“If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive.”
-How to Win Friends and Influence People.
“I have to hurry back to the office,” she said, as she made her way out of the class, while the entire class yelled in unison: “At 7pm?”😳👀
The reason became clearer to the class on day 2 of the training when she told her story.
It was a story of how a leader’s overwhelming moral influence relegated his formal authority to the realm of not necessary. He was so respected to the extent that there was no need to use the powers of his office.
From her perspective, what stood out about this leader was his ability to completely and genuinely give credit to whom it’s due, regardless of the status.
In her words: “You know how you get loads of thumbs up from a management meeting because your boss referenced you as the project owner of a successfully accomplished assignment he delegated to you.”
“We literally fall over one another to get his job done. Knowing that, the whole credit will not just be yours, you will be visible, which makes advancement in the organisation a child’s play.”
“In an organisation where managers and leaders take all the credit for themselves, my boss is a knight in shining armour. Little wonder while so many will give anything to work in his department, and we the privileged ones answer whenever he calls.”
I felt this story was incomplete, so I pressed further with the question: “What if you mess up the assignment?”
“He takes the blame” was her response. Wow! “I guess that’s why we make every effort not to let him down, or put him in an awkward position.
Dear leader, here are 3 leadership lessons from this scenario:
…’What’s In It For Me’ (WIIFM) is more than a radio station, it’s fundamental to human psychology. Avoid it at your own peril. People will stop at nothing to achieve your objectives, especially when their own objective is visibly included. So, what’s in it for your team?
… Successful leadership requires the leader to first deal with his/her selfishness. If a leader craves all of the team credits, sadly, the position is obviously beyond him/her, but it should be the other way round.
…Great leaders take the blame and share the praise. Pointing an accusing finger to a team member especially, outside the team simply presents the leader as irresponsible. I know this is difficult, even for me, but this is the path we must follow. It’s the road less travelled.
The ripple effects and impact of sharing praise is beyond quantification.
