In Leading from the Heart, an experienced executive provides valuable insight for current and future leaders on managerial techniques for achieving worker satisfaction and higher productivity. John Heie relies on more than thirty-five years of corporate business experience that included leading a staff of over 1,000; to share the lessons he discovered in the trenches while learning to become an effective leader. Heie offers sound leadership principles, ways to embrace and implement change, and shares the twelve attributes workers really want from their leaders that include: • A say in shaping vision • Conversations about values • Rewards for effecting constructive change • Freedom to make decisions • Encouragement and resources that enable growth • Recognition of accomplishments • An open invitation to speak and be heard As Heie leads beginning managers through the steps to become caring leaders, he proves time and time again that workers are the key to an organization's success because when the workers are fulfilled, happy, and loved, the rewards are enormous for everyone.

Leading from the Heart

What Workers Say about Good LeadersBy John Heie

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 John Heie
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-0443-9

Contents

Acknowledgments................................................viiForeword.......................................................ixPreface........................................................xiChapter 1 The "L" Word.........................................1Chapter 2 Fly Me to the Moon...................................6Chapter 3 You Are Your Values..................................15Chapter 4 All We Need Is a Little Culture......................19Chapter 5 Can You Spare Some Change?...........................26Chapter 6 Getting It Done the Best Way.........................33Chapter 7 Power to the People..................................45Chapter 8 How Am I Doing?......................................57Chapter 9 A Little Applause Please.............................65Chapter 10 Training + Development = Growth.....................72Chapter 11 Who Should I Make Happy?............................79Chapter 12 Are You Being Heard?................................87Chapter 13 Integrity, Trust, and Concern.......................95References.....................................................101Recommended Reading............................................103About the Author...............................................105

Chapter One

The "L" Word

The words "manager" and "leader" are often used interchangeably. Is there a difference? I believe so. If you manage something, then you take care of things, you direct it, and you make sure it's going well and according to plan. If you lead, you are going somewhere new.

Warren Bennis, the leadership guru, made the distinction as follows, "The manager administers; the leader innovates." He also said, "The managers accept the status quo; the leader challenges it" (Bennis 1989). So leadership is all about change, going where you haven't been before. You are not standing still. You are moving forward. You are envisioning a new future. You encourage change and innovation in every thing you do. You have a healthy and restless dissatisfaction with the status quo. You are never satisfied.

Many organizations of all types aren't going anywhere. What we did yesterday is good enough for today. It's worked so far, so don't mess with it. Just keep it on cruise control. Well, leaders don't do cruise control. With time, an organization that doesn't continually reinvent itself has a high probability of becoming irrelevant and possibly extinct.

This book is about change and how to implement it. It takes a concerted effort and focus to be successful. I believe there is a way to succeed. The key is with the workers who do not operate in a supervisory capacity. They are valuable as individuals with their own needs and aspirations. They are not chess pieces to be moved around by the boss.

In most organizations, workers greatly outnumber supervisory personnel. And because they are closer to the customer than their supervisors are, their performance is critical in the pursuit of customer satisfaction. If they view their jobs in a favorable light, they can contribute greatly to the success of the organization. How would you like to be in an organization where the workers say the following?

Vision: I had a say in shaping the vision of the organization. I understand it, I am excited about it, and I am committed to working together with all members of the organization to implement the vision.

Values: I was given the opportunity to present to management what I think the organization's actual values are and what I think they should be.

Culture: I find that management consistently lives out the organization's stated values, thereby helping me and all other workers to do the same.

Change: I want to effect constructive change in my area of responsibility because I am rewarded for doing so.

Process Improvement: Having been motivated to make constructive changes, I now analyze how I do things to see if I can perform in a more innovative and efficient way to help the organization reach its goals.

Empowerment: I was given clear decision-making responsibilities within understandable guidelines and constraints, and I was provided with the resources and coaching needed to help me succeed.

Performance Evaluation: I was able to concentrate on high-priority tasks consistent with the organization's vision, and my performance relative to these tasks was evaluated fairly, both commending me and suggesting areas where I could experience growth and development.

Rewards and Recognition: I receive fair pay for my performance in meeting my individual goals. But, more importantly, I am valued, and my accomplishments are recognized and applauded.

Growth and Development: I am being trained and developed so I am growing and more valuable to my organization. I am better prepared for the future.

The Customer: I have a clear understanding of who my customers are, both within and external to our organization, and the importance of satisfying their needs and desires. In turn, I am rewarded for doing so.

Communication: There are excellent channels of communication, both up and down the organization chart. I can speak my mind, and I am heard.

Integrity, Trust, and Concern: The best thing about my job is that my supervisor has integrity. She trusts me, and she is concerned about my well-being.

Are there any organizations like that? Probably not! Is this too idealistic a scenario? Probably! But is it something that all leaders and organizations should work toward? Definitely!

Would you say that workers who can honestly say these twelve things feel important? I would say so! They feel important because they are being given the opportunity to use their talents and abilities, which allows them to make major and meaningful contributions to the organization.

Good workers want the things listed above. Many leaders are too self-absorbed to care about the needs and aspirations of their workers. They want to be kings of the mountain. If workers can say the things listed, it is strong evidence that the leader cares about the worker's personal well-being as well as his job satisfaction. It reflects an attitude of leading from the heart on the part of the leader.

How can you get your workers to come to the conclusions I have described? I answer that question with a separate chapter covering each of the above bullets. I submit that, if workers feel that way, their performance will improve substantially, resulting in increased productivity and a healthier bottom line for your organization and you. It is a win-win situation for the workers and leaders.

If workers feel the way I have described, it is evidence that the leader is not the star solo violinist. He is the orchestra leader, making all of the instrumentalists play together harmoniously, using the talents of each artist. In an organizational context, he is getting leverage from his workers as they make their individual contributions.

This orchestra metaphor raises another point. Is the orchestra leader the most competent of all of the instrumentalists? No. The trombone player is the most competent on the trombone. The orchestra leader has to be competent enough to lead the overall effort, but he doesn't have to be the resident expert on all of the instruments.

Some leaders, especially those who are very smart, feel they are the resident experts on everything in their domain. They don't know what they don't know. This attitude detracts from the utilization of the best talents of each team member in the accomplishment of the organizational objectives.

More on Leaders vs. Managers

Now let's go back to where we started, distinguishing between leaders and managers. What type of person is needed in a strategic planning setting when an organization is attempting to implement a new vision? A simple definition of strategic planning is, "Where you want to go and how to get there." The visionary leader may know where he wants to go, but the hard work comes in getting there. That takes good management. Many a vision or dream of change has gone up in smoke because of poor implementation. So when implementing a new strategic direction, an organization needs both a good leader and a good manager.

Can a given individual be both a good leader and a good manager? From my experience, the answer is rarely yes. It seems like there is a natural propensity to be one or the other. If one does not perform both functions well, the individual has to purposely focus on the area where he is weak in order to be successful.

Or else the person needs to hire somebody to complement himself in his area of weakness. I worked with a visionary director in a nonprofit organization who had trouble managing the details necessary to achieve his vision. He eventually hired a deputy who was more of a linear thinker, who then did battle with the devil on the details of implementation

With that introduction, I will now cover what should be the first manifestation of good leadership, namely having a vision, or knowing where you want to go.

Chapter Two

Fly Me to the Moon

Helen Keller said, "It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision." One can conclude that, to her way of thinking, there was something worse than being born without sight, and that was being born with sight and no vision. Having a personal vision propelled her to great heights despite her blindness. Everyone in life, individuals and organizations, needs a dream or ambition to bring meaning to life. It has great sustaining value.

Every organization must know where it is going. It is the leader's responsibility to see that this happens. While there are different ways of establishing the vision, depending on the size and nature of the organization, the leader guides the ship to the targeted destination.

It is one of the leader's main responsibilities to champion the vision. He must be passionate and maybe even a little fanatical about it. But he also must be sincere about it. False passion will be detected early. False passion is often manifested by a lack of action. It's just a lot of talk.

It is also the leader's responsibility to maximize worker buy-in of the vision. That involves an attempt to get everyone in the organization moving wholeheartedly in the same direction. He must align the workers with the vision without manipulating them, which can result in a false or shallow buy-in.

Vision is sometimes confused with mission. Different definitions are used in the world of strategic planning, sometimes leading to confusion. I am adopting the following definitions. Mission is what you do. Vision gives scope to the mission. NASA was formed in 1958 to do space exploration for the United States. That was their mission.

But in what direction should the exploration go? President Kennedy gave scope or direction to the mission: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." That was his vision, where he wanted to go and what he wanted to accomplish in the long run.

Another view of vision is that it "should stretch the company's view of itself ... and ... thrash the orthodox views of engagement" (Gouillart and Kelly 1995). Barnes & Noble started as a sleepy wholesaler of books. They got a vision to become a social outlet where customers could read, relax, meet people, and have companionship over coffee. They thrashed the orthodox view of engagement. And, by the way, they have sold a lot of books in the process.

What should a vision look like? What should it do? What should its elements be? Let's look at President Kennedy's vision, truly a monumental one. I believe this one example contains all of the necessary elements of any vision. As a leader, try to maximize the use of these elements as you develop your organizational vision.

Go Boldly: A vision should be bold, or maybe even a little bit crazy. When Kennedy said we would go to the moon in nine years, the necessary technology was far from available. It was science-fiction stuff. He had the faith to be bold when he had no idea if the technology was going to be advanced enough to enable the country to meet the goal. He was in uncharted waters. A vision should represent a stretch, but be realistic enough to motivate workers. There can be a fine line between boldness and realism. If Kennedy had said, "Let's do it in two years instead of nine," everybody would have said, "Yeah, right." The vision would have been totally discounted. While I was a member of a national church board responsible for starting new churches for the Church of the Lutheran Brethren (CLB), our board stated that our vision was to start forty-eight churches in North America in the next ten years. Our national organization had started approximately one hundred churches in the last one hundred years. Someone asked me, "Are you serious?" He didn't think the goal was credible. He was right. We fell far short of our goal.

Use vision as a template for decisions: A vision should be used as a template for decisions. When used as a template, it makes for a focused use of resources. If the effort doesn't contribute to the vision, it goes on the back burner. In the 1960s, the main focus for NASA was, "To the moon, Alice!" A vision template will be a constant reminder that specific actions are required to reach the goal. Wal-Mart has had great success at discount retailing over the years. They have undoubtedly focused on discounting across the board as a template for doing business, and it has served them well. With this strategy, Sam Walton established a new view of how to attract customers.

Make it measurable: A vision should be measurable. Many visions are not. If your organization has a published vision, check it out. An airline once had a vision to become the world's favorite airline. How would they know when you got there? NASA would either get to the moon by 1970, or it wouldn't. If a vision is not measurable, it loses meaning quickly. Workers don't know what they are working toward.

Make it easy to remember: A vision should be easy to remember. If it's fifty words long, it will not sink in. It will be relegated to a strategic planning book on the shelf, possibly to never be read again. I have seen vision statements that are two to three pages long. In cases like that, are people expected to remember it? Getting to the moon by 1970 was easy to remember. It provided an image without great detail. If a vision statement is too long, a fix would be to paraphrase the intent to make it more memorable. A slogan, which captures the essence of the vision, can have the same effect. For example, in a retail context, a slogan could be "opening fifteen more stores by 2015." That's easy to remember, isn't it?

Make it positive and inspiring: A vision should be positive and inspiring, something that workers can get excited about and rally around. It should arouse and motivate workers. Dr. Charles Garfield wrote a book entitled Peak Performers (Garfield 1987). He was a NASA scientist in the early Apollo days. He observed that people were galvanized by the mission to go to the moon. They worked incredible hours, made remarkable sacrifices, and gave the best they had in them. There was a glassy-eyed intensity based on their energy and passion, something he had seldom seen before. They were committed to the accomplishment of the vision. This kind of commitment paid off. Man did reach the moon by 1970. Many people, even some scientists, didn't think man would ever reach the moon, even if there were major scientific advances in the future. They all underestimated the power of vision. People who are excited about a vision will not get discouraged when the going gets tough. A powerful vision will help people to persevere and stay focused on the goal even when there are obstacles to be overcome and temporary setbacks. They are able to look at the bigger picture.

Make it draw people in: A vision should attract people to the organization. If it is positive and inspiring, it will accomplish that. Engineers and scientists were excited about getting onboard the moon program. They wanted to be a part of that adventure. There was low turnover because they were spellbound by the vision and the living of it day by day. They weren't interested in working anywhere else.

Make it relevant: With regard to the elements of a vision, I have saved the most difficult point for last. Workers should be able to find their place in accomplishing the vision. It should have personal significance. Were the NASA accountants in accounts payable excited and motivated by the moon vision? Perhaps they were because it was so compelling. So how do you maximize the relevance of a vision to all workers? A small cog in a big wheel may say, "What's in it for me? Why should I get aligned with the vision?" What if a company's vision is to have a profit margin of a certain percentage by 2012? How can you make that relevant to every worker? How about rewarding all workers via a profit-sharing program? A concerted effort should be made to make the vision relevant to as many workers as possible. In our earlier example of a vision to open fifteen more stores by 2015, if that is a 100 percent increase in the number of stores, could a clerk in one of the existing stores relate to that vision? Perhaps. Growth at that scale will undoubtedly afford promotional opportunities. She might aspire to be the manager of one of the new stores.

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