Much is being written and even more is being discussed today around the topic of leadership. Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion and defensive posturing that takes place in the business world. Often, when the topic of leadership is talked about, there is much rhetoric and boasting but there seems to be little accomplishment. Almost everyone recognizes the need for leadership but only few can really define and execute it well.

I want to challenge this confusion because we often overlook value alignment, which is critical for all leadership roles. Too often we spend time delving into the process and forget the basics.

Management theorists state several views on leadership. one of them is for transformational leadership, in which one can change a whole organization with just a single vision. Another is situational leadership, which involves giving guidance and direction to an organization, only when the situation calls for it. Even the term manager has taken on a whole new series of values which differentiate them from leaders.

In his 1989 book “On Becoming a Leader,” Warren Bennis composed a list of the differences, which I love to refer to often:

  • The manager administers; the leader innovates.
  • The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
  • The manager maintains; the leader develops.
  • The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
  • The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
  • The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
  • The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
  • The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader’s eye is on the horizon.
  • The manager imitates; the leader originates.
  • The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
  • The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
  • The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.

In today’s information driven workplace the differentiations seem to have become more pronounced on the surface but in reality, there is an overlap in each of these areas because I believe we are evolving more flat organizations where everyone must exercise some leadership responsibility.

To grow one must be aware of the need for personal leadership. This is characterized by acute self-confidence with conviction and understanding alignment. Personal mastery is another term used in personal leadership. It means that a person knows where to stand, where to go and will do most anything to achieve the goal, within the value framework they have anchored to in life. Whatever it is called, leadership comes from a person's own belief and values. But how does this fit with our current labels?

Leadership labeling is fragmented!

Remarkably, there are more than 20 different leadership approaches, styles or labels being promoted in today’s market. Most are driven by a singular characteristic of leadership as defined by someone. These can include the following: Superhuman leadership, Strength’s Based leadership, Strategic leadership, Tactical leadership, Total Leadership, Entreleadership, Principle based leadership, Tribal leadership, Primal leadership, Fearless leadership, Digital leadership, Adaptive Leadership, Servant leadership, Authentic leadership, Charismatic Leadership, Transformational Leadership, Participative Leadership, Agile Leadership or even Humble Leadership.

There are also attitudinal “styles” that are floating around: autocratic, coaching, laissez-faire, quiet, situational, visionary, and transactional. You can readily verify many of these by going to Amazon.com and search for books on “Leadership”.

There are a plethora of books on “Leadership Secrets of” on Amazon also, ranging from Attila, the Hun to Jesus and everyone in-between. Here we are trying to take situational driven leadership and extrapolate out nuggets we can use to apply in the organization we work and live in today. They seldom work due to cultural, historical or personal context differences that cannot be overcome.

So do we need so many labels?

The short answer is yes and no! Yes, because not every style will work in every situation or culture we find ourselves working within and no, because none of the labels are new nor exclusive so there is a lot of commonality between the styles. Leadership has always been about being flexible and accountable. In our desire to simplify our world, we often come to an improper conclusion that we should adopt one style and it will fit everywhere we work and live. Ideally a leader should select the right style for the right time in the right situation within the right culture. This decision however may not be the most popular one at the time.

John Maxwell often says that leadership is all about influence and this very true. For a leader to lead he must have a vision, mission and authenticity that is focused on doing the right thing at the right time. This builds trust which allows people the freedom to follow based on values alignment not just blind following.

At the core of this process I truly believe that leadership is really about being able to build bridges and partnerships that work for the good of the organization. There needs to be a primary vision for the organization but every other leader within the organization must be able to align their values and mission with this primary vision to be fully engaged and actively supporting.

We must teach every leader that the first question that must be answered is: “Which style works best for me, my organization and current culture? We must never lose sight of the fact that organizations are made up of people and to be successful the people must have a culture that allows them to be engaged, contributing and accountable.

When building partnerships, leaders need to realize that the culture of the organization will highly influence the type of people and business they will interact with on a regular basis. This will, in turn, determine the foundation of every bridge and structure that is created as part of the relationship matrix.

Every perceived heroic leader in history, is beholding to people around them, for supporting the concepts, solutions and innovations that they brought to the table. They did not single handedly create and implement the changes that took place. Each had to build partnerships with suppliers, customers, employees or governments for the necessary changes to take place.

Many times, heroic leaders seem to have come to the forefront when there is a crisis or special problem. Ultimately thought, to lead people involves influencing others so there must be followers. Leaders are usually people with a clear idea of what they want to achieve and why. For me being a ‘leader’ is attitude issue: the individual’s attitudes, qualities and actions. Style, or rather behavior, is important but not unique and never defined by only one ‘style’.

There are several examples for this.

  • The woman, who just started her career, sees a problem in her team and acts upon it immediately to correct it.
  • Leadership can be seen in the head of a team, who approaches another team leader and starts a conversation on how both teams can work with each other.
  • It can also be seen in a leader who gets to know his team members by having occasional meetings with no particular agenda.
  • The leader, who facilitates the conversation to know his subordinates ideas. Leadership is also depicted by a person who makes an effort to teach his subordinates old and new culture of his organization as well as his expectation of and for them.

All of these examples show personal mastery. A leader does not wait for instructions but sizes up the situation and implements whatever is necessary for an effective solutions and workers. These are leaders deeply rooted in common sense with the idea on how to get things done.

Today, effective leadership is about personal initiative that comes from personal vision and proactively integrating that with their team, organization or vision. It goes with the sense that a leader knows what must be done and be the first to act upon it.

Well exercised leadership is freeing. Delegating responsibility is one of the most important services one can do. once the tasks have been assigned to associates, the leader must allow them to do their work. This allows the associates to accomplish their job and fulfil their own potential. Leadership grows as the person grows, enabling him to become a better person and inspiring others to be better than what they are now.

In a 2008 study, ‘Growing Global Executive Talent’ conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it showed that the three most important leadership qualities or behaviors include the ability to motivate staff (35 % respondents), to work well across cultures (34 %) and to facilitate change (32 %). These qualities are universal to all styles therefore styles are really an attempt to provide differentiated ways of reaching these qualities which may dilute the impact.

Future Styles?

Recently the “Institute for the Future” (IFTF) identified and defined 10 skills that we need to begin to teach now so we can deploy them by 2020. Even though these were developed to demonstrate what companies are going to have to have in place to win the talent wars of 2020, I can see them readily being adapted to new leadership styles. This will add to the confusion. They are:

  1. Sense-making: The ability to determine the deeper meaning or significance of what is being expressed.
  2. Social Intelligence: The ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions.
  3. Novel & Adaptive Thinking: Proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rule-based.
  4. Cross-Cultural Competency: The ability to operate in different cultural settings.
  5. Computational Thinking: The ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning.
  6. New-Media Literacy: The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communication.
  7. Trans-disciplinarily: Literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplines.
  8. Design Mindset: The ability to represent and develop tasks and work processes for desired outcomes.
  9. Cognitive Load Management: The ability to discriminate and filter information for importance, and to understand how to maximize cognitive functioning using a variety of tools and techniques
  10. Virtual Collaboration: The ability to work productively, drive engagement, and demonstrate presence as a member of a virtual team.

In summary,

We need to really understand that leadership is an amalgamation of hard & soft skills that aid in the development of partnerships and bridges between individuals, organizations and government units. In essence it is all about alignment of stakeholders. While there are a lot of advocates for a single style implementation there are really no silver bullets or simple answers. The more we can communicate the common elements required for effective leadership the better organizations will advance.

Our frameworks help you with alignment and navigating values, vision and mission so you can clearly articulate them to your employees, customers and suppliers. Contact me today for more information by email to ron@tlg-rwme.us or visit our web site at http://tlg-rwme.us.