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Management Tip: Leadership by 'Siege'

Leadership by Siege

Tekena Craig Fubara

Siege is typically defined as a military blockade of a fortress or city, with the sole intent of conquering it through assault or attrition. However, the effective leadership technique I am about to espouse is by no means an execution styled after this term, but is an acronym I coined from feedback I received from an esteemed colleague on what he considered to be good leadership. Nevertheless, the core elements of this military tactics in terms of output is very relevant in keeping the followership in awe. As my colleague considered himself a good follower, I listened aptly  to his lecture on who and what he thought a good leader was. I discovered that it is very easy for a leader to fall in the self-deluding trap of practising leadership based on his own understanding, acquired or innate, without getting a view from those whom he leads to establish if his/her techniques are effective. This was one opportunity I salvaged and I owe the basic elements of this piece to this colleague, who allowed me to write around his ideas.

Over the years, I had always been taught to practice 'Leadership by Influence', until I got into a debate with a General who was teaching me a slightly different theory - 'Command and Control'. I see people using the two different styles with various shades of success and failures at various extremities, and nowadays I see a synergy. The central theme about these techniques was that they always focussed on what the leader wanted - the primary objective of its use being to achieve a goal - and how he wanted it. The follower is typically also geared up to to achieve the same objective. Where misalignment arises is in how the leader wants the objective achieved contrasted against how the follower wants it done. And so here is one view from an ardent follower - my colleague - on how wants to be led: A leader needs to Support, Inspire, Engage, Guide, Enable (SIEGE) the follower. For the follower, the leader needs to:

1.) Support: Maintain my performance

One item for a follower is that he needs an effective leader to run the waterworks to support his performance. Where he/she is doing well, someone needs to provide motivation, and where performance is low, someone needs to provide the relevant support to keep the performance high.

2.) Inspire: Make me see over the horizon

The mission can be carried out by the team, but the vision must be set by the leader. The followers don't want to dream, otherwise there will be multiple visions.It is the leaders objective, to not only dream, but be able to sell this dream to his team and ensure they are stirred up to act.

3.) Engage: Make me reflect on what you are saying

Communication - verbal and non-verbal - is a key skill of any leader and he/she must be able to use this to his/her advantage. This art involves quite a lot of listening, listening, and listening. People must feel totally immersed and engaged after every interaction with a good leader.

4.) Guide: Keep me in the right path

A follower is looking for someone out there to keep a track on what he/she is doing, to ensure it is properly tied up to the overall objectives of the team. Where a team member is doing well, the leader needs to support that performance, and where otherwise to bring back to the centre.

5.) Enable: Remove blockers and facilitate open doors
The follower wants to do his specific work, which is tedious enough, and doesn't want to spend time looking at the big picture with all the big hooks. It is the leader's responsibility to do so, removing any stumbling blocks and ensuring things line up for effective execution of the work by the team.

The military tactics of siege holds the enemy in awe, while the leadership technique by SIEGE holds the followers in awe. So next time you lead your team, ask yourself these questions: Have I supported them? Have I inspired them? Have I engaged them? Have I guided them? Have I enabled them? You may have your own answers each time, but I would also recommend that you seek direct or indirect feedback from your team to these questions.

Making the Best Use of Your Productive Life? Check Again?

Tekena Craig Fubara

Some argue that Leaders are born, while others argue that Leaders are made. One thing I have definitely noticed, and which many will agree with is that those who are successful at what they do, have shown constancy in their chosen endeavour. This then begs the question that; how can I maintain constancy in my endeavour if I am not clear about what my optimal career path should be? Many try to quickly confirm that they are in their best chosen career path at the flip of a coin, which might most likely be wrong in this case. This is based on the fact that there are so many factors to consider when making the right choice. George .A. Miller in his work published in 1956 [The Psychological Review, Vol. 63, pp 81 - 97, 1956] showed that the human brain is only capable of processing 7 plus/minus 2 different items at a go. This rule is widely applied in most military training programs where the 'Chunking' phenomenon is used to manage huge volumes of information. 

©TC Fubara

Bearing in mind that you spend about 67% of your productive life while awake at work, it is therefore really important that you are making the right choice on the right endeavour to be engaged in. I will propose a method that allows logical reasoning over smaller bits of information to identify this life path.

First of all, consider all the factors that matter to you in any endeavour or job you are involved in or want to get involved in, and narrow this list to the top 8 items which are of most importance. Develop a Personal Value Loop as shown in Figure 1. On a scale of 1 to 10, think logically through each individual value driver and quantify each item with your individual preference. Do not quantify all at once, but ensure you think through each one at a time. When done, think through all at a time and highlight the top 3 most important value drivers for you - items you will never compromise on. Close this chart and put it away.

©TC Fubara

Figure 1: Personal Value Loop (Note that these elements are just examples, and yours can be different).

Then go ahead to develop your current or future Endeavour Value Loop, where you analyse on a scale of 1 to 10 what your current job or future job gives or intends to offer to you with the same value drivers you had listed on your Personal Value Loop. Do this analysis thinking though item by item for each value driver. 

©TC Fubara

Figure 2: Endeavour Value Loop

Once complete, compare the two charts together and focus on the top 3 items which should capture value drivers you will never compromise on. You can do this for several jobs or career options to identify the one with the least gap. This exercise only works when you follow the steps and analyse each item step-by-step, and the results can be astonishing and revealing.

Having said all, this gives you the most logical answer to what your career path should be. However, your intuition or emotion sits above all logic. Once you have completed all logical analysis, sit down quietly, meditate and listen to your intuition. Ask yourself, does this feel right? Quieten the noise and flurry of activities around you and just listen to yourself. Your intuition can never be wrong. If done right, your intuition and your logic should match or show resonance.

©TC Fubara

Career Growth - Choosing the Right Mentor

Tekena Fubara

©TC Fubara

Over the years in my experience of coaching young people, one of the questions I frequently get asked is ‘What next do I do with my career?’ I have also seen this in very mature professionals, including myself at some point, and I am quite sure there is a huge brigade out there who may have had this question even to the very tail end of their career. There is a range of coaching techniques and tools which may help you arrive at a focused decision. However, I have found that in addition to having a Coach, a Mentor can be a really valuable asset to drive you in the right direction. I must buttress here that there is a difference between a Coach and a Mentor, with the Coach providing tools to help you drive yourself and the Mentor actually driving you. By working with Mentors you build knowledge about what you want and don’t want fairly quickly to support coaching tools.

Now, the connotation ‘Mentor’ usually conjures for most people the view of a sage figure who can pull all sorts of strings in your favour as well as overwhelm you with all manner of inspirational ideas never thought about. This does not always have to be the case. In fact, a true Mentor will most likely be just about any regular guy or lady, who may not necessarily have been a great achiever themselves, but who knows exactly how to add value to your thought pattern, decisions and your life in general. This begs the question then as to what makes a good Mentor? For which I say, you would want to look out for those key qualities displayed by the Mentor which are relevant to your situation.

As there are different qualities that can be displayed by different Mentors, and as you may need different characteristics from each at several points, it might be worth considering having more than one type of Mentor, as this is what successful people seem to do. I have grouped the various types of Mentors that you may get into three broad types and these are:

• 1.     Professional Capacity/Technical Mentors,
• 2.     Professional Growth Mentors, and
• 3.     Personal Actualization Mentors.

The Professional Capacity/Technical Mentor is ideally someone with great ability in a specific skill in a particular discipline you may be pursuing, who can nurture you to build all the relevant competence you require to be proficient in discharging a particular duty. You need to make sure you identify who is really competent, is willing to transfer their knowledge to you, while you must ensure that you extract all you can get. Here, the Mentor does not need to have any particular feelings towards following your future career, but a willingness to let you succeed in a particular role. To find these Mentors, take a proactive step to look around your business to identify very competent people.

The Professional Growth Mentor ensures that you are moving from where you are, having just spent some considerable time and effort to attain key skills, knowledge and experience. He/She is there to constantly challenge you to move from the status quo to the next diagonal progression path. In this Mentor role, you absolutely need someone you can truly trust, who can talk to you openly and directly, even about your weaknesses. They must also be able to trust you enough to be comfortable for you to sometimes fight back their challenge. But it is most important that they can hold you accountable if you haven’t taken any action towards the next steps in your career and can effect measures to push you to make a decision. To benefit here, take a proactive step to seek one within your business and outside your business. The more independent they are, sometimes the better.

The Personal Actualization Mentor is usually difficult to find and here you must display extreme caution in putting someone in this shoe. This Mentor must be someone with vast breadth and depth of experience and a high level of self actualization. Most importantly, their relationship with you must be really symbiotic where they see a benefit in building a mutual relationship. You both must be absolutely comfortable with each other to share your innermost feelings and be able to go out on social events together, such as a dinner. The role of this type of Mentor is to bring their life’s philosophy to bear in you where they guide you with thought-provoking views that gives you a different paradigm and perspective in both your career and in life in general. Here, never go to seek for a Mentor, but allow the relationship to just spark up from your everyday working life as this one in particular needs deep friendship.

Next Steps….

Now, go out and make the best use of Mentorship and be successful. But don’t just jump straight away now asking every Tom Dick and Harry to be your Mentor. You normally don’t get married to someone straight after just saying hello to them for the first time. Instead, seek support from them on a specific item for a limited duration. If the right chord is struck within the relationship, build it. Otherwise, you can therefore walk away on good terms.