Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2016 - 35

CREATE A
FORUM WHERE
TRUTH TELLING
IS CELEBRATED,
REWARDED
AND NORMAL.

people to tell him or her the truth. They
can, however, create a forum where truth
telling is celebrated, rewarded and normal.
Be wary of making suggestions without
true expertise.

It is difficult - if not impossible - for
the formal leader (aka boss) to make
suggestions. What do you think would
have happened after Mark Fields said
"RED" if Alan had responded by saying:
"Have you tried this?" or "Have you
tried that?"
There would have been a strong
tendency for Mark (and everybody else
in the room) to say, "Great idea," and then
turn their attention to implementation.
This is problematic for two reasons:
* It may well have been a less-thanoptimal suggestion by a boss without
true knowledge.
* There would have been limited (if any)
personal ownership moving forward
from anyone on the team ("This was
the boss's idea.").
After hearing "RED" and providing
recognition for the honesty, Alan made
it clear that he would not be the source
of a solution. It may seem odd, but
this more than anything was a call to
collaborative action.
Actively involve others.

Leadership is a multi-directional dynamic.
It can come from the top down, but it
often flows from peer to peer or from
the bottom up. If the problems Ford was

facing when Alan became CEO were well
defined and simple, somebody would
have figured them out long before he
arrived. Ford faced monumental (and
highly complex) challenges.
Almost immediately Alan called upon the
collective wisdom of the "thousands of
very smart people" at Ford to help solve
them. It is in this light that the "Leader
as Facilitator" is distinguished from the
"Leader as Boss." Alan leveraged the
legitimacy of his position as the driving
force behind the search for solutions
he was incapable of producing based
on his experience alone. It's almost like
his mantra became: "By all means, come
to the team with problems ... so we
can all work together to help you find
a solution."
Check your ego at the door.

Fundamentally, leading Knowledge Workers
requires that the leader get rid of ego and
focus on achievement. Again, to quote Peter
Drucker, "Our mission is to make a positive
difference, not to prove how smart we are."

The first step in responding to a challenge
occurs when team members are willing
to admit a challenge exists. The first step
in addressing the challenge occurs when
leaders are willing to admit they don't
have all the answers and facilitate the
process of finding solutions.
With ever-increasing regularity, leaders at
all levels in organizations will be responsible
for effectively influencing Knowledge
Workers. Creating an environment where
those individuals can transparently
communicate their level of performance
provides the leader with the opportunity to
facilitate forward movement, accomplish
important goals and build a culture that
thrives on achievement.
Marshall Goldsmith is the world authority
in helping successful leaders get even better.
Alan Mulally is the former CEO of Ford and
is currently helping great companies move
to a new level. Sam Shriver is the senior
vice president of commercial operations
and product development at The Center for
Leadership Studies. Email the authors.

LESSONS LEARNED:
EFFECTIVELY LEADING KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
With the ever-increasing presence of Knowledge Workers in the workplace, modern-day leaders are
presented with the challenge of trying to help their team achieve goals when they are not an expert on
the topic. Here are a few tips to effectively lead Knowledge Workers:

* Be wary of making

suggestions without
true expertise

* Recognize that knowledge
is power
* Actively involve others

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - FALL20 1 6 I WWW.TRAININGI NDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

* Target transparency and

applaud when you get it

* Check your ego at the door
| 35

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2016