Hurricane Rita: Lessons in Leadership
- Author Susan Dunn,
- Published November 14, 2005
- Word count 1,050
Articles and articles about leadership. Is it charisma?
Can it be taught? What makes a great leader? All over the
world people want to know this. In fact, I’ve just been
asked to submit a proposal to do a workshop on EQ and
Leadership in Saudi Arabia, for a bank. They knew the
competencies of emotional intelligence and they know they
want their people to have them. It’s a worldwide
phenomenon, and for good reason.
Can leadership be learned? Yes, I think so. In the same
way that you can learn to be a therapist. They used to tell
us in graduate school, “It can’t be taught, but it can be
learned.”
Three things factor it: wanting to be a leader, observing
good leaders with your thinking cap on and your feeling
heart open, and then practice – on the firing line!
We’re observing this right now with President Bush. As I
write this from my office in south Texas, we’ve been under
threat of Hurricane Rita for two days, and millions of Texas
have fled to hopefully higher ground. I just opened an
article in the Washington Post that began, “President Bush
flew here ahead of Hurricane Rita on Friday to show command
of a federal disaster response effort that even supporters
acknowledge he fumbled three weeks ago.”
Everyone seem to have fumbled the ball with Hurricane
Katrina. Those who learn from their mistakes still have a
chance. Bush appears to be one of them. He is quoted as
having said to reporters before leaving Washington, “I need
to understand how it works better.” He is also, of course,
scrambling to regain the confidence of the people. At his
level, he gets to fail in public. But he also gets to
succeed in public.
I read also that a military leader was heading out to the
scene because he “wanted to watch the troops in action
during a disaster.”
I can't stress enough that a leader shows up and pitches in.
I see this frequently in offices. There's a deadline --
let's say the brief has to make it to the 4th Circuit which
means a 7 p.m. Fed-Ex deadline, and everyone’s working
overtime already. There are two ways the head guy (or gal)
can handle this -- well, 3 actually.
One is to disappear completely, because it's chaos. That
gets minus 2 points. (Ask Bush.) Hiding in your office is
bad. The major point about primal leadership is that the
leader models the emotion the workers are “supposed” to
have, and we do pick up on that. If the leader disappears
at the crucial moment, we are left to our fantasies, and
they are never going to be positive.
The second is to stand around looking worried, disgusted or
angry – say off to the side with your arms crossed. While
everyone else is running around like chickens with their
heads cut off? This gives you zero points. I don’t think
people who do this understand the impression this makes. I
might even give this a –2 and give the disappearance the
zero. It smacks of arrogance, of disdain, or being separate
from, or above it all. The first thing they tell us in
management class is if there’s a crisis – get help. More
hands are needed. And there’s a set of hands that won’t
pitch in? This annoys people. To say the least.
The third way is to show up, smile, look confident and PITCH
IN. Last-minute production involves grunt work - in the
case of a brief, attaching CMRRR receipts, punching holes,
stuffing envelopes, filling out Fed-Ex forms by hand. (It
may be going to 15 lawyers as well as to the Court, and all
must be served.) The leader who considers this "beneath"
him or her, makes a statement. If you don’t value the work
your employees do, how do you expect them to? Studies show
that as many as 60% of workers are engaged in
“present-eeism” – showing up, but in body only. The leader
who stands at the end of the assembly line, and seals the
envelopes, calm and confident, gets 10 points. And lots of
support in the future.
One example I saw of this was an executive chef for a 5-star
resort here in town. The banquet was set to go in an hour.
The pre-formed pasta nests hadn’t shown up. There were none
to be had in town. Noodles had to be boiled, then BY HAND
shaped into nests. Guess who stood at the head of the
table, smiling, and forming gooey little nests? The sous
chefs hadn’t known how to do it. Chef Rene didn’t either,
but he figured it out and showed them.
There are few things as chaotic as a kitchen before a big
banquet, and you tend to get some temperamental types to
begin with. When emotions run high, the leader shows up and
pitches in. And looks confident. It works wonders.
If you aren't a walking-around kind of manager, boss or
leader, you never really get the FEEL of the situation. If
you hide in your office and rely on the reports of your
likely-to-prevaricate mid-managers you're going to hear only
what they think you want to hear. Unless you go to the
scene and observe, in person, you won't know who's really
pulling their weight, who buckles under pressure, who rises
to the occasion, who the "real" leader of the team is (not
always the one with the title), who supplies the positive
can-do attitude, who drags the team down -- a host of EQ
traits that move your team toward goals.
But it doesn’t count to go and just stand there and make
mental notes. You won’t be part of it so you won’t be able
to feel it, and you’ll appear to be critical which will add
more tension to the situation. And popular you will not be.
Yes, you need to be popular, because motivation is not a
thinking word.
Get in their like Chef Rene, roll up your sleeves and join
in. Get the feel of it. Combine that with your
intellectual understanding of the logistics, and your gut,
and you will be learning leadership. It never ends. Ask
President Bush.
©Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc .
Coaching, business programs, internet courses and ebooks;
coach certification program, no-residency requirement.
Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for free ezine.
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