How to lead without authority?

---

Time: June 9, 2004

Venue: America Club, Shanghai Bund International Building

Moderator: Liu Lan Editor-in-Chief of CEConline

Discussers:
Huang Hui, Senior Vice President of BearingPoint Consulting & CEO of Greater China
Yu Hongding International Business Machines (IBM) China General Manager of East China and Central China, Ltd.
Lv Xiaoxiang, General Manager of China Vaccines of GlaxoSmithKline (China) Investment Co., Ltd.

In the traditional Chinese cultural background and its extended business environment, leadership (leading) is always associated with authority, especially authority that comes with a position. Can leaders lead without authority? In fact, countless great leaders, as well as many studies on leadership (leadership), have told us that effective leadership is more developed at a non-authoritative level.

So, how do leaders lead without authority? "CEConline" organized the three protagonists in this issue's cover story to sit together and ask them to open their own leadership treasure chests and share their leadership tools other than authority.

They start with the definition of leadership, then discuss coaching leadership, charismatic leadership, leadership by example. In their view, leadership is a virtual influence, and effective leaders must be based on personal content.

---

There are many definitions of a leader. A basic definition is: a leader is someone who has followers. From this definition, leadership can be defined as the ability and method to be followed. How can you make people follow you? Utilizing authority is certainly one of the methods, such as "I am a superior, so you have to listen to me" such leadership.

However, authority does not necessarily guarantee willing, dedicated followers. Moreover, how should you lead in the face of your peers or even superiors who have no authority? In the arsenal of good leaders, there are also some sharp weapons of non-authoritative leadership such as "leading by coaching", "leading by example", "charismatic leadership" ), etc. Each of these weapons has its own usage. Before showing the eighteen weapons of leadership, the discussion begins with the definition of leadership.

Definition of leadership

Huang Hui: You are a leader, or you have leadership, it does not mean that you are the manager of a department, or you are the president of the company. Leadership is more of a virtual influence. Sometimes you will lead your peers, sometimes you will lead your subordinates, sometimes you will lead your leaders, and sometimes you will lead your customers and suppliers. This concept of leadership becomes a virtual concept, rather than being defined in a fixed organization.

You are in charge of a team. The team members may be your subordinates, your peers, or even your leaders. How can you let the team see the unseen vision and use your influence at the same time? Using this company's network, using your ability to manage, can help this team do things they can't. This is the leadership that began to emerge in the 1990s. From the previous one that emphasized authority and responsibility, to more guidance and advice, to what we call a leadership that is more virtual.

If you emphasize your authority, as if you say that others must do what you say, this leader will not work no matter where. Whether in China or Japan, the key is to be able to use your influence and leadership to stimulate their enthusiasm, let them have an identity with your goals, and be able to communicate effectively so that they understand why you want to achieve this Target. At the same time push the entire team to achieve this goal.

Yu Hongding: Leadership actually means make sense. How to lead is actually how to create a good condition, let your employees play well, and let your work run smoothly.

Lv Xiaoxiang: Leaders take personal connotation as a cornerstone, which includes values, including his personal qualities, personal knowledge, etc., and then take win-win as the basic meaning, by exerting influence, influencing and driving others to be able to To achieve the goal together, such a process, such ability I think is leadership.

Coaching Leadership

Huang Hui: As a leader, the awareness of the coach is very important. why? As a leader, we are not just talking big words and shouting slogans. When needed, you have to help the employee to do well all the time. This role is the coach. Because of different personalities and styles, some people need you to be a coach, and some people may not need to be with him all day like a coach, but once every two or three weeks is enough. Some people are very capable, and you should delegate power to them as much as possible.

Yu Hongding: Just like Mr. Huang said, some people are very capable, you can tell them your goals and they can accomplish them. When we are coaches, many of them are in the career development of employees, because the employees themselves are very capable, and he can do the work you give him well, so I may spend a lot of time coaching in career development. For example, his ability is very strong now. Does he work well with the team?

Xiaoxiang Lv: I think coaching leadership is very crucial in the middle and early stages of a career, because there are many skills, techniques, and concepts that need to be taught. When I develop to a relatively high stage of my career, I personally prefer "leading by sharing", sharing values, goals, information, and finally benefits, in other words, sharing what we have worked hard to achieve. results. I see a lot of senior managers, more through "shared leadership." Because the physical distance and the time everyone spends together each day limit being a coach, it is more about sharing.

Charismatic leadership

Lv Xiaoxiang: In different situations, the role and weight of personal charisma will be different, which is related to the pursuit of the enterprise, the environment in which the enterprise is located, and the life cycle of the enterprise related. Enterprises are in some life and death times, I think a leader's personal charisma will play a very important role at certain times. In other words, I feel that the more immature an organization or business is, the more important a leader's charisma will be.

Moderator: If I ask if you are a charismatic leader?

Lu Xiaoxiang: Absolutely not!

Huang Hui: A successful leader has many skills. From the perspective of the charm of a leader, I think the most important charm is integrity. This is the most critical, that is, everyone believes in you 365 degrees up and down. Without this charisma, you cannot lead.

There is a leader of a company who has done several things after becoming the leader. He gave a bunch of carnations to all the lesbians in the company, and said a lot of good things, including the unrealistic promise of career development, which was described by our domestic media as a charismatic leader. I absolutely disagree.

Moderator: Do you consider yourself a charismatic leader?

Huang Hui: We now emphasize that the leadership style is basically a family-style leadership, that is, flexible leadership. This has a professional aspect, a personality aspect, and a variety of skills, including in the leadership communication skills section. Some people said that we were in the conference room and talked for three hours, but nothing came out, but when you took him outside to sing, everything came out. This can be said to be an aspect of personality, or it can be an aspect of personal charm.

Moderator: When you need to lead with charisma, you will lead with charisma. Is that what you mean?

Huang Hui: Yes.

Leading by example

Yu Hongding: I think leading by example is very effective when everyone is not so experienced. Because our company in China is growing rapidly, on the one hand, we have to take care of the growth of our business, and on the other hand, we have to recruit many new people, all of whom have little experience. This is a great challenge to our domestic managers. So leading by exampling should be very effective for newcomers.

Xiaoxiang Lv: I think leadership by example is important because the industry and business environment in which I live has changed a lot over the past decade. After the business environment has changed greatly and the market environment has become complicated, the orientation of values will fall into a state of confusion. You must have your own perseverance, but when you are faced with hundreds or even thousands of people, it is not enough to emphasize or speak with your mouth. It's more that you use your actions to interpret the values when you deal with every day's business and face every difficult decision. That way you can deliver the message across the team. Only in this way can the pursuit of the enterprise become a reality.

Huang Hui: leading by example is also called exemplary leadership, which is not very important in the management of Western countries. In Asian culture, its importance is far greater than that of the United States and Europe. Because our Asian culture has this concept: How can you teach me if you can't do well yourself? Especially if you're in Japan, you need to go a step further with exemplary leadership.

I think as a leader, in the area of Asian culture, leading by example must be done, but one must grasp a measure. That is to say, it has both a good side and a bad side. Fortunately, it can play a leading role. Everyone feels that you and I are in the same boat and have the same heart, which can improve their enthusiasm and help them how to do it. The bad thing is that if there is a general expectation among employees, you have to participate in everything, so you as a leader will fall into Lushan Mountain, and you will lose sight of the true colors of Lushan Mountain. If you can't take enough time and stand in a relatively high position to grasp the direction of the entire company and team, you will overdo it by leading by example.

Leading a superior

Lv Xiaoxiang: I am someone else's superior, and at the same time I am someone else's subordinate. In my current position I probably spend far more time managing upwards than downwards. I personally understand that my current role is more about managing organizational boundaries. My direct and indirect boss is the provider of organizational resources, the endorser of the strategy, and it is very important to the development of the business.

I have personally experienced many superiors from different nationalities, with different cultural values, different educational backgrounds, and different strengths and weaknesses. I think the least expectation of superiors from subordinates is that you can do what you promise in business. The second point is that I think subordinates must go beyond your position in thinking and thinking. In other words, you must think in a different position, stand on a higher level, stand on the level of your boss and think about what he is thinking, or what is important to him, and how we can help him.

Moderator: If a young manager asks you for advice: How to manage a superior? I would like to ask you to give three suggestions.

Yu Hongding: The first is communication. This communication is not aimless communication, but prepared communication. Because you talk about things with your superiors, you can't think of what to say. The second is to be prepared. When a big boss comes, I may not see it once a year, and it will be bad if I am not prepared by then. Third, you have to stand in the boss's position to see things. Take his stand and see what he cares about, and if that's the case, it's easy to communicate.

Huang Hui: The most annoying thing for the boss is that the employees below complain. So the key point is that we must not complain. If you have any problems, it is very important that you speak out the problem, come up with a plan, and we will do it. At the same time, in a good relationship between superiors and subordinates, he must first trust each other. What does trust mean? It is to ensure that there is no misunderstanding in the communication between your superiors and subordinates. This is the most critical.

When working in a multinational company, it is very important that no matter what level you are at, you must have a gradually accumulated and established network in the company. This network may not be your direct boss, it may be the boss's boss, or it may be the boss's colleague, this network is very important to your development, business, including the relationship between you and your leaders. Because of many things, it is difficult for your direct leader to see and understand from his position, but it is easy for the leader of the leader, or the colleagues next to you to understand. It's better if they go to communicate.