Many people I talk with tell me their organisation is focusing on training leaders, because they believe they need "good" leadership to succeed.
Zenger and Folkman explore these concepts in their book " The Extraordinary Leader". They state : "In our research, we found conculsive evidence that leaders with poor leadership skills generate poor results". So this reinforces the belief in the need for good leadership. However, an interesting correlation is the dramatic link between those who demonstrate highly effective leadership behaviours i.e. "great" leaders - and the percentage of highly committed staff - those who "go the extra mile"
They showed that 13% of staff will still be committed even with the worst leaders. However, for leaders in the 80th percentile of effectiveness the figure rises to 43% of staff being highly committed and then to 57% of staff for leaders in the 90th percentile of effectiveness.
This is the validation for ensuring you have not merely "good" leaders - but rather you need "great" leaders.
So what is the difference? Zenger and Folkman describe the "Leadership Tent" and that great leadership requires 5 elements:
The centre pole of the tent is "character" These are the inherent qualities which in many organisations are called "values based" and behaviours include : being approachable, actively seeking feedback, treating everyone the same regardless of role, treating people with dignity, being humble etc.
The next tent pole is "Focusing on results" These great leaders establish stretch goals for people, take personal responsibility for outcomes, personally sponsor initiatives, balance long and short term goals etc.
Thirdly there is a pole of "Personal Capability" This includes initiative, professional / technical skills / innovation / problem analysis skills etc.
A fourth pole is "interpersonal skills" - those traditional leadership behaviours we all know are critical : communicating powerfully, inspiring others, building positive relationships, collaboration, recognising and rewarding, conflict resolutions , building others' self esteem etc.
The last pole is "Leading organisational change" . these necessities for greatness include : being a champion for change, having a strategic perspective, having line of sight between own and team's work and the organisational strategy, connecting with the outside world, taking the long view etc.
Reflection
- How would YOU define "great" versus just "good" leadership?
- If you were to analyse the leadership of your organisation against this Leadership tent - how would it stack up?
- What are the most critical leadership attributes for you to focus on helping your leaders move from good to great ?
- If there was one of the tent poles that was most critical at this time in your organisation, which would it be?
Challenge
Choose one tent pole and review your own attributes and behaviours against it. Where do you sit - good or great? What will it take to move it to great? Identify one concrete action you will take to make that step up. Share it with a colleague and ask him/her to observe any shifts that you make.
Good luck on your journey to becoming a truly great leader!
D
