Leadership and Change

MANAGERS WHO WANT TO become better leaders must develop sound leadership practices as part of their daily routine. These practices revolve around five key concepts: motivation, attitude, communication, integrity, and decisiveness.

Motivation

True leadership can be seen in action when managers motivate their teams to meet their mission. The key to motivating employees is for managers to know where they are going and to set expectations high. If managers expect greatness from themselves, their employees will follow.

If a manager's vision is to have the best security department around, the best-trained guards, or a successful loss prevention program, everyone--from the most junior security guard to the CEO--should know that this is the goal.

For example, while I was the director of security for a Regional Navy Command, our recruiting and retention numbers were awful. I implemented a goal that within a year we would be fully staffed, have people trained, and have those people at their stations ready to work.

To meet this goal, I assigned a quality employee to full-time recruitment duties. Then, I revamped the security department's entire training pipeline so that no matter when someone joined the organization, they could undergo advancement training immediately. (Previously, a new employee would have to wait weeks before joining a training program, wasting time and money.)

I also began talking about what we were doing up and down the chain of command. I met with my division heads on how we were going to get the job done, what the milestones were, and whether any strategy revisions were necessary. In the end, we met our goal with a few months to spare.

Attitude

Attitude dictates performance. A positive mental attitude is contagious, and if a leader has it, his or her department will catch it. During the staffing crisis just discussed, I always believed that we were going to achieve our goal. When I first launched the program, I talked to my division heads about the plan, but they were skeptical.

They had already been told that due to problems with logistics, pay, and benefits, we would never be able to reach the goal. However, eventually, my confidence rubbed off on them and, as we made progress, the positive attitude grew.

A critical part of attitude is empowerment. It is an over-used word, but the only accurate one. Individual leaders don't have all of the answers, but groups of knowledgeable problem-solvers might.

I had the opportunity to test this theory when I was put in charge of my first security department. I was new to the area and had never supervised so many personnel at once. What's more, I had never tried to execute so large a budget.

Complicating matters even more was that my predecessor had made all decisions by himself and had penalized division heads for acting independently. This meant that all decisions landed on my desk. Granted, some needed to come to me, but 80 percent could have been made by others in the chain of command.

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I told the division heads that they could start making decisions and that no one would be penalized for making what they thought was the right choice. I explained that they need only ask themselves: "Is this bigger than just my division and who should I let know?" This strategy empowered them, and it helped the department operate more effectively.

Communication

Having a vision, a great attitude, and a hardworking staff is useless if you cannot communicate with your employees. This means both talking to them and listening to what they have to say.

This is a challenge in today's world of e-mail, PDAs, and cell phones. For example, I found that when staff members came to my office to talk about critical issues, I was always distracted by the "ping" of the incoming e-mail. To solve the problem, I ended up moving my computer off my desk altogether. I also turned off the speakers during meetings so that I was not bothered by incoming mail.

Great listening requires active participation. This is accomplished through taking notes, asking questions to confirm understanding, and repeating back points for clarification. Without this kind of attention, the mission is less likely to be achieved.

Communication also means getting to know employees as people. Managers should set aside time each day to talk with staff. Though it may sound simple, one of the most difficult jobs a manager faces is to be human.

For example, one day a young man came into my office and asked for time off. When I asked why, he explained that his wife had just miscarried and that they were having a hard time dealing with it. I then shared with him that my wife and I had gone through the same thing several times before we had our first child. He left knowing that I understood and that he wasn't alone.

It is critical to understand that taking care of employees does not mean coddling. One of the best people I ever worked for was someone who constantly pushed me to my limits. But even with his huge workload, he never forgot to ask me

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