sometimes it gets messy

I worked late today; I’m driving home; its past dinner time; my wife is at a church function; the kids are all out doing x, y, or z; so I can either go home and scrounge up something to eat, or stop in at my favorite local barbecue place. Easy decision. Flaggstead Smokehouse Texas-style BBQ, here I come! One of the things I like about BBQ is that it is a very casual, and yet intimate experience. The only way to eat ribs is to pick them up with your hands and gnaw right on the bones. One does not eat BBQ ribs with a knife and fork. You have to get sloppy, messy, and get right down to the bone.

Administrative leadership is a lot like that when you have staff members that are reluctant to perform their assigned responsibilities. Dealing with them can be messy as you navigate past the excuses and get right down to their bone of contention (they will always have a reason for not complying with the issue at hand). Each person will have his or her own unique reason. This is where it gets personal, you have to slow down and discover through dialogue (dialogue as in two people sharing ideas rather than just you asking questions and them providing answers) what the leverage point is to that would provide the opportunity for them to change their mind.

Navigate is the key action word here. One must steer the conversation around potential tangents, past pet peeves, and avoid emotional trigger points. You can only avoid them if you know they exist, which is evidence of how deep the relationship exists between you and that individual. If the relationship is shallow, then you are more likely to run aground on some issue that lies just beneath the surface veneer of professional politeness.

All this underscores the fact that effective leadership is contingent on establishing relationships. Relationships are essential for communication. Noted author and editor, Bernard Bass, states that “leadership and followership are reciprocal” (p. 590). The reciprocity allows for meaningful dialogue when disagreement occurs or when a staff member is reluctant to complete their duties or responsibilities. Without a reciprocal-based relationship, reluctance can elevate to defiance if the conversation is interpreted as confrontational.

Thomas Sergiovanni summarizes the virtues of leadership as hope, trust, piety, and civility. He states that wise leaders rely on others and therefore work to increase their capacity for action as well as fostering hope and faith. Thus, hope, faith and the expectations for action coalesce to form a “covenant of obligations” (p.116). Covenant is a strong word choice, one I believe that is chosen to recognize the power of relationships.

Relationships are the key to action. Bass addresses the bottom line; “The real test of leadership lies not in the personality or behavior of the leaders, but in the performance of the group they lead” (p. 598). In this era of accountability, everyone must perform at high levels. Everyone means that the leader needs to do more than invite everyone to the table, he or she must address those individuals that do not perform and resolve the issue.

There is risk involved in having this type of conversation. Tim Schneider, a consultant dealing with leadership issues, states that one must always weigh the risk of pursuing this level of conversation. In recognition of the difficulty of engaging in this type of discussion, he refers to them as courageous conversations. He offers some tips to structure the process; “…a courageous conversation must have a clearly defined objective. That objective must then meet the standard of being for the organizational good and not just for the benefit or comfort of the leader….the language is not passive and that action is required to complete the transaction.” It is reaching acceptance of the required action steps that is key to moving forward.

Having a direct conversation with an under-performing staff member will never be a clean, clear process since the uniqueness of each personality involved means that there is no single template for the dialogue (although the goal may be universal to all staff), therefore it will be a messy process. If a solid reciprocal relationship has been established, then following through on the covenant of obligations will be easier to accomplish, but the process will always remain a little messy.

You know even before you go into a BBQ joint that its going to be messy, but you recognize that it is an essential part of the experience; so use that same recognition to have a courageous conversation and don’t let the potential messiness stop you.

Make a good day,
Tod

PS. Bass, B. M. (1981). Looking back. In R. M. Stodgill (Ed.), Stodgill’s handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and action (pp. 584-598) New York: Free Press.
PSS. Sergiovanni, T. J. (2005). The virtues of leadership. The Educational Forum, 69(2), 112-123.
PSSS. Tim Schneider’s article, Courageous Conversations retrieved from http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Courageous-Conversations.html
PSSSS. Flagstead Smokehouse Texas BBQ