Each stage of leadership brings new crises and challenges. But knowing what to expect can help you get through them
Every new leader faces the wrong perceptions and the personal needs and agendas of those who are to be led. More so when you are taking your initial plunge into leadership. To underestimate the importance of your first moves is to invite disaster. The critical entry is one of a number of passages that every leader must go through at some point in the course of a career.
Shakespeare spoke of the seven ages of man. A leader's life has seven ages as well, and in many ways, they parallel those Shakespeare describes in As You Like It. One way to learn about leadership is to look at each of these developmental stages and consider the issues and crises that are typical of each.
There can be no formula on how to avoid these crises because many are inevitable. Nor is it advisable to avoid them since dealing with the challenges of each stage prepares you for the next. And so first to the leader on the verge - Shakespeare's infant, "mewling... in the nurse's arms".
The infant executive
For the young man or woman on the brink of becoming a leader, the world that lies ahead is mysterious, even frightening. Few resort to mewling, but many wish they had the corporate equivalent of a nurse, some one to help them solve problems and ease the painful transition. The fortunate neophyte leader turns to a mentor.
While the popular view of mentors is that they seek out younger people to encourage and champion, in fact the reverse is more often true. The best mentors are usually recruited, and one mark of a future leader is the ability to identify, woo and win the mentors who will change his or her life.
The schoolboy
The first leadership experience is an agonising education. It's like parenting, in that nothing else in life fully prepares you to be responsible, to a greater or lesser degree, for other people's wellbeing. Worse, you have to learn how to do the job in public, subjected to unsettling scrutiny of your every word and act, a situation that's profoundly unnerving for all but that minority of people who truly crave the spotlight. Like it or not, as a new leader, you are always onstage and everything about you is fair game for comment, criticism and interpretation (or misinterpretation).
And nothing is more intense than the attention paid to your initial works and deeds. We decide whether we are in sync or out of tune with another person in as little as two seconds. So it is with leaders and organisations. It is, therefore, almost always best for the novice to make a low-key entry. This buys you time to gather information and to develop relationships wisely. A quiet entry allows you to establish that you are open to the contributions of others. It shows them that you are a leader, not a dictator.
It is worth noting that no matter what your first actions are, you can influence other people's image of you only to a limited extent. The people who will be working under your leadership will have formed an opinion about you by the time you walk into the office, even if they have never met you. The leader often becomes a screen onto which followers project their own fantasies about power and relationships. Your first challenge is to try not to take your new followers' assessments too personally (see box). The second - and far trickier - challenge is to embrace the fact that certain elements of their assessments may be accurate, even if they put you in an unflattering light.
The lover
Shakespeare described man in his third age 'sighing like furnace', something many leaders find themselves doing as they struggle with the tsunami of problems every organisation presents. For the leader who has come up through the ranks, one of the toughest is how to relate to former peers who now report to him.
It's difficult to set boundaries and fine-tune your working relationships with former cronies. As a modern leader, you don't have the option of telling the person with whom you once shared a pod and lunchtime confidences that you know her not. But you may no longer be able to speak openly as you once did, and your friends may feel awkward around you or resent you.
The challenge for the newcomer is knowing who to listen to and who to trust. Leaders new to an organisation are swamped with claims on their time and attention. Often, the person who makes the most noise is the neediest person in the group and the one you have to be most wary of.
The bearded soldier
Over time, leaders grow comfortable with the role. This comfort brings confidence and conviction, but it also can snap the connection between leader and followers. Two things can happen as a result: leaders may forget the true impact of their words and actions and they may assume that what they are hearing from followers is what needs to be heard.
While the first words and actions of leaders are the most closely attended to, the scrutiny never really ends. Followers continue to pay close attention to even the most offhand remark, and the more effective the leader is, the more careful he or she must be. Another challenge for leaders in their ascendancy is to nurture those people whose stars may shine as brightly as - or even brighter than - the leaders' own. In many ways, this is the real test of character for a leader. Many people cannot resist using a leadership position to thwart competition.
The general
One of the greatest challenges a leader faces at the height of his or her career is not simply allowing people to speak the truth but actually being able to hear it. Once again, Shakespeare proves instructive. The corporate world is filled with stories of leaders who failed to achieve greatness because they failed to understand the context they were working in or get the support of their underlings.
The statesman
Shakespeare's sixth age covers the years in which a leader's power begins to wane. But far from being the buffoon suggested by Shakespeare's description of a 'lean and slippered pantaloon', the leader in this stage is often hard at work, preparing to pass on his or her wisdom in the interest of the organisation. The leader may also be called upon to play important interim roles, bolstered by the knowledge and perception that come with age and experience and without the sometimes distracting ambition that characterises early career.
One of the gratifying roles that people in late career can play is the leadership equivalent of pinch hitter, where he not only brings a lifetime's worth of knowledge and experience but also didn't have to waste time engaging in the political machinations often needed to advance a career.
The sage
As pointed out earlier, mentoring has tremendous value to a young executive. The value accrues to the mentor as well. Mentoring is one of the great joys of a mature career, the professional equivalent of having grandchildren. It is at this time that the drive to prepare the next generation for leadership becomes a palpable ache. When you mentor, you know that what you have achieved will not be lost, that you are leaving a professional legacy for future generations.
Mentoring isn't a simple exchange of information. Individuals in a mentoring relationship exchange invaluable, often subtle information. The elder partner stays plugged into an ever-changing world while the younger partner can observe what does and doesn't work as the elder partner negotiates the tricky terrain of aging.
Adaptive capacity is also what allows some people to transcend the setbacks and losses that come with age and to reinvent themselves again and again. Shakespeare called the final age of man 'second childishness'. But age today is neither end nor oblivion. Rather, it is the joyous rediscovery of childhood at its best.
LESSONS OF LIFE
The world that lies ahead for future leaders is mysterious. A few ways to demystify it
- Seek a mentor even before you have the job and recruit a team to back you up
- Make a low-key entry as it will give you time to gather information and develop relationships wisely
- Don't take your new followers' assessments of you too personally and accept that certain elements of their assessments may be accurate
- Nurture those people whose stars may shine as brightly as - or even brighter than - yours. Many people cannot resist using a leadership position to thwart competition
- Learn to hear the truth and understand the context you were working in
- Don't get sullied by the political machinations often needed to advance
a career
WATCH THY FOLLOWERS
There is no guarantee that you won't be misled by your followers. But adhering to these principles may help
- Keep vision and values front and centre
It's much easier to get sidetracked when you are unclear about what the main track is - Make sure people disagree
Remember that most of us form opinions too quickly and give them up too slowly - Cultivate truth tellers
Make sure there are people in your world you can trust to tell you what you need to hear - Honour your intuition
If you think you are being manipulated, you are probably right - Delegate, don't desert
It's vital to share control with your staff, but remember who's ultimately responsible for the outcome
© businesstoday 2005
