Page 205 - The extraordinary leader

182 • The Extraordinary Leader

status quo and take risks also have the ability to convince their work group
that they can achieve an almost impossible goal. People who play it safe, care-
fully analyze what is possible, and take baby steps forward will never be very
effective at setting stretch goals.
How Do You Get Others to Feel Responsible? Frequently, parents
struggle with children in school who forget assignments, fail to study for tests,
and seem unmotivated to improve their performance. Parents often comment,
“Why can’t my children just be more responsible?” The implicit theory is that
if people have responsible attitudes, they will act responsibly.

Recently, a daughter was struggling in school. I had a fatherly discussion with her
and asked her to describe the problem. “I’m depressed,” she said. “And I can’t
concentrate on my homework if I am depressed,” was her excuse. She was
obviously discouraged. In my opinion, most of her discouragement came from
failing some exams in school. I challenged her to go to work and study in spite of
feeling discouraged. Knowing she would probably need more than a pep talk to
succeed, I arranged a tutor to meet with her several times a week. The tutor
provided both knowledgeable advice and friendly support. Soon the daughter’s
grades started to improve. As her grades improved, her depression went away.
Once her study habits had changed and she felt more confident that she could be
successful, she started to act substantially more responsibly. Rather than go out
with friends, she would say, “Sorry, I have homework.”

Sometimes attitudes do precede actions, but frequently actions need to pre-
cede attitudes. An important differentiating competency is taking responsi-
bility for outcomes. Oftentimes, people approach improvement by
concentrating on improving the attitude. People believe that a person needs
to feel more responsible before he or she can act more responsibly. One of
the key competency companions to taking responsibility for outcomes is tak-
ing action toward achieving results. This research indicates that those people
who are perceived as acting in a responsible manner for outcomes also are
seen as taking action toward achieving results. If people begin to act, it
conveys to others a great deal about their attitude. The best way to convince
others that we are responsible people is by our actions.
One of our frequent consulting activities is conducting employee surveys
to assess the attitudes of employees on key issues that drive the success of a
business. One of the frequent problems with surveys is that senior leaders can