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The ineffective leader often commands and wonders why nothing happens.

It was said about the legendary football coach Bear Bryant, he could take his players and beat yours or he could take your players and beat his. Now that's leadership. That's true leadership.

Jim Collins in Good to Great describes the problem with the story about the window and the mirror. He said that the highest-level leaders look in the mirror when things go wrong; they don't look to blame others. However, when things go well, they look out the window for the sources of their good fortune. In other words, they look for who else is responsible for the success. In contrast, ineffective leaders look in the mirror when things go well and take a bow, and when things go awry, they look out the window to find someone else to blame.

The effective leader is perceptive and has the ability to look over the horizon, perceive the conditions, process the information and apply that information by aligning the organization's resources, both human and capital, in the best possible way. Jim Collins refers to this as getting the right people on the bus in the right seats. Further, effective leaders know what they don't know and when to turn to experts for guidance. In contrast, the ineffective leader attempts to control the situation by sheer will, instead of through expertise and knowledge. Unfortunately this places the organization at risk.

These principles aren't new. General Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War, "[The leader] takes individual talent into account and uses each man according to his capabilities. He doesn't demand perfection from the untalented." That principle has now been in play for at least 2,500 years, so it has a proven track record. Yet too often it is ignored.

The effective leader is not afraid to delegate to those capable of performing the duties that are required of their positions. Two important keys to delegation are the delegator's ability to anticipate the challenges and opportunities the person being assigned will face and the knowledge of the abilities of the delegate to deal with those challenges and opportunities. This is critical because the effective leader never delegates authority to someone unable to handle it.

A question that usually comes up is, "What do we do when our people are not capable of operating independently because of a lack of skills or experience?" The answer is systems. The effective leader ensures that systems are in place that enable inexperienced workers to perform like experienced workers. The system removes the need for inexperienced workers to make decisions; instead, they simply need to follow the system. If they do that and the desired results are not achieved, then the system failed and the responsibility falls on the leader.

Is this an unfair position? Not really! It's the leader's responsibility to develop the systems that prevent problems, and if the systems don't do that, then there is a system failure, not a worker failure. Toyota takes this position seriously. When Toyota has a systems failure, Toyota management will apologize to the workers for the problem because they realize it's their responsibility to ensure the system doesn't fail. A side benefit of this attitude is that when problems do occur, the workers all jump in to fix the problem because they don't have to hide the problem for fear of being blamed for the problem. By taking responsibility, the effective leader makes the organization more successful.

When was the last time your boss apologized to you when you did what you were told and it didn't work?

When was the last time you apologized to a subordinate when he or she did what you directed and it didn't work?

In the end it is the leader's responsibility to perceive the conditions, process the information based on experience and knowledge, apply that information to the situation, and make the necessary changes to ensure that the results are achieved. Of course, there are times when the leader doesn't have sufficiently capable people to act on their own or is not able to developed a system that will ensure success. At that point, the leader must realize that his or her organization doesn't have the capabilities to produce the required results. While this may be hard to accept, the efficient leader accepts what he or she can't do and responds accordingly. Simply stated, it's not efficient to try to do something you are not capable of doing.