Over the years, I have had the privilege of meeting with executives of Fortune 500 companies throughout the world. What is fascinating is how important it is for the senior leader to be actively involved with his or her organization. A client was conducting an open enrollment meeting and the president came up to a to see what was being made available to the employees. As he flipped through the materials, the HR manager behind the table asked, “Hi, what’s your name? Can I help you find your packet?” One might accuse the HR manager of being clueless but the argument can also be made for an absentee senior executive.
In Kotter and Heskett’s classic research on corporate culture and performance, they were among the first to demonstrate that the single most important factor in successful organizational change is competent leadership. Some of their thoughts on this topic can be found in the following quotes:
“A corporate culture will enhance a firm’s long-term economic performance if the managers care deeply about their customers, their stockholders, and their employees, as well as leadership and other processes that can produce change.”
“The single most visible factor that distinguishes major cultural changes that succeed from those that fail is competent leadership at the top.”
“Without leadership, firms cannot adapt to a fast moving world.”
Companies that had engaged leadership, taking the charge of their corporate culture, consistently outperformed all other companies in the areas of revenue, workforce expansion, stock-price growth, and net income.
Great leaders don’t necessarily have to be charismatic as they do need to be great influencers. Someone once said “leadership is influence.” If that is a true statement, then great leaders exert great influence on their employees, in their communities, and throughout the world. In fact, some of the best leaders are the quiet ones. Those who aren’t necessarily on the front page of a magazine, but constantly in front of their employees, making a difference, one person at a time.
Ken Perlman from Kotter International spells out some of the statements that some employees make of their (great) leaders:
• “He changed the way I looked at my situation.”
• “She helped me to create a new, better outcome than I could have on my own.”
• “She had confidence in me to do something new and different when I didn’t have that confidence in myself.”
• “He let me try, fail, learn and grow, and he was always right there next to me for support, — especially when things didn’t go as I planned.”
What ever happened to the president that the employee didn’t recognize? He got sacked. The new one has already met with all of the employees. So, what kind of leader are you?
Alan Wang is the President of UBF and serves as the lead consultant. He has delivered the UBF solution set throughout the world and is highly regarded for his areas of expertise. You can follow him on Twitter @UBFconsulting.