This is part of a series called 12 Key Traits to Look for When Building Your Dream Team.

Early in my consulting career, I was asked to meet with a non-profit executive, some supporters and his board. The non-profit had a long history of providing a unique and needed service to the community. They were set up for easy success. However, they were struggling.

We met for a couple hours. I listened to their updates. I asked a few questions. Two issues became quickly clear:

• The executive director wanted to provide direct services but didn’t want to lead. Despite not wanting to lead, he didn’t want to give up the leadership position.
• They didn’t have a functioning board. Nice people. But they weren’t working to ensure that someone actively led the organization. Out of a sense of “like” for the executive director, they enabled his passivity. They weren’t leading.

No active leaders.

Unhealthy organization.

I offered my services, for free, if the executive director was willing to accomplish a couple of simple, basic tasks. I would help him in those tasks. “That’s what the other consultants told me,” he said.

Other consultants?

I had run into someone who was looking for a Fairy Godmother who would make all of his leadership work go away.

No thanks.

What Active Leaders Are and Why No One Else is Acceptable

Active leaders do the work of leadership. It’s about as simple as that.

Despite the simplicity, there are leadership positions all over the place filled by passive, half-hearted, sluggish, avoidant or lazy people. They may have aspired to the position but not to the work of leadership.

Active leaders lead. They actively look ahead to set goals, identify opportunities and challenges. They engage with the present to ensure standards of performance and that the needs of those they lead and serve are being met. They review the past to track progress and learn – constantly improving their teams.

Active leaders:

• Make Informed Decisions
• Follow Through on Plans, Commitments, and Opportunities
• Take Care Of People – Both Those They Lead and Their Customers
• Take Care Of Their Mission – They Ensure Progress and Success
• Invest In Their Personal Development and Grow
• They act. They don’t leave things undone.

Active Leadership and Senior Leadership

Senior leaders should be active leaders. Never select someone for senior leadership if they don’t actively lead. Leadership isn’t an award. It is a role and a responsibility.

Young or inexperienced leaders are sometimes a little less active. It is appropriate to mentor or coach these leaders to build the experience and confidence to actively lead.

Senior leaders need to actively lead. There are people you will rely on. They are there to lift the load. Not be one more person to manage.

Select for this trait.

How Some Organizations Squelch Active Leadership

Active leadership, as a trait, can be learned or forgotten. A leader who is willing and able to take action is often a confident person. This person often has a healthy work ethic.[i]

Four common ways organizations discourage active leadership:

• Creating a personality-driven leadership culture. Some strong leaders use their strength to consolidate authority and control decision making. This may look like micromanagement, undercutting of decisions, or otherwise limiting the leadership of others. This demotivates and “deactivates” other leaders. It tends to attract the kind of people who prefer to work in an environment where their decision-making responsibility is limited. It tends to push away naturally active leaders who recognize they can’t thrive in this environment.
• Withholding decision-making Some leaders don’t allow or encourage people to make decisions. They don’t effectively delegate their power by providing a scope of authority or decision making.
• Ambiguous decision-making Some leaders let people make decisions but are never clear about what is “over the line.” Anyone’s decision might be undercut. For any reason. Eventually, most people either stop being active or (the good leaders) leave.
• Withholding information: Some leaders divide and segment knowledge. Sometimes this is intentional. Sometimes it is an accidental by-product of poorly designed systems or communication. Either way, most people with insufficient information won’t act. Those who do often find they are making mistakes and start to become cautious.
• Not Matching Skills With Responsibilities. One of the most common reasons I see for inactive leadership is a leader who just doesn’t know how to do their job. They weren’t selected based on ability. Either support isn’t available to help them be successful or they are uncomfortable requesting it – for fear of exposing their lack of knowledge.

How Some Organizations Cultivate Active Leadership

An organization can encourage active leadership by:

• Selecting for Active Leaders – Addressing Inactive Leaders. The example from the top speaks more than any leadership training program could hope to.
• Creating Clarity in Roles, Responsibilities, and Decision Making Authority. Many people don’t act because they just don’t know what is in the “sandbox.” So, they act like employees waiting for the next steps to be dictated to them. The time you spend creating clarity will be more than multiplied back to you through leaders who are able to solve problems and take advantage of opportunities in real time.
• Effective Communication. Making sure that the quality of information and methods of communication are used to support and empower your people.
• Cultivating a Tolerance for Error. Error isn’t ideal. But it is inevitable. Use it as an opportunity for growth. High performing organizations accept that error happens and have processes for addressing it. This allows it to be addressed quickly and early – mitigating damage. It allows people to learn and grow from it – mitigating repeated mistakes.

How to Start 2017 With a Strong Leadership Team

Would you like to build a unified Dream Team that will start 2017 strong? Would you like your Dream Team to start 2017 with excitement, clarity, and focus?

If your answer is YES, then I have something special for you. I have a few slots on my calendar to speak with you 1-on-1 about the best practices to build a strong leadership team.

On the call, I’ll share with you 3 specific strategies you can use to improve team effectiveness that will help you attract, retain, and get the most out of your people, strengthening company culture and operational results.

Due to my busy schedule, I only have a few slots open for this complimentary call on a first-come-first-served basis. Email me at Christian@vantageconsulting.org or call me at 907 522-7200 or simply hit REPLY to this email now.

[i] Note: Active leadership is not an end-all trait. Some leaders are very active but their drive and motivation come from unhealthy and unhelpful sources – such as fear, pride, a desire to control, a sense of not being enough, the need to win at any cost, etc.  None of the traits that I describe in this series function sufficiently on their own. They need to the context of the others to genuinely contribute to building your Dream Team.

That being said – you can’t steer a parked car.