Questions of Leadership

1. Questions of Leadership Elizabeth Kelley, PhD. March 3, 2007

2. Questions of Leadership

3. Effective Leaders

4. Elizabeth 1

5. Gandhi

6. Winston Churchill

7. Oprah

8. Louise Arbour

9. Ordinary Guy

10. Norman Horrocks, OC

11. Question #1 What IS Leadership?

12. Various Definitions • Leadership is the process by which a person exerts influence over other people and inspires, motivates, and directs their activities to help achieve group or organizational goals. (McShane, 2000) • To take people to places they would not have gone, and have them do things they would not have done…. Because it is their own idea! (Kelloway, 2004) • Leadership is an intangible quality with no definition. That’s probably a good thing, because if the people being led knew the definition, they would hunt down the leaders and kill them. (Scott Adams, 2000)

13. Question #2 Is Leadership Important?

14. It Depends on Who You Ask • Implicit Leadership Perspective • Leadership Substitutes • YES!!! • complex, changing environment • lateral leadership requirement • employee retention

15. Question #3 How Do Management and Leadership Differ?

16. Various perspectives • Management is doing something right; leadership is doing the right thing • Management deals with systems and structures; leadership deals with people and ideas • Managers control complexity; leaders initiate change

17. Question #4 Are Leaders Born or Made? GREAT MAN STUDIES

18. Drive Leadership motivation Integrity Self-confidence Intelligence Knowledge of the business Emotional intelligence Tolerance to Stress HEIGHT Leadership Competencies

19. Leadership Competencies • Indicate potential, not performance • Perceptions • Chicken or egg? • Universality bias

20. Question #5 What Do Leaders Do?

21. Behavioural Studies Two independent behavioural dimensions: people-oriented and task-oriented • Results in four styles of leadership • People-oriented – satisfied employees • Task-oriented – inconclusive • Universality bias

22. Context Bias in Theory • How does context influence management thought? • Cold War climate – Leadership theory connection

23. Contingency Approach • IT DEPENDS!!! • Focus on relationship between leader and follower • Different styles for different situations • Transactional – focus on results, getting job done

24. Emerging Organizational Environments Issues: • Information – access, control, usage, privacy, security, technology • Distance – remote workers, customers, suppliers • Diversity – generational, cultural, gender, ability • Corporate social and environmental responsibility • Integrity • CHANGE

25. Question #6 How to Lead Effectively in These Environments?

26. Transformational Leadership Aim is to elevate followers to higher levels of performance (Burns and Bass) • Also called “full range leadership” and/or “authentic leadership” • Focuses on leader-follower relationship • Incremental to transactional leadership

27. Question #7A Why Transformational Leadership? • It works • unequivocal support in a variety of environments (Judge & Piccolo) • increased employee job satisfaction, organizational commitment, retention, information sharing, innovation, individual and unit bottom line performance • It can be taught • improved organizational and individual performance after training (Barling, Weber & Kelloway)

28. Question #7BWhat specifically IS it? • Idealized influence – Leader engenders faith, trust and respect by consistently doing the right thing • Inspirational motivation – Leader sets high standards, presents a vision, convinces individuals they can perform beyond expectations; consistent actions cultivate trust • Intellectual stimulation – Leader encourages followers to think for themselves, develops future leaders • Individualized consideration – Leader treats each employee as an individual, focuses on employee development, demonstrates compassion

29. Ways to Enact TFL • Idealized influence – make decisions transparent; give the decision and its rationale • Inspirational motivation – talk positively, express confidence in others; use the self-fulfilling prophecy – “I know you can do it” • Intellectual stimulation – ask “What if?”, “What do you think we should do?”; STOP answering questions • Individualized consideration – make time for others as individuals, MBWA, assign tasks on the basis of individual abilities and developmental needs • RRSP MODEL

30. Transformational Stories • Ordinary Guy • Stacey, the teacher • Jack Welch…not?

31. Question #8 What kind of leadership will organizations need in the future?

32. Future Leadership Style • Helping others succeed • Flexible • Collaborative • Inclusive • Participative • Relationship-oriented • Encourage knowledge sharing and creation • Encourage innovation • TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

33. Leadership in Other Emerging Contexts • Remote leadership • Knowledge-based organizations • Multi-generation workforces • Cross cultural workforces • Social/environmentally conscious organizations

34. Nothing New Under the Sun? To lead people, walk beside them. As for the BEST leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The Next Best, the people honor and praise. The NEXT, the people fear; and the NEXT, they hate. When the BEST leader's work is done the people say, "We did it ourselves". Lao Tzu

35. Questions of Leadership…and some suggested answers