Why I Developed Tailored Leadership™ Differently
When I was writing The Narrow Path to an Engaged Workforce™, I began taking a closer look at something I had been doing for nearly 40 years: developing leaders.
Throughout my career, I've trained hundreds, if not thousands, of leaders at every organizational level. Much of that work focused on frontline supervisors and middle managers.
There's an old saying in football that games are won and lost on the offensive and defensive lines. I've always believed the same principle applies in business. Frontline supervisors and middle managers have an enormous influence on what employees experience every day.
Over the years, I've taught a number of off-the-shelf leadership programs. Many contained excellent information, but some included 20 or 30 different skills, each with its own steps and processes.
I began questioning how much of that information people could reasonably be expected to remember, much less apply when the pressure was on.
That thinking led me to develop Tailored Leadership™ differently, for many reasons.
1. Built from Experience, Not Theory Alone
I've seen leaders embrace training, question it, and sometimes return to doing exactly what they were doing before.
I've also dealt with just about every kind of leadership situation imaginable. Operational problems, personal matters, employee conflicts, legal investigations, and everything in between.
Some were complicated. Others were relatively simple.
But regardless of the circumstances, I kept coming back to the same fundamentals.
Ask questions. Listen. Understand. Value the person involved. Then determine what needs to happen and follow through.
To me, that's not some complicated leadership theory. It's common decency.
And having supervisory authority doesn't permit anyone to disregard it.
2. One Leadership Standard for Different Situations
Organizations establish standards for safety, quality, production, and employee conduct. We often say we hold our leaders to a higher standard.
But what exactly is that standard?
For Tailored Leadership, it's “Grace & Truth”.
Grace means asking a relevant question, listening, understanding, and valuing people.
Truth means establishing clear expectations moving forward, accountability, consequences, and follow-through.
Whether a leader is addressing poor performance, recognizing good work, resolving conflict, or making a difficult decision, the same standard applies.
Of course, emergencies may require immediate action. But acting quickly doesn't relieve a leader of the responsibility to treat people with dignity and respect.
I wanted something leaders could remember without having to recall six steps for one situation and eight more for another.
Grace & Truth. Two things to remember. One consistent way to lead.
3. Designed to Be Remembered and Practiced
One thing I've learned over the years is that sharing good information doesn't mean people will remember it or use it.
That was an important consideration in developing Tailored Leadership.
Rather than nine unrelated classes, I designed nine progressive sessions, each building upon the previous one.
Leaders revisit what they've learned, practice real workplace situations, and apply those lessons on the job.
The goal isn't simply to teach leaders more about leadership. It's to prepare them to use what they've learned when things get difficult.
Because knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different things.
4. Built for Organizational Accountability
This may be the most important consideration of all.
An organization cannot send supervisors to training and assume its responsibility is finished.
What happens afterward matters. What gets recognized? What gets corrected? What gets tolerated?
And what questions get asked when an employee makes a complaint? If there is an employee relations issue, leaders can ask the employee and their boss, “what did grace and truth look like when the situation started to spiral?”
Consequences influence whether behavior is repeated. That includes recognizing good leadership as well as addressing behavior that falls short of expectations.
And accountability cannot stop with frontline supervisors.
If an organization teaches one leadership standard but allows managers and executives to operate by another, it undermines the very behaviors it's trying to develop.
The standard must apply to everyone, including the boss's boss.
5. Designed for Internal Delivery and Ongoing Use
I also wanted organizations to have the ability to develop their own leaders without depending on an outside consultant every time they needed training.
Tailored Leadership is a complete, ready-to-facilitate system. Each of the nine sessions includes a Facilitator Guide, Facilitator Talk Track, Participant Guide, and PowerPoint presentation.
Organizations can use qualified internal facilitators and retain the materials for ongoing internal use under their license. Experienced external facilitators are also available.
The system is intended to help organizations develop today's leaders while preparing those who will lead tomorrow.
For Those Who Want to Dig Deeper
If you're an organizational geek like I am, I've also published a white paper, The Leadership Gap: Why Training Alone Hasn't Fixed the Problem—and Why Capability Must Be the Goal.
It explores the research, behavioral science, and experience that influenced the design of Tailored Leadership.