[This is an article I wrote in December of 2006. Wondering how true my claims are 5 years on]
INTRODUCTION:
Leadership is fast becoming the most discussed management issue in
the political and corporate governance sectors of the world’s economy; gaining
a wider and wider listening-audience over time. However, as much as leadership
is being talked about, there seems to be insufficient solutions or principles
which when practiced, assures of effective leadership for “whosoever” holds a
leadership position: these wide principles of leadership work for some
individuals and do not work for others.
In my view, leadership surpasses a set of guidelines or principles;
it rather requires a particular personality which can only be built over time
by the difficult art of Personal Leadership. It could require an entire reconstruction of one’s personality, attitude
to life and set of beliefs about people and their potentials.
This article looks at leadership from a common, yet uncommon, view.
It looks at the role of a leader as the
team-member who does not necessarily need to have the highest
number of the competences required to achieve team goals but must have that
single and needful competence -“leadership”- the ultimate guarantee for team success.
As the first article of the Virtual Leadership Series, it is
necessary to state here that the views expressed in this article are applicable
to both Physical and Virtual Leadership styles. Subsequent articles will
however dwell more on issues peculiar to Leadership in a Virtual Environment.
LEADERSHIP RE-DEFINED
Numerous highly skilled leadership experts have defined and explained
leadership using various approaches. Nonetheless, for the purpose of this
article, I will define leadership in my own words which expresses my personal
prior experience of leadership.
“Leadership is the ability to give what you don’t have,
produce what you don’t possess, and succeed where you don’t have the expertise,
all because you’ve learnt to effectively manage the “better” talents at your
disposal” -Tobi
Odunowo
Note the words: “better” talents! Many people in leadership positions
feel threatened when they identify a more knowledgeable team-member in an area
of speciality - such people could be said to be locked-in to a “leader’s-ship”
practice rather than the real practice of leadership.
“LEADER’S-SHIP” OR LEADERSHIP:
“Leader’s-ship” occurs in a
situation where the team-leader works under the assumption that “the buck stops
with him/her”. Such leaders try to become the central point of the team but
without the needful purpose of sharing or being generous with the
decision-making power they possess as the “number-one”. This type of leader-attitude drives team-members to a state where
they do not see their team responsibilities as their own work, but rather see
it as the leader’s work (don’t be startled when
you hear employees say “I’m going to the office to do Mr. Boss’ job!”).
People holding leadership positions should see themselves as a
“Logger-Leader”- a leader who centralizes himself, not as the focal point of
the team’s decision-making process and success-determinants, but as a
facilitator and constant communicator of the team’s vision; the “hidden-force”
that makes team-members to see team-goals as the drivers of their personal
goals; and the one who doesn’t necessarily need to have the best skills but has
the unique ability to place and utilize the available skills in each team
member; someone who believes that the buck rather stops with “us”-the entire
team!- that is Leadership!
ILLUSTRATING LEADERSHIP: HERDS-MAN AND LOGGER’S APPROACH
The Herd’s-Man Leader
Thinking back at school-days whilst studying at the University of
Agriculture, Abeokuta in Nigeria, I had the privilege of learning about the
nomadic herds-men who do not have homes but perpetually travel across the
Sahara looking for pasture for their followers- the herds of cattle, to graze on. Remember,
these cattle leaders have a goal- to find
pasture for their cattle.
Let’s take a look at the styles and trend of leadership and
“followership” as shown by the herds-man and his herds of cattle.
The herd’s-man is the leader of the team:
-
He tells them what to do and where to go at
every point in time
- - They always wait and look-up to him for instructions, they are not allowed to use their own initiative, the buck stops with the herds-man: their leader
- - They have an idea of what the team-goal is (getting pasture) but it is only the leader that tells them how to get to the goal (the particular pasture where they will graze), they don’t think of a best approach to achieving that goal; decisions lie with the “boss”
- - The team doesn’t have a defined goal- they look for pasture wherever they can find it; no definite destination, no periodic evaluations, it’s simply a visionless venture; an endless voyage.
- - The leader leads and the herds of cattle have to follow; they don’t know exactly where they are going, and so they cannot plan nor do they require any special strategy. They just have to follow the leader!
The “Logger”- Leader
I also remember learning in school, from one of the courses on “Forestry”, about
Loggers living in riverine areas who fell trees at one side of the river and transport the
felled logs to the other side of the river using the course of water-flow. The
team-goal here is to move the felled logs to the other side of the river- but
it is not just a vague goal, it is defined- the other side of the river refers
to a particular “well-known” place which has only been seen by the leader – it
is the leader’s vision that is ready to become the team’s shared-vision. The
Logger is the leader and the felled logs are the followers.
Taking a closer look at the leadership style and trend of leadership
and “followership” as displayed by the Logger and his logs, one begins to note
that:
- - The leader starts by arranging the logs in a way that is compactable with the water-flow; this requires that he fits the log in a position where they can display their in-built potential. Large logs have their place; small logs have their place; he also needs to consider the weight of the logs. In simple terms, he identifies the potentials of each log and keeps them where they fit: he realizes the fact that this part of the task could make or mar the achievement of his team-goal of getting all the logs to the other side of the river. We can describe this exercise as: “Strategic Selection and Placement: Right Peg in the Right Hole”
- His next task is to watch the course of the water-flow and identify how they (he and the logs) must trail the course in other to get to their destination (team goal) This stage could be described as “Team-Goal Setting and Systems & Process Definition”. We also need to note that the water-flow may change at any point in time thus it is required of the leader and his/her team to be responsive and flexible enough to use the changes in water-flow to their advantage if they must remain on course in achieving the team goal. These types of leaders are not “systems-rigid”! (they are systems-fluid)
- - At this stage, 80% of the task is done! The systems and processes have been set in place; team-goal defined. The leader takes a back-rest and watches his logs transport them (he and the logs- the entire team) to the other side of the river (team-goal).
- - However, that is not the end of his task. There could be a log-jam! But the Logger is skilled well enough to know the log that caused the jam. He simply repositions the log and the flow continues.
Isn’t it so simple to be a leader? Simple to be a
“Logger”-Leader!
COMPONENTS OF LEADERSHIP
Permit me to give another Agriculture-biased
illustration. For my Bachelor Thesis, I worked
on the project topic: “Effects of Selected Cover-Crops in Hoe-Mechanized Maize
Plantation”. This afforded me the opportunity to inter-crop different types of legumes
(mostly cover-crops) with maize whilst observing their diverse ability to add
nutrients to the soil as well as prevent weed emergence through the canopy formed
on the top-soil.
This perfectly illustrates the four factors that I consider as the
main components of effective leadership. The first three represent the
different crop-seeds: maize (main crop), legume (nutrient “generator”) and the
cover-crop (weed controller). The last component represents the soil (the
foundation on which team-goals will or will not thrive). All of these work hand-in-hand in ensuring optimal crop
performance and productivity; and in this case, optimal team performance and
productivity.
Component 1: The Team Vision &
Strategy- (main crop seed)
The Team Vision and Strategy are the major drivers of the team. They
are those goals that the team commits themselves to achieving. It is only when
the Vision and Strategy are fulfilled that the fruits of the team’s success are
seen by the outside world. A well-defined Vision and Strategy partially
guarantees team success- “when we know where we are going and how to get there,
the problem is half-solved”.
Component 2: Talent Utilization
within Team-(leguminous crop seed)
A major characteristic of a good legume is that it adds nitrogen to
the soil, thereby increasing the nutritive value of the soil. Leaders need to
realize that the more they utilize the talents and expertise of team-members
(especially those talents and expertise that they personally don’t have) the
more they develop themselves through re-learning
and subsequently team members are developed. It
is important to allow all your team-members shine- when they shine, your team
shines and when your team shines, you shine. Remember
that the team is always called by the name of the
leader- (e.g. “Mr. Brittle’s Team”).
Component 3: Leader’s Generosity with
Power- (cover-crop seed)
Every individual loves to be the top-, if not sole-, decision maker. As
the traditional management system seems to portray, the leader can step into
this privilege as the sole-owner of all team decision-making powers. However,
the modern model leader should learn to share his/her power to ensure that a
good team environment is retained.
When, as a leader, you allow your team-members to have asses to
decision making process, this gesture kills the “weeds” of complacency that
usually arise from feelings of “not-being-among”; it kills the “weeds” of
distrust and fosters team growth and productivity.
Component 4: Personality of a the
Leader- (soil)
This is the last but obviously not the least component of leadership-
the leader’s personality. As earlier stated, ideal leadership is not achieved
through adherence to a set of principles but rather through the development of
a personality that produces the “leadership competence”-a unique ability to be
a leader, no matter what position you occupy!
A careful look at the illustrator- the
soil, shows some characteristics that drips from an ideal
leader. The soil is sacrificial in nature- it owns all the nutrients, water and
air that the three other components need to stay alive. However, the soil is
never reluctant to give it all up. A leader gives up the knowledge, power,
time, exemplary life and all it takes to keep the team motivated. As the soil is the most unnoticed component
in this illustration (the other components can be easily seen because they are
above ground-level), a true leader is always ready to go unnoticed. He/she puts
team first and the-self last!
This unique personality is not a natural attribute that every human is born with; some people
have to re-construct their personality through Personal Leadership, to become
that Ideal Leader! - “The “Logger”- Leader”- that is why
some are born leaders while others are made-leaders!
Author: Tobi Odunowo
Tobi Odunowo holds a Bachelor of Agric. from the University of
Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria and is a Global Internet Member of the Society
of Human Resource Management. He has had prior experience in leading global
virtual teams whilst working for AIESEC International- world’s widest networked
leadership development and exchange organisation. He’s also got experience in
Change Management as a Consultant with The Capital Group, Ghana- a leading
indigenous consultancy specialising in HR Services, Management Training and
Financial Advisory Services. Tobi has a flair for Virtual Leadership and
Strategic Management and is currently nursing a virtual consultancy initiative.
Brilliant...Combination of the skills of a logger-leader and the soil will be perfect...but I was told that if you share everything you have, then you might not be needed...so the extra knowledge or skill makes u the leader...what do you think?
ReplyDeleteNice contribution mate!
ReplyDeleteTalking about "extra knowledge or skill making you the leader", what is important to ask is this: Do you keep developing your skills and experiences? The reason it was at some point "extra" compared to what your subordinates have is because you once knew more than them...and if you keep growing that knowledge, you are likely to always know more than them. That being said, experience is largely time based albeit there should be a concern about the quality of any experience. As a leader, if you keep gaining experience as well as advancing your knowledge, you will have more and more to share with your "followers". Does this answer your question?