Treating your followers the way you enjoy being treated

Lal Fonseka Productivity Consultant, Brandix Lanka Limited

This is the final article I write on the subject on the Sri Lankan leadership though there are enough of things in my bag to elaborate on this subject. Today we will talk about the respect for people which is the main weakness of our leaders.

There are a number of facets to the Japanese respect for and treatment of workers. One of the most prominent is lifetime employment. When many Japanese workers are hired for permanent positions in major industrial firms, they can generally consider it a job for life. When the Sri Lankan workers are hired for permanent positions, can they consider it a job for life? Our main problem in organization is the retaining workers for a long period. A majority of the workers do not wish to work in one particular place more than a couple of years, mainly because of the lack of confidence they could lay on their leaders.

In Japan, most of the benefits apply only to permanent workers, about one-third of the Japanese workforce. It is felt that if workers can stay with one firm for life, they more easily identify with the firm's goals and objectives. But in contrast, our organizational leaders hide these factors from their workers thinking that information are restricted only to themselves which is of course the major setback in our organizations.

Unlike the case for Sri Lankan trade unions, workers who are members of Japanese labour unions identify more with the company than the type of work they are doing.

Also, Japanese unions tend to share the management's view. The better the company performs, the more the worker benefits. As a result, Japanese management believes in giving the workers more opportunity to expand their job boundaries rather than waiting until the worker proves himself. The Japanese also spend more on education and training, for all levels, than any other industrial nation. In Sri Lanka, most of the organizations believe that training is an unwanted expenditure. As the Japanese believe that robots free people for more important tasks, they have invested heavily in robotics and automated equipment, making theirs perhaps the most automated manufacturing sector in the world.

Another area in which Japanese management has successfully tapped into worker potential is in the use of small group improvement activities (SGIA). One example is quality circles, a small group of volunteer employees who meet once a week, on a scheduled basis, to discuss their functions and the problems they are encountering.

They then propose solutions and make a sincere attempt to implement real change. In Sri Lanka, quality circle concept is a dead concept at the birth itself. We could hardly see a place where quality circle concept is in practice successfully in our country.

Another important management practice, the Japanese believe in what they call 'bottom round' management. This concept, sometimes called consensus management or committee management, is an innate part of Japanese culture.

It involves a slow decision-making process that attempts to reach a true consensus rather than a compromise. While the decision-making process is slow the implementation process is quite fast.

In Japan, good leadership is often associated with the ability to act as a role model of the company's philosophy and a deep understanding of work on the ground (called genchi genbutsu). This traditional Japanese style of leadership was made popular across the world in the 80s when Japanese companies successfully expanded their operations overseas.

Much of the recent leadership research focuses on 'developing global leaders' or 'internationalizing leadership competencies'. Interestingly, this article does not lead to yet another leadership framework, but rather to a flexible way of practicing leadership: there is a general understanding that that there is no 'one-size fits all' approach to leadership.

I have in the last few years met a few directors of Sri Lankan companies who I would qualify as good ‘global leaders.'One of them re-structured a subsidiary and made it profitable for the first time in its history. He had earned the trust of his management team and of his workforce, despite many redundancies. He was also known for being the first at work and greeting everyone at the main entrance as he come to work very early in the morning. He had in many ways a typically Japanese leadership style: he wanted to be a role model and gave an obsessive attention to what was happening on the ground. His management team was sometimes bemused by his behaviour, but they truly appreciated and respected him.

I have met a few other chief executive officers (CEOs) and managing directors (MDs) who in similar ways were able to earn the trust and respect of their team. As I tried to think of what they have in common, I noticed that they all have an extremely good, powerful relationship with at least one of their directors, a Japanese style head or a human resources (HR) director. This relationship allows them to be influential across the entire organization: acting as a sounding board or a kind of coach. The colleague seems to give them confidence and the right attitude in leading their teams.

In my knowledge, the most successful ‘global' leaders are those who are willing to re-learn leadership each time they move to a new team or new location. I believe that a key success factor is to build a strong relationship with a peer or coach or mentor who can give them constructive feedback and help them adapt their style to their new work environment.

No one can lead without being criticized or without facing discouragement. A potential leader needs a mental toughness.

Peer respect does not reveal ability, but it can show character and personality. A quality and effective looks for people whose associates want them to succeed. It is tough enough to succeed when everybody wants you to succeed. There may be people who do not want you to succeed, and they are like weights in your running shoes. I do not want and it is not important your people to like you. It is important that they respect you. They may like you but not follow you. If they respect you, they will follow you, even if perhaps they do not like you.

As a potential leader, you may need to find out as to whether your family does respect you. Do they really respect you? A couple of years ago, my daughter who is now around 10 years old said, "Dad, one thing I appreciate is that after you speak and I walk up, you are always attentive to me. You seem proud of me." That meant a lot to me. If respect is not there, that is also visible. The family's feelings toward someone reveal much about his or her potential to lead.

A quality that makes people listens to them. Potential leaders have a 'holding court' quality about them. When they speak, people listen. Other people may talk a great deal, but nobody listens to them. They are making a speech; they are not giving leadership. I take notice of people to whom others listen.

Trust is the basis for all the relationships in your life. Without trust, it is impossible to create healthy and productive environments, either in work or personal situations.

Be aware that others are watching you because you are a leader. They do assess your values system and integrity. People want to be assured that their trust, followed closely by their respect is being placed in a safe place -- your hands -- and that they are indeed wise to follow where you lead.

When people trust you, they are more willing to give their best, as they know that they always get your best. This leadership quality is sometime referred as integrity or honour, but all these terms have the same basic meaning: you say what you do and do what you say ... period.

I had a client who was really a terrific person. He was chasing very hard for the role of CEO in his organization. Eventually, though, he came to realize that he was driving so very hard for this role, for all the wrong reasons.

Deep down he did not truly believe in himself and his own innate worth. He was hungering badly for the CEO role to prove to others (family, friends, work colleagues) that he was indeed 'good enough.'

The most dangerous thing he had was he was taking credits for the other people’s work, trying to involve himself in everything so that he felt he had control over what was happening, pushing people and so on.

Throughout his services as the top leader, he continued to tell people and higher authorities that he was there to support people and wanted them to be successful.

Great words, but the actions he was taking simply did not support the rhetoric. As you can guess, people began not to trust him because they could see he was in congruent in what he said and what he did.

Make others feel important.

If your goals and decisions are self-centered, followers will lose their enthusiasm quickly. Emphasize their strengths and contributions, not your own.

In winding up the article, I would like to mention the golden rule of the leadership.

“Treat your followers the way you enjoy being treated. An abusive leader attracts few loyal followers.”