Good leadership is not about individual heroism
By Zhu Qi (Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2004-06-14 10:17

Recently a friend of mine said she has found her job boring without too much work to do. But two months ago, she looked extremely excited about transferring to her current section of organizing large-scale events. However, now she complains: "My boss is doing everything." Aha, a typical Chinese leader, who does not know how to delegate.

'Boss' to 'employee': Just listen to me, which may do you good.

To be honest, I have met quite a few bosses of this type. They are usually highly capable. They are almighty. However, maybe only because they are too capable, they want to perform every detailed task. They do not think others can do better. As they are taking care of every little possible thing, they become extremely busy and sometimes lost in details.

Lacking any trust in employees, these bosses do not like the idea of empowerment. Their staff have no decision-making power and have to report to them every trivial item. As my friend said: "My boss has spent too much time on trivial things." It's not uncommon to see both business leaders and government officials working 'to their backbone' while their subordinates can find no way to help.

I'm not saying we do not need heroes. Heroes lead the charge. But heroes themselves do not make history. A hero needs a team to help him or her. A good leader has good understanding in delegation. "Delegation" has two meanings: to empower subordinates and to give them guidance in execution. This involves a lot of faith.

Firstly, you need to have faith that not only you, but also others can do what needs to be done, though they might not do it equally well. But there are always chances that others can be specialized in one area who can do even better than you. Secondly, you need to have faith that to help your staff grow does not mean they will take over your position.

A strong team will help you develop in return. Once the leader is free of fretting over details, he or she can maintain a big picture and spend more time on strategy, both of which are vital to being a good leader.

The lack of delegation is also part of bad team management. A good leader should have teamwork spirit. If my friend's boss could have agreed to divide the job earlier on, the team would not have wasted time on overlapping work and buck-passing. Meanwhile, dividing the job is one thing, how to empower staff is another. As his staff do not have the decision-making power, nor do they have responsibilities. Once the right team was formed, he should have given them his full trust.

Last, but not the least, what makes a hero is that he or she can pass on their resourcefulness. It is not rare to find that when some managers with strong personal capabilities leave their posts, their successors can not perform as well and certainly not better.

The reason is simple: China is a society ruled by people, not by rules. If their experiences can be collected and turned into rules, a company does not always need a hero manager. Therefore, a knowledge bank will be the best means to serve this purpose.

In addition to keeping track of meeting minutes, the bank should also include documentation of strategies, proposals, action plans, execution process and assessment or feedbacks. I strongly recommend that leaders start collecting all knowledge and transform it into rules for later use.

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