As I have said before, the essential purpose of leadership is to create.   The fundamental tool of creation for a leader is their vision for the market place as well as the vision they hold for their organizational culture.  As a creator the leader takes 100% accountability for the outcome of the vision and for everything that happens around them.  Now please allow me to distinguish between taking 100% accountability with 100% responsibility.  They are quite different.

Taking 100% responsibility or placing everything on your shoulders and taking on all the stress around the success or failure of the business is not the point.   The point owning the vision and holding the expectancy it will unfold.  If a leader has developed a compelling vision and has done a great job of instilling this vision into their people – while mistakes will happen – in the end the vision will become reality.  Yet, if the leader begins to complain about how the market place is behaving, the problems with the economy, or begins to blame low performers for all the woos in the business – they are missing the point of being a leader as well as the power of vision.

If the market is not responding – a true leader does not blame the market.  They collect the best minds and ask what do we have to do to engage the market more effectively so people get who we are and want to do business with us?   If the economy is tanking and business is off – the true leader takes responsibility by examining with his top people the model they are using to develop business and will shift their approach to succeed or do better than they have in the tough economy.  If there is an issue with low performance – a true leader coaches the boss of that direct report to get to the bottom of it or they themselves explore what the issue is.   If there is not a fit – they let the person go.  If it is a coaching issue they work towards a new commitment with that employee to engage at a higher level and make sure that there will be rewards if they do and consequences if they do not.

The fundamental key here is making sure your people are enrolled in the vision and know their part in fulfilling it.  If the vision has come alive – the true leader knows with certainty it is only a matter of time before things line up.  They embrace the responsibility for creating an environment that is brutally honest about what the challenges are while also inspiring others to reach further to fulfill the mission and key priorities.

True leaders also expect their best people to take on their responsibility for their part of the vision and to be accountable for their results.  If they can not do this and not aligned with the organization’s mission and vision then they are in the wrong place and it is best to move on.  Yet, if the leader begins to complain about their performance with out proper feedback and coaching – then it is as much or more the leader’s limitations that are the reason for less than acceptable outcomes. Ultimately, the leader declares the destination, sets the course and is very clear about their expectations.  They want their people to take risks and failure is an option as long as everyone is learning and leveraging lessons learned to achieve the results and improve performance.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 8:51 am and is filed under Executive Engagement, Inside the Executive Suite, Leadership Development, Personal Engagement, Strategic Engagement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.