everyone happy at any price – a futile attempt that is ultimately unsatisfactory for
all parties.
The difference between leaders who take the initiative and the others becomes
especially evident in times of major change, when work becomes chaotic and
unstructured. Managers who become exhausted by trying to meet all real or
anticipated expectations of their environment become confused and paralyzed by
the lack of a solid structure. Effective leaders try to expand their latitude; they
expand their opportunities and pursue their goals – i.e., the goals of the company –
using new and unconventional approaches.
3.2.5.3 Providing Free Space
Each manager has a clear idea of how their employees should be, and they judge
them according to their own – very rarely questioned – standards. Letting go means
allowing employees to have their own personalities. It means taking them as they
are and refraining from shaping them (see Sprenger 1999, p. 218).
Truly good leader make themselves obsolete. They make the greatest impact not
through their own knowledge, but through the abilities and skills of their
employees, a fact such leaders accept and appreciate. They empower, encourage
and urge on their employees; while making decisions, they consider their impact
on the development of their people. These leaders make sure that the company can
also run without them, and train their successors early on.
Employees today expect more from their work opportunities, in order to get
involved with the full potential of their personality. They want to be involved as
a person and they want to use their abilities for self-organization and acting
autonomously. It is no longer the question: “Live to work, or work to live?” People
want to live while working – and not just after. Reinhard K. Sprenger formulated
this as follows: “The only organization, which we all work for, is called ‘me.’ But
companies rarely offer opportunities to try out that ‘me’ and to lead a happy
professional life. The opportunity to live a self-determined, self-organized
and self-controlled life is the greatest adventure ever. It is about getting to know
your own personality and learning to cross your own boundaries” (Sprenger 1999,
p. 239).
What people need is freedom. The size of their free space is determined by:
the degree of choice, autonomy and decision-making latitude within their defined
scope of work;
the degree of deregulation of labor in the form of eliminating those guidelines,
policies and regulations that are not absolutely necessary;
the proportion of time for independent and creative activities;
the quantity of tasks and projects beyond the scope of work that, in light of their
talents and inclinations, seem particularly interesting to the employees, and
the necessary learning activities.
3.2 Leading with Your Head and Heart 153