No decision is worth the name unless it involves the balancing of risks and returns. We wouldn’t need a guy to utilize his judgment if it were a foregone conclusion. Errors are unavoidable. Instead than demanding that employees never make errors, we must instead demand that they learn from them. The boss should be interested in the long-term development of his team to observe that as they mature, their triumphs start to exceed their shortcomings.
This idea of long-term growth is essential to ongoing leadership. Each guy must be given the opportunity to understand that his contribution to the group’s development is the only factor that can prevent it from growing. He must particularly perceive the leader as the one who is most concerned with and supportive of his development. The presence of interested personnel officers or other staff members who don’t participate in policymaking is insufficient. Despite all the technological support they may offer, they will never be able to replace the responsible executive’s interest.
However, a different, even more subtle aspect can come into play between the employer and the employee—a one that great industrial leaders will notice and address. The psychological burden of being a subordinate is that issue. Having a superior is not simple.
If I follow someone else’s instructions, it restricts the range of my autonomy in judgment and decision-making; boundaries are formed within which I act in accordance with his views rather than mine. I must find in such a role a reflection of some kind of order that transcends my own particular circumstances (such as my age, class, rank, and so forth), or I may discover that the balance of dependence and independence actually meets my needs in order to accept such a role without friction or rebellion. Different practical outcomes result from each of these two choices.
One reason is that it is more difficult to follow directions from someone I don’t regard as superior. It is true that one of the saddest failures in practical leadership may be the CEO who strives so hard to fit in that he eliminates whatever remaining awe that his employees may have had for him. As a result, they start to perceive him as a guy like themselves and start to question why they should obey him. An empathetic manager won’t let his team members believe that he views them as inferiors, but it may be shrewd of him to keep a certain psychological distance that enables them to submit to his authority without grumbling.
The effective leader is aware that many employees were raised to view their bosses as their natural opponents. The same conditions apply in business.
Pretending that subordinates can make certain judgments when they actually cannot is useless. The distinction between choices that must be made by the superior and those that can be made by or in conjunction with the subordinate must be stated explicitly in order to make dependency bearable. Once such boundaries have been established, it is crucial to adhere to them only when absolutely required.
