Concepts of Leadership

Leadership theories

There are numerous leadership evaluations available on the Internet and in leadership books. Most large companies develop their own internal instruments, supporting their vision and values. These are mandated surveys that often impact pay treatment. Unfortunately, there are many drawbacks to linking leadership surveys directly to compensation.

Drawbacks to having pay link directly to leadership surveys:

• Skewed samples - Sometimes the sample is random; sometimes it is skewed to reflect some particular demographic. The sample also depends on whether the rated individual or the supervisor is selecting the raters.

• Great leader in a tough spot - This sometimes happens when a high potential leader is given a "killer" assignment. Ratings often will look bad compared to history, especially during the first year. Many leaders have been brought down or lost confidence because a short-term assignment made them look bad.

• Not accounting for risk - Sometimes situations call for leaders to do risky things, trying to turn situations around. That can have a negative impact on short-term results.

• Revenge - People sometimes intentionally trash the data due to a personal vendetta. An individual might rate a leader extremely low on all dimensions, just to lower the average score. With a small sample size typical of surveys, this can give a very distorted picture. Since good leaders are sometimes unpopular with constituents, this problem is common.

• Tampering - Since each leader knows the questions in advance, some will waste time and energy "campaigning" for good ratings. During rating periods, this artful politicking deflects energy away from more important topics. It often resembles a game to win rather than a helpful assessment.

• Competition and ill-will - Leadership surveys can pit one leader against another if pay is strictly divided according to survey results. Leaders may undermine the efforts of parallel groups, so they will look better by comparison. These political maneuvers are often so subtle that nobody, including the perpetrator, are even aware of them.

To avoid these problems, use surveys as only one indicator of a leader's performance and consider the circumstances.

As an employee, if you believe an evaluation of your leadership is not correct, it becomes a delicate issue between you and your supervisor. Avoid trying to discredit the data or it will sound like sour grapes and be heavily discounted. A better approach is to have open discussions with raters (if you know who they are) about their observations. Do this with maturity and you can glean more data, along with a specification for improving ratings next year. Attacking the survey or methods will generally backfire and label you as a complainer. It won't help your cause.

Many surveys are done "blind", such that the rated leader has no idea who provided the data. In this case, you have no choice but to review the input carefully with your superior. Try to provide ballast to skewed input with historical data of your own. DO NOT generate new data using the same survey on a different population. Even if you do this with highest integrity, it will smack of manipulation and do you more harm than good.

Often instruments are applied in a 360-degree view of the leader. The superiors, peers, and subordinates of a leader, in addition to the leader himself, measure capabilities. The juxtaposition of these data provides good insight. However, the 360-degree technique has many potential pitfalls as well and needs to be designed and administered by a competent practitioner or serious side effects like the ones above can occur. This is another example of where a good consultant or HR expert can help.

Drawbacks to doing 360-Degree Assessments Every Year

Incomplete

Whether a 360-degree leadership survey is administered by a consultant or is simply a routine procedure, it is important to keep these data in proper perspective. Evaluations are helpful tools, but they don't tell a complete story. They should not be the only factor used to measure the effectiveness of a leader. Take the long-term track record into account, as well as the nature of the current assignment. Pay attention to what people say about a leader's ability not just what the survey numbers indicate. Often they paint entirely different pictures. If you get differing views depending on the data gathering method, add more study before pigeon-holing someone into a "marginal leader" slot.

Less Useful over Time

For a while, I collected assessment tools like a philatelist would stamps. Each instrument was helpful at providing insight, but after a while they all started to sound the same. Using the same instrument for several years enables historical comparison, but provides less insight over time because eventually repetition will cause people to respond mechanically. When the validity of historical comparison becomes compromised, it is time to change to a different instrument.

Limited in Scope

Most surveys focus on how well the leader champions the values of the organization and the results this person delivers against tough goals. They ask whether the leader created a compelling vision for the organization and followed the cookbook of leadership "things to do." Although all these are critical elements of leadership, the surveys often miss the real essence of leadership.

Questions that Get to the Essence of Leadership

For about 2 years, with the help of my key leaders, I compiled a list of concepts observed in our laboratory of leadership. No concept was very profound by itself, but collectively they gave a different view of the dimensions of great leadership. Some were unique perspectives not seen elsewhere. We distilled each item into a question format. Here are a few questions from the list.

Do people tell you they admire your backbone?

Do you ever bribe your people? Is that good leadership?

Do you often make people angry? Is that good leadership?

When things go terribly wrong are you depressed or energized?

Do people do things they know you wouldn't approve of behind your back?

Are people sometimes afraid of you? Is that good or bad leadership?

Do your reinforcement efforts ever backfire?

Do people accuse you of overreacting or would they more likely call you very demanding?

Are you able to keep from getting mired down in bureaucratic mumbo jumbo without annoying the powers that be?

Are there several "folk tales" about particularly outrageous deeds you have done (good or bad?)

When you approach a small group of workers does their body language change?

Do you find out troubling things others have said about you secondhand?

Is your team pushing you to revise their goals upward?

Are you an abstract communicator or a gut level communicator?

What is the average time for you to return a phone call or e-mail?

When making group presentations, do you ever find people's eyes glazing over?

We collected a couple hundred questions and boiled them down by combination and elimination. Finally, we sorted them into piles of like subject matter and gave each pile a name. The following six areas emerged.

The essence of leadership:

Trust

Communication

Style Strength and Courage

Outlook

Passion

The insight gleaned from this exercise was particularly helpful. For example, style is something normally dealt with on a "take it or leave it" basis in most leadership training: identify your style and that of others, then modify behaviors to reduce friction and work better together. Rarely will you find insights dealing with how to modify or manage your style, yet this has great potential for creating stronger leaders.

As a leader you are judged on your ability to deliver results. While at times this might seem tough and unfair, at the end of the day it is results that matter. In theory delivering results is simple but in practice can be more difficult. So what are 7 obstacles you need to address to deliver results and be an effective leader?

Obstacle 1: Old mindsets

This might not be the thing that you would automatically expect to see at the top of the list. Truth is that when we become a leader it is easy to forget that there are different expectations and challenges. If as a new leader you are still in the manager mindset you are going to struggle. Even if you are not a new leader old mindsets and complacency can be an obstacle.

Obstacle 2: Personal rather than corporate agenda

Ever noticed how someone’s leadership career evolves. At the start they are a breath of fresh air, full of new ideas and enthusiasm, after a while, especially if the going gets tough, they start to focus on their own survival rather than on delivering success. Be alert to becoming too focussed on your personal agenda.

Obstacle 3: Vagueness about direction

As the leader people will look to you to provide clear direction. After all unless you have a clear direction in which you want to take the organisation or team forward in, how are you going to communicate it and get the support you need.

Obstacle 4: Micromanaging everything

One of the areas that differentiates the best from the poorer leaders is their ability to let go of things. When a leader spends all of their time micromanaging everything they get lost in the detail of the day to day stuff and lose sight of the bigger picture.

Obstacle 5: Failure to act

We have all probably encountered this situation at some point in our career. The organisation is facing some struggles, needs to take some decisions and most importantly act on them. Yes it takes courage but failure to act is a recipe for disaster in the long term.

Obstacle 6: Having to be right

Of course it is great to be the person who comes up with the ideas, turnaround or transformation plan or initiative. On the other hand when this becomes essential to you as the leader you stop listening, taking ideas on board and potentially miss out on real opportunities.

Obstacle 7: Failing to adapt


Every situation requires a different response. Failing to adapt leads to a situation where you become stuck. In the worst case scenarios this failure to adapt can result in a whole organization collapsing. Always be ready to adapt to new and changing circumstances



Would love to know what other obstacles you would add to the list so please leave your best ideas.