Leadership
Look up the definitions of leadership styles and you’ll find an almost linear transition through Lewin, Blake-Mouton, Hersey-Blanchard, Path-Goal Theory, Charismatic Leadership, and Transformational leadership.
In their time each style has been put forward as being the “magic bullet” for leadership. Today one of the leading Management Training and Leadership Training websites has the following statement:
“In business, transformational leadership is often the best leadership style to use.”
The issue with putting forward one version as the absolute truth and allowing communal reinforcement to make it a reality has been seen in the recent era of “Charismatic Leadership” where leaders were placed due to their vision and personal drive.
Dr Yukl (2010) identified some key dangers of this type of leadership:
• Excessive confidence and optimism blind the leader to real dangers
• Dependence on the leader inhibits development of competent successors
• Failure to develop a successor creates an eventual leadership crisis. Ultimately, some leaders are so irreplaceable that no amount of succession planning will ensure a seamless power transition
• Denial of problems and failures reduces organisational learning
There is no magic leadership formula. Each “Leadership Type” was right for it’s time (it had to be as it was used) and has led us to where we are today. New “Leadership Types” will be developed, researched and promoted as new times and situations require a change in our leaders. Perhaps Transformational Leadership is often the best style to use.
What I am convinced about is that there is no shortage of potentially capable leaders. Look at any organisation. You’ll see people at all levels passionate about their roles and companies driving others to succeed. Leaders exist. The overriding requirements remain today the same as in the past.
Find talent. Develop talent. Put the right people in the right places. Help them succeed.
And this I consider to be the real leadership challenge and our challenge as people developers. In a world where there are perceived economic constraints, there is a risk leaders and organisations will retreat into their comfort shells and choose not to invest in the development of their talent. Costs will be cut and “protect what we have” mentality will develop. And that would trigger a talent crisis.
My advice to aspiring leaders and developers is the same:
Continue to Learn. Learn from every source possible – current bosses, previous bosses, good ones, bad ones, future ones. Study Leadership techniques. Read articles and biographies.
Communicate. Pass the learning on. Understand how the learning benefits you and your organisation and communicate that.
Live the role. If you have the desire to lead, then live that role. Make mistakes. Learn from them and apply that learning. Celebrate successes. Develop others to lead. And my advice to organisations is simple:
The only risks of a Leadership Crisis come from not learning from where we have been and applying that learning to the now. From not finding and nurturing our natural talent. From promoting a sensationalistic view of how badly off we are.
Is there a Leadership Crisis? I believe not. We could easily create one, or we could easily create future leaders who have the knowledge of the past, have developed the right skills, and have the knowledge on how to apply them.
That choice is ours to make.
Andrew Reed is a T&D Specialist with a particular focus on Leadership, Management Development and Change Management. He is the founder of Threshold Development, an organisation focusing on how successful people implement and maintain permanent positive changes in their personal and professional lives.