Be a Powered on Leader

TITLE:                BE A POWERED ON LEADER

At one point or another in our life, chances are that most of us have been inspired by someone who was a great leader. It may have been a parent who taught us how to be responsible, a boss who showed us the benefits of working hard, a coach who motivated us to strive for success and accept defeat, or simply a friend who set a path that we followed together. If we think back on the people that have had the most significant influence on who we are and where we are today, it’s likely that it was someone in a position of leadership. More significantly, for those of us who are fortunate enough to have something in our life that we are passionate about, like being in the golf business for example, it’s a good chance that we took up that sport or hobby or vocation not simply because someone signed us up, but rather that they inspired us to follow our vision and pursue our dreams. That is the power of a great leader.

So do you consider yourself a leader? Are you a parent, a boss, a coach? Whether you have one employee or one hundred, or one child or a family of six, chances are that there are people looking to you each and everyday for leadership and inspiration. Even if you don’t have a title like ‘boss’ or ‘manager’ and you don’t have a special parking spot by the front door, each of us still has the ability and the opportunity to inspire those around us, to motivate others to work harder, or to be nicer, or even to take up the game of golf. We all have the opportunity to lead and we all have the responsibility of leadership. So, as a leader, we might want to ask ourselves…“Who are we inspiring and what exactly are we inspiring them to do?”

WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?

The dictionary definition of leadership is ’a person who guides or directs a group’. A much better example comes from former US President Harry S. Truman, who said his definition of a leader is “a man (or woman) who can persuade people to do what they don’t want to do, or do what they’re too lazy to do, and like it”. No matter which definition you prefer, leadership is generally understood to be about leading people in a common effort to achieve a stated objective. It’s also said that leadership is not ‘given’ or ‘a right’, but instead leadership is ‘taken’ and ‘earned’. Leaders see an opportunity and then use others to ensure that the opportunity is realized.

Leadership can certainly be delivered in different ways, and when we think of great leaders it is obvious that there are many different styles that can get the job done. Gandhi, Mandela, Jobs, Churchill, Disney, Steinem, King, Winfrey and Lombardi have all led a life, a team, a company or a country to great achievements, and each of them with their own different style. Luckily for us we don’t necessarily require all of the leadership talents that will save the world or even save the golf industry. We do however need to be the best that we can be if we want to succeed in today’s business climate. All we need to do is look at those facilities around us. The golf club that has energized staff, satisfied customers, a busy tee sheet and a healthy junior program will likely have managers that possess good leadership qualities.  The facility that can’t seem to keep their staff, their customers or their rack rates will likely have managers that don’t.

WHAT IS YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE?

Often it is difficult to identify our own management style and our strengths and weaknesses as a leader. We have our own perception of how we act or speak or deal with people, and sometimes what we think we do is not what others see, or the tone that we use is not what others hear. (Anyone that is married can attest to this). By completing 360 degree staff surveys or focus groups, or better yet by sitting down with our peers and asking them to describe our management style and our strengths and weaknesses, we can begin to get different opinions that may help us be a better leader. With leadership it is certainly not one size fits all, and by understanding our own style it can help us build a stronger management team. If we happen to be ‘Churchill type’ leader then maybe we want to consider hiring a ‘Gandhi type’ as our second in command.

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT FROM A LEADER?

When we think about what today’s employees want from their jobs, we can’t deny that ‘times are a changin’, but what hasn’t changed are the core qualities that people look for in a leader. The research company Gallop has spent thirty plus years asking people valuable questions and analyzing their responses.  One study on leadership asked people to identify words that best describes how positive leaders have impacted their daily life. Consistently, people identified four important core values that great leaders deliver: Trust, Compassion, Stability and Hope.

TRUST

By reading the newspaper it’s easy to see how people can be mistrustful of corporate ambition (otherwise known as ‘the man’). There is an abundance of examples where companies have been caught doing exactly the opposite of what they say are their mission and core values. People will lose trust in leaders that don’t ‘practice what they preach’, and ultimately this lack of trust will lead them to lose their commitment to you, your customers and mostly, your bottom line. One of the best ways to create a trusting environment is to ensure you have effective two-way communication between all team members. This can be achieved through simple efforts such as communication boards, regular meetings, surveys, staff newsletters and possibly a staff section of your website. Ninety-nine percent of the time, honesty is the best policy.

COMPASSION

When many of us got in this business, it was expected that we would work until the job got done, which would mean a twelve hour day if we were lucky. If we were sick, or had a kid’s concert to go to, it was expected that work came first. Today’s employees have a much different set of priorities. For many of them, lifestyle and family come first, then career. Successful leaders are compassionate about the wants and needs of their staff and care about them as people, not just as a worker bee. For example, they learn about the employee’s personal goals (like gardening or learning a language) and make that part of their incentive package, or they include an education allowance in their compensation plan.

STABILITY

It should come as no surprise in this economic climate that employees are seeking stability. For the back shop kid or banquet server this might not be so important, but for the aspiring golf professional or clubhouse manager, it certainly should be. Once again, setting goals, providing regular feedback and career-related education will diminish any anxiety that might occur when the golf course next door closes down forever. Each employee should know what their next step could be within the company (as long as they want it and they earn it).

HOPE

You know the feeling that we get when our team has no chance of winning? When we are seven games out of a playoff spot and only three games remain. That is the opposite of hope, and when we have no ‘hope’ we have no motivation and little compassion for others. Everyone, including our employees, want to be on a winning team and our responsibility as leaders is to provide our team with the hope that we will win. And winning could be as simple as the fact that their job will be here for them next year, or something much more inspirational, like our ambition to be the greatest golf club in Canada. The easiest way to get our people powered on is to make sure that they are an active part of designing our vision, that they are engaged in the process and that they realize they are the reason why we will, or will not, achieve our mission.

FINALLY…

Leadership can’t be bought in a bookstore. It does however rest inside each of us and for some it comes easily and for others we need to work a little harder at it. Either way, each day we have a choice to make. Will we wait for others to inspire us, or will we inspire those around us to achieve great things? We all have choices to make, so let’s choose to be inspirational and by doing so, we will truly be a powered on leader.

www.cronkgroup.com email: james@cronkgroup.com