Leadership Development

Paths To Self-insight and Professional Growth

Manuel London

• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Year: 2001
• ISBN:
  9781135647865
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psicología
• Subtopic: Historia y teoría en psicología

Leadership Development explores how leaders gain and use self-knowledge for continuous improvement and career development and describes how leaders help themselves and the people with whom they work, understand themselves, and become more self-determined, continuous learners, and make the most of resources, such as feedback and coaching. This book explains why leaders need support for self-insight and professional growth in today's business environment. It explores dimensions of effective leadership in light of business, technological, and economic trends. Focusing on the importance of leaders developing accurate self-understanding, the book defines self-insight, outlines the meaning of internal strength and resilience for self-regulation, and considers how leaders attain a meaningful and realistic sense of self-identity. This volume illustrates ways organizations support these psychological processes. Leadership development is viewed as a comprehensive, continuous process that includes evaluating organizational needs and individual competencies, setting goals for career development and performance improvement, offering needed training and growth experiences, providing feedback, and tracking change in behavior and performance over time. It describes how leaders react to feedback and how 360-degree feedback survey methods and executive coaching help leaders attain and apply self-insight to enhance their performance. In addition, this book considers challenges and opportunities for leadership development, including how leaders overcome career barriers and become continuous learners.

1

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Introduction: Dimensions of Effective Leadership

Pick up a newspaper most any day, or go to the news section of any popular internet platform or search engine, and there will be stories about major organizational changes. It is not even necessary to go to the business section. Leadership challenges are front page news. These range from e-commerce start-ups to expanding competition in industries that had been monopolies. This chapter sets the stage for the book by examining business trends, and the implications of these trends for needed leadership skills. Transformational, adaptive, and enabling leadership are emphasized as keys to effective leadership in the changing business environment. The chapter also considers the implications of these trends and key leadership dimensions for state-of-the-art leadership development programs. It then highlights the themes of the book, in particular, the focus on the importance of leaders’ insight into themselves and their environment and how leaders need to take responsibility for their own development and support the development of the people who work for and with them.

BUSINESS TRENDS

The Evolving World Order

Most individuals in the business professions, as well as those in other lines of work, are aware of, and keenly feel, the increased pressure of the rapid pace of change. Consider the following trends: Many businesses are multinational. They have operations that produce and sell products and services around the world. They own foreign subsidiaries and form joint ventures with companies in a variety of nations. This poses challenges for the leaders of these firms to understand negotiations and partnership relations that cut across cultures. Leaders need to be sensitive to cultural differences in ways of doing business and, more simply, interacting with others. Moreover, they need to manage this diversity in a way that creates value for their companies and profit for their shareholders.

Populations within countries are becoming more diverse. This is true in the United States, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, as well as Denmark and other Scandinavian nations that tended to have a homogeneous population. As the population in a country becomes increasingly diverse, the diversity of employees as well as customers and suppliers increases. The cultural sensitivity that contributes to good business practice around the world also applies at home—wherever that is. Moreover, leaders themselves are more diverse because they come from diverse backgrounds. This suggests the need for leadership development that recognizes these different backgrounds. For instance, special programs and support may be needed for leaders (and leaders-to-be) who are women or people of color. What unique challenges do they face as a result of cultural stereotypes and biases? What support do they need to overcome these barriers and meet the challenges of leading dynamic businesses?

Most everyone is aware of the challenges of rapidly advancing technology. The internet, although still in its infancy, has blossomed as a source of information and a channel of commerce. E-commerce will evolve as technologies develop and become more integrated. Already, video, audio, and graphic applications have been merged as computer power grows. The internet brings self-service applications to the desk top without having to purchase and install separate software. This offers more vibrant avenues for conveying ideas and delivering all sorts of products, including education and leadership development, to everyone’s interactive computer or television.

Leadership of e-businesses and htt­p:/­/ww­w.d­ot.­com companies requires dynamic new vision, communication, and decision-making capabilities to establish initiatives and respond to dynamic environments—including the ups and downs of the stock market and a highly competitive marketplace, all of which add up to a vibrant economy. It also requires excellence in tried-and-true business and management skills that are taxed more than ever to cope with information overload and other stresses and demands brought about by new technology. For instance, the various htt­p:/­/ww­w.d­ot.­com businesses may no longer need the traditional bricks and mortar to do business. However, leaders of these firms are often surprised to face some of the same strains that confronted their ancestors in the early 20th century. For instance, online superstores or specialty shops may need large warehouses and inventories, real people to answer customers’ questions and handle their problems, and access to traditional delivery mechanisms. Also, these companies have to compete in a highly competitive marketplace, where customers can compare prices in an instant no matter how remote their location.

Global business, new technologies, and the competitive marketplace demand high quality, flexible, integrated operations. New organizational structures have evolved. They are less hierarchical and functionally split than the traditional bureaucratic organization. Work gets done where it is needed. People are assigned to work teams where their skills and experience can be of most value, regardless of their current organizational level. Consultants are brought in when required. Organizations seek continuous improvement, and they form teams to bring about change and monitor improvement. Considerable work gets done in teams. Sometimes these are virtual teams, in that the members are geographically dispersed. Members communicate via technology, rather than in-person, although they may meet occasionally.

New work structures impose new directions for leadership. Leaders must know how to create new organizational designs to match their goals. They need to oversee the evolution of these business structures as market, economic, and technological conditions change. Whereas some organizations may have stable structures, or perhaps a core structure that is relatively static, they may also have a more fluid support structure, drawing on resources within and outside the firm as needed. This requires new management systems to chart progress, manage performance, and enhance motivation of employees, many of whom may be temporary and have more allegiance to their own careers and disciplines than they do to the organization employing them at the moment.

Implementation of new technology is also a challenge. For example, consider what it takes to implement a new integrated data system to replace a myriad of separate data systems that have developed independently over a number of years. An organization may have separate systems for placing customer orders, ordering from suppliers, tracking operations, and managing human resources. New distributed computer technology and web access provide the opportunity for self-service so that customers, suppliers, and employees can get the information they need and use this information by interacting with the system directly. Designing such an integrated, enterprise-wide data system requires input from functional experts in all departments of the organization as well as technical expertise from systems managers. Developing the new system may be a top priority for the leadership of the business, but the organization still needs to keep the old, “legacy” systems operating as the firm continues to do business. More staff may be needed, but labor markets are likely to be tight, especially for talented individuals with the needed knowledge and experience. Even if they can be found, there is the challenge of integrating new, perhaps temporary, people into the organization and getting them up to speed. Although the new system may have many benefits, hoped-for cost savings and fewer employees may never be realized. Moreover, the strains of technology implementation may continue because the systems continue to evolve with technology. So the implementation is never fully complete. Leaders have to recognize the value of new technologies, communicate why they are needed, and convey enthusiasm for the initiatives while employees are asked to do more work with fewer resources.

Leaders need to ensure that sufficient resources are devoted to educating employees about the new systems. This means more than simply training employees on how to perform their specific functions using the new technology, but on the ways their jobs and the technology fit within the overall flow of work throughout the organization and between the organization and suppliers and customers. This education is needed so that employees understand the implications of their performance for the business, and how their actions affect everything else. Otherwise, they may not be bothered if they make a small mistake or delay their own work (Wheatley, 2000). Such an attitude can be the downfall of the entire work process, and indeed, organization mission and bottom line. Leaders need to be able to communicate this enterprise-wide perspective and have the patience and resources to ensure that employees have this comprehensive understanding.

Summary

Business challenges have implications for leadership behavior and leadership development. These challenges include the following: The world economy and diversity at home requiring skill to conduct business in a multicultural environment; new technology and its effects on business channels; and new, flexible organizational structures, including geographically dispersed, virtual teams striving for continuous quality improvement. In addition, leaders need to value continuous learning for themselves and their people. Next, consider in more detail how these changes and new demands on leaders influence skill and knowledge requirements and opportunities for leadership development.

TRENDS IN LEADERSHIP SKILL AND KNOWLEDGE REQUIREMENTS

A recent job ad for a leader of a consulting firm specializing in helping e-commerce companies integrate management and technology stated that the firm was looking for someone with the following personal strengths: “relentless commitment to client satisfaction, drive, professional integrity, skills and experience in project management and business process re-engineering, openness to change and experimentation and not blinded by his or her expertise and particular discipline, strong communication skills (written and verbal), exceptional analytical skills, interpersonal effectiveness in all business environments and at all organizational levels.” Clearly, leadership is much more than setting direction and organizing and monitoring work. It is a direct product of the development of new technologies, shifting market demands, and the anticipation of continuous change.

Transactional Leadership Skills

This section establishes a comprehensive picture of the actions leaders must take and the corresponding skills they require to meet the challenges of today’s complex organizations. The discussion samples the contemporary literature written by experts in leadership and management development.

E. C. Murphy (1996) reported the results of a study of more than 18,000 managers at 562 large and small organizations in a variety of industries in the United States and around the world. The research identified 1,000 respondents who showed exceptional leadership abilities, and then evaluated the qualities that distinguished them from others who were not as successful. Key leadership skills included identifying and selecting talent, networking, solving problems, being able to evaluate people and programs fairly and accurately, negotiating, resolving conflict and healing hurt feelings, guarding and enhancing resources, and promoting synergistic working relationships.

Napolitano and Henderson (1997) outlined the leadership skills needed to deal effectively with an ever-changing business environment. They included self-leadership (exploring values and perspectives), adhering to a set of business values such as integrity and honesty, facilitating individual and team performance, managing across departmental and organizational boundaries, creating a corporate culture, anticipating the future, and taking responsibility for their own development and learning how to learn.

Yukl (1997) presented a broad survey of theory and research on managerial leadership. He discussed leading teams, leading change, and developing leaders. Leadership, according to Yukl, involves formulating strategies, delegating (participative leadership), developing effective relationships with subordinates, acquiring and using power and influence, and being flexible as the situation changes (knowing how to vary behavior to meet the needs of the moment).

Hirshhorn (1997) proposed the need to rework leadership in the postmodern organization marked by turbulence and redefinition. The way people work, the skills they need, and the kinds of careers they expect are changing. For instance, people are expected to dedicate more of themselves to their jobs—that is, to do whatever is needed, often at the expense of family. Hirshhorn’s new culture of authority is one in which leaders recognize their dependence on their employees, and indeed, employees can challenge their authority. Leaders need to create a culture of openness as they gain a better understanding of how their own identities and those of their employees are tied to work. Also, leaders need to be tolerant of individual differences, learn from failure, and give employees who fail second chances.

Hitt (2000), writing about managerial challenges in the new millennium, suggested that unprecedented and continuous change, driven by globalization and the rapid development and diffusion of new technology, requires a new leadership mind-set. Executives need to harness advances in e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and knowledge management. Also, they need to hire and develop people who can think creatively as they generate and apply new knowledge and develop global perspectives.

Characteristics of Successful Leaders. In trying to predict leadership success, some research has considered variables that contribute to early career success. McCall (1998) identified five background characteristics that distinguished successful from failed executives:

1. Track record: Most people who were promoted to the executive suite had a strong record of success, at least a consistent record of positive bottom-line results.

2. Brilliance: Successful executives were perceived to be uncommonly bright in a technical or functional specialty or in a general skill such as the ability to solve difficult problems or analyze complex situations.

3. Commitment/Sacrifice: Successful executives were seen as loyal to their company. This is evident in a willingness to work long hours and accept whatever assignments come along.

4. Charisma: Successful executives were likely to be highly affable. Often, this is especially evident in their behavior with people at higher levels in the organization.

5. Ambition: Successful execut...