Who is a good leader? Evidently, true organisational leadership qualities demand taking more than your share of the blame and less than your share of the credit!This is immortalised in the wise words of the great football coach, Bear Bryant for leadership no matter what kind of team you lead, “There’s just three things I’d ever say: If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes real good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you!” But in the real world the exact opposite holds true.Think again before dismissing this –
• What do you do when you uncover a critical error or even an employee admits a mistake?
• Wouldn’t you eagerly lap up the credit for a major success or breakthrough?
When something goes wrong
At any given lapse or failure, all hell breaks loose with emotional yelling, useless criticism and blame fixing.
Most self-seeking leaders duck their head and conveniently let others take the fall. In fact, many a successful career has been based largely on such strategies of finger pointing and avoidance.
It is quite tempting to skirt or deflect the blame on scapegoats around or beneath you. But as the manager, you are the captain of the ship and should take the hit for the team. The onus is on you to step up and take full responsibility for any wrong decision, missed deadline, failed project, malfunctioning strategy or any other mishap that occurs.
Instead of stepping aside, be willing to take the heat and point the finger at your own chest for the mistakes. Have the nerve to claim, “I take full responsibility. This is my department.”
Always lead from the front, but do not let the culprit go scot-free either. Detractors argue that standing in front of your people and becoming the regular ‘fall-guy’ leaves the door open for repeating mistakes. So, even while sacrificing for the team, make efforts to understand the true cause underlying the issue, examine and resolve the problem.
A consultant rightly observes, “The top leader should periodically assess the company’s operations, decisions and behaviours, and in doing so, prevent the poor decision or performance from ever occurring.” Deal with the person responsible and caution him not to do it again. Assure him that you will back him up and at the same time inspire him to do things right.
When something good happens
The team is more important than you and your aspirations. Rise above petty selfishness like taking all the glory for yourself and always give credit where it is due. Be more than ready to support heroic efforts and publicly recognise, praise and reward a job well done. Else, your employees will end up feeling unrecognised and used.
Magnanimously share credit and make contributors feel that you couldn’t have achieved any success in your endeavours without them. Also, pass on any kudos you receive from higher levels to the deserving individuals. In other words, give more than your share of credit and take less than your share of praise.
Only with such honesty and humility can you step into the shadows and take pride in your team as they bask in the limelight of ‘their’ success.
As you bring everyone to the table and make them feel an important part of achievements with the proverbial ‘fifteen minutes of fame’, the laurels will automatically come back to you. So, as a manager or leader, take the blame for your employees and you will have just won yourself undying loyalty. Give them due credit for success and you will be surprised at how respected you will be. It will foster a mutually beneficial relationship by motivating people towards superior performance and excellence. With the resultant appreciation, trust and accountability, you can get people to do what you want them to do – they will actually prefer to work for you!
Author Jim Collins sums it up best in his best-selling book, Good to Great as ‘the window and the mirror’. He says, “If you are praised look outside the window and say it is because of them. If you are not praised look into the mirror and say it is my fault. That is what leadership is all about!”
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