risk-control despite its impact on profitability. While the companies became safer, they also became somewhat risk averse.

  That blindness meant they lost money elsewhere in the form of hidden costs. “We will get there by being safe” replaced “We will get there by being safe and profitable.” On any journey, you have to make space for creativity, for adjustments—for “deviations from the path” if conditions demand it.

  I call this “flex-rigidity”; others call it “agility.” The outcome may even change—another good reason why mission and vision statements belong on walls and not in everyday work. Business environments remain too fluid for written-in-stone missions.

  Recap

  Part 8: Engaging the Front Line

  Plan with all your stakeholders (not just with employees)—a great resource for insight.

  Be the conductor in charge of the business rhythm. If you aren’t hitting the right notes, switch the tempo.

  Help your front line understand the business case and let them take a bigger role in managing and executing.

  Stay aware that most frontline teams will adapt to change faster than senior executives.

  Follow up with the team on any ideas they have contributed.

  Know who your influencers are at each level and area.

  Be authentic and hold people accountable without punishment.

  Epilogue

  A Personal Note

  We have reached the end of the rogue leadership journey. I hope you found it helpful and gleaned some ideas to help you on your way.

  We will succeed or fail by how well we help our people achieve both personal and organizational goals. Results really do matter. We need to evaluate our actions based on outcomes and impact.

  The quality of our actions can make a decisive difference. This requires us to act with integrity and authenticity so we can to tap into our natural and instinctive power.

  To optimize this instinctive power, as a rogue leader you need to remove yourself from the fast-paced, demanding, and noisy world. Doing so, you open up a clearer channel for decision-making and creativity, enhancing how you respond to business challenges.

  Rogue leadership is about stepping back and not engaging, allowing us to eventually engage more effectively. We have seen the power of reflection, of solitude, and of instinct—most of which are counterintuitive in the face of a never-ending assault of information and external stimuli demanding our immediate attention and response.

  Understanding that we have more control over the environment than we typically acknowledge—plus the fact that we can change our brain states—helps us adapt to changing circumstances. We don’t have to be victims of what happens; instead, we can tap into our innate power and ability to take charge of what needs to be accomplished. Too often, though, we default to the tail wagging the dog.

  The outside environment triggers us before we’ve had the chance to really think about what the right response might be. Wh
ile sometimes we have to make a decisive call on the spot, most of the time that’s not even necessary or urgent.

  False detours can distract us at any stage in the journey. Processes, tools, initiatives, and philosophies (such as Six Sigma and continuous improvement) can help—but only if you fully leverage their potential. No tool or technology works as a panacea. Go against the grain by questioning the value of all that you and your team do.

  Once you are ready to engage in the outer world, focus on purpose as a key theme. Whether triage and decision-making, communicating, motivating your organization or team, or creating a powerful presence (both when physically on site and when away), make sure to hold a clear purpose in mind. Don’t just act but act consciously with purpose and intention to achieve your goals, and consistently.

  Continually take the pulse of your organization, get feedback, create opportunities for play to increase innovation, take calculated risks, and challenge the status quo. Think of yourself as a rebel leader with a cause.

  Finally, understand that the key to your success is not you. Your workforce or team adds value (or unintentionally reduces value) every day—and when they are truly plugged in, your company’s performance will improve.

  The head winds will take you far. Build a unique shared story together, and, above all, have some fun doing so.

  The Path to Success

  What Global Leaders Think

  I asked my colleagues and clients from around the world to tell me what they see as the top characteristics of a transformative, effective leader. Their personalized feedback is a treasure of wisdom and experience, which I am humbled by.

  Throughout my experience, I have found that one of the most important things for any leader is to learn something new every day. You have to shape who you are, based on your circumstances, no structure or individual can be defined by the set of predefined regulations. I always give a high rate of independence to my team, which enables the individuals to grow at their own pace, gain confidence and stick together as a team. Success of the team is what makes an effective leader, person who leads his team toward a successful definition of themselves.