Introduction
The following column is a revision of chapter two of my book, Circle of Impact. It is longer than a normal column. I suggest that you send it to those who either work for you, your direct reports, or to colleagues with who you regularly discuss what work is often so difficult. I posting it here to encourage conversation. I am planning a Zoom chat on this topic in the near future. If you are interested, email me at ed@edbrenegar.com.
The Failing Leader
Early in my career, I found myself failing as a leader. Even though I still had the responsibility to perform at a high level, I knew something was broken. The pressure to be the do-it-all leader meant that my ability would never have a chance to reach its potential. I did not want to spend my life captive to my limitations of ability.
It was then that I realized that how organizations were structured was the source of the problem. The structure created obstacles to finding meaning in work and to fulfillment of potential. In effect, organizations were ignoring their most important asset by making it difficult for their people to take initiative beyond what is expected by the job description. This is a principal reason the Circle of Impact came into being.
Personal Initiative
That all leadership begins with personal initiative is a fundamental truth that I discovered during my early years as a leader. I found myself caught between two competing understandings of leadership. One is the idea that leadership is an organizational title and role. The other is that leadership is derived from the character of a person. The literature on leadership describes both perspectives.
When a person takes initiative, they make a personal choice to take action. They are motivated to fulfill a desire defined by values that give their life meaning. It begins as an idea, leading to a decision, followed by a specific action. This change is the impact that is at the center of the Circle of Impact.
Nearly four decades ago, when I was first introduced to the field of leadership, I quickly realized that my perspective on leadership was different from the conventional view. I did not see it as a role in an organization. It seemed to me that leadership is a product of human action, whether by an individual or by a group. When a person leads something happens. Leadership from this perspective is both personal and social. There is no limit to our capacity to lead, to make a difference, to resolve problems, to build bridges of communication, and to innovate new ways to function in organizations and society.
Take a moment to consider what I’m proposing here. I am saying that any person, no matter who they are or how ineffectual they may have been in the past, can take action that makes a difference that matters. It doesn’t mean that we have to be perfect or highly talented, only that we are willing to take some initiative that produces a beneficial outcome.
It may seem that I am stating the obvious. Of course, anyone can do that. But not everyone is doing that. The range of obstacles that stand in the way of people taking leadership initiative can easily be identified when an organization’s three dimensions of leadership are out of alignment. The following story is about how one organizational leader acted to elevate the leadership capacity of his company.
When Personal Initiative Is Missing: Marvin’s Story
Marvin is a machine operator at a manufacturing plant. He operates an adhesive machine that applies the glue during the process. Over the past several months, the machine has operated inconsistently. Sometimes there is too much glue applied and other times too little. The head of maintenance has spoken several times to Marvin about the problem, including sending memos to his supervisor.
Each time the problem arises, Marvin submits a repair request. Samuel, the person on the maintenance staff who is responsible for Marvin’s machine, adjusts the machine back into alignment.
Nathan, Marvin’s supervisor, has spoken to him about the ongoing problem. So far nothing has changed. Marvin’s machine is still operating inconsistently with increased costs to the company. Samuel continues to work to repair the alignment. Nathan checks in with Marvin each time he receives a memo about the problem. Obviously, something is wrong with the machine. More importantly, no one is taking responsibility to fix the problem.
Neither Marvin, Samuel, nor Nathan believe it is their responsibility to resolve the problem. As is often said, “No one picks up the can, they just kick it down the street for someone else to pick up.” The problem requires a different solution. Who then should take the initiative to find that solution?
Restructuring for Personal Initiative
In many companies, employees are hesitant to step forward and suggest improvements. It feels risky. They are employed to perform a specific job. They feel that the company should provide the best conditions for doing their work. To go beyond the boundary of their job to fix a problem that they did not cause is not what they were hired to do. You can see how a company without realizing it makes it harder to resolve problems. This is the situation that Marvin faces.
Who then should step forward to take initiative to resolve the problem? Is it Marvin, Samuel, or Nathan? It could be either of the three, or all of them together. Nathan, Marvin’s supervisor, takes initiative to speak with Marvin to clarify the problem. He fully expects Marvin to solve the problem. Nathan tells him that he has his full support. Whatever it takes to resolve the issue he will support Marvin’s recommendation.
In this situation, Nathan is doing what should have been done when Marvin and every other member of the manufacturing team was hired. They should have been trained to solve the problems that are of their immediate responsibility. In addition, they would be given the assurance of supporting their problem-solving initiatives. How many problem situations could have been avoided if Marvin and Samuel had been trained and supported to take personal initiative to make a difference that matters in their specific job responsibilities?
Why Personal Initiative Matters
To make a difference that matters does not have to be a big project or problem. All that is required is for a person to act upon the values that are important to them. It can be a simple comment while standing on a street corner. It can be an act of kindness, an expression of gratitude, or a display of courage. It can be a word of honesty in a meeting or an act of sacrifice to help a friend in need. It just has to be an act of personal initiative that creates a change that matters.
Leadership begins with personal initiative because, increasingly, companies depend upon their people taking steps to do the right thing in the moment of need. In the past, when we defined leadership as a title or a role, we were saying that organizational structure was the defining characteristic of leadership. The result was that anyone below the level of CEO could essentially say, “That’s not my job” and pass it up to their supervisor.
Small problems became large issues because initiative was squeezed out of the system. Maintaining order became the purpose of the company. The result was that people became isolated from one another. Communication became more difficult. Collaboration is less possible.
The transitions that impact us today require us to be more adaptive in responding to changing situations. It isn’t just that organizations need leaders who are equipped to take personal action based on the values and purpose of the organization. We need the leadership of personal initiative practiced everywhere in society. Everyone, regardless of who they are, where they are from, or what their educational and occupational background is, needs to be practicing leadership initiative.
When leadership is understood as a function of how we live our lives, then the motivation to take initiative becomes personal. The supervision of employees cannot be based solely upon their employment contracts. In addition, we need a shared understanding of the values that guide the organization and that define the impact we are to create. The leadership initiative of employees is essential to the health and vitality of the company. Encouragement is a good place to start but quickly become empty without the substance of shared purpose. For employees to actually want to take personal initiative to solve problems, communicate better, and create collaborative networks for innovation, they must be trained, supported, and supervised as leaders of personal initiative.
A culture of personal initiative grows from the willingness to participate and contribute to the success of the organization. To accomplish this requires a culture of shared values that supports each person’s place within the organization. Without the permission and support to lead, the company suffers from the diminishment of leadership as a shared experience.
The Path from Personal Initiative to Leadership Impact
Personal initiative becomes leadership impact when our actions influence others to act with us in a shared, coordinated fashion. This is a key to understanding leadership in the 21st century. It is both personal and social.
As a consultant and coach, I have conversations every day about what it is like to work in a business or a community organization. Just by listening, by asking respectful questions, people tell you about their experiences. Over the years, it has been fascinating to hear about the negative experiences that people have had at work. The most common complaint concerned how the organization made their work harder, not easier. They would speak about ways that things could be different. I’d silently think, “I wonder how much of her potential she is reaching?”
Our potential is not a fixed amount of good that we can produce during our lifetime. There is no box out of which we draw our potential. Rather, our potential is the opportunity that comes from a culture of openness to create impact through personal initiative. There is no limit. There is only the next opportunity.
Many of us live quiet, respectable lives of meaning and service to people and places that we value. Yet, there are obstacles that keep us from realizing our potential. Others have never even thought about their potential. Want to know your potential? Think about what matters to you and the difference that your actions would matter there. Focus on that. Your true potential will begin to show itself in the actions that you take.
Down deep within us are desires that constantly suggest to us that we are made for more than what we are doing. We join projects of community service, like campaigns for health awareness, or work at a soup kitchen for the poor and homeless. We want our lives to matter beyond the mundane exercise of our daily duties. We look forward to getting away from work to do that which is fun and meaningful. As a result, even thinking about making a difference that matters at work is not even considered.
Removing Obstacles to Fulfilling Our Potential
The path from personal initiative to leadership impact is achieved by removing the obstacles of mind, body, and spirit. Obstacles that are caused by a lack of clarity of our values and purpose. Obstacles of poor discipline in how we live. Obstacles of relationships that hold us back from believing that we can make a difference that matters. These are personal obstacles that we can change.
There are also organizational obstacles of structure and purpose as we saw in Marvin’s story. When a company functions this way, they may believe that they do so to maintain order. Yet, order can’t simply be imposed and then expected to make a difference that matters. Genuine order comes from each person giving their best in the context of taking initiative to fulfill their potential for impact.
The reality is that people who do have a desire to make a difference that matters and the talent and discipline to do so may decide to leave. When the culture of an organization limits the potential for what people can contribute, the longer-term effect is the loss of capacity to excel.
If you are at a point of decision about whether leave or stay in your current employment, think about your life as a story. Generations from now the story that is told about you will not be about the results of your work. Instead, it will be about the character of your life and the difference that you made in other people’s lives. All this may sound absurd. If it does, you have now identified one of the obstacles that stand in the way of reaching your potential.
You must believe in yourself. Believe that you can be a person who can make a difference that matters. Believe that your best years will always be in front of you, not behind you. Let that sink in. Imagine a year from now or ten, your legacy of impact is taking shape. You see the future. And it is a future of impact.
Please grasp the idea that there is no limit to your potential. It does not mean that you can just go do anything. It means that your potential for impact is greater than your imagination right now can visualize. This is true today. It will be true on the last day of your life on this earth.
Consider the following questions:
“Do I want a life where I can make a difference on an ever- ascending scale of significance? Or do I want to live a quiet life focused on satisfying my own interests?”
“What is that thing within me—a belief or a feeling, my passion—that is so important, so powerful a force that I can no longer ignore it and be happy?”
This is your motivation to make a difference that matters. A deep desire that is calling you to step out of your place of comfort and security, to take some creative action to make a difference that matters. It is calling you to follow your potential impact as a person.
If you are an executive in a business, this is the kind of leadership impact you want from your people. The potential benefit to a company grows each time personal initiative that matters is taken. Remove the obstacles to people working together, innovating, and solving the immediate problems of their work situation, and you open the possibilities for growth and strength that were locked away in the people of the organization.
From Potential To Impact
However, for this shift in perception of our human potential to work for the people in your business, it must begin with you. Your own self-perception as a person taking leadership initiative is where you must begin. Your change of perception will lead the way for others to follow in joining you to create a leadership-rich organization.
Impact is a change that makes a difference that matters. It is a word of affirmation or gratitude when no word was expected. It is the identification with a family’s suffering at the loss of a child that creates a shared community of grief that begins the healing. It is the refusal to let declining results demoralize a team. It is a belief expressed in action that the past doesn’t define the future.
Impact is not business as usual. It is Marvin, finally free to say, “Stop! This is not working.” It is the supervisor respecting his concern by listening and in collaboration with all those touched by his initiative, fixing the problem. It is the owner or general manager going to the line to personally thank Marvin for his leadership. Expressing gratitude in full view of everyone else.
Changing the culture from a leadership starved one to a leader-rich one.
Impact is not the system working as it always has, but just a little better. It is changing the system so that each part can reach its potential.
Impact isn’t just about fixing problems or working for better communication or figuring out new ways to do what has been accepted as tried and true. Rather, it is going to the root and foundation of everything about us as persons, and the organizations where we spend our lives, and asking the questions, “What difference can I make? What difference can this product make for the customer? What difference can we make for our community?” Then, we can solve our problems, communicate better, and create innovative ways to work.
In talking about creating impact, we are talking about cultural change. The traditional measures of profit and loss, market share, and growth-over-time are still relevant. In addition, we ask, how do those numbers represent the impact that we are creating as a company?
Change begins with our perception of what the impact of our lives and the work of our companies can be. Imagine that you are flying across the continent. You have three to four hours with the person in the seat next to you. Taxiing out to the runway, she asks what you do. You could tell her exactly what you do? Talk on the phone, fill out forms, answer emails, sit in meetings. Or you could describe to her how your work is different. You tell her about making a difference in the lives of your customers. In telling her that story, you are telling her the impact that your company is creating in the marketplace.
Impact in the Circle of Impact model stands above everything else. It is the ultimate measure of our ideas, our values, our purpose, our relationships, the social and organizational structures of our businesses, our society, and in the end, what defines our legacy.
Impact is why things fall apart, why they hold together when they shouldn’t, and is the impetus for all that we love and hope for in the world. It is why we invest in people, businesses, communities, and ourselves. When we know something is not quite right, we don’t settle for things to remain the same. We take initiative to change it. The result of our initiative is the impact that makes a difference that matters.