Winning - Jack Welch [23]
Now, you might be thinking, “That kind of emotional bonding—it just ain’t me.”
And it isn’t for some people. I’ve seen a few capable managers run their businesses while keeping their people at arm’s length. These managers often demonstrated the right values, like candor and rigor, and they delivered good results.
But in never really getting inside their people, something was lost. Work stayed work.
The right attitude could have made it so much more.
Make that attitude yours.
* * *
RULE 4. Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency, and credit.
* * *
For some people, becoming a leader can be a real power trip. They relish the feeling of control over both people and information.
And so they keep secrets, reveal little of their thinking about people and their performance, and hoard what they know about the business and its future.*
This kind of behavior certainly establishes the leader as boss, but it drains trust right out of a team.
What is trust? I could give you a dictionary definition, but you know it when you feel it. Trust happens when leaders are transparent, candid, and keep their word. It’s that simple.
Your people should always know where they stand in terms of their performance. They have to know how the business is doing. And sometimes the news is not good—such as imminent layoffs—and any normal person would rather avoid delivering it. But you have to fight the impulse to pad or diminish hard messages or you’ll pay with your team’s confidence and energy.
Leaders also establish trust by giving credit where credit is due. They never score off their own people by stealing an idea and claiming it as their own. They don’t kiss up and kick down because they are self-confident and mature enough to know that their team’s success will get them recognition, and sooner rather than later. In bad times, leaders take responsibility for what’s gone wrong. In good times, they generously pass around the praise.
When you become a leader, sometimes you really feel the pull to say, “Look at what I’ve done.” When your team excels, it’s only normal to want some credit yourself.
After all, you run the show. You hand out the paychecks, so people listen to your every word (or pretend to) and they laugh at all your jokes (or pretend to). In some companies, being boss means getting a special parking place or traveling first class. It could go to your head. You could really start to feel pretty big.
Don’t let it happen.
Remember, when you were made a leader you weren’t given a crown, you were given a responsibility to bring out the best in others. For that, your people need to trust you. And they will, as long as you demonstrate candor, give credit, and stay real.*
* * *
RULE 5. Leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls.
* * *
By nature, some people are consensus builders. Some people long to be loved by everyone.
Those behaviors can really get you in the soup if you are a leader, because no matter where you work or what you do, there are times you have to make hard decisions—let people go, cut funding to a project, or close a plant.
Obviously, tough calls spawn complaints and resistance. Your job is to listen and explain yourself clearly but move forward. Do not dwell or cajole.
You are not a leader to win a popularity contest—you are a leader to lead. Don’t run for office. You’re already elected.
Sometimes making a decision is hard not because it’s unpopular, but because it comes from your gut and defies a “technical” rationale.
Much has been written about the mystery of gut, but it’s really just pattern recognition, isn’t it? You’ve seen something so many times you just know what’s going on this time. The facts may be incomplete or the data limited, but the situation feels very, very familiar to you.*
Leaders are faced