First a quote: “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” – Ken Blanchard
Congratulations on your promotion; “You’re now the boss!”
I remember hearing those words for the very first time more than 40 years ago. My initial thoughts were along the lines of, “I have arrived! Now I will have the opportunity to make things happen, to get things done, to manage the way I think the world should be managed, to lead the way and be the boss.”
As a frame of reference, most of what I thought I knew about management was learned early in life. The first lessons I learned came while working through high school as a “bag boy” in a rural grocery store, plus summer jobs on a railroad “rock gang,” in a beef packing plant, a grease gun factory, and leading a painting crew in my first attempt at being an entrepreneur.
So, there I was, an inexperienced manager, managing others. Wow… was I in for a rude awakening.
Managing others was not easy! Most days were not fun and certainly not what I had imagined as I looked forward to my career as a manager. I’m pretty sure I made every possible mistake I could make, and then some. I had so much to learn, starting with a fundamental view of what management was, what management should be, and most importantly, what management could be.
Perhaps as important, I also had to learn what management was not. Like most people, I had the opportunity to learn from good managers and poor ones.
Today’s missive is focused on a mental paradigm shift and answers the question, “As a manager, who serves whom?”
Fortunately for me, I later continued my career in an organization that thought, and taught, differently than much of the business world at that time. Before “Servant Leadership” and the “Upside-down Pyramid” became popular business buzzwords, the organization espoused a set of cultural values they called the Jewel Concepts.
Central to those “concepts” was a significant paradigm shift from common management practices of the day; the idea that employees didn’t “work for, or serve” their manager/boss. In fact, the exact opposite was critically important and expected, that managers serve the people they manage. It was called the “First Assistant” philosophy.
“If you’re not serving the customer, you better be serving someone who is.” – Ron Zemke
The following is a quote from the Jewel Concepts, first published in 1972 and updated in 1982: “Helping others succeed is the key to being a successful manager. Managers understand they do not ‘run’ their part of the business, rather they assist those who do.”
The cultural expectation was that managers were to serve as “first assistants” to the people they managed; their priorities included the removal of barriers and obstacles to performance, to teach, train & develop, and to serve those below them on the organizational chart.
“Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge.” — Simon Sinek
The primary management objective was to serve the people who worked on the front lines, those who served our external, cash-paying customers. Managers were to serve others and not to be served. They were not to be seen, or treated, as special or privileged. Certainly, they were not, in any way, to perceive themselves as “above” or more important than those they led.
Related to the “first assistant” concept, one of my many life mentors taught me the following: “Managers should never be afraid to use their authority, and the best managers, rarely do.”
One of my personal beliefs is that management, as a practice, tends to be about hands, backs, and behinds. We manage what people do, how they do it, maybe where they do it, etc.
However, leadership tends to be more about heads, hearts, and spirits… those aspects of what it means to be fully human, cannot be managed, only influenced. While you might manage hands, backs, and behinds, people volunteer their head, heart, and spirit. Fully engaged people are volunteers, not workers, not employees.
While managements skills, abilities, and practices are certainly important, it is your leadership abilities that bring out the fullest potential in those you lead and influence… of those you serve.
Here are a few questions for you to ponder as you begin this week:
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Who is serving whom in your organization? What are the cultural norms?
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Are leaders in your organization serving team members in the same manner those team members are expected to use in the service of their customers, both internal and external? (If you are disappointed with your current customer service levels, the place to start is assessing how your service delivery people are being managed. Who is serving them?)
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Are you personally leading in a way that encourages people to volunteer their heads, hearts, and spirits… their full being?
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Who will you personally serve better this week?
How will you live, love, or lead, differently, or better, this week?
Have a great week!!
Bryan Yager
“Expanding Your Capacity for Success”
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Bonus Quotes:
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“Servant leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don’t work for you; you work for them.” – Ken Blanchard
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“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” — Mahatma Gandhi
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“The first and most important choice a leader makes is the choice to serve, without which one’s capacity to lead is severely limited.” — Robert Greenleaf
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“One of the topics I’m most passionate about is servant leadership—the greatest leaders recognize that they’re here to serve, not to be served.” — Ken Blanchard
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“We must serve before we can lead.” — William Arthur Ward
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“He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.” — Plato
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“Bosses push, Leaders pull. Real leadership is servant leadership.” — Dave Ramsey
