Leadership In Action & Inaction - Boardroom article published in the Ballston Journal (http://www.theballstonjournal.com/), check it out there or in my blog at: http://capconsult.blogspot.com

Leadership In Action & Leadership Inaction

Over the course of the last month, I have been personal witness to the affects and effects of Leadership In Action and also Leadership Inaction. It reminded me of the truism that everything has consequences, some intended and some unintended, but nonetheless consequences. As leaders in any capacity, we have to think through the full range of consequences of our action as well as our inaction.

This also reminds me of the appreciative leadership strategy of acting and leading with full Integrity. Integrity is defined as “Putting the values and interests of the whole organization first.” Integrity is about the leaders, as well as the members of the group, making decisions and acting in ways that are both truly aligned with the values of the group and focused on what is best for the whole. This is about personal integrity, but also about group integrity. You know it: you have seen it and you have felt it when people put the interests of the whole ahead of their own interests. Appreciative Leadership is truly about integrity.

In more than one instance in the past couple of weeks, I have witnessed first hand the affects and effects of leaders who did not act or lead from a position of full integrity. That is not to say they were dishonest or intentionally harmful for their organization. They are good and honest people, they care about their employees and organizations, yet they appear to have taken some short-term views and avoided taking actions that were in the overall best interest of their organizations. In each of these cases, the leader’s inaction has lead to similar outcomes. Each organization has lost good people through the inaction of their leaders. One organization in now dealing with laying people off, and at the same time, reorganizing their remaining people and processes to recuperate from high debt load caused by the inaction of the most senior leader over a number of years. In this case, as in so many, the effects of inaction are revealed most clearly after a change of leadership. Another organization is seeing a constant turnover of key staff at the mid-level. The departing stories of a majority of key mid-level individuals clearly indicate senior leadership inaction and their not leading with full integrity.

I am not suggesting that there is a general lack of integrity in business and government these days. Leadership with full integrity is demanding and also very rewarding. It comes with responsibility to balance both long and short-term context and make decisions that are truly in line with putting the values and interests of the whole before the interest of individuals.

A recent example of real Leadership In Action, real leadership integrity, was broadcast in the recent episode of Undercover Boss. If you happened to see the program on Sunday, November 21^st, which featured Subway Chief Development Office, Don Fertman, you saw an example of Leadership In Action. . In this particular show, Don, the boss, went “undercover” to find out what is really going on in his organization. He focused on first understanding the customer contact side of the organization and learning the stories of the people who are working in that capacity. It demonstrated the power of listening and being open to discover what is working and what can be done to be even more effective. It also demonstrated the power and benefit of making decisions that are good for the whole. Good for the people who are being served by the organization. Good for the people who work in the organization. Good for the stakeholders and stockholders of the organization. And yes, also good for the leadership, but that is their real job!

The key differences of Leadership In Action involve taking the “long view” and balancing that with the short term decisions and actions that enable the long view to become the near and short term reality of next years and the next decades. Leadership In Action involves truly getting to know people and discovering their strengths, then working with them and their strengths to achieve the full purpose (mission) and vision of the organization. Perhaps the most profound difference is that leaders who are In Action have spent real time IN the Action!

About the Author: Ray Patterson is a founding Principal and the President of Capital Consulting Group, LLC located near Saratoga Springs, NY. He is a seasoned management consultant, business advisor, educator, and entrepreneurial catalyst for companies, organizations, communities and individuals who want to thrive during today’s rapidly changing, customer-driven marketplace. Areas of expertise include strategic thinking, planning, team building, training and the facilitation of organizational agility which is “the ability to thrive in an environment of continuous unanticipated change." Ray is a certified trainer/facilitator for the Corporation for Positive Change - Appreciative Leadership Development Program^©.

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