The connecting leader: Harness the power of others

In an ever-evolving, uncertain world and balancing an overwhelming number of priorities, leaders need to bring diverse networks of people together to align on a shared agenda that needs to be delivered at pace. No one leader can or should do it all by themselves. In fact, their success depends on how well they harness the power of others, an imperative that will enable them to accelerate performance, build dynamic teams, and create a winning culture.  

The starting point is introspection.¹ Leaders need to understand how they relate to others: How authentic are they? How much do they listen? How much do they seek to understand others’ point of view? The way someone builds relationships with peers, team members, or supervisors is critical to harnessing the power of others. 

In diverse organizations, relating to each individual on a personal level can be difficult, but the rewards of tapping into a vast array of skill sets, perspectives, and backgrounds are invaluable. And there are commonalities: people wanting to belong, to feel valued for their contributions, and to feel like their leader cares for their well-being. Building on these drivers, connecting leaders can foster trust-based relationships that deliver on employees’ expectations and create opportunities for them. That requires raising the bar on leaders’ own openness, transparency, and vulnerability. This can be a challenge for leaders who are naturally reserved or prefer to focus purely on business results. But getting it right can unlock engagement, creativity, empowerment, resilience, and results. 

Garry Ridge, the former CEO of the consumer-products company WD-40, explained how he was able to harness the power of others at the company by turning the typical hierarchical model on its head, implementing a model in which leaders and managers have been transformed into coaches who help and learn from the team. “A leader needs to be a learner and a teacher,” Ridge said.² Individual responsibilities and accountabilities are clarified when necessary through regular, real-time feedback and learning moments. This is underpinned by the WD-40 Maniac Pledge, with which all employees pledge their responsibility to one other: “I am responsible for taking action, asking questions, getting answers, and making decisions.” Today, the company has 93% employee engagement, 98% of employees love to tell people they work there, and 97% say they respect their manager. And, over 22 years, this company and its empowered workers quadrupled revenue and delivered compound annual total shareholder return growth of 15% a year, increasing market capitalization from $300 million to $2.7 billion.³

Developing the capabilities to harness the power of others

Based on our ongoing work and research, we have identified five key characteristics that are most important for harnessing the power of others. Leaders need to be:

1. Human-centered—connecting deeply with the human beings surrounding the organization: customers, employees, partners, or stakeholders, listening to, caring for, and empathizing with them 
2. Inclusive—seeking different opinions, backgrounds, experiences, and capabilities to inform decision making, creating a psychologically safe space, and embracing differences and diversity of thought as second nature 
3. Empowering—creating space for others to experiment, test, and learn in order to build self-confidence, develop individual capabilities, and drive innovation 
4. Collaborative—creating an environment where everyone shares information and capabilities to engage the right people to solve problems, building trust and consensus 
5. Talent-focused—attracting the best talent and focusing on development, building a culture of development, creating opportunities, and challenging for growth

This set of characteristics can be a tall order for any leader. For instance, the focus on human centricity has become more commonplace today; however, leaders can be overwhelmed by greater expectations and pressures they are facing. More voices expect to be heard as organizations are getting flatter, and the excitement and uncertainty surrounding AI dominates most conversations around the future of work and jobs opportunities. At the same time, the ability to be inclusive becomes more complex every day as organizations welcome increasingly diverse workforces with more fluid structures designed to accommodate growing intakes of on-demand talent and requests for hybrid working models. 

Mastering these skills doesn’t only affect leaders and teams in real time. The way leaders show up casts a lasting shadow that affects trust, psychological safety, and the health of the team environment. 

To help leaders develop these capabilities, companies can support leaders by nurturing a culture where they feel able to:

• Be transparent and vulnerable about themselves as leaders. To build trust and create psychological safety, leaders should start by being their authentic selves and assume positive intent in others. 
• Seek wide input and inclusion. Leaders should create multiple opportunities for people to feel heard, valued, and included in plans or decisions affecting them. There are multiple ways to invite input and dialogue, including one-on-one conversations, pulse surveys, and virtual interactions. 
• Empower individuals and teams to take ownership. Leaders should focus on the team, not themselves. They can do this by raising the level of opportunity, contribution, autonomy, and accountability to enable people to make a difference. Leading is a balance of holding on and letting go.
• Distribute leadership and promote collaboration within and across teams. Leaders should allocate time to nurture both individual development and team development. They might consider having set discussions about how the team can work even better together, foster more psychological safety, and make space for healthy dialogue.
• Learn about and actively engage with team members individually. Leaders must make the time to understand each person on their team and connect with them at a deeper level. Leaders can learn what they are passionate about and relate through common interests and skills, then leverage that knowledge to create tailored development plans that help their team members stretch, stay motivated, and grow.

Conclusion

When leaders master harnessing the power of others, their teams are more dynamic, they accelerate performance and create a winning culture in their organizations. At their best, they become energy multipliers for their people and their teams by being human-centered, inclusive, empowering, collaborative and talent-focused. 

References

¹ For more on the value of introspection for leaders, and how they can practice it, see Les Csorba, “Too aware to fail,” Heidrick & Struggles, August 1, 2024, heidrick.com.

² For more on how they did this, see Regis Chasse, Steven Krupp, and TA Mitchell, “The connecting leader: Five imperatives for leaders today,” Heidrick & Struggles, September 25, 2024, heidrick.com.

³ For more on how they did this, see Regis Chasse, Steven Krupp, and TA Mitchell, “The connecting leader: Five imperatives for leaders today,” Heidrick & Struggles, September 25, 2024, heidrick.com.