The Engaging Manager

[Terrence Seamon]

Legendary CEO Jack Welch is known for a number of his management concepts and practices, including the 4 E Model that talks about several key aspects of leaders:

Energy - Leaders have high energy
Energizers - Leaders know how to energize others to perform
Edge - Leaders have a competitive edge
Execute - Leaders can get stuff done

Interestingly, another E, engaging people, is not there. Maybe it's "in there" somewhere, perhaps under Energizers. But it's not on the top.

So if we were fashion a leadership model, based on the power of engagement, what might it look like?

For me, the Engaging Manager is a leader who:

Educates and informs
Enables others to perform
Excites others with possibilities
Energizes others to take on challenges
Expresses genuine interest in each individual team member
Expresses sincere gratitude for the best efforts and contributions others make
Empowers others to use their best judgement to solve problems and make decisions
Expects the very best and does whatever it takes to create an environment conducive to excellence

[Ben Simonton]

Kelley has pegged Welch correctly IMHO.

Jim Collins in his book "Good to Great" made clear that GE under Welch was not a great company, barely a good one. My own personal experiences with GE, in a senior capacity in the Navy and in a large electric utility, were not good ones and all indications were of very poor quality leadership.

Best regards, Ben

[Terrence Seamon]

Enlightening!

[Kelley Eskridge]

I'm going to step off the "E" train here for just a minute (I know, I'm such a de-railer!). Just wanted to say that I like your model better than Welch's. All props to Welch, but he was all about "who the leader is" -- whereas your model, Terrence, is about what the leader does. I think that's more important to overall results.

Leadership and management are behaviors. The smartest and most charismatic manager in the world won't really engage people unless she actually behaves like an engaging manager. It's not just about having energy, etc. -- it's what you do with it.

I now return you to your alphabetical conversation. Enjoy! (Now there's another good word!).

[Terrence Seamon]

Exactly!

[Getty Stewart]

Oh, Oh, I have one!

What about Exemplifies. Engaging leaders must certainly walk the talk and exemplify what they expect of others.

[Terrence Seamon]

Excellent!

[David Zinger]

Terrence:

If I was to buy a vowel and it started with an E, it would be Enfolds.

A leader enfolds all of these other E's to get results, build community, strengthen relationships, and serve both the internal and external customers.

I look forward to some other E's from network members.

David