Are You Leading at the Right Level?

Posted on 06/01/2011 at 08:00 am

Most of leadership development literature – and leadership development approaches – offer one-size-fits-all techniques for improving leadership: “Be visionary,” “have a mission,” “drive results,” “learn to develop your people,” etc, etc.  While well meaning, much of this advice misses the mark because in actuality, how you lead should necessarily depend on your level in the organization. First-line leaders should lead differently from second line managers who, in turn, should lead differently from senior leaders. From our experience coaching over 1000 leaders, we know that most leaders grasp this intellectually, yet struggle to articulate what should be different and really struggle to operate consistently at the correct level. We see this clearly in business and government, and particularly in organization requiring highly technical skills – IT, science, financial analytics, and other highly analytical organizations.

To help understand the desired leadership behaviors at different levels in the organization, let’s draw inspiration from a leadership development classic: The Leadership Pipeline, by Ram Charan (Professor at Harvard Business School), Stephen Drotter (former head of HR at General Electric), and James Noel (former GE Leadership Development Executive).  The Leadership Pipeline presents a clear articulation of the many distinct leadership passages rising leaders must pass through. Each passage requires both a mindset shift and a skill shift. That is to say, at each transition leaders must fundamentally rethink the value they bring to the organization (i.e. what they’re paid for) as well as the way they execute. In the realm of leadership, (ethical violations aside) one of the worst ways leaders can harm their people – and their overall leadership pipeline – arises from operating at the wrong level.

Here are quick overviews of the several main transitions and the most important function of a leader at that level, according to Charan, Drotter, and Noel.

  • Individual Contributor: Get stuff done. Contribute by doing assigned work involving technical/professional skills.
  • Manager: Get stuff done through others. Reallocate time to planning, filling jobs, assigning work, motivating, coaching, and measuring work of others.
  • Manager of Managers: Help others get stuff done through others. Pure management. Selecting people to become managers, assigning managerial work, coaching and managing managers on managerial skills.
  • Functional Manager: Develop functional strategy, learn to manage areas outside your area of expertise, take into account other functional needs (i.e. look across), and continue to develop the managers below. High emphasis placed on blending the functional strategy with the overall business/organizational strategy. Requires working across the organization and down two levels, and as such requires the development of new communication skills.
  • Business Manager/Office Director: Integrate multiple functions into your business strategy, focus on balancing short and long-term initiatives, learn to work across with a wide variety of people, continue to communicate/develop managers below you.   While always important, taking time to stop, analyze, and reflect becomes crucial.
  • Group Manager: Manage and value multiple businesses (not just the one you came from), evaluate strategy and resource deployment, identify rising business managers, analyze your collection of business and activities, assess your core capabilities.  Leadership becomes holistic (internal/external) perspective and develop the broadest possible perspective on issues becomes crucial.
  • Enterprise/Organization Manager (CEO):  Clarify and embody core values, master long-term, visionary thinking that balances with quarterly objectives, manage multiple constituencies, set three to four mission critical priorities, focus on the whole, and inspire entire employee population. Requires a readjustment of self-concept as leader and a shift to viewing the organization as one entity, instead of a portfolio of organizations.

At each transition, rising leaders must let go of specific mindsets and skills. They must also pick up new mindsets and skills appropriate for their new level in the organization.

 

Not surprisingly, while all these leadership transitions are difficult, the most difficult transition comes during your first transition to leadership – from an individual contributor to the manager. This transition requires a fundamental mindset shift about your value to the organization. As an individual contributor you’re paid to “get stuff done.” As a manager, you’re paid to “get stuff done through others.” Most managers know this intellectually, yet in our experience many still operate as individual contributors. They simply cannot let go of the focus on technical skills that got them promoted. The sSymptoms of being in a management role but operating as an individual contributor include overwhelm, burn-out, and complaints from staff of being a “micro-manager.”

This problem becomes exacerbated when  managers-operating-as-individual contributors advance in the leadership ladder. At the manager of manager level (i.e. second level managers), you’re paid to “help other people get results through others.” If you have not transitioned fully, these people hold the first line managers responsible for technical results, instead of their management ability.

Unfortunately, we frequently see very senior leaders (3rd or 4th level managers) still primarily operating as individual contributors. Not only is this extremely stressful for the leader, it clogs the leadership pipeline, confuses the roles of everyone below, and causes organizational bottlenecks, lack of accountability, and poor morale.

In addition, leaders further up the leadership chain not operating at their appropriate level miss opportunities and create problems for people under them.  For example, a Group Manager who still thinks and acts like a Business Manager will favor particular businesses in their Group and, in the worse case, still try to run one of them (usually the one they came from).  By doing so they neglect their core responsibilities, clog the leadership pipeline, and harm the efforts of the people below them.

In your own leadership journey, know that learning to operate at the right level requires a deliberate mindset shift as well as time and practice to mature in your new role. However, to begin to determine if you’re in the right role, consider the following question:

  • How many levels are there between me and the first line employees?
  • Depending on my answer to above question, what’s the leadership level/transition I’m in? (Think of the categories above).
  • What’s the most important thing I can do in my role? What am I paid for?
  • What mindsets and behaviors from my last role do I need to let go of?
  • What mindsets and behaviors shifts do I need to make? What skill shifts do I need to make?

Stopping, reflecting, and taking a few minutes to think through the question, “Am I contributing at the right level?” can provoke powerful insights. Use these insights to develop your own leadership development plan and identify the resources to assist you.

- Adam Chalker, Senior Consultant

Tags: Leadership Development  

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