Leading in difficult times: The perspective of the Chartered Institute of Bankers Ghana

Leadership today is altruism: self-sacrifice, love for humanity, selflessness and philanthropy.

Leaders ‘catch people doing things right’.

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens – November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910, known by his pen name Mark Twain, an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer) once said:

“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. – Mark Twain

As Mark Twain pithily points out, leaders today have to handle constant pressure well and need to allow their people the room to grow by making remediable mistakes and learning from them.

Perfectly close proximity role models for this new more empathetic type of leader are ‘mothers at home’. They excel at home because they can be who they want to be.

Mothers instinctively know how to connect and engage, communicate and support, nurture and develop those they are responsible for, all the time and simultaneously. They are also effective at setting boundaries and are there to deliver appropriate sanctions and consequences for inappropriate behaviour.

They tend to do this with no hierarchy, and only implicit authority. Today, being the leader doesn’t have to mean behaving like the ‘boss’.

How different could our world be if we accepted that todays’ contemporary leaders need to focus far more on their ability to influence and persuade rather than barking a set of instructions or commands. The trick is to identify those with the spikes of emotional intelligence and empathy.

By constantly preferring to ‘catch people doing things right’ the culture will move away from a ‘fear of failure’ and towards a ‘desire for success’. Mothers do this at home without thinking – the essential Spike for today’s progressive leaders.

Extraordinary times demand extraordinary leadership, this must become the era where we universally accept and look for “mothers” as leaders.

1.Why is inspiring others necessary in leadership?

Inspiring leaders want their people to develop. They invest in them, and they encourage activities that foster physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth & well-being.

Honesty builds trust and gets others to believe in your inspiration. The ability to inspire others is an important skill, one that will help you achieve the success you desire. Keep your message authentic and human to amplify your results, inspire others, and excel in your work life.

2.How can a leader inspire others?

2.1. Start with scheduling more one on one sessions.

Get off on the right track by making consistent clear goals and expectations an operational reality. You do that through the lost art of one-on-one conversations – a great motivational tool. Leaders thrive when they strengthen relationships with their people by spending more one-on-one sessions with them to hear their suggestions, ideas, problems and issues. But first, you need to know how to structure these meetings so that they work to your advantage.

2.2. Find out what motivates them.

Do you know what gets your team members out of bed in the morning? What they’re passionate about – their goals, aspirations, and interests? In other words, do you really know your team members? Great leaders show an interest in their people’s jobs and career aspirations in order to motivate them the right way. Once that’s been established, they look into the future to create learning and development opportunities for their people. They find out what motivates their best people by getting to know what desires will drive each team member. This is about emotional engagement.

2.3. Provide the resources they need to do their work exceptionally well.

It’s a simple question, but you’d be surprised how often it is not asked: “What do you need right now to do your job better?” You may be surprised, or even shocked at the answer; it could be that they need access to more information to make the right decisions, better equipment or even another work space. Acting on what you find out will be a huge motivational booster.

2.4. Praise and compliment them often.

“I don’t like to be recognized,” said no human being, ever. Leaders have to get into the habit of praising and complimenting their people for their good qualities and work. Successful leaders use recognition and praise as a powerful motivator to get their team commitments. They find that employees who receive such recognition on a regular basis increase their individual productivity, receive higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers, and are more likely to stay with their organization. How regular are we talking?

2.5. Help co-create purposeful work.

People want meaning and purpose in their work. In the book Give and Take, Wharton professor Adam Grant says that when a person finds purpose in their work, it not only improves that person’s happiness, it also boosts productivity. One way to give employees that purpose, according to Grant, is to have them meet the very people they are helping and serving, even if just for a few minutes.

2.6. Help them develop new skills.

Although important, I’m not so much talking about putting them through another required technical or safety training program to keep them or the business compliant, but actually giving them meaningful new skills or knowledge in other areas that they can use to leverage their natural strengths for future roles, whether with their current company or another company. The point is to serve and value them so exceptionally well as people and workers that they have no reason to leave but use their newfound skills for new projects.

3.How can a leader help others achieve a purpose?

The best leaders delegate often and give their employees responsibility for delivering challenging work. If this doesn’t happen in your workplace, consider two hard questions:

Do you trust your knowledge workers to do what they’ve been hired to do?

Do they have the right competence for the job to carry out the work with confidence?

Focus on making others successful. Communicate a powerful vision. Deliver positive results. Build alliances via strategic networking. Increase self-awareness and self-monitoring.

4.What roles does empowerment play in leadership development?

Empowerment is a means to include the team in decision making, to give them a participatory role which capitalizes on their own expertise and judgment, and that increases their sense of both individual worth and commitment to the organization. When planning to empower employees, the leader needs to first examine the organization as a whole, including the company’s mission, goals, financial state, and employee training needs. Then the leader would give employees some decision-making responsibilities and provide coaching as needed.

5.Can a leader be selective amongst who to Inspire?

A leader must lead all, essentially pulling everybody along because the strength of a chain lies in its weakest link. It is only natural that in any group a leader will find some inner circle among the group members. But this should not create disdain for others outside that inner circle.

6.How can a leader help others to actualise their personal visions/goals?

6.1 Regularly discuss performance objectives.

6.2 Include a way to measure personal growth.

6.3 Offer opportunities for employee development.

6.4 Support employees who want to pursue new roles in the company.

6.5 Offer career coaching to help employees achieve their goals.

How should a leader handle or deal with a difficult follower?

No matter how long you’ve been in post, the challenges of a tough team member never go away. Maybe it’s one person, or maybe it’s a small group, either way, there will be a potential headache for you. One thing I’ve noticed among clients is that a difficult team member(s) often becomes the focus for the leader – to the exclusion of all else it seems. That person becomes their Achilles heel and absorbs time and attention in a disproportionate amount compared to the challenges that team member actually presents.

So – here’s one thing you need to know.

One effective way to handle a difficult person, is to strengthen the team around that person so that his negative influence is diluted. It’s hard to gossip if no-one will listen to you. It’s impossible to spread rumors if everyone around you already knows the truth. It’s tough to spread negativity if everyone is highly motivated and positive. It’s a challenge to bad-mouth others if the others are liked and respected. It’s uncomfortable attempting to be snide if your colleagues are ready to call you out on your behaviour. Do you see the idea here? Instead of fixing the behaviour you don’t want, encourage the ones you do. Strongly, passionately and relentlessly. You could also consider appropriate sanctions as a way of reforming this person.

8. Is role model or mentoring relevant for leadership development?

Because a role model sets an example that others try to follow, a role model is thus a leader. They use this self-awareness to better themselves and develop positive qualities associated with good role models, such as optimism, support, and empathy to develop their employees. The leadership behavior, modeling the way, is simply the leader doing what he or she expects the followers to do or to become. If you expect people to speak respectfully to each other, you speak respectfully to them.

You have inspired a lot of leaders. Please share what has worked for you?

More and more people feel stuck at work and are looking for validation. Not only do they want to be heard, but more importantly they want to know that their contributions are being noticed and not taken for granted. Not for the sake of attention, but more so because they want to know that their skill sets are still relevant and useful and that they are making a difference to advance the organizations they serve. Tell people exactly what you want them to do; motivate them enough to share in any sacrifices necessary. Appeal to their emotions; Give people multiple reasons for doing what you want them to do; Be the change you want to inspire and Finally appeal to people’s value system.

How can a leader avoid costly mistakes?

Leadership also comes with its share of challenges, especially if you’re new to it. How do you earn your team’s respect? What do you do when you have to supervise friends? How can you lead a staff and still get your own work done?

10.1 Doing everything yourself

New leaders often feel they can’t ask for help without undermining their authority. Worse, they believe if they don’t take on everything, their boss and staff will think they aren’t up to the challenge. Simply put: You can’t do it all.

10.2 Being on the same terms with former peers

No one said it would be easy to supervise people you used to work side by side with. It’s tempting to keep things the same as they’ve always been, but this is a mistake. Trying to be both a friend and a boss sets you up for bad decision making, awkward conflicts and accusations of favoritism. Set boundaries quickly rather than seeing how things develop, or else you may cause confusion and foster resentment.

10.3 Nit-picking your team

While you want to prove to senior management that they didn’t make a mistake by promoting you, resist the temptation to helicopter over staff to make sure everything gets done just right. Doing so sabotages employee motivation and leads to disgruntlement, not respect. Strong leaders empower their team to make smart decisions, take wise risks and manage their own workflow. Bad bosses cause good employees to quit.

10.4 Trying to make your mark right away

To show the team you’re now in charge, you should make a series of sweeping changes immediately. Right? Wrong. You first need to adjust to your new role and learn more about your team’s dynamics. Listen to your staff. Seek your boss’s advice. Read books on leadership. Then, start with small, incremental changes. There’ll be plenty of time for major overhauls later.