"For a leader to make everyone a leader, he or she must continually strive to create "transparency" within the organizational culture. Transparency means letting go of command-and-control methods, creating instead an atmosphere of openness and trust. It means creating a culture and opportunity for all voices within the organization to be heard. It also means sharing all relevant information with customers, employees, and shareholders, so that everyone connected with the organization is enabled to make good, informed decisions. There are all key aspects of being a servant-leader.
I work with the philosophy that there are no organizational secrets, and that everyone should have access to and understand our financial data and goals.
Kurt Senske, Executive Values, p. 22
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2 comments:
I'm not sure I agree. First, the "paradigmatic" servant-leader, Jesus Christ, does not appear to me to have created a "transparent" organizational around himself. And there was good reason for that: he would have been killed earlier than he was if he created a transparent culture.
So transparency is not an end in itself, but must be weighed against other goals, such as what will others do with the information -- and, particularly, what possible enemies will do with the information.
I sometimes wonder whether "openness" is a means of blame-spreading. Rather than make a decision, and accept criticism for making the wrong decision, if everyone was (ostensibly) involved in a wrong decision, then it's not the leader's fault, and he need not take full responsibility for the action.
That said, I do believe in consultative, servant-oriented leadership. Of course, I am an administrator by the election of those over whom I administer, and part of the point is to free up the others from administrative burdens. That could be distinct from many ordinary business firms.
Jim, Thanks. I remember someone noted that great leaders take the blame for failures, while poor leaders blame others. I think that's good left hand kingdom stuff. It doesn't work when you run Jesus as the supreme leader, however. Psychology, sociology, etc is always trumped by the gospel/Christ.
I do believe in Senske's approach of letting the challenges of the organization be known to employees, and therefore being transparent. That does not relieve a leader of having to make hard decisions, but it can assist enormously as the best minds share ideas on how to deal with a shared problem. FWIW. Thanks much friend.
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