A Rare Leadership Skill: Dealing With People Who Want Out By Offering Crowns For Convoy

As a leader, you'll inevitably be faced with people wanting to leave your team or organization. Dealing with the challenge is critical for your leadership success. Your response will have ramifications far beyond your immediate circumstances. One of the best ways to respond comes from Shakespeare's Henry V.

The stirring speech of Shakespeare's Henry before the battle of Agincourt contains many leadership nuggets. But commentators who recount the speech usually overlook a particularly valuable one. They focus on the speech's "band of brothers" aspects but neglect the fact that Henry also said that if any of his soldiers would rather not fight, he'd give them passport and "crowns for convoy" back to England.

Henry was aware that some of his soldiers were reluctant to fight; for he led a rather bedraggled army. History recounts they had marched 260 miles in 17 days. They were short of food. They were drenched by two weeks of continuous rain. Many of them were suffering from dysentery contracted from drinking fetid pond water. And they were facing the flower of French knighthood, knights who were rested, better equipped and eager for battle. So there were probably many soldiers who wanted to avoid battle, get quickly to the coast and board ships for England.

Shakespeare has his Henry respond to these leadership challenges in a telling way. Instead of trying to cajole those who wanted to leave into remaining with him, or on the other hand, punish them, he did something much more effective: He actually offered them passports and money to go.

"Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made, And crowns for convoy put into his purse; We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us."

Now, apply this lesson to those people who tell you they want out. You may find yourself reshaping your relationship with them in positive ways and boosting your leadership effectiveness with the people who remain.

Here's how you do it. Offer them "crowns for convoy." Have them draw up specific leadership actions that they will take to leave. Provide milestones and ways that you and they can monitor their progress. Support them in their taking leave as you would any cause leader who is staying.

One might say that if somebody wants out ... good riddance! But let's examine this. When somebody wants to leave, two facts apply. One is that, clearly, that person - for whatever reason - is dissatisfied and is looking for satisfaction elsewhere. And two is that you have a relationship with the person. It might be a good relationship. It might be a bad relationship. But here's the point: You don't want to get the two facts mixed up in a bad way. Because that relationship will continue in one way or another even if you don't set eyes on each other again.

A bad relationship with an employee that left your organization can come back to haunt you in many unforeseen ways. For instance, it may poison your relationship with the people who remain behind. By supporting that person in taking leadership of their leaving, you are creating an opportunity for you to change your relationship with them, to work together in a positive way. This may help redress any bad feelings that might have otherwise grown worse.

When CROWNS FOR CONVOY are not offered in spite or rancor but out of a genuine desire to help, you'll transform a potentially bad situation into a beneficial one. And who knows? Maybe, like Henry, you'll achieve an unexpected upset win.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

---

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. ? and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at http://www.actionleadership.com

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Creating a Team Working Environment

TEAM DECISION MAKING: Managers who invite participation believe that people... Read More

Reprimanding Marginal Employees

THE MARGINAL PERFORMER: Every manager must, from time to time,... Read More

Performance Reviews That Actually Improve Performance

Employee performance reviews are one of the most dreaded tasks... Read More

How to Reject a Job Applicant

A Nightmare That Really HappenedOver 10 years ago, when I... Read More

Integrity... Should It Matter?

In our fast paced work culture, manned by technology savvy... Read More

Its All In The Systems

Have you ever noticed french fries taste the same at... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management: Generating Better Ideas

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Delegating Responsibility

Too many managers waste both time and energy performing tasks... Read More

Comparing Ancient Programs from the East to Modern Programs like Stephen Covey.

Comparing Corporate and Personal goal attainment programs that have developed... Read More

How to Create an Operations Manual

An operations manual can act as a tool for training... Read More

Selective Job Cuts Often Benefits Firm More Than Broad Layoffs Over Long Term

It is difficult to pick up a newspaper or listen... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: The Responsibility for Job Security

This article relates to the Job Security competency, commonly evaluated... Read More

The Devil We Know

"I'm in an abusive relationship," sighed Andrew. "My bookkeeper annoys... Read More

Executive ESP: A Pathway to Success!

We all have psychic abilities that we use daily, although... Read More

Radical Creativity from Incremental Creativity ? large movements from small changes

Positive radical movement is the holy grail of nearly every... Read More

Internal Communication: 12 Essential Elements

There are 12 essential elements of a successful internal communications... Read More

Commercial Collections Billing Practices Advice

Swiftness is the key to collecting past due commercial accounts... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Communication Breakdown

An ongoing series of articles exploring the seven critical areas... Read More

Managing After Downsizing

So, you survived the downsizing. Your company did something that... Read More

Crisis Management Tips

The term crisis management has different connotations. In this article,... Read More

Plans & Goal Setting - Kicking winning Goals

Kicking Winning Business Goals The competition for business... Read More

Ten Secrets of Super Successful Meeting Planners

Whoever said that being a meeting planner was easy, lied!... Read More

A Rare Leadership Skill: Dealing With People Who Want Out By Offering Crowns For Convoy

As a leader, you'll inevitably be faced with people wanting... Read More

Time Management Tip: Stop Micro-Managing Employees

If I was a fly on the wall what would... Read More

Cold Water Comments - What They Are and How to Manage Them!

Cold Water Comments - What They Are and How to... Read More

Four Employee Behaviors That Can Kill Your Business

I found it important to clarify for employees what "deal-breaker"... Read More

Coaching Employees in the Workplace

After a full week of training, you are still a... Read More

Tales From The Corporate Frontlines: Job Security in Todays Workplace

This article, Job Security in Today's Workplace, was part of... Read More

Work Life a Balancing Act

Australians are loosing their laidback, carefree reputation, as we continue... Read More

Make It Easy to Reply - Voice Mail That Works

If you are like most business people, voice mail has... Read More

Boost Your Leadership Skills Simply By Answering The Question, What Does Our Organization Really...

The difference between leaders is ears. Good leaders not only... Read More

How to use NLP for Business?

What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?Neuro-Linguistic programme is nothing but the study... Read More

The Red Phone - Management Consulting in 30 Seconds or Less

Modern business faces complex problems; management often calls upon highly-specialized... Read More