44 Business Spotlight 2/2020 BUSINESS SKILLS
- Leading ethically
A–D Happiness is not a simple objective for leaders
who wish to “push” people to perform and chal-
lenge people to develop. Stretching people may
occasionally make them feel uncomfortable, but
that is a positive outcome linked to learning.
B–2 With respect to honesty, senior leaders often have
access to privileged information, for which they
need to sign a non-disclosure agreement, even to-
wards their own employees. Confidentiality is part
of leadership.
C–1 One of the great failings of many leaders is to
recruit people too similar to themselves, which
means their values and perspectives remain large-
ly unchallenged. Recruiting a diverse set of talents
is a great way to ensure one’s own values are test-
ed regularly.
D–4 Being negative to others — blaming and criticiz-
ing them — is common, but it is the antithesis of
leadership. Remember that, if you blame others,
you diminish your reputation in their eyes. - Motivating people
A–1 According to a Gallup poll of 2012, companies with
highly motivated employees significantly outper-
form similar companies with average levels of mo-
tivation.
B–1 Motivation is invisible to the naked eye. Other
than using an expert to profile underlying per-
sonality traits, which is increasingly regarded as
old-fashioned and reliant on outmoded concepts
of personality, the simplest method to deter-
mine motivation(s) is careful listening, and using
“why”-questions to uncover underlying beliefs
and needs.
C–3 Employees who refuse to help others are seldom
motivated by malevolence. They are usually indi-
viduals who like clarity of their own role and who
believe that it is more efficient if individuals focus
on their own role rather than collaborating “fuzz-
ily” with others.
D–3 Leaders who are absent, although often criticized
by team members for a lack of care, may actually
be showing a strong sense of trust and care by not
interfering with the activities of team members. - Taking decisions
A–2 The vast majority of leadership literature suggests
that leaders have a significant and single influence
on the reality around them. The reality is some-
what different in organizational situations where
there are multiple stakeholders and often an am-
biguous distribution of power. Groups of individ-
uals acting together can determine change, but
it is always influenced by larger external factors
beyond human control.
B–2 Effective decisions — ones that are creative, sus-
tainable and likely to engage broad commitment
— require a broad alignment among interested
parties.
C–4 Taking good decisions involves considering facts,
showing sensitivity to the perceptions and emo-
tions of those involved, and demonstrating a
healthy level of openness to hear others’ views.
This requires humility and the ability to consider
that one’s own views on a topic may be wrong.
D–1 In the end, time is required to hear the full range
of diverse opinions on complex topics.
7. Promoting performance
A–3 Senior leadership is not about personal perfor-
mance and output. The focus should be on max-
imizing the output among the largest number of
people under one’s leadership.
B–2 People perform best when given a clear framework
within which to perform. Without a clear frame-
work, people may invest energy in the wrong ar-
eas, or go too deeply into the right areas. Clarity
about one’s role is fundamental to performance.
C–2 Coaching, a modern leadership process, is based
on asking questions and not advising.
D–1 The opposite of performance is underperfor m ance,
which must have consequences. If team members
see a colleague not performing well, without clear
sanctions from the team leader, then the leader’s
messages to inspire greater commitment or more
effort will lack credibility.
8. Building trust
A–4 The “trust equation” lists credibility, intimacy and
reliability as key factors in the formation of trust.
B–3 While many commentators focus on the emotional
side of trust, it is vital to bear in mind the role
that competence plays in building trust. If we are
not confident in the ability of an individual to per-
form a task, then it would be foolish to trust them,
whatever the personal relationship involved.
C–2 Trust is thrown away too quickly by many busi-
ness professionals who fail to appreciate that,
when a person fails to deliver on a promise, it
may simply be due to unforeseen additional tasks
rather than a lazy character. View non-delivery on
a promise as a risk to manage, not as a reason to
withdraw trust.
D–2 Paradoxically, conflict may be a signal of trust.
Those who feel comfortable with others, and who
have a certain level of trust, are often more willing
to be honest and open with them — and possibly
even confrontational — than with those to whom
they are less committed.
9. Sharing leadership
A–2 Research shows that diverse teams, if well man-
aged, can outperform homogeneous teams. Diffe-
rent mindsets are an asset that can generate cre-
ative thinking and positive outcomes under shared
leadership.
B–1 Virtual teams struggle to establish a collaborative
approach because individual team members sel-
dom see each other and may focus more on local
tasks than international team duties. Those lead-
ing effective remote teams often identify a local
champion who can act as an ambassador and mo-
tivator for the official team leader on a daily basis,
to keep people focused on virtual team objectives.
C–4 Google invented the notion of “psychological safe-
ty” and indicated that it was essential in order to
avoid fearful silence and enable the open flow of
ideas and commitment — in other words, “shared
leadership”.
D–4 Inspiring a culture of shared leadership is the goal
of many progressive leaders. However, it is not
something that can be inspired via communica-
tion. It needs to be lived out and proved, by taking
the first step by sharing information, resources,
ideas, etc. This will then inspire reciprocity in oth-
ers and deliver mutual commitment and benefit.
alignment [E(laInmEnt]
, Abstimmung,
Koordinierung
ambassador
[Äm(bÄsEdE]
, Botschafter(in)
ambiguous [Äm(bIgjuEs]
, mehrdeutig; hier: unklar
appreciate sth.
[E(pri:SieIt]
, hier: etw. verstehen
asset [(Äset]
, Vermögenswert;
hier: Vorteil, Plus
clarity [(klÄrEti]
, Klarheit
diminish sth. [dI(mInIS]
, etw. schmälern,
herabsetzen
equation [i(kweIZ&n]
, Gleichung
fuzzily [(fVzIli]
, hier: ohne klare
Anweisungen
homogeneous
[)hQmEU(dZi:niEs]
, [wg. Aussprache]
interfere with sth.
[)IntE(fIE wID]
, sich in etw. einmischen
invisible: be ~ to the naked
eye [In(vIzEb&l]
, mit bloßem Auge nicht
zu erkennen sein
malevolence
[mE(levElEns]
, Böswilligkeit
non-disclosure agreement
[)nQn dIs(klEUZE
E)gri:mEnt]
, Verschwiegenheits-
erklärung
objective [Eb(dZektIv]
, Ziel(vorgabe)
outmoded [)aUt(mEUdId]
, überholt
poll [pEUl]
, (Meinungs-)Umfrage
reciprocity [)resI(prQsEti]
, Gegenseitigkeit
remote [ri(mEUt]
, fern; hier: an verschie-
denen Standorten
sensitivity [)sensE(tIvEti]
, Sensibilität
stretch sb. [stretS]
, hier: hohe Anforderun-
gen an jmdn. stellen
sustainable [sE(steInEb&l]
, tragfähig
trait [treIt]
, (Charakter-)Zug,
Merkmal
withdraw sth. [wID(drO:]
, etw. entziehen