Side by Side Leadership: Achieving Outstanding Results Together [Hardcover]

Dennis Romig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2001

Based on more than 3,000 studies and the author's training of more than 10,000 leaders in many organizations. Dr. Romig implements his new business working method and explains its principles, areas of influence and skills, and how this method can be used at all levels of leadership.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Side by Side Leadership is one of the most carefully constructed blueprints for leadership success that I know. Author Dennis Romig is one of the most curious and persistent science writers I know. The combination has produced a work of genuine and lasting value. ...This book belongs on your professional bookshelf right next to Breakthrough Teamwork(also by Dr. Romig). Together, they form the core of any comprehensive performance improvement library. --Mike Bown, Austin, TX

If you're tired of "flavor of the month" leadership or management books, this is the closest you will get to a master operating system without having to wade through a lot of technical or academic jargon. ...I'm an executive coach. I want to get this book into the hands of all my clients and I'll recommend they get a copy for all the people who work for them. It's a great book for anyone who wants to improve how they work with others. --Ronald Oltmanns, Denton, TX

Dennis Romig has done an excellent job of integrating real world experience with a wealth of research to create a very readable book. --Greg L. Thomas

From the Author

Let me introduce myself.

My name is Dennis Romig, and I will be your Side by Side Leadership coach. My colleagues and I have discovered a new way to coach leaders to improve business results fast — so fast and so well that even I was a little surprised. One company, which you will read about in this book, realized a gain of several billion dollars!

One thing that surprised me was that Side by Side Leadership worked anywhere. Training and coaching developed for high-tech companies (Texas Instruments, Advanced Micro Devices, Dell Computer) brought outstanding results in other organizations as well — energy companies, agriculture, retail, real estate, manufacturing, health care, government, even religious organizations.

To understand how Side by Side Leadership came to be, it would help you to know something about my background. In high school and college, I was avidly interested in science and studied biology and chemistry. I later completed a doctoral degree in educational psychology and management at the University of Texas. During my studies, I asked my professors, "Where is the scientific proof for all these psychology and management theories?" The answer was often, "There isn't any."

However, I felt sure that the high-quality research might answer my questions about how leaders influence organizational productivity. This book is based on my reviews of 3,000 studies of leadership and management, as well as studies in biology, neurophysiology, and Murray Bowen's Natural Systems Theory.

I am now president of Performance Resources, Inc., in Austin, Texas, working with a group of talented people. We call ourselves a "think and do tank." The "think" part is the research we collect and analyze; the "do" is the practical skills in our training materials and consulting. The successes (and failures) of the "do" feed back into improving the "think."

I wrote this book to make Side by Side Leadership available for you and others. Give it a try. Let me know how it goes.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bard Press; 1 edition (October 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885167512
• ISBN-13: 978-1885167514
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a Two Way Street, October 9, 2001

By 

Ronald Oltmanns (Denton, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Side by Side Leadership: Achieving Outstanding Results Together (Hardcover)

Most of us have been mismanaged. Either it was a boss breathing down our necks, watching each move, telling us exactly how to do things, or it was a lack of direction, an absence of guidance, absentee management. Neither one is very fun. In this book, the author poses a new scenario: What if your boss worked with you side by side and gave enough guidance to get you going and enough freedom so you could really learn and grow?

Problem #1 with many books on leadership is reductionism: they boil leadership down to one or a few elements and let that stand for the whole. Real life experience tells us there's more to it. Side by Side offers a new model of leadership informed by systems theory which honors the complexity of leadership. At the same time it integrates many single items into a larger model.

If you're tired of "flavor of the month" leadership or management books, this is the closest you will get to a master operating system without having to wade through a lot of technical or academic jargon.

Some things I really liked...
The substance of the book was based on research and real life testing...
Anecdotes were in service of the key concepts, not replacements for true content...
Layout--lots of illustrations and diagrams of the concepts throughout the book. This is really like a practical primer, a manual for leaders.

Problem #2 with many business and management books is that they run out of steam after the first third of the book. That doesn't happen in Side by Side. The last half of the book is filled with 20 skills and practical examples of how to practice Side by Side Leadership. Romig goes beyond theorizing; he shows us how to do it. There's a helpful self-assessment included toward the end of the book. It would be really valuable to give some time to completing one on yourself...then ask some people who know you well for some feedback after showing it to them.

I'm an executive coach. I want to get this book into the hands of all my clients and I'll recommend they get a copy for all the people who work for them. It's a great book for anyone who wants to improve how they work with others.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars weLEAD Book Review by the Editor of leadingtoday.org, October 29, 2003

By 

Greg L. Thomas (Litchfield, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Side by Side Leadership: Achieving Outstanding Results Together (Hardcover)

Dennis Romig has done an excellent job of integrating real world experience with a wealth of research to create a very readable book. Often leadership books are criticized for being "too theoretical" or "too soft" for the real world. This book is different. The principles and best practices presented are backed up with "hard" data obtained from the review of 3,000 studies.

The ideas presented in this book can really make a difference to the bottom line. Applying these innovative ideas will yield productivity gains, improvement in employee morale, and increased profits. This leadership model departs from both the "top down" and "bottom up" models of leadership. It presents a third model which Dennis Romig calls "Side by Side" leadership. The Side by Side model recognizes that leadership is about building and sustaining effective relationships. "Leadership is facilitating Side by Side relationships in pursuit of shared goals."

Romig points out that often the most effective way for leaders to influence others is to "change their own behavior." This is right in line with Stephen Covey's "inside out" approach to leadership and Bowen's Natural Systems Theory. The Side by Side model recognizes that leadership involves facilitating and coordinating a two-way influence process. Such leadership is mutual, interactive, and shared.

In the top-down, authoritarian model of leadership influence is one-way. Top-down leaders usually listen only to a few others-mostly those in authority above them in the hierarchy. On the opposite side of the leadership spectrum are the bottom-up leaders who have allowed participative management practices and "democracy" in the work place to get completely out of hand. Dennis Romig presents a "third way" that is a higher way than either the top-down or bottom-up approach.

The Side by Side leadership model appears to be the closest of the three models to Robert Greenleaf's vision of Servant-Leadership.

"Executives who spent their entire careers practicing autocratic leadership read Robert Greenleaf's Servant Leadership and did a complete turnaround. But they mistake Greenleaf and others like him. They went too far. The proponents of participative management never meant to advocate a one-way, bottom-up model...Neither top-down nor bottom-up has worked very well for us."

Dr. Romig presents five spheres of influence in Side by Side Leadership. These five spheres are:
1. Personal
2. Interpersonal
3. Team
4. Organizational
5. Knowledge

Most of us are strong in one or two of these spheres, but naturally weaker in other spheres. For instance, you may excel at personal and knowledge leadership, but be weaker in interpersonal, organizational, and team leadership. This is an important concept. An organization needs leadership in all five spheres. It is unlikely that a single individual will excel in all five spheres of influence.

Dennis Romig identifies seven principles that are critical in all five spheres of influence. These principles include focused creativity and structured participation. Each of the five spheres of influence can be thought of as an assemblage of these seven principles. Finally, the author shows that it is important for a Side by Side leader to master twenty critical skills, such as two-way listening and living organizational values.

With five spheres of influence, seven principles, and twenty skills to master, this leadership model may seem overly complex. That is just the point. Too many authors have taken a simplistic approach to leadership. Leadership is not simple! It is a complex system with many interrelated parts. However, Dr. Romig has done a superb job of integrating all these elements and relationships into his book, keeping references to research findings brief and to the point. He shows that there are many "entry points" into the Side by Side leadership model, and there are many different ways to be a successful leader. This is not a "one size fits all" kind of book!

I want to thank Ray Bard at Bard Press for suggesting I review this book.

I rarely get this excited over a book. Buy it! Read it. Get excited too!

Review By Dr. J. Howard Baker

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Experience speaks, November 12, 2001

By 

Bronwyn Richards (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Side by Side Leadership: Achieving Outstanding Results Together (Hardcover)

Dennis Romig's consulting experience gives real and personal flavor to this research-based guide for leaders. His examples are interesting and the book is especially readable because he keeps his references to research findings brief and compelling. I was especially interested in his references to Bowen's work on patterns to be watched for in teams and organizations. Romig has written a great "how to" text of best practices.