#29 - The characteristics of an effective leader
Saturday, June 20th 2009 @ 6:14 PM
Hugh Jones presents a interesting article on the characteristics of leadership which makes reference to an important leadership figure from the Iraq war.
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When Col. Tim Collins addressed his troops on the eve of their advance into Iraq, in March 2003, he employed some of the core principles of Leadership (http://journal.dajobe.org/journal/2003/03/collins/). In doing so, he embodies what many consider to be the key to leadership - the effective communication of a story.
He set out the context, the environment they were entering. He conveyed a vision to them of what lay ahead. He gave them realistic expectations, in language they would understand, of what they would be required to do. He reassured them of his support and protection. He reinforced their mandate for action. He reminded them of the shared values they should uphold and warns them of the consequences of failure to adhere to these values. And he sums up by reminding them of their shared objective.
Few leaders get the opportunity to exercise their abilities in such dramatic or visible circumstances - for many, the challenge of leadership is to effectively manage their teams through the changing circumstances with which they are confronted.
For every Rudolf Giuliani, confronted with the task of managing and calming New York in the aftermath of 9/11, or Churchill, striving to inspire a population in the face of war-time adversity, there are middle-managers and team leaders whose challenge is to bolster morale in the face of mundane, production-line tasks, or to reassure a team that they will come through a divisional re-organisation with their job prospects intact and their careers plan undamaged.
There are two core criteria which identify a leader:
· their willing followers, and
· the circumstances and opportunity in which they are called upon to lead.
The role of the leader is a balancing act which seeks an outlet through which to apply a range of skills, competencies and habits. Studies refer to the need for an effective manager to be comfortable with the management of polarities, and having a tolerance for ambiguity, change and paradox.
Others recognise an emotional element in which the leader must put something of themselves into the task, not merely the application of book knowledge.
The basis of Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence model cites the importance of empathy and optimism in how the leader portrays himself, putting value in the leader’s emotional strength as a source of self-belief and confidence to overcome obstacles.
So the leader is confronted with a dazzling array of contradictory challenges - to collaborate while competing, to think globally while acting locally, to protect the bottom line while nurturing and facilitating one’s team members. To be effective, a leader must be equally adept at action and reflection - the analogy of the Window and the Mirror.
The danger here is that (to abuse the analogy further) the mirror might at times obscure the view (the ‘analysis paralysis’ of over-thinking, leading to inertia), just as persistent action without reflection can be seen as arrogance, or, if not associated with success, ‘headless chicken syndrome’.
Conclusion
What gels the leader’s skills and competencies is the opportunity to act – this is both the test and the challenge for any leader. The fact that most of these opportunities will arrive as a surprise rather than the product of a considered, strategic initiative means that the leader must be familiar with the full range of competing skills in order to be able, like the experienced golfer, to select and successfully apply the right response to the challenge being faced. Personally, I like the dynamic of self-assessment leading to self-awareness; the time spent in reflection (in front of the ‘mirror’), once objective, is time well spent. Evaluating and refining one’s preferences, one’s strengths and one’s core values is the starting point to being able to design and implement a values-based approach to the leadership of others.
Hugh Jones
Data Protection Specialist
Irish Computer Society
