Building Leaders

Paving the Path for Emerging Leaders

Charles Stoner, Jason Stoner, Charles R. Stoner, Jason S. Stoner

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415899307
• eBook ISBN: 9781136593161
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

This book is written for emerging leaders. It is designed to help these leaders bridge the gap from stepping into a position of leadership and emerging as a confident and respected difference-maker.

Within this text, award-winning scholar and leader-coach Charles Stoner meets emerging leaders where they are and focus on the issues that are most problematic for them. From the development of leadership skills to the practice and application of successful strategies, Stoner offers tools, ideas, and evidence-based advice to these up-and-coming leaders in an indispensable text that is direct, pragmatic, and action-oriented.

Major topics include: Recognition, development, and practice of organizational leadership skills. Enhancing interpersonal dynamics and relationships. Organizational politics and interpersonal influence, creativity and innovation, negotiation and conflict resolution. Handling problem situations; effectively utilizing diverse talents and personalities. Introduction to major leadership and interpersonal development techniques. Case studies.

1

Challenge

The Playing Field Has Changed

Arguably, the development of emerging leaders may be the most critical challenge facing contemporary organizations. Although the selection and development of new leaders is fundamental to organizational growth and success, many organizations are facing a troubling scenario—a striking gap between the leaders they need and the talent available to assume the responsibilities of leadership. Further, this so-called “leadership talent crisis” is pervasive, spanning a global context (Wilson & Hoole, 2011).

Two primary factors have contributed to this gap. The first is demographically driven—the graying of our management ranks and the subsequent exit of seasoned leadership talent. As senior leaders leave in overwhelming numbers, we face a talent drain whose collective knowledge and experience cannot be replicated, at least in the short-run (Deal, Peterson, & Gailor-Loflin, 2001).

The second factor is economically driven. In recent years of economic uncertainty, many organizations chose to “batten down the hatches,” engage in “trough planning,” and trim expenses. Training and development budgets were frequent targets, and younger, emerging leaders were profoundly affected.

Today, on the heels of this demographic and economic double-whammy, organizations are battling to ramp-up the growth of a new cadre of leaders. There is little debate that the evolving, incremental development of younger talent must be accelerated. Consequently, emerging leaders, often in their twenties or early thirties, will have opportunities for challenging leadership roles that only a generation ago would have been years in coming. Therein lay both the challenge and the promise.

Consider, for example, a six-year study of over twenty thousand high-potential, emerging “organizational stars” from more than one hundred companies throughout the world that was recently conducted by the Corporate Leadership Council (Martin & Schmidt, 2010). Here, researchers found that nearly 40% of the internal job moves made by these promising young leaders ended in failure. The Council’s study offered a striking explanatory finding. More than 70% of these high potential workers lacked “critical attributes essential to their success in future roles” (Martin & Schmidt, 2010, p. 56). In other words, these young leaders did not have the skills and perspectives needed for the challenges of contemporary leadership.

This story is not new. A 2005 report from Right Management found that about 30% of new managers and executives failed at their new jobs and ended up leaving their respective organizations within 18 months (Williams, 2010). Harvard Professor Linda Hill (2003), drawing from her insightful assessments of new managers, suggested that first line management is the level in the organization where we typically see the “most frequent reports of incompetence, burnout, and excessive attrition” (p. 2). Emerging leaders are often caught off guard when faced with the realization that well-honed skills that have assured past success now must be augmented by a new set of skills—skills that may have garnered scant attention and limited development (Ellis, 2004).

Interestingly, the development of new skills may be the easier part of the transition to leadership. Scholars argue that emerging leaders must develop “new attitudes,” “new mindsets,” and “new values” (Hill, 2003, pp. x–xi; Watkins, 2003). Importantly, new leaders must define a new sense of themselves and their role in the organization. Executive coach and author Marshall Goldsmith offers a catchy and pertinent assessment for our audience of emerging leaders in the book title, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (Goldsmith & Reiter, 2007). Accepting a new and more expansive role brings excitement, challenge, and a deeper sense of personal fulfillment. Concurrently, leadership is a new world, immersing some of our most talented people into an arena of uncertainty, frustration, interpersonal stress, and fear.

The Emerging Leader

This book is written for emerging leaders—those men and women who are experiencing their initial foray into the challenges of leading others in an organizational context. Emerging leaders may be asked to guide a project team, head a special assignment, coordinate a group of peers, or take responsibility for a group of direct reports. In some cases, this new leadership role is clearly defined. In many cases, it is a mixed role. That is, emerging leaders are often called to lead others while maintaining responsibilities as individual performers.

Assuming the mantle of leadership, one is not graced with an immediate and profound transformation of insight, emerging full-blown and full-grown—a leader in every way. Like all of life, leadership is comprised of a series of ebbs and flows.

As leaders, you will experience periods of success and unfortunately, you must endure inevitable stumbles. For example, you tactfully handle a tense and politically-charged battle over needed resources, and in the process, learn powerful lessons of respectful communication. You lose your temper with a team member over his failure to meet a deadline and recognize that firmness and anger rarely complement one another. You vow that holding standards of accountability must be coupled with appropriate impulse control. You learn, and you commit to grow.

We understand that leadership is a complex formative and developmental process (Nohria & Khurana, 2010). Importantly, for those who are perceptive, critical development is gleaned from both success and failure experiences, reinforcing the maxim that “there is no wasted experience” for the insightful leader.

Although emerging leaders may represent a range of ages, we have chosen to focus on younger leaders who are still in their twenties and thirties. While erecting this chronological boundary is admittedly arbitrary, we do so for two reasons.

First, younger leaders are likely to face issues, encounter complexities, and experience reactions (even push-back) that differ from the experience of their more senior colleagues. Second, there is a dramatic and pressing need for leadership development among this younger segment in our organizations. Faced with a mounting array of complex problems, leadership cannot be viewed as the exclusive purview of a small cadre, sitting atop the organizational hierarchy. The tone of impactful leadership must be present at all levels—underscoring the significance of our emerging leader audience (Bennis & Goldsmith, 1997).

While emerging leaders encounter a number of challenges that we will discuss shortly, the most profound of these challenges occur in the personal and interpersonal arenas. Accordingly, most of our attention will focus on these two key areas of change and growth.

Emerging leaders are not the champions of industry, at least not yet. Rather, you are women and men who are new to the experience of leading others, replete with the struggles and anxieties that are rarely discussed and addressed. However, certain challenges, needed skills and approaches, and even pitfalls are predictable, thereby allowing us to acknowledge and suggest ways of addressing these matters.

Most critically, emerging leaders want ideas, and they need actions—actions that can be put into place immediately. In short, this book is designed to help younger leaders bridge the gap between stepping into positions of leadership and emerging as confident and respected performers who create influence and impact.

Although experience is the master teacher, years of study and research indicate, rather conclusively, that well-designed interventions can lead to positive leadership change and accordingly, enhance one’s leadership journey (Reichard & Avolio, 2005). Lessons can be gleaned and applied. Missteps can be thwarted. Skills can be practiced and incorporated into the leader’s repertoire. And importantly, one can consciously choose patterns of behavior that define who they are and what they are becoming.

Our hope is obvious. We do not want you to simply meander through your new leadership role. We want you to grow and excel as a respected difference-maker.

What Is Leadership?

It’s always a good idea to try to define the things you’re going to be discussing. In the realm of leadership, there is no shortage of definitions, and every original study and new book offers its own unique wrinkle on the topic (Bass, 1991).

Some views are quite direct, stripped of pedantic undertones. For example, noted scholar and author Peter Senge (2006) has offered what is perhaps the sparsest look, noting that leaders inspire others. There is considerable merit to this simplicity, and we are a bit partial to this phrasing. The word “inspire” literally means “to breathe” or “to breathe life into.” Indeed, our best leaders do “breathe new life” into people, teams, units, and organizations, enabling a level of movement and advancement that exceeds what was originally deemed reasonable or even possible.

Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2002) add that “Great leaders … ignite our passions and inspire the best in us” (p. 3). We have all seen it in action. And, we have all lived through the depleting drain when it is absent.

With an admitted slant toward simplicity, we argue that the central characteristic of contemporary leadership is the process of “intentional influence” —influence that touches the feelings, emotions, thinking, and actions of others so that goals and visions are realized. This is hardly original (for example, see Gardner, 1995). From our perspective, equating leadership and influence is an expansive, not limiting, approach to our topic. Indeed, the challenge of influence is nuanced and complicated by the unique personalities, divergent interests and needs, and situational complexity we encounter.

There is an additional perspective that merits attention. Kouzes and Posner (2002) have emphasized that leadership is a process, not a position. To a large extent, that process and its evolving nature is the framework for this book. We accept that leadership is “an observable, understandable, learnable set of skills and practices available to anyone, anywhere in the organization” (Kouzes, 1998, p. 322).

The Impact of Leadership

Leadership matters. However, the question that has divided scholars for decades is how much leadership matters. Those with a more cynical tone contend, for example, that even the most talented leaders fail to stave off plunges in performance during periods of economic decline and market shifts. And, they counter that, during boom times, leadership acumen is largely the recipient of and not the driver behind performance spikes. In essence, the argument goes: broad factors beyond any leader’s control (the nature of the industry, dynamics in the environment, and even organizational culture) are the real drivers of performance outcomes (Pfeffer, 1977; Thomas, 1988).

On the other hand, scholars and practitioners argue that leaders play a significant role in generating positive organizational outcomes. In fact, the bulk of research over the last twenty-five years suggests that leadership does matter and that leaders do, in fact, have important effects on performance (Bass, Avolio, Jung, & Berson, 2003; Judge, Piccolo, & Illies, 2004). No one affects the work experience of organizational members more (for good or bad) than the immediate leader.

Numerous studies have examined the qualities, characteristics, attributes, and approaches that differentiate successful from less successful leaders. As such, we have a wonderful tapestry of empirical investigations and philosophic insights that have been woven through fifty years of studying the field of leadership.

Understandably, we yearn for ways to improve and yield better leadership. Here, we must consider what is expected of our leaders. Good leaders map directions for transcending uncertain times. They provide inspiration and encouragement. They create environments where motivation can flourish. They offer hope and resiliency during times of struggle. They provide fairness and justice when distributing the fruits of performance during times of boom. They move organizations to grow and improve and change, while recognizing that any change is, at its heart, a tenuous and fragile personal adventure. They can be firm and tough, demanding the highest of performance expectations and tight adherence to systematic processes. And they can provide authentic compassion and sensitivity and support.

Importantly, it is the situation-specific, idiosyncratic mix of these diverse perspectives that defines good leadership. The complexity of blending this mix in the proper proportions underscores why outstanding leadership is so rare. Does all this make a difference? Our experiences and our lives at work suggest providing a clear affirmative nod.

Although relatively few studies have focused, specifically and exclusively, on young, emerging leaders, we will draw heavily from those that have. Further, from a broader perspective, a number of general leadership studies and theoretical models offer important insights when applied to the needs of our emerging audience.

The Playing Field Has Changed

Ted Williams may have been the most gifted pure hitter to ever play the game of baseball. Through raw talent, an incredible work ethic, and plain old dogged determination, Williams defined excellence in baseball. He finished his career with an unbelievable .344 lifetime batting average. He hit .316 or better for 19 of his 20 seasons. He was the last player to hit over .400 for a season. With definitive punctuation, he even hit a home run in his last career turn at bat. Soon after his retirement, Williams was asked to manage—to lead young players to the same lofty levels he had achieved.

By nearly all accounts, Williams struggled as a leader. With a bias toward understatement, let’s just say that the same intensity and single-minded focus that had led to personal success as a player did not quite connect with the less talented players who comprised his teams. He was impatient with their development. He had little understanding and even less respect for the idiosyncratic nature of pitchers—a breed of player he had hated as a hitter.

In many ways, the keys to successfully leading a baseball team—understanding unique personalities, developing players across a range of talents, making nuanced decisions based on the unique context of the game—were skills and qualities Williams had never really worried about and certainly had not honed. As an individual performer, Williams rightfully earned a spot in the Hall of Fame. As a leader, it was a new game.

Williams’s story is common. It hits at the core of this book. It’s the story of every outstanding individual performer who struggles carrying success to a broader team or unit. It’s the story of a young man whom we’ll call Mark. Armed with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Mark was a brilliant addition to the research arm of a large, global company. With fierce determination and an analytic problem-solving mind, Mark was lauded for his ability to bring creative and winning contributions to perplexing projects. Not surprisingly, Mark was only 29 when he was elevated to the position of team leader. Here, he was challenged to harness the talents of a five-person team to find solutions to a troubling product concern.

As we met, Mark was reeling, stunned by devastating feedback from his peers and a biting performance appraisal from his boss. In short, all reviews portrayed Mark as arrogant, intimidating, and dismissive. And the young superstar was now being eyed carefully as a flawed leader who was unable to deliver.

Interacting with Mark, one would quickly conclude that Mark, indeed, was arrogant, intimidating, and dismissive. He was also thoroughly competent and quick, seeing design issues and problems earlier and more clearly than his peers. However, he had little patience in waiting for others to catch up. He showed his irritation through nonverbal displays that clearly projected his disgust with less adept colleagues. Even more damning, Mark projected a “winning at all costs” attitude. If pushing the best or “right” answer meant a pointed exchange with colleagues, he welcomed it. Through intellectual force, he could bully folks into submission, forcing his views to prevail. Interestingly, his views were usually correct.

For Mark, the qualities of intensity and fierce determination to succeed had been the foundations for his individual success. Yet, when played out within a team leader context, he created frustration and resentment from those he needed to encourage to stretch in meeting challenging project demands.

Now here is the key. Mark had not changed. But he was now performing on a different stage, a stage upon which he had not previously walked. And, when the curtain went up, he floundered. When stepping into the realm of leadership, the playing field has now changed. It is more complex, more nuanced, and, most critically, it is decidedly not self-centric.

A Time of Transition

We all face points of transition throughout our lives and careers, and these transitions are a natural part of our evolving and developing nature. For example, you experienced a transition when leaving home to attend college, a transition bound in new challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities. You experienced the same transitional impact when you took your first job, made a commitment to a loved partner, or had your first child. Now, you face another transition as you become a leader.

We do not see your move to leadership as a dramatic transformation or reformation or metamorphosis. These terms suggest a radical or revolutionary change of behavior, literally changing from one thing into a different thing, a total alteration. This is not what we have experienced with young leaders we have worked with, coached, taugh...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1. Challenge: The Playing Field Has Changed
• 2. Character: The Inside Game of Leadership
• 3. Confidence: The Capacity to Lead with Assurance
• 4. Clarity: The Foundation of Crystal-Clear Expectations
• 5. Conflict: The Power of Successful Conflict Encounters
• 6. Connection: The Language of Understanding
• 7. Commitment: The Strength of Performance through People
• 8. Change: The Call to Opportunity and Possibility
• 9. Crisis: Developing Through the Cauldron of Adversity
• 10. Codas and Continuations
• References
• Index