Leadership Survival Guide Part 4 (FINAL)

This is part of a long series in a number of postings based on the Spring 2009 Issue of OnPoint (from the Harvard Business Press) dedicated to Risk Management.

Specifically, this particular post is the 4th and FINAL relating to my review of the article: A Survival Guide for Leaders by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky (both professors at the Kennedy School at Harvard and authors of Leadership on the Line).

Offense: Internal help:

1. Avoid having to be right and always “in control” …just to be in control. Organizations need room to change and it’s not always a neat process. It’s a bit like making sausage…you might enjoy eating the final product, but probably would not enjoy watching it made!

2. Avoid over-dependence on yourself. If people get dependent on you, you’ll end up tired (making all the tough decisions) and with a flawed, single point of decision making. You need others to point out the shortcoming. Over-dependence is like over-delegation. At first if feels good, but can be a trap you set for yourself.

3. Take care of yourself. Leadership; and making substantive change is not for sissies. It’s tough work and requires you stay in psychological shape.

a. Develop safe havens: a place (your car on the way home or a favorite chair) for you to reflect on the day; working out, talking to friend or family member.

b. Develop a confidant. Someone you can be completely open with about your hopes, fears about “being judged and betrayed.” Venting and input are two values of this process.

c. Avoid using a work colleague as confidant. They’ll support you until it no longer supports their agenda.

d. True confidants support you always. They pull you up when your down and deflate you when you get too big for your britches.

4. ***Opposition and pushback by others to your leadership—if truly adaptive leadership—is almost always about the issue and your role…not usually about you—the person. \

a. Don’t take things personally (easier said than done). If you blow up, then YOU become the issue and that eventually does you in.

b. Staying in control under what feel like personal attacks is difficult. But in the end keeping the focus on the role and issue keeps you above the fray.

c. The authors offer an interesting proof about how it’s more about the change than you. They discuss how quickly people forget to call you when you’re gone…a sign that it’s the role you serve that people respond to. Think about how many former vice presidents or secretary of state names you can list quickly!

My Advice: Read this article in its entirety and give it to a new leader who’s getting slammed for making changes. Then when you’ve finished, read Heifetz and Linsky’s book: Leadership on the Line. *Note: I’ll be reviewing their latest book Adaptive Leadership (2009) on this blog soon.

Leadership Survival Guide Part 3

This is part of a long series in a number of postings based on the Spring 2009 Issue of OnPoint (from the Harvard Business Press) dedicated to Risk Management.

Specifically, this particular post is the 3rd of several relating to my review of the article: A Survival Guide for Leaders by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky (both professors at the Kennedy School at Harvard and authors of Leadership on the Line).

So, what to do in such Adaptive Leadership situations? The authors offer two sets of suggestions…what I would call defense and offense…how do you (as a transformational change agent) protect yourself from internal threats and how to keep yourself buoyed up in the face of opposition that is as inevitable, if you’re doing what’s best for the organization, as the sun coming up.


Defense—It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you!
1. Make no mistake. If you are changing people’s ways of doing things, they will feel a sense of loss and incompetence. It’s not change they fear but the loss they will experience as a result of the change. And they will NOT like that uncomfortable change or YOU, as the instigator or catalyst of change. And they will come at you with all the tools they have: whispers, slander, co-opting techniques…these tools are varied and many.

2. The balcony: The authors entreat leaders to get off the dance floor and going to the balcony, which means getting out of the daily grind and toil and becoming and observer-participant. Stepping back…and seeing what’s going on. In classroom settings we tell teachers to become researchers…when a student reacts a certain disruptive way, ask “Why is this happening?”

3. In this article, the authors suggest other defensive strategies worth reading and understanding: Court the Uncommitted, Cook the Conflict, Place the work where it Belongs.

In the next post see what to do for offense.

Leadership Survival Guide Part 2

This is part of a long series in a number of postings based on the Spring 2009 Issue of OnPoint (from the Harvard Business Press) dedicated to Risk Management.

Specifically, this particular post is the 2nd of several relating to my review of the article: A Survival Guide for Leaders by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky (both professors at the Kennedy School at Harvard and authors of Leadership on the Line).

An example of treating the symptom vs. adaptive change (mine example, not the authors): Employees at a company over time have been allowed to come to meetings late. As a result, almost every meeting starts 15 to 25 minutes after the actual time it’s supposed to. This had become part of the culture.

1. A new manager takes over and spots the problem and comes up with a new solution: Give everyone time management classes. Problem solved. People love the classes…which they show up late for! The new manager quickly gets co-opted and allows late-creep back into the organization. Everyone likes him and gives him smiley-face reviews when 360 time comes around.

2.Another new manager comes in. She sees the problem and announces that all meetings will start on time. No excuses. People arrive late and find themselves locked out. And after the second occurrence reprimanded. After the third time, suspended with no pay for two days. One wag tested this new leader a fourth time and was fired. Everyone shows up on time now. But the internal pressure on this young manager mounts. She’s shunned by management peers, who don’t hold their teams to the same exacting standard. She’s whispered about, maligned…even the senior execs see her as strident. She loses confidence and support and eventually lets up—thus losing a most useful attempt to change the culture of the organization for the better.

So, how do you handle it and keep from getting torpedoed? See the next few posts.