Implications for leaders

Leaders are found at all parts of any organisation. The one ability they all share is that of providing others with a framework of clarity and confidence in which to work, and allowing them the space to fly. Instinctively for the most part they:

  1. set out the objective for a task in simple English, what the deliverables will be;
  2. explain why the activity is valuable, how it fits in to the whole, and why it is worth doing well;
  3. follow through consistently, giving support, criticism when valid and then helping; and they
  4. allow space for the worker(s) to make the task their own, and to feel the ongoing confidence of the leader. Above all, they avoid micro–managing, dabbling, and shifting the framework of trust. Contrast this with incompetent"leaders":
  5. afraid to confront the perceived difficulties or challenges ahead, they do not clearly define the deliverables they want;
  6. immersed in their own concerns, they do not put the other's job or needs into a valid context;
  7. They are constantly dabbling in the subsequent roll–out, raising doubts, changing their own minds about priorities, timescales. Above all they
  8. Do not provide the framework of confidence and support, the certainty around the work that we all need. Without this workers cannot feel secure, they have no boundaries, no points of reference. They cannot bond because they do not trust their employer. Their only learning isabout shifting doubts and frustrations, and their only defence is either to turn a blind eye (become a stooge, develop indifference) or to leave.

Leaders of all shapes and sizes can refer to the four drivers as a checklist throughout their work. This chapter has touched on the experience of a bank trying to cut costs, of a secretary watching M&A fallout, and of an innovative manufacturer reassessing its marketplace. Leadership is ultimately about persuading people to want to achieve common goals and objectives, by pooling their differing skills and experience. It is all about achieving together more than the individuals could have managed, left to their own devices. If leaders are going to work this alchemy, then they are only going to be able to do so by ensuring that their teams' individual psychological drivers are met. In starting to understand about management, therefore, and as the first building block in the process, we have focussed on the four main drivers that we all share: the desire to bond, to learn, to acquire and to defend.

This chapter shows how relevant it is to understand and respond to the four drivers. In this case by applying them to one of the most central and most frequently abused aspects of management – delegation. See Letter to Harry  "Micromanagement".

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