How to Create Problem Solving Organizations
Leaders who aren’t solving problems are irrelevant. All leaders always solve problems. Urgent problems are easier to solve because they are urgent.
While facing urgent or future problems leaders remain solution oriented. The bigger, more numerous and pressing the problems the more value leaders bring.
Leaders never solve problems alone; organizations do.
Confidence is an organizations most powerful problem solving tool.
Effective leaders always build the self-confidence of others. Jack Welch said, “Giving people self-confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do. Because then they will act.”
Lowering:
You lower the self-confidence of others by over-correcting, micro-managing, ambiguity, and favoritism.
Raising:
You raise the confidence of others by preparing, trusting, and praising.
Leadership development is the easier side of confidence building. Furthermore, preparing can be experienced incrementally.
Trusting is about the competence of others. Trusting, additionally, is about you and may be the hardest part of confidence building. Learn to trust people by developing them and by trusting them. In the end, leaders learn to trust by trusting.
Praise is the easiest side of confidence building. It is, however, something leaders tend to dispense sparingly. Effective praise focuses on character, effort, skills, and results.
One reason you can’t praise others more is you haven’t developed them enough.
How do you develop the confidence of others?
How do leaders lower the confidence of others?
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Very interesting subject and one that is often overlooked I think.
In addition to your great points regarding the second question you posed, I suggest that leaders also lower others’ confidence by making them wrong, by unfair acts, by mismanaging conflict, by bullying, by threatening staffs’ status (identity) and other important values that you have referred to,such as certainty, autonomy and a sense of belonging.
Dear Dan,
I absolutely agree that effective leader praise effectively and it focuses on character, effort, skills, and results. On the other hand, ineffective leaders believe in fake praise. They can create positive impression in short run, but definitely going to lose their credibility in long run. I also believe that excessive praise does not affect effective or positively. It becomes like flattery or adulation. So, leaders should be very careful to strike a demarcation between real and unreal praise. Real and true praise instill confidence in others while opposite diminishes confidence.
Leaders should focus on effort, person than process.
Masks lower confidence in others. Masks layered leaders discourage confidence because they are not true leaders but reflect themselves as leaders. In fact, they are manipulator who are concerned about their own well beings and benefits by creating impression.
Delegation and trust are the core in solving even critical problems. I also believe that realistic deadline inculcates confidence among people. Unrealistic deadlines or urgent deadlines sometimes create frustration and hence lower confidence.
Make it alright to FAIL. There is nothing more destructive in the pursuit of creating a great organisation than the fear of failure.