Whenever we used to visit my grandma as a child, my mum would always remind us before we arrived: “Don’t talk about politics, religion or the royal family” – a guiding principle that has influenced my life ever since. So it is with slight trepidation that I bring up the topic of Dominic Cumming’s recent ventures during the coronavirus lockdown. Now, I’m not going to get into the rights and wrongs of it all – we all have our own opinions on that. But along with other such instances by Professor Neil Ferguson (epidemiologist at Imperial College) and Dr Catherine Calderwood (ex-Scottish Chief Medical Officer), it highlights the importance of role modelling as a leader in order to maintain trust and encourage others to do what is asked of them. It also raises the thorny issue many senior leaders face when one of their team is clearly not role modelling the organisational behaviours expected.
As children, we would howl with frustration and indignation if our parents were seen to be not following the rules and expectations they set out for us. Sadly, the classic ‘do as I say, not as I do’ continues from our childhoods all the way through to our employed adult selves. And the injustice of it doesn’t disappear. Common examples such as expecting first line and middle leaders to lead their people well and effectively when senior leaders are not visibly doing this themselves, can quickly lead to frustration, cynicism and loss of trust. Quite understandably, people often resent being told they should be motivating, developing and engaging their people if their own leaders are not doing the same. Indeed, one of the phrases I hear the most often in leadership development programmes is, “My leader doesn’t do that.”
The impact this has is difficult to see and measure, so it often goes unchallenged, but it undoubtedly results in a less effective culture – and can be seen in lower engagement, lower productivity, lower innovation and higher colleague turnover. Ultimately, it results in an organisation which is less able to compete in a fast-moving and competitive environment.
On the flip side, a leader whose actions are congruent with their words – who role models the behaviour they expect from others – will create a powerful culture of growth, creativity and motivation.
So what can leaders do to ensure they are doing what they expect others to do?
In my opinion, most leaders do not deliberately set out to say or do things that oppose the expectations within the culture of their own organisation. Many are simply unaware that their words and actions are having such a significant impact. The more senior a leader you are, the more people you influence within your organisation. Being constantly mindful of this by developing your emotional intelligence is therefore crucial.
Some key tips are:
There’s nothing more frustrating than being expected to lead your team effectively, by using such skills as coaching or giving feedback, when you can’t remember the last time your own leaders did the same.
As leaders progress up the organisation, they often forget to use some of the fundamental skills and behaviours of excellent people leadership, when they become distracted by larger business challenges. This unwittingly often gives others tacit permission to not use these skills either, and before you know it, no-one is managing the performance of the organisation effectively.
It can be difficult as a leader to admit that you aren’t confident in using certain skills or that your emotional intelligence could improve. Therefore, investing in your ongoing development is crucial for keeping your skill and confidence levels up. As well as formal learning such as leadership development programmes, consider what suits your learning style and needs best. Some things to consider are:
Leaders often gather people around them who they like and trust (which are often those who think like them), and this can often unwittingly turn into what is seen as a clique. Over time, the clique develops group-think and start to behave in a way designed to keep themselves within the safety of the in-group. This is where ‘in’ jokes, private conversations and coalitions can cause untold damage within an organisation.
It is natural to want to spend more time with people who are like you, or whose expertise you value highly (consider how much Boris Johnson must value Dominic Cummings to have not insisted on his immediate resignation). However, this can have two effects. It reduces the diversity of opinion, knowledge and experience, which makes decision-making significantly less effective. It also creates an insider/ outside culture – where those ‘inside’ are seen as favoured and everyone else feels less valued and therefore less engaged.
By consciously and regularly seeking out the opinion of those who you don’t know very well, or perhaps even like less than others, you can learn much more about what’s going on inside and outside of your organisation and gather a diverse range of opinions. This will help you to make better decisions, and also make people feel valued and less resentful that the leader is only spending time with their favoured colleagues.
When leaders are reluctant to lose a particular person from their organisation, despite poor behaviour, it is often due to the individual’s power. This comes from a specific source, such as their highly specialised expertise, strong customer relationships or extensive industry network. Such individuals can be highly influential, which can result in their poor behaviour being ignored or excused by other leaders. The damage this does to the rest of the organisation is high. Leaders lose credibility when asking others to behave in a certain way when they are also turning a blind eye for others who are blatantly not behaving in this way.
Leaders cannot afford therefore, to allow themselves to get into a position where one or a few individuals hold such a high level of power. They need to ensure a spread of power throughout the organisation, so that no one individual becomes greater than the organisation itself.
Things to consider are:
The trick of course with all of the above is to do them consistently. This after all is the definition of role modelling – consistently displaying the behaviours that you expect of others. This may involve creating some new habits, even some new ways of considering who you are as a leader. But ultimately it will pay priceless dividends in the engagement, productivity and continuous innovation from your people.
In order to sense check how consistently you are displaying the behaviours the organisation expects from others:
– Get feedback regularly from a variety of people, as well as using organisation-wide surveys and temperature checks.
– Take time to reflect on how often you are displaying the behaviours which are implicitly or explicitly expected within the organisation.
– Seek out mentors, coaches and peers from other organisations who will hold a mirror up to you, inspire you and build your confidence
The recent high-profile instances during coronavirus of (let’s call it for the sake of politeness) incongruency, highlights the importance of role modelling, and how quickly trust can be lost without it. As leaders, we should be constantly vigilant about what we are saying versus what we’re doing. It is easier said than done (so to speak), but given leaders create the culture of their organisation, what you give is what you get.
