Production and Leadership

Production does not equal leadership. I think a lot of organizations get this wrong, and we do it with our teams. We think the best players are supposed to be the leaders. We equate their ability to produce with their ability to lead the team, and then we spend a lot of time complaining about a lack of leadership.

Do you ever wonder why you find a lot of people in leadership positions who “don’t get it?” Whether they are the CEO of a business, the partner in charge of a law firm, or the President of a non-profit organization, they don’t seem to have a basic understanding of good leadership and the skills necessary to run the organization effectively. We associate the people who have the titles with the ability to lead, but I’ve said for a long time that there is a vacuum of leadership out there in many organizations. The people in charge don’t always understand leadership.

Production, believe it or not, is often the big issue. People get promoted in the business world based on production - the best sales person rockets through the company, eventually getting to a VP level. The best fund-raiser continues to get promoted until she is running the company. In coaching, the best recruiters put themselves in position to become head coaches, and many of them get head jobs based on their production as a recruiter. The problem is that level of production doesn’t necessarily correlate to the leadership skills necessary to do the job when you are in charge.

We all try and make our best players our leaders. In sports, we talk about how the best players have the clout and respect necessary to lead, and we often say someone who doesn’t start or play much can’t lead, because his teammates won’t listen to him. Is that really true? I guess it is if you allow it to be. I understand that teammates will admire and look up to the best players based on their ability to help the team win. There is a certain level of respect given to the better players. But if you are teaching leadership the right way you can define it so that your team knows exactly what you expect from the leaders, and how to understand the important elements of great leadership. Respect, trust, consistency and humility are more important elements of effective leadership than talent. We just have to teach our teams to see it that way.

The production/leadership trap is a really easy one to fall into. We expect people to advance based on their ability to do the job. But some people are just great producers and that is the value they bring to the organization. Their ability to organize, get people to believe and to lead doesn’t match their production. That is a hard truth in a lot of cases, but it needs to be recognized or the organization is going to suffer.

I’ve learned over the years that sometimes my best players just needed to be my best players. That was it. “Why are you trying to force a sandwich down their throat when they aren’t hungry?” Eric Musselman once said to me, and it makes sense. When you try and make someone a leader who does not want that role you are probably making them worse.

You can find great leadership from your great leaders, and they may be different from your great players.