opinion

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.

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.

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.

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.

Whose life is it anyway? Loyalties and agendas

Leaders may give away their authority by prioritising other people’s agendas and interests over their own – often indiscriminately and usually unconsciously. This blind loyalty to an assumption that questioning or challenging someone’s else’s agenda isn’t possible can, in turn, be down to another loyalty. This underlying loyalty can be to the leader’s outdated or misplaced belief that they have to do everything themselves if things are to get done to the necessary standard. This thinking habit or indeed a lack of thought - and the consequences - can be damaging to their leadership, career prospects, reputation, effectiveness, relationships, judgements and decisions. Leaders need to remember to be aware of the moment when a situation is drawing them in, and to give themselves space to think and options for alternative action.

Compassion: a business issue

Paul Gilbert, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby, defines compassion as "a sensitivity to suffering in self and others with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent it" – and he notes that the core of compassion is courage. Far from being a soft issue, his scientific perspective is directly relevant to how organisations can boost their effectiveness. Compassion can do much to restore trust, confidence and a sense of safety in the individual and in the system – and it’s partly about both presence and acceptance, with a close link to mindfulness. Leaders and their reports can take practical steps to boosting both their self-compassion and their compassion towards others.

Building resilience in a tougher world

We all - and particularly leaders - seem to be experiencing more and more pressure in our modern world. The need to build and maintain resilience seems more pressing than ever. By ‘resilience’ I mean not so much the ability to simply cope, but more the capacity to consistently adapt to changing circumstances, to learn from adversity, and to manage intense emotions and uncomfortable thinking in oneself and others. We need to learn to flex in our responses to adversity.

'Just being': my article in Coaching at Work

Transactional coaching objectives are irrelevant to some of my clients. 'Doing’ keeps them out of trouble but offers no fulfilment or satisfaction, whereas - ironically - 'being' and objective-free coaching offers them the time and space that are essential for them to profoundly engage with their coaching objectives

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