The Hindu Business Line : Four leadership activities

Law firms, consulting practices, accounting firms, investment banks and other professional service firms (PSFs) are facing tough demands these days, both internally and externally. “Associates have development needs that often aren’t being met; clients expect firms to be all things to all people, requesting help in areas where firms may have little or no expertise,” write Thomas J. Delong, John J. Gabarro and Robert J. Lees in When Professio nals Have to Lead ( www.tatamcgrawhill.com).

A fresh approach is mandatory, the authors argue, because the old practices – such as working longer hours, travelling more, focusing on differentiation, and hiring the best and the brightest – are not delivering effective results. Frustratingly, the professionals who joined the firm to be ‘technical experts and problem solvers,’ end up spending time mentoring, and ‘dealing with human capital issues,’ rather than doing ‘their real work.’

Few entered their professions to become managers, yet they now lead practices, offices, and even their firms, observe the authors. “They are unclear about how to deal with this dilemma… No matter what these leaders are doing, they think they should be doing something else.”

The ‘integrated leadership model,’ proposed in the book as the antidote, “posits that leaders must stop thinking in terms of having two separate roles – usually one that they love and the other that they feel obligated to perform – and instead start thinking about overarching behaviours that are integral to who they are as leaders.” Leadership activities in the integrated model are setting direction, gaining commitment to the direction, execution, and setting an example.

Setting direction keeps everyone eyeing the same target and minimises false starts and wasted effort, the authors elaborate. “Since professionals are often solely focused on specific goals and tasks, they need leaders to articulate the organisation’s objectives and how their work relates to those objectives.”

Gaining commitment requires leaders to involve and include the professionals within the organisation. “When professionals feel excluded – or that no efforts are made to solicit their ideas and objections – they feel alienated and fail to focus on the task at hand. Many will pull away from other professionals and become cynical.” Another dangerous consequence can be the actual sabotage of the firm’s goals by professionals who ‘do not feel committed to the desired outcomes.’

Execution, the third component in the model, is about ‘not letting dates slide,’ the authors crisply define. “Execution is the process of meeting the financial goals that have been set and holding professionals at all levels accountable.”

And, finally, ‘setting a personal example’ demands leaders: to create an atmosphere where performance counts more than politics; to praise when appropriate; to follow through with assignments; and to interact with colleagues ‘so that they leave feeling inspired, rather than bullied.’

The most powerful connection between leaders and professionals is achieved through face-to-face interaction, the book urges. “Too often leaders pass up opportunities to influence their people in meaningful ways by minimising this type of interaction. Instead, they rely on phone, e-mail, and fax to communicate, failing to take advantage of opportunities to set a personal example.”

A must-read for the over-busy professional.

D. Murali

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

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Four leadership activities