I’m often asked this question.  My answer often surprises the leader who asks it. 

If you want to develop people better, you will first have to look at your own leadership.  My friends Steve and Jill Morris make a distinction between lead management and boss management (the type of authoritarian/power-based leadership that is all too common).  Lead management is about leading people to lead themselves, to develop their own skills and abilities, to be self-evaluating.

This notion of lead management is based on Choice Theory and the work of William Glasser.  It is spelled out in a short but powerful book called “Leadership Simple” that was one of the most impactful books I read last year.  I encourage all leaders to take a look at this.  

A true leader makes choices deliberately after doing a careful self-evaluation.  They define what they want, they own their perceptions of what seems to be happening (without projecting that on others), and they lead others to do the same. 

It should be a relief to leaders that you don’t have to figure out how to develop each one of your people (they are all unique, afterall).  You do need to be deliberate and aware of what you want, what they want, and know how to lead people through a process of change that is of their own choosing.

Every day at work there are opportunities to make things happen, and also ways to avoid the action.   I think the basic difference comes down to this:  If you want to make things happen, take responsibility.  If you want to stay out of the action, avoid accountability at all costs.

Too simple?  Think about it for a minute.  Regardless of whether a person has been given “authority”, if you just look at those who are consistently effective you’ll notice that they demonstrate initiative, a can-do attitude, and they step up in a responsible way when something needs to be done.  You’ll also notice that people who shy away from the work or who usually have a ready explanation for why something wasn’t done or can’t be done usually point somewhere else for the cause.  It has nothing to do with them.  

Now amplify that into a company or a whole organization.  If the overall attitude is “We’ll find a way to make it happen!” or “I’ll get right on it” (and you see the follow-through) there’s usually a strong culture of accountability in place.  We’ve all seen the opposite as well:  lots of excuses, finger-pointing, justification and rationalizing. 

Here’s the point of it all:  a strong leader takes responsibility for bulding a culture of accountability and modeling it personally through their words and actions.  They are a living example of what a difference a single committed person can make, and they aren’t content to stay alone for long.  They inspire confidence, a can-do spirit and taking responsibility in others.

I was reminded yesterday of someone who took such a position and inspired many people through his life:  Buckminster Fuller.  What inspires me about Bucky’s life is the turnaround he experienced at age 32.  Earlier in life he had been expelled from Harvard for “irresponsibility and lack of interest”.  Bankrupt and jobless at the age of 32, he lost his young daughter to polio and meningitis.  He felt responsible and wanted to commit suicide.  However, on the bridge he was going to jump from he decided to begin an “experiment to find what a single individual can contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity.”  He became accountable to a higher purpose and that changed everything.  Over the next 50+ years this independent visionary designed and invented things like the geodesic dome, wrote 30 books, received 28 patents, and dedicated himself to working on behalf of all humanity.  There’s an institute dedicated to disseminating his ideas where you can learn more about this original thinker.