Why it pays to be a leader-teacher

Just the other day a client of mine shared her daily misery of having a hand in every special project and operational emergency, explaining, "I just don't have anyone that I can hand over to who will take care of things. That is why I need a good leadership development programme". Another client executive shared the ongoing challenge of getting staff to think and act more strategically. "They just can't see the big picture. They can't think out of the box."

Getting work done in Thailand may be unique in some ways, but the challenges of developing solid talent at the manager and executive level are strikingly similar across borders. And solutions to meet those challenges are also strikingly similar.

One solution to developing leadership talent and depth of business acumen is to become a leader-teacher. To the two executives above, I was tempted to respond by asking, "What are you doing to teach them the skills and approaches you expect of them, directly?"

All leaders are teachers. If you lead others in your organisation, you teach every day through what you say and don't say, by what you do and don't do. The question really is, do you want to be teaching accidentally or in a purposeful and planned way?

Noel Tichy is an author, professor of organisational behaviour and human resource management and former head of GE's Leadership Development Centre. In "The Cycle of Leadership: How Great Leaders Teach their Companies to Win", he says: "In teaching organisations, leaders see it as their responsibility to teach. They do that because they understand that it's the best, if not only, way to develop throughout a company people who can come up with and carry out smart ideas about the business."

BD Medicals' CEO, Ed Ludwig, says, "Teaching gives me the opportunity to talk to people about where we are going, about our journey to become a great company. Frankly, I don't think the role of a teacher is optional for a CEO in today's complex, multifunctional, technology organisation. It's part of the job. And it's a fun part."

I can hear your objections: "I am too busy! It takes too much time! It's not my job! I need to take care of urgent matters first!" Take a breath, and consider these reasons why leaders should teach:

Strategic information is shared, enhanced and acted upon. Making employees smarter increases the likelihood of successful execution of strategy and plans.

Your knowledge is passed on. Leaders leverage hard-won knowledge from their own experience by sharing it.

Leadership bench strength is deepened. Leaders-as-teachers report expanding their own knowledge and leadership skills when involved in explicit teaching. And the potential of future leaders increases when practical, real-life learning occurs.

Workforce engagement and retention improves. Leader-teachers report a strengthening of their own loyalty to the organisation. Learners are impressed that leaders take the time and energy to get involved with employee growth and success.

And here are six things you can consider to begin creating a culture of leaders as teachers:

Formulate your teachable point of view. What do people need to learn, what do you have of value to teach them, and to accomplish what purpose?

Use your organisation's business operating cycles as teachable moments. Consider how the operations planning process, budget reviews, performance appraisals and/or promotion cycle may provide these opportunities.

Assess and reward teaching ability. Establish teaching competency as a component of your promotion criteria.

Use leaders to welcome new employees. Key leaders can be used when bringing new and experienced hires on board, to welcome and teach the values and expectations of what is needed and what is appreciated.

Get involved, in an active way, with your current leadership development programmes, or start one. Great collaboration can happen when you forge a partnership with leadership development specialists in order to share your teachable point of view as part of a formal leadership development programme.

Larry Bossidy, co-author of "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done", asserts that you can find out how you are doing as a leader by asking yourself about the people you are leading. "When you retire, you won't remember what you did in the first quarter of 1994 or the third," he says. "You'll remember how many people you have developed - how many you helped have a better career because of your interest and dedication to their development. When you're confused about how you're doing as a leader, find out how the people you lead are doing. You'll know the answer."

It is too clear and so it is hard to see.

A dunce once searched for a fire with a

lighted lantern.

Had he known what fire was,

He could have cooked his rice much sooner.

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones,

Compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki

Brian Carlsen is an executive director of learning solutions at APMGroup and co-author of "Attract, Engage and Retain Top Talent: 50 Plus One Strategies Used by the Best". APMGroup has been helping build high performance organisations in Thailand since 1992.