Michael Schrage, writing in the Harvard Business Review, recently identified the 4 “C’s” of great leadership:
Creativity
Confidence
Character
Charisma
These are the qualities that should be on display when a leader leads by example. Schrage makes the point that great leaders understand that every time they do or say anything, they are setting an example. It isn’t just when they think they are making a point - it’s their entire behaviour.
What do leaders think?
Schrage interviewed a number of successful leaders in American business, to find out what they defined as leading by example. Their answers were interesting. We all know that Silicon Valley companies have been in trouble over their attitudes lately. One CEO of a tech company spent an entire day in diversity training with his staff, to show how important he considered it to be.
In a similar vein, an executive from a manufacturing company took Spanish lessons to show her Spanish-speaking workforce that she was serious about communicating with them, and a senior project manager sacked one of his staff for falsifying the results of a quality audit, to demonstrate that integrity was key.
These instances of leading by example are fine, but you’ll have noticed that they are stronger on confidence and character than they are on creativity and charisma. Charisma is particularly important in motivating employees to share the leader’s vision for where the organisation is going. Leadership by example doesn’t necessarily mean leading from the front. It often means steering a course that others can follow and apply in different contexts.
The US Navy Seals way
Schrage also talked to the famous US Navy Seals about their leadership ethos. They said that leading by example meant that they never asked their team to do something they wouldn’t do themselves. They added that this couldn’t be faked, and that if it was an authentic leadership example, the team would respect the leader and follow them.
Applying this in the agency world
Clearly, one of the quickest ways to lose the respect of your team is to impose standards which you have no intention of meeting. If you’re always late, your team will be, however much you insist on punctuality. If you talk disrespectfully about clients, your team will follow and your clients will soon pick up on it. However, if you set a professional tone for the business, others will naturally adopt it.
If you’re prepared to stay late to see a transaction through, so will your team. But if your team knows that you haven’t actually done a viewing in years, and suspects you think that viewings are beneath you, how much effort are they going to put in? How much attention will they pay when you tell them how you’d like them to do something, if they don’t think you can do it?
So leading by example is really important, especially in a business like an agency, where you’ll constantly encounter ethical challenges and issues relating to good business practice.
If you’re a leader in an agency, an interesting self-development exercise would be to rank the four “Cs” of business leadership in the order you think you have them. Then ask some of your team to do the same, as a peer review. The example you’ll be setting is the importance of reflection and self-challenge. And the answers are bound to be interesting.
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