There was a time where business leadership was about getting people to do what you want with clear orders and strict monitoring. That era has gone once and for all, as its been quite a while (some decades) that people require more than just a place to earn a living from work. They want to feel valued and fulfilled. Hence anything that can kill intrinsic motivation employees may have, wasting their potential to be self-driven, creative and proactive, needs to be eliminated. Yet I still see business leaders, who are many times at a loss as how to balance between on one hand ensuring a good level of performance by all team members whilst on the other hand not having to impose themselves in order to achieve a good level of performance. Many times business leaders ask me the so called 100 million dollar question “How can I ignite the necessary inner fire in my people to have them be self motivated to always seek to perform better, without me having to push, intervene and impose myself?”

Based on my experience and daily dealing with teams and business organisations, I learned the following lessons in moving closer to giving a credible answer to this one million dollar question:

• Establish a clear, shared vision: Many businesses are lost in dealing with their daily operational issues and they have lost sight of why they exist, what sets them apart and where they are heading. No wonder they fail to channel any proactive motivation of employees toward common goals.

• Build a culture to enable employees to think like a CEO: A CEO is not necessary the person that knows best on everything. While key strategic decisions are the realm of a CEO, many decisions are best made by those closest to the issue. Thus, distributing decisions down the organisational structure is the best way forward, plus you allow employees to learn faster. I understand it’s psychologically difficult for the CEO to step aside. When your employees can think for themselves, they become less dependent on you — and more prone to challenge you. Empowered employees will be more proactive and responsible — but also more likely to agree with the best argument, no matter who makes it. As the CEO you have to learn to yield when the best argument comes from somebody else.

• Replace control with trust — especially when employees make the “wrong” choice or do mistakes.
  Employees won’t be empowered if you don’t support them when they make a decision that you wouldn’t have or when they do mistakes. Obviously the notion that we learn from mistakes has to apply, as doing the same mistake over and over again is then carelessness and that is not acceptable.

• Balance freedom with clear boundaries: Please keep in mind that when not practicing a controlling type of leadership it does not mean a lack of leadership. It means providing exactly the right amount of leadership. As a business leader, a CEO or Managing Director you still need to call the shots on strategic-level decisions — and most important you are responsible for making sure that all employees know when they have the power to make decisions themselves and when they need to discuss the matter with the person at the top. This is a difficult balance to achieve. Many times I see extremes and the extreme is many times tilted to one side, when a controlling leadership demands that almost all decisions are funnelled through one persons or a very small group of persons, meaning that the team members are not able to grow and become more responsible and the restricted amount of persons taking the decisions are overloaded with everything, even decisions that could easily be taken by someone else. Then business owners come to me and grumble about the effects of the systems they have themselves created.

What is the greatest barrier for becoming a relevant leader? I would say the shift from a controlling leader to a true leader i.e. the ability to give up control about everything. It is so hard. The reason is simple: Control feels easier. It’s soothing to know that all the strings are in your hand, that no major decision gets made without your nod. With empowered employees making independent decisions that don’t land on your desk, you will know less and have to trust more. Moreover, being the centre of attention is an addictive ego booster. Unfortunately, when leaders focus on making themselves shine, they provide less space for their employees to shine.

Being a true leader is no easy ride. The continuous improvement leadership journey may feel uncomfortable but those who dare to undergo this journey will gain an edge in markets they compete in as they can rely on a higher level of engaged and innovative employees. They’ll also eliminate the bottlenecks that often happen when business owners and managers insist on retaining too much control. But the shift to it will require unlearning counterproductive practices more than learning new things. The bottom line is simple. The era of strongman leadership is over. The best leaders realise that the less employees need them, the more they have succeeded.

At EMCS Academy, a substantial part of training we provide both within the “Award in Leading a Family Business” accredited course and some of the online workshops and other courses planned for 2024 cover essential elements of leadership and the mindset shift needed to becoming a true leader. Click on above links to view all the courses being offered and to Register. Make sure that 2024 is the year you improve significantly on your leadership skills!