Leadership Articles: TALKING LEADERSHIP

A Feature Article from Gaynor Consulting Inc. December 2012   |   By Dan Gaynor

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Lead Like Scrooge?

"Oh!, but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens.

As Christmas draws near it seems appropriate to turn to Dickens with A Christmas Carol for some seasonal leadership inspiration. Let's see what we can learn from one of literature's most well known bosses - Ebenezer Scrooge. Read the passage again and this time let your mind linger over the words, then let's take a closer look.

We can't help but sympathize with the diligent and hard working clerk Bob Cratchett, a devoted husband and father who must endure the scorn and mistreatment of a cold and uncaring boss. Scrooge sees Bob's wish to be with his family over Christmas as an imposition. As far as he's concerned Cratchett is taking advantage of him. Even today there are a great many people feeling torn between unreasonable and too demanding bosses and their families, they are often as discouraged as Bob Cratchett. Encouraging a healthy work / life balance is not only the right thing to do - it builds loyalty and performance. So this Christmas take time to do a balance audit. Look a little more closely at how hard the members of your team are working and how they are feeling about it. Make sure there is time for family, rest and even a little Christmas cheer.

Dickens describes Scrooge as "secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." I think we can pull two good lessons from this passage. Today a great many workplace leaders hoard too much information. They don't talk to their employees regularly about the business, and when they do their comments are often superficial. If you want involved employees then you have to involve them - that's the way it works. When you share information openly, without threatening, when you genuinely work to help the members of your team understand the situation (whatever it is), you send a powerful message that you trust them and care about them. This is why a good communication plan is another productivity multiplier and loyalty builder. Remember, we talk to people we care about. This is the message good communicators send. So this season, take stock of how often you're holding staff meetings and how openly you are sharing information.

Finally, I ask the question: Can a leader be "solitary as an oyster" and still build a high performance team? You of course know the answer. Leadership is at its heart all about relationships. When you care about the people you lead they care about you - followers don't want to disappoint leaders who care about them. I am convinced this is a powerful leadership truth. Whether you are encouraging or correcting, it must be evident in all that you do that you care. So your final assignment as this Christmas approaches is to ask yourself how well you know the people you are leading and how well they know you. If you have well developed relationships, you are doing the work of a good leader, keep it up. If you've lost touch, if you're spending too much time in your office and not enough on the shop floor resolve to get out more - Christmas is a great time to make a start.

We all know how the story ended. After a visit from three apparitions Ebenezer had a change of heart. He became the best of leaders, illustrating the last and most important lesson: a change in the right direction can have a dramatic effect on everyone involved. Merry Christmas all, let us all try to keep the spirit of Christmas all year long.

A Feature Article from Gaynor Consulting Inc. December 2012   |   By Dan Gaynor

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