- Reality Based Leadership Ditch the Drama Restore Sanity to the Workplace and Turn Excuses into Results.
Recent polls show that 71% of workers think about quitting their
jobs every day. That number would be shocking-if people actually
were quitting. Worse, they go to work, punching time clocks and
collecting pay checks, while completely checked out emotionally.
In Reality-Based Leadership, expert Fast Company blogger Cy
Wakeman reveals how to be the kind of leader who changes the way
people think about and perceive their circumstances-one who deals
with the facts, clarifies roles, gives clear and direct feedback,
and insists that everyone do the same-without drama or
defensiveness. Filled with dynamic examples, innovative tools,
and diagnostic tests, this book shows you how to become a
Reality-Based Leader, revealing how to:
* Uncover destructive thought patterns with yourself and others
* Diffuse drama and lead the person in front of you
* Stop managing and start leading, empowering others to focus on
facts and think for themselves
Equipped with a facts-based, confident approach, you will free
yourself from the frustrations you face at work and transform
yourself into a Reality-Based Leader, with the ability to
liberate and inspire others.
Amazon Exclusive: Q&A with Author Cy Wakeman
Why did you write this book?
I wanted to give leaders a huge reality check! Having worked
with leaders and HR executives for more than twenty years, I
found that the traditional philosophies, tools, and techniques
leaders relied on were simply not working. We had led leaders to
believe that their jobs were to create “perfect” work
environments and basically coddle their employees, when in fact,
the organizations that have thrived in challenging times focused
not as much on creating stress-free, nirvana-like environments,
but on “bullet-proofing” their people so that they are able to
succeed regardless of the circumstances they face. As I travelled
the country speaking and consulting, I heard over and over again
that the reason businesses were struggling was because they were
faced with incredibly difficult circumstances. I just could not
buy into this philosophy of helplessness. It seemed like a huge
excuse for lack of great leadership. Don’t get me wrong; we are
certainly in challenging times. But we have been in challenging
times in the past and let me make a prediction—we will be faced
with challenging times again at some point in the future. Here’s
the reality check—the fact that times are challenging is not the
source of our pain. The source of our pain is the absence of
great leadership based in reality. If current leadership is not
creating the results or the quality of life that we would like,
then these times call for a new type of leader. We need leaders
who are willing and able to recreate mindsets in order to change
circumstances and lead in a new and revolutionary way.
What is the biggest change that employees are facing today?
Actually, it is not what you might expect. The biggest change
for leaders and their employees to adjust to is the fact that
most of us have been replaced by Google. Our opinions just don’t
add the value they used to, and yet we insist on having input,
giving our two cents, and shaping decisions when the real value
we add is using our expertise to make the decisions work. Most
people have simply refused to make this transition.How did we get
into this mess? Well, human resources gospel has always been to
make employees feel as if their opinions counted. After all, this
is America, and democracy is a good thing, right? Not always. We
know the value of democracy in a representative government, but
in reality, what value does an opinion contribute to an
organization? Most of the time, a single person’s opinion adds
zero value and actually drains resources. Non–decision makers
offering their opinions usually derails the team into a search
for consensus, rather than driving all efforts going toward
implementing with excellence.
For 90% of people in any organization at any given time, their
role is simply to be informed—not to make or comment on a
decision. If you subscribe to the idea that everyone’s opinion
has to count, in effect you are handing out veto power to the
majority while only a minority has the power to say “yes.” This
sets up a paradigm in which it’s very difficult to take positive
action. You also create a situation in which people feel buy-in
is optional. This leads to resistance that can stall or even
sabotage your plans. Reality-Based Leaders are clear that the
highest value the talent can offer is to implement with
excellence. They value action over opinion.
What recommendation do you make in the book and in your
consulting that “shocks” leaders the most?
Readers are definitely most shocked and quite honestly very
relieved when they hear me encourage them to play favorites in
order to get great results. Somehow, in our quest as leaders to
be respectful of legitimate differences in employees, it appears
that we have become a very careful, hesitant group. A great
number of “leaders” have be to pretend that all employees are
created equal and are delivering equal results and value to the
organization—when the reality is actually quite different.
A number of leaders are colluding with their own
employees—protecting them from the consequences of their own
actions and mindsets. Many leaders allow employees to decide for
themselves what mindsets they will adopt and what behaviors and
actions the organization will compensate. Some leaders are the
victims of emotional blackmail, falling prey to the many invalid
conditions and objections placed on them by their own teams.
These objections used by employees have worked well to keep their
leaders from insisting on greatness, continuous improvement,
adaptability, and all the attributes that contribute to an
employee’s success in today’s changing times. These “conditions”
have induced some leaders into a type of coma where they depend
solely on a few great employees who they don’t reward, because
they’re afraid that other employees will come to the realization
that life’s not fair.
In the book, I teach you how to be a great leader who plays
favorites, rewarding actual results.
In the book, you challenge quite a few traditional HR practices
such as the annual employee satisfaction survey. What can the
harm be in asking employees what would make their workplace
better?
Most leaders have jumped blindly on the “empowerment” bandwagon,
working hard to give their employees the power to direct their
own workflow. Great in theory; who would not want to be
self-directing and free? Unfortunately, those adopting this
philosophy dangerously assume that those being empowered are also
highly personally accountable. In fact, empowerment without
accountability is chaos. Empowerment and accountability must go
hand in hand—when we fund one without insisting on the other,
resources are wasted and dysfunction reigns.
To make matters worse, leaders have blindly bought into the
concept that engagement and happiness come from lack of stress or
issues at work. Actually, engagement and happiness come from the
level of personal accountability one exhibits in his or her own
life. So instead of spending resources on surveys to find out how
to change the circumstances of your employees, spend your time
and energy on teaching your employees how to succeed in spite of
their circumstances. Work to “bullet-proof” the people instead of
attempting to make their world a cozier place. Once your people
are resilient, learning-agile, and personally accountable, they
are immune to the random “shocks” that come their way. Their
engagement actually increases with this approach as they gain the
confidence that they can succeed in spite of the facts, not from
you softening their world.