I worked once for an impactful leader who taught me much about how to think and behave if I wanted the best from others. Dr. Tom Gaul regularly reminded us that he “didn’t hire us to enforce policy, but rather, to do what was right for our students (aka customers).”
TG’s argument comes down to the mindset of the leader, and whether it comes from an insistence on compliance, or conversely, an intrinsic commitment to worthy and noble outcomes.
The Enforcement Bosses I’ve worked for over the years focus on:
- Endless compliance monitoring.
- Layer upon layer of “permission” mechanisms.
- Systems grounded in DIStrust.
Stagnation and self-preservation are almost always the result of compliance-based systems.
Pretty sure we can do better than that…
*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning.
