Lexington, KY - Ever since Tunisian fruit vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself afire on Dec. 17, 2010, images of protest and violence from many Middle Eastern countries and have blackened our television screens. That first blaze was the spark portending 2011 as the year of conflict. Our eyes and ears are filled with mass uprisings, overturning decade-long dictatorships, continued terrorist attacks, domestic polarization over state and federal budget solutions and more. There are several leadership lessons to be learned from these cataclysmic events.
Let's begin with the uprisings in the Middle East. Most countries in this region of the world are either monarchies or dictatorships, leaving little freedom for ordinary citizens. Last December, Bouazizi decided he'd had enough. After having received a beating from a local security detail in Tunisia along with confiscation of his weighing scales, he proceeded to the governor's office and demanded a meeting. The governor rebuffed his request and he proceeded out into the street, doused himself with a flammable liquid and struck a match. His immolation sparked protests that continued in the face of police assaults and bullets. Ten days later, the president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, fled the country.
The rest is history. Hosni Mubarak has been chased out of Egypt, and Bahrain's citizens continue to protest. Libyan rebels control a significant portion of their country. Lower level protests ebb and flow in many more countries.
It is clear that people will not remain repressed. Unfortunately, rulers in most of the Middle Eastern countries value order at all costs. Their view is that they know what is best for their country and citizens. Social psychologist George Lakoff points out that this approach is similar to the strict father who nurtures his children with tough love. Order and discipline are compulsory.
The downside of strict order is the loss of intellectual capital when individuals are not allowed to think, speak and act freely. Your business is no different. This is where the concept of balance in leadership enters.
Balance structure with the freedom to innovate and make thoughtful, immediate decisions. As leaders, we create structure to provide direction and goals to ensure all team members are aligned. I frequently observe leaders going overboard in this direction. They tend to micromanage out of fear - fear that workers will make a wrong decision that will cost them time, money, customer satisfaction, or quite sadly, loss of power. This loss of power is most likely driving the repressive behavior of leaders in the Middle East.
The other side of this balance, empowering your team to innovate and make their own decisions, harnesses the energy and intellectual capital of the team, enhancing your chances of creating breakthrough products or services. Your job as the leader is to direct their efforts and align their work with the broad goals of the organization. If the thought of allowing your team too much freedom frightens you, take it slowly, providing crisp guidance with frequent updates.
A balance in leadership implies collaboration toward a common goal. Let's look at the conflict in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill. He chose a singular solution and moved forward to put his solution into law.
An alternative would have been to crisply communicate the problem and issues - and then collaboratively work with interested parties to create innovative solutions acceptable in some measure to all parties. In this case, it is clear that all parties must be required to provide concessions.
As a leader, it is important to articulate your vision and each individual's contribution toward that vision. Sometimes that contribution involves sacrifice. People are willing to make a sacrifice for a leader if they believe in the vision. How can you make your vision so compelling that each person is energized to move forward on the path along with you?
Collaboration takes time and patience. Quite often the payback from this investment in time and intellectual exertion is large in terms of creative solutions and satisfaction from everyone affected by the outcome. Remember that job dissatisfaction tends to drive workers from your organization. In the case of Wisconsin, the result may be a brain drain. Higher performing, more mobile workers may choose to work in another state, leaving Wisconsin in a state of mediocrity. Once again, a balance between providing the structure for everyone to work together must be balanced with the freedom to develop creative solutions.
As humans in time of need, we clamor for leadership to collectively move us forward. However, when a leader restricts freedom to the point of great pain, a revolution is created. Sometimes the revolution spawns a ruthless regime, as in the French Revolution and the Russian Revolution of 1917. Sometimes a beautiful design emerges, such as Western democracies.
You may want to take some time to consider your balance in leadership. Talk to your team members. Do they feel sufficiently empowered? Are you providing the appropriate amount of direction and structure? Striking this balance may be just the thing your business needs to move to the next level of growth and profitability.
Joel DiGirolamo heads the firm Turbocharged Leadership, is the author of the book Leading Team Alpha and can be found on the web at www.turbochargedleadership.com.