Some leaders stifle their employees and some make them shine. As a leader, learning how to bring out the best in others is one of the most important things. Aubrey Daniels a thought leader and internationally recognized expert said, leaders need to be the most capable person in organisation to recognize multipliers and diminishers. Who is the diminisher? Suppose there are 20000 top-grade employees in the company and you listen to only one or two as you find them only capable such leaders are called diminishers. But then there are other kinds of leaders who instead of forcing their own ideas, allow employees to come up with smart and innovative solutions. They are multipliers. However these leaders have craved good results at any price. They thrive on employees for extraordinary results.
Then what are the things that differentiate multipliers and diminishers? After the research on 200 leaders from 30 companies we found that diminishers look for intelligent candidates while multipliers believe that intelligence is being cultivated. Creating an environment that brings out the best thinkers. Any company cannot solve the problem of talent by throwing money at them. You can buy them from outside.
What multipliers do differently:
1. Managing talent
2. Creating productive environment
3. Setting direction
4. Making decisions and plans
5. Execution
Leaders need to attract talent and guide them in the right direction. Multipliers orient all talent under a common goal. They pay little attention towards organising and managing instead of finding talents. They harness talents from existing employees. It is the job of a leader to synchronise talent with a business goal. Multipliers build an environment where there is an open environment for transparency dialogue, teamwork, high tolerance for mistakes and a highly learning environment. When Google head fostered the open environment culture, its turnover had increased by 35% each year. Next approach is that the leader needs to set direction. Imagine you have tons of ideas but you have no plan or way to direct them. Multipliers create situations that force their employees to think in multidimensional and come up with new ideas. It builds confidence in them. While diminishing no all and their strategy revolve around their own Idea instead of employer. Elice Foster with Liz Wiseman have shifted concrete challenges by fostering group decision making in their company polaroid.
When will the problem arise?
When people discuss and do debate then only problem surfaces. Diminisher suppress such methods because they find it a problem for their company while multipliers support it. They engage their top talents to construct debates and discussion. Because it will help in building collaborative solutions instead of unproductiv ideology. Wall Street has a style of open debate between its companies. It has an open communication channel between customers and company employees which helps them to recognise problems beforehand. Unlike diminishers, multipliers see themselves as coaches and they enable their employees to perform operations independently by letting them to take action alone and rewarding them when their employees succeed.
Becoming a multiplier:
Some leaders are born with this quality why some get it over time and experience. Two important steps for moving in the right direction of becoming multiplier is:
1. don’t push your ideas, instead ask for suggestions by controlling your own ideologies.
2. Always ask questions to get new information and then think and rethink about it. Please answer your own question and ask for a solution.
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