Ingram's April 2024

Q: So what motivates people to be good leaders? A: I break that down to four main areas. Some people are motivated by all four, some by none—and everywhere in between: 1. Paycheck, the money. If I’m an engineer capped at $110,000 a year but want to make $175,000, one way to do that is be promoted to engineering manager or director of engineering. 2. Recognition, or a sense of progress. Being promoted, I get that recognition. 3. People or being a part of something bigger than themselves. Sometimes, people will promote someone who doesn’t like other people, but they were a good contributor. 4. Some leaders are motivated by a job well done. They are driven by purpose or want to see the company grow. Not all leaders are driven by money. Many leaders are making great money, but they’re miserable. They feel trapped by their role. Q: Do you have to create your own training program as a company, based on your unique mission, product or service? A: No, you don’t. Good leadership pro fessional development is transferable to all industries. it just needs to be morphed to your industry. Leadership does not change that much from industry to industry— there are a lot of timeless principles that need to be taught. It’s a mistake to assume that someone has to be in your industry to help. That’s a fallacy. There are advantages to industry specific leadership training and some disadvantages from not getting exposed to what other companies may be doing that could be transferrable. To think that someone from Boeing couldn’t have a big impact on Ford would be short-sighted. Q: What about timing and duration of development efforts? A: With the most effective development programs, people stay in for years; you can’t get it all at once. And if you’re growing as a leader, the same material a year later and comes alive in a different way, because you’ve changed. Again, that’s a mistake people make:

Seeing developing leaders as an event, rather than a continual process to modify behavior long-term. It’s a continual process. Q: There’s also the matter of how people at the very top continue to develop, isn’t there? A: Honestly, if they built the place, they’ve done something right. A lot of times, they may think people need to be like them to be successful. It’s not that easy. Successful leadership can manifest itself in different ways. Sometimes the top leader in an organization may be a mediocre leader, but they are best at their company. They don’t get that diversity of thought. That’s where outside assessments come in. If the results are average, how can that be? there could be a lot room for development. Q: Do generational differences play a role in the way potential leaders should be identified? A: Well, there’s not as much of an issue with the new people today; it’s more with the older people. You look back 25 years, it was definitely more top-down leadership in business. You tell people what to do and they did it. Employees were more loyal and stayed with that company. People are not willing to do that now. It’s not so much about telling people, it’s about influencing people. You need a higher emotional intelligence to influence people, more than telling them what to do. The younger work force isn’t having it. A: The younger people have seen their parents loyalty not rewarded via buy-outs and layoffs. They stuck in a role because they felt they didn’t have options. Today, they’re saying “I’m not doing that.” People assume money motivates, but only 20 percent of the population is motivated by money. If you’re leading that way, you’re really missing out. Many leaders today say they would gladly quit and take a reduced salary for a better quality of life. Money is tangible, but it’s not about money alone any more; it’s about purpose and recognition, too. Q: What accounts for the genera tional change?

“Not all leaders are driven by money.

pressured to be promoted, took it and hated it. The company didn’t do any assess ment prior to promoting that person, and the last time we talked, that person said if things don’t change, they were going to quit after 26 years with that company. So not only is the position not working, the company could lose a key person. Q: What questions do senior leaders or owners today need to ask themselves if they want to identify hidden threats to their own developmental programming? A: One common mistake, if they have a good technical person or contributor who wants to make more money, is to automati cally make them a leader. There are certain qualities and competencies you need to be leader, so you need to go in with your eyes wide open. You don’t just lead by title. Many leaders are making great money, but they’re miserable. They feel trapped by their role.” — Dan Stalp, President, Sandler Training

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I ngr am ’ s

Kansas City’s Business Media

April 2024