Moving on meddling management and letting loose liberating leadership

Meddling is “to interfere in something that is not one's concern.” Some synonyms are: “interfere, butt in, intrude, intervene, interlope, pry, poke, nose, busybody, interpose, obtrude, thrust.”

All of the above describe old management in my view, i.e. the idea that we need to plan, organise, direct, and control what other people do. We don’t.

Getting rid of such management is a key to building and growing remarkable workplaces.

23 years ago during a seminar for CEOs I declared management of people as a dead concept. Shock was felt in the room and there was hot debate about my definitions of leadership and management:

I define leadership as the art of inspiring people to bring everything remarkable
that they are (that one-of-a-kind that each of us is) to everything they do.

Leadership falters and usually very badly without management.

I define management as the practice of making it simple for people to bring
everything remarkable that they are to everything they do.

On the day referred to above I used the word science and later changed it to practice. My definitions have stood the test of time.

I am often asked what does a remarkable workplace look like?

My short answer is:
In remarkable workplaces the vast majority of people are bringing their best to their work every day. In the normal workplace only a small percentage of people are doing this.

I am also often asked what is the fastest and most profitable way to move from normal to remarkable?

My short answer is: 
shift from performance management to performance leadership.

The table below is a small yet significant snapshot of what this shift looks like.

It is very simple to move from the left to the right. Simple rarely means easy of course. To move to the right begins with a decision to stop meddling and start letting loose liberating leadership.

As I suggest to my clients: get a shared-view with your people about where you are (reality), where you're going (possibility), why you're going there (purpose), how you'll get there (strategy), who will do what and when (execution), how you'll know you're on track (milestones and lead measures), how you will behave along the way (culture and values), and then get out of the way except for engaging in human to human conversations with people every day.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Complimentary event

Performance management is dead. Long live performance leadership with special guest Dan Groch. Online Tuesday April 21st.

If you'd like to start shifting today and can see the value of a performance partner, please contact me on +61 418 807 898. At very least in your own way join the movement to move on meddling management.