Lead by Example
Features
Written by Chris Musselwhite   
Monday, 31 August 2009
Lead by Example - Energy Today - RedCoat Publishing
Leadership expert Chris Musselwhite has some timely advice on why following is so important for great leaders.
Who doesn’t want to be a more effective leader? Ironically, one of the most direct routes to leading more effectively is through being a better follower. In fact, the similarities between effective leaders and effective followers are significant.

In Good to Great, Jim Collins describes Level 5 leadership as one of the significant factors that drives an organization from being a good organization to a truly great organization. He describes Level 5 leaders as results-oriented, modest, self-effacing, and always ready to attribute success to people other than themselves.

The greatest leaders surround themselves with great followers and give them credit. The best way to identify, attract, and direct great followers? Be one. Lead by example.

By being a truly great follower, you model and inspire behaviors in others that increase the opportunity for success in your organization. Here are seven characteristic behaviors of great followers and examples of how they build leadership.

Be honest
Tell the truth to everyone, including your boss. But be sure you do it in a way that isn’t blaming or, worse, embarrassing. This may seem simple, but it can be difficult in practice.

Here’s an example. Just recently, I was involved in a culture survey for a large organization in which the feedback from the employees was very negative. When this was presented to the CEO, he indicated no steps were to be taken, as his senior management team had assured him that the negative issues had already been addressed, just not in time to affect the survey.

From our perspective, not addressing the situation would have been a mistake, both for the CEO and the entire organization. So we were happy when not long after that conversation, he came back to us seeking help in addressing the negative feedback.

When asked about his change in direction, he confided that a female senior executive met with him in private to raise the concern that by choosing not to address the situation, he might be falling prey to sabotage by members of the senior team.

Because she was honest in a discrete and constructive manner, the CEO valued her opinion, seeing her as more of an asset to him and to the organization. By taking the risk and being honest, she increased her own ability to influence decisionmaking in the organization—a key leadership competency.

Be supportive
On the most basic level, your job is to make your boss and your organization successful. If your boss has missed something important, you should take care of it yourself or tell your boss about it. And, as we saw in the previous example, discretion is critical.

I’ve coached many managers who complain about their bosses and miss that it is their responsibility to the organization (and their boss) to take up the slack. When you let your boss look bad, you look bad, and everyone suffers.

When you are supportive, your boss will trust you more. This may result in your inclusion in the loop of communication reserved for those at the most senior levels. This makes you more visible within the organization and more valuable to your department. It also increases your chance of receiving more leadership positions and responsibility in the future.

Be reliable
When people can count on you to do what you say, you become an asset to them, the organization, and yourself. When you are reliable, your superiors will give you more responsibility—even managers who have a hard time delegating to others. Micro-managers become micro-managers because they lack confidence in other people (whether justified or not).

You add to this positive reputation by going the extra mile, even when it’s outside your job description. Doing something that needs to be done instead of blaming others or delegating shows you see and work toward the bigger picture, which is characteristic of all effective leaders.

Always seek to understand the big picture
When you work with the big picture in mind, others are far more likely to see you as a leader. It will also help you be a better follower. For example, the next time the boss’s actions or decisions appear unreasonable or inappropriate, remember that you may only see a part of the bigger picture that the boss sees.

Rather than assuming your boss is wrong, seek information that will help you put his or her actions into context. Ask intelligent questions in the effort to discover the reason behind the actions. The better you understand the big picture, the better advocate you can be for the things you are responsible for and the things that are important to you.

Here’s an example from my own company. We recently hired a new staff member. In his efforts to quickly ramp up on our products, processes, and customers, he is asking me hundreds of questions. By asking good questions, he’s not only making himself valuable to the organization faster, he is making me rethink many of our current processes—both of which will contribute to the success and growth of the company.

Ask good questions
Asking good questions not only makes you a good follower, it is possibly the most underutilized leadership tool there is. If you approach the situation in the spirit of wanting to obtain the best outcome, asking questions lets you address the situation in a way that benefits everyone involved.

Questioning your boss’s decisions or actions helps him or her to slow down and reflect on decisions about to be made. Questioning your reports helps them develop their own problem-solving skills. By modeling this key leadership competency, you give your reports the freedom to question you and others, helping everyone make better, well thought-out decisions.

When everyone is asking good questions and listening carefully to the answers, the entire organization benefits.

Be aware of your own assumptions
Being aware of how your own assumptions affect every situation is an essential trait of good followers and influential leaders alike. Here’s an example. A manager came to me about the problems she was experiencing because of her supervisor’s micro-managing style on a recent project. She assumed he didn’t trust her, so she reacted to every question and interaction defensively. Getting things accomplished was painful for both.

I suggested an alternative way to view this situation. Perhaps this project was really important to her boss and he gave it to her because he trusted her to do a good job, even though he remained anxious about the project’s outcome. When she began relating to him from this assumption, their relationship turned around. She realized that her assumption of her boss’s lack of confidence in her ability was feeding his anxiety and insecurity. They started enjoying working together and got much accomplished in record time.

Practice integrity
When you’ve done everything else (been honest, supportive, reliable, sought to understand the big picture, asked good questions, and carefully considered your own assumptions) and you still can’t influence the situation, you will have to decide to either stay the course or move on.

In a recent engagement, a manager who reported to a vice president seen by everyone in the organization to be dysfunctional consulted me about what he should do. The VP’s behavior was the subject of constant complaints throughout the company, but since the organization rarely fired anyone, the situation continued.

I counseled the manager on giving non-confrontational feedback to the VP and other senior level management using the SBI model: frame the situation, describe the person’s behavior, and then explain the impact of this behavior on your ability to do your job. When nothing else worked, the manager did this in a written report. Instead of initiating broader support, the manager got chastised for it. It became clear that nothing was going to be done about the situation. Certain he had done all he could do, he was able to resign with a clear conscience.

He bucked the established culture, but only after he tried to go forward within the processes he had available to him. Not surprisingly, the manager landed on his feet in a better position at another company. When you practice integrity, you’ll always end up on the right side of things.

Modeling these behaviors will not only increase your own leadership effectiveness, it will increase the effectiveness of your superiors and your direct reports. Indeed, when these behaviors are the norm in an organization, everyone is more effective, everyone’s job is easier, and everyone is happier.

Chris Musselwhite is the author of Dangerous Opportunity: Making Change Work and the CEO and founder of
Discovery Learning, Inc., a leadership development products and consulting company (www.discoverylearning.com). He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
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