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Lorraine sat on her lanai in Maui, listening to the morning surf. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee blended with the scent of gardenia in the air. Surprising herself, she let out a deep sigh.
Lorraine felt stuck. She had led her business successfully for years. But she never felt free from it. She had hoped to spend a month in Hawaii this year. But one of her managers was tested for COVID and had to quarantine. So Lorraine was forced to cut her vacation in half. Now that she was finally there, her phone wouldn't stop buzzing. It was as if her entire team just forgot how to do their jobs. In fact, she had just gotten off an early call to deal with a staffing issue.
On the other hand, there was good news too. A potential client was interested in a large project. This particular project was right up her company's alley. Unfortunately, Lorraine didn't have anyone she trusted to bid it for her, so she had to try to get that done today. She'd have to miss out on morning snorkeling that she had hoped for. But if she landed this project, costs would be covered for the rest of the year.
Trapped. At least she had a beautiful view.
Why freedom is elusive
Many owners and leaders feel trapped. For most, they love their work. They enjoy the game of business. They like solving problems and the sense of accomplishment. Many are experts in their areas. Like artists, they can lose themselves in their efforts.
But they also feel trapped. Many accept this. For a time. While they'd like the freedom, they also like the sense of being needed, of being valuable. If no one texted or called, what would that mean?
Others are afraid that if they aren't "on," everything will fall apart. After all, no one else really cares as much as they do. No one else can really be trusted to follow through for the client.
What they don't recognize is that they are building their own cages.
What is the cage?
The cage is the issue of management. The more a leader needs to manage, the less freedom they will ever have. And the more closely a leader must manage, the smaller the dynamic they can manage. For the sake of clarity, I'll differentiate management from leadership. Good management produces consistent and reliable outcomes. It can be provided by individuals and systems. The more systems are used to contribute to consistent and reliable outcomes, the more freedom there is.
Good leadership is responsible for determining the overall direction and the desired outcomes. It can only be provided by people. Leadership is always needed. But the better management is, the easier it is to lead.
They are not a dichotomy. Ideally, they are a synergy – Solid management structures overseen by a solid management team allow freedom for leadership. It doesn't matter if leadership is provided by the same management team, or if it is provided by people whose only role is leadership. Management maintains quality and consistency. Leadership drives improvements and growth.
Organizations with strong leaders who don't build strong management structures and teams find that most of their vision never grows beyond dreams. Success cannot be sustained.
Organizations with strong management that don't build or release individuals into leadership find they don't have vision or direction. They usually wander and morale decreases. This ultimately drags down productivity and success.
Leaders need to grow and change or their organizations won't
It begins with leadership. Someone must provide it. It doesn't have to just be one person—but there does need to be a clear, unified leadership voice. But not all leadership is the same.
People in leadership positions tend to shake out into one of four levels. None are necessarily wrong or "less than," but they have different management:leadership ratios. The lower levels of leadership have a much higher percentage of management to leadership. The higher levels reverse that ratio. Moving to the next level expands your ability to drive growth (and experience freedom).
The four levels
(For the purposes of illustration, I'll suggest the typical management:leadership ratio found at each level)
Level I (90:10) – Leader as Master Doer:Master Doer leaders are usually highly skilled and effective. Their teams usually exist to help maximize the Master Doer's ability to do. Think of a chef-owner surrounded by their cooking and house staff. The chef is the Master Doer. The team, who, even if highly skilled in their own right, is there to ensure the chef's success.
This dynamic applies just as much to the contractor who needs to do the work himself. Or the administrator who delegates tasks but not responsibilities. Many "mom and pop" type businesses are led by Master Doers. Which, incidentally, is one of the primary reasons why they often don't survive a major upset or aren't able to sell. Because mom and pop are the business. If they aren't there, nothing happens.
In nearly all cases, the work stops when the Master Doer stops. The illusion of freedom for them usually comes from their ability to call their own shots and having built a financial situation where they can step away for a short while. But it's a leash and they can get yanked back at any moment. To grow beyond being a Master Doerrequires shifting your definition of success away from yourself to your team. You need to shift towards facilitating the success of your team.
Level II (70:30) – Leader as Manager:These leaders usually don't do the work themselves. But they need to have eyes on the work and their people. They provide regular direction, guidance, and correction. Their direction tends to be task-oriented—not big-picture or outcome-oriented.
Things tend to operate well when the Manager Leader is around. But if they're away for long, the team may struggle with consistency, knowing what needs to be done next, staff issues, or how to resolve customer issues. Most Manager Leadersthrive best at managing the day-to-day and the people directly in front of them. Some are able to oversee multiple teams and sometimes multiple locations. But even then, they still tend to need frequent on-site contact for ongoing direction-setting and guidance. If they don't have this, they struggle with "out of sight, out of mind" issues. Some teams or locations will feel neglected.
A Manager Leader does facilitate the success of the team or teams. But they haven't yet fully leveraged the capacity of an organization. Freedom for a Manager Leadercomes when individual teams have their own management and sense of direction. It's even stronger when those managers have built structures (such as policies or procedures) that guide staff decisions and behaviors in the absence of a Manager Leader.
To grow beyond being a Manager Leader requires shifting away from direct management to strategicmanagement.This is a shift in focus away from directly managing team performance towards managing a goal using strategy priorities.
Level III (30:70) – Leader as Strategic Manager:A Strategic Manager typically is able to facilitate the success of multiple units or a larger organization without having to be hands-on or present. Instead, they clearly identify larger picture goals and the strategic priorities needed to achieve those. They focus more on aligning the efforts of various teams. However, they rarely work directly with the teams. All, or nearly all, of their focus is with team leaders.
A Strategic Manageris focused on facilitating the success of the organization. This leader does so by leveraging the strengths within the organization. The Strategic Managerbuilds a culture of consistency within and between teams. Freedom for a Strategic Manager comes from shifting away from active management. This is usually accomplished through the development of strong management structures and building a healthy management team with a compelling culture and clear direction.
Level IV (10:90) – Leader as Visionary Aligner:This leader is focused on the alignment between the value, the vision, the priorities, the behaviors, and the measurable outcomes of the organization.
Another way of saying this is, the Visionary Aligner clarifies and cares for the vision, cultivates the culture, shapes the strategy, builds the leaders, and oversees the progress of the organization as a whole. The greatest amount of freedom for any kind of leader is at this level. Whether this freedom is used for a vacation in Hawaii or to develop new initiatives (or both).
At this level, the Visionary Aligner is very focused on what is produced, not what is done. If you are in a small or mid-sized organization, each of these levels of leadership is needed within the organization. In my opinion, the leaders of small and mid-sized organizations often have to be much more effective at each level than what might be required of their larger corporate counterparts. The reason being that larger organizations have already understood and built the management structures that allow for growth.
Make the jump
If you want to grow your organization, you need to honestly assess what level of leadership you provide. Growth follows the level of leadership. Your organization isn't likely to grow or be able to sustain growth unless you grow as well.
 | Christian Muntean is a seasoned expert in fostering business growth and profitability. With a Master's degree in Organizational Leadership and certifications as a Master Coach, Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), and International Mergers & Acquisitions Expert (IM&A), he guides entrepreneurial leaders through growth, succession planning, and exit strategies. He is an accomplished author of three books, including Train to Lead. Christian resides in Anchorage, Alaska, with his family. Learn More » |
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