Small “Reporting Procedure” Boss vs. BIG “Results Procedure” Leader
You can always tell a culture that is run by small bosses. The signs are everywhere and obvious to everyone, except of course the small bosses in most instances. However, there is one sign that is not as obvious as others but nonetheless reveals a lot about the leadership culture of an organization: its processes and procedures. Now, there are several what I call BIG Rules for establishing effective processes and procedures which I’ll save for a future article. Suffice it to say for now that it is often valuable to take a bird’s eye view of an organization’s processes to determine their 1) primary beneficiaries (i.e., whose life is going to be made easier as a result of this process?) and 2) collateral damage (i.e., whose life is going to made harder as a result of this process?). If you start looking at an organization’s overall processes and procedures from these two perspectives, you can usually tell if small bosses are running the show.
Aside from being confusing, overly repetitive and even serving as production blockers, the processes and procedures of a small boss culture tend to be very boss reporting-centric. In other words, the small bosses are the primary beneficiaries of many of their processes which tend to emphasize reporting, in detail, as much as possible. The processes that are designed to actually get work done (i.e., for the individual contributors) to produce the results that drive business success are often laborious, numerous and duplicative. From an outside perspective, these individual contributor processes almost appear to be an afterthought or something that was contrived in isolation by people who are not responsible to or for them. Thus, these process creators don’t have to live with “fruits” of their creations on a day-to-day basis. If they did, then the processes would probably be disposed of in short order. However, they don’t and thus these poorly contrived processes can live on ad infinitum (or at least until the organization is no longer), much to the consternation of those charged with producing results for the organization.
You see, the small boss culture is obsessed with reporting up the hierarchical chain, often in an overly detailed and unnecessarily duplicative fashion, because these types of processes tend make small bosses feel more comfortable (and often the results-producers more miserable). Now don’t get me wrong, reporting up the chain is very much needed and important in any organization. When I’ve spoken to leaders on this subject, I’ve often preached about how the primary role of a leader is to set the tone of the environment and prioritize actions and resources which has the added benefit of strengthening their decision-making muscles. To do this, the leader needs up-to-date and objective data on a regular basis (and not from what I call “yes clowns” who are often “data blockers” – more on that in future article too). Thus, because the quality of that leader’s decisions is often in direct proportion to the quality of the intel they often obtain from their direct reports or individual contributors who are on the front lines of their businesses, I am in no way recommending suspending or even trivializing keeping leadership adequately informed. That would not benefit anyone. In fact, it would harm mostly everyone.
What I am saying is the exercise is not a false dichotomy between procedures that maximize individual contributor effectiveness to drive results and keeping leaders updated and knowledgeable. It is more about where the emphasis lies. Small boss cultures are reporting obsessed with the shadow mission being to make their lives the most comfortable as possible, often at the expense of improving the productivity (and, by extension, the lives) of their individual contributors. BIG Leader cultures first emphasize the need to make their individual contributors more effective and then focus on how their leadership is to be kept apprised of progress. If individual contributors are producing stellar results, the reporting is normally a lot easier and less intense and more of a celebratory exercise than anything else.
This week, don’t be a Small “Reporting Procedure” Boss. Be a BIG “Results Procedure” Leader. Below are a couple BIG Leader Assignments over the next month that you might want to consider as you examine your leadership style and those who also lead in your organization:
Take a look at 4 of your processes (one per week) in your organization and ask the two BIG Process Perspective Questions:
Who are the beneficiaries
Who are the collateral damage?
Take a look at 4 of your reporting requirements (one per week) and ask yourself
How do these help me make better decisions?
Are these interfering with producing actual results (your individual contributors can only do one thing at a time, regardless of what you would rather believe)
Can I streamline them so I get only what I need and thus free up my individual contributors to be more productive
Am I getting this information elsewhere and thus have duplicative (and therefore wasteful) reporting requirements?
These are only a handful of suggestions to consider as you work on becoming a BIG “Results Process” Leader. That’s all for now. Have a blessed week and be on the lookout for more Small Boss/BIG Leader articles!