LEADERS WITHOUT FOLLOWERS

No, this article on leadership is not for CEO's and VP's.  It is for people like you who work down the line, Captains, Supervisors, Department Managers and General Managers of so many Clubs, Hotels and Restaurants who too often don't have the time to read anything but a few lines.

Pushing people is a prevailing behavior in our business, leading is not. I often did the mistake myself.  I prepared myself to do the right thing, communicate my vision, then tell my people what my expectations were, train them to the hilt and finally wait for the great result...

Unfortunately, too often the expected outcome is not there, so I tried to encourage a little, and if that did not work, I started to push people a bit, then finally I proclaimed my impatience and voiced my anger at what was not done.  I probably behaved as a typical hospitality manager and I did try my best, but I am still baffled  that people could not move on pace with me and that my expectations were not met.

Finally I found a reason for this failure and will share it with you.  Communicating and sharing a vision is not enough for people to want to come along on the same journey with you.  Going ahead without having first the commitment of your people is what so frequently causes the problem.  The time and energy spent at getting their autonomous commitment will actually help the team and the project go faster once under way.

Until this commitment is obtained you will be carrying dead weight and you will be running around your flock like a sheep dog, barking and biting.  There is no perfect recipe, but you are welcome to try this one!

Since August 1993, I have contributed many articles to hospitality, travel, training and leadership magazines, sharing with the readers some of my views about a business which has been my life for the last 30 years. 

During all this time, what has amazed me the most is the ability that some individuals have had to succeed in this business with not only poor customer service skills, but also atrocious leadership skills.

I have seen them, met and too often worked with them or for them; those bosses whose understanding of leadership is at best on the level of a recruiting army sergeant during boot camp.

Fortunately, there is no nation or culture that is really better at leading. Many cultures have their own differences but it seems that what makes someone a true leader is the same the world over.

True enough times have changed and several may have read about leadership but too many hospitality industry managers (hotels GMs and other department managers alike) deem all this jargon about vision, empowerment and such to be strictly for other industries. 

Beware!  Beware!  Dinosaurs, despite all their might, disappeared because they could not adapt.  Our business and living environment changes everyday faster than ever: issues of leadership at every level are becoming more and more acute. 

So what is leadership really?  Some say leadership is vision, others say it is motivating people.  Others confuse it with managing.  Well let's clear that last one first: managing is getting things done through people or systems.  Period.  It is a set of skills which are easy to learn and apply.

Unfortunately for many self-appointed leaders, leadership is very different.  So how do you rate leadership? 

Well, its not very difficult, really : count the number of followers. I mean real followers, not those who have a gun to their head or those who join as cheerleaders (or should I say jeer leaders?).  This alone should give you a pretty good idea.

As a consultant, I was involved with several companies and recently I came to truly respect the Chief Executive of one large Malaysian company not only his financial achievements, but because he listens to you and to his people. 

I have met too many so called leaders who ask you for your opinion but don't listen for your answers. Talk about feeling part of a team!

LEADERS TALK TO THEIR PEOPLE, THEY DON’T COMMUNICATE BY MEMOS

PEOPLE WANT TO BE ABLE TO THINK: NOT TO BE TOLD WHAT TO DO

LISTENING

Listening will help you not only to know your people's opinions but also who they are and what their values are. (I recall writing the same thing about listening to your guests in another article).  I vividly remember almost forbidding one of my key staff to go to her grandmother's 90th birthday due to workload ; although the person had told me she wanted two days off to go to her granny's birthday, I had not asked how old the grandmother was.  Fortunately for grandma, another staff briefed me about the age of the other employee's grandmother.  If I had really listened carefully, I would have sensed the importance of the birthday and prompted: "So how old will your grandma be this year?” Such a mistake can cost you a very good employee and contributes heavily to the dreaded employee turnover figure.

 TELL THEM HOW THEY ARE DOING

Give people the true picture, tell them how they are doing. Evaluation is another ill-used leadership technique.  Good leaders give constant feedback. Many managers or supervisors seldom give appropriate feedback for two main reasons : a) they think it is a waste of time or b) they forget about doing it.  Let me tell you: both reasons are equivalent to criminal behavior as far as the would be follower is concerned.  An ex-colleague of mine used to say : "Keeping people in the dark is the sure way they will recognize you as being the only light!”

Guess what kind of human resources problems he had?

  CREATE A LEARNING TEAM

 Peter Senge author of The fifth discipline defines learning as " the expansion of one's capacity to produce results".  This implies that one acquires more knowledge or experience to modify his behavior or skills in order to improve the odds of success on his/ her actions.  Learning is also evolving, growing, coping with change.  Hence the need for small or large organizations to keep on learning continuously from it's people and to keep those people on the learning edge.

Three of the most important factors in creating a learning environment are openess, recall and objectivity.

Recall.  Learning requires memory. The collective remembering of what an organization or a team knows about the issue at hand can be used to further the knowledge of the entire team.

You see, leading is not difficult, just keep going. 

If you see a line of people behind you are probably on the right track