The Power of One vs. The Power of Many

As a senior executive, he had great ideas; he was smart and was imbued with entrepreneurial spirit.  He knew what he wanted to get done but was challenged by sub-par results.  The challenge was that he was clueless as to how to energize the workplace to follow him.  Perhaps the issue was that his idea of professional nirvana was this, "If I could just shoot all of them and hire a hundred robots, we'd get things done around here."

In other words, his idea of success was "one brain, one hundred drones."

This is not leadership, this is one person pushing buttons instead of utilizing the group to maximize the idea and build consensus.  Seldom, if ever, do the ideas of just one person outpower the consensus that can be built by engaging smart people who know the business.

How then do we lead groups to consensus?

• Recognize that the very idea of group consensus means that not one person is going to get it 100% their way.  "My way or the highway" is an antiquated idea.
• Have confidence that the individuals in work groups have diverse experiences, skill sets and viewpoints.   Their experience and outlooks do not weaken concepts, they bring ideas to fruition by making them stronger.
• As a leader, be extremely clear what the goal is and why it is important it be met.  These are the guardrails for your group.   In other words, describe the desired "what we need to do" and spend less time on "how we need to do it."  If you are working with a group of true professionals, they will point the way.
• Be humble.
• Listen.
• Recognize what is important to each member of the group.  The strength and diversity that arrives with the group also means that each individual has their own goals.   Minimally, those goals should be respected and not transgressed when building consensus.  Maximally, you can achieve the goal you set and the goals of the members of the group.
• Even though it may be your idea,  the entire group should have ownership of the project and the result.  If everyone wins, you win.  It's that simple.

One person doing all the thought and execution is not leading people;  working positively to build consensus within a group not only maximizes results, it is also true leadership.