Management
is science. Leadership is art. Management is transactional. Leadership is personal. ~Dr. Kathryn Scanland
A phenomenon that I periodically run across is people in
leadership positions who are trying
to lead by managing harder. What does
that look like? They create more
transactions. If they want employees to
change their behavior, they create a policy (or policy-like document) and send
it to everyone. Their immediate "fix" if
things aren't working is to evaluate processes, systems, and budgets. They try to push change through the organization.
Leaders, on the other hand, would model the behavior they
want their employees to emulate. Leaders
would first seek input from employees if things aren't working. In other words, leaders, get personal. They pull
change through the organization.
This idea of getting personal shares similarities with what
Max De Pree described as covenantal relationships. In Leadership is an Art, Max said,
A covenantal relationship rests on shared commitment to ideas, to issues, to values, to goals, and to management processes. Words such as love, warmth, personal chemistry are certainly pertinent. Covenantal relationships are open to influence. They fill deep needs and they enable work to have meaning and to be fulfilling. Covenantal relationships reflect unity and grace and poise. They are an expression of the sacred nature of relationships.
Covenantal relationships enable organizations to be hospitable to the unusual person and unusual ideas. Covenantal relationships tolerate risk and forgive errors.
Rich DeVos, billionaire and founder of Amway, chose to close
his recent memoir, Simply Rich, with
this statement. "I was blessed
with a love for people and know that seeing the best in people, recognizing
them as fellow children of God, getting to know them as unique individuals, and
believing in them has been a key to success in Amway. And also, I
believe, to the success of families, our country, our communities, and to life
itself!" For Mr. DeVos, leadership was
personal.
Maybe we could look at it this way. When we are being managed, we agree and do what our supervisor has
instructed or communicated. When we are
being led, we follow because it's
more than agreeing to a certain way of doing things; it is about embodying a certain
way of being. And that's personal. Maybe someone is great at handing out
policies and instructions; but when things get dicey is that someone we would follow?
Or, would we be more likely to follow someone because they have a certain way of being?
For some who want to pursue leadership positions, this may
be a deal breaker. We've all heard the
phrase "It's business, it's not personal." Well if you want people to follow you, the phrase might be, "It's
leadership, and it's very personal."
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