Definition of leadership and a leader
There are lots of definitions of leadership and a leader. Most of them I find academically inclined and difficult to relate with.
The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines leadership as: “the action of leading a group of people or an organization”; “the state or position of being a leader” (NODE, 2001).
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines leadership as “the office or position of a leader, the capacity to lead, and the act or instance of leading” (Merriam-Webster, 2007).
According to Dwight D Eisenhower (1988) “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
Bass (1990, p.19) defines leadership as “an interaction between two or more members of a group that often involves a structuring or restructuring of the situation and the perceptions and expectations of members.”
Gardner (1990, p.1) defines leadership as “the process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader and his or her followers.”
I subscribe to how Jacob Morgan defines a leader in his book” The Future Leader” as “a leader is someone who can see how things can be improved and who rallies people to move toward that better vision. Leaders can work toward making their vision a reality while putting people first. Just being able to motivate people isn’t enough — leaders need to be empathetic and connect with people to be successful.”
What are your organization’s criteria for leadership?
Does your organization have a definition of leadership, and has it identified the required skills and mindsets for the future leader? If your answer is “Yes.” Therefore, these criteria will be relevant to our “new world?” In the case of your response is “No,”. Therefore you will find it difficult to successfully lead in the future.
When you purely base your criteria on the ability to meet goals and deadlines and bring in money. Therefore, those are the types of people who will lead the organization.
In instances, where one mainly focus on the human side of the business with an emphasis on mentoring and coaching, those are the types of people who will lead the organization.
When working in a leadership or management role, you’re not only responsible for supporting your customers, meeting goals and deadlines. In addition, you are also responsible for taking care of staff and influencing the quality of customer service across the sector in which you are operating.
How is leadership changing?
Being a leader during this pandemic and the future is and will be one of the hardest jobs that exist. Similarly, the different Leadership theories and management techniques, as we know, will not be applicable in their existing forms.
A well know technique leaders use to communicate and stay in touch with staff is called management by walking around. The new virtual working environment makes it impossible to utilize in its traditional manner.
Having physical meetings and being able to share some informal non-business related information before and after the meeting becomes a challenge. Therefore, face to face in-person human interface which leaders could use so frequently is becoming rarer.
The performance of leaders.
Our track record worldwide in terms of successful leadership leaves much to be desired. This statement is among other things supported by the following research:
A Randstad study conducted in 2018 found that 60% of employees have left jobs or are considering leaving. Above all, they don’t like their direct supervisors (RandstadUSA, 2018).
A Gallup study of over 7,000 Americans resulted in the following:
- One in two people left a job at some point during their careers. In other words, they did that to get away from their managers to improve their overall quality of life (Harter, 2015).
The “State of Leadership Development,” explored by DDI, resulted in the following:
- Half of the organizations surveyed said their leaders are not skilled in leading their organizations effectively today.
- 71% said their leaders are not ready to lead their organizations into the future.
What is making the outcome of this research scarier is that it was completed long before COVID 19.
Leadership drivers and outcomes
For this article, we are going to use the Six Seconds leadership Vital Signs model (LVS). Please refer to the LVS model in figure 1.
Key organizational elements
The model has two axes (Four key organizational elements):
Vertical axes which address the following essential areas within the organization:
- Strategy: Creating a vision, mission, objectives, and strategy and enrolling people in that direction.
- Operations: Focusing the team to execute effectively on the strategy.
Horizontal axes which address the following essential areas within the organization:
- People: Building cohesive teams and enable them to excel in executing the strategies through effective and efficient operations.
- Organization: Develop the Organization structure, Policies, Procedures, and Standards to pursue operational goals.
Key drivers for successful leadership
The five key drivers for successful leadership, according to the model are:
- Motivation: “Motivation is the source of energy to overcome challenges, pursue a goal, or maintain commitment.”
- Teamwork: “Teamwork is collaborating to pursue a goal; it requires a sense of shared purpose and belonging.”
- Change: “Change leadership is the ability to keep the team innovating and adapting to succeed in a continuously changing environment.”
- Execution: “Execution is the ability to achieve strategic results by implementing specific steps that work.”
- Trust: “Trust is a feeling of confidence and surety – a trustworthy leader is someone who others will rely upon.”
Leadership outcomes
These drivers lead to the following leadership outcomes:
- Influence: “Building strong relationships to enroll people.”
- Efficacy: “Generating useful results.”
- Design: “Managing a smooth workflow with and through people.”
- Direction: “Setting a viable, powerful vision.”
In using this model, an organization can develop the criteria for leadership within the organization. Therefore, the model will assist the organization’s results in creating a shared understanding of “leadership” and the critical responsibilities for people-leaders.
Research studies
Six Seconds did a research study to understand the key ingredients that drive leadership effectiveness. One thousand three hundred twenty-five people (1325) from seventy (70) countries participated in the Vital Signs 2019 study.
The study showed that the five key leadership drivers(Trust, Motivation, Teamwork, Change, and Execution) predict 66% of the variation in the four leadership performance scores(Influence, Efficacy, Design, and Direction)
The research further proofed that leaders with a high EQ are seven times as likely to have high scores on the elements within the Leadership Vital Signs model.
The study determined which of the LVS Drivers (Trust, Motivation, Teamwork, Execution, Change) had the most significant impact on the leadership performance outcomes (a combination of Direction, Influence, Efficacy, Design).
Change is the most powerful of the five drivers. The VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) world and the speed of Change is one of the most compelling reasons for the finding. Similarly, organizations are grappling with constant changes, caused by COVID 19, to implementing new processes, to M&A to restructuring.
This driver is about a leader’s capacity to imagine and execute Change. Therefore, it includes the leader’s readiness for Change, bringing people into the change process to build buy-in, and managing the change process.
Emotional intelligence and the Leadership Vital Signs model.
The research further proofs that the Six Seconds emotional intelligence tools make a substantial and statistically significant contribution to a leader’s capacity to engage people in Change — which in turn has a significant impact on leadership. The tools referred to here are the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment “SEI” and the Brain Talent Profile.
Figure 2 underneath shows how Emotional Intelligence, Brain Talents, and the Leadership Vital Signs integrates.
EQ competencies
The EQ competency most correlated with scores on Change is “Exercise Optimism.” Six Seconds defines as “taking a proactive perspective of hope and possibility.” In a business context, Exercise Optimism might look like envisioning new possibilities and finding creative solutions.
In a meeting, a leader firm in this skill will maintain openness and know there is a path forward, even when that path is unclear.
Exercise optimism predicts 31% of the variation in the LVS driver of Change.
Brain talent
The Brain Talent, Entrepreneurship, predicts 30% of the variation in the LVS driver of Change. Six Seconds defines Entrepreneurship as “Inventing solutions to future challenges.” Entrepreneurship can also mean, “To build a path toward the vision, you see the future and find the energy to take steps toward it today.”
Trust
Numerous recent studies are discussing psychological safety in the workplace; this boils down to trust.
A leader’s capacity to generate trust is key to forming inclusive teams. Therefore, every voice in the team is heard. Leaders who build strong trust create opportunities for team members to innovate and experiment without retribution or blame for failures. In addition, this is even the case in stressful times where people are otherwise likely to become volatile.
Trust predicts 29% of the variation in Exercise Optimism and predicting 43%. of the variation of the leadership performance scores
Figure 2 above shows that; Trust is a significant driver of leadership outcomes. In addition, trust also turns out to make a substantial and robust contribution to a leader’s capacity to Exercise Optimism. Above all, it also creates a virtuous cycle between emotional intelligence, leadership vitality, and both leadership performance & personal outcomes.
Six trends shaping the future of leadership
Jacob Morgan, in his book “The Future Leader,” describes the six trends shaping the future of leadership, as indicated in Figure 3 below.
Artificial intelligence and technology.
Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines or programs. In other words, artificial intelligence enable machines to think, learn, and react like human beings.
Besides artificial intelligence, all sorts of technologies are entering our lives and our organizations. For instance, things like augmented and virtual reality, the internet of things, blockchain, robotics, big data, wearable devices, quantum computing, and dozens of others, enter our lives and organizations.
The pace of Change.
We will experience more Change in the coming decades than we have experienced in the past hundreds of years. Many variables fuel these changes, such as technological progress, changes in customer and employee demands and expectations, competition, and globalization. Since March 2020, COVID 19 forces us into a dramatic rate of Change in both our private and business lives.
It is also important to realize that the continuous challenge of the “Status Quo” fuels Change, which is, unfortunately, the only way to grow.
Purpose and meaning
Future organizations are going to have to understand what their purpose and meaning is, no matter what business they are.
The assumption in the business world was to attract and retain the best people, and they simply need to pay them more. During the last few years, it’s becoming evident that employees care about more than just making money.
The new purposes of an organization are to invest in employees, deliver value to customers, deal ethically with suppliers, and support outside communities.
Purpose and meaning are not just relevant to organizations. These are underlying human themes that are a part of our very nature.
New talent landscape
There is an increasing shortage of skills not only “hard skills.” “Soft skills” like empathy, self-awareness, communication, and others are just as much in demand and lacking in the workplace.
Inclusion and diversity are also critical components of how the talent landscape is changing and is becoming a top priority for senior leaders around the world,
Morality, ethics, and transparency
The role of a successful leader is to create an environment in which others can be successful. You need to be a values-driven leader where morality, ethics, and transparency is at the top of your leadership agenda. Integrity in this world of transparency is more important than ever. It’s not just about complying with the rules. It’s about doing the right thing.
Globalization
Globalization is making the world a smaller place and to make it possible to do business across all different cultures
“The world is simultaneously becoming more global due to digital technologies and infrastructures, and more local, with a strong comeback of regional specificities where a good knowledge of local culture is a crucial condition for success. Consequently, the leaders of companies have to deal with these two opposing trends.” – Morgan, Jacob. The Future Leader (p. 74). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
Is our leadership team ready for Change?
A Leaders’ Change Readiness is his/her capacity to navigate and lead well through uncertainty.
A valuable skill is Change readiness for leaders who want to inspire, motivate, and engage others through the change journey.
Leaders will find Change efforts will be troublesome unless people are taken into consideration first.
Alison Lalieu from UBalancer Solutions, in conjunction with Six Seconds, developed the SEI LTC. The SEI LTC is the abbreviation for the “Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment Leading Through Change.” Above all, the SEI LTC brings with it all of the features of the SEI Leadership Report. Similarly, it also includes some exciting, additional, and distinguishing features to activate and grow EQ Competencies. In addition, it contains an AGILE Leadership framework and a Change readiness report.
Having a clearer understanding of Change Readiness provides valuable insight around the need to understand better Change and the importance of growing EQ competence to energize Change.
Change Readiness is a crucial leadership criterion for the organization of the future.
As our EQ competence grows, we see outcomes in our life, such as healthier relationships and greater effectiveness. We are also better equipped to lead ourselves and others through times of uncertainty.
How can we be ready as leaders, given these trends?
I prefer a practical approach. Therefore, we need to involve the entire leadership team of an organization in a facilitated work session. Above all, we can use the Leadership Vital Signs model to determine how ready the leadership team is to capitalize on the six trends. Similarly, we can take into account the five drivers within the four key organizational elements to realize the most optimal four outcomes.
The purpose of the work session is to focus on the development of a purpose, values, goals, and strategies for the leadership team.
The final result is then the development of the criteria for leaders of the future for the organization.
Conclusion:
As leaders, as mighty and essential as our roles may feel, we are just a cog in a much bigger wheel. However, we always need to remember that while we play this role, we have significant impact and power. As leaders, the power of our power comes with responsibility—the responsibility to the people and the societies we serve.
As leaders, we carry the burden of the choices we make. Leadership must be about serving for the greater good.
Our most honorable responsibility as leaders is to help increase happiness and kindness and decrease unnecessary suffering.
In conclusion, we as leaders must think and lead for the long term. Above all, we must have the courage, skills, and knowledge to face the facts of the challenges lying ahead of us. Similarly, we need to be prepared and ready to make unpopular decisions when needed.
As proven in research, Emotional Intelligence has become the critical competency to own an utilize.
The leadership of the recent past, so recently as March 2020, needs to be drastically adapted to ensure future success.
Let’s grab the bull by the horns as leaders and lead our organization and people through this tough time, with focus, integrity, dedication, and the required Emotional skills. WALK THE TALK.
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