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The effective leader

There’s a big difference between leadership that’s empowering and unobtrusive, and leadership that abdicates responsibility and is ineffectual, although at first sight they may look similar. The former can be sustainably powerful and rich in its effect, but if it’s to avoid the perils of the latter, the leader will have qualities and skills which the ineffectual leader typically lacks – curiosity and intellectual energy, insight, self-awareness, awareness of the system in which they function, honesty, vision, and, critically, integrity, courage and authority. It is difficult to uphold integrity if you don’t have the courage to step into your authority.

Authority and courage

In my work with leaders and the development of their leadership I’ve been struck by the interconnection between a leader stepping appropriately into their authority, on the one hand, and their courage, on the other.

An effective leader understands their team and their client group, and is able to stay up to date with their needs, changes in those needs, and changes in the context and the system that impact on those needs: they are in touch with the ebb and flow – and act on it – without getting sucked in to the detail, and they can anticipate and prepare for changes (albeit they may not be able to prepare for shocks and surprises). This too takes courage.

Stepping into authority

There’s a line between holding the rank or title of leader and carrying the authority that comes with it. If an individual is to truly be a leader they need to create and sustain an appropriate balance of authority.

Stepping into that authority may mean the difference between the new leader not being heard or acknowledged in an established team (which typically leaves them in an alienated position) and finding ways to attract new respect and recognition (which is more likely to give them a sense of belonging).

It means standing with integrity for their beliefs and values, knowing their place, stepping into it and remaining in it, despite being buffeted by adversity. It means the leader being able to inspire their people with possibility before their vision is proven.

Individuals like Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill come to mind, but there are also thousands – if not millions – of leaders in much smaller contexts who achieve great results by stepping into their authority. The Chief Executive of a charity, whom I worked with, and whose funding was cut by a third at the same time as having to deliver bigger results, created for herself a new sense of place and a better understanding of her real capacity to escalate the scale of her organisation’s achievements.

I have worked with people who hold the rank of leader but who are fearful of criticism, or seek approval as a priority, and may even abdicate decision-making. Such people can get stuck in a place of apparent safety and never move on: they hedge around their authority and leave its potential unfulfilled.

Courage

Being able to step into one’s authority and to engage with the implications of it requires courage. The leader may have to face unpalatable risks or certainties, and may feel isolated in a context where those around her or him are clinging on to attitudes that are past their sell-by date, or to old-established behaviours that they think will somehow keep them safe (whereas in fact the most dangerous thing they can do is to stay in the same place).

It takes courage to behave with integrity, and to encounter and create change. It takes courage to demonstrate vulnerability and humility – qualities that, counter-intuitively, are marks of strong, authoritative, impactful leadership.Courage includes the readiness and ability to avoid wilful blindness – the blinding of oneself to uncomfortable facts, written about so compellingly by Margaret Heffernan in articles such as ‘Corporate calculations on sexual harassment have changed’, published in the Financial Times (14 Dec 2018).

She writes: ‘When Deloitte announced that it had dismissed 20 partners in the past four years for reasons of bullying and harassment, it kicked off a PR arms race. Competitors have rushed to flourish similar figures. But why were they silent for so long about doing the right thing? Did they worry they’d lack wholehearted support? Or are they still steeling themselves to tackle the rainmaker on the sixth floor?

Where’s the courage and where’s the real authority here? What will it take for integrity to surface?

Photo by alh1 via Compfight

Authority, courage and the leader

There's an interconnection between a leader stepping appropriately into their authority, on the one hand, and their courage, on the other. An effective leader understands their team and their client group, and is able to stay up to date with their needs, changes in those needs, and changes in the context and the system that impact on those needs: they are in touch with the ebb and flow – and act on it - without getting sucked in to the detail, and they can anticipate and prepare for changes. This takes courage.

Who am I? Shifting the focus

My latest article has been published in Coaching at Work magazine's reflection column. In it I explore the question that leaders sometimes put to themselves (and to their coaches): ‘Who am I if I don’t have the answers?’ The question is about both identity and performance – at the very least. While a leader is judged on the results they achieve, achieving outcomes rests in turn on a broader underpinning than just getting things right - notably process, meaning and system.

Trust and transition

Trust is a fragile commodity, and is damaged when the psychological contract (even more than the formal contract) is not respected and/or there is abuse of goodwill, when people feel exploited, disrespected or manipulated, when they have a sense that there’s a hidden agenda, or when they start to question what they had taken for granted about integrity. The outcome may be reduced motivation, performance that is restrained, constrained or diminished, and commitment that is short-lived or superficial. When trust is justified, discretionary effort, engagement and motivation are sustained and built. This is all highly relevant at a time of transition. As a leader you ignore the impact of trust at your peril.

Leading through systemic complexity

The task of leadership in our time is increasingly often described as complex – and leaders are often challenged as to how to deal with it. Leaders whom I work with arrive sooner or later at the realisation that question(s) they bring to coaching are either obviously or surprisingly complex, requiring a holistic approach to address them. Those whose behavioural pattern is to rush towards quick answers can find the exploration of what’s actually happening to be confronting, frustrating, uncomfortable – and rich in learning. In complexity what matters is strengthening relationships between people, recognising and understanding influences and forces rather than exerting control, accepting emergence rather than being focused on planning for outcomes, and a readiness to work with boundaries and perspectives rather than a sense of objective truth.

What's the difference? My article in Coaching at Work

In the Coaching at Work conference session I ran in July 2018, we set out to explore differences and connections between generations. Generation Z guests wanted to be recognised as individuals and to have their diversity valued, rather than focus on their differences as a group from the rest of the population. And coaches reflected that coaching students was no different from coaching anyone else. So what's the difference?

Resilience in a changing world

Leaders are constantly required to deliver more with less. But their resilience can’t be taken for granted. Resources that are particularly valuable for building resilience include: Self-compassion and self-care; mindfulness and acceptance; awareness of habitual thinking patterns such as confusing assumptions with reality; clarification and articulation of purpose; building adaptability and the ability to flex; physical resourcing through sleep, diet and exercise.

Leadership, culture and successful selling

Leaders often start their careers by excelling technically. However, as their careers progress, they require an increasingly nuanced approach – particularly in relation to communication. Leadership means getting things done through people, not in spite of them, and leaders need to tap in to their self-awareness and to convert that into self-managed communication. In the high-stakes climate of the oil and gas industry, from Texas to Saudi, the leader has a consistent need for humility, integrity, curiosity, a willingness to think beyond the usual boundaries, trust, an awareness of one’s impact, and a finely-honed capacity to listen and to respect each individual.

'My markers in the sand': my latest article in Coaching at Work

Organisations which buy coaching can, knowingly or unknowingly, prevent the embedding of the learning it enables: organisational cultures can pull in the opposite direction from the messages from such learning. Expressing my values, my philosophy and my expectations of organisational adaptation at the beginning of every coaching programme might boost the integration of the changes that result from the coaching.

Stretching to breaking point

Some senior people I coach are being stretched to a point where their wellbeing has reached dangerously low levels. At the heart of their recovering their health and balance is the realisation that, whereas they’d previously regarded self-care as selfish, self-indulgent or disposable, not only is it ‘OK’, legitimate and necessary, but also it enables them to make a better job of their jobs and their relationships in and out of work, enhancing their efficiency, their insight, the ability to take a broader perspective, their emotional intelligence, and the quality of their judgments and decisions.

'Drop the attitude' - my article in Coaching at Work

Women talk as much as ever about not being acknowledged or included – and worse - by male colleagues. The way forward in terms of organisations is for leaders to change the culture: this takes courage, staying power and consistency. My female clients find that my being present and working systemically and somatically with them are especially resourcing, focusing on the systems of relationships that they're part of, and the patterns of those systems. Male leaders whom I've coached have also changed their approach and their strategies, enabling deeper sustained success for their organisations.

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