the employee is given the opportunity to determine their next project themselves.
They are given more time to work on their favorite project. Or they can take part in
education and training programs, and more. In working to promote employees’ self-
esteem and identification with their work, it is crucial that performance is clearly
communicated, both internally and externally – and not that the boss collects all the
praise for the work that his or her subordinates have done.
Peter F. Drucker especially emphasized this aspect. He felt that there are four
prerequisites for meaningful human relationships: communication, teamwork, self-
development and the development of others (see Drucker 1967, p. 107). From this
perspective, managers are the trustees of their employees’ resources. In many
companies, however, there is hardly any real contact. Though there are many
discussions, conferences and meetings, most of them fall under the category of
“plenty of talk, but precious little content.” Often this is mainly due to leaders’
hesitation to make binding commitments and failure to truly open themselves to the
other party.
It is about recognizing the other party as a person and developing an idea about
what drives them. Here, dealing with emotions is extremely important. Therefore,
the technical level is often reduced to a minimum in our systemic leadership
seminars. We want the managers to develop a feeling for what is going on at the
subconscious and unconscious levels, and not just stop at the surface. It is primarily
the leader who determines the working environment and controls interactions and
communication within the team.
Whoever knows how the other person is doing can much better deal with him or
her, thus strengthening personal contact. This also includes expressing feelings.
Once this level of contact has been established and each party can be certain of
being treated with respect by the other, “negative” emotions such as anger can be
addressed and discussed openly. A leader must provide his or her employees with
both room to grow and a sense of security, which involves challenging and
supporting them on the one hand and listening to and respecting them on the
other. This in turn has a lot to do with having a positive view of people in general.
The relationship between leader and led, however, is always a balancing act:
admiration can quickly turn to worship, just as criticism can devolve into senseless
acts of rebellion. But if both the leader and his or her staff are aware of these
dangers, a solid start in moving towards a different corporate culture has been
made. A great deal of relationship management is required from leaders – this is and
will remain true. Nevertheless, it is also fair to expect good employees to be able to
gain attention for themselves and their ideas. I have often noticed that employees
are very quick to complaint about the leadership not being suitably accessible. Of
course this is often true, but did these employees try to put themselves in the
leader’s shoes, and have all possible means of communication been tried? Making
excuses is an easy trap to fall into.
3.2 Leading with Your Head and Heart 189