Enablers always debate

Enablers always debate

Aim to be a special leader who can bring a company to life by giving workers a framework to succeed, writes Barry Brewster and Eileen Dowse.






Barry Brewster and Eileen DowseUpdate on 01 Nov 2008



How leaders talk to the people in their organisation determines how well the organisation will function. If the conversations are stilted, politicised or fragmented, failure is likely. If conversations are candid, open for debate, reality-based and poised to search for realistic solutions, success is imminent.
A very special type of leader does this. A leader who is an enabler responds to the realities of needing to be business-focused and at the same time needing to achieve action. In this role, an agile business leader focuses on the group dynamics within the organisation. Enablers are the activists of the organisation; they bring people to action.
Enablers tap into secret chambers of the minds, hearts and souls of people and know which buttons to push to activate their staff's trust, drive and perseverance. Being an enabler is not about authority; it is about respect, influence and loyalty.
Enablers communicate an optimistic, bright, enticing picture of the future for their followers. They convince people to get on board and stay on board. They make people feel good about themselves and what they are accomplishing.
Enablers deliberately tap into the potential of others. They create a safe environment that encourages people to speak their mind, even if it's an unpopular viewpoint. A leader who uses the skill of the enabler recognises that collaboration is an intellectual endeavour involving the creation of mutual goals. They facilitate discussions so that everyone feels heard and everyone understands who is responsible for action.
This type of leadership behaviour creates engagement.
When a leader is using the traits of an enabler, they are accessible and open to the emergence of new ideas and perspectives. They are willing to have their own thinking interrupted so that improvements can be made. They use language effectively to influence others, sell ideas and win people over. They focus on inclusiveness whenever possible. Enablers value the ideas and opinions of others and collect others' input as part of their decision-making process.
Four traits make up the role of the agile business leader and enabler:
Achieving outcomes The enabler provides the opportunity for people to achieve outstanding performance. They are resilient to breaks in communication channels because they have strong collaboration skills and continually search out ways for engaging the masses and build organisations that continually learn, adapt, evolve and improve. They don't get stuck on the petty details or emotional dramas that can weigh down the success of an outcome. Rather, they have the innate ability to impart a sense of invincibility, power and control over the situation.
Motivating others As an enabler, the leader possesses a capability for keeping others enthusiastic and involved. They build on people's desire to make a difference and are able to create and recognise small wins for the group. They find the skills, attitudes and behaviour that are already working successfully and breed those throughout the rest of the organisation.
You will know when you are working with an enabler, because enablers understand how to get individuals to act in ways that maximise their "exchange rate" with the organisation. They know that people perform and behave to receive something and that each individual will choose different behaviour and actions to satisfy their motivational need. There is one simple strategy of the enabler: they work from the perspective that "if I reward the behaviour I want from this person, I will get more of that behaviour". Whatever the individual motivation type, the leader provides feedback or comments consistent with the individual's need so that they can motivate the person towards an outcome.
Facilitating learning in actionEnablers help others produce extraordinary results even within the challenges of change, complexity and competition. They ignite personal and team learning to solve business problems while building the organisational capability to succeed. Galileo once said: "You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself." When leaders are open to listening to the personal experiences of their people, they can help them find the potential buried within.
Enablers encourage the development of knowledge and competencies by creating environments that are conducive to learning. They let people know how they are doing and give feedback in a frank and direct way. They provide candid observations and recognise the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. Enablers create environments where individuals depend on each other, are accountable to each other and continuously learn and develop from each other.Building collaborative culturesEnablers rely heavily on collaboration. They involve people in group brainstorming and decision making and provoke thinking at all levels of the organisation and with all stakeholders. They articulate their goals and influence people by engaging their minds and hearts. They present clear guidelines about limits and constraints and allow the team to make decisions while keeping everyone informed. They are successful because they respect and value others' ideas.
Enablers encourage communities of practice, which are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. They are dynamic and encourage learning on the part of everyone. They are an expansion of one-on-one knowledge-sharing. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems - in short, a shared practice.
Enablers demonstrate an active concern for people and their needs by forming close and supportive relationships with others. They have the capacity to quickly establish free and easy interpersonal relationships. They reduce power relationships and increase partner relationships. They swiftly deal with the factors that created distrust and challenge existing organisational practices. They maintain a high level of integrity because they know that a lack of integrity can undermine almost every other effort to build high levels of trust.
By promoting the development of agile business leaders, we are calling for a shift that requires an increased level of adaptability and flexibility.
Article contributed by Barry Brewster, director of organisational development, and Dr Eileen Dowse, organisational psychologist, with Evans & Peck in Hong Kong. This is part of a six-week series. Next week: processes to develop agile business leaders
All about coaching: Finding a leader's true purposeCoaching individuals on their "purpose" - not just in business, but in life - has proved so effective it may soon be considered the real purpose of coaching. This is particularly the case for those concerned with developing their qualities of leadership.
YSC, the consultancy where I work, is helping one of Britain's largest companies to run a coaching programme that explicitly equates a stronger sense of "personal purpose" with "leadership possibility". The scheme was initially mandated for their top 75 leaders. It has been so popular and successful that they have extended it to their next 750.
Perhaps the connection between "purpose" and "leadership" should be less surprising than it initially appears. Once we move beyond the "theatrics" of leadership to what qualities carry others with us on a day-to-day basis, we are inevitably in the area of clarity, passion and awareness with which a leader communicates what matters to them - their personal sense of purpose. If that leader defines this as simply telling subordinates what to do - with the prize of a bonus and the threat of dismissal - they should not be surprised if the response is correspondingly expedient and transactional. It is doubtful that they will motivate the levels of loyalty and discretionary effort that delight staff, customers and shareholders alike.
In contrast is the individual with a personal passion for the work they do, who is driven to enthuse, innovate and persist in its realisation. They have a sense of purpose that inspires others to follow. They are "natural" leaders.
There are undoubtedly potential pitfalls in coaching someone on discovering their purpose. What if they have the "wrong" purpose, or if it is irrelevant to those around them? What if an individual articulates their purpose only to realise it clashes with that of the corporation for which they work? In such circumstances there is usually a parting of the ways, with a realisation on the individual's part that they are unlikely to thrive in a company that lives by such alien values.
In my experience, these are rare exceptions. For most coaches there is an enormous release of energy in connecting with what drives them at a deeper level, and a satisfying sense of surprise that the job they already do offers the possibility of its expression.
Suddenly the person in banking realises the importance they have always attached to providing security, not just to their family, but more broadly.
Or the person with a passion for helping others to communicate realises this is what drew them to the IT function in the first place. We all know people - in all walks of life - who inspire others by finding a deeper personal meaning in the work they do.
So how do you find your own? You might like to start by considering what you want your legacy to be, either in a particular role or in life. You may also think about the following questions: What do you do naturally and well? What are your talents? These may be abilities that you dismiss in yourself because they come automatically to you; or are even the behaviour you were told off for as a child. What are you passionate about? What do you love doing, in and of itself? What makes you angry? What gets you quietly seething, or talking back at the television set?
Take the answer to the third question and look for the value that is being violated. If it is "rudeness" then the value might be "respect for others". If it is "ignorance" it might be an "openness to learning". Then see how the answers to the first and second questions might support and focus you in making a broader difference in this respect.
It is just a start, but it could set you on the path to one of life's most significant discoveries - your personal sense of purpose.