Though his head felt it, the room was not spinning. The muffled conversation was screaming. Lenny was sure he was about to pass out. In the six months since he was promoted, things had become increasingly chaotic.

“When the path is clear, anyone can be the leader,” I told him. “In the middle of ambiguity, leadership is visible. The person who paints the clearest picture of reality will emerge as the leader.”

What is this “reality” stuff, and why is it so important?

Because reality always wins. You can identify it and deal with it, or ignore it and allow it to eat your lunch.

What is reality in your company? It’s the obstacle in the way of your goal. It’s the head trash that distracts you from effective action, that diverts you from your purpose.

Purpose is the starting place for the reality conversation. Purpose helps to make sense of the chaos, allows us to see clearer patterns in the swirl. Purpose creates context for the noise. If you are a Manager and the world is churning, sit down with your team and have a talk about purpose.

I was saddened late last night, as I stepped off a plane from New York, to learn that Steve Jobs had passed away. As a student of business, I always regarded him as one of the great teachers.

Perhaps today, I will find a shirt with no buttons and wear it in his honor.

From the Ask Tom mailbag. This comes from Thomas Hochgeschurtz at 2eck.com, in response to The Consultants Kept Their Fee.

Question:
Telling the truth is painful, therefore you had a painful day, writing this post. However, I missed the one step further. “What you believe determines your behavior” brings up the question, how to change the “beliefs” of our employees. And this is “trust”. We can make the craziest decisions, if your people trust us, they go with us. Otherwise, if the people don’t trust us, even the best decision is not accepted. Tom, give us your opinion how to built trust in today’s working environment.

Response:
Say what you mean and do what you say. Are there any questions?

Trust is central to managerial effectiveness. Here is a great question to ask in any situation. “In the decision I am about to make, will it create trust or destroy trust?” There is no neutral. You are either building or destroying trust.

Creating trust is a battle for the thoughts of team members. A manager is either winning or losing that battle. And it is not just decisions, or actions. Organizations have entire systems that create and destroy trust. It’s a thousand things.

And when it is a thousand things, we cannot write them all down in the Standard Operating Procedures Manual. Our only hope is a small word, culture. Culture is that unwritten set of rules, beliefs that govern our behavior. It is organic, non-linear and by hook or by crook, it exists. A manager can intentionally influence it or allow it to go its merry way, at great peril.

I got started on this track last week after spending three days with Don Schmincke, High Altitude Leadership. He traveled up and down some treacherous climbs, studying leadership in “death zones.” Chris Warner, his mountaineering guide describes conditions on K2, where the death to summit ratio is 1 in 5. Chris is careful to point out, on the ascent, the bodies that must be stepped over, all facing downhill, with a summit picture in their pocket.

While climbers certainly perish on the way up. It is the unexpected trek down that snares those not paying attention. You see, the goal is gone. That, which bound the climbers together, that welded their trust toward the summit, has disappeared. Each climber separates and selfishness resumes its character. The path is dangerous in either direction, but trust fades and punishment is swift, sometimes fatal.

So, what is the lesson, for us, as leaders? You must snare the imagination of the team, and earn their trust through a goal, a vision, a story for which they have passion.

Working Leadership Online Update
We still have open slots for our next Subject Area that kicks off on Monday – Bringing Value as a Manager. Follow this link for a Free Introductory Membership.

“What kind of questions?” asked Ted.

“Look, in your position, as Manager, you often don’t have the technical details necessary to make a decision. As a Manager, that’s not your job. Your job is to bring value to the problem solving and decision making of your team.” I waited for Ted to catch up.

“By asking questions?”

“Most Managers think their team will see them as weak if they have difficulty making a decision, even if the Manager doesn’t have the technical details. So, sometimes, Managers make a decision because they think it’s their job.

“If you have two engineers, each with a different method of solving a problem, you may not know which method is technically the best way.”

“So, how do you make the decision?”

“You don’t bring value by making a decision and telling them what to do. You bring value by asking questions.

• What were the top three criteria on which you based your recommendation?
• What impact will your recommendation have on the time frame of the project?
• What two things could go wrong with your recommendation?

“Your job, as Manager, is not telling people what to do. Your job is to bring value to their problem solving and decision making.”

“Yes, but shouldn’t these people be reporting to me?” asked Ted.

“That depends. Functionally, their roles produce results you are interested in, but are you prepared to be their Manager?” I replied.

“I think so. I think they can report to me. I think I can hold them accountable for producing those results. I think I can check up on them to make sure they are working,” Ted proposed.

“That’s only the surface part of being a Manager.” I stopped to draw a picture. “Here you are, and these people, you believe, should report to you. But are you prepared to be their Manager?

“Your most important role, in the Manager relationship with your team, is for you to bring value to their problem solving and decision making.” Ted stared at the simple picture of circles and lines. “Are you bringing value by telling them that their reports are due on Friday and then reminding them Monday morning that their reports are late?”

Ted was still staring, but putting the pieces together. “Well, no, not when you put it that way.”

“Then, how, as their Manager, do you bring that value? And are you committed to bring that value? Are you willing to commit the time to bring that value?

“The answers to these questions will determine whether you should be the manager of this team.”

“What do you mean, bring value?” Joan asked. “Sounds easy to say, but I don’t know what you mean. How does a manager bring value to the problem solving and decision making of the team?”

“So, you and I are sitting here talking,” I nodded. “And in our conversation, am I telling you, directing you on how to be a manager?”

“Well, no,” she replied.

“And would you say that our conversations are valuable, valuable to you, in your role, as a manager?”

Joan followed the nod. “Yes,” she said slowly.

“I am not telling you what to do, yet, I am bringing value to the conversation?” I could see Joan making a leap in her mind to follow. “How am I doing that? If I am not telling you what to do, what kinds of sentences am I using?”

The music clicked. “Questions,” she responded. “You are not telling me what to do. You are asking questions. And your questions are bringing value to the decisions I have to make and the problems I have to solve.”

“She ignores me, like I am not even here,” Joan complained, “I know she has been here for twelve years and I have only been here for nine months, but, I am her boss.”

“What is the behavior you observe?” I asked.

“I call a meeting of my staff, she doesn’t show. I walk past her in the hallway and she doesn’t acknowledge me. She is focus forward. I have seen personality conflicts before, but this one takes the cake.”

“How do you think you will gain her respect?”

Joan shook her head. “I just want her to be nice. At this point, I have about given up on respect.”

I waited for the pity party to settle for a few seconds. “First, this is not a personality conflict. Second, I don’t care if she is nice to you, I just want her respect.”

“Yeah, right, how is that going to happen?”

“It is really very simple. All you have to do is bring value to her problem solving and decision making. Stimulate her thinking. Help her improve to the next level. You cannot gain respect by giving directives or demanding that she be a nice person. You can only gain respect by bringing value.”

The next Subject Area in our Working Leadership Online program begins August 2, 2010 – Coaching – Bringing Value as a Manager. As is our custom, we are opening 50 slots with a Free Introductory membership (one month). If you have an interest, please follow the link.

Free Introductory Membership

Miguel was stunned. At some point, he thought I was a nice guy, but now he was not so sure. Our production volume was coming back, and because of layoffs in his department, he was already working twelve hour days running a 10 hour staggered shift. We were about to expand to an 18 hour swing shift, adding more production people and expecting Miguel to run the whole thing. Welcome to management.

“But I am already working as hard as I can,” Miguel protested. “How can you possibly expect more?”

“I expect more, because you are capable of more,” I replied. Miguel’s face turned blank. He was tired of fighting. He was tired of fighting the twelve hour days, he was tired of fighting me, but mostly he was tired of fighting his own thinking.

“I can’t work this way any longer,” he resigned. “Something has to give. I am already in trouble with my wife. I hardly get to play with my kids. My golf clubs have rust on them.”

“And I want you to manage a longer work process with about double the headcount you have now. What are you going to change?”

Great comments coming in, as we continue our discussion. This is from Jim D’Wolf.

“To further muddy the waters, I have found that people who study the numbers and people who manage the people will not always share a common language or common goals.Both perspectives are equally important in managing an operation, but getting them on the same page is a challenge. It helps to define effecient as the use of resources in being effective and to define effective as the degree to which you meet or exceed the customer’s needs or requirements (George Eckes – Six Sigma).”

Jim’s comment stirs the continuing debate over the difference between managerial practices and leadership practices. In some sense, it is very simple. People do NOT want to be managed. People want direction and strategy. People want to be led. By the same token, you cannot lead a process. A process has to be managed. Manage processes, lead people.

In the end, it takes both, managerial leadership practices to make this engine run.