The Leadership Coaching Blog

Following on from my blog post last week discussing the article by Rob Goffe (Professor of Organisational Behaviour @ London Business school) and Gareth Jones (visiting professor @ INSEAD) I wanted to explore where they think they’re at odds with much of today’s leadership thinking.

They say that the majority think that effective leadership rests on full  self knowledge, but that their observations of leaders suggest that few develop full self knowledge.  That effective leaders have an overarching sense of purpose and sufficient self knowlwdge of their potential leadership assets.  ‘They don’t know it all, but they know enough!’

That being the case they believe that leaders need to recognise some fundamental truths in order to become more effective.  These are:

• That leadership is situational - what is required of leaders will always be influenced by their  situation. However, they do acknowledge that the situation the leader inherits is simply a starting point - that the actions of leaders help to alter their situation and that effective leaders go further, by using their personal leadership assets to reframe situations to the benefit of those they lead.
• That leadership is non hierarchical - just because you have reached the top of your organisation, or have an organisational ‘title’, this doesn’t automatuically make you a leader.  Great organisations have leaders at all levels.

That you cannot be a leader without followers - leadership is a relationship built actively by both parties.  ’Good leaders manage relationships by knowing when to be close to people and when to be distant - to keep people focused on goals and address poor performance.  Crucially, they are able to create this distance without pulling rank.’

According to Goffe and Jones, this management of social distance means that leaders are not easily stereotyped, because they both show emotions and withhold them; get close and stay apart; are like us but different.  This means that they’re often seen as enigmatic or ‘authentic chameleons.’

These leaders need to be skilled communicators who pay careful attention to how they are seen and heard, who build compelling stories about themselves and their contexts, and identify communication channels that work for them - whether that be platform presentations or intimate face to face meetings.

So, there are some fundamental principles of leadership that do apply across the board e.g leaders need to motivate followers to feel that their work is significant and part of something bigger.  But above all followers look for leaders who are authentic, and this authenticity froms the foundation of the relationship; without it there can’t be much trust on either side.

I’ve been re-reading an article from People Management magazine which was basically posing the question - “Given the general hunger for good Leadership, why are leaders in such short supply?” The writers (Rob Goffe and Gareth Jones) put forward 2 main reasons:

1. Organisations desire leaders but structure themselves in ways that kill leadership - they encourage conformists or role players with little sense of who they are and what they stand for.
2. People’s understanding of leadership is blinkered - they focus on the characteristics of leaders and what they do to others, rather than seeing it as something they do ‘with others.’

What I believe they are saying here is that leadership should always be viewed as a relationship between the leader and the led. That there is no set recipe to follow, and that attempting to imitate other successful leaders is doomed to fail - this is because what will work for one leader will not necessarily work for another.

In many ways I agree with this - as aspiring leaders need to discover what it is about themselves that they can mobilise in a leadership context, and not purely rely on trying to ‘do’ what others do.

On the other hand, I do think that this can be a useful way of testing your effectiveness as a leader and coming to terms with your true self - in terms of what feels comfortable and natural, and what feels forced.

Anyway, there was more to this article than I have time to get down here, so will try to come back to it shortly

Whilst scanning an article on this legendary industrialist and business leader I noted the leadership principles on which he based his success.  These were:

1. Lead by example - never ask people to do something you wouldn’t do yourself
2. Trust and stand up for your people
3. Always admit when you make a mistake
4. Push credit down the line and blame up the line to lift self belief in the organisation
5. Integrity is more important than popularity
6. Be consistent and you will gain popularity
7. Manage change and keep people’s hearts and minds involved
8. Never fail to make a decision
9. Keep changing - change is risk, but the biggest risk is not to change at all

Not a bad list for all leaders to keep in mind!

I had a major cull of magazines waiting to be read yesterday, and tore part of a page from a CIPD magazine - a box detailing what it means to be an authentic leader - which struck a chord.

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep a record of the article it belonged to, so can’t attribute it to anyone!

• Authentic Leaders do what they say - and practise what they preach.  Nothing betrays aspiring leaders as much as trying to persuade others to do things that they would never do themselves.  But an ability to do what you say is not enough on its own.
• Authentic Leadership also involves an element of coherence.   In other words, despite the need to play different roles at different times for different audiences, authentic leaders display a ‘real self’ that holds these separate performances together.
• Authentic leadership involves a kind of comfort with self, which is often hard to attain.  To be a more effective leader, you must be skilled at ‘being yourself.’

I couldn’t have said it better myself!

I found this piece on a site while surfing - I think it’s from a Success magazine interview with Colin Powell at the end of 2005.  Powell’s 12 Leadership tips are taken from the article “Leadership – From the battlefields to the boardroom: Colin powell explains how to be a leader worth following.”  It makes interesting reading.

1. Never be afraid to make people mad -  Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group.  Some decisions you make may upset certain individuals; this is inevitable. Trying to be nice to everybody will only invite mediocrity and compromise your goals as leader.
2. The day the soldiers stop bringing their problems is the day you have stopped leading them - Make yourself accessible and available.  Too often, asking for help is seen as a sign of weakness, which leads to cover-ups and poor performance.  Show your concern for the people below you.
3. Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites - Always question what the experts say if you don’t understand.  Don’t assume that they know more than you, and certainly don’t be cowed into accepting something that you don’t fully understand.
4. Don’t be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard - Learn from the pros; seek them out as mentors and partners.   But if you don’t agree with what they’re saying, let them know.  Reputations shouldn’t be a hindrance to progress.
5. Never neglect the details. When everyone’s mind is distracted, the leader must be doubly vigilant.   All the ideas and visions in the world are worthless if they can’t be implemented rapidly and efficiently.  Good leaders delegate and empower others liberally, but they pay attention to
   the details every day.
6. You don’t know what you can get away with until you try - Don’t wait for permission—just get things done.  If you ask too many people, one of them will say no. So don’t ask.
7. Keep looking below surface appearances - Don’t assume that today’s realities will continue tomorrow in a tidy, linear, and predictable fashion.  Take steps to solve problems as—or, if possible, before—they emerge.
8. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds - Surround yourself with the brightest and the best. It will make the difference between organization and  achievement.
9. Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it - Change is stifled by people who cling to their turf.  Effective leaders create a climate where people’s worth is determined by their willingness to learn new skills and new  responsibilities.
10. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier - Leaders who cast blame or whine engender those same behaviours among their staff.  Have an attitude that says, ‘We can change things here, we can achieve our goals, we can be the best.’
11. Have fun in your command. Take leave when you’ve earned it.  Spend time with your family - Finding the right balance is essential; a happy home life means greater productivity in the workplace.
12. Command is lonely - The buck stops here.  The essence of leadership is the willingness to make the tough decisions.  Prepare to be lonely.

The following leadership quotes are by Peter Drucker:

“Leadership is not magnetic personality — that can just as well be a glib tongue.  It is not “making friends and influencing people” — that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal  limitations.”

“The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.”   And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.”    They don’t think “I”.  They think “we”; they think “team.”  They understand their job to be to make the team function.   They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit….  This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. ”

“No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it.   It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.”

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.”

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

I agree that leaders need to take time out to shape their own and their team or company vision; that they need to inspire others with their own vision and show how it fits with the company vision.  They need to develop trusting relationships in order to get others to perform to their potential and achieve the company vision and goals.  In addition, they need to know what to focus their attention on, and be able to get the best from themselves.

One of the things I try to do in my Coaching Programmes is to get you to explore the idea of success.

What does it mean to you?  Not what you think it means, or what society generally holds up as its idea of success.  Not even what your peers, your friends or partner think of success!  But rather what success looks like, feels like, and sounds like to you.

Until you’ve really considered this in terms of what would make you happiest and feel most fulfilled in life, you’ll always be striving for someone else’s version of success…

Consider this - who was more successful?   

Mother Theresa, who had very few worldly possessions? or, Bill Gates, the multi billionaire?

Viewed in the sense of success being the realisation of your personal goals (based on your knowledge or feelings of what would make you feel most successful) then quite obviously, both are successful.

But viewed from the current norm of success meaning lots of money, and the visible signs of your wealth, then you would arrive at a completely different conclusion.

Remember, it’s your life, and only you can determine and then reach for success on your own terms.

Good Luck!

Leaders with high levels of self awareness are very good at motivating themselves, as they’ve taken the time to discover what makes them tick.

They know the theory of motivation and have worked out their personal needs and drives.

They use the “carrot” and “stick” approach appropriately, and know whether they prefer moving “towards” goals and rewards, or “away” from bad situations and discomfort.

They are prepared to stretch and challenge themselves in order to expand their comfort zone.

Because they are good at motivating themselves, they are also better able to motivate and inspire others.

You may have heard of emotional intelligence, physical, spiritual and intellectual intelligence and the links to effective leadership, but according to research conducted by Anthony J Mayo and Nitin Nohria we should also consider “contextual intelligence” when determining what makes a great business leader

They analysed 1000 20th Century US Business leaders in the context of their environment (i.e. the decade in which they became CEO or founded their company.) 

They argue that context is important as business options can be powerfully influenced by demography, technology, regulation and the labour conditions of the era, and they concluded that the leader’s level of sensitivity to, and understanding of, context was pivotal to his/her overall success - hence the term contextual intelligence.

They discovered that contextual intelligence manifested itself in 3 main ways - in the entrepreneur, the manager and the leader.

While the entrepreneurs created new opportunities, and the managers maximised potential of existing businesses through expansion, the leaders (such as Lee Iacocca former Chairman of Chrysler & Jack Welch CEO of General Electrics) transformed businesses, often tackling difficult and intractable challenges.

The authors are not saying that an individual leader’s character is not as important as the context in which s/he works but that there is a “give and take” relationship between context and character in the stories they analysed and that a number of lessons emerged:

• There are many paths to greatness - given the same contextual factors there are multiple ways to succeed , according to individual strengths (as entrepreneur, manager or leader)
• Context matters - long term success is not derived solely from the leader’s personality and character
• Adaptive capacity is crucial - flexibility and courage to change direction are required when the environment changes
• Boards need “the right person for the right time”- someone who can identify, understand, and adapt to different situations; someone who’s strengths are aligned to where the business needs to go
• Investors and employees need “the right company at the right time” - both would be better prepared to succeed if their strengths and preferences were aligned to the life stage and context of their potential employer/business

Whilst I found this an interesting read, I found that in some ways it confused the issue for me and in others ways it reinforced what I already believed!  Let me explain……

It can be a little confusing when similar words are used with different meanings and within slightly different contexts to those you have already learned and assimilated into your “leadership” language!   

For example, I love the EMyth Manager and EMyth Revisited by Michael Gerber which introduced me to the concepts of the Entrepreneur, Emperor, Manager and Technician.

On the other hand, I think the article reinforced the message in Stephen Covey’s “Principle Centred Leadership” which advocates leaders working from core principles that don’t change over time in order to cope with the constantly and ever more rapidly changing environment.

It also reinforced the fact that character alone is not sufficent to be an effective leader, you also need competence (the necessary knowledge - and I would include here contextual knowledge, skills, and attitude.)

http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/PM/Articles/doubleedgedsword.htm  You can read the article for yourself and make up your own mind, but I guess I would agree with the main message of the article which appears to be that ‘because businesses are constantly evolving, it makes sense to find people (leaders) whose capabilities match the contextual challenges of the here and now as well as the future.