Hi and welcome to Be The Flagship with our podcast host Jeff Parsons.
This is where we tackle the day-to-day talent management challenges you face.
And now over to our host.
Take it away, Jeff.
Hey there and welcome to my podcast Be The Flagship.
I'm your host Jeff Parsons and I'm so excited about today's episode on leadership.
So this entire month we're going to focus on the topic of leadership, which is one that
I love, I'm very passionate about.
And the topic for today's episode is regarding leadership, it's the universal truths regarding
leadership with the universal principles that I've learned along my journey.
And we're actually dividing this topic into two episodes this week and next week.
So this is part one of leadership's universal truths.
And then next week we'll wrap up this discussion in part two.
Then subsequent episodes will focus on how that translates into that senior executive
level.
The CEO, president of your business, whatever the title might be, how that translates to
their role within the organization.
Then we're going to bump it down.
The next episode will be on the C-suite.
Then we're going to bump it down to functional managers.
And then one more step lower to your leaders in the trenches, I like to call them, your
first line leaders.
So it's going to be a great month.
We have guest speakers lined up in future episodes on this topic this month.
And so super excited about it.
Can't wait to get started, but let's go to a commercial break and then we'll be back
and we'll get started.
Thank you.
Is your team in need of alignment?
Do you need to develop your team through a team building event?
If so, contact a team building expert today.
Contact Jeff at 1-800-530-4189 extension 101 and take your team to the next level.
Okay.
We're back.
So to give you a little background on the, on this episode and in my experience in the
area of leadership over my 30 year career, 30 years plus that is I have developed or
facilitated leadership development in most parts of the world.
That includes mainland China, Thailand, all of Western Europe, most parts of the U S and
Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.
And so I've visited with developed had discussions with leaders of different cultures, of different
languages, of different levels of different functions.
And from that I've pulled together again, what I call the universal truth.
So when I say universal, I mean, and what that means is that it doesn't matter where
you live.
It doesn't matter what language you speak.
It doesn't matter your cultural norms.
These are universal truths regarding leadership.
And the first universal truth is that the formula for leadership is really simple.
You can think about how difficult it is to be a leader and how complicated people are
and, and how difficult it is to manage and lead others and all that stuff.
But when you boil the formula down for leadership, it's so simple.
And that is, and I hope you brought a pen and a notepad, by the way, you may need it.
I hope you feel that this is good information anyway.
But here's the formula.
Leadership equals influence.
Now you'll notice as I talk through leadership today and perhaps in some of the other episodes
that I don't qualify leadership.
I don't say good leadership, bad leadership, positive leadership, negative leadership.
I'm talking about leadership.
And so leadership equals influence.
The more influence you have with a group of people, the more leadership capabilities and
strength you have.
It doesn't matter if you're the dog catcher, the mayor, the president of the United States,
the CEO or the janitor within the organization.
Leadership equals influence.
And so we're going to talk a little later about how we get that influence and the factors
to influence, but leadership equals influence.
Just keep that in the back of your mind.
And I hope you, again, you wrote a big note on your pad.
Leadership equals influence.
The second truth regarding leadership is leadership has nothing to do with titles or level within
the organization.
It does not matter.
Leadership has nothing to do with title.
It's all about influence.
So do any of you, can any of you think of names of people within your organization who
aren't managers who don't have a formal title, but they have influence within your organization?
They either have positive influence or they have negative influence, right?
And people tend to follow them, listen to what they have to say, all that sort of thing.
You always want to know who your informal leaders are within your organization, by the
way, because when you're trying to implement change, that's the group of people you want
to get engaged in the process, right?
Because they have influence over others within your organization.
So again, it has nothing to do with titles.
Have you ever known a manager who was not an effective leader?
And I can, I don't know about you, but I can.
So I'll ask you another question.
Have you ever known a leader who was an effective manager?
Interesting question, right?
Well, I can.
I can think of effective leaders.
And again, when I say effective, you know, I'm not giving a positive or a negative, they're
effective, right?
And we'll get to that shortly, but effective leaders, I've known effective leaders who
weren't good managers.
So we'll discuss that later.
Another universal truth regarding leadership.
There's only one requirement to be considered a leader.
You know that?
Only one requirement.
And you know what that is?
When I'm facilitating leadership development, I'll ask that question and I'll get a laundry
list of responses.
Anything from takes a good communicator, it takes someone who can develop strategies,
someone who has a vision, it takes someone who's fair and consistent and yada, yada,
yada, right?
And although those things are important in certain aspects of gaining influence, there's
only one requirement to be considered a leader.
And that one requirement is you must have followers.
You can't be a leader without followers, right?
If you don't have followers, you know, by default, you're not a leader, right?
You have to have followers to be considered a leader and you'll know if you have followers
because if you're, if you have a team of people there and you need to charge a hill, you need
to take that hill, you need to charge it and you look back at your followers and you go
charge, but they're not there, right?
They're already in front of you charging the hill.
Well, at that point you realize that you have followers and that you're a leader.
On the other hand, if you go charge and they're not behind you and they're not in front of
you, I have bad news for you.
You're all alone, right?
And you're not a leader.
And so again, that one requirement to being a leader is having followers.
So let's talk about the difference between leadership and management.
And I referenced this and referred to it a little earlier.
So I'd like to clarify that.
What's the difference between being a leader and a manager?
Can you be a good leader and not a good manager?
Can you be a good manager and not a good leader?
Although both are important and can be interconnected, they're not necessarily interconnected.
So what is management?
If you're managing something, what do you do and what do you manage?
You manage what?
You manage time.
You manage budget or resources.
You manage scheduling.
You manage goals and expectations.
You manage performance.
Those are the things that you manage.
You manage things.
In most of my workshops, at least one person will say they manage people.
So you manage things.
Management is a process of getting things done through others.
You need other people to get things done, but that's not leadership.
It's just getting things done through others.
You can get them done effectively and efficiently, or you can get these things done ineffective
and inefficiently.
You can stand over and watch over people and micro-manage to make sure things get done,
or you can feel comfortable in taking a two-week vacation and knowing things are going to get
done.
That's the difference between management and leadership.
So what is the difference in the definition of management and the definition of leadership?
I said the definition of management is getting things done through others.
That's textbook.
The definition of leadership is getting things done through others by influencing them to
achieve a common goal.
So notice the term influencing.
Influencing them.
All right?
So how do you gain influence?
We said earlier the formula for leadership is leadership equals influence.
So how do you get influence?
Well, within the realm of leadership, there are two types of power.
There's one type of power called position power.
What's position power?
That's the power that you have within the organization based on your title, your role
within the organization, your authority level.
So you have the power to hold people accountable.
You have the power to write people up if they do a poor job.
You have the power to enforce rules and regulations.
You have the power to give instructions and expect results.
How do you get people to do the things that you need them to do using position power?
I'm the boss.
It's my way or the highway.
All right?
There are two ways to do this.
My way and the wrong way.
Like I'm the boss.
You're the subordinate.
I give you the instruction for the orders and you comply.
And how do you get things done?
Well, through fear and intimidation.
If you don't do these things, I will write you up.
I will scream and yell at you.
I will embarrass you in front of your peers.
I will call you out in a meeting.
I will be demeaning.
I will toss you under the bus.
That's how you get people to do the things they need to do using position power.
It's out of fear of threats and intimidation and punishment.
That's how you get people to do the things that you need for them to do using position
power.
I'm the boss.
Do it.
All right?
So using position power, if you walk, do you think that that's an effective way to get
people to do the thing that they need to do as best as they can?
The answer to that should be no.
Right?
Because what happens?
I'll guarantee you almost every employee, if not every employee within your organization
knows where that line is drawn.
That performance line.
Right?
That's exactly what they can do to keep you as a boss off their back.
All right?
And if you don't have the influence with them, that's exactly what they're going to do.
Just enough to keep you off of their back.
Right?
So if you walk away from them, that effort tends to drop off.
Every person has that, I call it a bucket of discretionary effort.
All right?
They have this bucket of discretionary effort.
And what does that mean?
Discretionary effort.
I have this amount of effort I can devote to whatever I want to.
I can devote to playing my guitars.
I can devote to my woodworking hobby.
I can devote to my family, to my children, to my grandchildren.
I can devote to my employer, but I don't have to.
It's at my discretion to give you that effort.
Right?
So if you are a manager who gets things done by I'm the boss, get it done.
Right?
What do you think the odds are that you're going to tap into that employee's bucket of
discretionary effort?
It's low.
It's nothing.
All right?
They're not going to give you that discretionary effort.
They don't respect you.
Right?
And so is it the most effective way to get things done?
A quick answer, that's no.
Right?
So what's the other type of power?
It's called personal power.
How do you get personal power?
Well you get it by earning respect, trust, a feeling and perception that you're being
honest and open with them, a feeling that you're treating them fairly and consistently.
That's how you get people to do the things that they need to do using personal power.
They respect you.
They trust you.
Right?
They know that you're going to tell them the truth regardless of whether that truth is
positive or negative, but you will be straightforward with them.
They will also feel that you quote unquote have their back.
You may defend them in public even if they've done wrong, but in private then you'll talk
to them and coach them about how to do better next time.
And so that's the difference between position power and personal power.
And I'll ask again, which do you think is most effective in increasing the level of
influence within your team?
There's no question.
The level of personal power and those at the highest levels who have been the most effective
leaders has always been based, their leadership effectiveness has always been based on their
personal power, not their position power.
And I'll give you a couple of controversial examples in just a couple of minutes after
we take a break.
Thanks.
Did you know that most employees quit their boss before they quit their company?
At Flagship Talent, we take your bosses and create organizational leaders.
We bring over 30 years of leadership development and coaching expertise to your organization
and have developed leaders in most parts of Europe, mainland China, Thailand, and the
Americas.
We have also developed leaders in most industries, including hospice and other small healthcare.
Our approach is always customized to your specific organizational needs.
We utilize a leadership coaching approach for individual managers, identifying their
skills gaps and providing just-in-time training to address the gaps.
We then coach the manager in a way that facilitates the application of new learning and skills
in their unique work environment and helps them overcome their specific challenges.
We also offer customized leadership training on your site to develop your entire leadership
team.
We are committed to meeting your scheduling challenges and within your budget.
Need a virtual option?
We have that too.
We offer online development for your managers and make it available on their schedule.
To learn more, contact Jeff Parsons by email at jeff at FlagshipTalent.com or by phone
at 1-800-530-4189, extension 101.
Your managers have the greatest impact on employee engagement, performance, and retention.
What are you waiting for?
Let's take your managers and create leaders.
Okay.
We're back again and let's see, where were we?
Oh yeah, we were talking about leadership and being an effective leader and getting
people to do what needs to be done even when you're not there.
You can only get that achieved through personal power and you'll know that you have a boss
who's using solely position power if they do this and I call them the seagull managers.
The seagull manager flies in, flaps her wings, makes a lot of noise, craps on everybody and
flies back off.
That's not a fun way to be managed.
What happens when you have a seagull manager and she flies in or he flies in, people duck.
They get out of the way.
They will be crapped on.
So that's a terrible way to be managed but that's someone who's using I'm the boss.
If I want to yell, scream, throw chairs, then that's my prerogative because I am the boss
and it's my way.
But again, that is an indication of ineffective leadership.
So that's where we left off.
There have been studies out there regarding leadership asking people what they look for
in a leader and there have been some interesting results and typically the top four things
that surface.
The number one thing is honesty.
They want to feel that their leader is being honest with them.
The second thing is job competence.
Does that mean that the leader has to be an expert in the job?
No.
It doesn't mean that the leader has to be an expert in the job.
What does it mean?
They need to be competent enough.
They need to be knowledgeable enough to help their employees do what?
Solve problems, make decisions, to coach their employees, to help train their employees.
But they need to have enough competent about what's going on to help their employees be
successful.
The third thing that typically surfaces is the ability to inspire, to be inspiring.
Does this mean that leaders need to be motivational speakers?
You know, like the old Saturday Night Live skit with Chris Farley, you know, the motivational
speaker, he lived in a van town by the river.
That's not what it means.
It doesn't mean that you have to be a motivational speaker.
What does it mean?
It means that you have to feel strongly enough in your vision for the organization and your
mission for the organization that you can communicate a shared vision and engage others
in achieving that same vision and mission.
That's what inspiring means.
If you walk around the hallways every day moaning and groaning about how terrible life
is and how terrible your bosses are and that sort of thing, it's contagious.
If you walk around with an upbeat personality and an upbeat mentality about what's going
on and, you know, today's a better day, that's also contagious.
And so the ability to inspire others to accomplish a shared goal or mission.
The fourth thing is forward-looking.
What do we mean by forward-looking?
Well, what we mean is you need to be able to see beyond today.
You need to be able to help employees understand how what they do is a part of the overall
good for the organization.
How what they do connects to every other piece of the cogwheel, if you will.
They need to understand why it's important to produce quality work, quality patient care,
whatever.
They need to understand why it's important to obey the rules and the regulations.
They need to understand the consequences for those types of things to the organization,
the community, or whatever.
That's being forward-looking to help them understand what they do on a daily basis affects
others.
And where the organization is heading.
Is it heading in a direction that I can buy into?
Is it heading in a direction I can't buy into?
So that's being forward-looking.
If you take those four things, honesty, job competence, inspiring, and forward-looking,
what you get if you crunch those things together is a leadership concept that I think is one
of the most important ones.
It is called credibility.
Your credibility as a leader.
That is a leader's precious jewel, if you will.
You need to protect it, polish it, stay on top of it, because that is the key to being
an effective leader.
Having a high degree of credibility.
Feel, again, feel you're honest and that you're competent and that you're upbeat and inspiring
and that you have a vision for the future.
That's being a credible leader.
And in my career in HR, I've seen more managers lose their jobs because they lost their ability
to lead.
They lied to someone.
They misrepresented themselves or the organization to somebody.
They did something to ruin their credibility within the organization and it was very difficult
if not impossible to recover from that.
But they lost their ability to lead.
So I tell everyone I work with when I'm doing leadership coaching or development, it's very
difficult to earn leadership credibility, but you can lose it in an instant.
That's how important it is and that's why it's so important that you protect it on a daily
basis to maintain your credibility as a leader within your organization.
So that's the role of credibility with leadership.
Okay, I think we're done today.
So we'll pick our discussion back up next week in part two of Leadership Universal Truths.
I hope you've enjoyed today's discussion and I look forward to picking it back up again
next week.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Be the Flagship with Jeff Parsons.
We hope you enjoyed it.
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Until next time, take the step to become the flagship in your marketplace.