Ross McLelland, Pacific Consulting
Introduction
Myths about Leadership
Propositions about Leadership
The Business Alignment Mode
Vision
Development in Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Things vs Feelings
Leadership and Thinking
Style Profiling
EXPERT Psychological Profiler for Business™ (EPP)
Summary
Key Points
Recently I was speaking to a client, a chief executive of an organisation who I have worked with for several years now. Chris related to me how thrilled they were with the progress the organisation has made and its success. I asked what did he thought brought this turn around. He reflected for a few seconds before responding. “We do things a lot differently around here now”, he explained, “we are much more sophisticated but also much more practical.” A lot he said has resulted from “a much better leadership approach than we used to use”. “In fact”, he said, “our new leadership model which we have implemented with a disciplined approach over the last year or so has probably been the single most important element underlying our current success”.
What we will share with you this morning is the core elements of what this chief executive has discovered, and how he and others have used leadership to build sustainable, long-term performance in their organisations.
We know that many organisations are operating in times of an increasingly tightening, competitive environment where it is no longer about just keeping the ship afloat, but moving it forward and ensuring it is sustainable.
Many of you probably know a lot about leadership already. Let’s fine-tune that existing knowledge and thoughts and then put a different spin on it.
In terms of a take-out for you from the session, we want you to be able to answer this quite searching and possibly threatening question … “Why would anybody want to be lead by you?”
We have several propositions for you to think about to add to what you already know.
To start lets unpack some myths or common beliefs about leadership then build up a different picture and re-pack the material into an overall description of what it means to be considered by others as a leader.
The first myth is that leadership is primarily about personal style.
While leadership style is an important element, it is not enough by itself without being complemented by a range of other capabilities and strategies. Therefore, while those organisations that have embarked on leadership programs for your executives based on developing leadership style are heading in the right direction, you do need to be mindful that this alone is unlikely to be sufficient to achieve good leadership in your organisation.
The second myth is that of vision. While being visionary is an important element of leadership, it too is insufficient by itself without being backed up by a range of other strategies for managers to be considered as effective leaders.
The third is that many leadership programs are based on identifying and improving people and communication skills. While these are well founded, they only touch on a narrow range of leadership requirements.
The fourth myth surrounds the issue of IQ. While IQ is generally considered to be an important pre-requisite for personal effectiveness, providing a sufficient level of mental ability to operate in complex situations by itself it is not enough. Individual managers, and in fact entire organisations filled with highly intelligent people, are often not successful and are not considered as leaders.
The next myth is the notion that leaders are born. While there are certain underlying attributes and temperament factors which are valuable in effective leadership, these should be considered as foundations to be complemented by additional abilities, skills, and mindsets, which can be learnt and improved upon over time.
Finally, there is much discussion and some popular beliefs that managers and leaders are different
roles, that leaders are a higher level within the organisation, when in reality the opposite can often be true. Consider the supervisor who is regarded by their staff as being a good leader, while the chief executive is thought of as an ineffectual leader even though the person has considerable positional power.
My point is that leadership is more than charisma and a list of capabilities and competencies.
While these are important, they need to bean complemented with a deeper understanding, an overall mindset, and a more holistic framework of what being a leader means.
Numerous texts and reports often with a high level of face validity suggest that being a leader is a checklist of abilities, which if ticked off one by one will almost automatically ensures a person being recognised as a leader. Such lists imply that leadership is about making oneself a leader by acquiring certain capabilities.
Rather than being seduced by the apparent simplicity of such leadership capability acquisition lists we suggest that the discussion of leadership be put in a broader perspective. We have several propositions we believe are worth thinking about to assist you and your organisation in your endeavours to be regarded by others as a leader.
Here are some other propositions about leadership
for you to think about and start to work on in taking your (leadership) skills to a higher level and to produce greater results in your organisation.
Please keep in mind that there are numerous opinions and theories on leadership, that these are our thoughts aimed at providing well researched, yet practical foundations and techniques, which can be readily applied in the development of your leadership practices and in the operation of your organisation.
Let’s explore some foundation mindsets as a conceptional framework or overall approach on which leadership thinking and practices can be based. Firstly,
The Performance Linkage Model is based on research by Gantz-Wiley. The model has four key elements.
These are that good leadership practices are the foundation of a good organisation. Good leadership practices lead to high employee results through the development of a positive work environment. This is where the staff regard the organisation as their employer of choice; this infectious enthusiasm translates through to the organisation’s customers who prefer to do business with this organisation because of the emphasis on quality and customer focus in delivering the products and services that they require. The business case for good leadership skills is that it affects the bottom line, that it is the essential foundation to produce great results for your organisation.
To be an effective leader it is essential to have an appreciation of the influence you have on the way others around you feel and act. This is called
The Behaviour Influence Model. It helps us understand that behaviour is a function of the person and their environment. As a leader, we have an influence over the person, particularly in the way we show how we regard and treat them. We also effect the work environment making it a positive or negative work and emotional atmosphere and culture.
Hence, although we cannot change another person’s personality or the way they conduct themselves, we can have a significant influence over some of their thinking styles and behaviours. Rather than simply blaming others, we should take some responsibility for the affects we have on them in the workplace.
Effective leadership is where you influence others to behave in a manner that supports your goals as the leader and that motivates them to achieve the goal.
Here we are proposing that the outcomes and results that your organisation wishes to achieve will be optimised through the alignment of people and processes. Good leaders know that building and enhancing the capability of people and processes for future performance is the best way to achieve higher results. They know that it is their role to ensure that strategies are in place to develop the effectiveness of people within the organisation. Ensuring that business processes, systems, procedures, and strategies are in place and are effective, together with the required resources to enable people to effectively perform their work, and for customers to be provided with the quality, service and deliverables which they expect.
Put simply how can we expect people to be passionate about their work if they can’t even
log on?
Much of this notion/approach stems from the work of Dr. Ivor Francis of the Deming Centre detailed in his book “Future Direction: The Power of the Competitive Board.”
Often we see organisation’s pre-occupation with one element at the expense of the other, i.e. that there can be a total focus on business results without any analysis or assessment of causality. By this, we mean that there are causes for high and low results that are outside of the normal operating parameters of business units and individuals. The leaders of the organisation need to be astute enough to identify and examine the patterns, which underlie why things do or don’t work within the organisation, and understand that it is their role to do whatever is required to fix things that don’t work and build on those that do.
While many organisations are still locked in the outmoded management by command and control, based on a fear and blame
approach. Here the focus is almost totally on the achievement of results, a more enlightened approach adopted by many successful organisations and their leaders is to place the emphasis on the refinement and measurement of steps in business processes, which cause results. The focus moves from one primarily on results to focus on how we are going to get there, what people, processes, and resources are needed to achieve the desired outcomes. E.g. GE, often regarded as the most successful company in history, has 40% of its annual incentive payment for executives based on business process improvement. Such organisations know that the investment in ensuring that the required business processes are in place and working well, and that the effectiveness of the people is optimised is the best way to ensure the sustainable results. Leaders in such organisations understand how things and people aspects work and fine-tune them to achieve
operational excellence, a term used by Microsoft to describe their level of required outcome. They also accept that accountability lies with the person who owns the process, not with those who use it! It sits with the managers not with the other staff
Vision is an important element of effective leadership because it is based on self-awareness. The person has the ability to step outside themselves and look at their own thoughts and behaviours, how they make decisions, how they treat others, and also how the patterns within the organisation of what works and what doesn’t work are all part of the big picture capability in achieving results. Being a visionary is not only having visions of and for the future, but also having the ability to have high self-awareness, to be able to step outside mentally and look at the impact that their own behaviour has on other people and the organisation.
Developments in the field of emotional intelligence (EI) has brought a new proposition to the debate of what makes an effective leader. The proposition is based on three ingredients, IQ for the intellectual analytical elements that we are essentially born with, together with management skills, which can be learnt and developed over time, and the third, and newest element, is the emotional quotient or the emotional intelligence that is required to be an effective leader.
Here EI is considered the most important element leading to high performance, to progression and promotion of executives within an organisation, and to being an effective leader. We can add to this the emotional energy that is required to be a leader and act as a role model in developing a high energy, positive work environment.
In condensing the research on emotion intelligence, there are seven key elements, being the attributes, of a highly emotionally intelligent person, that is someone who always acts/behaves in the appropriate manner in all circumstances, and who makes decisions based on the most appropriate criteria in a wide range of circumstances
Eg for one organisation that we have been working with extensively in their leadership development we have developed what is called their organisation’s ethos, a set of non-negotiable underlying attributes which all people in the organisation, particularly the leaders, are expected to demonstrate. These four attributes are a distillation of the core elements of emotional intelligence, although they no longer use the term EI within the organisation. The Ethos consists of passion, optimism, self-regard, and regard for others.
These four attributes, are quite broad encompassing notions that set a code of thinking and a code of behaviour, which when combined with other management strategies will instill a high level of leadership culture for others to follow in the organisation.
While empathy is an important part of EI, its practical application for leadership is through using what is called ‘tough empathy’. This is based on providing people with what they need to do their roles effectively, not on providing them with what they want!
The next element for you to consider is the notion of
Things Vs Feelings.
By this, we mean that in all day-to-day interactions with other people we make a choice to focus or to attend to either things or feelings. The proposition is that if the decision is one to attend to things and ignore the feelings of people, then this will potentially leave a scar. In fact, in one organisation I have been working closely with the staff say that the leadership practises have lead to open wounds not just scars! This is not just a rehash of the task versus people argument, for in fact a manager can be people focused but still focus on the things largely ignoring the underlying human and emotional aspects related to people’s feelings. By tapping in to the emotional or feelings aspects, managers will be perceived as far more human and caring, thereby get greater commitment and results from their customers and staff.
Good leaders know the power in asking their staff “I am here to help you - what can I do?” or “how can I help?”
Good leaders know what motivates their people and their customers at an emotional level and operate personally and organisationally to optimise contributions and outcomes.
Finally, when we relate all this information to the Australian environment it is helpful to refer to a study undertaken several years ago called
“The Australian Archetype Study”. While this leads to intriguing reading, it is highly practical in considering what leadership model is best suited to our country. Taking into account that the vast majority of research and writing on leadership is from the US, and to a lesser extent from the UK, research focusing on specific characteristics of leadership applying in Australia is certainly worth considering.
In summary, the leadership style, which the research shows is most appropriate for Australians, is
“Captain Coach”. That is where the manager provides direction and stability, leads and also works in the team, understands and provides a sense of being for the people and does not focus primarily on the achievement of tasks or solely on results.
In contrast, the style most unsuited to Australians is that of “Task
Master”. This is where the manager focuses primarily on the achievement of tasks, only on results, on pushing people and being authoritarian, being seen as above rather than part of the group, and creating instability through continual, somewhat inexplicable changes.
The research concluded that the quality of the relationship to Australians is of primary importance in assessing whether their managers are effective and regarded as leaders. E.g. in the application of a balanced scorecard approach to business planning, and to developing personal contribution models for individuals a leader in Australia would need to involve those staff associated with the planning and the scorecard. Making sure that the relationship with them was one of trust and that they are treated in such a way as to feel okay about themselves. This will bring out the volunteer characteristics where they will provide their discretionary effort and energy towards building the balanced scorecard and the game plan that underlies how the scorecard will be achieved. This will ensure that they are fully physically, emotionally and mentally on board with where the leader wishes the organisation or the business unit to head.
If we now aggregate the above thoughts, we can see why many managers miss the point about leadership by thinking that their intellect, people skills, style, and charisma will be enough for them to be regarded as a leader. They neglect an appreciation that leadership is more complex, needing a broader approach and toolkit. That it is not about being the hero, but making others a hero and the organisation the hero. While many CEO’s concentrate on their own high profile, those building long-term sustainability are often not widely know outside their organisations. In many very large organisations such as Toyota, it is the systems, the machine that runs the company not the CEO!
Leadership and Thinking Style Profiling
The assessment of the persons profile enables an organisation to identify the type of leader who will best fit its specific context, industry, and culture. ‘Leadership behaviours’ appropriate and specific to your context can be assessed through the use of psychological and thinking styles profiles, which builds self awareness through uncovering blind spots and development needs.
Multi-rater, or 360-degree feedback, is a valuable next step to provide feedback and insight to individuals on how they are perceived in terms of their behaviour in the organisation and sometimes by customers. Such assessment tools give a foundation of information to build upon and coach in developing specific leadership skills and behaviours.
For example, a recent article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “Level 5 Leadership” examined the important role of humility amongst some of the great business leaders in the US. The research found that such leaders have a low public profile, are not charismatic and attention seeking, but are quite humble, attributing luck as a major contributor to the organisation’s success. In fact, it is clear to other observers that it is their abilities in being effective leaders of the organisation that has really lead to these highly successful long-term business results.
EXPERT Psychological Profiler for Business™
(EPP)
EPP is a psychometric personality measure that can be used for both selection and development.
EPP was designed over four years by pre-eminent experts in contemporary organisational/business psychometrics and human performance consulting. The project was spawned by the vision of creating the most modern, technically rigorous, work-relevant, user-friendly performance-support tool ever to be offered to selection and development professionals.
EPP is a tool for any quality-oriented professional who cares about intelligent, well-informed selection decision-making, and/or insightful, individualised approached to the motivation, coaching and development of staff.
EPP enables you to quickly and easily gather a great deal of detailed, structured information about a person – the way tat they think, work, relate to other people and their emotional profile. It is a fast and highly cost-effective way to get to know someone prior to making decisions or recommendations of mutual consequence. It informs your judgment with regard to a person’s recruitment, selection, coaching, development and/or career direction.
EPP adds objectivity to your human resources processes because its special questionnaire format functions as a highly structured interview. It also has a built-in comparison against ‘norm groups’ of other working people, so that you can see a person’s tendencies relative to those of a large sample of their professional peers.
As well as ‘Self’ Profiling, EPP gives you:
- Team Profiling – see the behavioural patters in for example, strong or weak teams.
- 360 Degree Profiling – use boss, peer and direct reports feedback to build powerful self-awareness.
- Job Profiling – Discover which traits are likely to lead to success in special roles.
EPP gives you information on 29 key aspects of Personality/Behaviour plus ‘natural fit’ with18 Job Functions/Competencies.
In presuming that you want to be a leader it is critical that you are clear on what you mean by leadership in your context, and that you know how you are going to achieve it. Further, that you are clear as to the key steps that you will undertake and to ask yourself whether you are really committed and are prepared to put in the energy to achieve your desired outcome. In practical terms, what will you do differently instead of the way you have either thought or acted previously and finally to assess what support you or your staff need.
We can now summarise this information into a definition or description of what it means to be a leader.
- Enhance the capability of both people and processes to achieve business results and improve future performance.
- Be a role model to others in applying some underlying attributes such as passion, optimism, self-regard, and regard for others and encourage your staff to do likewise.
- Recognise that you have an influence on the behaviour of others
- Focus on how people feel as well as the things that need to be done so to maintain a positive work environment.
- Recognise that you should work on both people and process effectiveness and that it is your role to do whatever is required to fix ineffective processes for results to be achieved and outcomes to be realised.
- Think about and ask those who work for you, what are the causes of performance issues, and ask them what you can do to help them do their roles effectively, to improve performance, and assist with development and increased future capability.
- Acknowledge that as a core requirement, you need to be a good manager of processes and resources in tandem with inspiring people through applying the above attributes.
Over time if others perceive you as demonstrating these practices, you may be regarded by others as a leader.
The three key points as a take-out from this information are:
- Demonstrate passion, optimism, self-regard and regard for others to energise the people you want to lead.
- Align and take accountability for increasing the capability of both people and processes and do whatever it takes to fix the negatives.
- Identify the causes of performance, and practice the ’what can I do to help’ approach to all those around you.