Lion taming – How to lead your Boss

     There is plenty of literature and training available on how to lead your team. However there is remarkably little on an equally key skill – how to lead your boss.

 

Bosses are constantly told to listen to their subordinates and criticized when they don’t but it’s just as important for engaged managers to be confident and assertive with their bosses and push back when required – to support their boss in achieving his or her objectives. This rarely happens because it’s easier to simply whine and paint the boss as a dangerous, unpredictable lion who will tear you to shreds if you bring him or her bad news or an alternative point of view.

But maybe we can learn something useful from lion tamers. They’re locked up in a cage with a lion in a hugely vulnerable situation but somehow manage to operate confidently and effectively. What are their secrets?

1. Feed the lion: Lion tamers feed the lion themselves so the lion associates the provision of food with the lion tamer. What is the food your lion needs? For some it’s performance, for some it’s regular updates, for others alignment with a pet agenda. Needless to say lion tamers keep their lion well fed before they enter the cage. And they do not whinge about the fact that they need to feed the lion in order to do their job. They see it as an integral part of the job.

2. Put the lion on a pedestal: Lions are always kept on a high stool so that they rarely experience the lion tamer looking down on them from a higher position. This allows them to feel dominant and secure. Respect your lion and learn from the parts you can look upto. If you focus on their shortcomings then you’re tempted into the cardinal lion taming sin of looking down at them and making them feel threatened. You do so at your own peril.

3. Never corner a lion: Cages are circular so that a tamer never inadvertently has a lion in a corner feeling threatened. If it does it’s likely to attack. In a circular cage if a tamer accidentally gets too close for comfort the lion can simply walk around the circle to a more comfortable distance. If the tamer is too far the lion won’t move at all. By keeping the right distance between himself and the lion the tamer is able to manipulate the lion to move to exactly the spot he wants. If you have any feedback to provide your boss – give it in private. Don’t corner him in public.

4. Direct the lion’s attention:
The crack of the whip is used to direct the attention of the lion (especially away from the tamer’s body!). It is NEVER used to hit the lion. If a tamer even accidently hits a lion he is likely to end up mangled beyond recognition. Pay attention to what works in directing your lion’s attention to the area you need him to focus on.

5. Look the lion in the eye: You need to respect your lion but respect yourself too. Lions can literally smell fear through the pheromes excreted in ‘scared sweat’. They are far more likely to attack if the tamer shows fear. Bosses appreciate confident employees as long as they see them as focusing on contribution rather than rebellion. Handle your boss with respect but remember – you have something important to contribute too. It’s why the company hired you.

And if you get all this right your lion will jump through hoops of fire for you and you can both turn to the audience, bow and receive your standing ovations.

If you decide to remain in the ring then you need to be willing to put in the effort and concentration required to work with lions because if you don’t – sooner or later – you’re lunch.

Leaders must be decisive

One of the most frustrating moments at work is having to work
with an indecisive leader, one who keeps postponing decisions
in the hope that someone else will make that decision or that
the problem will simply disappear. We find such leaders
particularly in the civil service or in large organizations with
strong union backing. These officers are promoted by virtue
of their seniority and while they are comfortable taking
instructions, most are hopeless when they have to be the ones
issuing instructions. Not everybody can make a good leader
as leadership requires a different skill set and a high degree of
responsibility and accountability. It may be something that
the people at the helm of the organizations do not want to
admit to, maybe because they themselves benefited from the
system and have to maintain it to preserve their position and
authority.

Story:

The Miller, His Son, and Their Ass

(Illus by Arthur Rackham)

A Miller and his son were driving their Ass to a neighboring fair
to sell him. They had not gone far when they met with a troop of
women collected round a well, talking and laughing. “Look there,”
cried one of them, “did you ever see such fellows, to be trudging
along the road on foot when they might ride?” The old man
hearing this, quickly made his son mount the Ass, and continued
to walk along merrily by his side.

Presently they came up to a group of old men in earnest debate.
“There,” said one of them, “it proves what I was a-saying.
What respect is shown to old age in these days? Do you see
that idle lad riding while his old father has to walk? Get down,
you young scapegrace, and let the old man rest his weary limbs.”
Upon this the old man made his son dismount, and got up himself.

In this manner they had not proceeded far when they met a
company of women and children. “Why, you lazy old fellow,”
cried several tongues at once, “how can you ride upon the
beast, while that poor little lad there can hardly keep pace
by the side of you?” The good-natured Miller immediately
took up his son behind him.

They had now almost reached the town. “Pray, honest friend,”
said a citizen, “is that Ass your own?” “Yes,” replied the old man.
“O, one would not have thought so,” said the other, “by the way
you load him. Why, you two fellows are better able to carry the
poor beast than he you.” “Anything to please you,” said the old
man; “we can but try.”

So, alighting with his son, they tied the legs of the Ass together
and with the help of a pole endeavored to carry him on their
shoulders over a bridge near the entrance to the town. This
entertaining sight brought the people in crowds to laugh at it,
till the Ass, not liking the noise nor the strange handling that
he was subject to, broke the cords that bound him and,
tumbling off the pole, fell into the river.

Upon this, the old man, vexed and ashamed, made the best of
his way home again, convinced that by endeavoring to please
everybody he had pleased nobody, and lost his Ass in the
bargain.

Moral:

Try to please all and you end up pleasing none

 

Models and Theories in Leadership

Leadership Traits

Leadership theories that attempt to identify the common traits possessed by successful leaders. These traits included:

·         Adaptable to situations

·         Alert to social environment

·         Ambitious and achievement oriented

·         Assertive

·         Cooperative

·         Decisive

·         Dependable

·         Dominant (desire to influence others)

·         Energetic (high activity level)

·         Persistent

·         Self-confident

·         Tolerant of stress

·         Willing to assume responsibility

However the list is ever growing and no definitive list is possible

Leadership Styles and Behaviours

A different perspective to trait theory for leadership is to consider what leaders actually do as opposed to their underlying characteristics. A number of models and theories have been put forward to explore this.

T. McGregor (1906-1964) postulated that managers tend to make two different assumptions about human nature. These views he explored in his theory X and theory Y:

Theory X 1.       The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he or she can. 2.       Because of this human characteristic, most people must be coerced, controlled, directed, and threatened with punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort toward the achievement of organisational objectives. 3.       The average human being prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid responsibility, has relatively little ambition, and wants security above all.

Theory Y 1.       The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest. 2.       External control and threat of punishment are not the only means for brining about effort toward organisational objectives. People will exercise self-direction and self-control in the service of objectives to which they are committed. 3.       Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement. 4.       The average human being learns, under proper conditions, not only to accept responsibility but to seek it. 5.       The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination. Ingenuity, and creativity in the solution of organisational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed I the population. 6.       Under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average human being are only partially utilised.

Other studies were carried out to identify successful leadership behaviours, including studies at Ohio State University and Michigan University, following on from this research two studies of particular note were by Gary M. Yukl and by Robert Blake and Jane Mounton.

Ohio State University Research

A series of studies at the University indicated that two behavioural dimensions play a significant role in successful leadership. Those dimensions are:

Consideration – (friendship, mutual trust, respect and warmth)

Initiating Structure – (organises and defines relationships or roles, establishes well-defined patterns of organisation, channels of communication, and ways of getting jobs done.)



University of Michigan Research 

Studies carried at the university revealed two similar aspects of leadership style that correlate with effectiveness:

Employee Orientation – (the human-relations aspect, in which employees are viewed as human beings with individual, personal needs)

Production Orientation – (Stress on production and the technical aspects of the job, with employees viewed as the means of getting the work done.

Gary M. Yukl felt that there was a void in existing descriptions of leader behaviour. They did not provide specific guidelines for behaviour in varying situations. He and his colleagues isolated eleven leadership behaviours which fall into four broad categories:

Building Relationships 1.       Networking 2.       Supporting 3.       Managing conflict

Influencing People 4.       Motivating 5.       Recognising and rewarding

Making Decisions 6.       Planning and organising 7.       Problem solving 8.       Consulting and delegating

Giving / Seeking Information 9.       Monitoring operations and environment 10.   Informing 11.   Clarifying roles

The Leadership Grid

Robert Blake and Jane Mouton developed another theory called the Leadership Grid, focusing on production/relationship orientations uncovered in the Ohio State and Michigan University studies. They went a little further by creating a grid based on Leaders’ concern for people (relationships) and production (tasks). It theory suggest there is a best way to lead people the 9,9 way.

The Major Leadership Grid Styles

1,1        Impoverished management. Often referred to as Laissez-faire leadership. Leaders in this position have little concern for people or productivity, avoid taking sides, and stay out of conflicts. They do just enough to get by. 1,9        Country Club management. Managers in this position have great concern for people and little concern for production. They try to avoid conflicts and concentrate on being well liked. To them the task is less important than good interpersonal relations. Their goal is to keep people happy. (This is a soft Theory X approach and not a sound human relations approach.) 9,1        Authority-Compliance. Managers in this position have great concern for production and little concern for people. They desire tight control in order to get tasks done efficiently. They consider creativity and human relations to be unnecessary. 5,5        Organisation Man Management. Often termed middle-of-the-road leadership. Leaders in this position have medium concern for people and production. They attempt to balance their concern for both people and production, but they are not committed. 9+9      Paternalistic “father knows best” management. A style in which reward is promised for compliance and punishment threatened for non-compliance Opp Opportunistic “what’s in it for me” management. In which the style utilised depends on which style the leader feels will return him or her the greatest self-benefit. 9,9        Team Management. This style of leadership is considered to be ideal. Such managers have great concern for both people and production. They work to motivate employees to reach their highest levels of accomplishment. They are flexible and responsive to change, and they understand the need to change.

Contingency Approaches

Contingency theories propose that fro any given situation there is a best way to manage. Contingency theories go beyond situational approaches, which observe that all factors must be considered when leadership decisions are to be made. Contingency theories attempt to isolate the key factors that must be considered and to indicate how to manage when those key factors are present.

The continuum of Leadership Behaviour

The model put forward by Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt framed leadership in terms of choices managers may make regarding subordinates’ participation in decision making.

The actions shown at the left side of the continuum are relatively authoritarian; those at the right side are relatively participative. The manager’s choices depend on three factors:

1.       Forces in the manager: The manager’s value system, confidence in subordinates, leadership inclinations, and feelings of security in an uncertain situation. 2.       Forces in the subordinate: Expectations, need for independence, readiness to assume decision-making responsibility, tolerance for ambiguity in task definition, interest in the problem, ability to understand and identify with the goals of the organisation, and knowledge and experience to deal with the problem. 3.       Forces in the situation: Type of organisation, effectiveness of the group, the problem itself (the task), and time pressure.

Fielder’s Contingency Model

In this model leadership is effective when the leader’s style is appropriate to the situation, as determined by three principal factors:

1.       Leader-member relations: The nature of the interpersonal relationship between leader and follower, expressed in terms of good through poor, with qualifying modifiers attached as necessary. It is obvious that the leader’s personality and the personalities of subordinates play important roles in this variable. 2.       Task structure: The nature of the subordinate’s task, described as structured or unstructured, associated with the amount of creative freedom allowed the subordinate to accomplish the task, and how the task is defined. 3.       Position power: The degree to which the position itself enables the leader to get the group members to comply with and accept his or her direction and leadership

Path-Goal Theory

A leadership theory that focuses on the need for leaders to make rewards contingent on the accomplishment of objectives and to aid group members in attaining rewards by clarifying the paths to goals and removing obstacles to performance. According to the goal-path theory there are four primary styles of leadership:

1.       Directive Leadership: The leader explains the performance goal and provides specific rules and regulations to guide subordinates toward achieving it. 2.       Supportive Leadership: The leader displays personal concern for subordinates. This includes being friendly to subordinates and sensitive to their needs. 3.       Achievement-oriented Leadership: The leader emphasises the achievement of difficult tasks and the importance of excellent performance and simultaneously displays confidence that subordinates will perform well. 4.       Participative Leadership: The leader consults with subordinates about work, task goals, and paths to resolve goals. This leadership style involves sharing information as well as consulting with subordinates before making decisions.

The Path-Goal Model

Action Centred Leadership

A model proposed by John Adair (1973) argued that it is not who you are but what you do which establishes you as a leader. A leader needs to balance the needs of the task, the team and the individual, shown clearly in the diagram below in his 3 circle model. The effective leader carries out the functions and demonstrates the behaviours appropriate to the circles, varying the level according to the needs of the situation.  The leader whilst balancing the three circles, sits in his/her helicopter above the process, ensuring the best possible overview of what is happening.

Leaders Behaviour under Task ·         Providing clear Objectives ·         Providing appropriate procedures ·         Ensuring there is evidence of progress ·         Ensuring avoidance of digression ·         Ensuring deadlines are met Leaders Behaviour under Team ·         Commitment ·         Trust & Openness ·         Sense of purpose ·         Stability ·         Cohesion ·         Success ·         Fun Leaders Behaviour under Individual ·         To be included ·         To make a contribution ·         To be respected ·         To receive Feedback ·         To feel safe ·         To grow

The Leaders Blueprint

KEY ACTION		TASK	TEAM	INDIVIDUAL
Define Objectives		Identify Tasks and Constraints	Hold team meetings Share Commitment	Clarify Objectives Gain Acceptance
PLAN	Gather Information	Consider options Check resources	Consult Encourage Ideas Develop Suggestions Assess skills
	Decide	Prioritise Time scales Standards	Structure	Allocate Jobs Delegate Set targets
Brief		Clarify Objectives Describe plan	Explain decisions Listen Answer questions Enthuse Check understanding
Monitor Support		Assess Progress Maintain standards	Co-ordinate Reconcile conflict Recognise effort	Advise/Praise Assist/Reassure Counsel Discipline
Evaluate		Summarise Progress Review Objectives Re-plan Objectives if necessary	Recognise and gain from Success Learn from Mistakes	Appraise Performance
			Guide and Train Give Praise

Ref : http://www.stewart-associates.co.uk/leadership-models.aspx

The Five Types of Multipliers and Diminishers

There are many ways to stifle the creativity and smarts of your team, just as there are lots of ways to get the most out of people. To assess your leadership style, take the survey at www.multipliersbook.com .

Diminishers

The Empire Builder : Hoards resources and underutilizes talent

The Tyrant : Creates a tense environment that suppresses people’s thinking and capabilities

The Know-It-All : Gives directives that demonstrate how much he or she knows

The Decision Maker : Makes centralized, abrupt decisions that confuse the organization

The Micro-manager : Drives results through his or her personal involvement

Multipliers

The Talent Magnet : Attracts talented people and uses them to their highest potential

The Liberator : Creates an intense environment that requires people’s best thinking and work

The Challenger : Defines an opportunity that causes people to stretch their thinking and behaviors

The Debate Maker : Drives sound decisions by cultivating rigorous debate among team members

The Investor : Gives other people ownership of results and invests in their success

 

Which one are you ?

Cheers !!

Heena

How a 2-Minute Story Helps You Lead

How a 2-Minute Story Helps You Lead

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