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WHAT MAKES A GOOD LEADER?
By Stig Brodersen
What would you do if you found out that one your employees committed a major blunder that cost you millions of dollars not to mention see you watch a year-long worth of work hours go down the drain?
What will be your knee-jerk reaction to this mess?
Would you hunt down the responsible culprit and make him pay?
Would you make an example of him in front of the entire staff to make sure nothing of this kind happens again?
Or would you just privately reprimand him in your office and deduct the losses from his paycheck monthly?
What if I told you that the best thing for you to do is to shrug it off and move on?
No reprimands.
No angry memos.
No salary deductions.
Just a knowing nod and a silent vow to never let it happen again.
Can you do that?
From zero to hero
One of the most widely respected leaders in the animated film industry is Ed Catmull, who is the president of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation.
With hundreds of achievements under his belt, the computer scientist shared in his book, “Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration,” how sheer passion and determination drove him to become who he is today.
However, Catmull admitted that he did not accomplish his goals alone. In his book, he revealed how much he values the insights of his team and the role they played in helping him make his vision a reality.
More importantly, he shared his life-changing relationship with Steve Jobs and how the man behind the worldwide success of Apple motivated him to pursue his dreams even more aggressively.
Simply put, he disclosed how his turbulent decision-making process with the man who can either make or break his future made him realize how much he wanted to do things his way or not at all.
Armed with his vision of how a company should value creativity, freedom, and teamwork, Catmull fought tooth and nail to make sure that his dream becomes a reality – much to the chagrin of Jobs.
Ironically, it was also the Pixar president’s incredibly strong resolve, which some might even call bullheadedness, that earned him the respect of the company’s major investor.
Curiously, the tenacity of Catmull to do only what he believes is right regardless of the consequences pushed Jobs to become less aggressive and more supportive of his endeavors.
Eventually, the billionaire himself backed down and admitted that he had tremendous respect for the passion of the man behind the biggest animated blockbuster films in history.
The power of humility
In this day and age, lugging around the title “leader” or “chief executive” becomes akin to becoming the company’s be-all and end-all.
When some people are granted the status as the head of a corporation, they tend to alienate themselves from the “masses” and opt to sit back in the position of power, contentedly lording their authority over their minions.
Expecting to receive hero worship from lower level employees has never worked well insofar as improving the workplace atmosphere. Besides, would you really enjoy an office where your staff scram around the moment you open the door?
Catmull’s ultimate goals of fostering creative freedom among his employees and bringing quality work to the customers made him realize a critical leadership quality: humility.
In his book, he shared that he knew his own ideas were not always necessarily the best options in their projects.
Hence, he nurtured a workplace environment that encouraged his entire team to contribute freely and without any reservations that they might be shut down harshly.
His acknowledgment of the limitations of his own abilities and understanding was even more highlighted when he shared that he often felt “embarrassed” and even “threatened” by Jobs throughout their time together.
While these admissions may be deemed as weaknesses by some leaders especially of his caliber, Catmull embraced his imperfections and sought to find ways to complement them.
Does a leader’s humility really matter to team members?
Let surveys back this up. Among 1,400 corporate employees asked, 90% believed that the decision-making process must involve other members of the team before becoming final and getting implemented.
Despite this belief from most employees, it was found that roughly 40% of company heads fail to seek the opinions of the rest of the company.
In fact, 99.1% or almost 100% of the participants longed for a workplace that fosters an open and honest environment where everyone can take part of discussions regardless of their rank.
Sadly, less than 50% of the corporations surveyed actually encourage this kind of leadership style.
Perhaps Catmull’s humility and readiness to accept that regardless of his title in the company, there could be others who can come up with better ideas than bolstered his status as a remarkable leader.
Clearly, it is one thing to accept that a person as prestigiously respected as Steve Jobs has better ideas than you but it is another to admit that your subordinates could surpass your thoughts as well.
For Catmull, he knows that the best ideas do not always come from the top. So, one of his goals is to create a workspace culture that empowers his employees.
In a nutshell, he not only wants the company to grow but his entire workforce to thrive under his leadership.
Trust the process
Catmull perfectly embodied these qualities in handling one of probably the worst disasters that struck Pixar: the almost complete obliteration of “Toy Story 2.”
Creating animated films has always been known as a demanding and tiring process with countless man hours and an immeasurable amount of brainstorming along with the frustrations brought by lack of sleep and caffeine-induced arguments.
So, you can just imagine the horror that filled the company as they watched their hard work vanish sequence by sequence right before their very eyes.
Much to their panic and anguish, the Pixar team handling “Toy Story 2” stood in aghast silence as 90% of their film got deleted because of an erroneous technical command.
According to Catmull, the loss of all their efforts towards making that film had been gut-wrenching.
However, the incident did not alter his firm belief in the sense of integrity and honesty of his employees. Instead, he encouraged his employees to carry on and seek ways to either solve the situation or start from scratch.
In fact, he opted not to hunt down the person who issued the erroneous command.
Why?
Simply because Catmull believed that he shares the same values with his employees.
He refused to foster a workplace environment fueled by fear and pressure, with his staff scared of making mistakes that might cost them their jobs.
In his mind, he fully believed that no member of his team would deliberately sabotage their hard work.
As for the unfortunate incident, he accepted that not everything is under their control. Sometimes, things just happen, and they will just need to move on from it – as a team.
How would this benefit a company?
Studies show that employees function way better when they are assured of their place in a trusting and relaxing work environment. In fact, neuroscience can easily prove this point.
A safe environment boosts a person’s brain to exhibit a higher capability to become more innovative, creative, socially engaged.
Science explains that we immediately launch into a fight-or-flight mode when our minds sense danger.
Due to the panicked response of our systems, we hamper the functionality of the prefrontal cortex. This results in way less to possibly zero ingenuity level and minimal drive to produce quality work.
To foster a creative, innovative, and efficient work environment, making sure that every member of a team feels safe should be the top priority of leaders.
How much is an effective leader worth
If you are already on top, why should you bother with all the nitty-gritty concerns of the people beneath you?
Shouldn’t you just focus on making sure that the financial results are appealing and that your shareholders will be smiling broadly after your next board meeting?
Leaders may find it difficult to quantify the value of empathy for their team members especially with all the other more tangible demands clamoring for their attention.
However, these efforts could also be translated in numbers.
On average, teams with poor leadership show 50% lower productivity level compared to those with good leaders. They are also 44% less cost-effective.
In fact, 96% of executives admit that the setbacks at work are often results of inefficient communication among the leaders and staff.
Meanwhile, teams that mesh well and are well-managed report lower costs for healthcare.
In the United States, the losses spent on employing a disconnected team with uninspired members reached more than $350 billion. This equates to 15% of the entire workforce or roughly 20.6 million employees.
Good leadership translates to lower turnover rates as well. Research revealed that 75% of employees tender their resignations due to poor management style.
If that doesn’t ring any alarm bells, then this could trigger something: approximately 77% of employees are open to jumping off ship the moment a more attractive offer comes along.
What does this mean? It’s simple.
These employees have no reason to stay. Or rather, the companies failed to give them enough inspiration to remain loyal.
However, there is a bright side to the situation. In fact, this incentive could be more than enough to encourage every company leader to work harder and strive to improve their skills.
If done right though and corporate heads actually manage to implement good management strategies to motivate their employees, then a 240% boost in their performance could be expected.
Conclusion
Leaders are the faces of companies. Being appointed the head of an entire organization requires more than just knowing how to work the system and please the shareholders.
Leadership takes more than just a fancy office with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
It demands guts to admit that others, regardless of their rank in the company, have better ideas than you. It requires a keen understanding of the best ways to bring out the out of the people around you.
This article was originally published at Yahoo! Finance.
