Leadership - Leading To Self-Responsibility

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MACHWÜRTH TEAM INTERNATIONAL
Organisational and Personnel Development
Leadership – Leading to self-responsibility

Welcome to our new series dealing with leadership. We Helmut Meyer
will follow up the question how managers can act on their Senior Consultant
own responsibility and lead other managers to self-
responsibility. MACHWÜRTH TEAM
International
where many of the primarily set characterise the attitudes, ways

1. Introduction targets have been postponed, of behaviour and the way of
the managers keep their strat- communication of the respective
Due to financial crisis consistent egy and define new targets. manager.
crisis management“ is more They want to benefit from the It is a style that is primarily de-
than omnipresent. Managers, crisis. manding for the managers: the
frigthened to be put down as a managers have to confront
loser, are challenged to change There are two different person- themselves with responsible
the alarming situation. The crisis ality concepts that describe how self-management Do I use my
shows that most of the times these managers lead them- own skills? Do I see the things
success does not follow short- selves and define their roles. that I want to achieve? Do I
term actions. In fact, it becomes Some managers administrate know, where I want to go, with-
clear, who did homework and their area of responsibility and out being dogmatic? Do I per-
developed an own leadership implement the strategy. They ceive the priorities of action? Do
cultures, based on self- control the commitment of the I act consistantly and do I follow
responsibility and commitment. employees and report to the up- up things? Do I scrutinise the
per management. The others way and the things achieved?
When coaching managers the regard their area of responsibil- Do I orient my actions on ethnic
coach is confronted with two dif- ity as an area of creativity. They guiding principles?
ferent mentalities. Some of the search for ways to optimise This also characterises the way
managers report on the perma- things and encourage their em- of working with the employees.
nent pressure. They complain ployees. The serach consis- The manager abandons to a
about the things that do not tently for solutions, however, large extent his right to influence
work in their organisation and they are open-minded to discuss directly the behaviour of the
about failures of the upper man- different options for action. Their employees by means of instruc-
agement. They assess their concept is leadership. tions. Their actions aim instead
employees to be reluctant and at influencing the attitudes and
uninspired. The other managers awarenesses of their employ-
spontaneously start reporting on ees. In order to achieve their
their targets: The things, they 2. The leadership concept goals the employees get free-
would like to tackle immediately dom of action and freedom of
and they describe where they Due to common use of angli- decision. They are challenged
would like to have their team in cisms we used to take the term and supported at the same time.
one year. They do not describe “Leadership” for any kind of per- It is a form of leadership that
thier situation positively, how- sonnel leadership. Here we purposes self-management. The
ever, they accept their areas of would like to discuss this and employees do feel this devel-
development and they want to present leadership as a man- opment.
challenge these targets. They agement style, that make high
are convinced that their team demands on management de- 2.1 Effects of leadership
they themselves have the power velopment. It is characterised by
to achieve the targets. Even in an optimistic idea of man and a If you ask around in a company
today’s economic situation, value-oriented attitude that you will always have some de-
MACHWÜRTH TEAM INTERNATIONAL • Dohrmanns Horst 19 • D-27374 Visselhövede

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partments, where the employ- manager will create a motivat- of his/her employees, he/she
ees will say: Our boss is great. It ing pulling effect. The man- appreciates the personal
is great fun to work with him/her. ager uses symbols to describe strengths and the individual
his/her objectives and encour- characteristics of each person.
It is obvious that the respective ages their employees to be They do not wish a “perfectly
leader managed to win the trust creative and act in an innovative working” employee, but an em-
and respect. way. ployee that acts in a self-
responsible way. This individ-
The basis for this is an authen- The manager demands a great ual appreciation leads employ-
tic communication. The man- deal of himself/herself and ees to build up own potentials
ager says what he thinks and his/her employees. He/She cre- self-confidence.
does what he says. He listens to ates an area of creativity that
his employees and is open- challenges the employee to act.
minded for different opinions. The employees get the feeling The whole team looks for suc-
However, he forces and focuses that their work in worthy and that cess. The team will develop
the common decision making the company depends on their ambition and will wait for chal-
process. performance, their ideas and lenges. Failures are discussed
their potentials. These are de- openly and without finger-
For the manager it is not his/her manding challenges, that pointing. This leads to consis-
task to motivate his/her employ- reach sometimes the limits of tent reactions. Successes are
ees. The manager believes that the employees. celebrated, but they do not lead
the employees motivate them- Every employee has the feeling to illusions. The whole area of
selves if the visions and targets, that the managers knows responsibility is checked and
that should be achieved in him/her personally and that the developed regularly with regards
his/her area of responsibility and manager respects him/her. The to effectiveness and efficiency.
forecasted future situation of the manager knows the differences
Leadership is effective by means of…

Commitment
6. the pursuit of
success
5. individual
appreciation
4. demanding
challenges
3. motivating
pulling effect
2. trust and respect
1. authentic
communication
Performance

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2.2. Importance for leadership in daily work sponsibility a trust in the innate
potential, courage to take on
Case study: Conflict facilitation in a warehousing store calculated risks and the deter-
mination to act resolutely are
The situation: The managing the solutions of the managing di- given.
director of a warehousing store rector. The managing director
asked the sales department will be satisfied and convinced The high external pressure in
manager and the central man- of his approach as the problem the business environment leads
ager of the purchase depart- has been solved. to greater inner insecurity and
ment for a special segment of the feeling of loss of control. The
goods to come around in his of- The comment: The managing leader’s task is then to streng-
fice, because a conflict has de- director has solved the work- then the self-concept and the
veloped between these two related problem, but not the performance potential of their
managers. Both are not able to leadership problem. While the team by making sure that:
solve the conflict on their own. sales managers and the pur- the team members deal with
Conflicts between the sales chase managers of other prod- future perspectives in a con-
manager and the manager of uct can solve their conflicts on structive way and work out a
the purchase department are their own, in this particular case, form of orientation by them-
not unusual : The purchasing the project managers has to be selves.
agent wants his goods to be involved and solve the conflict. every individual takes on re-
presented in a very outstanding The solution of their problems is sponsibility for his or her own
way, the sales person minds the rooted in the responsibility of the role in the process
revenues per area; the sales respective manager. By solving stable trust-relationships are
person cannot get enough of the problem on this own, the built up that endure emo-
“running” while the purchasing managing director takes the re- tional turmoil
agent has to keep in mind the sponsibility instead of supporting potential snd competencies
whole range of goods. When their responsibility. Now there is of the team members will be
business do not flow, the pur- the danger that their conflicts improved and developed
chasing agent has purchased will always escalate and the continually.
the wrong goods or the goods managing director will take care
have been presented very of it. That way they will not learn Leading has always been about
badly. Normally, the conflicts in to solve their conflicts on their handling difficult situations. This
other product divisions can be own. The managing director is why all leaders are looking for
solved easily, these two manag- failed to address the managers orientation and support. Yet the
ers find it difficult. that he expected that they would concept of leadership implies
sort out their conflicts on their that every leader will have, to a
own. This meeting will of course large degree, to provide a pur-
The management behaviour: be more hard and more per- pose, orientation and means to
The managing director is trained sonal for the managers, but it get a hold of the situation, as
to solve conflicts. He listens to will challenge their responsibility well as support by themselves.
both sides and works consis- in managenent. It would be the This requires certain leadership
tently to solve the situation. He task of the managing director to qualities.
calls on the willingness to com- discuss just this topic. Escaping
promise of both managers. Fi- into the factial level seems to be
nally he will be successful. easier and has apparently the
However, the manager do not advantage that the problem is 3. A requirement profile for
look amused but they agree on solved. The problem in mana- leadership
gement, however, remains.
Summarizing today’s require-
Leadership has proven to be hensible technical and economi- ments on leadership positions,
essential especially in times of cal processes, dissolution of there are 7 attributes that
crises and change. Short- traditional orientation patterns emerge as prerequisites of suc-
spanned change cycles, conflict- and upheaval can only be mas- cessful leadership behavior.
ing targets, not easily compre- tered when at all levels of re-

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responsibility and ow- encouraging others; sens- collecting and utilizing

nership ing powers at play within feedback of one’s own ef-
Setting oneself challenging the organization and rec- fect on others, taking a
goals, realizing business ognizing the key leverage long-term perspective and
objectives in a sustainable points for success,; clear acting accordingly. Devel-
way, setting priorities, accountability and trans- oping pioneer spirit; Nour-
communicating clearly and parent task structure to ishing talents and the de-
consistently, finding solu- enable other’s success. velopment of team mem-
tions and implementing bers through tolerance for
them, defining realities, mistakes; supporting in dif-
Successful relationship ficult situations (coaching),
acting vigorously and with management
discipline. but acting resolutely on
Convincing and confident lacking willingness to per-
manner; proactive en- form.
Self-orientation gagement of others; ability Today’s leadership challenge
Being aware of oneself; to establish relationships consists of continuously work-
occupying and holding based on partnership and ing on these leadership quali-
one’s ground; taking up a cooperation and to facili- ties.
position even for sensitive tate the interfaces, ability
or unpopular topics; deal- to build and maintain net-
ing with the new and the works and to deal with Instruction for self-reflexion
unknown confidently, people of different back- for managers
broad and flexible spec- ground and heterogene-
trum of behavior according ous; ability to move about
You can reflect your potential in
to differentiated situations, within the social framework
leadership using the following
clearly defined personal of the organization and in
exercises. It is recommended to
set of values the environment construc-
share the results with a trust-
tively and effectively.
worthy person (e.g. colleague).
Entrepreneurial spirit
Emotional stability Read the description of the
Develop and advance seven competencies of the ‘re-
business, success drive, Trust in one’s own abilities
quirement profile for leader-
sensitivity to market sig- and strengths; staying
ship” carefully. All the seven
nals and early-on percep- calm and reliable under
characteristics describe impor-
tion of business opportuni- pressure and stress; un-
tant leadership qualities, but a
ties, seeing and designing derstanding one’s own and
a person can’t fulfill all of them.
products, processes and others feelings and know-
behavior from the point of ing how to deal with them;
Reflect about your leadership
view of the customer; abil- high frustration tolerance,
style. Try to be realistic and not
ity and courage to strike ability to deal with disap-
thinking about how you’d like to
new paths if necessary, pointments and staying
be. Work out a ranking after-
consistent enforcement ready to act at the same
wards and place the compe-
and control of high-level time; displaying appropri-
tence you fulfill the most in the
quality ate and target-orientet con-
first place. Fill in the ranking
flict resolution behavior.
Ability to provide pur- step by step and place the
pose and to prompt cer- Eagerness to learn and quality with the most potential
tain behavior develop on the last place. Look at the
Learning from experience ranking again and ask yourself
Providing purpose and the question: Is the ranking
achieving understanding; and with it broadening the
range of response; taking correct? What are the reasons
communicating in an au-
on challenging situations for each ranking? When you
thentic and credible way; are sure that you got it right
mobilizing energy and and grasping the opportu-
nities that come with them; ask yourself the following ques-
strong work performance;
tions:

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Fill in your individual ranking.
Ranking Competence
1. Rank
2. Rank
3. Rank
4. Rank
5. Rank
6. Rank
7. Rank
1. Which leadership qualities If you share your experiences

did I rank first and second? with a person you trust:
Why do I see these quali-
ties as my strengths? Do I a. Describe and explain the The next newsletter
have examples to prove it? particular qualities using will deal with the ques-
When can I show/use these examples. Encourage your tion of how the re-
strengths? What do I have colleague to ask questions quirements for manag-
to do to maintain these and ask him also for his ers have changed and
strengths? feedback in terms of how developed in the last
he sees your leadership years.
2. Which leadership qualities competencies. Listen care-
did I rank last and second fully.
last? Why couldn’t I show We will clarify how to
these qualities as strongly b. Explain your colleague the control the employees
as I desired? What are the reasons why you are facing without absolving
difficulties I’m facing? What difficulties with last rank- them of their individ-
are the obstacles? What ings. Describe in details ual responsibility.
can I do to overcome them what the difficulties / obsta-
and to improve these ar- cles are. Ask him/her about
eas? Who or what could his impression. Listen care-
support me? fully also to negative or dif-
ficult feedback. Describe
3. What is my next goal? how you usually manage
What are the next steps I difficulties and ask for
have to go? his/her feedback resp. how
he/she manages similar
situations.
MTI

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