Leaders and Teachers

from Able Leader, August 2003

by Steve Kaye

She called to confirm that I would be speaking at the school's commencement ceremony next week. I assured her that I planned be there and was looking forward to the occasion. It is an honor to be asked to give a commencement address.

In the conversation that followed we talked about leadership. And that brought to mind the connection between effective teaching and effective leadership.

Both depend upon the following principles.

1) Create a Safe Environment

People learn more and perform better when they work in a safe environment. Such an environment opens thinking, encourages risks, and promotes creativity.

In contrast, hostile environments cause people to become cautious. That costs you time and money because cautious people always produce less. Sometimes they even retaliate with counterproductive behavior.

Your primary responsibility as a leader is to create an environment that facilitates excellence. It is the foundation of success for you, your staff, and your organization.

Such an environment, while realistic, allows people to be themselves. Such an environment, while honest, rewards people for doing their best. Such an environment, while candid, encourages people to contribute their ideas.

How do you create a safe environment? The quick answer is by the way you communicate, interact, and relate to your staff. Deeper answers include the reward systems, communication patterns, and accepted behavior in your organization.

Take a moment to evaluate if you have created an environment that advances or hinders your goals. Does it free people or hold them back? How would you perform if you were working in this environment (instead of leading it)?

2) Involve the Participants

Adults learn more when they have an active role in their education, and they produce more when they have a genuine stake in their future.

Surveys support this by showing that education with a live instructor produces significantly higher levels of learning, information transfer, and impact than any mechanical system (such as e-learning). People also want to practice what they learn instead of just hear about it, as they would in a lecture.

That same concept applies to leadership. People prefer to participate in making the business work, rather than just being told what to do. Thus, effective leaders assign tasks that challenge creativity, teach new skills, and aid career growth. They also include people in making decisions. As a result, people work harder and produce more because they feel connected with making the business a success.

Take a moment to check if the work that you assign maximizes the return on your payroll investment. Does it make people partners in your success by maximizing their participation? Does it inspire people with the possibility of increasing their value to your organization? Does it advance their careers?

3) Treat Everyone With Respect

People learn when they trust the instructor. And they follow when they trust the leader.

Trust, you must know, is earned by treating others with courtesy and respect.

On the other hand, hostile, rough treatment always breeds fear and suspicion. It causes people to wonder when the next punishment will fall.

Certainly, the people reading this newsletter treat others with respect. And you must know that we show respect through the ways that we communicate, interact, and respond to others.

The challenge then, is to find ways to improve in this area, because your improvements will produce greater levels of trust in return. And that leads to becoming a more effective leader.

Take a moment to assess the level of respect in your organization. Do you model the high levels that you need? And do the members of your staff show respect for each other?

In some ways, a leader is also a teacher. Both of them focus on helping others become more successful. And they do this because their success depends upon the success achieved by others.

Key Point: Leaders create success by teaching others how to excel.

Much success,

Steve Kaye
714-528-1300