THE IMPORTANCE OF ENABLING OTHERS TO ACT Louis L. Velez

Introduction  In the book The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner lay out five (5) practices of exemplary leadership ascertained by surveying individuals on what their personal bests in leadership  Model the Way  Inspire a Shared Vision  Challenge the Process  Enable Others to Act  Encourage with the Heart  Kouzes and Posner believed these aspects were what took leadership to the next step.

Enabling Others to Act  One practice I honed in on Enabling Others to Act  Kouzes and Posner had a test to see if someone was on the path to good leadership dependent on how often they used “we” rather than “I”  Leadership is about more than just succeeding but to foster a culture where the whole team is strong, involved, & engaged  “Leaders make it possible for others to do good work…those who are expected to produce the results must feel a sense of personal power and ownership.”

The Importance of Empowering Subordinates  Great leaders understand the key to leadership is to deeper than achieving results.  Great leaders not only enrich their employees to perform their tasks but form their employees into tomorrow's leaders  Enabling others to act and learn the tools of leadership ensures a firm’s future and continued success beyond the departure of the leader

Quotes on Enabling Others  John Quincy Adams: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”  John Maxwell: “…focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.”  Kouzes and Posner: “When leadership is a relationship founded on trust and confidence, people take risks, make changes, keep organizations and movements alive. Through that relationship, leaders turn their constituents into leaders themselves.”

Two Commitments of Enabling Others to Act  In their book, Kouzes and Posner state leaders who want to enable others to act must commit themselves to two things  Foster collaboration  Strengthens others

Foster Collaboration  In order to find exemplary leadership, leaders must use a team, or “we”, strategy  There’s no better way to make “I” into “we” than creating a collaborative movement  In order to effectively foster collaboration, a leader must be adept at two skills  Creating a climate of trust  Facilitating relationship

Create A Climate of Trust  People cannot effectively work with each other unless trust  Without trust, teams cannot achieve extraordinary goals  Exemplary trusting leaders nurture:  Openness  Involvement  Personal Satisfaction  High levels of commitment to excellence

Create A Climate of Trust cont.  The fastest way to start of climate of trust: Be the first to trust.  Trusting strong subordinates will lead to extraordinary success, or “the proof is in the pudding.”  Kouzes and Posner “Trusting Others Pays Off”  Strong ways to demonstrate trust are:  Being open to alternative viewpoints  Using subordinates’ expertise  Letting subordinates have influence in the group  Sharing information and resources  Once team members understand their leader is trusting, they too will be trusting  “Trust is Contagious”

Facilitate Relationships  To achieve extraordinary results, people must build relationships and use them as effectively as possible.  Leaders create conditions where everyone knows they count on each other  Long term successful relationships are built on all team members having a role key to achieving goals and the understanding of members that all members are essential to success  “A focus on collective purpose binds people into cooperative efforts.”  “After all, if you could do it alone, why would you need a team.”

Strengthen Others  After creating a climate of trust, an exemplary leader must strengthen others by sharing power and discretion  This create a team of one leader and followers into a team of leaders- “I into We”  Exemplary leaders understand the paradox of power  “You become more powerful when you give you’re power away” Loosening your hold on your team will increase your team’s hold on success.  Exemplary leaders achieve this goal with two skills  Enhancing self-determination  Developing confidence and competence

Enhancing Self-Determination  Employees who feel undervalued will put out poorer work, create lower morale, and potentially leave the team and the firm  Self-determined employees are the lifeblood of great teams.  An exemplary leader gives him employees self- determination by:  Providing employees with more choices  Create jobs in a way to offers more lattitude  Foster Accountability

Develop Competence and Confidence  It is not enough to have tons of confidence or great skills to get the job done, employees need both  Exemplary leaders understand this  Exemplary leaders offer resources to develop and grow both competence and confidence  Competence: Training and Education  Confidence: Development and Coaching  Once employees have both top-notch skills and belief in themselves, they can achieve anything

Conclusion  Enabling others to act by fostering collaboration and strengthening others is a cornerstone to exemplary leadership  The true worth of a leader isn’t finding success during his own term but ensuring success is also found in the ones after  Leaders just don’t do good work, they make it possible for others to do good work to  A team of “We” will always be stronger than a team of “I”