Getting others involved in the work you’re responsible for is the essence of management. But what distinguishes the best leaders is how they attain that involvement. Requiring participation is easy enough. But compliance does not equal engagement.

Employees genuinely support only those things they had a hand in creating, says change consultant Richard H. Axelrod, coauthor of You Don’t Have to Do It Alone: How to Involve Others to Get Things Done (Berrett-Koehler, 2004). That realization fundamentally changes the way you manage.

Where do managers go wrong when thinking about involvement?

Most tend to answer the question “What kind of involvement do I need?” either from the perspective of a realist or from that of a humanist. Realists focus on the aspects that have to do with getting things done: developing a plan and a budget for the work, ensuring that the deadlines will be hit. Humanists are primarily concerned about the people aspects—for example, making sure everybody understands and is committed to the plan, and figuring out how to handle any resistance to the plan.

To get things done in an organization, you need to bring both perspectives to bear on your thinking.

How does thinking as a realist and as a humanist help achieve others’ involvement?

Approaching a project from both perspectives helps you appreciate more fully the different types of involvement that are often required.

For example, some humanist managers think just in terms of getting buy-in. It’s essential for work that calls for change or requires people to stay involved for an extended period, but it’s not the only type of involvement. Sometimes you need people to get involved in a way that builds their skills so they can be more productive and take on new responsibilities.

And then there are more “realist” types of involvement: when you need people to supply skills, experience and knowledge you lack or when the scope of the work exceeds your time and energy.

Our approach helps you think not only about the types but also the levels of involvement you need.

Whom should a manager seek to involve?

Move beyond what we call “the usual suspects”: people who care about or stand to be affected by the initiative, people with relevant knowledge and expertise, and people whose authority is touched by the work.

It’s important to expressly include people with diverse points of view—this usually results in more innovative solutions. And as strange as it may sound, there are good reasons for bringing resisters, detractors and other troublemakers onboard. It’s better to have a troublemaker using his energy inside the initiative instead of stirring up trouble and distrust from the outside. Besides, seeing that his concerns will be taken seriously may turn him into an instrumental team member.

What keeps people involved?

When people are so mired in the details of a marathon project that they can’t remember why they signed up for it, they need to know that their contributions count.

There are several things you can do in this regard. Keep the vision for the project front and center. Remind people what’s going to be different as a result of your collective efforts. Give them regular progress reports about what’s been achieved so far. And make sure they know that their input is valued. That’s what keeps their heads in the game.

Why is closure so important?

It’s at the completion of a project that you build a foundation for the future. Celebrating what’s been accomplished makes people more willing to participate in other initiatives. But there’s a knowledge-transfer component, too.

At the gathering to celebrate the end of the first stage of a project that will take place in different parts of an organization I’m consulting to, we also invite the people who’ll be involved in stage two. For them, it will be invaluable to hear people involved in the first stage talk about what worked and what didn’t.

A Ceo’s Six Steps To Effective Feedback

Delivering feedback is among a manager’s most important tasks, yet many managers struggle to do it fairly and consistently, and—above all—in a way that drives improved performance. In the chapter on people development in his recently published book, Lessons on Leadership: The 7 Fundamental Management Skills for Leaders at All Levels (Kaplan, 2007), Jack Stahl, CEO of Revlon and former president of Coca-Cola, proposes a six-step model to make the feedback process easier and more effective.

Five questions with Richard H. Axelrod, coauthor of You Don’t Have To Do It Alone

Getting others involved in the work you’re responsible for is the essence of management. But what distinguishes the best leaders is how they attain that involvement. Requiring participation is easy enough. But compliance does not equal engagement.

The Coach … as businessman

Joel Banal’s life has always revolved around basketball, from playing collegiate ball for Mapua and amateur basketball in the MICAA and the national team to his pro stint in the PBA, and finally moving on to coaching, where he also made his mark both at the professional and collegiate level.

Winning: Customer loyalty isn’t dead, just different

Q: At my old company, we did everything to retain customers: built dedicated facilities, designed innovative packaging, offered aggressive pricing and delivered quality second-to-none. Still, a few major accounts dumped us. Is costumer loyalty dead? Carl Warren, Ridgefield, Connecticut

A: Not dead, but different.

Spread the Word

One way to better appreciate the Sunday Mass is to have a genuine appreciation not just of the Gospel but also of the two other readings. However, for one reason or another, many have not taken the time to give a serious look at the readings of the Mass.

Profit vs public health: When infant formula tastes sour

Gina’s newborn girl has just contracted pneumonia. A few years ago, the young mother from Quezon City lost twins to premature birth. And her new baby does not look good either, being obviously malnourished and small for her age.

‘President’ Sorensen’s New Vision

My fellow Democrats: With high resolve and deep gratitude, I accept your nomination.

It has been a long campaign—too long, too expensive, with too much media attention on matters irrelevant to our nation’s nature.

Race Relations

FOR several weeks now, the Philippine Racing Club Inc. (PRCI), one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious racing clubs in the country, has been at the center of a raging corporate boardroom battle, pitting its minority shareholders against the company’s Malaysian-controlled board of directors.

Where more research and development dollars should go

Although U.S. companies are spending more on research and development overall than they have in recent years, they’re putting that money mainly into new project development and neglecting other areas that are important to long-term innovation efforts.

Productivity is killing American enterprise

I fear for the future of American business—not because of US trade imbalances or budget deficits but because of the productivity of its corporations. America’s highly touted productivity may be destroying its legendary enterprise and many of its powerful enterprises.

Crafting food

Benilda Moises starts her day taste-testing a violet liquid to determine the right mix of citric acid and the sweetener aspartarme.

Winning: Giving up on a broken operations

Q:  If you’re part of a diversified company, when do you give up hope on fixing a broken business? Ron Adner, Fontainebleau, France. 

A:  Big companies hold onto failing businesses for all kinds of reasons: sentimental value, false hope and culture, to name just three.

Murdoch Wins

In locking up Dow Jones & Co. for $5 billion late Tuesday, Rupert Murdoch ensured that his vast influence would be felt in the business world for years to come—as it is now by hundreds of millions of global TV viewers, moviegoers and Internet users.

‘WSJ’ reaction: ‘Sickening’

It’s normally not good news when a company is the subject of repeated stories on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Money, or duty to society?

The Bancroft family, which has controlled the prestigious Wall Street Journal for more than a century, is the latest newspaper dynasty to be dismantled by the pressures of the Internet age.

Global tire brand sets example of market knowledge, community integration

IT boils down to having a good name—Goodyear Philippines Inc. has close to a hundred years’ experience in support of this statement.

Vex Populi

Hand in hand with the dwindling supply of power and water is the proliferation of people, the population “explosion” (2.36-percent increase for this year) that the National Statistics Office (NSO) has warned us about—a case of plenitude in the midst of penury. A far cry from the zero growth rate (2 percent) of 1991, obviously the result of the martial law politely termed “family-planning program.”

Going beyond business

TO gain trust of people, practice what you preach.

This is what Manila Water Co. Inc. president Antonino T. Aquino has been doing in the past 10 years, since taking the helm of leadership of the Ayala-owned water firm servicing the east zone of urban Metro Manila.

Manila Water and communities: Some recent projects

COVERAGE of its water sampling and testing operations has been expanded to include several towns in Rizal province within its service grid.

Regarding Mark Jimenez

The view from Mark Jimenez’s penthouse is one of a kind: neat rows of the white crosses in the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Bonifacio Global City. Inside, crystal vases with fresh flowers are everywhere. There is an old Austrian piano that nobody knows how to play in the living room. There are photos of his family.

Five books that will amplify your ability to lead through influence

Leaders shape the future; they set strategic goals and guide their organizations toward attaining them. But they are powerless without others’ cooperation. Here are five books that will hone your ability to lead through influence.

The Cost of Myopic Management

Under pressure to hit immediate performance targets, many managers inflate earnings, often by cutting expenditures. In a recent survey of 401 top financial executives, 80 percent said they would decrease spending on “discretionary” activities like marketing and research and development to meet short-term goals.

Tattoo you

Last year Justin Miloro had to wear long sleeves to conceal the Buddha curling around his left forearm and the yellow-orange sun rays on his right. Pants covered the depiction of Earth on one leg and wings on the other.

From WOM to www

FOR years, small businesses have relied on the magic of WOM (word of mouth) to attract customers. Yet, with young Filipinos lately turning into entrepreneurs, too many small companies are creating too much buzz that customers now find it hard to tell apart the best from the bluff.

Winning: AVOIDING THE REVERSE-HOSTAGE SYNDROME

Q: Why do so many companies not address cross-cultural differences in a merger until it’s too late? Karen Fenner, Camden, New Jersey

A: Because you can’t number-crunch culture. And financial analysis is almost always where merger evaluations begin, along with some level of strategic analysis.

The monarchical tradition

Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of personally delivering the president’s report to Congress that was inaugurated by George Washington, the first president, on January 8, 1790, in New York, the capital of the new nation until 1801. But since the US Constitution required a president to report to Congress, Jefferson wrote his message and had it read by a clerk.

The future of San Miguel

‘We’ve done preliminary studies, going so far as to hire an independent adviser to shortlist for us attractive industries in which we might choose to participate, industries like mining, power, infrastructure, water, other utilities and property.’

Seeing the World

We can state, quite categorically, that we are living in very demanding times. Our planet is under stress. Our country confronts serious challenges. Our communities are in search of real solutions to age-old problems.