Visible leaders

Leadership styles / 18 August 2011

Always out on the road or behind a closed office door? You could be distancing yourself too much from your team. Sue Weekes finds out why being visible is so vital to successful leadership

Reportedly, Terry Leahy visited a different Tesco store every week, which was just one of the ways he maintained his visibility as leader. Increasing their visibility is one of the biggest challenges for leaders today. Dr Penny Tamkin, associate director at the Institute for Employment Studies, says there comes a time in every leader’s career when connecting with employees becomes increasingly difficult. “There are lots of competing priorities that demand your attention and maybe it feels like a luxury that you can’t afford to do at that point,” she says. “But the best leaders think long and hard about how they maintain contact with their people.” Dr Tamkin also warns that if leaders become remote, they lose the ability to “take the temperature” of the organisation which can have potentially serious consequences.

One of the keys to being more visible is knowing how to break down the hierarchies that exist between leaders and the shopfloor, but this can mean a careful balancing act. Some firmly believe leaders shouldn’t be seated on the floor while others believe having some kind of desk area close by is a highly symbolic act that makes them more accessible.

Go to a major location for an intense period of time, make sure you really understand what is going on there, meet as many stakeholders and members of management as you can.

Steve Tappin, author

Azmat Mohammed is CEO of technology company ID Interactive, as well as a director at the Institute of Recruiters and Knowsley Housing Trust – KHT Services Board, which combined means he needs to stay in touch with around 650 personnel. He says the days of hiding in an ivory tower have long gone. “The key thing is to always make sure you are available to people. We don’t have any barriers or a chain of command that people have to come up through if they want to contact me,” he says.

It’s only natural

Floor-walking is seen as one of the most powerful ways to increase visibility but experts warn that leaders must display the right behaviour when doing so. It must be natural, says Sally Watson, and not like “a state visit”. Elke Anderson agrees, saying leaders must be “genuinely there and genuinely curious and transparent – as opposed to putting a tick in the box and pretending to listen.”

Technology means there are more ways of communicating and keeping in touch with workforces than ever. Web conferencing, email, podcasts, online forums and blogs can all be put to good use, but none of these should replace face-to-face contact and it should be a case of using a blend of all the methods available. Dr Tamkin gives the example of a leader who inherited a big job with thousands of employees. “She could have done a video but didn’t feel it was right. So she took a roadshow to various locations to present herself and take questions,” she says. “Having done this, it is then OK to follow up with a video, podcast or open questions on the internet. The important thing is to keep some kind of ongoing regular engagement with people.”

While Mohammed carries out site visits in rotation, he has invested in webinar technology so he can have more contact but less travelling. “I want to be able to have more communication, more quickly and more regularly.” He also uses the professional networking website LinkedIn to engage in debate and increase visibility.

For larger workforces, Niamh O’Keeffe recommends carrying out a segmentation exercise to divide people into manageable entities – such as direct reports or the whole of middle management – and establish an appropriate “communications architecture” for keeping in touch with each of them, encompassing in-person visits and various pieces of technology. A podcast, for instance, might be the best way for a global CEO to reach his or her entire workforce.

With time at a premium for many leaders, Steve Tappin suggests doing what GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt would call a “swing”. “Go to a major location for an intense period of time, make sure you really understand what is going on there, meet as many stakeholders and members of management as you can,” he says. “Do it in a compressed, super-organised swing where you touch and connect with as many people as you can and also help while you are there.”

Social events can be great opportunities for leaders to connect with employees but some fear crossing the line between increasing visibility and appearing as if you want to be everyone’s chum. Dr Tamkin says at junior manager level there can be too much closeness while more senior managers and leaders err on the side of too much distance. When it comes to social events as a whole, there are many different approaches but perhaps the best advice is to attend, but also know at which point you should leave. “It’s a very individual decision,” she says.