17th century Russian field marshal
Alexander Suvurov never lost a battle, leading his regiment
became one of the best in the Russian Army during
the Russo-Turkish Wars. Suvoruv's secret weapon? He recognized that
his soldiers were the foundation for his success and trained and
encouraged them to be their very best.
This story, recounted by Ed Rose in his article "Effective
Leadership" is used to illustrate Rose's point that successful
leaders are those that learn from the past, yet thrive on innovation
and flexibility. Rose himself marks his own transformation from
a textbook "traditional" leader (based upon command and
compliance) to an innovative leadership educator.
Successful leaders
have historically risen from the military sector, with accounts
of brilliant tactics and innovation creating the
examples and laying down the philosophical groundwork for our
conception of effective leadership.
Raymond Cattell, a pioneer in the field of personality assessment,
developed the Leadership Potential equation in 1954. This equation,
which was based on a study of military leaders, is still used today
to determine the traits, which characterize an effective leader.
According to Cattell's report, a good leader possess psychological
maturity, a sense of enjoyment at overcoming obstacles, is expressive
and energetic, adheres to a high standard of excellence, takes
risks and is self-confident and tough-minded
Moving Forward
Much has been added to this list since 1954, with traits such as
intuition, emotional intelligence, empathy and "team orientation" now
valued in today's business leaders. And while it may seem "in vogue," it
is also very revealing of the changing paradigm in management and leadership
practices within the past century.
As Larry Spears, President & CEO of The Robert K. Greenleaf
Center for Servant Leadership
writes, "Since the time of the Industrial Revolution, managers
have tended to view people as tools, while organizations have considered
workers as cogs in a machine. "
Compare this to our current era, where many organizations are
strongly rooted in ethical behaviour, attempting to enhance the
personal growth of people through the application of varied leadership
approaches.
Servant Leadership
"Able leaders are usually sharply awake and reasonably disturbed." Robert
Greenleaf
Robert Greenleaf's idea of servant-leadership, now in its fourth
decade of application, has "created a quiet revolution in
workplaces around the world," says Spears.
Greenleaf's influential essay, "The Servant As Leader," written
in 1970, coined the phrase 'servant-leadership' and led to the
set-up of an international organization.
Greenleaf spent 40 years in the field of management research,
development and education at AT &T, with a second career following
as a consultant to a number of major institutions, including Ohio
University, MIT, the Ford Foundation, the Mead Corporation and
the American Foundation for Management Research.
Greenleaf held to the philosophy that true leadership emerges
from those whose primary motivation is a deep desire to help others.
The philosophy of servant-leadership emphasizes increased service
to others, a holistic approach to work, promoting community and
the sharing of power in decision-making.
The following ten characteristics, which Spears extracted from
Greenleaf's essay, contain the essence of the philosophy:
Listening: Leaders need to employ listening "receptively" as
a communication tactic.
Empathy: Leaders must strive to understand and
emphasize with others.
Healing: One of the greatest potentials for a
leader is the ability to heal one's self and others.
Awareness: As it refers to the age-old concept
of "Know Thyself."
Persuasion: Leaders need to use of persuasion
as a primary tactic rather than positional authority in making
decisions within an organization.
Conceptualization: Leaders are visionary and
must think beyond day to day realities.
Foresight: Enables a leader to learn from the
past in order to understand the realities of the present.
Stewardship: CEO's, staffs, and trustees all
have significant roles in "holding" their institutions
for the greater good of society, according to Greenleaf.
Commitment to the growth of people: Leaders believe
that people have an "intrinsic value beyond their tangible
contributions as workers."
Building community: Leaders seek to build some
means of community within their own organizations.
Perspectives
Practitioners of servant-leadership aren't the only instigates provoking
our perceptions about effective leadership.
A simple online search reveals the perspective of countless numbers
of human resources specialists, business writers, management consultants
and psychologists on the subject of leadership: how to qualify
a good leader's qualities; how to be a good leader; how to employ
different leadership strategies; what being a good leader means
today; "quiet" leaders; group leaders, inspirational
leaders; the list goes on.
The leader sets the tone, the mood, the style (and) the character
of the whole enterprise, writes Marshall Leob, former Managing
Editor of Fortune and Money magazine.
A powerful organization is the result of a leader with a clearly
defined sense of purpose, a potent sense of view and courage (as
leaders often recognize the need for change before others do and
can be unpopular).
The other part of this equation is the ability of a leader to successfully
communicate - simply and consistently - his or her vision. David Thomas, of
Harvard School of Business, stresses the importance of "mulimodality" of
communication, meaning that behaviour, actions and decisions are all ways of
communicating, and leaders "have to learn how to create a consistent image
through all of these."
The most effective leaders are the ones who are straight and direct,
and aligned with associates who are equally as straightforward.
Peter Drucker, the writer, management consultant and university
professor whom the Harvard Business Review calls the "Father
of modern management," writes, "Some of the best business
and nonprofit CEOs I've worked with over a 65-year consulting career
were not stereotypical leaders. They ranged from extroverted to
nearly reclusive, from easygoing to controlling, from generous
to parsimonious."
Drucker defines eight practices he's observed which separate
a successful leader from an ineffective one:
They ask: "What needs to be done?"
They ask: "What is right for the enterprise?'
They develop action plans.
They take responsibility for decisions.
They take responsibility for communicating.
They focus on opportunities rather than problems.
They run productive meetings.
They think and say "we" rather than "I."
According to Drucker, the first two practices provide the necessary information,
the next four help convert knowledge into effective action and the last
two ensure that an entire organization feels responsible and accountable.
Considering that a leader's greatest strength is their people,
Suvurov's strategy is surely as effective today as it was in the
17th century.
|
