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(U) What Does a Leader Do?
FROM: Charles H. Berlin III
SID Chief of Staff
Run Date: 09/04/2003
(U) So far in this series, I have suggested that
people are good and that leadership makes a
difference. From the feedback I have received, I
say that these ideas are not universally held - but getting us
talking about this is really what we are after. Discuss these
premises with your office mates and see what you think. Keep the
cards and letters coming or join my brown bag lunches where we
can discuss them in a group session.
(U) Meanwhile, let's talk about what a leader does:
(U//FOUO) A Leader is Prepared . Let's face it: this is a technical
agency with technical people. A leader must be technically savvy
and up-to-date on our business. You are not going to succeed as a
leader unless you are an expert in your field. Know the mission and
know the technical underpinnings of it. Get out and make your
bones. If this means taking a job that is 'lower' than the one you
have now, take it. If it means going to night school, do it. NSA is a
winner because of expert people who know what they are doing our successes look like miracles to our customers, but we know it
was not hardware or software but human brainpower ('wetware')
that made it happen. Yes, I know the OPM competencies don't
include technical expertise on the senior P3's but don't fool yourself
- it doesn't list future potential either, but that figures in every
promotion authority's judgment. Become an expert manager as
well. Learn the resource game, get some experience in finance and
the other enabling areas. Your ability to use mission-based,
technical judgment in resource decisions will make or break you as
a leader here at NSA.
(U) A Leader Develops Other Leaders . Guess what? The main job
of the leader is actually not getting the mission done. Your people
will do that. Your main job is developing the next generation and
finding the ones who will take your job someday. This means you
will have to make the organization suffer a bit to make sure
talented, high potential people get leadership training and
developmental jobs. This is an investment, not a cost. An important
job for leaders in this regard is talent spotting. The truth is,
everyone is not equal (yikes!). A leader must make a judgment
about people and take action to accelerate the careers of those who
show promise. This is not cronyism or illegal discrimination; it is a
duty. Find, identify and develop the best people - they are the next
generation.
(U) A Leader is a Servant . Speaking of the generations, we have
more than one in the workplace today (perhaps as many as four!).
We have a unique challenge to transfer the experience and
knowledge of the baby boomers to the Gen X and Gen Y folks we
have been hiring. A leader seeks to understand the generations
and facilitate the knowledge transfer. The younger generation will
challenge us old fogies in this transfer. They are not employees -
SERIES:
(U) Charles Berlin
Discusses Leadership
1. Leadership: Your
View of People
2. Leaders Really Do
Make a Difference
3. What Does a Leader
Do?
4. Are Leaders Made or
Born?
they consider themselves "consumers of management services".
The role of a leader will change as a true collaborative environment
emerges. "Your people" will be working on someone else's project
even as they sit in "your spaces". The leader's role may shift to
more of a talent scout and talent agent for the individual employee
rather than the director of work. So individual and team
development is the focus. In the hierarchical model, the middle
manager had a primary role of conveying information up and down
the chain. In a transparent network, the information passes itself.
The leader now must focus on delivery of services to the workforce
(resources, tools, training, etc). Your value-added will rest not with
your position but your ability to deliver. Day to day, the leader
becomes a linchpin servant, serving the boss and the employee.
Are you ready?
(U) A Leader Cares . You have to know your people and care for
them. These are actually people, not machines. When I took over
the job I am in now, I went around and interviewed each person to
get to know them. I asked about their history and their future. I
also asked some personal questions about family, home and the
commute. A few employees wondered if I had any legal right to
ask those questions! I said I had no right but that I cared about the
answers. None chose not to answer. I found richness in their lives
and it helps me every day to remember they are not "assets",
"workforce", "annuitants", "char force" or "cost centers". They are
great Americans with hopes and dreams for themselves, their
families and their country. They are worthy of a leader's care. You
are expected to expend effort on these people's behalf. You cannot
care from a distance or at a theoretical level. You actually have to
do something. What have you done lately?
(U) Care for the mission too. Sometimes I think we are trying to
wash passion out of our culture. Lots of cold hard statistics and
metrics to light the way. I don't want you to let the metrics tell
you things aren't going to work, I want you to declare emphatically
that you will make it work with all the heart you have. Don't let the
future happen to you - make the future happen. It takes a bit of
passion for a leader to succeed. Do you have the strength of spirit
to lead?
(U) A Leader Communicates . Here's some news: passion for the
mission and caring for the people can actually be communicated.
It's catchy, it's infectious. It shouldn't be a secret! A major
component in keeping hope alive is a healthy conversation with
your people. In this conversation, a leader communicates values expectations of behavior and outcomes. A leader describes the
culture and atmosphere of the organization. Communication is not
just in words but action. A leader communicates values by
example. Every word and act is a communication. What do you
have to say?
(U) Like I said, keep the cards and letters coming. Next time, in
part four: Are leaders made or born?
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid comms)."
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