Over
the years I have asked many people in supervisory positions what
they believe their primary management responsibility is. Although
there are variations, the most frequent answer provided has been
"To ensure my people deliver on their results this year," or something
similar. Not too surprising, is it?
As
important as the response about results is, for leaders it is clearly
not enough. Besides ensuring their people deliver today's results,
leaders realize they need to also ensure their people are capable
of delivering great results in the coming years. Those future results
will be more challenging and difficult to achieve, which means people
have to be equipped in a variety of ways to be successful. We are
going to look at one of those ways, which is often not considered
to the extent it should be.
Think
about this question for a moment. It what ways is your ability to
do your best work affected by your level of comfort? This is not
intended to be some deep philosophical question, but rather one
of personal reflection. Overall would you rather be comfortable
most of the time or not?
Most
of us like comfort. We are all aware that it is virtually impossible
to grow without some level of discomfort, so we cannot go through
life comfortable all the time. However, if a question on a preference
inventory listed comfort or discomfort, most would likely select
comfort.
As
a leader do you try to increase the comfort level of your people?
Or do you believe that a perpetual state of discomfort is better,
especially for future results? Whatever your response is, can you
make a solid case to support it?
Now,
consider this. If once again you were asked to choose between two
options, would you prefer to show up everyday at work where you
were comfortable - or confident?
They
are different, aren't they? And yet they are related. If a person
is not confident, it would be hard for him or her to remain comfortable
very long. No doubt about that. There is a direct relationship between
the comfort one feels and the confidence that person has to fulfill
today's expectations and successfully accomplish new things that
she or he has never encountered.
So
as a leader, what are you doing to enhance your peoples' confidence
levels in themselves and their teams? What are you doing to get
them not just to believe , but to know that individually
or as a team, they can be successful, no matter what hand they are
dealt?
I
have come across far too many managers who are quick to hand out
very ambitious objectives, but much slower to provide the leadership
needed by their people to fully embrace and achieve them. These
managers offer justification for these eye-popping goals in the
context of the needs of the business, but provide few, if any, responses
when people start asking, "How can we possibly do this?" It seems
that many times, avoidance and abdication are the only strategies
on which these managers rely.
Avoidance
is about not taking any responsibility or ownership in the setting
of, or belief in the goals. An example might sound something like:
"The goals were given to me from above, and I didn't have any say
in them. We all know this is the way goal setting is done around
here, so you are just going to have to deal with it."
Abdication
is about not taking responsibility or ownership in the achievement
process. In this case, the standard message might be, "Hard or not,
it is your job to go figure this out." Before disappearing, the
manager might also feel compelled to add an obligatory comment such
as, "You are smart people, that's why you are working here," whether
it is believed or not. Disingenuous, flippant remarks seldom help
build confidence.
Yet,
it is rather fascinating how these same managers seem to reappear
like swarming vultures when the interim numbers are below target.
They don't let go of their role to nag people about sagging performance.
They just back away from offering solid help, genuine assurance,
ideas or options. And in some cases, the flippant remarks begin
to turn into personal threats as the year-end approaches.
What
impact do you think avoidance and abdication have on instilling
or building confidence? When the objectives seem unattainable and
the manager has become virtually inaccessible for help or advice,
it's much harder for people to develop the confidence to believe,
let alone know, they can be successful.
Building
confidence in tough situations is not simply some well-timed motivational
speeches. It requires frequent hands-on involvement, authentic communications,
guidance, encouragement, achievable milestones and a bunch of other
things. Great leaders understand the importance of confidence and
intentionally work at it. They do not assume that people
naturally have an unending supply, or that people will find it when
needed.
In
closing you might want to give some thought to a couple of final
questions. First, to what extent is building the confidence of your
people a priority for you? That is, do you consciously think about
it and have well-developed strategies for following through, or
does this leadership work never seem to be in your mind, let alone
on your "To Do" list? Finally, what can you do going forward to
ensure that your people are constantly and legitimately feeling
more confident about their abilities to do what is asked of them,
in spite of how unreasonable it may seem?
Consistent results come from people
who are committed and capable. Self confidence contributes to helping
people become stronger in both of these. So as you continue to better
develop and enable your people to take on the future, don't lose sight
of the importance of strengthening their confidence levels as part
of your plan for them. To act with confidence in times of great change
and uncertainty is a key factor for future success for all of us.
Copyright 2006
International Leadership Associates, Steve C. Coats |