• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Great Leadership by Dan
  • Blog
  • Popular
  • Recent
  • About
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Blog
  • Popular
  • Recent
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Blog
    • Popular
    • Recent
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • ×

    You are here Home » leadership

    Lead, Don’t Manage, Knowledge Workers

    Last updated on Apr 9, 2019 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    Guest post from James Hlavacek:

    To improve
    innovation and growth, knowledge workers must be led, not managed. Too many
    policies born of bureaucracy are an enemy to creativity, so the more
    unnecessary distractions a company can remove from its employees, the freer
    they will be to contribute more creative ways. Management must reduce the
    administrative and on the job hassles for its employees by:
    • Hiring people
    who are curious and knowledgeable about the job, the industry, the company;
    • Limiting the
    number and length of meetings;
    • Encouraging
    employees to network internally and collaboratively to continually seek the
    best and most efficient practices and solutions to problems; and
    • Rewarding
    experimentation and avoiding penalties for mistakes made in
    the pursuit of
    better solutions to customer needs.
    Knowledge
    workers are self-directed, not other-directed, which means that they must be
    provided considerable autonomy. Out of respect for the knowledge they’ve gained
    over years, even front-line plant workers need freedom to “do their thing” as
    professionally as possible on their own. If they need help or clarification,
    they will ask for it.
    People at all
    levels of a company, both degreed engineers and factory-floor craftspeople, are
    needed to design user-friendly new products and assemble prototypes that users
    can experiment with in the field. Today’s knowledge workers gain valuable
    information from every project and customer. They take their knowledge home
    with them every night and with them from company to company, including to competitors,
    if they feel mistreated. True knowledge workers are focused first on their
    professions and secondly to their current employer. Empowered knowledge workers
    make the best decisions for both their own development and for the good of the
    organization as a whole—because they realize that both will benefit from
    organizational health.
    Although
    profits are the lifeblood of an organization, the financials come last. High
    costs and poor financial performance are lagging indicators, not leading ones.
    Financial viability is not a function of balance sheets and income statements,
    but the result of a focus on employee empowerment and engagement. Both drive
    higher customer satisfaction, which, in turn, leads to new customers and
    retention of previous ones. To quote Steve Jobs: Today’s leaders must think
    differently and shift their focus on their employees, not their financials. Be
    accountable first to your employees, not just to accountants. In short, by
    first doing your best to support and empower your employees, you’ll drive your
    organization to achieve its mission and purpose and it will achieve its
    financial goals as a secondary effect.
    Walk around
    your plant and ask employees what things are causing bottlenecks, frustrations
    and disconnects. Request suggestions for how to improve processes, what
    customers are saying, and where communication breakdowns occur. Conduct annual
    employee engagement surveys, asking a wide range of questions, but be sure to
    follow up with actions that demonstrate you are listening and willing to
    improve anything in the culture that stands in the way of knowledge workers.
     
    James
    Hlavacek, Ph.D
    ., has over 40 years of global experience as a
    businessman, strategy consultant, and management educator. He has written five
    books including his latest Fat
    Cats Don’t Hunt
    . He has been a board member of both Fortune 100 companies
    and successful venture capital startups. http://www.corpdevinst.com/fatcatsdonthunt.html.
    « Elevating Your Leadership Game
    A Leader’s Guide to Preventing and Dealing with Workplace Conflict »
    AFTER ENTRY

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Primary Sidebar

    dan-mccarthy-great-leadership-by-dan

    About Dan

    Dan is an expert in leadership and management development. For over 20 years Dan has helped thousands of leaders and aspiring leaders improve their leadership capabilities. Read More

    ebook-dan-mccarthy

    Trending:

    • Top 12 Development Goals for Leaders
    • How to Write a Great Individual Development Plan (IDP)
    • 25 Great Leadership Development Quotes
    • The Performance and Potential Matrix (9 Box Model) – an Update

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    • Home
    • About
    • Contact

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2022

    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy