“Effective CEO’s should make as few decisions as possible!”
This statements, taken from their book ‘CEO School: Insights from 20 Global Business Leaders’, authors Stanislav Shekshnia, Kirill Krachenko and Elin Williams come to the conclusion that CEOs should be Chief Enablement Officers. In a summary article in INSEAD Knowledge (click here to read), the authors share their finding that in today’s organisation the main role of the CEO is to enable other employees to perform, rather than being the ‘Commander-in-Chief’..
That is, employees today are typically highly skilled professionals who most often are “better than anybody else- including the CEO – at what they do”. Consequently such employees don’t need to be directed, they need to be enabled to fulfil their role.
The authors identify seven key practices that CEOs who enable their teams display. In a much abbreviated summary, these are:
- Reducing uncertainty
- Encourage collaboration and remove organisational barriers
- Create productive autonomy for employees
- Support but challenge employees
- Make learning available to every employee
- Stay in touch with the business and outside world
- Role model enabling leadership
Leaders who focus on an enabling culture are able to focus more on the essential elements of their role and that of the company. They create productive environments where employees are supported, much like a professional athlete who is being coached to maximum success.
This article is highly recommended to leaders who want to maximize the success of the employees and their organisations. Avondale Business School is able to help you in your leadership through our Executive Development and leadership programs.