Lockstep Leadership

Driving home from a meeting a few minutes ago, I heard the breaking news that President Obama has relieved General McChrystal of his duties.

Obama had to. And the reasons why apply to business leadership, too.

1. Senior leadership, to be effective, needs to be in lockstep. Followers need to know what direction to go in. Especially in a crisis, there needs to one message, maybe coming from many different sources, to guide an organization, a company, a country.
2. Leadership needs to be respected. For McChrystal to be respected, he needs to show respect to Obama. Without respect for leadership, the chain of command crumbles. If Obama had let McChrystal stay on, he was inviting insubordination from others.
3. There is a difference between debate and dissension. Debate is healthy. Sometimes it’s healthy for debate to be behind closed doors, and sometimes out in public, but it should always be held respectfully–with respect for others’ opinions. Dissension is not respectful.

When I heard about McChrystal’s comments, my first thought was that he must not have wanted his job. He’s got too much experience and intelligence to have sabotaged himself like that. One commentator I heard this afternoon surmised that it was McChrystal’s way of dodging responsibility, as in, “Yes, Obama and I are on the same page, but I need more men, more time.” He was passing the buck for the outcome to Obama. Whatever his motives,  he succeeded. He doesn’t have his job any more, and he certainly won’t get the credit or the blame for the outcome in Afghanistan.

Obama’s saving grace in this situation was that he could move quickly because he had an excellent replacement for McChrystal in General Petraeus.

Are you in lockstep with your leadership?

Tags: afghanistan, business leadership, chain of command, healthy debate, leadership, lockstep, mcchrystal, obama, petraeus, respect