🔒Tips for how to be an effective leader, not ruler

“Together is Better — A Little Book of Inspiration” by Simon Sinek (Portfolio/Penguin, $22).

Sinek, whose TED talks have been viewed by over 25 million people, tells the metaphorical story of three friends who stand up to the “king of the playground,” and chart a different course for their days at play. The kids are employees; the king is the organization. The lessons learned are:

“Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge.” The playground king bullies the kids into doing what he tells them to do. Through etched-in-stone job descriptions, procedures and processes, many organizations effectively bully employees into doing what they're told to do. In such situations, employees are viewed as expenses, not equity. There's no appreciation for the intellectual capital they add to the firm.

The “king” believes he knows what's best for his subjects. But by constraining and insulating their ability to contribute, the “king” limits employee engagement. Without engagement, there's little continuous improvement. Leaders who have confidence in their employees' abilities want ideas, creativity and innovation; continuous improvement (for themselves and the firm) becomes an integral part of their workdays.

Sinek expands on the engagement focus with “Bad teams work in the same place. Good teams work together.” You can't have an effective team without trust and collaboration. Create a vision, rather than a template, for achieving outcomes. By letting the team figure out the “how,” teammates recognize that dependence upon each other drives results. They put the team before their personal interests. They're also quick to share knowledge with other teams, which binds all teams together.

The bottom line: Leadership involves teaching, not ruling. As a teacher, leaders inspire others to reach their potential. When you trust people to do their jobs, they become leaders in their own right — they own their jobs.

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Demystifying Talent Management — Unleash People's Potential to Deliver Superior Results” by Kimberly Janson (Maven House Press, $24.95).

Businesses routinely ask customers for feedback to learn more about their products and services in the marketplace. Yet, when it comes to what internal customers (i.e. employees) need, they rarely ask. Why not? Two reasons: 1. Management tends to be more concerned with the today and the short term, and 2. HR isn't well-connected to the firm's strategy and tactics. Add employees' fear of expressing their views on their career development and you end up with poorly-managed talent, which results in less-than-optimal productivity.

Janson believes that conversations between all three affected parties organized around SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based) goals produce better results. The initial “What do you need to do?” conversation requires significant preparation. Managers and HR need to take into account the expectations of the employee and those with whom the employee interacts.

On the employee front, managers need input about resources (including assistance) needed to do the job. By using common denominators in employee input, HR can develop training programs.

Relative to interaction, there's a performance-assessment guide; it deals with the manager's self-evaluation and those of other stakeholders. It comes with the following advice: “For any answer lower than nine, what are you going to do about it?”

Why the high standard? It's about aligning expectations of many inputs to create SMART. The “need to do” conversation explains the “why” to obtain employee buy-in.

Once there's agreement, the other conversations — “What do you need to grow?” “How are you doing?” and “How did you do?” flow. Janson believes these conversations need to be ongoing so there are no surprises; she provides numerous assessments to keep managers on track.

The key word: communication.

Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer.