Is There An Increasing Need For Leadership, Or Is It Just Hype?
5 pointers for potential leaders
Copyright (c) 2006 The National Learning Institute
Of all the things that have changed over the last few
centuries, and particularly the massive amount of change
experienced during the last 100 years, the one constant
that remains is the need for good leadership.
Whether it be for leading nations, organisations, teams or
even relationships, effective leadership is sought by all.
Traditionally, the view of leadership was that there were
leaders and followers – each with his or her assigned or
expected role. This is probably still true today.
However, there is a growing body of authors and researchers
who suggest there might be a broader definition of
leadership. Many would suggest for example, that within
organisations, we are now at a time when all employees will
have to take turns at leading, where they see the need to
influence others in order to achieve their goals
(”Leadership – Do We Know What It Is? 4 Pointers To Start
You On The Road To Becoming A Leader”).
Even in the wider community, the leadership of groups is
not the old fashioned “follow me” type. Noted author
Charles Handy (”The Leader Of The Future” 1996) first
described this new type of leadership as “distributed
leadership”.
Handy inadvertently got a look at what distributed
leadership might look like when giving a presentation in
the UK, Handy facetiously compared an English team to a
rowing crew.
“Eight people going backward as fast as they can, without
speaking to each other, steered by the one person who can’t
row.”
An oarsman in the audience corrected him; “How do you
think” he said, “that we could go backward so fast, without
communicating, if we were not completely confident in each
other’s competence, committed to the same goal, and
determined to do our best to reach it? It’s the perfect
description for a team”.
Handy had to agree that he was right, but then asked: “Who
is the leader of this team?”
“Well”, he said, “that depends. In the race, on the job,
it is the little person at the back of the boat, the one
who can’t row, who is in charge. He, or often she, is the
task leader. But there is also the stroke, who sets the
pace and standard we all must follow. Off the river,
however the leader is the captain of the boat. He or she
is responsible for choosing the crew, for our discipline,
and for the mood and motivation of the group, but on the
river, the captain is just another member of the crew.
Finally, there is the coach, who is responsible for our
training and development. There is no doubt who is the
leader when the coach is around. We don’t have any one
leader,” he concluded, “nor do we give anyone that title.
The role shifts around, depending on the stage we are at.”
-Â What stage is your organisation, your team, your
relationship at?
-Â What stage are you at?
In my work as a consultant with many different and diverse
organisations, groups, teams and cultures, I see three
constant leadership issues emerging around this need for
distributed leadership.
1. Traditionally, organisations have tendered to evoke
compliance not commitment. In the past this made it
reasonably easy for formal leaders. For instance, when I
first started work and my manager told me to do something,
I did it without question. Now, when a manager asks, often
the response is “Why?”. With the need today to have
committed staff, what can leaders do to evoke commitment?
Can you answer the “Why?” question in a way that gains
commitment from your stakeholders?
2. Secondly, my research indicates that people join
organisations because of the anticipated excitement of the
role. Once they are satisfied with the role, they tend to
stay because they share the same values as others that they
work with. What can leaders do to firstly identify what
these shared values are, and secondly, have people adopt a
consistent set of organisational values? It has been shown
that the combination of shared values and effective
leadership practices, is directly related to improved
organisational performance (Dianne Barton, Aug 2004). Do
you know what values your stakeholders share?
3. Do people working within organisations want or care
whether they have a good leader? The answer is a
resounding “Yes”. My research clearly indicates that
whilst people join because of the role, stay because of the
shared values, they leave because of poor leadership.
So, if you have the formal responsibility of leading a
group or team, or you are a member who must take the
leadership role from time to time, where does that leave
you?
Here are some suggestions that I have found useful, whether
you are in a formal leadership role or you just need to
influence others …
• Develop a strong personal purpose or vision and regularly
talk about this with your colleagues, friends, partners.
Why are you doing what you do? What do you see as the
future? Remember the 80/20 rule. Effective leaders tend
to spend 80% of their time talking about the future and
only 20% talking about the past. My own personal vision
relates to helping others to learn through development
activities such as this article. I describe my vision as;
“Learning is about seeing things from a different
perspective. My role is to help people improve their
vision”
• Be sincere. Always do what you say you are going to do
and if for some reason you can’t, say so and why.
• Be prepared to admit your mistakes publicly. This is
probably one of the hardest things to do, but does deliver
to you the true badge of “integrity”
• Look to include as many people as you can in what you are
doing. When people are often or continually “left out of
things” they start to get suspicious or worse still, invent
motives for what you might be doing. Keep in mind one of
the key attributes of one of the greatest leaders of our
time, Nelson Mandela, inclusiveness – he was extremely good
at including everyone so that they all felt part of what
was happening.
• Finally, communicate, communicate, communicate! Tell
people what and why you are doing things. Above all,
respond to others’ communication quickly, e.g. immediately
respond to emails even if it is a one line type response
such as “get back to you …” This way people know that they
are being included in your thinking and decision making
processes
If you have some things that you have found useful as a
leader, I’d be pleased to hear about them – I’m always
looking for new examples of effective distributed
leadership. Please contact me via The National Learning
Institute.
—————————————————-
Bob Selden continues to grapple with the definition of
“leadershipâ€. He is the author of The Leadership
Benchmarkâ„¢ and is a part time member of faculty at the
International Management Development Institute in Lausanne
and the Australian Graduate School of Management in Sydney.
Bob would like to hear your thoughts on leadership to help
improve his own understanding of the topic. Please contact
Bob via http://www.nationallearning.com.au/
