Leadership Is Not a Task

Leadership Is Not a Task

Posted on 08. Nov, 2011 by in 1 Leadership

The constancy of work drives us to make to-do lists. We become hyper-focused on what we need to do partially because our daily meeting marathon leaves little desk time to dig into work.

Unfortunately the frenzied pace of the work day tricks too many managers to believe they don’t have time to connect with employees, deepen relationships, coach, or give feedback. Imagine a hamster wheel and you’re running on it at break neck speed worried about tripping.

The constancy and frenzied pace of work may entice you to put off another day writing that thank you note; rescheduling that one-on-one with an employee, again; canceling the all-staff meeting to share your vision or talk about trends influencing the team.

Yes, it is easier to focus on the tangible parts of your work. Unfortunately the obviousness of the tangible parts of work can crowd out the relational, inspirational, and motivational parts essential to leadership. I suspect for many that’s why it’s tempting to wait “one more day” to encourage people’s passions, or connect people’s work to the company’s vision.

Despite the planfull nature surrounding work, leadership doesn’t fit so neatly into a start and end date. Most of us don’t list Model the Way on Monday and Inspire a Shared Vision on Friday. (Thank you Kouzes and Posner for these leadership practices.)

Yet, unlike work tasks that can be delayed leadership cannot. When leader-action is delayed work suffers. When managers delay or stop helping people grow, or spend time learning about their employees, they create a factory-like environment: plug-in do work; unplug and go home. It’s meaningless. An unintended message emerges: “I’m only interested in the work you produce. I don’t want to know you.”

This isn’t good enough anymore.

You can’t do much about the constancy of work. You can, however, do something about the work environment you create to help employees pull meaning from their work. You can do something about the primacy you place on leading. You can do something about making the frenzied pace of work worth rolling up the sleeves and showing what you and your teams can do.

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8 Responses to “Leadership Is Not a Task”

  1. Bruce Sallan (@BruceSallan)

    08. Nov, 2011

    Again, wisdom from Shawn. EVERY time a manager makes the time to “know” an employee he is actually making his job easier. He’s building loyalty and that is something a bonus or raise alone just can’t buy!

    Reply to this comment

    • Shawn Murphy

      08. Nov, 2011

      And loyalty in companies is waning. In part it’s due to generational shifts in the workplace. It’s also part of the high degree of dissatisfaction prevalent in many organizations.
      When it comes down to it treat people as people. Relationships do wonders when this happens.

      As always, thank you Bruce for your continuous engagement here.
      Shawn

      Reply to this comment

  2. Mark Hannan

    08. Nov, 2011

    So true. In our work, both in sales and interior design consulting, we focus so much on the rapport with the client, but sometimes forget to expend the same level of effort at building rapport with our colleagues. I’ll be passing this along to our team as a nice reminder of the importance and benefits of relationship building within not just task completion. Cheers.

    Reply to this comment

    • Shawn Murphy

      08. Nov, 2011

      Mark,
      It’s like family. We’re with them so often we assume they know our intentions. Reality is our families – home and at work – need to see we care, even love them.

      Thanks for stopping by and reading, commenting and sharing.

      Shawn

      Reply to this comment

  3. john feskorn (@johnfeskorn)

    08. Nov, 2011

    Great points here, Shawn.
    Can Manager’s lead and Leader’s manage? Not always… Leader’s have vision and can set the course, but the manger’s have to plot the way. And the crew has to be on board to ensure the voyage is accomplished, while it’s up to the leader to inspire them on their journey. Best, John

    Reply to this comment

    • Shawn Murphy

      08. Nov, 2011

      John,
      I like your distinctions between managers and leaders. I’ve been thinking about this off and on lately. I’m wondering if splitting the two apart does more damage than good? What do you think?

      Shawn

      Reply to this comment

      • Suchitra Mishra

        09. Nov, 2011

        Hello Shawn,

        Great post as always – just like clients, employees too need the same nurturing attention. I have noticed that model employees get the most attention when they resign – to retain them. The “one more day” piles up till it is too late !
        To John’s point and your question above, I think that a it is necessary for a good leader to be a good manager too – it comes within the realm of “must haves” for a leadership role. Good managers can be mentored to become good leaders.

        Regards,
        Suchitra
        twitter : @suchimishra

        Reply to this comment

      • john feskorn (@johnfeskorn)

        09. Nov, 2011

        Hi Shawn~ The Manager vs Leader distinction was the topic a couple weeks ago during a LeadFromWithin chat.

        http://www.lollydaskal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/transcript-of-leadership-and-mangement.pdf

        I don’t think it applies to all organizations or all people, but the distinction, or separation if you will, is often necessary.

        John

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