Lead by Example, A Leadership Style for Sustainable Change
Changes are difficult. Leaders lead the changes by setting the example, and by showing that it is possible
Albert Einstein once said “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means.”
To complement this quote, let me tell you a story.
I started working as a shop supervisor back in 1998. It was a mechanical workshop with approx 25 technicians. Most of them were very experienced and were in the age group of the ’30s to ’50s.
It was a challenging job for a 20-year-old boy to manage the workshop with such experienced workers. Hence, for all the obvious reasons, I had various interesting experiences and learning during this job. Following is one of such interesting experiences.
My First Failed Attempt for Change
The very first day, when I entered the workshop, I found it very unclean and untidy. The place was full of dirt and scrap almost everywhere. The floor was covered with used oil at many places. The desk and chair allocated to me were also full of oil stains. Almirah in the corner was in a similar situation with age-old documents under a layer of dirt.
It was a very unclean environment, and hence unpleasant too.
There were some obvious reasons for that. For example, being a mechanical workshop, a lot of scraps were produced daily. A lot of oil was used for lubrication. However, there were still good reasons to believe that it could be comparatively cleaner.
In one of the staff meetings, I discussed with the team about cleaning the place. I suggested that “As we spend 9 hours of our day in the workshop, it is important to keep the place clean. It is good for health and personal safety too.”
The reply was, “Either we can keep the workshop clean or can complete our day job. You tell us what should we do?”.
Sound familiar :). Even today, many times, I hear similar reasoning, “Either we can improve the code/process, or can complete the deliverables” or “We are doing it this way for a long”.
The mood of the team was clear. They were working like this for many years and were quite used to this environment. Maybe, they didn’t have a reason to change, or they never experienced what change could be like, or they were afraid of putting in the extra effort.
Whatever the reason, they were not ready for change.
The First Success, First Lesson of Setting Example
I was not feeling comfortable seeing my space also full of dirt and oil stains. The next day, I decided to clean it. I dumped old unused documents, cleaned the dirt, and wiped all items with soap and a wet cloth. That removed all the oil stains. It took me a couple of hours to do all the cleaning.
Finally, I was feeling good by seeing a neat and cleaner space to sit. I was feeling satisfied also, that I did what I could do best.
However, everyone in the workshop was looking at me with surprise. They probably never thought that that old almirah can ever be cleaned.
A few days later, a couple of team members came to me and asked if I can manage some time for them so that they can clean their place. I was pleasantly surprised. I assured them that I shall manage the productivity drop for that day. I discussed with my seniors and managed that in advance.
These people, who came to me, were working there for many years, hence were well respected by teammates. They discussed the plan to clean the workshop with all the team members.
That day, all of them worked together to clean the workshop. It took few hours of good effort. Everyone was sweating. However, the result was very pleasant, much better than even I could visualize ever.
Oil from the floor was now moved to everyone's clothes :). The workshop outlook was changed completely. We could see the actual color of the floor, with a lot of clean space around to sit and relax. Even the air was more purified than earlier.
Everyone was happy and was feeling proud about the change, which they brought in. Earlier they had to search for a clean place to sit during tea breaks, now the whole place was clean enough to sit anywhere.
I didn’t plan for this, it just happened. I was just trying to do whatever best I could do in my capacity.
It was great learning for me, that how a small example can inspire people to take action. And how a small change can bring a big impact on day-to-day work and overall quality of life.
Key Takeaways
Here are my key takeaways from the story, the basic ingredients of ‘Lead by Example’ practice.
- Show that a specific change is feasible. If this change is far from the current ground reality, show by doing it.
- Share information in smaller chunks that others can understand easily.
- Give people time to digest and process the information. Don’t expect immediate results or big bang kind of changes. In the above example, it took a week time. In other situations, it could take months too.
- Empower the change agents. Don’t forget those couple of workers who came later, asking for permission to clean. Those were the change agent, which helped to propagate the change. Don’t ignore the change agents, rather empower them, show trust in them. It needs the village to bring the change, leaders can seed the idea at best.
- Don’t define ‘how’, stay focused on the goal. Give each person the opportunity to be a leader, letting go of the control and allowing each person to flourish their ideas in their way.
Let everyone feel that they are the creator of the new reality.
Word of Caution
All looks good so far. However, keep in mind that changes are not easy. Changes take time, especially if we want to bring changes in culture.
It is possible to fall into the trap of implementing changes faster or by using various power tools.
Don’t expect results immediately after setting an example
Sometimes, you may not get the results for days or weeks even. There can be a phase of frustration when nothing is changing.
For example, you just joined an office. The very first morning, in the team meeting, you noticed that no one cleaned the whiteboard after using that. You went ahead and did that, expecting it will set the right example for people. No one took a note. You kept doing that for the next many days, without seeing any change.
Changes are more challenging when you are new to a place, due to a lack of trust or reputation. Patience and persistence are the keys in such scenarios.
If you believe in the change, persist, keep setting examples. Change will happen!
Extending the above example. Say if a senior member in the team (say team manager) cleaned the whiteboard, it ‘might’ have set the example for change much faster. The reason is that s/he already has a repo with the team.
Team look towards leaders to learn, and follow their actions (more than words). That's why leaders are called ‘Leaders’, as they lead the path by setting examples. That’s why leaders are so important for bringing change, by seeding ideas.
Don’t force the changes abruptly using the power of titles
Another trap for leaders is to use the power of titles to implement the change.
It could be very tempting to roll out a new process to enable the changes and ask everyone to adhere to it. It seems like a faster approach. However, there is a high probability of failure if this is done prematurely, before onboarding the people for benefit of change.
Real change can be brought in by people on the ground. Real change needs change in culture. Change in culture can not be forced, but it needs to be assimilated gradually by onboarding people for its benefits. That's where leaders play an important role by seeding ideas, and by empowering the change agents. It helps to grow ideas gradually in the right practices.
Summary
‘Lead by example’ is an effective leadership practice to bring changes, most importantly by bringing change in the culture.
- Leaders seed the idea for change, by showing its feasibility and then by empowering and inspiring people to take action.
- Once the idea is accepted, and people feel empowered to take action aligning with ground situations, everyone has the potential to become the creator of new realities.
- If you believe in any change, persist and keep setting examples. Have patience, change will happen.
- Never forget the change agents. Empower them, trust them, and let them be the drivers for change.
This is not only for workplaces but is equally applicable in personal life too. Setting examples is the most influential way to change behavior and to create new and better realities.
Be the change, what you want to see in the world — Mahatma Gandhi
Please feel free to reach out for any feedback at Linkedin: Mohit Gupta
