I recently read what I believe to be a very insightful article on leadership entitled, “Managers and Leaders” (Are they different?) by Abraham Zaleznik, featured in Harvard Business Review in 1977. Although written thirty-five years prior, I believe the fundamental ingredients of leadership are as relevant today as they were in the past, and in my opinion, will be as relevant thirty-five years from now.
For the purpose of this blog, I took a sliver from the article I found to be most intriguing on what it takes to be a manager. Although Zaleznik did not expound on each of the seven characteristics, I will attempt, as a life-long student of leadership and emotional intelligence (E.Q.), to define them on my own. I welcome both your input and debate.
1. Persistence: A good manager must be a driver, as virtually all are under the gun to perform and produce to achieve corporate goals and expectations. Managers must persist with unrelenting focus even in the face of obstacles, defeats and uncontrollable factors.
2. Tough-mindedness: Much like a parent, the role of a manager is to be a leader and lead by example – not build friendships with his or her direct reports. Inevitably, unpopular decisions will need to be made, having a negative impact some of the manager’s employees. These are the “tough” decisions managers say they hate to make, but must, in the interest of the company and its stakeholders. For example, managers will find themselves in positions to demote, lay-off or terminate employees they have formed strong bonds with, and it does get personal. Or, a manager may find him or herself in a stressful predicament and still be expected to perform – the definition of mind over matter.
3. Hard work: For managers, the heat is always on – hotter than for those not in management positions. Managers are playing in higher risk games, and if they don’t consistently perform to expectations, they may not only get demoted, but lose the respect of others in the organization as well. And regaining that respect is a very steep hill to climb which can be emotionally taxing. In other words, managers are very motivated to work hard, every day in every way to maintain and grow in their positions.
4. Intelligence: Of course, managers must have more than a novice level of technical intelligence to acquire a leadership position. And although the study of emotional intelligence wasn’t as prevalent as it is today, leaders must also possess effective people skills if they are to ever graduate from good managers to great leaders. (Check out Dr. Thomas Gordon’s leadership program for starters.)
5. Analytical ability: This refers to a managers ability to make intelligent decisions on the fly without the luxury of having all the facts. This requires not only strong gut instinct, but experience as well.
6. Tolerance: Leaders must exercise a higher level of tolerance for employees’ attitudes or mistakes and those of their own. Tolerance also includes patience. After all, managers are interacting with people, not machines.
7. Goodwill: Goodwill ties in directly with emotional intelligence. To be an effective manager, one must have a benevolent interest and concern for his or her employees as well as for the organization. Accepting and growing in a management position requires a very specific set of E.Q. skills, which can be taught in a strong leadership training program.
One other trait worth adding is active listening, the art of feeding back what one hears to confirm understanding and identify core problems. It is a skill very few leaders have mastered, yet those who have, have stronger bonds with their employees and are fluent in getting problems identified quickly and solved efficiently. As the saying goes, a problem well stated is a problem half solved.
After reading this, how many managers do you know were granted leadership positions based purely on technical know-how, industry experience, or tenure, yet lack the necessary leadership traits identified by Zaleznik?
I’ve worked for plenty of them.