10 How Should Leaders Act?

Terrance loved leadership for one reason and one reason only: its action. Terrance had never tolerated constraint. From childhood on up, Terrance had chafed whenever restricted by anyone for any reason. Sitting still in school as a child was torture. Remaining in his work cubicle as an adult was like a cage. Terrance had no idea what was the source of his wild resistance to restraint. But he was sure that he would die if held down in one place for too long. When Terrance finally became a team leader at work, though, he instantly felt reborn into a new life of freedom. He could finally walk around and act, pretty much whenever and however he wished, as long as his acts arguably promoted his team’s performance. Terrance loved leadership, and he was never going back.

Action

Leadership involves action. Leaders must do more than cogitate. Leaders must lead, and leading requires action. A leader’s action should be strategic, well considered, well timed, and effective in moving the organization or team toward goals. Leaders should avoid actions that are erring, disruptive, distracting, or otherwise move the organization or team away from its goals. But leaders must ultimately act. The leader who remains frozen in the glare of the headlights of the onrushing train will soon suffer the wreck. Patience can be a virtue. So can deliberation. Yet sometimes, an organization or team simply needs to see the leader take consistent, visible, firm action. Action for action’s sake rather than for a predicted fruitful end can even in some instances unify and focus a team or organization that sees no clear forward path. In your leadership, prepare for action. 

Monitoring

If you don’t know exactly what to do in your leadership, and you instead believe that the time may be for patient observation, then you can still at least walk around. Management by walking around is a recognized strategy when other actions are unclear. Walking around, done rightly, enables a leader to monitor an organization’s systems, personnel, morale, and management. Walking around also demonstrates to the organization that the leader has an active interest in the organization’s affairs, programs, and personnel. You might be surprised by what you can learn when walking around your organization’s offices, facilities, premises, and lands. Walking around can lead to spontaneous interactions with personnel with whom you don’t ordinarily confer. It can also reveal conditions of which you were not aware, providing you with a random sampling of inventory, maintenance, repair, and other systems issues. You may also gain an overall sense of the quality and efficiency of operations, condition of facilities, and knowledge, skills, attitude, and morale of personnel. If you have nothing else to do as a leader at the moment, then consider getting up and walking around. Respect lines of communication. Don’t snoop and undermine your leadership team or mid-level managers. But walk around. 

Investigating

In the same vein as monitoring the organization, a leader also acts appropriately when investigating conditions. Leaders need reliable information to make sound decisions. Whenever you have a leadership decision to make, you should be investigating the grounds and researching the information on which you’ll make that decision. Whenever you have an organizational issue, conflict, or dispute to address, you should likewise be researching and investigating. And whenever you are considering launching a new strategic initiative and developing and implementing related plans, you should be investigating and researching the reliable information you’ll need for effective plans. But even when you have no particular decision to make, conflict to resolve, or strategy to initiate, you may find that investigating opportunities and conditions is a good use of your leadership skills and time. Discovery and exploration are spurs to correction and innovation. When you continually explore and investigate, you see opportunities you might otherwise have missed. You may investigate customer, client, or patron needs, supplier goods and services, market conditions, competitor activities, technology developments, or marketing and communications opportunities. Your subjects for research and investigation are many, even endless. Investigate and inform yourself for effective leadership. 

Experimenting

Leaders may also have the opportunity to experiment, as a clear and positive way to act when other issues are not consuming the leader’s time. Don’t change what is already working well in your organization. But whether your organization’s operations are going well or not, you may still be able to devote a small portion of your organization’s resources to trying new things. Your small tryouts of different approaches to organization matters may lead to the discovery of better ways to move the organization forward. A leader’s experimentation and initiative can also encourage others in the organization to look for ways to improve the organization’s operations, systems, goods, or services. Even if your experiments don’t work, your fresh interaction with your organization’s personnel may teach you something about their capability, commitment, and character, and may likewise teach them something about your interest, commitment, and character. Your attempts may also confirm for you and others that your organization already has the right approach to its issues. When you have nothing else pressing you as a leader, consider trying something new as an experiment or tryout. 

Encouraging

A leader can also act affirmatively and appropriately by encouraging the organization’s members. Organizations succeed or fail based on the level of engagement of their members. Productivity levels of employees, and engagement levels of volunteers or other members of an organization, can be surprisingly low. Significantly less than half of an organization’s members may actively pursue the organization’s mission at a responsible level. Raising the level of engagement, even from just forty percent to fifty or sixty percent, can mean the difference between an organization struggling and failing on the one hand, or striving and succeeding on the other hand. A leader’s encouragement is a primary way to raise member engagement level. Employees appreciate fair compensation. A year-end bonus, particularly one tied to performance, may significantly raise an employee’s engagement and productivity. But simply recognizing a member’s activity can significantly increase engagement. So, as a leader, find ways to regularly recognize and encourage the positive actions of your team or organization members. You may not need to make a single decision or change to improve your organization’s performance. You may instead need to simply increase member engagement through encouragement. 

Guiding

Next to encouragement, a leader may also appropriately guide the actions of an organization’s members. Leaders often have considerable experience and expertise in the organizational matters that they oversee and direct. A leader should generally not interfere with work delegated to skilled members. Nor should a leader generally interfere with supervision entrusted to unit managers and directors. Sticking one’s nose into places where others don’t welcome it isn’t the best idea for leadership. But a leader who came up through the ranks while exhibiting excellence in each function along the way can be especially effective in guiding the organization’s members in carrying out their work. A line worker or volunteer may be especially willing to listen to the organization’s leader, when the leader comes alongside to gently suggest an improvement or better course. The leader who closely observes organizational practices to occasionally offer guidance may also learn something along the way, helpful to leadership decisions. Spending time on the shop floor, or wherever else your organization’s plans meet operational implementation, while giving guidance, can help you learn about your organization while showing its members that you care. 

Correcting

A leader’s actions may certainly include correcting an organization’s erring actions that would benefit from correction. Leaders who regularly walk around monitoring organizational performance, investigate organizational matters, and guide members in executing organizational plans, naturally come across conditions and practices to correct. A tug on the tiller or small trim to the sails can make a big difference in a ship’s speed and course. And no one is generally better placed to make those corrections than an organization’s leader. Yet the challenge with correction is its potential negative effects. Positive feedback has positive productivity effects. Unfortunately, workers can construe corrections as negative feedback having negative productivity effects. Don’t hesitate to correct practices that are slowing or damaging your organization. Correct priority matters quickly and clearly, while monitoring to ensure that your corrections remain in place to good effect. But don’t chastise or demean when making corrections. Respect the character and skill of your organization’s members. Make corrections as positive of an experience as you can. 

Relationships

When you have nothing urgent to do, consider spending time and taking action to build internal and external relationships. Your leadership depends on sound relationships with your organization’s board and your leadership team, managers, or other members of your organization. Relationships benefit from time and attention. Dropping in on managers and directors to see how they are doing, without any specific agenda, can both build relationships and help you learn things about the organization that would not otherwise have come to your attention. Having coffee or lunch with board members, donors, or members of your management team can encourage them that you value them as friends, loyal advisors, and confidantes. You may also find similar opportunities to build relationships with external constituents of your organization, such as key supplier representatives, local government officials, trade or industry leaders, and leaders of local school programs, development authorities, or chambers of commerce. You never know when a well-tended relationship may aid your leadership and organization. 

Representation

Also act regularly to represent your organization in public and private forums, as your organization’s leader. Whatever sector or field in which your organization operates, that field likely has public and private forums where organizations represent their interests. Your organization operates within one or more political jurisdictions, for instance, likely including a state, county, and city. Getting to know the public officials who govern your organization’s jurisdiction may help on public issues. Those public officials hold public meetings, town halls, campaign events, and other forums, where leaders and other citizens may attend to get to meet and know their representatives. They may also hold hearings on issues of interest to your organization. Consider some political outreach and connection, if not with elected officials then at least with administrative officials including city managers, planners, fire officials, police, and public works. Your organization’s field likely also has private forums, such as professional or trade association meetings, conferences, and events. Represent your organization in those forums. You may learn about your field, develop a broader network of resources, elevate your organization’s profile and reputation, and communicate your organization’s interests. 

Reflection

On a scale from one to ten, how active are you as a leader? Do your organization’s members regularly sense and openly appreciate your presence and engagement? Would your organization’s members rate your engagement as highly as you rate it? Do you need to be more active and visible, to move your organization forward? How do you monitor your organization’s operations? Do you frequently research and investigate organizational issues and opportunities? Are you regularly experimenting with new initiatives or alterations in programs and operations? Do you regularly encourage your organization’s members? What level of engagement do you sense your organization’s members consistently reach? Would greater engagement of your organization’s workforce or other membership move the organization forward or resolve current issues? Do you regularly get alongside and guide your organization’s members? Do you have the skills and experience to do so? How often do you correct organizational activities? Where do you make your corrections? How effective and lasting are they? Do your corrections discourage members and reduce their engagement and productivity? Do you spend time building internal and external relationships? Are you active as your organization’s representative?

Key Points

• Leaders generally benefit from being active, even outside of demands.

• Monitoring your organization’s operations can be a valuable activity.

• Researching and investigating can be another positive leadership act.

• Experimenting and trying new things is another positive action.

• Spend time and energy encouraging your organization’s members.

• Also get alongside your organization’s members to guide them.

• Correct things that you must correct, but do so positively if possible.

• Take time and action to build internal and external relationships.

• Represent your organization well in industry and public forums.

Read Chapter 11.