How managers become true leaders and moral influencers

I stumbled across a social media post today that highlighted the truth that leaders are not managers. Managers manage things; leaders lead people. What I gathered from the post is this: If someone bearing the title of manager is great with people, he is really a leader; if a leader is unable to bring the hearts of people along with him, he is at best a manager.

According to etymonline.com, the word manager has its origin in the 1560s, from Old French manège (horsemanship). The ideas of control, manual training, and technical skills are key. A good manager, then, was someone who could make a horse do what the manager wanted it to. Handling people would be a manager’s main skill. I guess managing people therefore could include being good at shutting down their intrusive needs, manipulating them into thinking they want what you want, using their talents to lace your pockets as a racehorse owner may do, or even spurring them on to greater speed and productivity even when the spur is a tool of torture.

The same source says that leader, in contrast, means "guide" from the Old English word lædan and includes “causing someone to go with oneself; travelling, marching at the head of others, accompanying them, and showing the way.”

The difference is palpable. Managers make people do things from a place of control; leaders come alongside them on their journey, and—when needed—clears the path ahead of others in the same way a guide would. The leader does not expect the follower to merely obey. The leader doesn’t sit in the cheap seats while the follower has to work the hard soil—the leader is present in the grind.

What can we do as leaders to move from being horse whisperers (good managers) to people whisperers (great leaders)?

Firstly, we need to take the human will and personal agency of everyone we lead very seriously. Unlike horses, humans have moral accountability, personal values, sophisticated and unique motivations and drives, and decision-making power. In leading people, we will benefit from understanding how these aspects affect each of those we lead.

Even in horsemanship, the temperament of a horse is taken into account. Horses are said to have personalities that are a blend of four main traits: sociable, fearful, challenging, and aloof (https://horseyhooves.com/horse-personality-types/). Interesting!

We at Tall Trees Profiles also believe that human personality has four main strands that are woven into unique tapestries that become the artwork of an individual’s personality.

What is the use in horsemanship and leadership alike of knowing the personalities that we’re attempting to lead? Personality predicts and explains the goal behind behavior. When we take personality traits into account, we can predict how moral accountability, personal values, motivations and drives, and decision-making power will affect those we lead. This means we won’t be so myopic as to think their behavior “under” our leadership is only and directly a reflection of our ability to lead well. Instead, we’ll understand that who they are at their core affects how they experience our leadership, how they will respond to it, and how they, in turn, may lead others.

Let’s explore as an example how moral accountability will be affected by each individual’s blend of traits that are at the core of the main four Tall Trees Types. First, we’ll explore how your team members’ Tree Type personality affects how they follow moral guidelines. Next, we’ll ask how the different leaders lead with a moral code in hand. Lastly, we’ll explore the implications for leading those who are not like us in their most basic design. Let’s start with those we lead:

• People with strong Palm Tree traits will be likely to follow the morality of those they spend the most time with. Like Palm Trees on the beach in the summer sun, they are not picky. They welcome everyone, often with all their beliefs and behaviors included. Palm Trees are high in openness—a Big Five trait that predicts that they will be adaptable and potentially even inconsistent in the morals they adhere to for the sake of novelty, popularity, and the joy of others.
• Pine Trees often have as their highest values harmony, security, and stability. If the moral expectations undergird these ideals, they’ll likely comply. Their moral values are typically private and personal. They live by but don’t necessarily announce these values. They rarely force them on others. If their moral choices offend or alienate people they care about, they may be tempted to set them aside for the sake of unity. If, for example, a company or team ethic excludes, separates, or drives any form of injustice, they will resist with a stubbornness that always surprises those who thought Pine Trees are always as tranquil as a pine forest.
• For those with Boxwood blood in their veins, morality, conformity, obedience, thoughtfulness, and correctness are often deeply-held values. Like their orderly Boxwood counterparts in nature, they stay tidy and within the boundary lines. Moral accountability meshes with their high standards and creates in many with high Boxwood scores a keeper-of-the-law streak. They don’t only hold themselves to codes of conduct; they feel obligated to “help” others stay on course too. They educate, teach, correct, remind, and train because these are natural talents!
• Rose Bush DNA predicts a pushback against any moral accountability that feels like control, a limiting restriction, or a random rule with no provable gain. Rose Bushes won’t comply with rules or expectations unless they see good reason, experience ownership or partnership in the process of rulemaking, and believe the outcome will have tangible benefits. Make a stupid, random rule, and you’ll encounter the thorny side of a Rose. He will comply (not his favorite word—he’d probably prefer to say he agrees and choose it for himself) when there is something in it for him, even if only a sense of being at his most effective when he acts in accordance with it.

What is the relevance to corporate leadership? You, the leader, as a guide, ought to set a healthy moral or ethical tone for the teams and projects you lead. You have to know why you enforce or don’t enforce rules, codes of conduct, or disciplinary processes. When you understand your own Tree Type personality, you may readily admit that:

• If you’re a Palm Tree, you don’t enjoy keeping others to moral guidelines, but would rather overlook infringements for the sake of happy vibes around the office. You are made to cheer others on to freedom, so it is only natural that you would feel out of your depth when, instead, you need to discipline and tighten the reins. You’d seek out the parts of the code of conduct that is most people-oriented and emphasize that over any restrictive or prescriptive part.
• The Pine DNA in you, if dominant, will similarly predict a dislike of rustling in the trees, and you will easily say, “She’s a grownup. She makes her own choices. I’m not going to interfere,” and let a team member move far beyond the boundaries without stepping in. You’ll count on your example to speak louder than your words. Fortunately, it often does!
• If you’re a Boxwood, you often shake your head at the disregard others have for order and guidelines. You don’t understand “some people’s” apparent need to create an exception to each rule. You likely perceive the rebels and non-compliant ones to be entitled, rebellious, or unteachable. This can easily mar your leadership and create a desire to not just manage but micro-manage people by adding even more regulations. Being natural at details, you may be tempted to think if you wrote a better curriculum about the rules with more examples and explanations, you could improve people’s moral accountability. For why it’s not working, read about the other tree types!
• Being a Rose Bush leader setting the moral tone for a company, team, or family, you won’t back down. You probably don’t like excuses, weakness, poor discipline, or lack of grit. You’ll overemphasize the expectations that undergird the high premium you place on productivity, progress, bravery, pioneering, and may downplay those ethical and moral principles that protect humanness, grace, tolerance, and all the other ‘softer skills” that play into the work environment. You could be tempted to use rule systems to make those you lead into submissive minions that are easier to manage (yes, I mean it in the horse-handling, controlling sense).

Do you see yourself in one, two, or even three of these Tree Types? Most leaders are a unique mixture, which often dovetails beautifully with their calling and passion. When the grit and love of order of the Rose and Boxwood blend, you have one of the most effective task team leaders imaginable—the Box-Rose leader who can blend meticulous attention to detail with profound strategic big-picture vision. When the quiet consistency of the Pine Tree leader and the warm people-loving nature of the Palm Tree leader blend together, you have the ultimate Pine-Palm people person who raises hearts more effectively perhaps than the bottom line. The combinations of the blend of tree type influences in how a leader leads are almost endless (2744 possibilities, actually) and it is a beautiful thing when a leader knows him- or herself and how they lead, why they lead that way, and what to adapt in their default style to be able to lead anyone!

What does it mean when you, the leader, leads people who come from all four corners of the Tall Trees Forest? You might have to tame and twist some of your leadership instincts in order to connect with those that come from the opposite corner of the Tall Trees jungle. Jungle, because sometimes it’s wilder than mere woods or forests, isn’t it?

• When leading Palm Trees, you’d be wise to remember that abstract moral codes and written rules don’t speak to them as much as would the disapproval of someone whose approval matters to them. Do you have their heart? If you do, you’ll more easily lead them in their moral accountability too. If you’re harsh or pushy, they’ll smile and wave but do what they want behind your back. If they perceive you to hurt others by how you lead, their defense of the underdog will take the form of a happy coup you never saw coming, because they can move hearts, remember!
• The Pine Trees you lead will not loudly “amen” your guidelines for behavior, nor will they be the ones who remind colleagues of the rules. They are likely, though, to embody these values with integrity, consistency, and humility if they respect both you and the ethic behind the rules. They won’t fake it. If you’re faking it, they will pretend to follow but won’t be in your corner. They’ll go from giving you their all to giving you just enough to stay out of trouble. Pines are phenomenal at quiet quitting. Google this phenomenon if you’re not yet familiar with it. On the positive side, when your example is worth following, you will likely find them setting the foundations for the company culture quietly behind the scenes, creating solidity under every high dream you’re building. Don’t forget to thank them for all you can’t see.
• The Boxwoods you lead don’t need to like you, trust you, agree with every rule, or be coaxed with rewards to comply. Deep down they already believe they ought to do “the right thing.” However, resentment is a cancer that finds in them a fertile host. They register every inconsistency, every offence, inequality, thoughtless act or word, broken promise, and if you ever want to lead them well, you’ll need to be like their weekly chemo appointment. Check in often with sincere curiosity: “How do you think we’re doing? Where can we do better? Is there something I need to know that I am missing? What do you need that I may have overlooked?” Does this seem like high maintenance? You could label it that way and risk allowing small cancers to fester not just in them but in your entire team, or you could embrace their exceptional gift for problem-spotting and course correction and use it to everyone’s advantage!

Who knew corporate leadership meant so much accommodation and consideration of the unique design of the leader and the led! Of course, one could ignore all the above and expect every leader to lead one way and all team members, followers, workers, or children to act the same, always seeking the leadership trick that will work for everyone. That experiment, we predict, will be super frustrating. Instead, we invite you to use a tried-and-tested approach—Tall Trees Leadership—to tap into what drives each unique person to be their best and to elicit the best from everyone they encounter.

Hettie Brittz

BCPCLC