For decades if not centuries, scholars, leaders and the people they lead, have been attempting to define the nature of effective leadership. If you are looking for a good exercise in futility, try to get a group of twenty people to agree on the characteristics of leadership and agree on a solid definition of leadership. Add to this the countless books and articles, which have been written containing definitive checklists of what it takes to be a leader, the subject remains as it should, a somewhat elusive but interesting chase.
A possible and basic definition of leadership could be “You are a leader on any given day if you can look over your shoulder and see someone following.” A longer and perhaps more comprehensive definition could be “Leadership is a complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a task, goal or objective and directs the overall team, department or organization in a way that makes things more coherent and cohesive. With this said, I will leave the research for “the” right definition on the subject of leadership to the experts. However, a brief discussion is in order as it relates to the subject of management and leadership and what is needed to accomplish the development of a type of leadership style that can have a profound effect on today’s organizations.
One of the ironies of “leadership” is that most individuals become supervisors, managers or designated leaders because they are very good at performing within a particular job skill. People are “rewarded” with a promotion to a management position because they are good accountants, engineers, salespeople, marketers, etc. Typically, because the individual has been so focused on what they are very good at, and what they have been doing, most have seldom been taught or thought about the human aspects of effective leadership. Why do people work? What do they want from their job? What is the nature of the relationship that “my people” have with work? How can that relationship be transformed to have a greater impact on the organization? How can I, their leader, provide the kind of environment that encourages people to bring all of them-selves to work – with the result that they are productive and personally satisfied and have a significant impact on organizational strategy?
Instead of quickly learning about the art of leadership and assuming the role of leading others, many newly promoted people tend to stay in, or go to their “comfort zone” and begin to micro-manage the people they are supposed to empower and lead. Also, many leaders in a new assignment have often spent much or most of their time in “other” groups or disciplines and do not fully understand the mind-set of the people they are now charged to lead.
Most people in leadership roles are formally or informally schooled in “management.” The management skills they learn primarily deal with planning, controlling, directing and organizing. At the heart of management lies the drive for systemic, sophisticated, definitive rules, which are all aimed at consistency. This approach produces people who are experts within their own domain and who do everything in their power to do things right in accordance to a specific plan. Managers are typically compliance driven.
By contrast “leadership” focuses primarily on people, performance and the possibilities. In its most obvious form, leadership manifests itself in the future focus orientation of success through people. Leaders also invest much of their time understanding and communicating the importance of people. There is an inherent assumption by leaders that the capability of people is the most critical point of leverage in producing not only excellent, consistent results, but particularly in driving significant innovation and change for future success along with meeting the urgent and immediate creative needs of the organization.
Quoting Warren Bennis from his book On Becoming a Leader, “Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right things.” This is not to say that management is bad and leadership is good, what it does say is that both are needed and both are different. While the ideal is a blend of both in one individual, the reality is that individuals are far more likely to lean or excel in one direction or the other.
One of the interesting dichotomies of organizational life is that you can be called upon to be both manager and leader if you occupy a key position within an organization. Managers need to practice leadership in how they provide vision and guidance to others. Leaders need to be good managers of resources entrusted to them. It is important as a person occupying a key organizational position, especially one that involves people, that you are flexible and play the appropriate role at the appropriate time.
Research on the theory of leadership has found that there is three basic ways people become leaders. Small numbers of people become leaders because a crisis or important event, which causes a person to rise to the occasion. The event brings out some extraordinary leadership qualities in an otherwise ordinary person. A few people have some strong personality traits that lead them naturally into a leadership role. However, the most widely accepted theory today holds that people can choose to become a leader. People can learn leadership skills and modify their behavior to the extent that others will follow their lead. People with a “passion” to lead others can transform themselves into being successful leaders.
In a study conducted by the Gallup Organization, the following observations were concluded. The core activities of a manager and a leader are simply different. It is entirely possible for a person to be a brilliant manager and a terrible leader. Conversely, great leaders can effectively delegate the details that need to be managed. The most important difference between a great manager and a great leader is one of focus. Great managers look inward; they look inside the organization, into each individual, at specific goals, tasks and needs. In short, they look at the detail. Great leaders by contrast, look outward. They look at the competition, out in the future and out to alternative routes forward. They focus on broad patterns, finding connections, and then press home their advantage where the greatest impact can be made. Leaders must be visionaries, strategic thinkers and activators. They effectively delegate the details and take risks to move the organization forward.
The following list describes the strengths of a typically “good manager” and the strengths of a typically “good leader.”
MANAGERS LEADERS Manage the present Focus on the future Are compliance driven Are performance driven Are efficient Are effective Do things right Do the right things Enforce the policies Promote values Monitor people Inspire people Train specific skills Educate, mentor and coach Perpetuate consistency Are change agents Follow a vision Create the vision React to customer problems Anticipate customer needs As you can see, managers and leaders have complimentary strengths that can both facilitate disciplined consistency and inspire innovative growth. Both roles appear to be very specific and in a typical hierarchical organization, they are. However, consider the potential when all of the strengths described are blended within a “team of people” rather than focused on one or two people. This concept begins to push the leadership role down into the organization. This “distributed leadership” model allows almost everyone to share in being a leader depending on the situation and his or her talents and capabilities. This blending of individuality and individual excellence become the key elements of a fantastic delivery system or what can be called – A Dream Team. This is a team where each individual’s strengths, leverages every other team members strength, to where the “whole” is truly greater than the sum of the parts!
The individual strengths of exceptional people (players who are leaders in their own right) are brought together by a leader (coach) to accomplish a shared purpose (winning the game). Think of how powerful and effective the developing of a team like this could be within your area of responsibility – toward accomplishing virtually any stated objective. Now think of the dream team concept and see it as a beautiful delivery system for the entire organization!
The competitive edge and quality of the organizations human capital will be realized only when it grows and develops great teams of people who are collectively focused on becoming the best at what they do. This can only happen if people charged with leading others, assume a coaching behavioral style of leadership and actively engage in building and coaching the organizational dream team.
Using the words and concepts of philosopher Peter Koestenbaum, he believes the best leaders operate in four dimensions: vision, reality, ethics and courage. These are the four intelligences, the four forms of perceiving. These represent the language for communicating what is required in order to achieve meaningful, sustained results.
Vision… The visionary leader thinks big, thinks new and thinks ahead – and most important, is in touch with the deep structure of human consciousness and the creative potential of people.
Reality… Reality is the polar opposite of vision. The leader as a realist follows the motto: Face reality as it is, not as you wish it to be.
Ethics… Ethics refers to the basic human values of integrity, love and meaning. This dimension is one ruled not by fear or pleasure but by principle.
Courage… Courage is the realm of will; it involves the capacity to make things happen. Aristotle believed correctly, that courage is the first of human virtues because it makes the others possible.
One of the real challenges of leadership is to develop all four of these often-contradictory modes of thinking and behaving as one. It is the paradox of holding yourself 100% responsible for your own actions and attitudes (modeling the way) and realizing that you cannot mandate nor ensure the choices made by others. It is also managing the polarities of dealing with the reality of where you are, while demonstrating the courage to lead the organization into the future, in an ethical manner. As a coaching leader, you should demonstrate your leadership through your courage and your continuous commitment to the potential greatness of talented people in the organization.
Another thought to consider – which relates to the importance of the leader as communicator or conduit of the organizational values and vision – is the characteristic of the leader needing to be “accessible” to their teams. Without constant, effective communication, which includes good listening and providing clear oral and written direction, it is almost impossible to have real leadership taking place. To the extent that leaders are able to “stay in phase” with their constituencies, they remain positioned to be effective.
Effective communication skills = People skills. One of the important characteristics of leadership is the ability to connect with people on a relational level. Building strong relationships resides at the crux of the meaning that is needed for achieving the “extra mile effort” required in a winning organization. “Connecting in this sense, is not simply having to do with conveying a clear and compelling vision that people can buy in to; this, of course is an important given. Rather, it has to do with something on a more primal level: Can I trust this leader? Will I go to, or even through, the wall for this leader? Would this leader do the same for me? Motivated teams of people who win are characterized by a high confidence in the leadership of their organization. This confidence leads them – often unquestioningly – to do whatever it takes to fulfill the vision as charted out by the leader.
Leadership is not about title, position, place, structure, system or technique. Leadership is about having and demonstrating a passion and genuine caring for something of significance. When you believe in something and have a passion for it, you will be persistent and stand up for it. If you do not have a passion and excitement about your organization, department, team, product, service or customer, how can you expect those you lead to provide excellence in what they do? Passion plays an important role in driving you personally and in soliciting the support of those you lead. Yes, you must master the fundamentals, the tools, concepts and techniques of leadership.
An aspiring leader can no more skip the fundamentals than can an aspiring sports figure. However, people follow what they can genuinely respond to. People will follow how you embody your message. People will follow your true voice. People will follow a leader who they believe to be “credible” – a leader who listens and whose actions match their words.
A few closing comments on the subject of “leadership.” Ultimately, the act of being a coaching leader is demonstrating action through people. It is about setting the right example and challenging others in ways that will help shape and define their own expression in deeds, not words. Are you maximizing your follower’s well being, not their comfort? Instead of giving people false assurance that their best is good enough, are you insisting that they surpass themselves? Do you help your followers determine what will be needed to stretch and develop themselves? Do you provide a great work environment? This leads to a more important question you can ask yourself. Why would a highly talented person choose to work for and with me? A great coaching leader is always seeking answers to these types of questions.
The best leaders are continually developing through a never-ending process of reflection, self-study, education and most importantly, experience. While an individual can have a firm grasp on their strengths, core competencies and skills, it is mainly through the experience of trial and error and reflection and feedback on the depth of those experiences, that a good leader can grow into a solid leader. There are few easy lessons in leadership, because as a leader you are out in front setting the pace and often going where most have not been or would not go without your leadership.
This brief overview of leadership is designed to paint an overall picture of what it is going to take for leaders to advance the performance of an organization from good to great. You will no doubt use much of what is provided plus add your specific talents and strengths to the leadership equation. This is how it should be as there is not a magic formula for leadership in today’s complex environment. The key is to absorb all that is presented here in this and other books on leadership and connect with what works best for you in the context of your organizations’ strategy of developing great leadership capabilities.
If you desire to become a better leader consider using the expertise of a leadership coach. A 2007 quantitative study of 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies, places the return on investment for executive coaching at nearly 6 to 1. The study, conducted by Manchester Inc. (a globally-recognized provider of executive coaching services), also revealed that coaching increases organizational strength, productivity, quality, customer service, shareholder value, and executive retention. Another “personal” major benefit of one-on-one leadership coaching is that most often it helps individuals make a solid transition from being a good manager to becoming a good leader. With the help of a coach, individuals begin to better understand their strengths and competencies, which they can then use more effectively as a leader within an organizational setting.
Lastly, as a leader or potential leader, answer the following four questions.
1. As a leader what goal am I truly passionate about leading and coaching people toward?
2. How do I model what I want to see in others?
3. What is my “true voice” asking others to do?
4. Why would a highly talented individual choose to work with or for me?
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Roger M. Ingbretsen, Author, Speaker, Leadership Coach, Organizational and career developer For more information, visit www.ingbretsen.com or call 509 999 7008.
Leadership Its All About People - To learn more about this author, visit Roger Ingbretsen's Website.
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