Leadership to date has largely been about control. Too often leadership still
carries the connotation of a heroic figure leading the charge, when what is
needed is a joint effort -- one that is characterized by the unleashing of
human talent throughout the company to achieve success and sustain the
enterprise.
Leadership may no longer be a valid concept. Considering the amount of change
that organizations must manage today, no one person, or not even a single team
of people, can provide all the leadership necessary. A radically new approach
is needed. We believe this new approach must have specific characteristics
that include the following:
All employees are prepared to be both outstanding leaders and effective
followers. Employees play both roles when appropriate.
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Warren Bennis has written recently: [T]he problem is that we have been
fascinated with the winners -- the people at the top of the heap -- but
overlooked those special leaders who make winners of others. . . In these
complex times, no one can have all the right answers. Leaders of successful
organizations have to rely on the input of as many competent people as
possible." (From the Preface of Leveraging People and Profit: The Hard Work of
Soft Management by Bernard A. Nagle and Perry Pascarella published by
Butterworth-Heinemann of Boston, 1997)
The power of partnership is in the dynamic and concentrated relationships that
emerge. In the collaborative nature of partnership, leadership and following
are part of an exciting and inextricable equation. One cannot exist without
the other; they complement one another. As the great French writer Jean Genet
has said:
"Which is the sun and which is the shadow?"
The informed follower in the partnership relationship makes the process of leading more effective. The dynamic leader understands how to draw on followers, and in the process unleashes unimaginable possibilities. Just as teaching requires a student,
leading requires a follower. Leadership becomes blended into the service of others and the company. The distinction between leader and follower blurs because all partners serve both functions continuously and frequently.
If traditional leadership goes away, does it mean that the company's agenda
will be vague and employees will be confused about who is in charge and what
needs to be accomplished? Absolutely not, partnership means that all employees
will understand what needs to get done, will have a long-term perspective on
the business, and will take full responsibility (no matter what job they hold)
for the company's success. Employees are hired to work on behalf of the
welfare of the entire company.
In one firm, where partnership is well embedded, employees on the front-line
see themselves as marketing managers asking customers daily about the quality
of the current services and what new services are needed. Their findings are
brought to branch staff meetings and compared with the findings of other
employees. The team in the branch decides on changes that will be made to
respond to the needs of the customers. Key strategies in the company play
forth every day through the efforts of persons with direct contact with
customers.
The transition to partnership is never easy. In many cases, the relationship
between employees and employers has been damaged severely because of the rash
and often misguided actions of management during recent years. Trust is low to
non-existent. Many employees are weary of anything that smacks of joint
responsibility. To them, it's simply another way of saying: "They want us to
do more work for the same pay." Partnership is seen as yet another way for
management to exploit employees. Trust has to be solid before partnership will
work.
Even in companies where trust between employees and management is high and
where employees have a vested in interest through stock ownership, moving to
partnership is a big change. Managers have to give up emphasis on control and
replace it with an emphasis on achieving goals through joint effort. Employees
have to give up their suspicion that management can't operate in a more
collaborative manner and replace it with willingness to take on a bigger role
where they are accountable for their individual responsibilities and the
company.
One company that is transitioning to partnership has defined and managed the
change through its managers to get the effort off the ground but is quickly
enrolling persons from levels beyond management to serve on task teams and
facilitate training. These managers recognized that the more quickly they
brought in other persons as "partners" in change the more quickly the
movement toward partnership would be realized.
The basis of partnership is teamwork. Each team player fits into a role. Each
role is a separate, but essential part of the team. The different roles focus
everyone on a common end. Here are the roles --
Non-managers
Non-managers support managers by:
Assuming responsibility for their immediate tasks and the company's overall goals.
Challenging systems that interfere with their support of managers.
Participating in transforming problems into solutions.
Acting in ways that increases the effectiveness of the
clinic/stores/branches and contributes to the company.
Managers
Managers support non-managers by:
Being exceptional listeners.
Being credible resources.
Defining and gaining agreement on problems.
Building the capacity of others to solve problems.
Facilitating the forward movement of critical issues.
Working across boundaries to solve problems or find people who can.
By applying principles of partnership to all working relationships -- with
other employees within and between departments and teams, and ultimately with
customers -- the company becomes a richly rewarding place to work. It
positions companies for long-term success in a business environment that
presents many new and different challenges. One financial services company has
captured what partnership means in five "parameters." These are the building
blocks to partnership:
It's not too dramatic to proclaim that leadership is dead, as we have known
it. The time has come to adopt a new approach -- one that replaces leadership
with a more relevant way of operating. We think this new approach is best
captured in the term "partnership."
