Always Leading

Ben Simonton, author of Leading People to be Highly Motivated and Committed, posted a comment to my last blog entry. His remarks prompted me to think that managers are always leading people. Through their actions and interactions, managers are either leading people to effective or ineffective performance. It is often said that people can only be led; things or processes are managed. How a manager interacts with followers will determine if that manager is “leading” people to productive or unproductive actions.

I suggest reading Ben’s comments and my reply. Also click on his interview. His concept about growing people to become non-followers is one I find especially intriguing.

My last post also prompted an email from the Harvard Business Press informing me that they have a John Kotter page on their website-- http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/kotter/. I found the video interview with John Kotter informative.

Transitioning From Manager To Leader

Managing and leading are not the same. Each requires different actions and, more importantly, different ways of thinking. In previous postings I have described the differences between managing and leading. In my most recent entry on this subject I described the differentiation John Kotter makes between those who manage and those who lead. Managers plan, organize, control, and preserve order. Leaders establish direction, align people with that direction, and inspire people to move in the desired direction. Leaders encourage change.

Change requires moving outside the familiar. This often involves breaking longstanding rules and expectations. Think of a time when you productively broke the rules. What prompted you to break the rules? What did the effort require of you? What are the lessons you learned that may be applied to leading? What are obstacles to breaking the rules? Pondering these questions can help you learn from your own experiences of initiating change. How can you bolster your courage and skills to lead change?

Leaders think in broader terms than managers. Managers focus on the more immediate goals and needs of the organization. Leaders need to take a wider and more long-term perspective. In the book Personal and Organizational Transformations Through Action Inquiry Dalmar Fisher, David Rooke, and Bill Torbert identify four territories of experience. If you want to transition to a lead role, it is important to consciously address each of these territories.

The first territory is intentionality. This encompasses consideration of purpose, vision, intuition, direction. The second territory is planning. This includes strategies, tactics, plans. The third territory involves action. Behaviors, skills, activities, deeds, and performance are the elements within this territory of experience. The final territory is outcomes, which includes results, events, consequences, effects, and assessments.

A leader first considers the big picture. What is the mission, purpose, or overall direction for the organization? What is the vision of what is trying to be created? What is the organization striving to intentionally bring into being? When the purpose is clear, planning may begin to determine appropriate strategies and tactics to achieve that purpose. The plan then needs to be implemented and the results assessed. But assessment is not to be limited to simply the outcomes. A more extensive evaluation is necessary using what Fisher, Rooke, and Torbert call triple-loop inquiry.

The first inquiry loop examines the skillfulness of the actions and behaviors that led to the results. Could the actions have been more skillful? If so, what can be done to become more skilled? The second inquiry loop focuses on assessing whether or not the original plans and strategies still make sense based on the results. Would a change in plans yield better results? The third loop in the inquiry process considers if the original intentions remain realistic in light of the outcomes. This three-stage inquiry process examines all four territories of experience to determine if adjustments are needed in the implementation of a change initiative.

To transition from managing to leading, focus on what leaders do—establish direction, align people with the direction, inspire people to act, and produce change. Also think like a leader. Consider the four territories of experience—intention, planning, action, and outcomes. Then learn like a leader by undertaking triple-loop inquiry to assess your actions, your plans, and your intentions. As you act and think as a leader, you will grow to be a leader.