Level One: Self Leadership

We have noted that effective leadership begins by having sufficient self-leadership skills or personal habits and characteristics, so as to be an effective individual and credible role model. One could call this effective personhood.

The terms authenticity and integrity are often included in the characteristics necessary for becoming an effective individual. An effective individual enjoys the unqualified respect of others. To be respected is to be admired and valued by others. It is important to lead by example.

Consider the attributes and characteristics that contribute to this sort of public image and reputation. Such approval is largely earned through one’s interpersonal relationships. It begins with trust, and through acting in a trustworthy manner. A trustworthy person honours commitments and is dependable in other ways, such as through maintaining confidences. I assert here that the most important characteristic a leader (or effective person) can possess is trustworthiness.

An effective leader is also a responsible individual. One can interpret the word ‘responsible’ as meaning being ‘capable to respond’ or not having one’s actions be at the mercy of others or external events. Thus, the effective leader has a personal orientation that enables the assumption of responsibility (being response-able) for action. When something goes wrong, effective people first ask what they could have done differently to influence a different outcome. Because they are attentive, effective individuals do not act without thought. They are goal-driven when they act, clear about the outcomes they desire to achieve. But their achievement is not pursued in a competitive or selfish manner, and never at the intentional expense of others.

Effective people are also good managers of personal resources. This not only signifies that they are capable of balancing their chequebooks, it also shows that they manage their time and energy in a manner that enables them to be effective and efficient. They keep themselves physically healthy through sound nutrition, exercise, rest and renewal. They attend to their spiritual needs and recognise the importance of balancing their lives to achieve these ends.

An effective leader is also considerate of others. This type of reputation is built over time through a consistent pattern of responsible behaviour. Being considerate means being genuinely concerned with the needs of others and demonstrating such concern with attention and compassion. The attributes of and compassion of an effective leader suggest that one listens carefully, genuinely attempts to see matters from the point of view they present, and recognises and forgives human imperfection.

A positive attitude is also important. No one wants as a leader someone whose emotional demeanour is gloomy and pessimistic. Enthusiasm is contagious, and a positive, optimistic outlook is what everyone expects when they need encouragement.

Closely related to a positive disposition is a good sense of humour. The world is full of strange events and unforeseen circumstances. Things almost never turn out exactly as planned. Therefore, expecting the unexpected and having an attitude of amusement when things go awry helps to keep things in context and reduce the tension often associated with mistakes.

People who are effective also have a personal orientation that truly wants others to succeed and to be able to create their own happiness. Thus, truly effective leaders constantly seek creative solutions that enable everyone to attain their ends.

This idea does not differ significantly from the idea of the benevolent or servant leader. The concept of groups headed by benevolent leaders is well established. Indeed, in the Tao Te Ching, a classical Chinese work of virtues and ways of living and being written by Lao Tzu, who lived 2500 years ago in the 3^rd century BC, there is a chapter devoted to the characteristics of effective leaders (Le Guin 1998). This chapter clearly illustrates the principle that effective leaders win the respect of others and are not concerned with gaining recognition for their accomplishments. The personal satisfaction comes when others feel success at having attained an important goal.

Level Two: Influencing Family, Friends and The Immediate Workgroup

The second set of skills pertains to those necessary for influencing those immediately around us. To be maximally effective, leaders must be knowledgeable, socially involved, enthusiastic, upbeat and organise their lives in ways that enable them to be perceived as great role models.

To be an effective leader to those around us means having the ability to teach or coach new skills and abilities. Thus, the effective leader must be knowledgeable about those matters of importance to success in the group and organisation. This means that the leaders must continually study to remain knowledgeable and well-informed.

The effective leader must also be involved socially, so as to be familiar with the issues that are on people’s minds and to be compassionate when personal situations affect individuals with whom they relate on a daily basis. Part of being socially involved is to remain current on the topics of the day, including being informed about local, national and international issues and events.

Successful leaders must be able to organise people, conduct effective meetings and communicate effectively. Effective organisation begins with matching the skills and abilities of people to the tasks needed in a particular workgroup. Occupational therapists are adept at assessing performance skills and selecting challenges that are aligned with skill levels. The effective group manager must likewise fit the task to the appropriate group and assure that the necessary systems are in place to enable success in performance. Of course, a key part of success involves communicating clearly what the tasks or work responsibilities are to those to whom they have been assigned.

Communicating clear expectations is vitally important. The expected outcome must be clearly delineated along with the timeframe for completion and the expected standard of performance. Such standards must be stated in measurable terms. The consequences for failure to perform should also be defined. This does not mean punishment, rather what the consequences to the organisation will be if a particular workgroup fails to meet expectations. Explaining how the work contributes to helping the organisation meet its overall mission is an important connecting link in aligning the workgroup within the organisation. Provided with this information, a workgroup should have a clear sense of what is expected.

Communicating expectations is one part of a larger set of communication skills that an effective leader will need. In general, people in an organisation want to feel connected and informed. Thus, regular communication is a must. The best communication anticipates the information needs of the receiver and provides this in a manner that can be easily understood; i.e., clearly, succinctly and directly. In this technological age, it is too often the case that communication that should be face-to-face or at least synchronous is handled asynchronously by email or voicemail. Direct communication is efficient and effective because it enables quick clarification of uncertainty and ambiguity. The author has learned through many years experience that people can deal with the truth. While it is important to be diplomatic, civil and respectful in all communications, leaders should avoid the temptation to ‘soften’ or avoid unpopular messages. Where ambiguity is present, message recipients will interpret messages according to their own needs. The need for leaders to clarify previous communications may be interpreted as an example of administrative doublespeak.

Finally, the orientation of an effective leader is one of service. One of the principles of servant leadership is having a mission of serving the needs of others (Spears 1996). The mission can only be attained to its highest degree if those in pursuit of it have the encouragement, resources, direction and motivation to work toward it. Another way of imagining success as a leader is to envision the rowers in sculling. A scull is a small, light racing boat that can have as many as eight rowers, each pulling their oars (or “sculls”) together in unison to move the boat down the river. The rowers are perfectly aligned. Not only are they sitting in an aligned position, one behind the other, but team members are also aligned with the group because of their knowledge of the objective, their individual roles and responsibilities, and their motivation and dedication to devote full attention and effort to the task (Figure 20.2). In a racing competition, the scull that achieves the highest degree of alignment or overall cooperation among its team members tends to be most successful, that is, to accomplish the mission of attaining distance, speed and efficiency with the best results.

Figure 20.2 Photos to go unlimited. Used under licence

In a similar manner, the organisation or workgroup that achieves a similar level of alignment, in terms of recruiting the motivation, attention and passion around its mission by its members, is destined to be successful.

Level Three: Organisational Leadership

Third-level leadership competencies add to those previously listed - the ability to effectively organise people, lead meetings and communicate with large groups. The organisation or assignment of people into workgroups is both an art and a science. It is an art in the sense that it assembles workgroups based on the tasks and objectives to be accomplished and an alignment of the people with the training, experience and skills best suited to accomplishing those tasks and objectives. Each workgroup needs an assigned leader, and the successful organisation of workgroups is at least partially dependent on the ‘chemistry’ of the group. Group chemistry refers to the collective personality of a group, and this may be influenced by traditions, shared values, experience and other factors. Thus, one attempts to best match people and their assigned group leaders based on both objective and subjective criteria. Some subjective decision-making is based on intuition, observation and knowledge of personality and individual circumstances.

Another skill necessary with this third level of leadership competence is the ability to effectively lead meetings. While meetings are a ubiquitous, fundamental and necessary part of organisational activities, they vary widely in their value and effectiveness based on the skills of their leaders. No meeting should ever be held without thoughtful preparation. Attention should be given to its objectives, the agenda and the actual conduct of the meeting. Effective meetings start punctually, end punctually, and focus productive discussion on agenda items carefully selected, ordered and communicated in advance. All agenda items should have clear purposes in mind (i.e., information, discussion, action) and to the extent possible, require some advance preparation from participants (Haynes 1997).

The final set of skills at this level of influence pertains to communication with large groups. With larger groups comes the greater probability that one or more persons will misunderstand a message. Therefore, clarity and care must be taken in formulating and delivering messages. One cannot become an effective organisational leader without having the skill to speak convincingly in public arenas and to provide ‘off the cuff’ or extemporaneous presentations when these are required. The effective leader must project confidence, because confidence communicates competence. Of course, being good at speaking is not enough. One must also perform competently in the leadership role using the skills described in this chapter.

Level Four: Influencing Communities; Being a Strategic Leader

As responsibilities of the leader increase, so does complexity. The leader of a large organisation must contend with the political realities of communities, where other organisations may be competing directly or have interests or objectives that conflict or complicate goal completion. Large organisations also have communities within, because as the division of labour becomes more specialised, each division or collection of workgroups takes on its own personality and develops its own culture. The worst possible outcome in such a case is when units of the same organisation begin to compete with each other in a manner that erodes morale or interferes with alignment and efficiency. Recalling the example of sculling, it would not do if members of the same team began to compete with each other to achieve more strokes per minute, since the important objective of synchronised rowing would be lost.

Level four leadership situations require the leader to have a systems perspective, recognising that in systems, each element is connected to and affects the others. Thus, they are interdependent. Interdependence is an important concept in leadership (Senge 1990). No organisation can succeed if it does not recognise the interdependence of its units and if it fails to recognise the important relationships between organisations, neighbourhoods and cultures in society.

This fact calls to mind the important principle of seeking ‘win–win’ solutions (Covey 1989). In this type of solution, the goal is to resolve problems, challenges and conflicts in a manner that best enables all parties of interest to achieve their aims. Too often, in business and in life, situations are viewed as winner takes all competitions. Victories under these conditions are temporary, or obtained at a long-term cost that is not worth what is often a short-term benefit.

Strategic leadership situations also require careful planning, with an eye toward anticipating key trends and envisioning the future. The visioning process is key to strategic planning, since it must anticipate conditions and create bold possibilities that collectively motivate group members to align themselves in support of the imagined future. A good vision serves as the backdrop for strategic planning. Good vision statements are inspiring, succinct and focused (Collins and Porras 1991). The process of imaging the future invites creativity and good leaders have clear visions of what they hope to accomplish. An organisation’s vision should be the overarching element, or mental picture, that provides the motivation for each day. In the absence of a vision, an organisation may be directionless and will certainly not be inspired. Consider these lines from Lewis Carroll:

In the context of a vision, an organisation must carefully plan its activities and the use of its resources. This is where the functions of management come in. Being a leader and being a manager are different organisational roles. A leader focuses on the big picture, determining directions, and motivating people. A manager focuses on the operational requirements for getting the job done, such as scheduling and coordination, maintaining quality, and budgeting. In ideal circumstances, systems are designed to be sustainable. That is, the focus is on the longer-term picture rather than the immediate, so that the organisational climate is conducive to retaining and developing people (has trust), fostering creative problem-solving, and assuring that the organisation has the resources necessary to invest in its future.

Strategic leadership also seeks to gather as much information as possible about how the organisation performs compared to its peers. Organisations can always track their own performance and compare it from year to year, but this information should be supplemented with knowing how an organisation compares to leading organisations of its type. Gathering this type of information is sometimes called benchmarking, a process invented by Rank Xerox. Benchmarking identifies best practices by answering the question: ‘How do the leading organisations do this process?’ In this way, it promotes alternative ways of thinking about process. Two types of benchmarking can be described. In competitive benchmarking, data are collected to analyse how an organisation measures up against the competition. In collaborative benchmarking, organisations or groups cooperate to identify performance ranges and share improvements. Any process within an organisation can be benchmarked and in today’s environment it is critical to be aware of the most efficient and effective ways to get the job done (Hassanali et al 2002). Benchmarking is a type of knowledge management, the modern term used to describe the sharing of information throughout an organisation to improve its performance.

Words often attributed to Goethe, but belonging to the Scottish mountaineer William Hutchinson Murray (Murray 1951: 27) seem to capture the importance of thinking boldly when creating visions: ‘Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic within it.’