I commonly get asked how to teach “leaders” to be leaders. My answer is always the same. Don’t. You can certainly hone and refine a person’s leadership skills. But, if a person is responsible for leading others and doesn’t already have basic leadership skills, it’s too late.
Why do some many companies put unqualified people into leadership positions? After all, the number one job and competency of a leader is to lead. You wouldn’t hire someone into your accountant department who didn’t know how to do accounting. You wouldn’t hire a lawyer who didn’t understand the law. Yet, I see many organizations where people are promoted into leadership positions because they were good at something other than leading.
This creates several problems. The most obvious one is a poor performing workforce. In the work I do, a lot of performance, motivation, and engagement problems stem from poor leadership. Micromanagement, arrogance, poor communication, insecurity, lack of understanding about the business, inability to prioritize are all common issues that I uncover in my work. But if a leader isn’t managing those things well, what is he or she doing? What value are they providing (as a leader)?
A second major problem is that a bad leaders produce more bad leaders. Recently, I was working with a group of managers on strategic thinking. We talked about the importance of getting out of the details to see the big picture. Several of the managers said that they wouldn’t be able to do that. Their bosses (and even their bosses’ bosses) always drove down into the details. Their bosses wouldn’t even entertain a conversation about anything forward looking or strategic. Because those leaders couldn’t hold a strategic conversation themselves, they forced others to their tactical level. The ripple effect was that these managers knew that, to be successful (at least with their boss) they had to be tactical. In turn, they forced their own people to provide tactical solutions and answers so that they could pass those up the line. This isn’t an isolated case. The primary push back I get in most leadership training is that people won’t be able to apply what they are learning because their boss “doesn’t get it”.
A leader has one job – to lead. As with any job, a person can always get better. However, all jobs have a baseline set of of skills, attitudes, and behaviors that must be present to even qualify. Leadership is no different. People who can’t lead shouldn’t be put into leadership roles. Period.
