The Leadership Imperative

Leadership development is easily the most important area that consultants work.

Poor leadership, such as at Apple before Steve Job’s return, has destroyed superb companies.  And the poor revived, Lee Iaccoca of Chrysler are two well known examples.

Leadership development is the absolute most important improvement opportunity in any organization. By improving leadership almost all other problems are solve-able and are a matter of process.

The effective leader, and this isn't always the CEO, it could be the department head, first line team leader or just informal, all influence the following:

  • They set the primary example of behavior
  • Control the incentive systems
  • Choose the people to represent themselves and organization
  • Strongly influence the operational values
  • Set the pace of change

There are 3 main components of Leadership Development:

  1. Everyday leadership behaviors
  2. Extraordinary Leadership behaviors - leadership in crisis
  3. Making the tough decisions - where & when.

Note that those who are being led measure effective leadership.

In years gone by leadership has been derived from the following sources:

  • Hierarchal or Legitimate. As in the military. Examples of its devastating outcomes have been plane crashes where the co-pilot has not questioned the captain.
  • Control or rewards & punishment. The ability to control valued outcomes such as money, credit and other successes. The opposite is controlling punishment or to be 'coercive' .
  • Expertise and Information. Examples of this often occur in professional services environments where people are promoted to leadership because of technical expertise. These people are often pace-setters and subordinates are can often over-whelemed

What leadership development should aim to do is move people away from these sources and towards an Innate Respect for the leader. This is also known and "Referent power".

Here people will follow the leader because they believe in them. They respect and trust the leader because in behavior, words and deed the leader demonstrates that the organization and our best interests are at heart.  Referent power is the least obvious but most effective. It is the ability to attract others and build loyalty.

Referent leaders do not need to be warm and fuzzy, or charismatic, visionary, rather they need the ability to switch between a variety of contexts.

To build referent power, the leader must be able to lead, that is to make decisions and behave in a variety of contexts.

The more varied the contexts the more flexible the organisation, and the more people will believe in the decisions being made.

Example: allowing a group to come to consensus decisions with regards to strategy and long range planning, verses the airplane captain making an autocratic decision in the event of an engine failure. The troops may loose respect for a leader in the latter should she begin to ask for their opinions on the 'current reality'.

It is often accepted there are the following types of Leadership styles:

Autocratic:
  • Here the leader makes the decision alone, as in the airplane emergency example above.

Approaching behaviors:
  • Where the leader seeks information from others but doesn't reveal why. Usually used to gather information to make a decision when employee commitment is not required.

One-on-one, Consultative Behavior:
  • Asking for input on a key issue one-on-one, but the decisions is still the leaders.
  • The nature of the decision is revealed.
  • Participation is valued.
  • Time is not of the essence.

Group Consultative Behavior:
  • Open debate and canvassing the full range of the decision, however the decision, again, remains the with the group leader.
  • Maxim participation is encouraged.
  • This is good for safe guarding against groups or influencers who may not have the same express objective as the leaders organization.

Consensus Behavior:
  • The same as group behavior except the leader allows the group to reach a decision is less directing with regards to input.
  • The group will tend to own the decision the most, and commits to live with the outcome.
  • Also enhances employee development.

What is the practical application of having a range of styles available?  For example if a decision is before you and don't have adequate information the autocratic style is not available to you. If however team ownership is important then the collaborative approach is more the better behavior set.

Leaders require a holistic approach to their organizations and accountabilities.

The best leadership is by exception not by routine. That is to set the direction, are big picture thinkers and never get bogged down in the details. Intervening leadership is the exception.

The focus of leadership development is to focus the leadership on outcomes and arrange the systems and processes, incentives to maximize those outcomes.

Finally leadership is driven by values and measured by results. It is among the most rewarding and important function any consultant can influence.

(C) Daniel Lock 2008. All rights reserved.