Developing Industry Leaders
... One employee at a time 

by John Bourke

There is an emerging view of leadership within our industry that challenges the hierarchical view that places the leader at the top of the pyramid as a final authority. This shift in mindset is, in part, attributable to the realization that, while it is easier for a leader to simply tell employees what to do to solve any given problem, the greater victory is won by collaborating with employees to unfold how they will solve the problem. This emergent style of leadership has been coined "grass-roots", "participative" or "facilitative leadership".   Each one of us has, at some point in our career, witnessed the "command and control" side of hierarchical leadership. Can you recall an occasion when you were ordered to perform a task without being offered a chance to influence the outcome? Did the order elicit a sense of ownership for the solution? Were your intellectual and emotional talents fully leveraged? Was your creativity stimulated? 

Truth is, employees either cope or adapt to this style of leadership - both of which rob the individual of valuable energy that could be effectively refocused through participation. Non-participative delegation produces employees that become wizened in the art of office politics but eventually lose their resiliency and responsiveness to the escalating demands imposed by the environment. 

Why Develop Facilitative Leadership Skills?
The facilitative approach to leadership recognizes the innate drive in people to participate and draws it forth by conscious invitation, eliciting a keen sense of engagement and ownership for the challenge at hand. 
The benefits of facilitative leadership are clear. Employees who work in a more collaborative work environment tend to feel better about their contributions to the organization, are more productive, and report a greater sense of personal/professional balance. Individuals in these settings tend to develop project management skills, group problem-solving skills, conflict management skills, and overall business acumen more quickly than do their counterparts in "command and control" environments. 

Developing Employees as Stakeholders
Through the conscious development of facilitative leadership skills, specifically in the areas of: the art of effective dialogue, group-consensus building and participative action-planning, leaders begin to treat employees as stakeholders in the organization's ongoing success. They realize that in order for stakeholders to make good decisions, generate new and innovative opportunities and deliver on actionable plans certain pre-requisites must be in place. Employees (stakeholders) must be provided: 

• access to adequate information 

• exposure to a cross-section of other key players 

• forums for the open sharing of ideas 

• effective processes for synthesizing diverse viewpoints 

• a nurtured bias for action 

An effective team leader, coach or mentor has no hidden agendas, has little use for judging or controlling and has a tendency to give people back their own ideas without meddling or manipulation. 

FAQ
The three most frequently asked questions regarding the journey to a more facilitative approach to leadership are:
Does the need for hierarchy go away?
A facilitative approach to leadership works best when the requisite hierarchy is clearly in place providing boundaries related to policy and authority.
Is participation easier?
Participation opens up complex new energies in a group that require clear structures, guidelines and methods. Unguided participation results in deep frustration just as unguided hierarchy does.
How do facilitative leaders manage the risks associated with eliciting the participation of chronic complainers and adversarial stakeholders?
The facilitative leader recognizes that the greatest risk to organizational success is not to be found in the heated exchanges that often surface around particular issues but instead in the unexpressed viewpoints that are forced underground and often surface in less predictable ways to derail the group's plans, hopes and aspirations. 

Developing Facilitative Leaders
To manage the inherent risks associated with participation, the organization must commit to learning and promoting three key competencies: 

• Effective Dialogue Methodology: The dialogue method teaches employees to engage the active participation of all members early in the dialogue. An effective dialogue focuses attention on a particular issue and guides individuals to articulate the relevant facts and details. The dialogue continues by inviting participants to reflect on their personal connection with the issue, and ultimately, to consider implications and significance to self and others so that a collaborative decision can be made. 

• Group-Consensus Method: Group-consensus building is a multi-stage process that generates new creativity, incorporates left and right brain thinking, builds team cohesiveness through consensus-driven dialogue and culminates in a "group-owned" decision or commitment. 

• Action-Planning Method: Employees are most productive and make available their greatest contributions when they become proficient at clarifying direction, assessing the environment, aligning resources, determining appropriate actions and implementing collectively-owned plans. 

Closing
The facilitative approach to leadership is certainly not the easiest path to creating an empowered workforce. However, whatever inefficiencies arise out of participation are usually overshadowed by the effectiveness of collaborative employee-owned solutions. 
For more information on related employee training and development opportunities through Bourke & Associates please contact us by phone at (214) 443-4258 or my email at jbourke1@ix.netcom.com


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