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Good leadership is not about individual heroism
By Zhu Qi (Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2004-06-14 10:17 Recently a friend of mine said she has found her
job boring without too much work to do. But two months ago, she looked extremely
excited about transferring to her current section of organizing large-scale
events. However, now she complains: "My boss is doing everything." Aha, a
typical Chinese leader, who does not know how to delegate.
'Boss' to 'employee': Just listen to me, which
may do you good. | To be honest, I have met quite a few bosses of this type. They are
usually highly capable. They are almighty. However, maybe only because they are
too capable, they want to perform every detailed task. They do not think others
can do better. As they are taking care of every little possible thing, they
become extremely busy and sometimes lost in details.
Lacking any trust in employees, these bosses do not like the idea of
empowerment. Their staff have no decision-making power and have to report to
them every trivial item. As my friend said: "My boss has spent too much time on
trivial things." It's not uncommon to see both business leaders and government
officials working 'to their backbone' while their subordinates can find no way
to help.
I'm not saying we do not need heroes. Heroes lead the charge. But heroes
themselves do not make history. A hero needs a team to help him or her. A good
leader has good understanding in delegation. "Delegation" has two meanings: to
empower subordinates and to give them guidance in execution. This involves a lot
of faith.
Firstly, you need to have faith that not only you, but also others can do
what needs to be done, though they might not do it equally well. But there are
always chances that others can be specialized in one area who can do even better
than you. Secondly, you need to have faith that to help your staff grow does not
mean they will take over your position.
A strong team will help you develop in return. Once the leader is free of
fretting over details, he or she can maintain a big picture and spend more time
on strategy, both of which are vital to being a good leader.
The lack of delegation is also part of bad team management. A good leader
should have teamwork spirit. If my friend's boss could have agreed to divide the
job earlier on, the team would not have wasted time on overlapping work and
buck-passing. Meanwhile, dividing the job is one thing, how to empower staff is
another. As his staff do not have the decision-making power, nor do they have
responsibilities. Once the right team was formed, he should have given them his
full trust.
Last, but not the least, what makes a hero is that he or she can pass on
their resourcefulness. It is not rare to find that when some managers with
strong personal capabilities leave their posts, their successors can not perform
as well and certainly not better.
The reason is simple: China is a society ruled by people, not by rules. If
their experiences can be collected and turned into rules, a company does not
always need a hero manager. Therefore, a knowledge bank will be the best means
to serve this purpose.
In addition to keeping track of meeting minutes, the bank should also include
documentation of strategies, proposals, action plans, execution process and
assessment or feedbacks. I strongly recommend that leaders start collecting all
knowledge and transform it into rules for later use.
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