Leadership promotes new directions; management executes existing directions.

The function of management

Management can do much more than merely keep things ticking over. It manages complex projects ranging from making a major movie to putting the first man on the moon. Managers can use facilitative skills to foster innovation. By sticking to a purely functional definition, we leave completely open the question of style. This liberating move means that managers can be inspiring. They can empower, nurture and develop talent. An inspiring leader influences us to change direction while an inspiring manager motivates us to work harder. Managers needn't be restricted to mechanical control, transactional rewards, bureaucratic methods or relating without empathy. Portraying managers in such negative terms was an accident of history that we now must put behind us.

To get the best out of knowledge workers, managers might set up self-managing teams. Here, the classic functions of management (planning, organizing and controlling) are delegated. But the function of management is still operating even though the manager is not personally doing it. This should dispel the myth of the manager as a control freak or bureaucrat.

By removing all style connotations, leadership benefits as much as management. No longer needing to be inspiring cheerleaders, leaders find it possible to exhibit quiet, factual leadership. This is essential in technical contexts, where a hard business case often moves stakeholders more than an inspirational delivery. Not being committed by definition to any particular style, both leaders and managers are free to use any style that works for the context in which they want to make a difference.

The function of leadership

Leadership needs to narrow its focus to promoting new directions as one-off acts to promote a better way...

...Key features of leadership reinvented

• It consists in showing a better way, either by explicit advocacy or by example.
• Those who are led may not report to the person showing leadership, even informally.
• No implementation is entailed. This is management's domain, getting work done through others, motivating people, developing them (more on management below.)
• It does not involve managing the people led or getting things done through them.
• It comes to an end once the target audience buys the need to change. It sells the tickets for the journey; management drives the bus to the destination.
• It relies on influence; since it’s not an actual role, it can't decide for the group.
• It can promote ideas developed by others; no need to be creative personally.

This is a very interesting assessment of the role of "leadership" and "management" abilities in an organization, why both are important, and why, in particular, it is time to re-elevate the view of management as an essential skill set for getting things done. Perhaps the best line in the paper is an analogy:

(Leaders) sell the tickets for the journey; management drives the bus to the destination.

This line emphasizes that both processes are necessary to achieve success. It is time to reduce the stigma associated with "management" - the belief that it is rooted in bureaucracy, a lack of creativity, and a defense of the status quo. Effective managers develop organizations, motivate teams, plan for contingencies, and, in many cases, provide warning when a goal is unachievable. Better management (specifically of risk) at big banks would have mitigated the depth of the recent financial crisis. Make sure that your organization is recognizing and rewarding managerial skills as opposed to becoming overly enamored of "one-off" leaders, lest you find yourself full of great ideas that remain unrealized.

OK, maybe this scene from The Office isn't what Michael Schrage had in mind in his article on Why Keeping Score Is the Best Way to Get Ahead, but the spirit is the same (minus the cheating, of course). Most people have at least some degree of competitiveness, and figuring out how to tap into that in a positive way can inspire individuals or teams to reach performance levels not originally thought possible.

I consider it a great day when I can see a juxtaposition of my passion for running (I saw this video on Dailymile this morning) and leadership (I read the blog post on keeping score this evening). This is another situation where professional motivation can be informed by personal motivation; as a competitive runner, I constantly strive to beat my last personal record (even, unfortunately, on too many of my training runs). As a professional, I'm always seeking a better, more effective way to deliver results. I don't think most runners or professionals are much different in that manner.

• The hierarchy is a circulatory system for messages of authority; specifically, for anything that can be expressed as a number. It is the means by which the organization seeks scale. It flows from and to the top: the CEO and then the shareholders or owners. It might be analogous to muscle coordination.
   
• The network conveys knowledge — in the form of gossip, guidance, information about opportunities, and anything else that people talk about easily. It is the means by which the organization develops its capabilities. It flows from and to a broad base of people throughout (and outside) the company. It might be analogous to neural networks.
   
• The market is the exchange of goods, services, and money within an organization and its value chain. It is the means by which the organization manages its workflow. It transmits anything that can be bought, sold, or traded, flowing ultimately to the customer. It might be analogous to the cardiovascular system.
   
• The clan is the family or community-like circulatory system, operating below the surface of every organization (and often subconsciously). It is the means by which a company’s culture is maintained, with a “core group” of its most important people at the center. The organization establishes its view of legitimacy through the clan. It might be analogous to the endocrine system.

Boy, this list just sums it all up. And I hate to say that not only have I heard all of them, I've probably used a few myself. We probably all have, when it's more convenient to move on rather then just consider a new idea. Sit and watch this and be hit by how often you see this happen around you. I've seen a lot of #4 lately, plus a side dish of #5.

This post summarizes the results of a study by the Hay Group to discover the top 20 companies at developing leadership skills and practices. The qualities they use to determine the results include:

Active management of succession plans
Career growth opportunities clear to employees
Use of corporate social responsibility program in recruiting
High proportion of women in senior leadership
Easy for employees to work from home
Strong internal talent pipeline

With such familiar names as GE (my first employer), P&G, Accenture, and 3M on the list, seems likely that it's a relatively stable group. Obviously, its tough to rapidly improve your performance in these categories, but these are worthy goals for any company that wants to sustain strong long-term performance.

1. Get your scope right.
   Identify the area you will address. This will determine what is relevant and what is not as you move forward, untangling inter-dependent relationships.
2. Identify your Most Valuable Players
   Now you are looking at the group that is relevant to the logjam. Who needs to be in the room to find and initiate a real solution? This is your guest list.
3. Conduct the Interviews to Map the Territory
   Contact people and construct a Reconnaissance Report which chronicles what you learn. Capture high-value statements and include them without attribution. You want people paying more attention to the content than who said what.  Note: Keep in mind that because you are operating on a logjam, initial contact begins the process directing peoples’ attention toward the obstacle. Movement will begin immediately. There is a tendency to view this as preparation. In truth, the operation has begun with the first conversation.
4. Set up the Breakthrough Session for Success
   All bets ride on the outcome of the face-to-face event. Do everything in your power beforehand to ensure it is successful.  Pour your heart and effort into establishing the conditions for success.
   
5. Participate fully in the Breakthrough Session
   Each step of the way, do everything you can do to press for results. This requires focused attention to the group’s process. Your job is to ensure that the group takes up the challenge and deals with the issues as effectively as possible with a common intention to find the most productive way forward.
   
6. Be ready to provide support in follow-up
   When the breakthrough occurs, it will require support to be carried out. Be ready to jump in and lend it where needed. Follow-up is where the action takes place and requires everything you've got to see your breakthrough move from the initial freeing of energy into successful execution.

Seth Kahan (Seth@VisionaryLeadership.com) is a Change Leadership specialist. He has consulted with CEOs and executives in over 50 world-class organizations that include Shell, World Bank, Peace Corps, Marriott, Prudential, American Society of Association Executives, International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association, Project Management Institute, and NASA. He is the founder of Seth Kahan’s CEO Leaders Forum, a year-long learning experience for CEOs in Washington, DC. His next book, Getting Change Right: How Leaders Transform Organizations from the Inside Out, will be published in Spring 2010 by Jossey-Bass. Visit his other blogs, GettingChangeRight.com for more info on the upcoming book and FreelanceFortune.com for tips on how to succeed as a free agent.  Follow Seth on Twitter. Learn more about Seth's work at VisionaryLeadership.com.

 

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Topics: Innovation, Leadership, Management, change, change leadership, co-creation, collaboration, engagement, participation, participatory management, stakeholder alignment, visionary leadership, Twitter Inc., Seth Kahan, Washington, DC, Seth Kahana, GettingChangeRight.com

Great tips for what is, and should be, an intense and well-planned process. Too many "offsite" meetings or "strategy" sessions are treated as isolated events with minimal preparation, or pre-defined answers. Adherence to these tips will help make the session as valuable as possible.