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| CSI - IDEAS FOR LEADERS |
| GAINING WORKFORCE COMMITMENT The future belongs to those managers who can change from boss to leader; to those work units that can perform as a team; and to those organizations that can create a learning culture. Such companies have an invisible asset- a committed workforce. My aim in this article is to help business leaders proactively prepare for the coming decade. A proactive attitude claims that we can help shape our own future. We design our ideal future and work toward bringing about this desired state. By striving for continuous improvement toward our ideal design, we are steadily enhancing our own development and that of our company. I plan to elaborate on this theme of commitment. In the first section I explain WHAT I mean by commitment. Then I give some general guidelines on HOW managers can change from boss to leader in order to achieve greater commitment. THREE TYPES OF COMMITMENT To understand commitment, let's first look at examples from outside of the workplace of three different types of commitment. Figure 1 indicates that total commitment combines three distinct kinds of commitment
Figure 1: THREE TYPES OF COMMITMENT People are committed to a CAUSE. They give their life meaning by working to further something in which they believe strongly. Causes may be based on religious principles, ethical standards, or environmental issues. Humans are the only animals in the animal kingdom that may voluntarily sacrifice their own lives for a set of values, such as national freedom. People gain a sense of virtue from pursuing noble ends. People are committed to a CHALLENGE. They give their life meaning by investing their energy in a chosen hobby. Challenges may be physical like climbing a mountain, athletic like tennis, intellectual like chess or bridge, artistic like painting or music, and so forth. Humans voluntarily spend their time in self-development to improve their competence in their chosen field of endeavour. People gain a sense of achievement from their progress. People are committed to OTHER PEOPLE. They give their life meaning by being an important person to special 'others'. They act in a reliable, dependable way to friends, spouse, family, team, and neighbors. People gain a sense of belonging, a we-feeling from their identification with significant others. These examples illustrate why commitment is the strongest motivational force one can generate. The commitment becomes a part of oneself. Commitment means stretching oneself to meet self-imposed (not boss imposed) values, goals, and obligations. Our self-esteem, our personal sense of worth is wrapped up in our commitments. Each human being is the sum total of his or her commitments. Commitment not only fosters continuous self-development but provides clear benefits to those companies pursuing this objective. Committed employees conscientiously seek to improve their performance. Even if they don't have the authority to deal with a problem situation, they will try to constructively do something about it, rather than passively shrug their shoulders and say I'm not paid to think. FROM BOSS TO LEADER In order to achieve this ideal of employees fully committed to the best interests of their firm, managers have to change their style of managing. No longer is OBEDIENCE to the boss a sufficient goal. The autocratic boss, who only wants his subordinates to do what they are told to do, will be relegated to the junk pile of horseshoes and buggy whips. Today's times require leaders who generate commitment. Even though the change I have described is gathering momentum, not every manager knows how to prepare for a committed workforce. Some managers are fighting against this change. These are the traditional managers who like the way things once were and are trying to return to the good old days. They are destined to become the casualties in this revolution because they are not keeping pace with the changing times. Figure 2 highlights this distinction between boss and leader.
Figure 2: BOSS VERSUS LEADER To make this transition from boss to leader, I suggest three leadership action strategies. Each action is designed to generate a distinct type of commitment.
A wise leader will find ways of integrating all three kinds of commitments into a strong identification with the organization. Figure 3 presents a holistic model for creating total commitment from employees.
Figure 3: MODEL FOR CREATING COMMITMENT Inspiring "Inspiring" may seem like a strange word to use to describe the day-to-day communication between a manager and subordinates. I use it intentionally because managers want to get their people to try hard, to exert themselves. They should be telling their staff what to do in a way that motivates the staff to get the task accomplished in a superior fashion. Inspiring an employee means just that-setting the direction for that employee in a manner that generates performance beyond expectations. A manager inspires when he or she assigns tasks that are meaningful and challenging. A meaningful task has outcomes that have a visible and substantial impact on others. The employee relates his/her work to the broader purposes of satisfying customers and coworkers. Working to extract the last bit of utility from obsolete equipment can be made as meaningful as the romance of working on the leading-edge technology. A challenging task stretches the abilities of those performing it. The task should be achievable, but not automatically so. The employee has to contribute his/her own talents and understandings to bring about the desired outcome. There should be room for personal inventiveness in how the results are to be obtained. Empowering A manager empowers when s/he actively encourages self-management. This takes place in direct communications to the employee. The communications stress ownership of the project. "You are responsible for deciding how the work should be carried out. Don't just sit around waiting for instructions. Don't just keep on doing what you were told to do regardless of the mess being created. You are expected to continuously monitor the situation and take action based on or your assessment. " Moreover, the manager as leader makes certain that the organization provides adequate resources and systems for supporting this notion of personal responsibility for outcomes of the work.
Team building The output of a manager is the sum total of the output achieved by the people under his/her direct control, plus the output of those under his/her sphere of influence. Managers don't have time to do everything themselves. High output managers have to choose to spend their time in activities that have high leverage. The lever amplifies the manager's efforts. Building a productive team can be one of the most high-leverage activities a manager can engage in. Yet it is a sadly neglected opportunity in most companies. This is so because effective workgroups cannot be created just by bringing a group together and giving them a pep talk. Task groups slowly develop over time from a collection of individuals to a cohesive team when property nurtured Team-building involves setting clear goals for the group; clear roles for each member, in terms of responsibility, authority, and accountability; and clear norms for how the group is to make decisions and manage conflict. A cohesive group can identify its key problems, can formulate and implement a plan for correcting them, and can evaluate the effectiveness of its actions. CONSTRUCTING A LEARNING ORGANIZATION The reciprocal commitment of the organization to its employees lies in the construction of a learning organization. At present, a learning organization is an emerging concept with no clear prototype to follow. This lack of clarity provides an opportunity for each organization to construct a learning organization that best suits its own unique situation. Creating commitment to a learning organization requires leadership vision. We are living through an historic period where technology, strategy, and psychology all point in this same direction. Those leaders with the courage to risk change will reap the benefits of being in the vanguard of the new order. |
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