Let’s have some fun and play a quick word association game. For this to work well you must be candid about what thoughts and feelings come bubbling up when you first read the word. Ready? Here’s the word – “OBEDIENCE”. (Pet owners are exempt since we already know where your thoughts go!) So, what came up for you? I’ll be first to admit my first response to the word “obedience” is usually a jolt to my independent, freedom-loving sense of self will. I typically look at it with a jaundiced eye since after all, just who is this I’m supposed to obey, what is it that I’m compelled to do, and is it worthy of my acquiescence? One has to be careful about these kind of things, right? It’s as if a dubious dot suddenly appears on the “do it my way” radar screen like an unknown bogey at 6 o’clock, and it best be investigated before I fall into formation with it. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with making prudent decisions before bowing to any person, project or cause. Cato’s advice of “He who hesitates is lost” may not have been the last word on the subject since it did predate the lemmings/cliff thing. Yielding our self will and becoming obedient is probably not a natural, first response to many of us. Yet, to those who lead teams and manage people obedience can be absolutely essential to actualizing our goals and realizing wins. Equally important for team members is to become obedient, and follow the rules and the plan which can make the difference between success and failure, fulfillment and frustration. I’ll focus here on the former regarding how a leader gets people to do what they’re told.
One of the greatest challenges of leadership is simply getting people to do what we want done. Inestimable resources both positive and negative are spent on that fundamental task: bonuses, benefits, perks, titles, potential promotions, preferred parking, offices with a view, recognition, shame, threats of demotion and termination, back pats, attaboys, expense accounts, pep rallies, and team retreats. The list like the song goes on forever and all those efforts are attempts to get people to do as they’ve been told and become obedient. More than just obedience, the ultimate goal of successful leadership is to get those whom they lead to WANT to do what needs doing. Better yet is to inspire them to do it without just toiling out of a sense of duty or obligation, out of fear, or by mental assent, the act of saying yes without that message never getting transmitted from the head to the feet. And when the scales of motivation get tipped to the “want to” side it’s like running downhill to the goal line. This short piece is inadequate to cover such a substantial subject, but I’ll venture a few suggestions which I think are fundamental to promoting obedience among the troops expected to carry out the tasks.
Chiefly, in order for leadership to get team members to do what we want them to do it is crucial that the goal or project itself have genuine value. The task or plan itself must be one of honesty and integrity. Sure, you can pay someone well enough to hawk worthless widgets, but most people want to believe in and participate in something worthwhile and work toward a goal that benefits others besides themselves. They want to do an honest days work for an honorable cause even if that cause isn’t as great as curing disease or establishing world peace. We draw the best from those whom we lead when we build their trust by having integrity ourselves and by the integrity of the mission. Trust equals eager, voluntary engagement. Without shallow shadow boxes and flimflam the cause or task itself must have intrinsic value, something in which people can take pride and in which they can invest themselves, put their heart and soul into. At it’s core whatever we demand of others must be a worthwhile endeavor with perceived value. The more value the better because a job with value fosters a sense of happiness and strength among those tasked with carrying the water. What could insure success better than a valuable goal supported by cheerful team members voluntarily contributing their best?
Equally important as noted by the likes of such leadership giants as Col. John Boyd and former Navy Seal instructors and combat veterans, Babin and Willnick, the purpose of the mission/project/goal must be made absolutely clear to every member of the team, “crystal” as Jack Nicholson affirmed in “A Few Good Men”. Not only must it be crystal clear but successful leaders make certain the team accepts it wholeheartedly and without reservation. Obedience to a plan and its success is in direct proportion to the absence of a “lurking sense of the possibility of failure” as noted by Andrew Murray. It is at this juncture that great leaders “reality test” team buy-in and solicit feedback from those whom they lead. After all, after having recruited a team of winners good leadership trusts their team’s experience and solicits their input and, perhaps, modifies the plan. But once the plan has been formulated, if we want others to fully engage in that plan it must be non-ambiguous and supported by those who have for good cause yielded their personal wills to the will of those who lead them. When my trustworthy leader proposes that I throw everything I have toward a worthwhile goal I will work hard and gladly defer my way for a higher way.
Originally published in Beaumont Business Journal, Heat And Humanity Column
