Donald Sherwood, a 20 year Senior Manager at a large retailer had it all. Over his career, Don managed multiple business units and large project teams ranging from 75 to 250 employees. His performance reviews were good and he was on the current promotion list.

Then, one day last year he was called into his bosses office. As Don entered the room he was asked to sit at the conference table with Jim his boss and Erin the VP of Human Resources. Jim kicked off the meeting by explaining the organization was not meeting their objectives and Don’s teams were performing far below the others. His performance must improve in 6 months or he would be replaced.

This discussion shocked Don and he was speechless. Erin, the VP of HR jumped into the conversation at this point to show Don the Team Performance and Satisfaction survey results for the past year. Don’s team had the highest turnover rate 20%, lowest employee satisfaction, highest employee transfer rate, and below average project success rate. After talking with Don’s employees and customers, it was determined that even though Don was an expert in his field and followed procedures to the letter, his management style was blocking his teams ability to perform.

Don wasn’t the only manager having a meeting like this. Over half the managers in the organization had the same meeting. Within one week, managers from around the organization were attending a training program called “Transforming The Traditional Manager Into A Leader”. The purpose of this training was to identify current management traits that hinder team performance, identify actions to take replacing bad management habits, and developing a plan to implement them when managing a team.

So what happened six months later? Around 33% of the managers at the training could not or would not change their management style. These managers were soon replaced by managers who manage with leadership. As for Don, this transformation was not easy but he worked on his deficient areas and his team’s performance has improved. Is he still on the promotion fast track? No, but he is working on it.

Let’s take a look at how you can improve team and organization performance by transforming oneself from a traditional manager to a leader.

Traditional Managers vs. Leaders

So why are there so few leaders? Many believe the “Traditional Manager” management style based on ordering people around, kicking butt, and taking names gets results quicker. This can work, but there is a huge negative impact to employee morale, team performance, and long term success.

Meeting the new business challenges demands leadership. Why would you want to change your management style?

Who is the best motivator? A Leader.
Who gets the greatest effort and most insightful thinking from people? A leader.
Who always meets stiff challenges and goals? A leader.
Who summons from people virtues like loyalty, commitment, and on-the-job exuberance? A leader.
Who gets promoted? A leader.

Today’s managers have been trained since childhood to manage people using traditional manager tactics. Changing this paradigm is difficult but necessary for their success in the future. A Leaders Core Competencies provides a framework for the traits and skills found in successful leaders. For managers to advance their career and improve team or organization performance, they will need to understand the differences between the traditional management and leader management style.

Do executives really believe leadership skills are important?

In a 2004 survey by CIO Insight Magazine, 43% of executives surveyed stated “Strong Leadership Skills” was the most important thing to look for when hiring or promoting managers.

Leadership Transformation - 4 Step Plan

Follow these steps to move from a traditional manager to a leader.

1. Review and understand a leaders core competencies
2. Identify the traits and skills you DO NOT demonstrate consistently
3. Develop an action plan (steps/timeframe) to develop these new traits
4. Review your progress quarterly

Leaders Core Competencies

To successfully transform a traditional manager to a leader we must first identify the common core competencies and then describe the traits and skills demonstrated by each management style.

The following is a list of core competencies:

1. Managing People
2. Meeting Goals
3. Thinking Style
4. Communication Style
5. Emotional State
6. Trust In Others
7. Openness Toward Others
8. Ability To Take Action
9. Staff Mentoring
10. Managing Change
11. Attitude
12. Value System
13. Measuring Performance

Next, lets dive into the traits and skills demonstrated by leaders.

1. Managing People

Leaders: Strategize project and team direction, building a roadmap to the future. Inspires employees to perform at their best. Motivate employees, keeping morale up. Get things done, but also develops a sixth sense “gut feeling” which can be more valuable than mounds of data when it comes to decision making. Figures out the right things to do. Hates bureaucracy and all the nonsense that comes with it.

2. Meeting Goals

Leaders: Think and act like an owner of the company. Recognizes the importance of long term goals. Has a vision, the ability to see things as they should become, defining the team and organizations future. Never misses an opportunity to pass along their vision. Involves employees in goal setting, gaining greater commitment from the employees. Committed to succeed, wants to win.

3. Thinking Style

Leaders: Constantly searching for new knowledge from new places. Willing to learn and is committed to education and training. Makes sure employees expand their knowledge base. Continuously redefines the team and organization.

4. Communication Style

Leaders: Reprimand employees in private and praise them in public. Encourage free flowing interactive communication. Let the other person speak first showing they are though of as equals. Listens. Receptive to feedback, both positive and negative. Recognize clear and honest communication is essential in today’s fast paced business world.

5. Emotional State

Leaders: Produce emotional energy. Inspire employees and customers to consistently achieve goals. Motivate employees and customers to perform at their best.

6. Trust In Others

Leaders: Maintain a high level of trust with their employees. Maintain a high level of commitment to their employees. Surround themselves with competent, responsible, ambitious and supportive people. Leave proven performers alone to do their job.

7. Openness Toward Others

Leaders: Embrace diversity. Are highly receptive to new ideas and people who are different. Realizes new, young, original or off the wall ideas could evolve to become the cutting edge solution needed. Let the group know they understand their viewpoint, whether they agree or not.

8. Ability To Take Action

Leaders: Are self starters and action oriented with a “Just Do It” attitude. When new ways of doing things should be implemented, putting them into action will fall on the shoulders of the whole team. They think quick on their feet. Come up with solutions to critical situations. Anything worth doing does not have to be done perfectly, at first. Allow mistakes and uses them as a teaching opportunity. Takes calculated risks.

9. Staff Mentoring

Leaders: Stay out of the detail and focus on higher order tasks such as vision, strategy, and planning. Help the individual employee develop the habits he or she needs to be more successful at communicating, planning, organizing, and contributing to the goals of the business. Empower employees to make decisions, take risks and take action. Observe performance and provide feedback. Identify and groom a successor.

10. Managing Change

Leaders: Stimulates and relishes change. Adapts to change quickly to maintain high levels of productivity within the team. Does not become frightened or paralyzed with fear. Sees change as an opportunity.

11. Attitude

Leaders: Realize the impact of a positive attitude on customers, employees, and superiors. Treat everyone as unique and special. Offer welcoming words, smiles, and is courteous. Remain objective and nonjudgmental. Apologize and admit mistakes. Maintain a positive frame of mind.

12. Value System

Leaders: Values are documented, displayed and referred to daily. Values are something considered worthy in and of itself. Values guide people. Values identify what behavior is acceptable and what behavior is not. Values form the team foundation and guide employees daily. Keep it simple, example “The Customer is King”, “We do flawless work”.

13. Measuring Performance

Leaders: Performance is always measurable. They measure current performance and then track progress. Take the guess work out of the employees performance. Involve the employee in tracking their own performance. Measurements are meant as training tools as well as nonjudgmental methods of feedback. Measurement to performance is always known.

The Value Proposition

To meet new business challenges, organizations have realized traditional managers do not have the skills to dramatically improve performance. Leaders have proven they add value and can:

1. Increase productivity
2. Reduce costs
3. Lower staff turnover
4. Quicker time to market
5. Increase innovation
6. Improve customer satisfaction
7. Improve company satisfaction
8. Successfully complete more with fewer resources

Can You Become A Leader ?

Were you born a leader? Of course not. Can you be a leader? Yes.

Leaders are made rather than born. To be successful and meet the new business challenges, traditional managers must concentrate on developing a leaders core competencies. Leadership training, mentoring, experience, and daily dedication to the core competencies will be the key to your success in the future.

To get started on your path to becoming a top performing manager, you need to take the first step.

My favorite leadership books include: “One Minute Manager”, “Seven Habits of Highly Successful People”, “Who Moved My Cheese”, “Not Bosses But Leaders”, “The Leader Manager – Guidelines for Action”, “Enlightened Leadership”, and “First Things First”.

Good luck with your future success.

About The Author - Dennis Sommer

Dennis is a highly sought after author, keynote and seminar speaker on sales, leadership and business best practices.

Contact Dennis at www.executivebusinessadvisers.com or www.dennissommer.com .