My interview on TVNZ Breakfast. I started the week on Sunday night saying I wanted to do more video. I didn’t realise TVNZ would be involved!
http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/thursday-july-7-4289762/video?vid=4289869
My previous blog covers this topic too.
Stephen
We want leaders, we demand leadership and we expect a lot from leaders. But sometimes leadership fails. Unless you’re able to exercise coercive power, when followers lose confidence for whatever reason, then your leadership is probably over in that role. And that’s what happened to the CEO of the EMA this week.
Being a leader is like being a fish in a bowl – you’re magnified – everyone is watching, but very little information is getting into the fish. The fish doesn’t even know it’s wet I guess! My experience is that the bigger the role, the harder it is for leaders to get feedback from those in their organisation. As you gain more freedom, more profile and access to more people, you are told less by those that support you. If leadership is there to serve then isn’t that wrong? Don’t we all have a responsibility to our leaders to ensure that they are fully informed by what we notice?
The political price of leadership is the greater standard that gets applied. Authentic leaders don’t switch their leadership on and off – they are what they are 24/7. Which must mean at times being wrong, being vulnerable and stuffing up. The higher the standard the easier it is to make a hash of something and that’s what’s happened here. Which disenfranchised so many who need to be connected for that leadership to thrive. And so it ended.
Let’s learn something. What I’d like to ask of you is this: Do you have a leader where you notice things where you could help with feedback? Are you doing anything about it? Or are you sitting there waiting for failure? If you are, I say that’s wrong. Leadership is a relationship. A leader exists not for him or herself, but for a community, a team or a group and serves for that group. In every relationship there is a responsibility to empower and grow each other. Leaders don’t have all the answers and don’t always get it right. When leadership fails, so do the followers and the organisation.
I’m not saying this is the case with the EMA, but it strikes me that there’s a lot of people wanting blood. Wanting blood is a sign of failure for everyone. Those in a relationship don’t want blood. There’s a feeling of no winners in this leadership failure. Which is a shame, as leadership is so important.
Learn something from all of this and do your bit in Leadership Week by supporting your leader. We all have one somewhere. I’ll be on TVNZ Breakfast at 7.10am in the morning talking about this. Hope I make sense!
Stephen
It’s Leadership Week week in New Zealand, thanks to Sir Peter Blake Trust. It’s a week of awards and events in schools, businesses and anyone who’s interested or cares about leadership. That’s a great thing and I hope you can get involved somehow. You might also be thinking, well, leadership is a way of life for me in my role, my community and my organisation. I don’t need a week of it to be reminded. I agree, so here’s an idea. Why not think of one thing you want to change about your own leadership and disclose that to someone who won’t know.
It will be an opportunity to put authenticity into practice in a surprisingly refreshing way for the unsuspecting recipient. They’ll be able to help you and you them by showing vulnerability.
I’d like to say a personal thanks to the team at the Sir Peter Blake Trust. I find them authentic and engaging and this year you’ll find the Centre for Innovative Leadership on the inside back cover of their Leadership Magazine. Which makes leadership week, well, very worthwhile! And what better topic to celebrate for a whole week anyway. Enjoy.
Stephen
Next blog: Negative Splits
James Bulger was the FBI’s most wanted until last week when he was arrested in Los Angeles. So I’m watching the Martin Scorsese movie The Departed which is based on the life of Bulger.
I guess Bulger won’t see freedom again, if he’s convicted of any one of the 17 murders he’s accused of committing. You might say he’s departed the community already.
I’ve watched many people depart from various workplaces. Sometimes voluntarily, sometimes when they didn’t want to, sometimes with regret and sometimes they even stay when they’ve like, departed.
We should all challenge ourselves that what we’re doing is meaningful and brings happiness to our lives. If it doesn’t then we should have departed, not just emotionally but physically too.
There are always more options open than we realise. If you’re bringing yourself and others happiness then fantastic. If either of those are not, then be real. You won’t regret it.
When I’m not happy doing what I am doing, I’ll be moving on. Promise.
Otherwise it just gets messy. Like the end of this movie. Very messy. Blood on the floor.
Stephen
Stephen Drain's Leadership Blog 