"At the age of seven, a young boy and his family were forced out of their home.

The boy
had to work to support his family. At the age of nine, his mother passed away. When he
grew up, the young man was keen to go to law school, but had no education.

At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. At 23, he ran for state legislature and lost. The
same year, he went into business. It failed, leaving him with a debt that took him 17
years to repay. At 27, he had a nervous breakdown.

Two years later, he tried for the post of speaker in his state legislature. He lost. At 31,
he was defeated in his attempt to become an elector. By 35, he had been defeated
twice while running for Congress. Finally, he did manage to secure a brief term in
Congress, but at 39 he lost his re-election bid.

At 41, his four-year-old son died. At 42, he was rejected as a prospective land officer. At
45, he ran for the Senate and lost. Two years later, he lost the vice presidential
nomination. At 49, he ran for Senate and lost again.

At 51, he was elected the President of the United States of America.

The man in question: Abraham Lincoln."

– Author Unknown

Many of us are acquainted with this eloquent example of persistence and determination
in achieving victory. We read it, stop for a moment and then sigh and say: "Wow! That's
the stuff real leaders are made off."

And in saying this, it's all too easy for us to think about leaders like Lincoln almost as
"mythological creatures", separate from the rest of humanity and empowered by some
mysterious quality that smoothes their path towards inevitable success. This is the view
of leadership that many people have traditionally taken: That leaders are marked out for
leadership from early on in their lives, and that if you're not a leader, there's little that
you can do to become one.

However, that's not the way we see it now. The modern view is that through patience,
persistence and hard work, you can be a highly effective leader.

Our first tools help you assess your current leadership skills, and explore your
motivation to lead – without a strong motivation to lead, you'll struggle to improve your
skills or become an effective leader. However, if you HAVE to lead even if you lack an
intrinsic motivation to do so, some useful techniques you can use to build your
motivation.

We move on to look at how you can harness ethical sources of leadership power, and
think about the many different ways in which you can choose to lead.
How Good Are Your Leadership Skills?

What's your key area for improvement?

© iStockphoto/hidesy

Who do you consider to be a good leader? Maybe it's a politician, a famous

businessperson, or a religious figure. Or maybe it's someone you know personally – like
your boss, a teacher, or a friend.

You can find people in leadership roles almost everywhere you look. However, simply
having the responsibilities of a leader doesn't necessarily make a person an effective
leader. This is a shame because, with a little study, humility and hard work, all of us can
learn how to lead effectively.

So, how can you bring your leadership skills to tip-top condition?

You can start by analyzing your performance in specific areas of leadership. Complete
the quiz below to help you identify where you already lead effectively, and where your
skills need further development. In the analysis sections underneath, we'll direct you to
the resources you need for exceptional leadership.

How Good Are Your Leadership Skills?

Instructions:

For each statement, click the button in the column that best describes you. Please
answer questions as you actually are (rather than how you think you should be), and
don't worry if some questions seem to score in the 'wrong direction'. When you are
finished, please click the 'Calculate My Total' button at the bottom of the test.

Not Some Ofte Very

Statement Rarely
at all times n Often
1 When assigning
tasks, I consider
people’s skills
and interests.
2 I doubt myself
and my ability to
succeed.
3 I expect nothing
less than top-
notch results
from people.
4 I expect higher
quality work
from my people
than I
sometimes
deliver myself.
5 When someone
is upset, I try to
understand how
he or she is
feeling.
6 When
circumstances
change, I can
struggle to
know what to
do.
7 I think that
personal
feelings should
be allowed to
get in the way
of performance
and
productivity.
8 I am highly
motivated
because I know
I have what it
takes to be
successful.
9 Time spent
worrying about
 team morale is
time that’s
wasted.
1 I get upset and
0 worried quite
often in the
workplace.
1 My actions
1 show people
what I want
from them.
1 When working
2 with a team, I
encourage
everyone to
work toward the
same goal.
1 I make
3 exceptions to
my rules and
expectations –
it’s easier than
being the
enforcer all the
time!
1 I enjoy planning
4 for the future.
1 I feel threatened
5 when someone
criticizes me.
1 I take time to
6 learn what
people need
from me so they
can be
successful.
1 I’m optimistic
7 about life, and I
can see beyond
temporary
setbacks and
problems.
1 I think that
 8 teams perform
best when
individuals keep
doing the same
tasks and
perfecting them,
instead of
learning new
skills and
challenging
themselves.
Total = 0
<td><p> </p></td> <td><p><STRONG>Total of
weighted scores<br> (see
instructions):</STRONG></p></td> <td> </td> <td>
</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td>
Score Interpretation

Score Comment
You need to work hard on your leadership
skills. The good news is that if you use more
of these skills at work, at home, and in the
18-34
community, you'll be a real asset to the
people around you. You can do it – and now
is a great time to start! (Read below to start.)
You're doing OK as a leader, but you have
the potential to do much better. While you've
built the foundation of effective leadership,
this is your opportunity to improve your skills,
35-52
and become the best you can be. Examine
the areas where you lost points below, and
determine what you can do to develop skills in
these areas.
Excellent! You're well on your way to
becoming a good leader. However, you can
never be too good at leadership or too
53-90 experienced – so look at the areas
belowwhere you didn't score maximum
points, and figure out what you can do to
improve your performance.

There are many leadership skills and competencies that, when combined and applied,
go toward making you an effective leader. You have the ability to develop each of these
skills within yourself.
Personal Characteristics

Successful leaders tend to have certain traits. Two keys areas of personal growth and
development are fundamental to leadership success: self-confidence, and a positive
attitude.

Self-confident people are usually inspiring, and people like to be around individuals who
believe in themselves and what they're doing. Likewise, if you're a positive and
optimistic person who tries to make the best of any situation, you'll find it much easier to
motivate people to do their best.

Self-Confidence (Questions 2, 8)

Self-confidence is built by mastering significant skills and situations, and by knowing

that you can add real value by the work you do. One of the best ways to improve your
confidence is to become aware of all of the things you've already achieved.

Positive Attitude and Outlook (Questions 10, 17)

A positive mindset is also associated with strong leadership. However, being positive is
much more than presenting a happy face to the world: you need to develop a strong
sense of balance, and recognize that setbacks and problems happen – it's how you deal
with those problems that makes the difference.

Positive people approach situations realistically, prepared to make the changes

necessary to overcome a problem. Negative people, on the other hand, often give in to
the stress and pressure of the situation. This can lead to fear, worry, distress, anger and
failure.

Stress management techniques, including getting enough Rest, Relaxation and

Sleep as well as physical exercise, are great ways of getting rid of negative thoughts
and feelings. Understanding your thinking patterns, and learning to identify and
eliminate negative thinking are key.
Emotional Intelligence

(Questions 5, 15)

The concept of emotional intelligence used to be referred to as "soft skills," "character",

or even "communication skills". The more recent idea of Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
offers a more precise understanding of a specific kind of human talent. EQ is the ability
to recognize feelings – your own and those of others – and manage those emotions to
create strong relationships.

Learning to develop Empathy is essential for emotional intelligence, as is

communicating effectively, and practicing Empathic Listening. These all help you
really understand the other person's perspective.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is a leadership style where leaders create an inspiring

vision of the future, motivate their followers to achieve it, manage implementation
successfully, and develop the members of their teams to be even more effective in the
future. We explore these dimensions below.

Providing a Compelling Vision of the Future (Questions 6, 14)

This is your ability to create a Vision of the Future, and to present this vision in a way
that's compelling and inspiring to the people you lead.

The first part of being able to do this is having a thorough knowledge of the area you're
operating in.

From there, good use of strategic analysis techniques can help you gain the key
insights you need into the environment you're operating in, and into the needs of your
clients. With these tools, you can identify the challenges you face and identify the
options available to you. Good use of Prioritization Skills and Decision-Making
Techniques will help you identify your best strategic options, and validate your chosen
way forward.

Finally, to sell your vision, you need the ability to create a compelling and interesting
story. Another great way of inspiring people is to use vivid stories to explain your vision:
Motivating People to Deliver the Vision (Questions 9, 12)

This is closely related to creating and selling a vision. You must be able to convince
others to accept the objectives you've set. Emphasize teamwork, and recognize that
when people work together, they can achieve great things. To provide effective
leadership by linking performance and team goals, use Management by Objectives
(MBO) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Ultimately, goal acceptance is about finding ways to motivate people. To better

understand your ability to motivate, complete quiz How Good Are Your Motivation
Skills?

Being a Good Role Model(Questions 4, 11)

Good leaders lead by example. They "do what they say," and "say what they do."
These types of leaders are trustworthy, and show integrity. They get involved in the
daily work where needed, and they stay in touch with what's happening throughout the
organization. Great leaders don't just sit in their offices and give orders; they
demonstrate the actions and values that they expect from the team.

As with building vision above, a key part of being a good role model is leading from the
front by developing expert power. A leader can't rely on position alone: by keeping
current, and staying relevant within the organization, you'll inspire people because
you're worthy of your power and authority, not just because you're the boss.

Managing Performance Effectively (Questions 3, 13)

Effective leaders manage performance by setting their expectations clearly and

concisely. When everyone knows what's expected, it's much easier to get high
performance. There's little uncertainty, therefore you can deal with performance issues
quickly.

As you create rules, help the team understand Why the Rules Are There. Involve them
in the rule-making process, and make sure your expectations align with the resources
and support available. Apply rules fairly and consistently.
Providing Support and Stimulation (Questions 1, 7, 16, 18)

The last two dimensions of transformational leadership require you to commit to

developing your people. To be highly motivated at work, people usually need more than
a list of tasks to be completed each day. They need challenges and interesting work.
They need to develop their skills, and feel supported in their efforts to do a good job.

Think about your approach to Task Allocation, and look for opportunities to match
people with jobs and responsibilities that will help them grow and develop. Perform
Training Needs Assessments on a regular basis to determine what your team needs
to be successful. Remember that emotional support is also important. The Blake-
Mouton Managerial Grid is a great tool for thinking about the right balance between
concern for people, and productivity.

Key Points

To be successful in your career, regardless of your title or position, focus on developing

your leadership skills.

Effective leaders can add value simply by being present on teams. They are
inspirational and motivating. They know the right things to say to people to help them
understand what's needed, and they can convince people to support a cause.

When you have talented and effective leaders in your organization, you're well on your
way to success. Develop these leadership skills in yourself and in your team members –
and you'll see the performance and productivity of your entire team improve.
Core Leadership Theories
Learning the Foundations of Leadership

Understand core leadership theories.

© iStockphoto/DNY59

Why are some leaders successful, while others fail?

The truth is that there is no "magic combination" of characteristics that makes a leader
successful, and different characteristics matter in different circumstances.

This doesn't mean, however, that you can't learn to be an effective leader. You just
need to understand the various approaches to leadership, so that you can use the right
approach for your own situation.

One way of doing this is to learn about the core leadership theories that provide the
backbone of our current understanding of leadership.

Since the early 20th century, four main groups of theories have emerged. We look at
these core leadership theories in this article.

Tip:
Our article on Leadership Styles explores common leadership styles that have
emerged from these core leadership theories. These include the "transformational
leadership" style, which is often the most effective approach to use in business
situations.

The Four Core Theory Groups

Let's look at each of the four core groups of theory, and explore some of the tools and
models that apply with each. (Keep in mind that there are many other theories out
there.)

1. Trait Theories – What Type of Person Makes a Good Leader?

Trait theories argue that effective leaders share a number of common personality
characteristics, or "traits."

Early trait theories said that leadership is an innate, instinctive quality that you do or
don't have. Thankfully, we've moved on from this idea, and we're learning more about
what we can do to develop leadership qualities within ourselves and others.

Trait theories help us identify traits and qualities (for example, integrity, empathy,
assertiveness, good decision-making skills, and likability) that are helpful when leading
others.

However, none of these traits, nor any specific combination of them, will guarantee
success as a leader.

Traits are external behaviors that emerge from the things going on within our minds –
and it's these internal beliefs and processes that are important for effective leadership.

We explore some of the traits and skills that you need to be a good leader in our articles
What a Real Leader Knows, Level 5 Leadership, and What is Leadership?

2. Behavioral Theories – What Does a Good Leader Do?

Behavioral theories focus on how leaders behave. For instance, do leaders dictate what
needs to be done and expect cooperation? Or do they involve their teams in decision-
making to encourage acceptance and support?

In the 1930s, Kurt Lewin developed a framework based on a leader's behavior. He

argued that there are three types of leaders:

1. Autocratic leaders make decisions without consulting their teams. This style
of leadership is considered appropriate when decisions need to be made quickly,
when there's no need for input, and when team agreement isn't necessary for a
successful outcome.
2. Democratic leaders allow the team to provide input before making a decision,
although the degree of input can vary from leader to leader. This style is important
when team agreement matters, but it can be difficult to manage when there are
lots of different perspectives and ideas.
3. Laissez-faire leaders don't interfere; they allow people within the team to
make many of the decisions. This works well when the team is highly capable, is
 motivated, and doesn't need close supervision. However, this behavior can arise
because the leader is lazy or distracted. This is where this approach can fail.

Clearly, how leaders behave affects their performance. Researchers have realized,
though, that many of these leadership behaviors are appropriate at different times. The
best leaders are those who can use many different behavioral styles, and choose the
right style for each situation.

Our article "Laissez Faire" versus Micromanagement looks at how you can find the
right balance between autocratic and laissez-faire styles of leadership, while our article
on the Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid helps you decide how to behave as a leader,
depending on your concerns for people and for production.

3. Contingency Theories – How Does the Situation Influence Good Leadership?

The realization that there is no one correct type of leader led to theories that the best
leadership style depends on the situation. These theories try to predict which style is
best in which circumstance.

For instance, when you need to make quick decisions, which style is best? When you
need the full support of your team, is there a more effective way to lead? Should a
leader be more people-oriented or task-oriented? These are all questions that
contingency leadership theories try to address.

The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory is a popular contingency-

based leadership framework, which links leadership style with the maturity of individual
members of the leader's team. Other contingency-based models include House's Path-
Goal Theory and Fiedler's Contingency Model.

You can also use the Leadership Process Model to understand how your situation
affects other factors that are important for effective leadership, and how, in turn, these
affect your leadership.

4. Power and Influence Theories – What is the Source of the Leader's Power?

Power and influence theories of leadership take an entirely different approach – these
are based on the different ways that leaders use power and influence to get things
done, and they look at the leadership styles that emerge as a result.

Perhaps the most well-known of these theories is French and Raven's Five Forms of
Power. This model highlights three types of positional power – legitimate, reward, and
coercive – and two sources of personal power – expert and referent (your personal
appeal and charm). The model suggests that using personal power is the better
alternative, and that you should work on building expert power (the power that comes
with being a real expert in the job) because this is the most legitimate source of
personal power.
Another leadership style that uses power and influence is transactional leadership.
This approach assumes that people do things for reward and for no other reason.
Therefore, it focuses on designing tasks and reward structures. While this may not be
the most appealing leadership strategy in terms of building relationships and developing
a highly motivating work environment, it does work, and leaders in most organizations
use it on a daily basis to get things done.

Similarly, leading by example is another highly effective way of influencing your team.

Effective Leadership Styles

As we mentioned above, transformational leadership is often the best leadership style

to use in business.

Transformational leaders show integrity, and they know how to develop a robust and
inspiring vision of the future. They motivate people to achieve this vision, they manage
its delivery, and they build ever stronger and more successful teams.

However, you'll often need to adapt your style to fit a specific group or situation, and this
is why it's useful to gain a thorough understanding of other styles. Our article on
Leadership Styles takes a deeper look at the different styles that you can use.

Key Points

Over time, several core theories about leadership have emerged. These theories fall
into four main categories:

1. Trait theories.
2. Behavioral theories.
3. Contingency theories.
4. Power and influence theories.

"Transformational leadership," is the most effective style top use in most business
situations. However, you can become a more effective leader by learning about these
core leadership theories, and understanding the tools and models associated with each
one
The Leadership Motivation Assessment
How motivated are you to lead?

© iStockphoto/Andresr

The first and most basic prerequisite for leadership is the desire to lead. After all,
becoming an effective leader takes hard work. If you're not prepared to work hard at
developing your leadership skills or if, deep down, you're really not sure whether you
want to lead or not, you'll struggle to become an effective leader.

Are you motivated to lead? This assessment helps you find the answer.

How to Use the Tool:

To use this tool, show the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the
following statements on a scale running from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly
Agree).

For each statement, click the button in the column that best describes you. Please
answer questions as you actually are (rather than how you think you should be), and
don't worry if some questions seem to score in the 'wrong direction'. When you are
finished, please click the 'Calculate My Total' button at the bottom of the test.

1.
5.
Strongly
# Question 2. 3. 4. Strongl
Disagre
y Agree
e
1 I am energized
when people
count on me for
ideas.
2 As a practice, I
ask people
challenging
questions when
we are working
on projects
together.
3 I take delight in
complimenting
people that I
work with when
progress is
made.
4 I find it easy to
be the
cheerleader for
others, when
times are good
and when times
are bad.
5 Team
accomplishment
is more important
to me than my
own personal
accomplishments
.
6 People often
take my ideas
and run with
them.
7 When involved in
group projects,
building team
cohesiveness is
important to me.
8 When involved in
group projects,
coaching others
is an activity that
I gravitate
toward.
9 I find pleasure in
recognizing and
celebrating the
accomplishments
of others.
1 When involved in
0 group projects,
my team
members’
problems are my
problems.
1 Resolving
1 interpersonal
conflict is an
activity that I
enjoy.
1 When involved in
2 group projects, I
frequently find
myself to be an
“idea generator.”
1 When involved in
3 group projects, I
am inclined to let
my ideas be
known.
1 I find pleasure in
4 being a
convincing
 person.
Total = 0
<td><p> </p></td> <td><p><STRONG>Total of
weighted scores<br> (see
instructions):</STRONG></p></td> <td><p>
</p></td> <td><p> </p></td> <td><p> </p></td>
<td><p> </p></td> <td><p> </p></td>
Score Interpretation

Score Comment
14 – 27 This implies a low motivation to lead.
This implies some uncertainty over your
28 – 55
motivation to lead.
56 – 70 This implies a strong motivation to lead.

Source: This set of questions was constructed for this self-assessment and for
illustrative purposes only. No prior validation work has been conducted that enables us
to address the construct validity of this assessment. This self-assessment was
patterned after that of A. J. DuBrin in Leadership: Research Findings, Practice and
Skills (2nd edition) (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998). Pp. 10-11.

Armed with the results from this self-test, your next step depends on your situation.

If you have found that you're strongly motivated to lead, and you're already a leader -
great! And if you're not already a leader, this is definitely an area you should investigate
as you plan your career development.

On the other hand, if your score indicates that you don't have a strong motivation to
lead, and you're considering moving into this area, you may want to look at other career
options before you make a decision. Our article on Finding Career Direction will help
you work through a process to find out what type of work does motivate you.

But if you're already a leader and you're just going through a low patch in the role, try
out leadership motivation tools and regain the enthusiasm for the job that took you
into leadership in the first place!
Ethical Leadership
Doing the Right Thing

Know in advance what you'd do.

© iStockphoto

We've seen some high profile ethical failures in the press in recent years. The problems
and devastation caused by accounting fraud at the investment company run by Bernard
Madoff will not soon be forgotten, nor will the earlier frauds at Enron and Worldcom.
People have also raised ethical questions over the welfare of some organizations' staff
and suppliers.

This highlights the extent to which it can be difficult for leaders to determine what's right
and wrong. Some make the wrong choices – and end up in the courts, or in the news.

What we rarely see, however, are stories about the numerous companies that are
managed by ethical leaders. While standards seem to keep falling in some corporations,
other leaders "raise the bar" and inspire their teams to do the same. These leaders do
the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons. They put their ethics before the
bottom line – and as a result, they have dedicated teams that would do almost anything
for them.

So how do they do it? And how can you do it as well? We'll show you how to define your
own ethical standards – and start putting those standards into practice.

Define Your Organization's Values

To lead your team with character and integrity, you must set an example. You're the
leader, remember? Your team lookS to you. To begin, you must know your own values
as well as your organization's values.

For example, the global technology giant 3M is well known for its company values.
Why? Because the entire team – from top executives all the way down to the mailroom
– live and breathe the principles of honesty and integrity every day. 3M communicates
clearly that it wants its staff to do things like keep promises, have personal
accountability, and respect others in the workforce. Every leader in the company knows
this, so they work by these rules. And as a result, everyone else follows.

Hopefully, your company has clear rules about how it wants team members to act. As a
leader, it's up to you to know these rules and codes of conduct – and to make sure you
enforce them. (Our in-depth article Why the Rules Are There can help you with this.)

Your personal values are also important. If the company's written rules don't say that
you must be fair to everyone, but this value is important to you – then, of course, you're
going to do it.

Good leaders follow their personal values as well as organizational values.

Ask yourself these questions:

 What standards of behavior are really important to my company?

 What specific values do I admire in certain leaders? Do I identify with those
values?
 Would I still live by those values, even if they put me at a competitive
disadvantage?
Set the Tone

Now that you know your company's core values, you can begin to set the tone and
create the right environment for your team and your organization. Again, leading by
example is the best way to do this.

It's what you do, not what you say, that demonstrates to your team what you care about.
So, if your company values honesty above all else, then make sure you demonstrate
that by being honest with everyone around you. If your company values free speech,
then make sure you allow your team to communicate their ideas openly.

Next, establish consequences for team members who don't follow corporate values. If
you allow someone to come in late continuously without making up the hours, that won't
set a good example for the rest of the team.

You need good consequences as well. Set up some kind of reward system for team
members who consistently act according to the company values.
Storytelling is a great way to reinforce and communicate these values. If you know of
team members – or even clients – who acted ethically in difficult situations, then tell
their stories. This shows your staff that they can do it as well. To learn more, see the
Mind Tools article on the art of business storytelling.

By getting your team interested in ethical conduct, you communicate how important
these values are to both you and your organization.

Recognize Ethical Dilemmas

Here's the scenario: You're in a meeting with other top executives, and you realize that
one of your colleagues has changed the numbers in his report.

As you listen, you realize that he's exaggerating how well his team is doing on a major
project. Instead of saying that his team will finish in eight weeks, which he previously
told you, he's promising to be done in only five weeks. And instead of saying that the
project will help increase company earnings by 4%, which he also told you earlier, he's
promising a 12% increase.

What do you do? He's a close colleague and a personal friend. On the other hand, he's
overstating how well his team is doing. Do you support him, or do you tell the truth to
the other executives?

We're often faced with tough choices like this in the workplace. Most of the time,
however, ethical dilemmas aren't this obvious, and they can be hidden in ways that are
hard to uncover.

So, how do you recognize these dilemmas?

 Identify "trigger" situations – Certain situations seem to attract ethical

dilemmas. Some of these are areas like purchasing, hiring, firing, promoting, and
calculating bonuses.
 There can also be other unexpected situations. You could make a mistake –
will you admit it to your boss, or try to cover it up? Or you could discover that a
colleague is acting unethically – do you protect the person or tell someone?
 By recognizing when these situations might occur, you can make the right
decisions when and if something actually happens.
 Prepare in advance – Imagine yourself in the situations we just mentioned.
What would you do if you knew one of your colleagues was about to be fired, but
you weren't legally allowed to tell her?
 Putting yourself in these imaginary situations can help you work through your
feelings and decide what you would do if the situation became real. In real life,
you may have only seconds to reach a decision. Of course, you won't be able to
imagine every possible ethical dilemma you might face, but this exercise WILL
 help you get to know your values, and it can prepare you for the decisions you
may have to make.
 Listen to your "inner voice" – Your conscience often tells you that something
isn't right, even if this is just a feeling of uneasiness with something. If you face a
situation that makes you uncomfortable, or goes against one of your core values
or beliefs, then make sure that you stop and think things through rationally.
 Reevaluate your decision before you act – If you're in a difficult situation
and you aren't sure what to do, make a decision. But before you act on that
decision, ask yourself how you would feel if your actions were in the company
newsletter or on the evening news for everyone to see. Would you be proud of
what you did? If not, then reconsider your decision.
When in Doubt...

At times, you'll make a decision but still wonder if you did the right thing. You may be
uncomfortable, but these situations can teach you to trust yourself and your instincts. If
you calm your anxiety and look logically at the situation, your instincts will often guide
you in the right direction.

Key Points

Ethical living – and leading – takes courage and conviction. It means doing the right
thing, even when the right thing isn't popular or easy. But when you make decisions
based on your core values, then you tell the world that you can't be bought – and you
lead your team by example.

Once you identify your company's core values as well as your own, you can start to set
the tone with your team and your organization. Actions always speak louder than words,
so make sure you do as you would wish others to do.
Dunham and Pierce's Leadership Process Model
Taking an Intelligent, Long-Term Approach to Leadership
 This model highlights the dynamic nature of leadership.

© iStockphoto/H-Gall

Leadership is about setting direction and helping people do the right things. However, it
can involve so much more than this!

In particular, leadership is a long-term process in which - in a very real and practical

way - all actions have consequences, and "what goes around comes around."

Dunham and Pierce's Leadership Process Model helps you think about this, and
understand why it's important to adopt a positive and long-term approach to leadership.

We'll look at the model in this article, and we'll explore why it's so important to
understand it. We'll also look at how you can apply the model's lessons to your own
situation.

What is the Leadership Process Model?

The Leadership Process Model was developed by Randall B. Dunham and Jon Pierce,
and was published in their 1989 book "Managing." You can see our interpretation of the
model in figure 1, below. (We've redrawn this for clarity.)

Figure 1 – The Leadership Process

The model shows the relationship between four key factors that contribute to leadership
success or failure. These are:

1. The Leader: This is the person who takes charge, and directs the group's
performance.
2. Followers: These are the people who follow the leader's directions on tasks
and projects.
3. The Context: This is the situation in which the work is performed. For
instance, it may be a regular workday, an emergency project, or a challenging,
long-term assignment. Context can also cover the physical environment,
resources available, and events in the wider organization.
4. Outcomes: These are the results of the process. Outcomes could be reaching
a particular goal, developing a high-quality product, or resolving a customer
service issue. They can also include things like improved trust and respect
between the leader and followers, or higher team morale.

Most importantly, the model highlights that leadership is a dynamic and ongoing
process. Therefore, it's important to be flexible depending on the context and outcomes,
and to invest continually in your relationship with your followers.

Essentially, everything affects everything else. In a very real way, negative actions feed
back to negatively affect future performance, and positive actions feed back to improve
future performance.

Note:
Dunham and Pierce used a different format for the diagram illustrating this model. You
can see their version in Chapter 9 of the book "Leaders and the Leadership Process."
How to Apply the Model

Pierce and John W. Newstrom highlighted several ways that you can apply the insights
from this framework to your own development as a leader, and to the development of
your people:

1. Provide Regular Feedback

Probably the most important thing that the Leadership Process Model highlights is how
important it is to give good feedback, so that your team can grow and develop.

When you give feedback to your team, it influences the context and helps to improve
the outcome. This then cycles back to influence you and your team in a positive way.

Regular feedback also helps you take your people in the right direction, as outcomes
and the context change.

2. Be Aware of Actions and Reactions

The model makes it clear that, no matter what you do, your decisions, behavior, and
actions directly affect your followers. Every action has a reaction. You, your followers,
the context, and the outcome are all tied together in a dynamic relationship.

As a leader, it's essential that you keep this in mind at all times. There will be
consequences when you say something thoughtless, or lash out at a team member,
even if you don't see them immediately. Those consequences might include diminished
performance, reduced morale, increased absenteeism, and accelerated staff turnover.

This is why it's important to develop self-mastery, both of your thoughts and of your
actions. Also, learn how to control your emotions at work, and be a good role model.

3. Lead Honestly and Ethically

The model also illustrates the relationships between leader and followers. If this
relationship is built on mutual trust and respect, then the context and outcomes will get
better and better. However, if the relationship is based on animosity, resentment, or
even fear, the effect on context and outcomes will be negative.

Your people need and deserve a leader who they can trust and look up to, which is why
it's important to be an ethical leader.

Of course, your people may have to follow your instructions. However, if you're a leader
who they trust to do the right thing, they'll want to follow you, and they'll go above and
beyond for you because the relationship is deeper. This makes the difference between
an average team and a great team.
Also, be authentic in your actions and communication, lead with integrity, and be
humble. These qualities will inspire the trust of your people and strengthen the
relationship you have with them.

It's also important to build trust actively with your team members. Do your best to
support their needs, and always keep your word with them.

4. Lead with the Right Style

In business, Transformational Leadership is often the best leadership style to use.

Transformational leaders have integrity, they set clear goals, they communicate well
with their team members, and they inspire people with a shared vision of the future.

However, you'll occasionally need to adopt different leadership approaches to fit a

particular follower, outcome, or context. This is why it helps to be able to use other
leadership styles when appropriate.

5. Consciously Assign Tasks

Do your people get to use their skills and strengths on a regular basis? If you've been
assigning tasks and projects in an ad-hoc way, then this answer might be "No".

We're all happiest when we can use our strongest skills. Try to assign tasks that fit the
unique skills of everyone on your team. Our articles on the Four Dimensions of
Relational Work and Task Allocation have more on how to match tasks to your
people's particular skills and situation.

6. Focus on Relationship Development

As a leader, you often depend on your people more than they depend on you. Your
working relationships should therefore be built on trust, respect, and transparency. The
deeper your relationship with your team, the better a leader you'll be.

Start by developing your emotional intelligence; this encompasses many of the traits
that we've already mentioned. When you have high emotional intelligence, you are self-
aware, you manage your emotions, and you act according to your ethics and values.

You also need to show empathy with members of your team. When your people see
you as an empathic leader, they feel that you're on their side, and that you can see
things from their perspective. This deepens the relationship they have with you.

Lastly, reward your people for the good work that they do: even a simple "thank you"
will show your appreciation.

Key Points
The Leadership Process Model highlights the dynamic and long-term nature of
leadership. It shows how your actions and behaviors influence your people, just as their
actions and behaviors influence you.

As well as having an awareness of the model, you can also apply lessons from it by
doing the following:

1. Providing regular feedback.

2. Being aware of actions and reactions.
3. Leading honestly and ethically.
4. Leading with the right style.
5. Assigning tasks consciously and intelligently.
6. Focusing on relationship development.

Overall, the Leadership Process Model helps you see the interdependent nature of
leadership and its effects on situations and outcomes. Use this framework to be aware
of your actions and to deepen the relationships you have with your people.
French and Raven's Five Forms of Power
Understanding Where Power Comes From in the Workplace

Lead at full power!

© iStockphoto

Leadership and power are closely linked. People tend to follow those who are powerful.
And because others follow, the person with power leads.

But leaders have power for different reasons. Some are powerful because they alone
have the ability to give you a bonus or a raise. Others are powerful because they can
fire you, or assign you tasks you don't like. Yet, while leaders of this type have formal,
official power, their teams are unlikely to be enthusiastic about their approach to
leadership, if these are all they rely on.

On the more positive side, leaders may have power because they're experts in their
fields, or because their team members admire them. People with these types of power
don't necessarily have formal leadership roles, but they influence others effectively
because of their skills and personal qualities. And when a leadership position opens up,
they'll probably be the first to be considered for promotion.

Do you recognize these types of power in those around you – or in yourself? and how
does power influence the way you work and live your life?

Understanding Power
One of the most notable studies on power was conducted by social psychologists John
French and Bertram Raven in 1959. They identified five bases of power:

1. Legitimate – This comes from the belief that a person has the right to make
demands, and expect compliance and obedience from others.
2. Reward – This results from one person's ability to compensate another for
compliance.
3. Expert – This is based on a person's superior skill and knowledge.
4. Referent – This is the result of a person's perceived attractiveness,
worthiness, and right to respect from others.
5. Coercive – This comes from the belief that a person can punish others for
noncompliance.

If you're aware of these sources of power, you can…

 Better understand why you're influenced by someone, and decide whether you
want to accept the base of power being used.
 Recognize your own sources of power.
 Build your leadership skills by using and developing your own sources of
power, appropriately, and for best effect.

The most effective leaders use mainly referent and expert power. To develop your
leadership abilities, learn how to build these types of power, so that you can have a
positive influence on your colleagues, your team, and your organization.

The Five Bases of Power

Let's explore French and Raven's bases of power according to these sources.

Positional Power Sources

Legitimate Power

A president, prime minister, or monarch has power. So does a CEO, a minister, or a fire
chief. People holding these formal, official positions – or job titles – typically have
power. Social hierarchies, cultural norms, and organizational structure all provide the
basis for legitimate power.

This type of power, however, can be unpredictable and unstable. If you lose the title or
position, legitimate power can instantly disappear – since others were influenced by the
position, not by you. Also, your scope of power is limited to situations that others believe
you have a right to control. If the fire chief tells people to stay away from a burning
building, they'll probably listen. But if he tries to make people stay away from a street
fight, people may well ignore him.

Therefore, relying on legitimate power as your only way to influence others isn't enough.
To be a leader, you need more than this – in fact, you may not need legitimate power at
all.

Reward Power

People in power are often able to give out rewards. Raises, promotions, desirable
assignments, training opportunities, and even simple compliments – these are all
examples of rewards controlled by people "in power." If others expect that you'll reward
them for doing what you want, there's a high probability that they'll do it.

The problem with this basis of power is that you may not have as much control over
rewards as you need. Supervisors probably don't have complete control over salary
increases, and managers often can't control promotions all by themselves. And even a
CEO needs permission from the board of directors for some actions.

So when you use up available rewards, or the rewards don't have enough perceived
value to others, your power weakens. (One of the frustrations of using rewards is that
they often need to be bigger each time if they're to have the same motivational impact.
Even then, if rewards are given frequently, people can become satiated by the reward,
such that it loses its effectiveness.)

Coercive Power

This source of power is also problematic, and can be subject to abuse. What's more, it
can cause unhealthy behavior and dissatisfaction in the workplace.

Threats and punishment are common tools of coercion. Implying or threatening that
someone will be fired, demoted, denied privileges, or given undesirable assignments –
these are examples of using coercive power. While your position may give you the
capability to coerce others, it doesn't automatically mean that you have the will or the
justification to do so. As a last resort, you may sometimes need to punish people.
However, extensive use of coercive power is rarely appropriate in an organizational
setting.

Clearly, relying on these forms of power alone will result in a very cold, technocratic,
impoverished style of leadership. To be a true leader, you need a more robust source of
power than can be supplied by a title, an ability to reward, or an ability to punish.

Personal Power Sources

Expert Power
When you have knowledge and skills that enable you to understand a situation, suggest
solutions, use solid judgment, and generally outperform others, people will probably
listen to you. When you demonstrate expertise, people tend to trust you and respect
what you say. As a subject matter expert, your ideas will have more value, and others
will look to you for leadership in that area.

What's more, you can take your confidence, decisiveness, and reputation for rational
thinking – and expand them to other subjects and issues. This is a good way to build
and maintain expert power. It doesn't require positional power, so you can use it to go
beyond that. This is one of the best ways to improve your leadership skills.

Click here to read more on building expert power, and using it as an effective method
of leadership.

Referent Power

This is sometimes thought of as charisma, charm, admiration, or appeal. Referent

power comes from one person liking and respecting another, and strongly identifying
with that person in some way. Celebrities have referent power, which is why they can
influence everything from what people buy to whom they elect to office. In a workplace,
a person with charm often makes everyone feel good, so he or she tends to have a lot
of influence.

Referent power can be a big responsibility, because you don't necessarily have to do
anything to earn it. Therefore, it can be abused quite easily. Someone who is likable,
but lacks integrity and honesty, may rise to power – and use that power to hurt and
alienate people as well as gain personal advantage.

Relying on referent power alone is not a good strategy for a leader who wants longevity
and respect. When combined with other sources of power, however, it can help you
achieve great success.

For more on how to develop referent and expert power, see Winning Expert Power.

Key Points

Anyone is capable of holding power and influencing others: you don't need to have an
important job title or a big office. But if you recognize the different forms of power, you
can avoid being influenced by those who use the less effective types of power – and
you can focus on developing expert and referent power for yourself. This will help you
become an influential and positive leader.

Apply This to Your Life

1. Go through each of the power bases, and write down when and how you've
used that source of power in the past.
2. Ask yourself if you used the power appropriately, consider the expected and
unexpected consequences of it, and decide what you'll do differently next time.
3. Think about the people who have power and influence over you. What sources
of power do they use? Do they use their power appropriately? Where necessary,
develop a strategy to reduce someone else's use of illegitimate power over you.
4. When you feel powerless or overly influenced, stop and think about what you
can do to regain your own power and control. You're never without power. Make
an effort to be more aware of the power you have, and use it to get what you
need, confidently and effectively.

Expert Power
Lead from the front
 © iStockphoto

There are many different power bases that a leader can use and exploit.

These include problematic ones such as the power of position, the power to give
rewards, the power to punish and the power to control information. While these types of
power do have some strength, they put the person being lead in an unhealthy position
of weakness, and can leave leaders using these power bases looking autocratic and out
of touch.

More than this, society has changed hugely over the last 50 years. Citizens are
individually more powerful, and employees are more able to shift jobs. Few of us enjoy
having power exerted over us, and many will do what they can to undermine people
who use these sorts of power.

However there are three types of positive power that effective leaders use: charismatic
power, expert power and referent power.

This article teaches the technique of building expert power.

Using the Tool:

Expert power is essential because as a leader, your team looks to you for direction and
guidance. Team members need to believe in your ability to set a worthwhile direction,
give sound guidance and co-ordinate a good result.

If your team perceives you as a true expert, they will be much more receptive when you
try to exercise influence tactics such as rational persuasion and inspirational appeal.

And if your team sees you as an expert you will find it much easier to guide them in
such a way as to create high motivation:

 If your team members respect your expertise, they'll know that you can show
them how to work effectively.
 If your team members trust your judgment, they'll trust you to guide their good
efforts and hard work in such a way that you'll make the most of their hard work.
 If they can see your expertise, team members are more likely to believe that
you have the wisdom to direct their efforts towards a goal that is genuinely
worthwhile.

Taken together, if your team sees you as an expert, you will find it much easier to
motivate team members to perform at their best.

So how do you build expert power?

 Gain expertise: The first step is fairly obvious (if time consuming) – gain
expertise. And, if you are already using tools like the information gathering tool,
the chances are that you have already progressed well ahead in this direction.
 But just being an expert isn't enough, it is also necessary for your team
members to recognize your expertise and see you to be a credible source of
information and advice. Gary A. Yukl, in his book "Leadership in Organizations,"
details some steps to build expert power. A summary of these steps follows:
 Promote an image of expertise: Since perceived expertise in many
occupations is associated with a person's education and experience, a leader
should (subtly) make sure that subordinates, peers, and superiors are aware of
his or her formal education, relevant work experience, and significant
accomplishments.
 One common tactic to make this information known is to display diplomas,
licenses, awards, and other evidence of expertise in a prominent location in one's
office – after all, if you've worked hard to gain knowledge, it's fair that you get
credit for it. Another tactic is to make subtle references to prior education or
experience (e.g., "When I was chief engineer at GE, we had a problem similar to
this one"). Beware, however, this tactic can easily be overdone.
 Maintain credibility: Once established, one's image of expertise should be
carefully protected. The leader should avoid making careless comments about
subjects on which he or she is poorly informed, and should avoid being
associated with projects with a low likelihood of success.
 Act confidently and decisively in a crisis: In a crisis or emergency,
subordinates prefer a "take charge" leader who appears to know how to direct the
group in coping with the problem. In this kind of situation, subordinates tend to
associate confident, firm leadership with expert knowledge. Even if the leader is
not sure of the best way to deal with a crisis, to express doubts or appear
confused risks the loss of influence over subordinates.
 Keep informed: Expert power is exercised through rational persuasion and
demonstration of expertise. Rational persuasion depends on a firm grasp of up-to-
date facts. It is therefore essential for a leader to keep well-informed of
developments within the team, within the organization, and in the outside world.
 Recognize subordinate concerns: Use of rational persuasion should not be
seen as a form of one-way communication from the leader to subordinates.
Effective leaders listen carefully to the concerns and uncertainties of their team
members, and make sure that they address these in making a persuasive appeal.
 Avoid threatening the self-esteem of subordinates: Expert power is based
on a knowledge differential between leader and team members. Unfortunately, the
very existence of such a differential can cause problems if the leader is not careful
about the way he exercises expert power.
 Team members can dislike unfavorable status comparisons where the gap is
very large and obvious. They are likely to be upset by a leader who acts in a
superior way, and arrogantly flaunts his greater expertise.
 In the process of presenting rational arguments, some leaders lecture their
team members in a condescending manner and convey the impression that the
other team members are "ignorant." Guard against this.

This is one of the articles in Mind Tools' "How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within
You" course. Not only does the course explain how to use the other "good" power
bases, it teaches you how to use a range of honest influence tactics and powerful
motivational techniques. Click here to find our more about "How to Lead".
Leadership Styles
Choosing the Right Style for the Situation

Find out what makes a great leader,

with James Manktelow & Amy Carlson.

From Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill to Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs,
there can seem to be as many ways to lead people as there are leaders.

Fortunately, businesspeople and psychologists have developed useful, simple ways to

describe the main styles of leadership.

By understanding these styles and their impact, you can develop your own approach to
leadership and become a more effective leader.

We'll look at common leadership styles in this article, and we'll explore situations where
these styles may be effective with your people.

Note:
The leadership styles in this article are based on several core leadership frameworks.
You can read more about these in our article on Core Leadership Theories.

Adapting Your Approach to Leadership

In business, a leadership style called "transformational leadership" is often the most

effective approach to use. Transformational leaders have integrity, they inspire people
with a shared vision of the future, they set clear goals and motivate people towards
them, they manage delivery, and they communicate well with their teams. (You can find
out more about transformational leadership at the end of this article.)

However, leadership is not "one size fits all" thing; often, you must adapt your style to fit
a situation or a specific group. This is why it's useful to gain a thorough understanding of
other leadership styles; after all, the more approaches you're familiar with, the more
tools you'll be able to use to lead effectively.

Let's take a deeper look at some of the leadership styles that you can use.

1. Transactional Leadership
This leadership style starts with the idea that team members agree to obey their leader
when they accept a job. The "transaction" usually involves the organization paying team
members in return for their effort and compliance. The leader has a right to "punish"
team members if their work doesn't meet an appropriate standard.

Although this might sound controlling and paternalistic, transactional leadership offers
some benefits. For one, this leadership style clarifies everyone's roles and
responsibilities. Another benefit is that, because transactional leadership judges team
members on performance, people who are ambitious or who are motivated by external
rewards – including compensation – often thrive.

The downside of this leadership style is that team members can do little to improve their
job satisfaction. It can feel stifling, and it can lead to high staff turnover.

Transactional leadership is really a type of management, not a true leadership style,

because the focus is on short-term tasks. It has serious limitations for knowledge-based
or creative work. However, it can be effective in other situations.

2. Autocratic Leadership

Autocratic leadership is an extreme form of transactional leadership, where leaders

have complete power over their people. Staff and team members have little opportunity
to make suggestions, even if these would be in the team's or the organization's best
interest.

The benefit of autocratic leadership is that it's incredibly efficient. Decisions are made
quickly, and work gets done.

The downside is that most people resent being treated this way. Therefore, autocratic
leadership often leads to high levels of absenteeism and high staff turnover. However,
the style can be effective for some routine and unskilled jobs: in these situations, the
advantages of control may outweigh the disadvantages.

Autocratic leadership is often best used in crises, when decisions must be made quickly
and without dissent. For instance, the military often uses an autocratic leadership style;
top commanders are responsible for quickly making complex decisions, which allows
troops to focus their attention and energy on performing their allotted tasks and
missions.

3. Bureaucratic Leadership

Bureaucratic leaders work "by the book." They follow rules rigorously, and ensure that
their people follow procedures precisely.

This is an appropriate leadership style for work involving serious safety risks (such as
working with machinery, with toxic substances, or at dangerous heights) or where large
sums of money are involved. Bureaucratic leadership is also useful in organizations
where employees do routine tasks (as in manufacturing).

The downside of this leadership style is that it's ineffective in teams and organizations
that rely on flexibility, creativity, or innovation.

Much of the time, bureaucratic leaders achieve their position because of their ability to
conform to and uphold rules, not because of their qualifications or expertise. This can
cause resentment when team members don't value their expertise or advice.

4. Charismatic Leadership

A charismatic leadership style can resemble transformational leadership because these

leaders inspire enthusiasm in their teams and are energetic in motivating others to
move forward. This excitement and commitment from teams is an enormous benefit.

The difference between charismatic leaders and transformational leaders lies in their
intention. Transformational leaders want to transform their teams and organizations.
Charismatic leaders are often focused on themselves, and may not want to change
anything.

The downside to charismatic leaders is that they can believe more in themselves than in
their teams. This can create the risk that a project or even an entire organization might
collapse if the leader leaves. A charismatic leader might believe that she can do no
wrong, even when others are warning her about the path she's on; this feeling of
invincibility can ruin a team or an organization.

Also, in the followers' eyes, success is directly connected to the presence of the
charismatic leader. As such, charismatic leadership carries great responsibility, and it
needs a long-term commitment from the leader.

5. Democratic/Participative Leadership

Democratic leaders make the final decisions, but they include team members in the
decision-making process. They encourage creativity, and team members are often
highly engaged in projects and decisions.

There are many benefits of democratic leadership. Team members tend to have high
job satisfaction and are productive because they're more involved in decisions. This
style also helps develop people's skills. Team members feel in control of their destiny,
so they're motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward.

Because participation takes time, this approach can slow decision-making, but the result
is often good. The approach can be most suitable when working as a team is essential,
and when quality is more important than efficiency or productivity.
The downside of democratic leadership is that it can often hinder situations where
speed or efficiency is essential. For instance, during a crisis, a team can waste valuable
time gathering people's input. Another downside is that some team members might not
have the knowledge or expertise to provide high quality input.

6. Laissez-Faire Leadership

This French phrase means "leave it be," and it describes leaders who allow their people
to work on their own. This type of leadership can also occur naturally, when managers
don't have sufficient control over their work and their people.

Laissez-faire leaders may give their teams complete freedom to do their work and set
their own deadlines. They provide team support with resources and advice, if needed,
but otherwise don't get involved.

This leadership style can be effective if the leader monitors performance and gives
feedback to team members regularly. It is most likely to be effective when individual
team members are experienced, skilled, self-starters.

The main benefit of laissez-faire leadership is that giving team members so much
autonomy can lead to high job satisfaction and increased productivity.

The downside is that it can be damaging if team members don't manage their time well
or if they don't have the knowledge, skills, or motivation to do their work effectively.

7. Task-Oriented Leadership

Task-oriented leaders focus only on getting the job done and can be autocratic. They
actively define the work and the roles required, put structures in place, and plan,
organize, and monitor work. These leaders also perform other key tasks, such as
creating and maintaining standards for performance.

The benefit of task-oriented leadership is that it ensures that deadlines are met, and it's
especially useful for team members who don't manage their time well.

However, because task-oriented leaders don't tend to think much about their team's
well-being, this approach can suffer many of the flaws of autocratic leadership, including
causing motivation and retention problems.

8. People-Oriented/Relations-Oriented Leadership

With people-oriented leadership, leaders are totally focused on organizing, supporting,

and developing the people on their teams. This is a participatory style and tends to
encourage good teamwork and creative collaboration. This is the opposite of task-
oriented leadership.
People-oriented leaders treat everyone on the team equally. They're friendly and
approachable, they pay attention to the welfare of everyone in the group, and they make
themselves available whenever team members need help or advice.

The benefit of this leadership style is that people-oriented leaders create teams that
everyone wants to be part of. Team members are often more productive and willing to
take risks, because they know that the leader will provide support if they need it.

The downside is that some leaders can take this approach too far; they may put the
development of their team above tasks or project directives.

Tip:
In practice, most leaders use both task-oriented and people-oriented styles of
leadership together. Our article on the Blake Mouton Managerial Grid explains how
you can do this.

9. Servant Leadership

This term, created by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, describes a leader often not
formally recognized as such. When someone at any level within an organization leads
simply by meeting the needs of the team, he or she can be described as a "servant
leader."

Servant leaders often lead by example. They have high integrity and lead with
generosity.

In many ways, servant leadership is a form of democratic leadership because the whole
team tends to be involved in decision making. However, servant leaders often "lead
from behind," preferring to stay out of the limelight and letting their team accept
recognition for their hard work.

Supporters of the servant leadership model suggest that it's a good way to move ahead
in a world where values are increasingly important, and where servant leaders can
achieve power because of their values, ideals, and ethics. This is an approach that can
help to create a positive corporate culture and can lead to high morale among team
members.

However, other people believe that in competitive leadership situations, people who
practice servant leadership can find themselves left behind by leaders using other
leadership styles. This leadership style also takes time to apply correctly: it's ill-suited in
situations where you have to make quick decisions or meet tight deadlines.
Although you can use servant leadership in many situations, it's often most practical in
politics, or in positions where leaders are elected to serve a team, committee,
organization, or community.

10. Transformational Leadership

As we discussed earlier in this article, transformation leadership is often the best

leadership style to use in business situations.

Transformational leaders are inspiring because they expect the best from everyone on
their team as well as themselves. This leads to high productivity and engagement from
everyone in their team.

The downside of transformational leadership is that while the leader's enthusiasm is

passed onto the team, he or she can need to be supported by "detail people."

That's why, in many organizations, both transactional and transformational leadership

styles are useful. Transactional leaders (or managers) ensure that routine work is done
reliably, while transformational leaders look after initiatives that add new value.

It's also important to use other leadership styles when necessary – this will depend on
the people you're leading and the situation that you're in.

Tip:
The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory, the Six Emotional
Leadership Styles, and Fiedler's Contingency Model are all frameworks that help
you choose the best leadership style to use in a particular situation. Spend some time
exploring these.

Key Points

In business, transformational leadership is often the best leadership style to use.

However, no one style of leadership fits all situations, so it helps to have an
understanding of other styles.

The main leadership styles include:

1. Transactional leadership.
2. Autocratic leadership.
3. Bureaucratic leadership.
4. Charismatic leadership.
5. Democratic/participative leadership.
6. Laissez-faire leadership.
7. Task-oriented leadership.
8. People/relations-oriented leadership.
9. Servant leadership.
10. Transformational leadership.

By learning about the pros and cons of each style, you can adapt your approach to your
situation.

The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership® Theory

Choosing the Right Leadership Style for the Right People

What type of leaders does your team need?

© iStockphoto/oversnap

You've just finished training the newest member of your team. Now that he's ready to
start working, you give him the data that you need him to enter into the company's
database, and then you hurry off to a meeting.
When you return later that afternoon, you're disappointed to find that he hasn't done
anything. He didn't know what to do, and he didn't have the confidence to ask for help.
As a result, hours have been lost, and now you have to rush to enter the data on time.
Although you may want to blame the worker, the truth is that you're as much to blame
as he is.

How can you avoid situations like this?

Management experts Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard argue that these things happen
because leaders don't match their style of leadership to the maturity of the person or
group they're leading. When style and maturity aren't matched, failure is the result.

In this article, we'll review the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership ® Theory, and
we'll explain how it's used in different leadership situations.

Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory

The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory was created by Dr Paul Hersey, a

professor and author of "The Situational Leader," and Ken Blanchard, author of the best
selling "The One-Minute Manager," among others.

The theory states that instead of using just one style, successful leaders should change
their leadership styles based on the maturity of the people they're leading and the
details of the task. Using this theory, leaders should be able to place more or less
emphasis on the task, and more or less emphasis on the relationships with the people
they're leading, depending on what's needed to get the job done successfully.

Leadership Styles

According to Hersey and Blanchard, there are four main leadership styles:

 Telling (S1) – Leaders tell their people exactly what to do, and how to do it.
 Selling (S2) – Leaders still provide information and direction, but there's more
communication with followers. Leaders "sell" their message to get the team on
board.
 Participating (S3) – Leaders focus more on the relationship and less on
direction. The leader works with the team, and shares decision-making
responsibilities.
 Delegating (S4) – Leaders pass most of the responsibility onto the follower or
group. The leaders still monitor progress, but they're less involved in decisions.

As you can see, styles S1 and S2 are focused on getting the task done. Styles S3 and
S4 are more concerned with developing team members' abilities to work independently.

Maturity Levels
According to Hersey and Blanchard, knowing when to use each style is largely
dependent on the maturity of the person or group you're leading. They break maturity
down into four different levels:

 M1 – People at this level of maturity are at the bottom level of the scale. They
lack the knowledge, skills, or confidence to work on their own, and they often
need to be pushed to take the task on.
 M2 – At this level, followers might be willing to work on the task, but they still
don't have the skills to do it successfully.
 M3 – Here, followers are ready and willing to help with the task. They have
more skills than the M2 group, but they're still not confident in their abilities.
 M4 – These followers are able to work on their own. They have high
confidence and strong skills, and they're committed to the task.

The Hersey-Blanchard model maps each leadership style to each maturity level, as
shown below.

Maturity Level Most Appropriate

Leadership Style
M1: Low maturity S1: Telling/directing
M2: Medium maturity, limited S2: Selling/coaching
skills
M3: Medium maturity, higher S3: Participating/supporting
skills but lacking confidence
M4: High maturity S4: Delegating

To use this model, reflect on the maturity of individuals within your team. The table
above then shows which leadership style Hersey and Blanchard consider the most
effective for people with that level of maturity.

Leadership Style Examples

1. You're about to leave for an extended holiday, and your tasks will be handled
by an experienced colleague. He's very familiar with your responsibilities, and he's
excited to do the job.
2. Instead of trusting his knowledge and skills to do the work, you spend hours
creating a detailed list of tasks for which he'll be responsible, and instructions on
how to do them.
3. The result? Your work gets done, but you've damaged the relationship with
your colleague by your lack of trust. He was an M4 in maturity, and yet you used
an S1 leadership style instead of an S4, which would have been more
appropriate.
2. You've just been put in charge of leading a new team. It's your first time
working with these people. As far as you can tell, they have some of the
 necessary skills to reach the department's goals, but not all of them. The good
news is that they're excited and willing to do the work.
3. You estimate they're at an M3 maturity level, so you use the matching S3
leadership style. You coach them through the project's goals, pushing and
teaching where necessary, but largely leaving them to make their own decisions.
As a result, their relationship with you is strengthened, and the team's efforts are a
success.

At Mind Tools, we recognize the truth within this model, however we believe that a
different leadership style, "transformational leadership", is often the most effective style
of leadership in business. If you'd like to learn more about different styles, including
transformational leadership, see our article on Leadership Styles.

Key Points

All teams, and all team members, aren't created equal. Hersey and Blanchard argue
that leaders are more effective when they use a leadership style based on the
individuals or groups they're leading.

Start by identifying whom you're leading. Are your followers knowledgeable about the
task? Are they willing and excited to do the work? Rate them on the M1-M4 maturity
scale, and then use the leadership style that's appropriate for that rating.

Leadership Style Matrix

Choosing the Best Leadership Approach

Choose the best leadership style for the people and the project that you're leading.
 © iStockphoto/Warchi

When you start to manage new people, how do you know which leadership style you
should use?

There are a number of things that determine this. For example, does the work have
scope for creativity, or does it need to be completed in a specific way?

Would close management be best, or should you encourage your people to work
independently and deliver a finished product?

Different people and different types of projects need different leadership styles. But how
do you know which approach is best for each project, person, or situation?

In this article, we'll look at the Leadership Style Matrix, a model that helps you decide.

Overview

Eric Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle developed the Leadership Style Matrix and
published it in their 2007 book, "Growing Pains." The matrix, shown in Figure 1, helps
you choose the most appropriate leadership style, based on the type of task you're
involved with and the people you're leading.

Figure 1 – The Leadership Style Matrix

The Leadership Style Matrix is divided into four quadrants. Each quadrant lists two
leadership styles that are best suited for a specific situation and person (or group).

The Y-axis defines the "programmability" of the task. A programmable task has specific
steps or instructions to complete. A non-programmable task is more creative; it's up to
the individual to decide how best to accomplish it.

The X-axis describes the individual's capability and preference for autonomy. Several
factors influence this, including education, skill, motivation, and their desire for
feedback, interaction, or independence.

For instance, a person with a high level of education, skill, motivation and independence
is likely to want autonomy. Someone with low motivation and skill will need – and may
want – more feedback and interaction, so that he or she can complete the task
successfully.

Using the Model

To use the model, first look at the Y-axis. If the task must be done in a specific way, or if
it has specific steps, then move lower down the axis. If the task is more creative, or if
the procedure will change depending on individual input, move higher up the axis.
Next, look at the X-axis. If the people you're leading prefer to work alone, move right on
the axis. If they need more instruction and interaction from you, move to the left.

The quadrant that you fall into lists the two leadership styles that are most likely to be
appropriate for your situation.

Applying the Model

Let's look at each quadrant, and the corresponding leadership styles, in detail.

Quadrant 1: High Programmability/Low Job Autonomy

Sometimes you'll be in charge of a task that must be done in a specific way; or that
needs to be completed by a team that needs a great deal of motivation, guidance,
feedback, or interaction. In these cases, a directive leadership approach is most
effective.

There are two styles you can use here:

Autocratic – The autocratic style is sometimes criticized because it seems outdated.

This leadership style is authoritative: you issue instructions without explanation, and you
expect team members to follow them without question.

Although it might seem repressive, this style can be effective in some situations,
especially when your team depends on your leadership and feedback, and when the
work must be done in a specific way. It's also effective in a crisis or emergency
situation; or when you're dealing with very significant risks.

It's important to strike a healthy balance when using this leadership style. You need to
lead with strength and assertiveness, but it's also important to lead with kindness.
Don't forget that your team members depend on the feedback that you give them.
Praise their good work regularly, and give them constructive criticism on how they can
improve.

Benevolent Autocratic – The benevolent autocratic style is similar to the autocratic

style. However, this approach is more participative. For example, instead of just issuing
instructions, you also explain the reasons behind the instructions.

To use this style successfully, communicate the reasons why your team must follow
your instructions. For instance, explain rules, so that members of your team
understand the reasons behind them. When they understand why certain rules or
procedures are in place, they're more likely to follow them.

As your team is working, practice management by wandering around so that you're

available to answer questions and provide feedback. This visibility and support will help
you keep your project on track and show your team members that you're there when
they need you.

Quadrant 2: High Programmability/High Job Autonomy

When the task that you're delegating must be completed in a specific way, and the
person that you're delegating to wants to have autonomy in his or her work, you can use
either a consultative or a participative style of leadership.

Consultative – You use a consultative leadership style when you ask your team
members for their input and opinion, but you still have the final say. You consult with the
group, yet you're responsible for choosing the best course of action.

To use the consultative leadership style successfully, build trust in your team. When
trust is present, your team members will feel comfortable offering their opinions and
reacting honestly to issues.

Be open to the ideas and suggestions that your team members provide – if you criticize
or dismiss your team members' suggestions, they'll quickly stop speaking up, especially
if they suspect that you've already made up your mind. Keep an open mind, and be
willing to change your opinion if someone presents a better idea.

Participative – The participative leadership style is similar to the consultative style,

where you still have the final say in a decision. However, the participative style goes a
step further – you depend on your group to develop ideas, not just offer opinions on an
idea. The participative style is more about group problem solving and brainstorming.

To use the participative style successfully, use group decision-making and group
problem-solving tools to ensure that each person's voice is heard equally. (Our article
on organizing team decision-making will help you develop team decision-making
strategies.)

Keep in mind that while you're depending on your team members for their input, you still
need to guide the discussion, you need to communicate goals, and you need to make
the final decision. Make sure that everyone on your team understands your role in this
process.

Quadrant 3: Low Programmability/Low Job Autonomy

Here, you're leading a highly creative project, with a person or with team members who
don't want autonomy. Instead, they need direction, input, and interaction. The two
leadership styles that best fit this situation are Consultative and Participative.

These are the same leadership styles that fit best in Quadrant 2: High
Programmability/High Job Autonomy.
Quadrant 4: Low Programmability/High Job Autonomy

You fall into this quadrant when you're assigning a creative – or "loose" – project to a
person who wants freedom and independence to work. This means that you need to
take a nondirective leadership approach.

There are two styles that you can use here:

Consensus – One option is to use a consensual leadership style. Essentially, this

means that you're going to give your team member a great deal of authority in the
decision-making process. Instead of being the "boss," it's almost as if you become part
of the team.

Ensure that your team member understands his or her responsibilities when you use
this style.

Laissez-faire – Laissez-faire is a hands-off leadership style that you should use

carefully. You give team members freedom over how and when they're going to do their
work, but you're there if they need resources or help.

You should only use laissez-faire leadership in the right situations, and you should avoid
taking this style to the extreme. When you're working with someone who is highly
skilled, motivated, and intelligent, using this leadership style can be very effective.

To use laissez-faire successfully, make sure that you delegate the right tasks to the
right people. A mismatch between the task and the individual will likely mean that the
team member needs additional help from you, and that they may not thrive.

Tip:
This is a useful framework for deciding which leadership style to use for your situation,
but there are several other tools that can give useful perspectives.

For example, the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership® Theory suggests

different leadership styles for individuals with different levels of maturity; and Path Goal
Theory looks at leadership styles that are appropriate for different individuals and
different situations.

Explore all of these before you settle on your preferred leadership style.

Key Points
Eric Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle developed the Leadership Style Matrix and
published it in their 2007 book, "Growing Pains." The Leadership Style Matrix is a
simple and useful model that helps you choose the most effective leadership style for
your situation.

To use the model, first look at the task or project. If there are specific, programmable,
steps to follow, move down the Y-axis, but if the project or task is more creative, move
up this axis.

Next, look at the people that you're leading. If they want autonomy, move right on the X-
axis. If they need instruction, interaction, or feedback from you, move left on the X-axis.

Once you have determined the quadrant you fall into, you can choose from the two
leadership styles that are most appropriate for your situation.

The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid

Balancing Task- and People-Oriented Leadership
 © iStockphoto/LajosRepasi

When your boss puts you in charge of organizing the company Christmas party, what
do you do first? Do you develop a time line and start assigning tasks or do you think
about who would prefer to do what and try to schedule around their needs? When the
planning starts to fall behind schedule, what is your first reaction? Do you chase
everyone to get back on track, or do you ease off a bit recognizing that everyone is busy
just doing his/her job, let alone the extra tasks you’ve assigned?

Your answers to these types of questions can reveal a great deal about your personal
leadership style. Some leaders are very task-oriented; they simply want to get things
done. Others are very people-oriented; they want people to be happy. And others are a
combination of the two. If you prefer to lead by setting and enforcing tight schedules,
you tend to be more production-oriented (or task-oriented). If you make people your
priority and try to accommodate employee needs, then you’re more people-oriented.

Neither preference is right or wrong, just as no one type of leadership style is best for all
situations. However, it's useful to understand what your natural leadership tendencies
are, so that you can then begin working on developing skills that you may be missing.

A popular framework for thinking about a leader’s ‘task versus person’ orientation was
developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton in the early 1960s. Called the Managerial
Grid, or Leadership Grid, it plots the degree of task-centeredness versus person-
centeredness and identifies five combinations as distinct leadership styles.

Understanding the Model

The Managerial Grid is based on two behavioral dimensions:

 Concern for People – This is the degree to which a leader considers the
needs of team members, their interests, and areas of personal development when
deciding how best to accomplish a task.
 Concern for Production – This is the degree to which a leader emphasizes
concrete objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding
how best to accomplish a task.
Using the axis to plot leadership ‘concerns for production’ versus ‘concerns for people’,
Blake and Mouton defined the following five leadership styles:

Country Club Leadership – High People/Low Production

This style of leader is most concerned about the needs and feelings of members of
his/her team. These people operate under the assumption that as long as team
members are happy and secure then they will work hard. What tends to result is a work
environment that is very relaxed and fun but where production suffers due to lack of
direction and control.

Produce or Perish Leadership – High Production/Low People

Also known as Authoritarian or Compliance Leaders, people in this category believe that
employees are simply a means to an end. Employee needs are always secondary to the
need for efficient and productive workplaces. This type of leader is very autocratic, has
strict work rules, policies, and procedures, and views punishment as the most effective
means to motivate employees. (See also our article on Theory X/Theory Y.)

Impoverished Leadership – Low Production/Low People

This leader is mostly ineffective. He/she has neither a high regard for creating systems
for getting the job done, nor for creating a work environment that is satisfying and
motivating. The result is a place of disorganization, dissatisfaction and disharmony.

Middle-of-the-Road Leadership – Medium Production/Medium People

This style seems to be a balance of the two competing concerns. It may at first appear
to be an ideal compromise. Therein lies the problem, though: When you compromise,
you necessarily give away a bit of each concern so that neither production nor people
needs are fully met. Leaders who use this style settle for average performance and
often believe that this is the most anyone can expect.

Team Leadership – High Production/High People

According to the Blake Mouton model, this is the pinnacle of managerial style. These
leaders stress production needs and the needs of the people equally highly. The
premise here is that employees are involved in understanding organizational purpose
and determining production needs. When employees are committed to, and have a
stake in the organization’s success, their needs and production needs coincide. This
creates a team environment based on trust and respect, which leads to high satisfaction
and motivation and, as a result, high production. (See also our article on Theory Y.)

Applying the Blake Mouton Managerial Grid

Being aware of the various approaches is the first step in understanding and improving
how well you perform as a manager. It is important to understand how you currently
operate, so that you can then identify ways of becoming competent in both realms.

Step One: Identify your leadership style

 Think of some recent situations where you were the leader.
 For each of these situations, place yourself in the grid according to where you
believe you fit.
Step Two: Identify areas of improvement and develop your leadership skills
 Look at your current leadership method and critically analyze its effectiveness.
 Look at ways you can improve. Are you settling for ‘middle of the road’
because it is easier than reaching for more?
 Identify ways to get the skills you need to reach the Team Leadership position.
These may include involving others in problem solving or improving how you
communicate with them, if you feel you are too task-oriented. Or it may mean
becoming clearer about scheduling or monitoring project progress if you tend
to focus too much on people.
 Continually monitor your performance and watch for situations when you slip
back into bad old habits.
Step Three: Put the Grid in Context

It is important to recognize that the Team Leadership style isn’t always the most
effective approach in every situation. While the benefits of democratic and participative
management are universally accepted, there are times that call for more attention in one
area than another. If your company is in the midst of a merger or some other significant
change, it is often acceptable to place a higher emphasis on people than on production.
Likewise, when faced with an economic hardship or physical risk, people concerns may
be placed on the back burner, for the short-term at least, to achieve high productivity
and efficiency.

Note:
Theories of leadership have moved on a certain amount since the Blake Mouton Grid
was originally proposed. In particular, the context in which leadership occurs is now
seen as an important driver of the leadership style used.

And in many situations, the "Team Leader" as an ideal has moved to the ideal of the
"Transformational Leader": Someone who, according to leadership researcher Bernard
Bass:

 Is a model of integrity and fairness.

 Sets clear goals.
 Has high expectations.
 Encourages.
 Provides support and recognition.
 Stirs people's emotions.
 Gets people to look beyond their self-interest.
 Inspires people to reach for the improbable.

So use Blake Mouton as a helpful model, but don't treat it as an "eternal truth".

Key Points

The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid is a practical and useful framework that helps you
think about your leadership style. By plotting ‘concern for production’ against ‘concern
for people’, the grid highlights how placing too much emphasis in one area at the
expense of the other leads to low overall productivity.

The model proposes that when both people and production concerns are high,
employee engagement and productivity increases accordingly. This is often true, and it
follows the ideas of Theories X and Y, and other participative management theories.

While the grid does not entirely address the complexity of “Which leadership style is
best?”, it certainly provides an excellent starting place to critically analyze your own
performance and improve your general leadership skills.
Fiedler's Contingency Model
Matching Leadership Style to a Situation

Do some leadership styles work better in certain situations?

© iStockphoto/sodafish

What is your natural leadership style? Do you focus on completing tasks, or on building
relationships with your team? Have you considered that this natural leadership style
might be more suited to some situations or environments than it is to others?

In this article, we'll explore Fiedler's Contingency Model, and look at how it can highlight
the most effective leadership style to use in different situations.

Note:
Keep in mind that Fielder isn't using the word "contingency" in the sense of
contingency planning. Here, "contingency" is a situation or event that's dependent on
someone, or something else.

Understanding the Model

The Fiedler Contingency Model was created in the mid-1960s by Fred Fiedler, a
scientist who helped advance the study of personality and characteristics of leaders.

The model states that there is no one best style of leadership. Instead, a leader's
effectiveness is based on the situation. This is the result of two factors – "leadership
style" and "situational favorableness" (later called "situational control").
Leadership Style

Identifying leadership style is the first step in using the model. Fiedler believed that
leadership style is fixed, and it can be measured using a scale he developed called
Least-Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Scale (see Figure 1).

The scale asks you to think about the person who you've least enjoyed working with.
This can be a person who you've worked with in your job, or in education or training.

You then rate each factor based on this person and add up your scores. If your total
score is high, you're likely to be a relationship-orientated leader. If your total score is
low, you're more likely to be task-orientated leader.

Figure 1: Least-Preferred Co-Worker Scale

Unfriendly 12345678 Friendly

Unpleasant 12345678 Pleasant
Rejecting 12345678 Accepting
Tense 12345678 Relaxed
Cold 12345678 Warm
Boring 12345678 Interesting
Backbiting 12345678 Loyal
Uncooperative 12345678 Cooperative
Hostile 12345678 Supportive
Guarded 12345678 Open
Insincere 12345678 Sincere
Unkind 12345678 Kind
Inconsiderate 12345678 Considerate
Untrustworthy 12345678 Trustworthy
Gloomy 12345678 Cheerful
Quarrelsome 12345678 Harmonious

The model says that task-oriented leaders usually view their LPCs more negatively,
resulting in a lower score. Fiedler called these low LPC-leaders. He said that low LPCs
are very effective at completing tasks. They're quick to organize a group to get tasks
and projects done. Relationship-building is a low priority.

However, relationship-oriented leaders usually view their LPCs more positively, giving
them a higher score. These are high-LPC leaders. High LPCs focus more on personal
connections, and they're good at avoiding and managing conflict. They're better able to
make complex decisions.
Situational Favorableness

Next, you determine the "situational favorableness" of your particular situation. This
depends on three distinct factors:

 Leader-Member Relations – This is the level of trust and confidence that your
team has in you. A leader who is more trusted and has more influence with the
group is in a more favorable situation than a leader who is not trusted.
 Task Structure – This refers to the type of task you're doing: clear and
structured, or vague and unstructured. Unstructured tasks, or tasks where the
team and leader have little knowledge of how to achieve them, are viewed
unfavorably.
 Leader's Position Power – This is the amount of power you have to direct the
group, and provide reward or punishment. The more power you have, the more
favorable your situation. Fiedler identifies power as being either strong or weak.
Applying the Fiedler Contingency Model
Step 1: Identify your leadership style

Think about the person who you've least enjoyed working with, either now or in the past.

Rate your experience with this person using the scale in Figure 1, above. According to
this model, a higher score means that you're naturally relationship-focused, and a lower
score means that you're naturally task-focused.

Step 2: Identify your situation

Answer the questions:

 Are leader-member relations good or poor?

 Is the task you're doing structured, or is it more unstructured, or do you have
little experience of solving similar problems?
 Do you have strong or weak power over your team?
Step 3: Determine the most effective leadership style

Figure 2 shows a breakdown of all of the factors we've covered: Leader-Member

Relations, Task Structure, and Leader's Position Power. The final column identifies the
type of leader that Fiedler believed would be most effective in each situation.

Figure 2: Breakdown of Most Effective Leader Style

Leader- Leader's Most

Task
Member Position Effective
Structure
Relations Power Leader
Good Structured Strong Low LPC
 Good Structured Weak Low LPC
Good Unstructure Strong Low LPC
d
Good Unstructure Weak High LPC
d
Poor Structured Strong High LPC
Poor Structured Weak High LPC
Poor Unstructure Strong High LPC
d
Poor Unstructure Weak Low LPC
d

For instance, imagine that you've just started working at a new company, replacing a
much-loved leader who recently retired. You're leading a team who views you with
distrust (so your Leader-Member Relations are poor). The task you're all doing together
is well defined (structured), and your position of power is high because you're the boss,
and you're able to offer reward or punishment to the group.

The most effective leader in this situation would be high LPC – that is, a leader who can
focus on building relationships first.

Or, imagine that you're leading a team who likes and respects you (so your Leader-
Member relations are good). The project you're working on together is highly creative
(unstructured) and your position of power is high since, again, you're in a management
position of strength. In this situation a task-focused leadership style would be most
effective.

Criticisms of the Model

There are some criticisms of the Fiedler Contingency Model. One of the biggest is lack
of flexibility. Fiedler believed that because our natural leadership style is fixed, the most
effective way to handle situations is to change the leader. He didn't allow for flexibility in
leaders.

For instance, if a low-LPC leader is in charge of a group with good relations and doing
unstructured tasks, and she has a weak position (the fourth situation), then, according
to the model, the best solution is to replace her with a high-LPC leader – instead of
asking her to use a different leadership style.

There is also an issue with the Least-Preferred Co-Worker Scale – if you fall near the
middle of the scoring range, then it could be unclear which style of leader you are.

There have also been several published criticisms of the Fiedler Contingency Model.
One of the most cited is "The Contingency Model: Criticisms and Suggestions,"
published in the Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 3. The authors say that,
even under the best circumstances, the LPC scale only has about a 50 percent reliable
variance. This means that, according to their criticism, the LPC scale may not be a
reliable measure of leadership capability.

It's also perfectly possible that your least preferred co-worker is a genuinely confused,
unpleasant or evil person (they do exist) - if you are unfortunate enough to have
encountered such a person just once in your career, then you might always be
categorized as a low-LPC leader, however people-oriented you actually are.

Note:
At Mind Tools, we believe that transformational leadership is the best leadership style
in most situations, however, we believe that other leadership styles are sometimes
necessary.

In our opinion, the Fiedler Contingency Model is unhelpful in many 21st Century
workplaces. It may occasionally be a useful tool for analyzing a situation and
determining whether or not to focus on tasks or relationships, but be cautious about
applying any style simply because the model says you should. Use your own judgment
when analyzing situations.

Key Points

The Fiedler Contingency Model asks you to think about your natural leadership style,
and the situations in which it will be most effective. The model says that leaders are
either task-focused, or relationship-focused. Once you understand your style, it says
that you can match it to situations in which that style is most effective.

However, the model has some disadvantages. It doesn't allow for leadership flexibility,
and the LPC score might give an inaccurate picture of your leadership style.

As with all models and theories, use your best judgment when applying the Fiedler
Contingency Model to your own situation.
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
Learning How to Be More Aware
 Stand firm even when you are buffeted by events and emotions.

© iStockphoto/ChuckSchugPhotography

When you think of a "perfect leader," what comes to mind?

You might picture someone who never lets his temper get out of control, no matter what
problems he's facing. You might think of someone who has the complete trust of her
staff, always speaks kindly, listens to her team, is easy to talk to and always makes
careful, informed decisions.

These are qualities of someone with a high degree of emotional intelligence.

In this article, we'll look at why emotional intelligence is so important for leaders – and
how you, as a leader, can improve yours.

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and manage both your own
emotions, and those of the people around you. People with a high degree of emotional
intelligence usually know what they're feeling, what this means, and how their emotions
can affect other people.

For leaders, having emotional intelligence is essential for success. After all, who is more
likely to succeed – a leader who shouts at his team when he's under stress, or a leader
who stay in control, and calmly assesses the situation?

According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped make the idea of
EI popular, there are five main elements of emotional intelligence:

1. Self-awareness.
2. Self-regulation.
3. Motivation.
4. Empathy.
5. Social skills.
The more that you, as a leader, manage each of these areas, the higher your emotional
intelligence. So, let's look at each element in more detail and examine how you can
grow as a leader.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

1. Self-awareness

If you're self-aware, you always know how you feel. And you know how your emotions,
and your actions, can affect the people around you. Being self-aware when you're in a
leadership position also means having a clear picture of your strengths and
weaknesses. And it means having humility.

So, what can you do to improve your self-awareness?

 Keep a journal – Journals help improve your self-awareness. If you spend just
a few minutes each day writing down your thoughts, this can move you to a higher
degree of self-awareness.
 Slow down – When you experience anger or other strong emotions, slow
down to examine why. Remember, no matter what the situation, you can always
choose how you react to it. (Our article on Managing Your Emotions at Work
will help you understand what your emotions are telling you.)
2. Self-regulation

Leaders who regulate themselves effectively rarely verbally attack others, make rushed
or emotional decisions, stereotype people, or compromise their values. Self-regulation
is all about staying in control.

This element of emotional intelligence, according to Goleman, also covers a leader's

flexibility and commitment to personal accountability.

So, how can you improve your ability to self-regulate?

 Know your values – Do you have a clear idea of where you absolutely will not
compromise? Do you know what values are most important to you? Spend some
time examining your "code of ethics." If you know what's most important to you,
then you probably won't have to think twice when you face a moral or ethical
decision – you'll make the right choice.
 Hold yourself accountable – If you tend to blame others when something
goes wrong, stop. Make a commitment to admit to your mistakes and face the
consequences, whatever they are. You'll probably sleep better at night, and you'll
quickly earn the respect of those around you.
 Practice being calm – The next time you're in a challenging situation, be very
aware of how you act. Do you relieve your stress by shouting at someone else?
Practice deep-breathing exercises to calm yourself. Also, try to write down all of
the negative things you want to say, and then rip it up and throw it away.
 Expressing these emotions on paper (and not showing them to anyone!) is better
than speaking them aloud to your team. What's more, this helps you challenge
your reactions to make sure that they're fair!
3. Motivation

Self-motivated leaders consistently work toward their goals. And they have extremely
high standards for the quality of their work.

How can you improve your motivation?

 Re-examine why you're doing this – It's easy to forget what you really love
about your career. So, take some time to remember why you wanted this job. If
you're unhappy in your role and you're struggling to remember why you wanted it,
try the Five Whys technique to find the root of the problem. Starting at the root
often helps you look at your situation in a new way.
 And make sure that your goal statements are fresh and energizing. For more
on this, see our article on Goal Setting.
 Know where you stand – Determine how motivated you are to lead. Our
Leadership Motivation Assessment can help you see clearly how motivated
you are in your leadership role. If you need to increase your motivation to lead,
and it then directs you to resources that can help.
 Be hopeful and find something good – Motivated leaders are usually
optimistic, no matter what they face. Adopting this mindset might take practice,
but it's well worth the effort. Every time you face a challenge, or even a failure, try
to find at least one good thing about the situation. It might be something small, like
a new contact, or something with long-term effects, like an important lesson
learned. But there's almost always something positive – you just have to look for
it.
4. Empathy

For leaders, having empathy is critical to managing a successful team or organization.

Leaders with empathy have the ability to put themselves in someone else's situation.
They help develop the people on their team, challenge others who are acting unfairly,
give constructive feedback, and listen to those who need it.

If you want to earn the respect and loyalty of your team, then show them you care by
being empathic.

How can you improve your empathy?

 Put yourself in someone else's position – It's easy to support your own
point of view. After all, it's yours! But take the time to look at situations from other
people's perspectives. See our article on Perceptual Positions for a useful
technique for doing this.
 Pay attention to body language – Perhaps when you listen to someone, you
cross your arms, move your feet back and forth, or bite your lip. This body
language tells others how you really feel about a situation, and the message
you're giving isn't positive! Learning to read body language can be a real asset
when you're in a leadership role because you'll be better able to determine how
someone truly feels. And this gives you the opportunity to respond appropriately.
 Respond to feelings – You ask your assistant to work late – again. And
although he agrees, you can hear the disappointment in his voice. So, respond by
addressing his feelings. Tell him you appreciate how willing he is to work extra
hours, and that you're just as frustrated about working late. If possible, figure out a
way for future late nights to be less of an issue (for example, give him Monday
mornings off).
5. Social skills

Leaders who do well in this element of emotional intelligence are great communicators.
They're just as open to hearing bad news as good news, and they're experts at getting
their team to support them and be excited about a new mission or project.

Leaders who have good social skills are also good at managing change and resolving
conflicts diplomatically. They're rarely satisfied with leaving things as they are, but
they're also not willing to make everyone else do the work. They set the example with
their own behavior.

So, how can you improve your leadership by building social skills?

 Learn conflict resolution – Leaders must know how to resolve conflicts

between their team members, customers, or vendors. Learning conflict
resolution skills is vital if you want to succeed.
 Improve your communication skills – How well do you communicate? Our
communication quiz will help you answer this question, and it will give useful
feedback on what you can do to improve.
 Learn how to praise others – As a leader, you can inspire the loyalty of your
team simply by giving praise when it's earned. Learning how to effectively praise
others is a fine art, but well worth the effort.

Key Points

Thanks to the many challenges and opportunities that arise when working with others,
leaders must have a solid understanding of how their emotions and actions affect the
people around them. The better a leader relates to and works with others, the more
successful he or she will be.

Take the time to work on self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and

social skills. Working on this will help you excel in the future!
The Agile Leader: Adaptability
By Bruna Martinuzzi

Do you "fit" your circumstances?

© iStockphoto/IJzendoorn
There is a well-known Chinese proverb that says that the wise adapt themselves to
circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher. Perhaps at no other time in recent
history has adaptability been more important than it is now. Adaptability – the ability to
change (or be changed) to fit new circumstances – is a crucial skill for leaders, and an
important competency in emotional intelligence.

A 2008 study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, entitled Growing Global
Executive Talent, showed that the top three leadership qualities that will be important
over the next five years include: the ability to motivate staff (35 percent); the ability to
work well across cultures (34 percent); and the ability to facilitate change (32 percent).
The least important were technical expertise (11 percent) and "bringing in the numbers"
(10 percent).

As a leader, it is therefore crucial to make a concerted effort to understand people of

different cultures, and cultural adaptability has become a leadership imperative. As an
example, a leader I am currently working with has 22 different cultures represented in
his team!

An example of a leader who epitomizes this prized quality is Robert McDonald, chief
operating officer of the Procter & Gamble Company, who has spent much of the past
two decades in various overseas postings. In a recent interview, he said: "I did not
expect to live outside the United States for 15 years; the world has changed, so I have
had to change, too. When you look at my bio, foreign languages are not my best
subjects. But, when you move out of your culture, you have to learn foreign languages."

This willingness to get out of one’s comfort zone, and learn continuously as a way of
adapting to changed surroundings, marks a key difference between successful and
unsuccessful leaders.

I have just finished reading "Everyday Survival: Why Smart People do Stupid Things" by
Laurence Gonzales, a lecturer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. In the
book, Gonzales talks about the dumb mistakes we make when we work from a mental
script that does not match the requirements of real-world situations.

He explains that one of the reasons this happens has to do with the way that the brain
processes new information. It creates what he calls "behavioral scripts," or mental
models that automate almost every action that we take. For example, growing up, we
build a behavioral script for the physical motions required in tying our shoes. Through
practice, this script is eventually entrenched and it ends up making the action so easy
and automatic that we never give it another thought. Another example of a behavioral
script that we learn is ducking when something is thrown at us. Behavioral scripts
simplify our world, make us more efficient and help us move around faster and with less
effort. They influence not only our actions but also what we perceive and believe.
Gonzales says that "We tend not to notice things that are inconsistent with the models,
and we tend not to try what the scripts tells us is bad or impossible."
The efficiency of these scripts carry with them a downside: they can divert our attention
from important information coming to us from our environment. In other words, the
models or scripts push us to disregard the reality of a situation, and dismiss signals
because the message we get from our scripts is that we already know about it. So we
make decisions about a situation that, as Gonzales puts it "aren’t really decisions in the
real sense of the word. They’re simply automated behaviors."

Mental scripts may also result in stubbornly clinging to the notion that "this is how we
have always done it," refusing to understand and accept the realities of a new situation.
Gonzales quotes Henry Plotkin, a psychologist at University College in London, who
states that we tend to "generalize into the future what worked in the past." So, whatever
worked in the past, do it; whatever didn’t work, avoid it.

This is, of course, the anti-thesis of the quality of being adaptable, of being flexible
under the influence of rapidly changing external conditions. It can make us rigid,
unresponsive to change, and unwilling to learn and adopt new ways, all of which can
have an impact on our ability to survive and succeed in the long run. People who score
high on the adaptability competency are able to deal more positively with change, and
they are able to do what it takes to adapt their approach and shift their priorities.

Here are a few tips for developing adaptability.

 When you catch yourself shooting an idea down, take a moment to consider
what mental scripts you might have developed, which are influencing your
behavior. Mental scripts are so automatic that you have to decide intentionally that
you want to challenge them, if you want to improve your leadership.
 Help your people distinguish between observation and inference, between
fact and conjecture. Inference and conjecture can be influenced by mental
scripts which don’t have a bearing on reality. Be the voice in the room that calls
others’ attention to this possibility, and help everyone pause so that they can
analyze inferences and conjectures that may or may not be valid.
 Do you habitually insist on going "by the book"? Is this necessary for
every issue? Might you enhance your team’s productivity if you paid more
attention to the effect that this might have on the people involved? What would
happen if you applied standard procedures more flexibly?
 Consider that when we push the envelope, when we intentionally put
ourselves in situations that are outside our comfort zone, we grow. Are you
trading on old knowledge? Do you need to update your skills? Are you relying too
much on your title as the sign of authority? In today’s working environment,
surrounded by highly intelligent and specialized knowledge workers, this no longer
works. We need to adapt by continually evolving and reinventing ourselves. In
"Rethinking the Future", Warren Bennis talks about the importance for leaders to
recompose their leadership style and to continue to adapt: "It’s like snakes. What
do snakes do? They molt, they shed their outside skins. But it’s not just that. It’s a
matter of continuing to grow and transform, and it means that executives have to
 have extraordinary adaptability." This applies to every level in the organization:
change or perish.
 When we are in a position for a length of time, we may tend to become
accustomed to the status quo and fail to challenge the process in order to
continue to grow and improve. If you left tomorrow, what would your successor
do to improve things? Consider making these changes yourself.
 In today's environment of complex challenges and rapid change, the ability to
solve problems becomes even more crucial. The Kirton Adaption-Innovation
Inventory (KAI) measures the way people solve problems and make decisions.
Adapters prefer a more adaptable, methodical and organized approach to
problem-solving, and are more likely to seek a solution to a problem by working
within current framework rather than developing a completely new one.
Innovators, on the other hand, prefer a less orderly, more unconventional and
ingenious approach to problem-solving and are likely to seek solutions by thinking
outside the box. One looks to do things better, the other looks to do things
differently. Consider that a team that is composed of extreme adapters or
extreme innovators is less successful than a team that is balanced. If you want
to know where your team is in this dimension, check out the KAI.
 If you want a test to assess your level of adaptability, consider
StrengthsFinder or Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI). The latter tests
adaptability on four scales:
1. Openness to new ideas.
2. Adaptation to situations.
3. Handling of unexpected demands.
4. Adapting or changing strategy.
 To understand what changes you need to make to continue to be successful,
read: What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People
Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith. (Premium members of
the Mind Tools Club can hear our review of Goldsmith’s book in our Book Insight
covering this great title.)

Adaptability is not just a "nice to have competency." It is a competitive advantage for

you, as a leader and for your organization.

So, where does your company stand in terms of adaptability? What do you need to do
to keep up with the pace of change, with the increasing complexity of today’s
workplace? Long ago, Benjamin Franklin said: "Wide will wear, but narrow will tear."
What can you do today to widen your perspective, to stretch the limits imposed, to
extend the scope and meaning of what you do as a leader?
The Power of Trust: A Steel Cable
By Bruna Martinuzzi

A strong tie.

© iStockphoto/Skyak

There's a widely-known psychological study, conducted by Walter Mischel in the 1960s,

which explored delayed gratification in four-year olds. One at a time, children were
seated in front of a marshmallow and the researcher told them that they could eat the
marshmallow right then, but if they waited for the researcher to return from a brief
errand, they would receive a second marshmallow.

Some kids ate the marshmallow within seconds, but others waited up to 20 minutes for
the researcher to return. 14 years later, the researchers found that the children who had
delayed gratification were more trustworthy, more dependable, more self-reliant and
more confident than the children who had not controlled their impulses.

When I recounted this study in a workshop on emotional intelligence, a participant

remarked that he wanted to try this experiment with his own child. I cautioned him,
however, that there is a very important variable to take into account and that is, does
the child trust that there will be a second marshmallow? If previous promises made to
the child were broken, the child may not trust that, this time, the adult will keep a
promise. Trust is largely an emotional act, based on an anticipation of reliance. It is
fragile, and like an egg shell, one slip can shatter it.
Trust pervades nearly every aspect of our daily lives. It is fundamentally important in the
healthy functioning of all of our relationships with others. It is even tied to our wealth: in
a Scientific American article, Dr. Paul J Zak, a neuroeconomist at Claremont Graduate
University, discovered that trust is among the strongest known predictors of a country's
wealth – nations with low levels tend to be poor. According to Dr. Zak, societies with low
levels of trust are poor because the inhabitants undertake too few of the long-term
investments that create jobs and raise incomes. Such investments depend on people
trusting others to fulfill their contractual obligations.

In seeking to understand what was physically going on in the human brain that instilled
trust, he discovered that oxytocin, a hormone and neurotransmitter, increases our
propensity to trust others in the absence of threatening signals. We are indeed wired to
trust each other, but, as Dr. Zak points out, our life experiences may "retune" the
oxytocin to a different "set point", and thus to different levels of trust throughout the
course of life. When we are brought up in a safe, nurturing and caring environment, our
brains release more oxytocin when someone trusts us – resulting in our reciprocating
that trust. By contrast, early experiences of stress, uncertainty and isolation interfere
with the development of a trusting disposition and decrease oxytocin levels.

In today's uncertain climate, it is not surprising that study after study shows a decline in
the trust that individuals have in business and political leaders, and in institutions. The
Edelman Trust Barometer for 2009 found that nearly two out of every three adults
surveyed in 20 countries trust corporations less now than they did a year ago. And a
2004 study by Towers Perrin, shows that only 44% of junior employees (those earning
less than $50,000 per year) trust their employers to tell them the truth. This is an
alarming statistic, especially given how much time, effort and concern are expended in
crafting leadership communications to employees.

Even though we are faced with a crisis in trust, and have ample examples of leaders
who have eroded their employees', customers' and shareholders' trust, I am a firm
believer that the majority of leaders walk the path of trustworthiness. In fact, it can be
harrowing for many leaders if they receive feedback that others don't find them
trustworthy. But being trustworthy, in someone's eyes, is based on their own
perceptions, and may be strongly influenced by the fracture of trust in the world around
them. Indeed, people don't automatically trust leaders these days. Trust needs to be
earned through diligence, fidelity and applied effort.

If lack of trust is an issue which causes you concern, what can you do to manage
perceptions of trust? Here are a few quick tips:

 Monitor your use of "I" in your communications. Do an audit of your

emails, for example, and see how frequently you use "I" as opposed to "we". Peter
Drucker said: "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."
 View promises you make as an unpaid debt.
 Keep talking about what matters. 60% of respondents in the Edelman
Barometer of Trust said they need to hear a company message three to five times
before they believe it. Lewis Carol knew this when he said: "What I tell you three
times is true."
 Your reputation is like a brand. Manage your brand, what you want to be
known for, as diligently as Nike or Volvo manage theirs. Brand is trust.
 Be known as a truth teller in your organization. A leader I coached recently
mentioned to me that, before an impending merger, he was troubled by
employees asking for information that he couldn't disclose at that time. What do
you do in such a situation to preserve the trust you have with your people, while
honoring the confidentiality of sensitive information? An honest compromise would
be to share what you can (there is usually something we can share) and to add:
"This is all I can share right now." This preserves trust, as your people know that
you did not lie, and, they understand that even though you have more information,
strategic imperatives prevent you from sharing it just then.
 Earn the trust of your customers by insisting that everyone observes the
"five pillars of trust":
1. Keep your promises.
2. Be willing to help.
3. Treat customers as individuals.
4. Make it easy for customers to do business with you.
5. Ensure that all physical aspects of your product or service give a
favorable impression. (Source: Winning Customers, by 1000 Ventures.)
 As much as this is hard to do, don't try to lead through email. Get out
from beneath your desk periodically, and have "face time" with people. The more
time you spend with people, the more the level of trust increases. If you are
leading virtual teams, pick up the phone more often.
 Do you manage your moods or do people experience you as agreeable one
day and confrontational the next? Predictability engenders trust.
 Are the corporate stories you tell consistent or do they vary depending
on who you are speaking to? It's so easy to get caught up in the moment and
exaggerate claims. Even though your intentions may be harmless, these little slips
chip away at trust, because people don't judge us by our intentions.
 Do you make people feel safe? Fear and trust are mutually exclusive. Most
leaders would be shocked to find out that, in many cases, people fear them. As a
leader, you have a lot of power: the power to hire, fire, promote and demote; the
power to assign or withdraw choice assignments and perks; and the power to give
or withhold recognition.
 Against the current backdrop of unemployment and a failing economy,
people's fears can be magnified. An empathetic leader senses this and devotes
effort and time to make people feel safe. Empathy involves understanding others'
anxiety and making a genuine effort to reduce it.

Organizations typically spend considerable energy and effort in team building initiatives,
including workshops, retreats, and adventure type experiences. While all of these have
their place, if organizations want to increase collaboration and enhance teamwork, they
need to start with trust. It's the benchmark of healthy team relationships, it's a very
simple process. It's all about individual behaviors. Do individuals behave in a
trustworthy manner or not? There is only a pass or fail here.

And what are these behaviors? We all instinctively know them, but sometimes we need
to remind ourselves of what they are. Ask yourself:

 Do I share information that I know is helpful to others, or do I withhold it?

 Do I treat everyone with kindness and compassion.
 Do I try to do good in my dealings with others?
 Do I follow through on my commitments, even if it is at considerable personal
expense?
 Do I seize opportunities to encourage others?
 Am I just as happy about others' achievements as I am of my own?
 Do I consistently strive to deliver great work?
 Is "candid" a quality people would readily attribute to me?

Trust is power. It's the power to inspire and influence. It's the glue that bonds us to each
other, that strengthens relationships and turns threads of connections into steel cables.
Like four-year olds trusting that there will be a second marshmallow, can your people
trust that your word is your bond?
Optimism
The hidden asset

© iStockphoto/hidesy

Among the topics that young people study before they enter the workforce is calculus,
the mathematics of change and motion. While training in calculus is undoubtedly
valuable, I believe that training in optimism is also important.

Just as it is good discipline to solve problems like the velocity of a car at a certain
moment in time, it is also crucial to figure out what drives people to give us the very best
that they have to offer. Ironically, Leibniz, one of the inventors of calculus, is also known
for his philosophy of optimism. He was considered to be an inveterate optimist,
asserting that we live "in the best of all possible worlds". Optimism is an emotional
competence that can help boost productivity, enhance employee morale, overcome
conflict and have a positive impact on the bottom line.

In writing about optimism, you face the danger of being seen as advocating a
"Pollyanna" or quixotic approach. The truth is, however, optimism has been proven to
be a powerful tool that will pay dividends for your personal life and give you a
competitive advantage professionally in your career. There is a lot to be gained, indeed,
in cultivating an optimistic outlook.

Take leadership, for example. Nowhere is optimism more important than in leading
organizations. Highly effective leaders have a transforming effect on their constituents:
they have the gift of being able to convince others that they have the ability to achieve
levels of performance beyond those they thought possible. They are able to paint an
optimistic and attainable view of the future for their followers: They move others from
being stuck with "how things are done around here" and help them see "how things
could be done better".
In The Leadership Advantage, an essay from the Drucker Foundation's Leader to
Leader Guide, Warren Bennis tells us that optimism is one of the key things people
need from their leaders in order to achieve positive results. Every "exemplary leader
that I have met," writes Bennis, "has what seems to be an unwarranted degree of
optimism – and that helps generate the energy and commitment necessary to achieve
results."

Consider, as well, the reverse: the effect that pessimistic individuals can have on an
organization's creativity and innovation. To be innovative, you need to be open to new
ideas, wide open to seeing possibilities, willing to take risks and encourage others to
take risks – willing to challenge the process in order to create new solutions or products
or improve processes. In short, you need to have a sense of adventure and an
expectation of success. Those who have a pessimistic outlook typically approach
changes to the status quo with the familiar: "We tried this before", "It won't work", or "It
will never fly". Such individuals often label themselves as "devil's advocate". How can
someone who has a pessimistic outlook embrace change over the safety of the known?

There are other areas which are impacted positively by optimism. Take sales, for
example: A study shows that new sales personnel at Metropolitan Life who scored high
on a test on optimism sold 37 percent more life insurance in their first two years than
pessimists (Seligman, 1990). In another study involving debt collectors in a large
collection agency, the most successful collectors had significantly higher scores in the
area of self-actualization, independence and optimism. (Bachman et al, 2000, cited by
Cary Cherniss.)

Perhaps more significant are the countless studies that have shown that people with an
optimistic outlook have healthier relationships, enjoy better mental and physical health
and live longer. In The Wisdom of the Ego, Dr George E Vaillant, Professor of
Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, writes about individuals who have "both the
capacity to be bent without breaking and the capacity, once bent, to spring back".
Vaillant mentions that, in addition to external sources of resilience (such as good health
or social supports), these individuals have important internal sources which include a
healthy self-esteem and optimism.

These coping mechanisms are fully explored in Dr Valliant's subsequent book: Aging
Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life, a truly fascinating study that will be
particularly interesting to fellow boomers. This is a compendium of three studies
involving over 800 individuals, men and women, rich and poor, who were followed for
more than 50 years, from adolescence to old age. In it, we discover that one of the most
powerful predictors of successful aging is habitually using mature coping mechanisms
or defenses, what Vaillant calls the ability to "make lemonade out of life's lemons."
Vaillant's study discovered five of these coping mechanisms: Altruism (doing for others
what they need, not what we want to do for them); Sublimation (diverting energy to
more constructive pursuits such as creativity, art, sports); Suppression (postponement
of stressors, not repression); Humor and anticipation. Anticipation is realistic, hopeful
planning for the future. This means not operating in a pessimistic crisis mode but
preparing and adapting for whatever life brings.

So how do you recognize an optimist? Alan Loy McGinnis, author of The Power of
Optimism, studied the biographies of over 1000 famous people, and isolated 12
characteristics of the optimistic personality. Among these is: "Optimists look for partial
solutions", that is, freed from the tyranny of perfectionism and from paralysis by
analysis, they are open to taking small steps towards achieving success.

Another characteristic of those who have an optimistic nature is: "Optimists use their
imagination to rehearse success", in other words, they play positive mental videos of
preferred outcomes, much like sports figures do. Michael Jordan, for example, once
stated that he never plays a game that he hasn't first visualized. Another trait is that
"Optimists think that they have great capacity for stretching" – they believe that their
personal best is yet to come.

Dr Martin E Seligman, the modern scholar most often associated with studying the traits
of optimists, and former president of the American Psychological Association and
Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, has devoted decades to
studying optimistic people and reports three traits that they have in common: They view
adversity in their lives as temporary, specific and external, that is, not entirely their fault,
as opposed to pessimists who view adversity as unchangeable, pervasive, and more
personal. In the face of setbacks, challenges or difficult jobs, pessimist are more likely
to do worse than predicted and even give up, while optimists will persevere.

Optimism, therefore, is also an important component of achievement, and is especially

important in times of chaos, change and turbulence. Those who have an optimistic
outlook will roll with the punches, will be more proactive and persistent and will not
abandon hope.

So, where does optimism come from? Is it something we are born with or is it learned?
For some lucky individuals, being optimistic comes naturally. The good news is that, for
those who don't have it naturally, optimism is an attitude that can be learned and
practiced. Here are some strategies you can consider in your journey to becoming more
optimistic or in helping someone else who suffers from pessimism:

1. Avoid negative environments. If this is not realistic, make every effort to

seek the company of positive individuals in your organization. Sometimes this
may mean fraternizing with peers in other departments. Stay away from the
professional complainer.
2. Celebrate your strengths. The key to high achievement and happiness is to
play out your strengths, not correct your weaknesses. Focus on what you do well.
(If you are not sure what your signature strengths are, consider reading Now
Discover Your Strengths which includes a web-based questionnaire that helps
you discover your own top-five inborn talents.)
3. Take care of your spiritual and emotional well being by reading
inspirational material on a daily basis. This may be different for each person.
Some may be inspired by daily quotations, others by reading biographies of
successful people in their field and yet others may derive inspiration from reading
about all the innovations that we are graced with. A useful website for this is the
World Future Society, which keeps up with new inventions.
4. Manage or ignore what you cannot change. When faced with setbacks,
identify what you can change and proactively try to find ways to do something
about it. We have often heard this advice – it bears repeating. Be inspired by
Benjamin Franklin's words: "While we may not be able to control all that happens
to us, we can control what happens inside us."
5. Learn to reframe. This involved deliberately shifting perspective and looking
for the hidden positive in a negative situation: the proverbial silver lining. Look for
the gift in the adversity.
6. If you are serious about developing greater optimism, there is no better book
than Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Dr
Martin E Seligman. Learn Dr Seligman's ABCDE model for disputing pessimistic
thoughts. This is a very useful and powerful tool to help you change the way you
explain events that trouble you from optimistic to pessimistic. Click here for our
Book Insight on Learned Optimism.
6. Adapt your language and outlook. Consider how a simple shift in the
language you use can make a difference in your outlook: Do you frequently say:
"yes, but...." in response to your constituents' suggestions? The "but"
automatically negates anything you have said in the beginning part of the
sentence. A simple shift to "yes, and..." might make a positive difference. Check
the emails you have sent recently. Count the proportion of negative to positive
words. It could be enlightening.
7. Become aware of your stance in business meetings. Are you known as the
"devil's advocate", the one who is quick to shoot down others' ideas? Jumping in
too quickly to negate an idea can derail the creative process. Often valuable ideas
are the result of an initial "crazy" thought. At meetings, even when we don't have
the floor, we are under a magnifying glass. Practice being more upbeat, practice
speaking last, and see what happens.
7. Focus outside yourself, on important people in your life, on pursuits and
projects that fire you up. Bertrand Russell once said that the quickest way to make
ourselves miserable is to continually focus on ourselves. It was his love of
mathematics that kept him going.
8. Nurture a culture of optimism when you are in charge of other people at
work. Expect people to succeed. Even when they occasionally fail to achieve what
they set out to do, encourage them so that they can tackle the next challenge. A
simple: "I know you'll do better the next time" can have very positive effects.
9. Cultivate spontaneity. Consider putting aside all your plans once in a while to
take a walk with your kids, play a game or catch a show. Getting out of your
comfort zone by being spontaneous helps to develop your optimistic muscle, as
 spontaneity essentially involves an expectation of having a pleasurable
experience.
10. Consider the health benefits. If you need an extra motivation for practicing
optimism, consider the statistics linking optimism to greater health. As Dr
Seligman explains, there is evidence to believe that immune systems among
optimistic people are stronger than among pessimists.

This paper would not be balanced if we did not address the benefits of pessimism.
Pessimists, as Seligman explains, may be more realistic and accurate about dangers
and risks. At times, when there is a risk of serious negative consequences, a cautious,
risk-avoiding evaluation is appropriate and desirable. But the positive effects of being
optimistic – fighting depression, aiding in professional, academic and sports
achievement, and boosting mental and physical health – outweigh the benefits of being
a career pessimist. The answer then is, as Seligman explains, "flexible optimism", i.e.
having the wisdom to assess situations and identify those that require a pessimistic
inquisition, and those that call for optimism, for having a "can do" attitude" and taking a
chance. Winston Churchill had a reason for saying: "A pessimist sees the difficulty in
every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Practice seeing
the opportunity.
What's Empathy Got to Do With It?

© iStockphoto/EasyBuy4u

A few weeks ago, I came across a bumper sticker that said: "I am not good at empathy.
Will you settle for sarcasm?" The humor in the bumper sticker led me to think of the
slight unease or self-conscious discomfort that many people feel when a term such as
"empathy" is introduced in a business environment. Notions of "touchy-feely," spring to
mind.

While empathy is a right brain activity, it is far from being a touchy-feely topic. At its
core, empathy is the oil that keeps relationships running smoothly. The fact that
empathy is an important component of effective relationships has been proven: In
studies by Dr Antonio Damasio (outlined in his book: "Descartes' Error: Emotion,
Reason, and the Human Brain."), medical patients who had damage to part of the
brain associated with empathy showed significant deficits in relationship skills, even
though their reasoning and learning abilities remained intact.

Indeed, empathy is valued currency. It allows us to create bonds of trust, it gives us

insights into what others may be feeling or thinking; it helps us understand how or why
others are reacting to situations, it sharpens our "people acumen" and informs our
decisions.

A formal definition of Empathy is the ability to identify and understand another's

situation, feelings and motives. It's our capacity to recognize the concerns other people
have. Empathy means: "putting yourself in the other person's shoes" or "seeing things
through someone else's eyes."

There are numerous studies that link empathy to business results. They include studies
that correlate empathy with increased sales, with the performance of the best managers
of product development teams and with enhanced performance in an increasingly
diverse workforce. A few of these studies can be viewed on the site of The Consortium
for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations.
Yes, increasingly, the topic of empathy is encroaching on the business world. We are
now even seeing terms such as "empathy marketing" and "empathy selling." Not long
ago, I came across the term "user empathy," referring to user interface.

Along those lines, in his book, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age
to the Conceptual Age, Daniel Pink predicts that power will reside with those who have
strong right-brain (interpersonal) qualities. He cites three forces that are causing this
change: Abundance, Asia, and Automation. "Abundance" refers to our increasing
demand for products or services that are aesthetically pleasing; "Asia" refers to the
growing trend of outsourcing; "Automation" is self-explanatory. In order to compete in
the new economy market, Pink suggests six areas that are vital to our success. One of
which is Empathy; the ability to imagine yourself in someone else's position, to imagine
what they are feeling, to understand what makes people tick, to create relationships and
to be caring of others: All of which is very difficult to outsource or automate, and yet is
increasingly important to business.

Empathy is also particularly critical to leadership development in this age of young,

independent, highly marketable and mobile workers. In a popular Harvard Business
Review article entitled "What Makes a Leader?", Dr Daniel Goleman isolates three
reasons for why empathy is so important: the increasing use of teams, (which he refers
to as "cauldrons of bubbling emotions"), the rapid pace of globalization (with cross
cultural communication easily leading to misunderstandings) and the growing need to
retain talent. "Leaders with empathy," states Goleman, "do more than sympathize with
people around them: they use their knowledge to improve their companies in subtle, but
important ways." This doesn't mean that they agree with everyone's view or try to
please everybody. Rather, they "thoughtfully consider employees' feelings – along with
other factors – in the process of making intelligent decisions."

Empathy, then, is an ability that is well-worth cultivating. It's a soft, sometimes abstract
tool in a leader's toolkit that can lead to hard, tangible results. But where does empathy
come from? Is it a process of thinking or of emotion? From my perspective, I believe
that it is both: We need to use our reasoning ability to understand another person's
thoughts, feelings, reactions, concerns, motives. This means truly making an effort to
stop and think for a moment about the other person's perspective in order to begin to
understand where they are coming from: And then we need the emotional capacity to
care for that person's concern; Caring does not mean that we would always agree with
the person, that we would change our position, but it does mean that we would be in
tune with what that person is going through, so that we can respond in a manner that
acknowledges their thoughts, feelings or concerns.

So this leads me to a question that I am sometimes asked: "Can you teach someone to
be empathetic?" We all know some people who are naturally and consistently
empathetic – these are the people who can easily forge positive connections with
others. They are people who use empathy to engender trust and build bonds; they are
catalysts who are able to create positive communities for the greater good. But even if
empathy does not come naturally to some of us, I firmly believe that we can develop this
capacity.

Here are a few practical tips you might consider to help you do this:

1. Listen – truly listen to people. Listen with your ears, eyes and heart. Pay
attention to others' body language, to their tone of voice, to the hidden emotions
behind what they are saying to you, and to the context.
2. Don't interrupt people. Don't dismiss their concerns offhand. Don't rush to give
advice. Don't change the subject. Allow people their moment.
3. Tune in to non-verbal communication. This is the way that people often
communicate what they think or feel, even when their verbal communication says
something quite different.
4. Practice the "93 percent rule". We know from a famous study by Professor
Emeritus, Albert Mehrabian of UCLA, when communicating about feelings and
attitudes, words – the things we say – account for only 7 percent of the total
message that people receive. The other 93 percent of the message that we
communicate when we speak is contained in our tone of voice and body
language. It's important, then, to spend some time to understand how we come
across when we communicate with others about our feelings and attitudes.
5. Use people's name. Also remember the names of people's spouse and
children so that you can refer to them by name.
6. Be fully present when you are with people. Don't check your email, look at your
watch or take phone calls when a direct report drops into your office to talk to you.
Put yourself in their shoes. How would you feel if your boss did that to you?
7. Smile at people.
8. Encourage people, particularly the quiet ones, when they speak up in
meetings. A simple thing like an attentive nod can boost people's confidence.
9. Give genuine recognition and praise. Pay attention to what people are doing
and catch them doing the right things. When you give praise, spend a little effort
to make your genuine words memorable: "You are an asset to this team
because..."; "This was pure genius"; "I would have missed this if you hadn't picked
it up."
10. Take a personal interest in people. Show people that you care, and genuine
curiosity about their lives. Ask them questions about their hobbies, their
challenges, their families, their aspirations.

Empathy is an emotional and thinking muscle that becomes stronger the more we use
it. Try some of these suggestions and watch the reactions of those you work with. I
believe you will notice some positive results.

Years ago, I had come across a saying that went something like this: the measure of a
man [or woman], is how they treat someone who is of absolutely no use to them.
Empathy should not be selective: It should be a daily habit. If I were to create a bumper
sticker, I would say: "Empathy: Don't Leave Home Without It!"

Humility
The most beautiful word in the English language

© iStockphoto/OGphoto

Many years ago, one of my university professors mentioned that "windowsill" was voted
the most beautiful word in the English language. Being an armchair linguist, this factoid
naturally stayed with me. Words have enormous power. They can make us erupt into
laughter or bring tears to our eyes. They can influence, inspire, manipulate and shock.
They can build and destroy. Some words have different effects on different people. One
such word is humility. It is one of those words that are seldom in neutral gear. Some,
like me, love the word and all it stands for. Some almost fear it and interpret it
synonymously with lack of self-confidence or timidity.

The dictionary defines humility as modesty, lacking pretence, not believing that you are
superior to others. An ancillary definition includes: "Having a lowly opinion of oneself,
meekness". The word "humility" first struck me in the context of leadership when Jim
Collins mentioned it in his seminal work Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make
the Leap... and Others Don't. In this book, Collins examined companies that went from
good to great by sustaining 15-year cumulative stock returns at or below the general
stock market, and after a transition point, cumulative returns at least three times the
market over the next 15 years.
Among the many characteristics that distinguished these companies from others is that
they all had a Level 5 leader. Level 5 leaders direct their ego away from themselves to
the larger goal of leading their company to greatness. These leaders are a complex,
paradoxical mix of intense professional will and extreme personal humility. They will
create superb results but shun public adulation, and are never boastful. They are
described as modest. An example of such a leader who epitomized humility is David
Packard, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, who, in Jim Collins' words, defined himself
as a HP man first and a CEO second. He was a man of the people, practicing
management by walking around. Shunning all manner of publicity, Packard is quoted as
saying: "You shouldn't gloat about anything you've done; you ought to keep going and
find something better to do."

Another great leader is Patrick Daniel, CEO of North American energy and pipeline
company Enbridge, who espouses two leadership attributes: determination to create
results and humility, shifting the focus away from himself and continually recognizing the
contributions of others. "I have learned through the lives of great leaders," he said, "that
greatness comes from humility and being at times, self-effacing."

Clearly these leaders, and many others like them, don't espouse the meaning of humility
as "meek". On the contrary, it is a source of their strength. But the notion of being self-
effacing is one that we struggle with in our competitive culture, prescribing that we take
every opportunity to toot our own horn, and that we don't dare leave the house without
our dynamic elevator speech all rehearsed.

We often confuse humility with timidity. Humility is not clothing ourselves in an attitude
of self-abasement or self-denigration. Humility is all about maintaining our pride about
who we are, about our achievements, about our worth – but without arrogance – it is the
antithesis of hubris, that excessive, arrogant pride which often leads to the derailment of
some corporate heroes, as it does with the downfall of the tragic hero in Greek drama.
It's about a quiet confidence without the need for a meretricious selling of our wares. It's
about being content to let others discover the layers of our talents without having to
boast about them. It's a lack of arrogance, not a lack of aggressiveness in the pursuit of
achievement.

An interesting dichotomy is that, often, the higher people rise, the more they have
accomplished, the higher the humility index. Those who achieve the most brag the
least, and the more secure they are in themselves, the more humble they are. "True
merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes". (Edward Frederick Halifax).
We have all come across people like that and feel admiration for them.

There is also an understated humility of every day people we work with who have the
ability to get the job done without drawing attention to themselves. Witness the
employee who is working at his computer into the late hours, purely motivated by a
keen sense of duty, the executive assistant who stays after 5:30pm on a Friday night in
an empty office to await a courier, or the manager who quietly cancels an important
personal event to fly out of town to attend to the company's business. This is akin to the
philanthropist who gives an anonymous donation.

Humility is also a meta-virtue. It crosses into an array of principles. For example, we can
safely declare that there cannot be authenticity without humility. Why? Because, there is
always a time in a leader's journey when one will be in a situation of not having all the
answers. Admitting this and seeking others' input requires some humility.

Another mark of a leader who practices humility is his or her treatment of others. Such
leaders treat everyone with respect regardless of position. Years ago, I came across
this reference: the sign of a gentleman is how he treats those who can be of absolutely
no use to him.

Something interesting happens, too, when we approach situations from a perspective of

humility: it opens us up to possibilities, as we choose open-mindedness and curiosity
over protecting our point of view. We spend more time in that wonderful space of the
beginner's mind, willing to learn from what others have to offer. We move away from
pushing into allowing, from insecure to secure, from seeking approval to seeking
enlightenment. We forget about being perfect and we enjoy being in the moment.

Here are a few suggestions on practicing humility:

1. There are times when swallowing one's pride is particularly difficult and any
intentions of humility fly out the window, as we get engaged in a contest of
perfection, each side seeking to look good. If you find yourself in such no-win
situations, consider developing some strategies to ensure that the circumstances
don't lead you to lose your grace. Try this sometimes: just stop talking and allow
the other person to be in the limelight. There is something very liberating in this
strategy.
2. Here are three magical words that will produce more peace of mind than a
week at an expensive retreat: "You are right."
3. Catch yourself if you benignly slip into over preaching or coaching without
permission – is zeal to impose your point of view overtaking discretion? Is your
correction of others reflective of your own needs?
4. Seek others' input on how you are showing up in your leadership path. Ask:
"How am I doing?" It takes humility to ask such a question. And even more
humility to consider the answer.
5. Encourage the practice of humility in your company through your own
example: every time you share credit for successes with others, you reinforce the
ethos for your constituents. Consider mentoring or coaching emerging leaders on
this key attribute of leadership.

There are many benefits to practicing humility, to being in a state of non-pretence: it

improves relationships across all levels, it reduces anxiety, it encourages more
openness and paradoxically, it enhances one's self-confidence. It opens a window to a
higher self. For me, it replaces "windowsill" as the most beautiful word in the English
language.

The Talisman of Leadership - Authenticity

By Bruna Martinuzzi

Transparent communication is the hallmark of an authentic leader.

© iStockphoto/Zemdega

"I have come to realize that, for me at least, the quest for 'authenticity' is really a new
spin on an age-old quest to find meaning and do the right thing. It's a journey not a
destination; a process not an answer." - Hugh Mason

Some time ago, I heard a young woman say, "I am enough." I was struck and intrigued
by the expression, and so I set out to research it. It originated with Carl Rogers, the
psychotherapist, who was asked how he did what he did so successfully. His response
was, "Before a session with a client, I let myself know that 'I am enough.' Not perfect –
because perfect wouldn't be enough. But I am human, and there is nothing that this
client can say or do or feel that I cannot feel in myself. I can be with them. I am enough."

This echoes the serenity of mind, the calm spirit that characterizes a 'Mensch' – in other
words, a person of integrity, a quality that is defined in the dictionary as 'a state of being
complete or undivided.' Leaders such as these are the epitome of authenticity. They
come from the standpoint of being enough, of seeing themselves as complete human
beings, providing a unique contribution to the world by giving their own brand of
wisdom, ingenuity, perceptiveness, fairness, and fierce loyalty to their organizations,
and to those they lead.
Authentic leaders are also promise-keepers. This applies to even the smallest of
promises. Years ago, I met the CEO of a Fortune 500 organization. I noticed something
about him. He carried with him a small, black notebook into which he noted down any
promise he made. No matter how junior the person was to whom he spoke, he made
the same effort to note down his promises to that person so that he could follow
through. We can rely on the word of such a person.

Transparent communication is a by-product of authentic leaders' lucid thinking and

uncompromising ethic. Such leaders say a great deal with a few words, and there is no
communication gap between their internal vision of the world and its outward
expression. There is directness in their language. This transparency in communication
is the holy grail of leadership, especially today – with a reported four million blogs in the
blogosphere – where a lack of transparency can be particularly detrimental to an
organization.

Conformity smoothes our day's journey at work. Blind conformity, however, has its
downsides. It saps creativity, for one. It removes all sense of individuality. If you are a
leader who demands conformity, I encourage you to think how this might erode your
constituents' authenticity as they are pressured to conform. I once worked for a leader in
a technology company, who adopted, as part of the company values, the notion of
'intelligent disobedience.' The concept comes from Seeing Eye dogs. While dogs must
learn to obey the commands of the blind person, they must also know when they need
to disobey commands that can put the owner in harm's way, such as when a car is
approaching. Intelligent disobedience is not about being difficult and disobeying for
disobedience sake. Rather, it is about being given the authority to use your judgment –
for example, when a decision no longer applies, or when a rule interferes with the
wellbeing of the customer.

Much has been written about 'CEO disease' – a term that describes the isolation that
surrounds a leader when constituents are reluctant to bring bad news or worst-case
scenarios to them, for fear that such disclosure might trigger a shoot-the-messenger
reaction. Establish a culture that values openness – a literal, not only figurative, open-
door policy. Make it safe for staff to stick their neck out. Consider instituting 'Giraffe
Awards' to encourage people to stick their necks out for the overall good of the
company and its stakeholders.

A fallout of working for, or being associated with, an inauthentic leader is that this
person robs us of our own authenticity as we tread carefully around them. We focus on
what keeps us safe in our jobs. In the process they don't get the best out of us – they
get our labor, but not our full engagement – that X factor that divides high performance
from minimum acceptable standards. We all know too well that high engagement is one
of the keys to building a high-performance, sustainable organization in today's
competitive environment. There are many ways to foster that engagement in
organizations – one of them is to take a close look at the quality of the leader. Do
people feel that the leader is who he or she says they are? Are people convinced that
the leader has no hidden agenda, and that the person genuinely cares for them? All of
these factors affect engagement and the bottom line. Lack of authenticity in a leader
carries a hefty price tag.

A test of our veracity as leaders is the annual or semi-annual performance reviews.

More animosity and erosion of trust has been unnecessarily generated through the
dreaded performance reviews than through any other HR process. Before you write the
first word, sit back and see that person as a real human being. It is very difficult to
capture the sum totality of an individual in a form. A few decades ago, a leader to whom
I reported, and for whom I had great respect, reviewed my performance and wrote
'rarely, if ever late' as the rating for my attendance. When I pointed out that, in fact, I
was never late, he said that he couldn't write that, as this might be perceived by head
office as the 'halo effect' because 'no one is never late,' and that this would cast doubt
on the veracity of all the other comments in the performance reviews. If you are unsure
how to rate someone because you have not had a chance to observe them in a certain
behavior, level with them, and ask their help in rating that particular aspect of their
performance instead of guessing. Watch the level of trust soar with that individual.

Leadership is difficult work, and it can be easy to stray from who we are at the core in
order to satisfy business imperatives. Being totally authentic may present particular
challenges in today's highly competitive environments where, for example, proprietary
knowledge needs to be closely guarded, or where news of impending layoffs needs to
be managed in order to avoid losing key staff. We can be unwittingly mired in politics.
We sometimes find ourselves in situations where we need to look over our shoulders
continuously to protect ourselves. We cannot always trust that others are genuine with
us. Even when we strive to do our very best, others will sometimes betray us. Much
happens in the course of our careers as we climb the achievement ladder. We can
sometimes, slowly and imperceptibly, wander off from our authentic selves. Despite all
of this, we need to make every effort to stay true to who we are. As Howard Thurman
eloquently said, "Find the grain in your own wood."

Here are what I call the 'leaves' of authenticity:

1. Living your values as a leader every day is an important key component of

authentic leadership. However, you need to examine these values periodically to
consider their validity in today's environment. Work-life balance, for example, is no
longer a perk – it may be an essential requirement for attracting the best minds to
your organization.
2. Are you in the habit of making hasty promises that you know from past
experience you are unable to keep? Think back on what promises you made, to
whom, and see if you can fulfill some of these.
3. There is a real freedom when we shed all affectation. Are there times in your
life when you see yourself being forced to put on a show to make an impression
on others? Resolve to stop that, once and for all. Watch yourself soar when you
are unencumbered by the weight of pretense. Tell yourself, "I am enough" – and
mean it.
4. Straight talk, self-confidence, and simplicity – these are the building blocks of
substance; the triumph over image. Think about how you can make these a daily
habit.
5. Are there areas in your life where you might lack consistency without intending
to? For example, are you kind to some people, but not to others? Are you
completely truthful in some circumstances, but not in others? What does this
insight tell you?
6. Start collecting personal stories that you can use to illustrate important aspects
of your leadership style, such as, what motivates you to lead; what your
philosophy of leading is; and who you are as a person. Personal stories are the
most effective form of storytelling for leaders.
7. Adversity reveals our true character. Consider your conduct when things go
wrong. Remind yourself that, as a leader, you are continuously under a looking
glass. People want to be inspired by you.
8. When you are given a script you didn't write for a presentation that you have to
deliver, spend extra time to make the words your own. Purge your presentations
of inadvertently inflated language, which often ends with others questioning your
authenticity as a speaker. For example, replace the words 'eating establishments'
with 'restaurants', 'learning environments' with 'schools' or 'universities',
'expeditious' with 'efficient.' Take inspiration from Winston Churchill, who said,
"Speak in short, homely words of common usage."
9. Are you forced to live in disharmony between who you are and what you do?
Have you turned a deaf ear to the whispers of your heart? Resolve today to take
action to start the journey back to finding yourself, to reconnecting with your
passions and values. If this is not possible for you because of restrictions in your
current circumstance, think about small compromises that you can start making
right now to be more in a state of harmony.
10. If you are an emergent leader, comfortable with seeking approval before
making any decisions, develop a plan to start practicing self-reliance. Start with
smaller-scale decisions, and progressively move on to more significant ones. Only
when you free yourself from the need to have others' approval can you truly start
to evolve into the authentic leader you were meant to be.

"I Swear by Apollo"

Being accountable to yourself in leadership
 © iStockphoto

"I swear by Apollo"... so starts the Oath of Hippocrates, an oath of ethical, professional
behavior sworn by all new physicians – a promise to practice good medicine to the best
of their ability, for the good of their patients. It essentially boils down to a commitment to
"do no harm". Wouldn't it be great to have such an oath for leaders – an oath of
personal accountability, not just for business outcomes and for leading others, but for
leading oneself. I am reminded of the proverb "Physician, heal thyself", suggesting that
one should take care of one's own faults first before correcting the faults of others – so I
add to the above: Leader, lead thyself.

Any nuts-and-bolts leadership primer will explain that one of the key leadership
competencies is holding others accountable. This entails, among other things, setting
clear expectations and guidelines, clearly communicating goals and objectives,
following up to ensure fulfillment of responsibilities, providing feedback on performance,
coaching those whose performance is not up to par and, finally, taking any necessary
corrective action. But a leader cannot expect to hold others accountable successfully if
they are not holding themselves accountable first.

While this is an important dimension of leadership, it is easy to slip, when it comes to

accountability for our own behavior. This can happen even to leaders who do a great
job at holding themselves accountable for the big ticket items such as driving for results,
whether in sales, operations, marketing or financing, identifying root causes for
business problems, developing a vision and strategy and managing resources
effectively.

Let's clarify something before we proceed: no leader worth his salt wakes up in the
morning deciding that he or she is not going to be accountable today. No one wants to
do a bad job. But things happen during the course of the day that can divert the best of
us from our good intentions and more often than not, it is unintentional, personal "slips".
It is about these seemingly innocuous personal slips that I want to talk. They take many,
subtle forms. Let's explore a few of the garden-variety ones:
 You have a chronic problem employee but you don't make the tough decision
to let the individual go, because you want to be a nice person. Instead, after much
deliberation and agony, you decide to transfer the person to another department –
essentially moving the problem to another part of the company and hoping it goes
away. Deep down, your intuition is whispering to you that the problem has not
been solved but, in your elation at having found the solution to a nagging problem,
you hush your intuition. You come to the office the next day, with a spring in your
step and a song in your heart – relieved at having shed a burden.
 A senior member of your team has a habit of treating less influential ones very
poorly in meetings, interrupting them, discounting their contributions and generally
exhibiting poster-like bad behavior. It mortifies the recipients, embarrasses other
team members and even bothers you. Again, though, because you value harmony
and hate confrontation of any kind, you choose to ignore the offending behavior
and hope that it will stop on its own. The fact that the perpetuator is an
aggressive, high achiever, successfully delivering results, makes it even harder
for you to step up and do something.
 You have just announced the company's drastic cost cutting measures and
asked for everyone in your department to cooperate by eliminating all
discretionary spending. You delivered a genuinely inspiring speech to your team
and everyone is on board to make this work. Two days later, employees see a
$1,000 chair delivered to your office – an earlier purchase you had genuinely
forgotten to cancel. Others, of course, don't judge us by our intentions – they only
have the appearance of events to judge you by.
 A mistake was made, the ownership of which falls on several shoulders
including yours. Driven by the anxiety and chaos that ensues, you minimize your
role in the fracas, and even unwittingly suffer from temporary corporate amnesia,
forgetting that you were fully briefed in advance. You set out to find a scapegoat,
genuinely convincing yourself that it is surely their fault. This can easily happen in
times of stress because, as a leader, you handle dozens of issues on a daily
basis. However, others involved only handle a few issues and remember the
course of events with laser-like precision.

Well, the list can go on. Some slips are due to personality preferences, others just from
the sheer amount of work and stress that leaders often experience. The reasons are
multiple and really not important. It's the behaviors that are important.

They are all examples of behaviors you would not condone in others when you set out
to hold them accountable. And as we all know, when there is a disparity between what
you tell others to do and what you do yourself, people will believe your actions and not
your words. The fallout of this scenario is an erosion of trust, one of the high prices we
pay for lack of self-accountability.

Let's also not neglect to mention that, as a leader, you sometimes have to take
unpopular decisions and this can, by itself, elicit criticism. You are always in a fishbowl.
So what strategies can you adopt to be more careful, to be self-accountable –
essentially to report to yourself?

1. Just as companies are rightfully concerned about how they are viewed by
customers or shareholders, consider taking time to reflect on how your actions are
viewed by all stakeholders: your direct reports, your peers, your clients. Go
through a formal 360° Leadership Assessment process or simply get hold of a
leadership assessment form and use it to reflect on how others in your team
would rate you on each dimension.
2. For example: Puts the interests of the team before own interests; Shares credit
for successes; Readily shares relevant information; Asks how am I doing; Treats
others with respect regardless of their position; Fosters teamwork across all
departments; Stands behind decisions made by the team; Provides honest
feedback in a timely basis. Would others respond in this way about you?
2. At the end of each day, when you clear your desk before you head home, take
a few short minutes to mentally go over your day. Think about significant
conversations you held, meetings you attended, emails you sent and other actions
you undertook.
3. Are you proud? Could you have done better? This will inspire you to plan your
next day around your highest purpose. Getting into this habit of introspection will
pay dividends in the long run.
3. Decide to hold yourself accountable for developing other leaders. By
mentoring a protégé to enhance their personal and professional growth, you
strengthen your own leadership skills and reinforce your determination to be self-
accountable as you become the model.
4. When something goes wrong, look inwardly for solutions. It is especially in
difficult times that our self-accountability is challenged. Martin Luther King said it
poignantly: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and
controversy."
5. When a mistake is made, do you ask: "Whose fault is it?" or do you say: "What
can we learn from this?" or "What can I do to improve this situation?"
6. To that end, consider reading John G. Miller's book: QBQ! The Question
behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life.
Reading the book inspires one to move away from the blame game we have all
been tempted to play at one time or other and take ownership of issues.
6. Think about promises you make to new hires during the interviewing courtship
period. In our zeal to want to attract the brightest and most talented, we can easily
over promise. Keep a record of your interview notes and what you promised to
candidates. If subsequent events make it impossible to keep the promises, at
least you can address them with the individual. This is better than forgetting about
them altogether.
7. What about promises you made to yourself? Write out your personal and
professional goals with clear targets. Read them once a week. Are your day-to-
 day action aligned with your values, your standards, your philosophy of leading?
What are your boundaries? Do you take measures to protect them? If your
answers to these questions are negative, what is causing this? What insights
does this give you? Use this information as a means to spur you to action rather
than guilt.
8. Moliere, 17th century French dramatist, said: "It is not only what we do, but
also what we do not do, for which we are accountable." Is there anything that you
are avoiding doing that needs to be done? For example, are you putting off a
difficult conversation? Are you delaying any important decisions? Are you
delegating away responsibilities that should stay in your court?

Self-accountability, then, is staying true to ourselves despite difficult circumstances. It's

doing the right thing even when we are tempted to bend a few rules for expediency's
sake. Perhaps Deborah Lee put it best: "Self-accountability is who you are when no one
is looking". It's also the best antidote to feeling victimized by circumstances and in so
doing, frees up precious creative energy for us to accomplish what matters to us. Above
all, it entails owning up to the consequences of our decisions and choices, because
there is no choice without accountability.

Leading by Example
Making sure you "walk the talk"
 Do you lead by example?

© iStockphoto

There's the boss who tells everyone to stay late, and then leaves promptly at 5:00pm to
go golfing. There's the supervisor who criticizes everyone for spending time on the
Internet, but is discovered buying groceries online in the middle of the afternoon. And
the CFO who recommends layoffs to stop "unnecessary spending," but then buys
herself brand-new luxury office furniture.

Do you know any of these people?

There's hardly anything worse for company morale than leaders who practice the "Do
as I say, not as I do" philosophy. When this happens, you can almost see the loss of
enthusiasm and goodwill among the staff. It's like watching the air go out of a balloon –
and cynicism and disappointment usually take its place.

No matter what the situation is, double standards – witnessing people say one thing,
and then doing another – always feel like betrayals. They can be very destructive. If this
ever happened to you, you can probably remember that sense of disappointment and
letdown.

If you're in a leadership position, then you know that you have a responsibility to your
team. They look to you for guidance and strength; that's part of what being a leader is.
And a big part of your responsibility is to lead them with your own actions.

So why is it so important to lead by example; and what happens when you don't?

Why It Matters

There's an old saying about the difference between a manager and a leader: "Managers
do things right. Leaders do the right things." (It's best to be both a manager and a leader
– they're just different processes.)

As a leader, part of your job is to inspire the people around you to push themselves –
and, in turn, the company – to greatness. To do this, you must show them the way by
doing it yourself.

Stop and think about the inspiring people who have changed the world with their
examples. Consider what Mahatma Gandhi accomplished through his actions: He spent
most of his adult life living what he preached to others. He was committed to nonviolent
resistance to protest injustice, and people followed in his footsteps. He led them, and
India, to independence – because his life proved, by example, that it could be done.
Although Gandhi's situation is very different from yours, the principle is the same. When
you lead by example, you create a picture of what's possible. People can look at you
and say, "Well, if he can do it, I can do it." When you lead by example, you make it easy
for others to follow you.

Look at legendary businessman, Jack Welch of General Electric. Welch knew that to
push GE to new heights, he had to turn everything upside down. So that's just what he
did.

He developed the whole idea of a "boundaryless organization." This means that

everyone is free to brainstorm and think of ideas – instead of waiting for someone
"higher up" in the bureaucracy to think of them first. He wanted his team "turned loose,"
and he promised to listen to ideas from anyone in the company. And he did. Everyone
from the lowest line workers to senior managers got his attention – if they had
something to say or a new idea that might make the company better. It wasn't just "talk,"
and it didn't take his team long to figure that out.

Welch stayed true to his passions and what he knew was right. As a result, GE became
an incredibly successful company under his management. His team was always willing
to follow his lead, because the people within it knew that he always kept his word.

What does this mean for you? If you give yourself to your team and show them the way,
then, most likely, they'll follow you anywhere.

When You Don't Lead by Example

We've seen just how powerful it can be to lead by example. But what happens when
you don't follow this rule? How does your team feel when you tell them to do one thing,
and then you do the exact opposite?

As we said earlier, if this ever happened to you, then it shouldn't be hard to remember
how angry and disappointed you were.

When leaders don't "practice what they preach," it can be almost impossible for a team
to work together successfully. How can anyone trust a leader who talks about one thing,
but does another?

Consider what might have happened if Gandhi had, even one time, been in a physical
fight with his opposition. His important message of nonviolent protest would probably
have been much harder to believe after that. His followers would have looked at him
with suspicion and distrust. The chances of them getting into physical arguments or
committing acts of violence probably would have increased dramatically.

Do you think that Alexander the Great's soldiers would have fought so hard for him if he
had sat on top of a hill, safe from the battle? Probably not. He would have been just
another average general in our history books, instead of the example of a successful
leader that we know today.

And so it is with your team. If you say one thing and do another, they likely won't follow
you enthusiastically. Why should they? Everything you tell them after that may meet
with suspicion and doubt. They may not trust that you're doing the right thing, or that
you know what you're talking about. They may no longer believe in you.

Good leaders push their people forward with excitement, inspiration, trust, and vision. If
you lead a team that doesn't trust you, productivity will drop. Enthusiasm may
disappear. The vision you're trying so hard to make happen may lose its appeal, all
because your team doesn't trust you anymore.

Key Points

Good leadership takes strength of character and a firm commitment to do the right
thing, at the right time, for the right reason. This means doing what you say, when you
say it. If your team can't trust you, you'll probably never lead them to greatness.

Leading – and living – by example isn't as hard as it might sound. It's really the easiest
path. If your team knows that you'll also do whatever you expect from them, they'll likely
work hard to help you achieve your goal.

Mahatma Gandhi and Alexander the Great helped change the world because they lived
by example – and, as a result, they accomplished great things.

Apply This to Your Life

 If you ask a co-worker to do something, make sure you'd be willing to do it
yourself.
 If you implement new rules for the office, then follow those rules just as closely
as you expect everyone else to follow them. For example, if the new rule is "no
personal calls at work," then don't talk to your spouse at work. You'll be seen as
dishonest, and your staff may become angry and start disobeying you.
 Look closely at your own behavior. If you criticize people for interrupting, but
you constantly do it yourself, you need to fix this. Yes, you want people to pay
attention to one another and listen to all viewpoints, so demonstrate this yourself.
 If, in the spirit of goodwill, you make a rule for everyone to leave the office at
5:00 p.m., then you need to do it too. If you stay late to get more work done, your
team may feel guilty and start staying late too, which can destroy the whole
purpose of the rule. The same is true for something like a lunch break – if you
want your team to take a full hour to rest and relax, then you need to do it too.
A Leader's Mood
The dimmer switch of performance

© iStockphoto/creacart

In response to a discussion on the effect of a leader's mood on the performance of a

team, a participant in a recent leadership workshop made this heartfelt and realistic
remark: "I cannot see how I am expected to be in a good mood for four quarters in a
row."

The point is well taken. But can you afford, as a leader, to even entertain this thought?
All of the research on employee performance points to the contrary. There is a concept
in French which is called "Noblesse oblige". It means, roughly, that wealth, power and
prestige go hand-in-hand with certain social responsibilities – in other words, with
privilege comes duty. It is a privilege when we have the opportunity to lead a team of
people, but with it comes many responsibilities, chief of which, some leadership pundits
would contend, is managing moods.

In a Harvard Business Review article called Leadership That Gets Results, Daniel
Goleman cites research which shows that up to 30% of a company's financial results
(as measured by key business performance indicators such as revenue growth, return
on sales, efficiency and profitability) are determined by the climate of the organization.
So what is the major factor that drives the climate of an organization? It's the leader: in
Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Goleman states that
roughly 50-70% of how employees perceive their organization's climate is attributable to
the actions and behaviors of their leader. A leader creates the environment that
determines people's moods at the office and their mood, in turn, affects their productivity
and level of engagement.

Afterglow or Aftermath?

Witness the number of times you may have driven home with an internal glow, reliving a
positive encounter with an upbeat and supportive boss, perhaps savoring a "bon mot"
about your performance that he or she left with you on a Friday afternoon. How great it
made you feel, and how eager you were to get out of bed on the following Monday
morning, and get back to the office to give that man or woman the very best that you
had to offer. That's the "afterglow" that lingers and gives you renewed energy to be
more productive, to bring your finest talents to work.

And think about the reverse of the afterglow – the aftermath, or bitter aftertaste. This is
what Susan Scott, in Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One
Conversation at a Time, brilliantly calls "The Emotional Wake." That's what lingers with
you after being the recipient of some acrid remarks from a leader in a negative mood.
How did that affect your determination to overcome difficulties in a project, to keep your
heart fully engaged in the process, to want to continue to give that person your very
best game?

Contagion and Consequences

Leadership literature is full of studies attesting to the consequences of a leader's mood.

One such study involved 62 CEOs and their top management teams and it showed that
the more upbeat, energetic and enthusiastic the executive team was, the more co-
operatively they worked together, and the better the company's business results. The
study also showed that the longer a company was managed by an executive team that
didn't get along well, the poorer the company's market returns.

Perhaps nowhere is a leader's mood more crucial than in the service industry where
employees in a bad mood can, without fail, adversely affect business. In one of a
multitude of such studies involving 53 sales managers in retail outlets who led groups
ranging in size from four to nine members, it was found that when managers
themselves were in an upbeat, positive mood, their moods spilled over to their staff,
positively affecting the staff's performance and increasing sales. We can all take an
inspiration from organizations such as Starbucks who place great value on the
importance of creating a positive climate for employees which, in turn, ensures a
pleasant customer experience and repeat visits. "We are always focused on our people"
is an explicit statement to new recruits on the company's career site.
When we move the curtain a bit, we can see clearly that a leader's bad mood is a
source of infection – an emotional contagion that eventually spreads across people to
entire units. We can learn a thing or two from leadership in the military. Imagine the
effect on troop morale and energy that an "overwhelmed", "anxious", "worried" or "irate"
leader would have? And how about a leader who is plagued by uncertainty?
"Indecision," as HA Hopf puts it, "is contagious. It transmits itself to others." It can
become debilitating and habit-forming in an organization, as people take their cues from
the leader's state of mind.

Inconsistent Means Unpredictable

We could argue that the occasional bad mood, the occasional rant, on a bad "corporate
hair day", is excusable. Often, we refer to this type of behavior with statements such as:
"She can't control her temper sometimes, but she is so brilliant". Or, "He has an
amazing mind but he has a tendency to shout at people when it's stressful." It is as
though brilliance is an excuse for bad behavior. And it may very well have to be in some
environments – but the message it sends to constituents is one of inconsistency, which
is an undesirable trait in any leader. We want our leaders to be predictable because
there is comfort and safety in predictability. Predictability engenders trust and an
unpredictable leader elicits anxiety and, in some cases, even fear, both of which
negatively affect performance and productivity.

Of course, no leader steps out of the elevator in the morning with an intention to spread
a bad mood around but, as sure as there is gravity, events occur during the course of
some days that can derail even the best among us. To be clear, we are not advocating
that leaders turn into a shrink wrapped version, complete with false smiles and fake
cheerfulness. Constituents spot a non-genuine smile anyway and are very adept at
noticing when a leader infantilizes them.

The Right Mood?

There are, of course, no easy solutions to managing emotions on an hourly basis in the
often difficult circumstances in which leaders must operate and make decisions.
However, we can draw some advice from another Harvard Business Review article
entitled Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance. First of all, it's
important to note that a leader's mood has the greatest impact on performance when it
is upbeat. But it must also be in tune with those around him.

Goleman et al call this dynamic resonance. "Good moods galvanize good performance,
but it doesn't make sense for a leader to be as chipper as a blue jay at dawn if sales are
tanking or the business is going under. The most effective executives display moods
and behaviors that match the situation at hand, with a healthy dose of optimism mixed
in. They respect how other people are feeling – even if it is glum or defeated – but they
also model what it looks like to move forward with hope and humor." The operative
threesome here is "optimism", "hope" and "humor". As someone once put it, leaders are
dealers in hope.
Steps Towards Better Performance

So what are the specific recommendations? Your mood and behavior affects
performance. How do you work on attaining the consistent, emotionally intelligent
leadership behaviors that breed success in yourself and others? Here are a few other
suggestions to consider that can improve your and your team's performance:

1. Model Meeting Behavior

Take a hard look at your behavior in meetings, which are often "cauldrons of
emotion." Do you model the way by setting a positive tone right from the start? Or
do you impose your own "pace" based on how you feel at the moment? Aim for a
calm, relaxed mood, and a consistent, positive approach.
2. Look for Good in Others
Long before leadership books were in vogue, Andre Malraux, French novelist and
statesman, reminded us that one of the central objectives of a leader is to make
others aware of the greatness that lies in them. Be known in your organization as
someone who is always on the lookout for what is right with people. It engenders
good will and is good for business.
3. Read the Climate
Do you have a good reading of the climate of your unit or organization? Can you
accurately sense what the emotional atmosphere is? Is it upbeat? Is it energized?
Is it down or dejected? Do people seem slightly apprehensive and somewhat
cautious in your presence? Can you ask a trusted acolyte if the atmosphere
changes when you are away?
4. Be Pleasant and Cooperative
If you are an emergent leader, and working on having a pleasant personality is not
a priority for you, consider putting some effort into cultivating this prized quality. It
is almost impossible to have executive presence without it. Be cooperative, for
example sharing ideas and shortcuts. This is another example of how mood
affects productivity.
5. Be Emotionally Attractive
Along that vein, focus on being emotionally attractive. This links to the concept of
resonant leadership. Resonant leaders are individuals who have the ability to
manage their own emotions and those of others in a manner that drives the
success of their teams and organizations. In Resonant Leadership: Renewing
Yourself and Connecting with Others through Mindfulness, Hope and
Compassion, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee explain that resonant leaders
create a positive emotional tone in the organization and engage and inspire
people. As the title of their book indicates, these leaders possess three core
qualities which are: mindfulness, hope, and compassion. Consider making these a
part of your arsenal as a leader.
6. Manage the Emotions of Change
Be particularly mindful of how you manage emotions if your organization is
undergoing change: how you handle emotions during these crucial times can help
or hinder the change process. It's a known fact that if the resistance to change is
 emotional, it is the hardest form of resistance to overcome. As the leader handling
a change initiative, don't avoid the emotions that accompany the change process.
Set the mood and manage the emotions – or they will manage you.

If you cringe at the whole notion of emotions in the workplace, talk of empathy and
compassion, intuition or discussions of emotional intelligence, I encourage you to
reconsider this mindset. Hone your intuitive ability, and listen to those hunches that hint
to you that something in your behavior and actions on bad days is causing a ripple
effect on others. These are the whispers we try to dismiss when we elect to focus only
on "rationality". Intuition is a precious tool worth including in our kit. Einstein put it best:
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have
created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

As the leader, you have in your hand the switch that can control the intensity of
engagement of the people who do the work in your organization. It's like being a director
in a movie: "The first work of the director is to set a mood so that the actor's work can
take place" (William Friedkin, American movie and television director/producer.) A
leader's upbeat mood metaphorically oxygenates the blood of followers – it's a
transfusion into the corporate arteries. It may be one of the most potent contributions
you can make as a leader.
A Bit of Perfume
Giving praise

© iStockphoto/DamirK

"To see things in the seed, that is genius", said Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher. This is
what we now refer to as Appreciative Intelligence, a term coined by Tojo Thatchenkery
to describe the capacity by certain individuals to see the positive inherent potential of
situations or people – it is the ability to see a breakthrough product, top talent, or
valuable solution of the future that is not readily visible in the present situation. In short,
it is the ability to see the mighty oak in the acorn.

The term originated when the author began studying the explosive entrepreneurial
growth in Silicon Valley in the late 1990s. According to the author, it is appreciative
intelligence that allowed, partly, for so many highly talented immigrants from different
countries to assemble in the area and flourish. As the author puts it, venture capitalists
looking to fund the right ideas were asking the question, "How can I make this work?" as
opposed to "What are the chances this idea will fail?" They created an environment of
high anticipation of positive results which became a contagious fever of opportunity,
achievement, resilience and possibility recognition. (Appreciative intelligence is not to
be confused with appreciative inquiry, which is an approach and methodology for
analyzing organizations).
Appreciative intelligence is a mental ability of individuals who have a knack for
reframing situations (the glass half full/half empty) and a keen eye for spotting what's
valuable and positive in a situation or in people. And these individuals go one step
further: they are able to envision how the positive aspects can be used to create a
better future. Combining the two in an organization, i.e. a leader with appreciative
intelligence using an appreciative inquiry approach, constitutes a powerful force indeed
for effecting positive change and inspiring others to give the very best they have to offer.
Imagine if all leaders in an organization proactively and mindfully practiced appreciative
intelligence. Imagine the profound, healthy impact that this would have on an
organization's culture.

Such a culture would fuel employees' motivation. Surveys of what employees want
consistently rank "appreciation for work well done" high up on the motivation index –
well above "good wages". Ironically, managers often place good wages above
appreciation in their responses of what employees want. Other surveys show that one
of the reasons employees leave companies is because of lack of praise and recognition.
Leaders often talk of the challenge of building trust in their organization. Adele B. Lynn's
study on trust in the workplace shows that 54% of those polled would work for less
remuneration if the following trust building factors were present:

1. Importance: giving people a sense of importance about who they are and
about their role in the organization;
2. Touch: feeling that the leader genuinely cares about them, feeling a
connection with the leader;
3. Gratitude: being appreciated for their contributions and sacrifices; receiving
genuine gratitude;
4. Fairness: knowing that leaders ensure equal and fair distribution of rewards.

Recognition and praise are indeed high octane fuel for the soul. When we receive a
genuine compliment, we experience an inner glow – it's a warm, magical feeling that
makes us break into a smile. It makes us want to go the extra mile for the person who
bestowed the sincere compliment. If this were not important to us, we would not be
treasuring all of the mementos of awards, plaques, appreciative notes and emails, and
other tokens of appreciation that we receive over the years.

But intuitively, we all know that genuine appreciation is a key factor in our relationship
with our constituents, and any basic management course will touch on the value of
praising employees for their contributions. Yet many well-meaning and otherwise caring
leaders are reluctant to express their appreciation of others' talents and contributions.

Many years ago, I worked for a great leader, one who genuinely cared for his
constituents, and who confided in me one day that he found expressing praise a very
difficult thing to do – publicly and even harder, privately. I asked him why that is. He
said, "I grew up in a household where praising was not something we did." There is a
profound implication in this statement. Our families are our first corporations – that's
where we learned many of our behaviors, and it is often difficult to break these ingrained
patterns. Withholding praise, however, is a pattern of behavior that we need to unlearn if
we want to bring the best out in people. We need to get over the embarrassment that
grips some of us when we have to praise an individual.

Here are some pointers for practicing this important skill:

1. If you have difficulty praising others, analyze the root causes of this. If it is a
fear of embarrassing others, know that even the most introverted individuals who
shun public praise enjoy reading an email to all staff about their contributions. If it
is a discomfort at not knowing how to do it, read the few simple rules below and
consider working with a coach for one or two sessions on this most important
aspect of a leader's communication repertoire. Self-awareness precedes self-
management.
2. Sometimes, withholding praise is simply due to a lack of time for leaders who
are required to handle an ever increasing number of issues during the course of a
harried day. If this is your challenge, I encourage you to reframe how you view
this particular issue. Showing your people you care about them needs to move up
on the list of items in your "to do" list. It takes less than 10 seconds to say, "I
appreciate the time and thought you put into this report. It is exceptional. Thank
you."
3. Praise has a limited "best before" date. Don't delay its expression or wait until
performance review time – when you see something that is worthy of praising, do
so promptly after the event.
4. Make your genuine words memorable for your constituents by being specific
about the achievement. Not many of us remember the perfunctory "job well done",
but we all would remember someone who tells us "This was pure genius," or "I
would have missed this if you hadn't picked it up." The praise does not have to be
elaborate. It just needs to be genuine.
5. When you drop by an employee's office or cubicle to deliver the praise, don't
follow that with a conversation about business matters or other projects. Deliver
the praise and leave. Come back later for discussions on other matters. This gives
the praise its moment of honor and heightens its value in the eyes of the recipient.
6. A primer for rewarding and recognizing others is Jim Kouzes' and Barry
Posner's Encouraging the Heart: A Leader's Guide to Rewarding and
Recognizing Others. The book provides 150 ways to encourage the heart.
Another useful book is Steven Kerr's Ultimate Rewards: What Really Motivates
People to Achieve (Harvard Business Review Book Series). The book outlines
many different sources of motivation including accountability, responsibility,
organizational culture, coaching, teamwork, incentives and goal setting.
7. Finally, how can you apply the dynamic concept of appreciative intelligence on
yourself? What are your talents? Practicing appreciating our talents and gifts
opens us up to appreciating others' greatness.

Perhaps the ultimate appreciation is letting people know that their work – no matter how
far removed they are from the top of the pyramid – is important to the organization. It's
about making everyone feel like an owner and helping them understand how their work
contributes to the overall purpose of the company. It's about practicing seeing more
people. Excellence involves everyone.

There is another lovely Chinese quote that says, "A bit of perfume always clings to the
hand that gives roses." As leaders, when we make people feel great about themselves,
paradoxically we elevate ourselves to greatness as well.
Degrees of Giving
Leading with generosity

Good leaders help others shine and grow.

© iStockphoto/Andy445

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

- Nelson Henderson

I am holding in my hand a graceful, inspirational book entitled Ramban's Ladder: A

Meditation on Generosity and Why It is Necessary to Give by Julie Salamon. The book
is based on the teachings of Ramban, a physician and philosopher who, more than a
thousand years ago, developed Ramban's Ladder, which outlines the various forms of
giving from the lowest – handing out money begrudgingly, as one might to a panhandler
– to the highest, helping someone become self-reliant. I have long been meditating on
the whole issue of generosity as an important quality of leadership: observing leaders
who had it, and those who lacked it.

When we think of generosity, our thoughts automatically drift to gifts of money or

charity. In the context of leadership, there are other gifts that don't have a monetary
value, but whose value is beyond price. These include giving someone a chance; giving
someone the benefit of the doubt; and giving others a reason to want to work for you. It
entails giving others latitude, permission to make mistakes, and all the information that
they need to do the job. It's giving them the authority that goes with responsibility – it's
giving them due credit for their ideas. In a nutshell, all of this translates to generosity of
spirit, a quality we admire in leaders.
Generosity, a word which once meant 'of noble birth,' used to be associated with
members of the aristocracy who, by virtue of their privileges, were expected to show
generosity towards those in lesser standing. A leader too, by virtue of her position, and
the power and privileges that she holds relative to those she leads, has the same
expectations and obligations. A prime obligation is to lead with a generous heart, and to
be guided by a nobility of mind. A leader's generosity has a positive spreading effect –
conversely, its absence has a series of negative consequences that, if a leader paused
to reflect on them, may stop her in her tracks.

I am a firm believer that people need more than just 'a nice job close to home.' Most
people want to find meaning in their jobs – they want to feel that they are a part of
something bigger and something better. They want to know that what they do matters. A
leader with a generous spirit understands this need, and connects the dots for people –
the dots that help them see how the work they perform, no matter how small it may be
in the scheme of things, has a bearing on the ultimate vision of the company.

There is a well-known anecdote that is related by Tom Peters about a hospital in the US
that treats cancer. During a series of staff interviews, an interviewer asked the
housekeeper what her job entailed. She responded, "I help to cure cancer." Somewhere
in that hospital, a leader connected the dots for this individual, and made her feel that
she was an integral part of the hospital's mission. Do you do that for the people who do
the work in your unit or organization?

There is a lot of talk these days about lack of engagement in the workforce. Imagine
how engaged people are when their leader makes them feel that they are a
fundamental part of the success of the organization; that everyone, from the receptionist
or mail clerk to the Vice President of Product Development, constitutes a binding thread,
tightly interwoven into the company fabric – each equally doing its part to give the fabric
its strength.

A leader with a generous spirit delegates not just routine work, but understands about
delegating worthwhile work that becomes a gift of development and growth for someone
else. How we love those leaders. These are the leaders that make us want to get out of
bed in the morning and go to work to give that person the very best that we have to
offer. These are the leaders who get our discretionary effort, every day.

And what about gifts of information? In a survey on effective motivation published by

1000 Ventures, one of the top items that individuals want in the workplace is the ability
to be 'in' on things. This was rated 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest.
Managers ranked this item as 1! This is a large chasm in understanding. The quickest
way to satisfy this need in constituents is to share information. We have all come across
some leaders who are inclined to hoard crucial information as the currency of power.
Leaders with a generous spirit give employees a chance to get under the hood and to
be a part of the inner circle. Freely and generously sharing know-how, expertise, and
ideas is not only beneficial for employees – it's a smart way of doing business.
Albert Camus said: "Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is
present." How often, as leaders, we are so focused on future achievements, on realizing
the vision of the organization, that in the process, we neglect the people who are there.
A leader of a successful software firm confessed to me once that she woke up one day
realizing how much she had disconnected emotionally from the people who did the work
in her organization, while focusing on the strategic imperatives of the company. Today,
we have a tendency to be too self-absorbed. We become self-involved to the point
where, without intending it, we exclude others; and we often only consciously notice that
we have excluded them when they have become disengaged. Self-absorption inherently
prevents generosity. Once in a while, it helps to stop and ask oneself: Am I giving
enough to the people around me?

There is an African village where the greeting words for 'good morning' or 'hello' are: "I
am here if you are here." Imagine the gift we give others when we are fully present with
them – when we truly see them. Perhaps this is what Ralph Waldo Emerson meant
when he said: "The only gift is the gift of thyself." Bill Clinton recently ended a speech to
a 6,000-member audience with an exhortation to "see more people." This preceded his
reference to all the people who do the clean-up work behind the scenes after the
audience leaves. Do we give a thought to the people who are unnoticed in our
organizations, those who quietly work in the background?

While generosity in its pure sense is altruistic, you do still get something back from it:
surprise dividends in the form of a recycling of goodwill, a surplus of cooperation, and
the sheer satisfaction of seeing another benefit from our giving of ourselves, our time,
our attention, our knowledge, the very best that we have to offer those who cross our
paths at work or life. We will never know what opportunities we may have missed in life
by showing up tight-fisted. It is hard to receive anything if we don't open our hands to
give.

As a leader, giving people the gift of not just our appreciation for good work, but our
genuine admiration for their talents, is generosity of spirit at its pinnacle. This is the
difference between saying to someone: "Great job" versus "This was pure genius;" or "I
appreciated your help" versus "I couldn't have done it without you." When it comes to
genuine praise, like the sun at high noon, give resplendently. When you see good work,
say it, and say it from the heart, just as you thought it. Free up the thought, and let it
breathe – let it fly out there in the form of generous words, and watch what you get
back. Giving is ultimately sharing.

Here are some practical tips to enhance our generosity of spirit:

1. Give people a sense of importance

In Adele Lynn's book, In Search of Honor: Lessons from Workers in How to Build
Trust, we learn that 55% of workers value "giving people a sense of importance"
as the number one item for building trust in the workplace. Consider what small
actions you could take intentionally today to make people feel that the work they
do is important, and that they themselves, as people, are important to your team.
2. Give feedback, not criticism
If giving frequent criticism is your style of management, consider some of these
questions: Is your motivation genuine, or is it to gain points? Are you picking the
right moment? Are you stopping to reflect how you might deliver the feedback
while still honoring the other person?
3. Give people visibility
Giving people visibility in your organization is a special gift we bestow to help
others shine and grow. I encourage you to think how you might give people more
access to senior executives, and more access to your boss. Consider as well
that people like to know that their boss's boss knows the great contributions they
made to a project, or about their significant effort in writing a report that does not
bear their name. Knowing that our leader is representing us well to upper
management is a high-octane motivator, and engenders fierce loyalty.
4. Give anonymously
Real generosity of spirit is doing something for someone without their
knowledge. Think of one or two deserving people in your organization that you
can help by planting a career-enhancing seed on their behalf – perhaps saying
something positive about their work to someone in authority?
5. Know when to forgive
Martin Luther King said that "The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone
blind." Consider how harboring vindictive thoughts, even though so compelling at
times, is nothing but violence to oneself. A characteristic of a generous person is
a total lack of resentment – it's in effect being too noble, too big for that. Who do
you need to forgive? What do you need to let go?
6. Give encouragement
Look around you and pick someone who needs encouragement, and resolve to
give them that. Consider that some people have never received encouragement
in their life – not from teachers, not from bosses, not even from parents.
7. Give opportunity
One of the most valuable gifts we can give someone is giving them a chance. Is
there someone right now to whom you could give a second chance to prove
themselves? If so, what active steps can you take to create the right
circumstances for them to succeed? What doors can you open for someone who
is well deserving, but not well positioned to be noticed?
8. Share your knowledge and experience
Resolve to become a philanthropist of know-how. What knowledge, expertise, or
best practices can you share with others as a way to enrich them? For
inspiration, read about other leaders who practice teaching in their organization
for everyone's benefit – for example, Jack Welch, whose calendar was filled with
hundreds of hours spent teaching thousands of GE managers and executives at
the company's training center at Croton-on-Hudson; or the ex-CEO of Intel, Andy
Grove, who devoted considerable amounts of time to teaching newly hired and
senior managers his philosophy on how to lead in an industry where innovation
goes stale very quickly.
9. Give moral support
Public speaking is known to be among the greatest fears experienced by millions
of people. The next time you attend a presentation given by an apprehensive
team member, practice giving them moral support. The simplest of generous
acts are abstaining from checking your Blackberry, giving the odd nod in
agreement, and practicing looking with kind eyes. Finally, take some inspiration
from Walt Whitman's beautiful words: "The habit of giving enhances the desire to
give." Giving is like building a muscle. It requires practice and persistence – once
it becomes habitual, you will emerge as a stronger leader.

The Uncertainty Factor

© iStockphoto/Hulldude30

Last week, as I was rushing to select a birthday card for a friend before heading to a
meeting, one card in particular caught my eye. It showed a sepia photograph of an old
wharf leading to a peaceful lake. The wharf had clearly seen better days: some of its
floor boards were broken and some were missing. Some of the handrail posts were also
gone. As I find beauty in things that are asymmetrical, I decided to purchase the card.
But it wasn't until that evening when I sat down to address the card that I noticed the
back of it. It said: "Rely on your dreams". I found the juxtaposition of the old unstable
wharf with the implication of "reliability" an interesting dichotomy – a subtle message
from the artist on the power of our dreams and aspirations in times of instability and
uncertainty.

As the late John Finley, English historian and mathematician tells us: "Maturity of mind
is the capacity to endure uncertainty". This capacity to not get derailed or immobilized
by the uncertainties and rapid, often chaotic changes we all face in our personal and
professional lives, is a personal asset that is remarkable and rare amongst individuals.

In a study conducted by The Centre for Creative Leadership, inability to handle

change emerged as one of the primary causes for executive derailment, (followed by
inability to work well in a team and a deficit in interpersonal skills). Time and time again,
I have seen highly competent and successful leaders, individuals with high IQ and
strong knowledge in their area of expertise, get on the wrong path because they
stubbornly refused to adapt to the changing demands of the moment.

And it is often during times of uncertainty and chaotic change that our behavior speaks
louder about who we really are as a person. Having been personally involved in
numerous management changes, mergers and acquisitions, rapid growth periods, and
drastic "right sizing" and downsizing, I have seen two types of individuals who surface in
these unsettling and uncertain conditions: those who manifest their shadow, their dark
side, and those who help themselves and others around them to ride out the storm. The
latter inevitably shine brighter and emerge as leaders, rising above the crowd.

As all project managers know, the uncertainty of major ventures or projects which go
awry can have nefarious consequences that filter down to the rest of the organization,
affecting everyone, from the mail clerk to the CEO – a careless acquisition, not paying
attention to the rampant overhead of certain pet projects and not foreseeing changing
trends, to name just a few. Developing competence in managing uncertainties is crucial.
A short but insightful article published by MIT Sloan Management Review, entitled
Managing Project Uncertainty: From Variation to Chaos, outlines four major types of
uncertainties:

 Variation: despite detailed and well conceived project plans, the project
schedules and budgets end up at odds with actual costs and timescales.
 Foreseen Uncertainty: the team isolates identifiable and predictable
influences that may or may not occur.
 Unforeseen Uncertainty: some major factors cannot be predicted.
 Chaos: where even the basic structure of the project plan is uncertain.

The authors state that companies that spend some time at the outset of a project to
create an "uncertainty profile", that is, ascertain what kind of uncertainty is likely to
dominate their project, will be better able to quickly adapt to it and choose the right
management strategy. The article reveals numerous tools and techniques for managing
each type of uncertainty such as using decision-tree techniques and sharing risk lists
with all stakeholders.

Along the same vein, an insightful article is The Quest for Resilience, Harvard Business
Review (September 2003). In turbulent, uncertain times, the only sure advantage is the
capacity for reinventing your business model before it's too late.

Among the many wisdom nuggets in this article, what struck me is the notion that, as
the leader, you need to "filter out the filterers", that is you need to find those individuals
in the organization who are plugged tightly in to the future and understand well the
implications for your company's business model – and allow these people to give voice
to their opinions, without being censured by the watchdogs of the status quo who isolate
you from potential distasteful news. As the author aptly puts it: "You should be wary of
anyone who has a vested interest in your continued ignorance..."

Corporate uncertainty is not going away. Successful individuals within those companies
are those that are agile and can adapt. So what are some strategies that you can use to
make yourself change-proof and to cope with organizational uncertainty and the
personal upheaval that it causes? Here are some suggestions for leaders and
constituents:

1. If you are in charge of leading others, watch for signs of a lethargic culture of
complacency which can easily happen when times are good. Do your best to turn
things around now so that you have a high performance culture instead. You will
have done your team a favor. Some strategies to consider include reinforcing the
strategic imperatives and priorities; engaging your constituents and making a true
effort to know their strengths and work preferences; managing the talent in your
organization well; communicating frequently and with heart. See Creating a High
Performance Culture (Ivy Business Journal – March/April 2005).
2. As the leader, practice empathy by allowing individuals to express their doubts
and misgivings without being defensive. People need an outlet. Make it safe for
them to speak.
3. Draw up a plan to make yourself incredibly valuable to your organization. If the
company is unable to allocate dollars for your training, raise your worth by
personally investing in your own training. Find an area in your department or
organization where there is a gap in skill, talent or knowledge and work to acquire
what you need to fill that gap. Increasing your value to the company is a sound
strategy even when there are no fears of impending change. It's just a smart thing
to do.
4. Raise your visibility by volunteering to work on committees, give presentations,
or start a worthwhile project that will attract positive attention by everyone. We
often hear this but we don't do it because we are too busy already with our own
jobs or lack the motivation. (A few years ago, a client in a technology company
volunteered to create a one person "future research" committee and spent some
of his leisure time reading everything there was to read about future trends
 affecting his company's products and technology and shared these insights with
everyone in the company. This initiative created a buzz around him and insulated
him from a restructuring phase that later occurred at his company.)
5. Be aware of your comportment during times of stressful company
announcements. Do you walk out of the meeting immediately sharing your
interpretations of all the possible negative aspects of the situation? Or do you give
the company leaders the benefit of the doubt – adopting a positive wait and see
approach?
6. No matter how unsettling the uncertainty is, don't abandon your commitment to
your job – don't quit before you have quit. There is something detrimental to our
psyche when we lose our sense of purpose and meaning in what we do and just
coast along waiting for the sword of Damocles to fall. Do whatever it takes to
recreate your commitment. It will be a source of strength and dignity.
7. Be aware that one of the key emotional intelligence competencies today is
being able to manage change. At the first level this means having the ability to
define the general need for change within the scope of your responsibility; the
second level is to act in supporting the change; the third level is personally leading
change and the fourth level, is championing change and being a change catalyst.
Consider taking an emotional competence test to determine your level in this
competency. With some effort, training and/or coaching and the right mind-set, we
can all be change savvy.
8. Above all, don't let uncertainty and job frustrations drain your energy away
from the personal goals and aspirations that you had planned for yourself.
Channel the precious mental energy that you would disperse in being frustrated or
disappointed into becoming the best of who you are. This is not mere rhetoric.
You just need to catch yourself in the act when you are giving in to feelings of
dejection and discouragement and remind yourself that there are better things to
do with your time.

I ended up keeping the birthday card that was destined for my friend. It is on my desk as
a beautiful reminder of the strength that comes from relying on our dreams, on our
purpose, on our passion, no matter how uncertain our current situation may be. These
are the things that energize us, inspire us, propel us forward – the things that put a fire
in our belly just thinking about them.

"What every man needs, regardless of his job or the kind of work he is doing, is a vision
of what his place is and may be. He needs an objective and a purpose. He needs a
feeling and a belief that he has some worthwhile thing to do. What this is no one can tell
him. It must be his own creation." (Joseph M. Dodge, Sitterson Professor, Florida State
University.)

Joy and hope are an inside job. Abandon the tendency to think that what is now will
continue into the future. Focus on what you want for your future, rather than on what
you don't want. Something remarkable happens when we successfully make that shift.
The Green-Eyed Monster
Keeping Envy Out of the Workplace

Envy – a powerful and disruptive emotion.

© iStockphoto

A CEO to whom I reported, a few years ago, entered my office one day, slumped into
the chair across from me and said, clearly bewildered: "I have done everything I can to
make the staff happy – we pay good wages, we have a rich benefit plan, we allow
people flexibility in their hours, and yet, still there is animosity and bickering. I don't
understand what drives these people to behave the way they do."

The answer was at once simple and complex. It had to do with employee emotions –
and, in particular, one emotion: Envy. Emotions are a powerful instigator of behavior,
and envy, the unmentionable emotion, is perhaps one of the most pervasive and
powerful of all the disruptive emotions that affect our corporate environments. We are
not used to talking about envy in polite society or in our workplaces. Yet it is there,
woven within the fabric of our organizations and it affects employee moods,
organizational morale and culture and, ultimately, it is one of the causes of employee
disengagement and productivity loss.
There are many reasons for envy to manifest itself in the daily theatre of the workplace:
Competing for scarce resources or limited budgets, and vying for important
assignments, are commonplace situations that can trigger predictable envy; Coveting
attributes and qualities a colleague has that another might lack is another
understandable possibility in the frailty of human nature; Losing a promotion to
someone better qualified can also be a trigger for envy. Many of these situations are
normal occurrences and cannot be avoided. They are a part of our workplace scenarios
and many human resources practitioners have, at one time or other, witnessed a
manifestation of these situations.

But there is an overlooked trigger for envy that may very well be an insidious cause of
much discontent and disruption in the workplace. It is the leader's unwitting behavior
towards select people in the organization.

Let's take one case in point: It is safe to say that many organizations have an individual
who has a great deal of personal power that is often not associated with any position
function or high level title – it comes from what is often referred to as "having the boss's
ear". All employees, except perhaps the hapless newcomer, sense that anything that is
said within earshot of that individual will automatically be relayed to the boss – worse
still is the fear that it will be relayed with personal filtering and self-serving
interpretations. This naturally causes others to envy the person's power and closeness
to the boss and results in a climate of apprehension and distrust of the individual, and
by extension, the leader.

Another common scenario is associated with the hiring of new "top guns". Here is what
happens: A leader joining an organization inherits a number of long-term employees. In
due course, the leader hires additional employees who are often perceived to be more
liked by the leader because they were hand-picked by him or her and are viewed as
more in line with the leader's ethos and style. It's not uncommon to hear the leader
himself privately refer to this as "assembling my own team". The existing employees are
still well treated but there are subtle nuances in the leader's behavior towards the
newcomers that signal that the newcomers are viewed as more valuable to the team:
The leader is seen spending more time with them and is generally more complimentary
and supportive of anything they do or say. In meetings, for example, he or she will more
readily support ideas and suggestions by the newcomers, will represent them more
favorably to upper management and give them more visibility in the company.

While it is impossible for a leader to eradicate envy from the workplace, there is much a
leader can do to create an environment that minimizes its occurrence. The scholar who
has done the most research on the issue of envy in the workplace is Dr Robert P
Vecchio. In "Managing Envy and Jealousy in the Workplace", one of many articles he
has authored on the topic, Dr Vecchio talks about envy and jealousy as "commonplace
in work settings in part because of the inherent competitiveness of organizational life".
He recommends five initiatives to counteract these pervasive reactions:

1. Evaluating the emotional maturity of candidates at the time of hire.

2. Incorporating elements of team culture.
3. Implementing incentives that support cooperation.
4. Encouraging open communication.
5. Placing high performers [who often give rise to envy] in mentor roles.

To this, one can add a note of advice to leaders regarding their personal behavior: As
leaders, we are continuously being observed by employees who notice our every move
and micro expressions – they know which employees are allowed in the inner circle
from which they feel excluded. Leaders should pay particular attention that they don't
innocently build these chosen few up while neglecting the others. As my CEO was
made aware that afternoon when he dropped into my office, frequent public praise of
only a select few, heightens employees' feelings of insecurity about their own
performance and causes resentment which in turns affects productivity. A leader who
becomes aware of this stress-related reaction that his or her behavior causes on
employees will be better able to manage negative emotions, such as envy, in the
workplace and create a more relaxed and happier work environment for everyone. In
turn, this will help avoid the loss of productivity that accompanies the green-eyed
monster.
10 Common Leadership and Management Mistakes
Avoiding Universal Pitfalls

Avoid common leadership and management mistakes.

© iStockphoto/Laflor

Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.

– Oscar Wilde

It's often said that mistakes provide great learning opportunities. However, it's much
better not to make mistakes in the first place!

In this article, we're looking at 10 of the most common leadership and management
errors, and highlighting what you can do to avoid them. If you can learn about these
here, rather than through experience, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble!

1. Lack of Feedback

Sarah is a talented sales representative, but she has a habit of answering the phone in
an unprofessional manner. Her boss is aware of this, but he's waiting for her
performance review to tell her where she's going wrong. Unfortunately, until she's been
alerted to the problem, she'll continue putting off potential customers.
According to 1,400 executives polled by The Ken Blanchard Companies, failing to
provide feedback is the most common mistake that leaders make. When you don't
provide prompt feedback to your people, you're depriving them of the opportunity to
improve their performance.

To avoid this mistake, learn how to provide regular feedback to your team. (You can
use our Bite-Sized Training session on Giving Feedback to gain an in-depth
understanding of feedback, and to learn how to provide it effectively.)

2. Not Making Time for Your Team

When you're a manager or leader, it's easy to get so wrapped up in your own workload
that you don't make yourself available to your team.

Yes, you have projects that you need to deliver. But your people must come first –
without you being available when they need you, your people won't know what to do,
and they won't have the support and guidance that they need to meet their objectives.

Avoid this mistake by blocking out time in your schedule specifically for your people,
and by learning how to listen actively to your team. Develop your emotional
intelligence so that you can be more aware of your team and their needs, and have a
regular time when "your door is always open", so that your people know when they can
get your help. You can also use Management By Walking Around, which is an
effective way to stay in touch with your team.

Once you're in a leadership or management role, your team should always come first -
this is, at heart, what good leadership is all about!

3. Being Too "Hands-Off"

One of your team has just completed an important project. The problem is that he
misunderstood the project's specification, and you didn't stay in touch with him as he
was working on it. Now, he's completed the project in the wrong way, and you're faced
with explaining this to an angry client.

Many leaders want to avoid micromanagement. But going to the opposite extreme
(with a hand-offs management style) isn't a good idea either – you need to get the
balance right.

Our article, Laissez Faire versus Micromanagement will help you find the right
balance for your own situation.

4. Being Too Friendly

Most of us want to be seen as friendly and approachable to people in our team. After all,
people are happier working for a manager that they get on with. However, you'll
sometimes have to make tough decisions regarding people in your team, and some
people will be tempted to take advantage of your relationship if you're too friendly with
them.

This doesn't mean that you can't socialize with your people. But, you do need to get the
balance right between being a friend and being the boss.

Learn how to do avoid this mistake with our article, Now You're the Boss. Also, make
sure that you set clear boundaries, so that team members aren't tempted to take
advantage of you.

5. Failing to Define Goals

When your people don't have clear goals, they muddle through their day. They can't be
productive if they have no idea what they're working for, or what their work means. They
also can't prioritize their workload effectively, meaning that projects and tasks get
completed in the wrong order.

Avoid this mistake by learning how to set SMART goals for your team. Use a Team
Charter to specify where your team is going, and detail the resources it can draw upon.
Also, use principles from Management by Objectives to align your team's goals to the
mission of the organization.

6. Misunderstanding Motivation

Do you know what truly motivates your team? Here's a hint: chances are, it's not just
money!

Many leaders make the mistake of assuming that their team is only working for
monetary reward. However, it's unlikely that this will be the only thing that motivates
them.

For example, people seeking a greater work/life balance might be motivated by

telecommuting days or flexible working. Others will be motivated by factors such as
achievement, extra responsibility, praise, or a sense of camaraderie.

To find out what truly drives your people, read our articles on McClelland's Human
Motivation Theory and Theory X and Theory Y. Then take our test "How Good Are
Your Motivation Skills?" to learn how to be a great motivator of people.

7. Hurrying Recruitment

When your team has a large workload, it's important to have a full team. But filling a
vacant role too quickly can be a disastrous mistake.
Hurrying recruitment can lead to recruiting the wrong people for your team: people who
are uncooperative, ineffective or unproductive. They might also require additional
training, and slow down others on your team. With the wrong person, you'll have wasted
valuable time and resources if things don't work out and they leave. What's worse, other
team members will be stressed and frustrated by having to "carry" the under-performer.

You can avoid this mistake by learning how to recruit effectively, and by being
particularly picky about the people you bring into your team.

8. Not "Walking the Walk"

If you make personal telephone calls during work time, or speak negatively about your
CEO, can you expect people on your team not to do this too? Probably not!

As a leader, you need to be a role model for your team. This means that if they need to
stay late, you should also stay late to help them. Or, if your organization has a rule that
no one eats at their desk, then set the example and head to the break room every day
for lunch. The same goes for your attitude – if you're negative some of the time, you
can't expect your people not to be negative.

So remember, your team is watching you all the time. If you want to shape their
behavior, start with your own. They'll follow suit.

9. Not Delegating

Some managers don't delegate, because they feel that no-one apart from themselves
can do key jobs properly. This can cause huge problems as work bottlenecks around
them, and as they become stressed and burned out.

Delegation does take a lot of effort up-front, and it can be hard to trust your team to do
the work correctly. But unless you delegate tasks, you're never going to have time to
focus on the "broader-view" that most leaders and managers are responsible for. What's
more, you'll fail to develop your people so that they can take the pressure off you.

To find out if this is a problem for you, take our interactive quiz, How Well Do You
Delegate? If you need to improve your skills, you can then learn key strategies with our
articles, Successful Delegation, and The Delegation Dilemma.

10. Misunderstanding Your Role

Once you become a leader or manager, your responsibilities are very different from
those you had before.

However, it's easy to forget that your job has changed, and that you now have to use a
different set of skills to be effective. This leads to you not doing what you've been hired
to do – leading and managing.
Our articles Now You're The Boss and From Technical Expert to Manager provide
more information on the additional skills that you need to develop to be an effective
manager. Make sure that you learn these skills – you'll fail if you try to rely on technical
skills alone, however good they are!

Key Points

We all make mistakes, and there are some mistakes that leaders and managers make
in particular. These include, not giving good feedback, being too "hands-off," not
delegating effectively, and misunderstanding your role.

It's true that making a mistake can be a learning opportunity. But, taking the time to
learn how to recognize and avoid common mistakes can help you become productive
and successful, and highly respected by your team.
Leading Equals
Motivating people effectively, without authority

The only difference between you and your colleagues is that you're in charge.

© iStockphoto/ravelin3d

Does this sound like a job you'd want?

You'll be managing a diverse group of people from a variety of departments. They each
have different areas of expertise and different ways of getting work done. The people
don't report to you, and you'll have little to no authority over directing their performance.
However, you'll be held accountable for the team's output. To accomplish the team's
goals, you'll be expected, among other things, to motivate, facilitate, encourage,
communicate effectively, build trust, and resolve conflict.

This doesn't sound like a lot of fun, does it?

When leading a team of your peers, these are typical challenges.

Leadership is a complex subject. There are visionary leaders, empowering leaders,

charismatic leaders, and values-based leaders. For each of these styles, there are
situations where that style is and is not effective. However, the one thing that traditional
leaders can usually rely on, regardless of their style or situation, is legitimate power.
When things get tough, a traditional leader has the status and position to demand how
work is done.
But when you're in charge of a team of your peers, your level of authority is often
nonexistent. You might have as little status as the person to whom the work has been
given – but is that enough to lead what is essentially a horizontal collaboration?

To lead a multifunctional peer group, you must have all the characteristics of great
leaders – and then some. Here are the key skills you'll need to succeed.

Master the Group Process

Learn to lead discussions and proactively manage different personalities. You never
know what past experiences – good and bad – team members have had with one
another.

Whatever the history, your role as leader starts by setting a positive foundation for the
team's interactions:

 Establish a relaxed environment, where everyone is encouraged to share

opinions and ideas.
 Ask for input from everyone, and encourage quieter members to speak up.
 Use active listening skills, like paraphrasing and asking questions for
clarification.
 Insist on respect for one another and, for tasks taking a lot of time and effort,
consider developing a team charter to define your team's goals and how the
team will work.
 Use participative decision making tools, and try to ensure active involvement
and commitment from the team.
Empower Team Members

Leaders who give power to others can be very influential and motivating. When leaders
use their power to help others accomplish great things, people often want to work very
hard for them.

When you empower someone, you're essentially saying that you trust that person.
When people feel trusted, they may naturally want to take on more responsibility for the
outcome, because they'll share in the spotlight when success is achieved.

Empowerment, then, is a great motivator, and it can be used to recognize the efforts of
team members. When leading your peers, be creative with reward and recognition –
sometimes assigning a task or granting a level of authority can serve as a very effective
reward.

Beyond this, work hard to motivate the people you're working with and, in particular,
give praise wherever it's due.

Be Flexible
Rules, regulations and a heavy-handed approach can cause resentment and non-
compliance in a team of peers. Use discretion, and learn to adapt to the changing
environment – this can be critical.

You won't always be the expert, and you won't always know what to do. With a flexible
leadership style, you can often deal with changing circumstances without compromising
your leadership role. If you rely on a rigid structure and style, you may find yourself
challenged often, and you may waste your energy fighting interpersonal battles instead
of accomplishing goals.

Essentially, you need to help your team adjust to changes in direction, circumstance,
and priority. Whenever you get a cross-section of people working together, there can be
times of ambiguity and uncertainty. When you're open to change, your team will see
that, and they'll be more likely to also accept change.

Set Goals

Few teams would get very far without goals. Certainly you need goals to point you in the
right direction and to evaluate performance. When you bring together a diverse set of
people, having a clear direction is even more essential.

All team members will likely have their own perspectives. These could lead your team
down very different paths – if there's no central direction to follow. Different paths can
also cause conflict around resources and priorities.

You can avoid many of these difficulties with clear goal setting that's based on agreed
and valuable objectives. It's much easier to keep people working together effectively if
objectives are clear, if it's obvious how the team's output will help its customer, and if
disputes are resolved by referring to the team's goals.

From then on, it's important that you develop an implementation plan and remain
focused on your targets.

Support and Protect Your Team

Each team member usually has his or her own regular job to do in addition to the team's
specific tasks. This means that commitment to your team may be weakened from many
directions. As the leader, and the one who is ultimately accountable, concentrate on
getting the support and resources your team needs to do the job well.

Focus on these three key areas:

1. Obtain resources – Your team may quickly lose momentum if it encounters

resource shortages. If you get your team what it needs – when the team needs it
– your status, influence, and ability to motivate can increase significantly.
2. Manage stakeholders – Many people outside your team may strongly
influence the team's success. First, you may encounter outside resistance from
various sources. For example, John's manager may not allow him to work more
than one hour per week on team projects, or the finance director may refuse to
"spend one more dollar on that project."
3. There may also be key team champions. As a leader, your challenge is to
figure out how to use the champions' influence to persuade "resisters" to change
their opinions. A great way to gain the respect of your team is to protect it from
negative outside influences so that members can produce great work.
3. Obtain management feedback – Your team needs to know they're supported.
Make sure you receive regular communication from managers and executives.
You're the liaison – the link – to ensure that management knows what's going on,
and that your team knows what management thinks.
4. This can be a delicate balancing act, because you don't want to run back and
forth with too much information. Figure out what each side needs to know to
remain satisfied, and then provide it.

Key Points

Leading a team of your peers is a definite challenge. It can put all of your leadership
skills to the test. From setting goals to involving team members in decision making to
creating a climate of openness and honesty, you need to have it all – and more. If you
remember to put your team's needs first, and if you work very hard to protect their
interests, you'll prove to them that you're committed to and passionate about their
success. When you demonstrate that you believe in the value of their work, and when
you're willing to work through any obstacles you encounter, your team will respect your
integrity – and they'll want to work hard with you, and for you, to achieve results.
Level 5 Leadership
Achieving "Greatness" as a Leader

What does it take to step up to the next level?

© iStockphoto/dmitryphotos
What makes great leaders? Is it their courage? Their business acumen? Their expert
knowledge? Their ability to organize?

Truly great leaders have a specific blend of skills. But they also possess something
else; certain characteristics which are harder to define. If you're in a leadership role,
then you've likely wondered how you can move to that "next level," going from good to
great leadership.

In this article, we'll examine "Level 5 Leadership" – a key idea that explains this. We'll
explore what it takes to achieve greatness as a leader, and we'll discuss strategies that
you can use to move up to this top level of leadership.

Introducing Level 5 Leadership

The concept of Level 5 Leadership was created by business consultant, Jim Collins. He
wrote about it in a 2001 Harvard Business Review article, and published his research in
his well-respected book, "From Good to Great."

The concept came about during a study that began in 1996, when Collins began
researching what makes a great company. He started by looking at 1,435 companies,
and ended up choosing 11 truly great ones. These 11 companies were all headed by
what Collins called "Level 5 Leaders."

He found that these leaders have humility, and they don't seek success for their own
glory; rather, success is necessary so that the team and organization can thrive. They
tend to share credit for success, and they're the first to accept blame for mistakes.
Collins also says that they're often shy, but fearless when it comes to making decisions,
especially ones that most other people consider risky.

Level 5 Leaders also possess qualities found in four other levels of leadership that
Collins identified. Although you don't have to pass sequentially through each individual
level before you become a Level 5 Leader, you must have the skills and capabilities
found in each level of the hierarchy.

Let's look at each of the five levels in more detail:

Level 1: Highly Capable Individual

At this level, you make high quality contributions with your work. You possess useful
levels of knowledge; and you have the talent and skills needed to do a good job.

Level 2: Contributing Team Member

At Level 2, you use your knowledge and skills to help your team succeed. You work
effectively, productively and successfully with other people in your group.
Level 3: Competent Manager

Here, you're able to organize a group effectively to achieve specific goals and
objectives.

Level 4: Effective Leader

Level 4 is the category that most top leaders fall into. Here, you're able to galvanize a
department or organization to meet performance objectives and achieve a vision.

Level 5: Great Leader

At Level 5, you have all of the abilities needed for the other four levels, plus you have
the unique blend of humility and will that's required for true greatness.

How to Become a Level 5 Leader

It takes time and effort to become a Level 5 Leader. But the good news is that it can be
done, especially if you have the passion to try.

Again, it's important to realize that you don't have to progress through each level in turn
in order to get to Level 5. But you do need the capabilities found in each level in order to
achieve Level 5 status.

Here are some strategies that will help you grow emotionally and professionally, so that
you can develop the qualities of a Level 5 Leader:

Develop Humility

Level 5 Leaders are humble people. So, learn why humility is important, and make
sure that you understand – at a deep, emotional level – why arrogance is so destructive.
Then ensure that you behave in a humble way – for example, whenever your team has
success, make sure that credit goes to them for their hard work.

Conversely, as a leader, you're responsible for your team's efforts, even when things go
wrong.

Tip:
The 2007-2008 financial crisis showed many examples of how arrogant, self-glorifying,
self-obsessed leaders led their organizations to ruin. Much of this chaos could have
been averted if appointment committees had recruited Level 5 leaders. Humility matters,
including when it comes to recruitment.
Ask for Help

Level 5 Leaders are sometimes mistakenly thought of as "weak," because they ask for
help when they need it.

However, learning how to ask for help is a genuine strength, because it lets you call
upon the expertise of someone stronger in an area than you are. The result? The entire
team or organization wins; not just you.

Remember the Guy Kawasaki quote that "A players recruit A+ players, while B players
recruit C players". If you're recruiting A+ players, why wouldn't you take full advantage
of their skills? (The truth is that if you can recruit A+ people successfully and get the
best from them, then you've become an A+ manager.)

Take Responsibility

A top attribute of Level 5 Leaders is taking responsibility for your team's mistakes or
failings.

So make sure that you take responsibility for your (and your team's) actions. Our Book
Insight into No Excuses! The Power of Self Discipline has more on this.

Develop Discipline

Level 5 Leaders are incredibly disciplined in their work. When they're sure of a course of
action, no matter how difficult it is, they stick to their resolve.

If you know in your heart that you're right, then don't let naysayers dissuade you from a
course of action. It's always important to listen to differing opinions, of course, but don't
let fear be your driving motivator when you make, or change, a decision.

Find the Right People

Level 5 Leaders depend on the people around them. They spend time finding the right
people, and helping them to reach their full potential.

If you're a leader or manager already, then you probably know without thinking who your
best people are. However, you sometimes have to challenge these assumptions – our
article on The Leader-Member Exchange Theory shows you how to do this, so that
you can get the best from everyone on your team.

Lead with Passion

Level 5 Leaders are passionate about what they do, and they're not afraid to show it.
When you demonstrate to your team members that you love and believe in what you're
doing, they will too. If you're having a hard time finding passion in your work, then you
need to search for the human element in what you're doing.

See our article on Working with Purpose to explore how to find meaning in what you're
doing. It's also important to create an inspiring vision for your people – our article on
What is Leadership? shows you how to do this.

Tip:
Use common sense in the way that you apply this idea.

In some environments – that is, in high-trust, properly-managed workplaces – Level 5

Leadership is something to aspire to, demonstrate and apply.

In low-trust or dysfunctional environments, however, you may need to use Level 5

Leadership more cautiously. Definitely apply the approach, but make sure that you're
alert to the "corporate politics" going on around you.

Key Points

Level 5 Leadership is a concept developed by Jim Collins. After several years of

research, Collins discovered that all of the great organizations that he studied were
headed by what he called "Level 5 Leaders."

These Leaders have a unique combination of fierce resolve and humility. They were the
first to own up to mistakes, and the last to take credit for success.

You can work on developing the following skills and characteristics to become a Level 5
Leader:

 Develop humility.
 Ask for help.
 Take responsibility.
 Develop discipline.
 Find the right people.
 Lead with passion.

Leadership by the New Generation

Bridging the Age Gap
 Different generations, different approaches?

© iStockphoto

Picture this scenario: the leader of your long-established team has retired, and his
replacement is a young manager straight out of business school. She's anxious to get
going in the organization – with fresh ideas and fresh enthusiasm – and you hope that
she'll bring some new life and energy into the company.

As the weeks go by, however, you begin to see growing discomfort and conflict between
the older staff and this new team member. Your older colleagues think "the new kid" is
overconfident, pushy, and too anxious to leave right at 5:00 p.m. The newcomer finds it
hard to get support from her older colleagues. She's concerned that they can't (or won't)
multitask, they're less confident with technology, and they're unwilling to share their
hard-earned knowledge. As a result, cooperation is suffering.

How can you bridge this generation gap? And why is this important?

There's little doubt that the U.S. workforce is at a unique point in history (we'll look at
other countries shortly). As "Baby Boomers" (people born between 1946 and 1964)
begin to retire, the new generation steps into their shoes.

Generation X, or Gen X (born between 1965 and 1976), and Generation Y, or Gen Y
(also called "Millennials," born between 1977 and 1998), have values and work styles
that are completely different from the baby boomers. Finding ways to bridge the gaps
within this new multigenerational workforce takes great skill – and it all starts with
understanding how the new generation of leaders thinks, and what's important to them.

In the U.S., the drop in birth rate in the post baby boom years means that, by 2010, the
number of people in the 35-44 middle management age group will drop by nearly 20
percent. Many other major economies worldwide are facing similar demographic
changes. One practical consequence of these statistics is that organizations will have
to work much harder to attract and retain good people.

New Generation leaders are a scarce commodity, and should be nurtured as such.

Generations X and Y: What They Care About

The new generations of leaders often have a completely different way of working from
their older counterparts. (Keep in mind that we can't discuss all of the characteristics of
these new groups in such a short space. Also, not everyone in these generations fits
these characteristics: we're going to make some huge generalizations here, however
hopefully these generalizations will be useful!)

For example, while boomers usually view long hours as evidence of loyalty and hard
work, Gen X and Y tend to try to have more work/life balance. They've seen their
parents' lack of quality of life, and the lack of loyalty companies showed to these hard-
working parents in the 1990s, and they're not impressed.

They want flexible hours, more vacation time, continuous training, and telecommuting
options. They expect to leverage technology to work efficiently instead of staying late in
the office to get it all done.

Boomers have traditionally felt that you have to "pay your dues" to your company – and
if you hate your job, that's just part of life. Generations X and Y typically don't accept
this; they want rewarding, intellectually stimulating work – and they don't want someone
watching them too closely to check on their progress. These new groups are
independent, creative, and forward thinking. They celebrate cultural diversity,
technology, and feedback, and they prefer more of a "lattice" or individualized approach
to management (as opposed to the traditional "corporate ladder").

The new generations also tend to like teamwork. Studies have shown that colleague
relationships rank very high on Gen X and Y's list of priorities. Things like salary and
prestige can often rank lower than boomers might expect, or might want for themselves.

Note:
Some people argue that differences between generations aren't as strong as are
suggested here, and that people's life stage is often more significant (see our article on
the Life/Career Rainbow for more on this.)

Our opinion is that people are complex, and are affected by a range of different factors;
that life stage is, of course, important in the way that people think and behave; but that
there are useful differences in attitude between different generations, and these can
lead to sometimes-profound misunderstandings between people of different
generations.
Click here to find out more about the ideas behind generational profiles.

Attracting and Retaining the New Generations

Many have talked about how Gen X and Y seem always ready to leave one company
and move onto something better, as soon as there's an opportunity. While it's true that
they usually won't stay with a job if they're unhappy – as boomers often did – this
doesn't mean they aren't serious or loyal.

It simply means that if you want to keep the best and brightest leaders in your
organization, you need to offer them an environment that's geared to their values.

Quite a few Fortune 500 companies are changing their entire organizations to meet the
wants and values of these new generations. Here are some examples:

 A major U.S. chemical company has eliminated its "corporate ladder" approach
to management. There are no bosses, and there's no top and bottom in the chain
of command. Instead, authority is passed around through team leaders, so
everyone in the company has a sense of equality and involvement.
 A large U.S. accounting firm gives four weeks of vacation to every new hire
(most U.S. companies offer only two weeks). This firm also offers new parents
classes on how to reduce their working hours to spend more time with their
families.
 A software company in Silicon Valley has no set office hours. Staff come in
and work when they choose. Everyone gets paid time off every month to do
volunteer work, and they get a six-week sabbatical every four years.

If you think these dramatic policies would never work and would be too costly, then
remember – these are all very profitable, highly productive companies with low turnover.
They've made new rules, and they're successful.

Leadership Styles

So, what does all this say about the new generation's leadership styles? Well, it's easy
to see that Gen X and Y are unlikely to lead in the same way the boomers did.

The new leaders value teamwork and open communication. They'll encourage
collaboration, and they won't give direction and expect to be followed just because
they're in charge. They want to understand their peers and other people's perspectives.

They'll spend more time building relationships with their teams than their predecessors
did. Because they value their family time, they'll also give their staff enough time for
personal lives. As a result, corporate culture might become less rigid than it is now,
bringing more flexibility and a sense of fun.
As a result, if you're a member of a team whose leadership is being passed from an
older generation leader to a new generation leader, you'll probably need to adjust to
having more autonomy delegated to you, and to finding that the boss may not be
around as much to check on things.

This new generation values action, so they'll work more efficiently and productively to
earn time off. They'll expect their team to work hard too, but they'll also know when it's
time to leave the office and go play. One of the ways in which they gain this efficiency is
by using technology. Although they themselves will usually get to grips with this easily,
you may need to remind new generation leaders that other members of their team need
more training and support than they do themselves, if they're to get up to the same
speed with new applications.

But they'll also follow a leader who has heart. So if you have new generation managers
in your team, then you'll probably have to prove your worth before they'll fully support
you. But once you show them that worth, they'll follow you all the way.

Tips:
Here are some things you can do in your company to ensure that your new generation
of leaders wants to stay.

 Offer ongoing training, especially if it teaches skills like organization, time

management, leadership, and communication. People in Gen X and Y usually
love to learn new things, so opportunities to grow are high on their list of priorities.
 Increase nonmonetary benefits. Gen X and Y tend to value time as much as, if
not more than, money. They have lives outside of work, and spending time with
family and having fun are very important to them. Increase your vacation benefits
and offer flexible working hours. These people are often busy parents who
appreciate when a company understands that the traditional 9-to-5 day isn't
always practical.
 Give them freedom. Gen X and Y are often self-reliant and don't always look to
a leader for direction. Their goal is to complete tasks in the most efficient way
possible, while still doing them well. So don't force them to work under a
management style that boomers often preferred, with the boss giving orders. Give
them the freedom to make their own decisions.
 Earn their loyalty and respect. Gen X and Y may not automatically be loyal to
leaders, just because those leaders are in charge. Younger staff want open
communication and leaders who are supportive and worthy of being followed.
 Treat women and men as equals. Gen X and Y grew up with mothers who
were often focused on their careers as well as their families. They're used to
viewing women and men equally, so be sure you compensate both genders
equally. If women feel they're the target of discrimination, you'll quickly lose them.
 Be "green." The new generations have grown up with Earth Day and the threat
of global warming. They want to make less of an impact on the environment.
Studies have shown that people who work for companies with green initiatives
have higher job satisfaction, and turnover is usually much lower.

Key Points

There's no doubt that the new generation of leaders has priorities that are often quite
different from those of most leaders in place today.

So if you want to hire and keep the best and brightest people, the ones who will lead
your company into the future, then you must create a work environment that's tailored to
their values and priorities.

The Leadership Pipeline Model

Developing Your Organization's Future Leaders
 Develop a "pipeline" of future leaders for your organization.

© iStockphoto/ssuaphoto

Imagine that several mid-level managers in your organization are planning to retire in
the next few months, and, as a result, you're facing a serious staffing problem.

Do you start searching outside your organization, or should you focus on finding people
from within the company, so that you can quickly train them for these positions?

Many organizations spend a lot of time searching for good people for their leadership
teams. It's often most efficient to promote from within, as internal people are "known
quantities," and are already familiar with how the company works.

However, many organizations don't have a process in place for "growing their own
leaders," so they need to search for outside talent to bring in.

In this article, we'll look at the Leadership Pipeline Model, a tool that helps you plan for
internal leadership development. We'll then look at how you can apply this model to
your organization.

About the Model

Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel developed the Leadership Pipeline
Model, based on 30 years of consulting work with Fortune 500 companies. They
published the model in their 2000 book, "The Leadership Pipeline," which they revised
in 2011.

The model helps organizations grow leaders internally at every level, from entry level
team leaders to senior managers. It provides a framework that you can use to identify
future leaders, assess their competence, plan their development, and measure results.
Put simply, you can use the model to think about how you'll train your people to take the
next step up the leadership ladder.

According to the model's developers, leaders progress through six key transitions, or
"passages," in order to succeed. These six leadership transitions are show in Figure 1,
below.

Figure 1 – The Leadership Pipeline Model

Each leadership stage needs different skill-sets and values, and, at each transition,
leaders have to develop these in order to lead successfully.

According to the model, senior leaders in the organization should mentor more junior
managers through each leadership transition, to ensure that they're using the
appropriate skills for their current level. Staying "stuck" without the right skills, even if
the manager progresses upward, can cause leaders to stagnate, become ineffective,
and, ultimately, fail.

Uses of the Model

There are several benefits of using the Leadership Pipeline Model.

First, promoting leaders from within is better than searching for outside talent. These
outside leadership stars often flit from one organization to the next, looking for the best
opportunities, and leaving the organizations they have finished with to fill the gaps. The
model's "pipeline" ensures that organizations have a steady stream of internal
candidates qualified for open leadership roles.

The Leadership Pipeline encourages leaders to develop new skills and mind-sets for
leading at the next level, rather than reverting to those used at the previous level, and
this increases their flexibility and effectiveness.

If an organization's culture focuses on developing existing employees, this can raise the
morale of the entire workforce. When people see opportunities to advance, staff
turnover goes down and productivity and engagement go up. Furthermore, the
investment in development pays off, because professionals stay with the organization
longer.
As well as being useful for organizations that want to develop the next generation of
leaders internally, this model is also helpful for planning your own career trajectory.
Because you can identify the skills and approaches that you'll need for each transition,
you can start to prepare yourself for your next promotion.

Applying the Model

Let's look at the six transitions in the Leadership Pipeline Model, and discuss how you
can prepare people to make these transitions successfully.

1. From Managing Self to Managing Others

When someone is transitioning from working independently to managing others, a

significant change in attitude and skill set must take place. The new leader is now
responsible for getting work done through others – a drastically different style of
working.

To manage others successfully, these leaders must share information, offer autonomy,
be aware of people's needs, and provide direction.

Navigating This Transition

Organizations need to make sure that first-time managers understand what's required of
them.

New leaders need to focus on their communications skills, and communicate

effectively with their teams. Partly, this involves communicating clearly in writing, but it
can also be as simple as making time for subordinates to discuss their concerns. They
need to know how to plan short- and long-term goals, define work objectives, and
manage conflicting priorities.

New managers must also focus on their team members' needs. Coach new managers
to practice Management by Wandering Around, which helps them stay in touch with
their people. Encourage them to provide feedback, so that everyone on the team can
improve.

It's important for new managers to know how to delegate effectively. At this level
they're responsible for other people, and, if they can't delegate, they'll be harried,
overworked, and stressed. This will also harm your organization's ability to get work
done quickly.

Last, if you're coaching new managers through this transition, make sure that you
monitor their progress to help them navigate the process successfully. Sit in on their
interactions with direct reports, consider using 360° feedback to see how others view
their abilities as a manager, and help them address any issues that arise.
2. From Managing Others to Managing Managers

This transition often presents a dramatic jump in the number of hands-on professionals
that the manager is responsible for, which means that a number of new skills and
working values are needed.

Navigating This Transition

First, new managers at this level need to know how to hold level one managers
accountable. This might include becoming a coach or mentor to help them develop,
and providing appropriate training. Managers in level two are also responsible for
training the managers in level one, so make sure that they're aware of available training
resources, and ensure that they know how to develop effective training sessions.

At level one, new managers might know how to get people to work together to
accomplish a goal. But, at level two, managers must have the knowledge and skills
needed to build an effective team.

Finally, these managers need to know how to allocate resources to the people and
teams below them. These resources could be money, technology, time, or support staff,
and they need to know how to budget effectively. They must know how to identify
teams or units that are wasting resources, as well as knowing where to apply additional
resources to improve performance.

3. From Managing Managers to Functional Manager

Functional managers often report to the business's general manager, and they are
responsible for entire departments, such as manufacturing or IT. Making a transition to
this level requires a great deal of maturity, and the ability to build connections with other
departments.

Navigating This Transition

Functional managers must learn how to think strategically and manage with the entire
department, or function, in mind.

Leaders at this level must know how to think over the long-term, as they'll need to plan
for the medium-term future. They must also understand the organization's long-term
goals, so that their functional strategy aligns with these aims.

Coach new functional managers to stay up-to-date on industry trends, so that they
can take advantage of new advances: managers who are aware of technology and
trends can adjust their strategy to better contribute to the organization's competitive
advantage.
Although all managers need to be good listeners, this skill is particularly important at
functional manager level. Teach your functional managers how to use active listening
skills. They also need to be skilled at reading body language, so that they can avoid
misinterpretation and spot untruths.

4. From Functional Manager to Business Manager

This transition may be the most challenging of the six leadership passages, because
these professionals have to change the way that they think. When you're managing a
business, complexity is high, the position is very visible, and many business managers
receive little guidance from senior leaders.

Business managers oversee all of the functions of a business, not just one, and this
requires a shift in values and perception.

Navigating This Transition

New business managers have to adjust their thinking to focus on future growth in all
areas of the organization. They need to understand each function of the organization
and know how these functions interrelate. Without this understanding, business
managers will likely only focus on one or two functions, which could damage the
organization's growth.

Encourage new business managers to get to know their functional managers well – for
example, by talking with them and taking them on important trips; this will allow them to
get to know the decision makers in each function and help them understand each
function's value to the organization.

This group needs to know about the organization's core business processes, and
understand where the profit lies within these processes. Without this knowledge,
business managers can make costly strategic mistakes.

Last, and this isn't as trivial as it may seem, business managers need excellent time
management skills. Managers who lack these skills won't spend enough time on key
projects or with key people, so make sure that this group knows how to focus on
important, not just urgent, tasks.

5. From Business Manager to Group Manager

To be a successful group manager, another subtle shift in skills must take place. At this
level, managers are responsible for individual businesses which are often dispersed
around the world. They must have the ability to get these businesses working together
to accomplish the broader organization's long-term goals and objectives.

Navigating This Transition

Group managers need the ability to value others' success, and they must be humble
enough to help others succeed. They need to learn how to critique the business
managers' strategy-formulation, and provide effective feedback.

Group managers should know how to create the right mix of investments in their
businesses to help the organization succeed. Resource allocation, market prediction
and segmentation, and global business etiquette are all important skills here.

They also need to stay on top of all of their businesses to ensure that they're obeying
the law, sticking to corporate policy, acting in a way that's consistent with corporate
strategy, enhancing the global brand, and making a robust profit.

The businesses in their group that show the most promise in all these areas are the
ones that will be fully funded. So, group managers must know how to maintain good
relationships with businesses, even if they aren't getting the funding they want. They
also need analytical skills in order to balance what's good for their businesses, versus
what's good for the organization.

6. From Group Manager to Enterprise Manager

The enterprise manager, or CEO, is on the final rung of the career ladder for managers.
This is the most visible position in the company; after all, if the CEO fails, it influences
how people perceive the organization.

Navigating This Transition

Future CEOs need to understand that once they ascend to this level, they're responsible
for a number of different stakeholder groups and organizations, such as the board,
financial analysts, investors, partners, the workforce, direct reports, and local
communities. Failing any of these groups means a loss of credibility.

By the time that managers reach this stage, they should already have developed many
of the leadership skills mentioned in this article. However, there are several ways in
which they can develop further. Our article on Level 5 Leadership teaches good
leaders how to become great leaders by developing humility.

Often, CEOs, because of their number of responsibilities, have to make good decisions
under an incredible amount of pressure. Make sure that potential leaders are familiar
with a wide range of decision-making techniques, and know how to think on their
feet.

Last, risk taking is a given at this level, but future CEOs need the courage to take
calculated risks, even when they face opposition from others. This requires character,
integrity, decisiveness, and inner strength.
Key Points

Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel developed the Leadership Pipeline
Model and published it in their book, "The Leadership Pipeline." The model highlights
six progressions that managers can go through as they develop their careers.

These progressions are from:

1. Managing self to managing others.

2. Managing others to managing managers.
3. Managing managers to functional manager.
4. Functional manager to business manager.
5. Business manager to group manager.
6. Group manager to enterprise manager.

While organizations can use these progressions to help develop their people,
individuals can also use them to grow personally, increasing their knowledge and skills
so that they're ready for their next promotion.
1.

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS FOR KHI TRAINING

N
O PARTICIPANTS GROUP BASE TOWN JOINING DATE
1 M.MAJID HAMEED FALCON BAHAWALPUR 17-8-2012
2 KAMRAN CHUGHTAI EAGLE BAHAWALPUR 18-10-2012
3 FAROOQ E AZAM FALCON VEHARI 9/10/2012
4 RIAZ HUSSAIN MALLAH EAGLE DADU 1/8/2012
5 SULTAN QADIR FALCON SUKKER 20-7-2012
6 RASHEED AHMED FALCON LARKANA 16-11-2012
7 ABDUL HASSAN HAWK QUETTA 20-4-12
8 M ASIF FALCON QUETTA 8/10/2012
9 M ABDULLAH AZEEM EAGLE QUETTA 19-11-2012
10 RASHID ALI HAWK NAWABSHAH 4/9/2012
11 M.AMIN EAGLE NAWABSHAH 4/9/2012
12 GHULAM RASOOL BHATTI EAGLE HYDERABAD 20-10-2012
13 DANISH ALI HAWK HYDERABAD 15-12-2012
14 ASIF ALI FALCON MIR PUR KHAS 3/9/2012
15 SARWAN KUMAR HAWK MIR PUR KHAS 2/10/2012
16 SHABBAR EAGLE KARACHI 2/5/2011
17 SOHAIL AHMED FALCON KARACHI 15-12-2012
18 UBAID UR REHMAN HAWK KARACHI 15-12-2012
19 ASIF ALI FALCON MIR PUR KHAS 3/9/2012
20 SARWAN KUMAR HAWK MIR PUR KHAS 2/10/2012
Middle Level Management
Middle management is the intermediate management level accountable to top management
and responsible for leading lower level managers.