How does it help your confidence as a leader for people to have complete trust in your ability to make the right decisions and can you then help them have trust in their ability to do likewise?

In all my leadership roles I never thought of the importance of people believing in me.  I took it for granted that if my boss at the time gave me a role with more responsibility, I would just get on with it. I saw my job as making decisions and getting others to implement them – whether somebody believed in me or not was of no concern to me. Neither was I very aware of needing to believe in my staff. This lack of awareness served me well. I didn’t know any different, and the culture at the time made for more compliant and dependent workforces. I was a bit more aware of the importance of people believing in me when I became my own boss, but didn’t want to face the thought that if people didn’t buy from me it was because they didn’t believe in me, so I didn’t dwell on it.

The topic came up recently in a Peer-to-Peer Leadership Coaching Forum. A participant related how, when he got the job of Managing Director of his company (he was also the main shareholder), he viscerally felt the importance of people believing in him and his decisions. He felt the weight of responsibility in leading a medium-to-large company that was the main employer in the community. He felt responsible for the lives of many families. Previously in his other employments he had worked for managers who came from the ‘Command and Control’ school of management.

When it came to leadership his own philosophy was to change with the times and to trust his immediate supports by encouraging them to make their own decisions.  

So what was it that puzzled him?

His peers, having tried to understand why he brought this to the group when he seemed to have complete confidence in himself, asked a number of searching questions about his values, philosophy and experience in the role over the past few years.

What surprised everyone in the room was the emergence of two seemingly opposite leadership approaches; one being the need for followers to have complete trust in the leader’s ability to lead, and the other, to create a culture of leadership throughout the organisation, as one member put it, ‘To lead from behind’.

You could sense the positive energy in the room as the members teased out the challenges and benefits of blending these two apparently contrasting philosophies. It gradually became clear that there is no contradiction in holding these two opposite approaches in equal measure. In fact, they complement and enrich each other.

The following are some of the observations and insights the participants contributed when we did feedback on the challenge.

• The role at the top can be a lonely and stressful place when we take too much responsibility for the business results and for the lives of the employees, whatever the size of the business.
• The old understanding of leadership confidence can border on arrogance or a belief that ‘I know best’; whereas, a more acceptable and engaged form of confidence is having the humility to know that none of us can predict the future and that we need each other’s wisdom to navigate the unknown.
• Leadership is evolving to become more about harnessing the collective wisdom of all the people in the organisation but starts with how the senior leadership team practices this among themselves.
• People are more energised, engaged and motivated when their wisdom, experience and understanding of what is required are taken into account in the decision-making process.
• Effective leadership is no longer about investing power and authority in the hands of one person or the top team. That culture alienates those who yearn for something bigger and more exciting, and want to be part of making it happen; equally, it reinforces a dependency culture in those who want somebody else to look after their lives.
• No one person has full access to all the information needed to make decisions in an ever more complex and fast-changing environment.
• Real change starts with the person at the top having the awareness to let go of control and of the need to feed their ego or get the adrenaline rush that comes from being in charge.