Leadership Credibility: Don’t Take It for Granted in Your Architecture Firm
By Todd Reding, CEO and Partner, CVG
Leadership credibility is often spent, and therefore eroded, on a leader’s emotional whims.
You can run a business and be almost completely ineffective at building an organization, establishing a strong culture, or creating a compelling vision. Similarly, you can be financially successful, liked, respected, and even admired without being an effective leader.
In the best-case scenario, when leadership is weak other people in the organization take action and “fill in” the gaps. Perhaps the business is fortunate enough to naturally meet an oversized need. Or the competitive environment hasn’t evolved yet. It is possible for a business to be successful without strong leadership – but it requires pure luck.
People rely on the leader of an organization to set the tone, demonstrate expectations, and live the culture, whether the leader acknowledges this role or not.
In the worst-case scenario, when leadership practices deception, the business’ culture is deceptive. When leaders approach organizational goals with a casual, laissez-faire attitude, the staff give little attention to goals.
Credibility is defined as the quality of being trusted and believed in, so naturally a leader’s impact on organizational behavior is directly correlated to their level of credibility. A lack of credibility means a leader is less effective at impacting positive behavior.
Significant contributors to eroding leadership credibility include:
Repeated announcement of new policies or processes established in response to issues – which did not involve any of the people actually impacted by the policy or process in their formation.
The leader not following their own policies or processes after they have been announced.
Reprimanding some staff for ignoring policies or processes, while allowing others to do so without consequences.
Announcing new policies and never revisiting or enforcing them.
Using vague or unclear instructions when seeking to change behavior, e.g. not clearly defining the change that is needed and then becoming frustrated when change does not occur.
Fixating on resolving issues him/herself instead of empowering staff to find solutions.
These behaviors may result in the following reactions from staff:
“Give it two weeks and this policy will be forgotten.”
“He/she always reacts this way when [blank] happens.”
“Just keep your head down until it blows over.”
“He/she will never know this wasn’t followed.”
“He/she is just going to do it their way anyway; so, why should I care?”
Declining leadership credibility jeopardizes the success of the organization. It undermines the very purpose of leadership.
Organization leaders must understand that they are constantly being observed and sending cues, and therefore must dedicate themselves to a higher level of performance. Focusing on the organization’s values, policies, and behaviors ensures that credibility is strong, and staff understand expectations.
Note: Working to improve in this area often requires coaching, support and accountability. CVG provides these tools for leaders of all levels of ability. Contact us today to talk about your firm.