BENG_Leadership and Influence
- 1. Presented by Dustin Levy July 7, 2016 Lessons in Leadership and Influence
- 2. What I Do: Gentex Corporation (Carbondale, PA) Gentex is dedicated to improving personal protection and situational awareness of global defense forces, emergency responders, and industrial safety personnel operating in high performance environments.
- 3. People in modern organizations are often asked to Lead Without Authority Our Organizational Challenge:
- 4. • A MANAGER is task-oriented and has the authority to control behavior through compensation • A LEADER is people-oriented and has the ability to guide work efforts, create a feeling in others that they are valuable contributors, and provide the support and freedom needed to succeed • An INFLUENCER has the ability to gain agreement or support for an opinion or perspective without having to exercise authority Working definitions for this session:
- 5. • Family • Friends • Cultures • Religion • Teachers • Athletics • Military service Our experiences shape our leadership styles…
- 6. …but, leadership styles developed early in our careers may or may not make us effective in our defined organizational role
- 7. • Graduate School/Postgraduate Research ▫ Expertise, publications, being the smartest person in the room • Product Developer/R&D ▫ Expertise, task execution, with a dash of collaboration • Product Manager ▫ Bringing products to market, cross-functional execution • Product Management Director ▫ P&L ownership, people leadership & development, best practices My career path, and measures of success along the way:
- 8. “Countless books and advisers tell you to start your leadership journey with a clear sense of who you are. But that can be a recipe for staying stuck in the past. Your leadership identity can and should change each time you move on to bigger and better things.” Herminia Ibarra, HBR Jan-Feb 2015 The Authenticity Paradox
- 9. • Applied as a researcher, developer, and first-time business manager ▫ Worked well as a researcher, okay as a developer, not at all as a BM • What it looked like: ▫ Lots of answers, weak listening, made sure people knew how smart I was • Where it limited me and my team: ▫ Too little attention paid to others’ ideas…I didn’t have all the answers My First Style: Leading via Expertise
- 10. • Applied after taking my first lumps as a business manager ▫ Made strong individual contributions, but weak team leadership • What it looked like: ▫ Worked hard, but not necessarily smart, focused on outworking peers • Where it limited me and my team: ▫ Only some individuals respond to this leadership style My Second Style: Leading via Example
- 11. • Applied as a struggling product manager with poor team performance ▫ A combination of leading via expertise and example • What it looked like: ▫ “I’ll show you how to do your job the right way” • Where it limited me and my team: ▫ Poor team accountability, neglection of my other BM responsibilities My Third (& Worst) Style: Leading via Gap-Filling
- 12. • People who become Business Managers share some common traits: ▫ Intelligent ▫ Self-motivated ▫ Hard-working ▫ Competitive ▫ Rewarded in the past for superior individual performance • These traits, when mis-applied, make us less tolerant of others’ ideas, work styles, motivators, and behaviors that are incompatible with ours; all to the detriment of team performance Personal traits of Business Managers:
- 13. Leadership and influence requires us to be other-centric instead of self-centric Big Idea #1
- 14. Regardless of past or current performance, your team members are good people, with certain unique talents, want to do a good job, and will do a good job when they have a conducive work environment Big Idea #2
- 15. Followers follow leaders because leaders help followers do and get things they couldn’t without the leader Big Idea #3
- 16. • What it looks like: ▫ Leaders serve followers instead of trying to control them ▫ Leaders understand the personal needs of their followers ▫ Leaders help followers accomplish what they couldn’t on their own ▫ Leaders remove obstacles to let their followers’ talents to shine through ▫ Followers earn greater autonomy and creative freedom ▫ Followers take ownership and are held accountable ▫ Followers are rewarded for great performance ▫ Followers make the leader look good ▫ New leaders emerge, allowing the existing leader to move on to bigger things My Fourth Style: Leading via Service
- 17. • The Extraordinary Leader, Zenger & Folkman, 2009 • Influence without Authority, Cohen & Bradford, 2005 • What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, Goldsmith & Reiter, 2007 • The Servant, Hunter, 1998 Suggested Reading
- 18. • As a servant leader, it’s still critical to partner with and hire top-notch talent that fits your organization’s culture and values • Many interviews only cover ability, but equally important is suitability • Recommended read no matter which side of the interview table you’re sitting on Hiring the Best, Yate, 2005
- 19. • No single leadership style works in all situations • Leading via expertise, example, gap-filling, or other styles is performed best in the context of Servant Leadership • Don’t be afraid to experiment with new styles, particularly when the stakes are low • Trust yourself, trust your people; take some risks, let others take risks Final Thoughts: Developing a Leadership Toolkit