I learn a lot coaching leaders across different organizations. I’ve discovered of course that my success in coaching another depends more upon their drive than my skill. Operationally what often happens though is I am asked to reflect upon situations and challenges and then offer my insights and simple truths – and my epiphany today is that many times my insights in a coaching moment are as new to me as they are to the coachee! Let me offer an example.
I currently coach several individuals spanning different organizations, different functional silos and different geographic regions, but common patterns emerge regardless of setting. A recent pattern illuminated a new simple truth for me…that leaders serve multiple constituencies, and more importantly, that unfortunately one of those constituencies will tend to take a back seat. Robert Greenleaf’s powerful ‘servant leader’ concepts from 25 years ago still apply, we do have a responsibility for what I call heads down leadership – serving those who report to us. But as leaders we also have a responsibility for heads up leadership – serving the needs of the enterprise as communicated by those we report to. As I reflect on the collective habits of several organizations it is obvious that we seem to serve the latter at the expense of the former. In companies running as lean as can be imagined to reach ever rising targets – the development of our own people is often neglected in the quest to achieve ‘our numbers’.
360 data across several different organizations support this observation, and direct reports across the board appear to offer the lowest assessment of a leader’s effectiveness of any stakeholder group. The ratings specifically suffer within categories regarding coaching and developing talent. Peers and those above the leaders provide glowing reviews, those below not so much.
This is not to condemn a single leader in any of the organizations. What is important is the realization that in our quest for excellence – as evidenced by meeting our numbers – in serving one constituency we often neglect another that in fact makes the numbers happen. Good food for thought, and what might we do about it?
- Measurement – Collect evaluative data to find out how we are doing as leaders (many do not)
- Coaching – Seek an experienced perspective to learn from, an immediate supervisor may not be the best equipped to help
- Follow Up – Make it a series of action steps to get better, it’s not just once and done
Lead on.
Don Brown dedicates his career to ‘helping people with people’ in leadership, sales and customer service. Bilingual and experienced at the executive and line-level alike, you see the results of his work across dozens of industries, including brewing, automotive, airline, banking and medical equipment.
Speaking, writing, coaching and selling to the best – Ford Motor Company, Anheuser-Busch, United Airlines, Harley-Davidson, Jaguar Cars, Hilton Hotels and many, many more – Don takes great pride in long-standing customer relationships (some running well over twenty years).
