Everyone a Leader: A Grassroots Model for the New Workplace. - Review - book reviews

HR Magazine, Sept, 1999 by Catherine D. Fyock

By Horst Bergmann, Kathleen Hurson and Darlene Russ-Eft, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1999

Isn't every business looking for the model that will motivate and energize employees, and enhance productivity? Everyone a Leader: A Grassroots Model for the New Workplace makes a strong case that the answer lies inside each employee - that every employee has the potential to become a leader in the organization.

This new approach isn't merely a rehash of the empowerment theory, but rather a fresh look at ways to build leadership skills within all levels of employees. Instead of bestowing empowerment on employees by members of management, the book suggests that there is a leader in all of us, and offers strategies for building personal leadership skills and creating employees who can act as leaders.

The book shows powerful examples of the everyday leader in all of us through survey reports of more than 2,000 employees from all organizational levels in 450 organizations. The authors create a compelling new model for making the best of today's matrixed, cross-functional and non-traditional work structures.

The authors, Horst Bergmann, executive vice president of Times Mirror and CEO of AchieveGlobal, and Kathleen Hurson and Darlene Russ-Eft of AchieveGlobal, a division of Times Mirror, provide excellent research, examples and practical how-to guides for creating leaders in every organization. The advice is based on the work AchieveGlobal does for more than 3,000 organizations worldwide, including most of the Fortune 500.

The book is easy to read, well-organized and easy to reference. Excellent real world examples, survey data and vivid scenarios clearly articulate the book's message.

Chapter 1 builds a strong case for the need for a new response to today's workplace, outlining 17 specific behaviors that produce success in the new workplace. The subsequent five chapters outline the five competencies that are the cornerstone for this model, which is called CLIMB: Create a compelling vision, Let the customer drive the organization, Involve every mind, Manage work horizontally and Build personal credibility. Each chapter outlines why the competency is important, provides symptoms to watch for that spell trouble for the organization, outlines how to accomplish each strategy, provides examples from organizations and references specific tools and techniques.

The final chapters are perhaps the most powerful, as they suggest practical, how-to tools for helping organizations create employee-leaders, and for supporting everyday employees who want to build their own leadership skills. For example, for the competency "Create a compelling vision," the authors provide four short chapters on ways to build these leadership skills. For example, one chapter provides a step-by-step process to help individuals frustrated with a change look at that event or situation in a fresh, more positive way. Step-by-step guidelines are provided, showing individuals how to use the tool in the workplace.

Also included in the book is a bibliography, along with additional research supporting the book's premise.

This is the kind of book that would be a dynamic tool for work teams and in personal and professional development. Each chapter provides guidance to teams or individuals who want to maximize performance and could be used as either a self-study tool, or better yet, as a' study guide for work teams wishing to enhance their productivity. The book is also a personal development tool for those aspiring to leadership within an organization, or just for individuals who want to become indispensable to their employers.

I highly recommend this book.

Catherine D. Fyock, SPHR, is president of Innovative Management Concepts, a Crestwood, Ky.-based management consulting firm specializing in employment issues, and a past president of the SHRM Consultants Forum.

Everyone a Leader: A Grassroots Model for the New Workplace by Horst Bergmann, Kathleen Hurson and Darlene Russ-Eft, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1999, 256 pages, $24.95, ISBN: 0471197637.