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Transforming from autocrat to coach

by Stephen Hawley Martin
for Virginia Business
Oct. 11, 2006

The concept of good leadership undergoes a profound transformation when a company goes lean. For things to get done, people have to make their own decisions and be self-correcting. In other words, they have to start thinking for themselves, rather than waiting for someone in management to do their thinking for them. So, instead of managers, leaders of the business need to become coaches who help their players get better at making their own decisions. For some in leadership positions, this will require a good deal of self evaluation and conscious transformation.

What happens resembles the theory of evolution. For example, you might say there are distinct stages beginning with the "Neanderthal Despot," a prehistoric life form still common in corporate America, and ending with the "Championship Team Coach," the advanced leadership species of tomorrow. As individuals reach each more advanced level of evolutionary development, they become better leaders because they are sharing more responsibility with employees. Neanderthals, for example, share none, whereas Championship Team Coaches encourage widespread employee involvement in running the business. In addition, at each level managers possess different characteristics and even talk to employees differently.

The leadership transformation is also like evolution for another reason. Neither one is an overnight phenomenon. It's never easy to break old habits, so everyone on the leadership team needs to accept that changing techniques will take time and practice. And let's face it, most of us don't have the gift of being able to see ourselves as others see us.

A way around this is to gather together other would-be leaders who know each other well and may be in the same boat. The purpose of this session will be for leaders to face reality about themselves with a little help from their peers. One leader might start out by listing out loud what he thinks is his management style. He should mention as many positive and negative adjectives as possible such as responsible, consistent, thorough, domineering and short-tempered. These might be written on a marker board. His peers can then agree or disagree and add to or subtract from the list. Everyone needs to be honest with one another and tactfully tell it like it is. Would-be leaders will come out of this session with a pretty good idea of how far they have to go to shift from despot to coach.

The next step is to learn "balanced leadership." As a lean leader, a person needs to learn how to balance giving up control with taking charge. Most people who have spent a career dictating orders to employees often have some difficulty stepping back and cheering them on.

But balanced leadership doesn't mean becoming a virtual cheerleader who spends the entire game on the sidelines. Quite the contrary. Lean leaders need to learn to lead rather than command. They are more like a quarterback who demands a good deal from his teammates but gives encouragement and praises them when they put out extra effort or make a good play.
One thing many need to learn is to understand the distinction between a request and a dictate. Dictates deny an individual's competence. Requests recognize and encourage it. Obviously, requests are better.

To change a dictate into a request, three things have to happen. The lean leader needs to explain the reason why something needs to be done. He should actively solicit other opinions. He should ask if the person or group has any questions and willingly answer them.

It's one thing to tell someone to "turn off the lights" when a presentation is about to start and let it go at that. It's quite another, and much better to say to that person, "Would you please turn off the lights because we're about to start a slide show? And by the way, if you think turning them all off leaves the room too dark, please decide if some should stay on."

It may sound like something out of "Ripley's Believe It or Not," but some managers hold meetings and make decisions without inviting the people who know the most about a subject. If people are going to have to live with a decision, they ought to have some say in that decision. Otherwise, get ready for undermining to take place. On the other hand, when someone has a hand in a decision, you'd better believe they are going to do their best to make it work. It's best, then, to involve as many people as possible. This doesn't mean a whole crowd of people has to be involved from the get-go. But once the viable options have been identified, it's time to call them in.

For people to develop, they need to be treated as though they are capable of correcting their mistakes. So rather than chastise them when something goes wrong, it will be better to ask them why things didn't go they way they'd hoped, and what they think they might do to change the outcome in the future.

Suppose, for example, a team member really blows a presentation because he or she was not well prepared and was nervous. Rather than read that person the riot act, the lean leader might have a private chat and ask what the person thinks went wrong. Chances are good the team member will say something to the effect that he or she wasn't sufficiently prepared and got nervous. The lean leader can then ask what the person thinks should be done next time. Odds are 99 to one that person will suggest spending more time preparing. Unless this individual is a candidate for a brain transplant, there's little doubt that next time this is what he or she will do. Our lean leader will have accomplished a great deal more using this approach than by being a domineering autocrat.
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Stephen Hawley Martin is a former principal of The Martin Agency in Richmond and the author of more than half a dozen books including his newest, Lean Enterprise Leader: How to Get Things Done Without Doing It All Yourself. He is editor and publisher of The Oaklea Press, a book publishing business dedicated primarily to helping business executives increase productivity.