Leading with Propriety
Something as basic as expecting to be led with propriety is unfortunately not at all a given. From C-level staff to the temporary intern, everyone should be led with propriety. Firstly out of simple respect for your co-workers and their professionalism, but of course also for obvious classic business reasons such as ROI, productivity, talent retention, loyalty, people development, change readiness, long term growth, and so on.
Throughout time people and cultures have been setting up guardrails for how you live and behave with propriety because propriety generates prosperity through trust, integrity, confidence, and the naturally derived willingness to contribute.
During my career I have often met the attitude that pursuing business goals aggressively while leading with propriety are two irreconcilable paths. I disagree with that. In my experience productivity and willingness to go the extra mile increases significantly when people operate in an LwP environment.
Leaders who hire other leaders and professionals and give them the respect and authority to do what they were hired to do fosters an LwP environment. If not, hiring leaders are missing out on a reservoir that could have improved the overall business result significantly and potentially strengthened the leadership team’s long term performance.
What goes into the equation?
Characteristics such as inspiring, charismatic, and articulate are often associated with successful leaders. I agree that all of these are valued competencies that come in very handy when you want to get a team or an entire company to move. But for leadership longevity it’s not necessarily the same basic characteristics to lead with propriety. If you are inspirational but indecisive, or charismatic but intolerably self-centered, your leadership capital runs out quickly. In its very simplest form I believe LwP can be summed up into the following slightly simplistic equation for business purposes:
Consistency + Predictability + Reliability = Credibility
Credibility is the key ingredient to lead successfully. I realize that you cannot immediately assess the characteristics of a leader you are yet to work with or even yourself as you develop as a leader. But over time, would you perform at 110% percent and stand behind a leader who turns out not to operate with the above competencies, or not to operate in the best interest of the company – or you? Not really.
Would you trust a leader who is unable to qualitatively explain what the journey we are on together is expected to result in, how we are getting there, and what your role is in it?
Not a chance.
If you as a leader can exude credibility simply through the competencies in the equation above, you are ahead of the game in my book.
Yes, your behavior means something!
Leading with propriety is key to fostering a productive environment. One of the most glaring and down-to-earth examples I have seen of what a non-LwP leadership figure can result in, is in the Van Tulleken brothers’ television experiment with children’s self-control and their ability to delay gratification (ITV, Planet Child):
Four children are alone in a candy store. The oldest is ~7 years old. They have been in the store for some time supporting each other in not taking (read: stealing) any candy off the shelves. They are gratification-stretched to the limit as a grown-up from the TV-crew is sent into the store with instructions to grab some candy, and then leave the store. You can imagine what happens next right? Candy frenzy …
To the children in the store the grown-up is considered a leader. On their own they have managed to stay on the virtuous path. But if the grown-up can do it, they are OK to do it too although their abstinence up until that point shows they know better. Now, transfer that thought to a workplace setting. Not LwP – and not the preferred Key Behavioral Indicators (KBIs).
Be the leader
If you as a leader are not up to facing the music there is always the Machiavelli-inspired approach if you mistakenly think that will sustain your esteem i.e., if you are in a situation requiring significant business changes that are forcing you and/or the leadership team to make hard decisions that could potentially diminish the trust in your ability to lead, then hire someone to execute the changes and “behead” that person afterwards when the changes are irreversibly done and over with. It likely gets the job done but it’s not LwP.
And while that methodology worked relatively well and kept rulers in place in the 1400s, it has limited success today if you want to sustain engagement and productivity. In today’s workplace, transparency and information about the company and its leaders is readily available internally and publicly, and is much easier to decipher. This also means that employees will see through such antics (note: friendly reminder that Machiavelli also prescribed leadership consistency as a critical foundation for success). Stand behind your leadership decisions – including the tough ones – and build momentum on the credibility it generates.
Easy-to-follow directions
I often hear the phrase that “Leadership is a journey” – and yes, leadership is a journey as you (hopefully) naturally develop your leadership capabilities as your experience accumulates through solving dilemmas and challenges. Business wise and culturally.
From my perspective, leadership is supposed to embody the promise of a journey. The first statement refers in part to the leader. The latter statement refers to the ability of a person to enable an organization through equal quanta of credibility, inspiration and vision to produce results by getting the entire company (and sometimes the investors) to stand behind a strategy and execute.
Circling back to where I started in this article, namely what are the characteristics required to exercise your leadership with propriety? I have summed it up in 10 simple statements that I believe will put you on the path to LwP success.
The LwP Dogmas:
1. I lead with consistency – always with adequate force relative to the situation
2. I am predictable – I lead with consistency(!)
3. I am reliable – I do what I say I do
4. I give clear direction by communicating common goals and progression transparently and regularly
5. I give trust by delegating the appropriate level of authority with responsibility
6. I listen more than I speak
7. I see opportunity in change and display readiness
8. I show interest in people
9. I recognize individuality as an organizational strength
10. I recognize qualitative business results over quantitative
– never engage only to meet an arbitrary target
Will you join the movement and Lead with Propriety?