America is in the midst of a leadership crisis.

 Email Article |  Twitter |  Facebook |  digg it |   delicious |   StumbleUpon |   LinkedIn |  reddit 

The daily news bombards us with stories about major corporations failing, government spending spinning out of control, and political and corporate leaders marching off to jail.

Interestingly, this leadership vacuum exists only at the higher levels of government and industry. It doesn’t exist in small and mid-size businesses.

I know that’s a fact because the owners, CEOs, and senior executives of these businesses tell me so. For over forty years I’ve worked as a manager, coach, and consultant with hundreds of executives. Not one has ever said to me, “This company is not doing as well as it should because of my lack of leadership skills.”

Who’s to blame for their company’s problems? It’s they. Over and over again I’m told, “They don’t care; they didn’t do it right; they don’t get it.”

I’ve never understood why these executives don’t just fire “they” and hire somebody else. Come to think of it, I bet many of them have tried that, but somehow they keeps sneaking back on the payroll.

Take an objective look at your leadership skills.

Of course, the above paragraphs are meant to be tongue-in-cheek humor. It’s just my way of saying that our natural tendency is to blame others. But as a leader in business, you must objectively assess your own leadership skills.

All companies have problems. In order to solve your company’s problems, you’ll need to understand and change the leadership style that got you into trouble in the first place. Start by looking for areas where you personally can improve. Until you change, not much else will. Before you can lead others effectively, you must first be able to lead yourself.

Over the course of my career, I have known literally hundreds of executives. I can’t think of one of them, myself included, who could not benefit from some level of on-going leadership evaluation, coaching, and development.

Yet many executives, especially owners and CEOs of small businesses, find it hard to acknowledge that they have room for growth. They’re reluctant to ask a coach or someone else for help. And because they’re top dog in their company, they do only what they want to do rather than what they need to do.

Take an honest look inside your organization. How many of these issues are present?

• Excessive meetings with no agenda and no results
• Consensus-driven decision making (CYA for all us older folks)
• Lack of personal accountability
• Poor communication between entities
• Reluctance to terminate poor performers
• Misaligned and uncoordinated efforts (silo effect)
• Personality conflicts and power struggles
• Apathetic and unmotivated employees
• Inconsistent results
• Poor time management
• Reactive rather than proactive effort
• Micro-management
• Declining sales and / or market share
• Lack of teamwork
• Duplication of effort
• High employee turnover
• Substandard quality
• Numerous unresolved issues and postponed decisions

You may not want to acknowledge this, but to some degree all of these issues can be attributed to ineffective leadership.

Lead by example.

Your commitment to excellence, integrity, fairness, and open communication will be visible to people in your company. It will inspire them to rise to the performance level you exhibit.

Notice that I didn’t say “to the performance level you expect.” Expectations are mere words. When people respond to expectations, it’s often out of a sense of duty, a desire to please, or the fear of punishment.

Leadership, on the other hand, entails action. When you act as a leader, people will want to follow you to be where the action is. Your example will motivate them to grow and achieve.

Once you’ve developed your plan and communicated your vision, there will be a short honeymoon period. But soon people will be looking to you for results. Will there be real change, or will it be back to business as usual?

Simply wanting your vision to be realized doesn’t work. You need to take the lead and make it happen. When you walk the talk, people will follow. Develop a vision you believe in. Live it, breath it, take responsibility for it, and generate enthusiasm for it. People will respond.