#NotJust Leaders: Is(n't) Everyone of us called to Lead?
Reflections on the concept and practice of "leadership", especially the role of values and the fundamental role of leaders and leadership
Hello Dear,
Almost exactly 36 years ago, TIME Magazine raised an alarm bell on its cover page, stating in no uncertain terms that the United States of America was suffering from a crisis of leadership. Raising the unsettling question “Who’s in Charge?”, the magazine declared:
“The nation calls for leadership, and there is no one home”.
(You can read this rallying cry for leadership here.)
So, let that be our topic of reflection and exploration for today: Leadership.
Tell you what, this is something I have found myself telling my colleagues for many years now: that there is a deep crisis of leadership in many of our social institutions. Often, we discuss various issues, and when we dig deeper, we find that the root cause happens to be a need for more or better leadership.
Of course, I view this as a problem-cum-opportunity, which is part of the reason which gives me hope that we can change this state of affairs, that it is worth our while to strive changing it. And indeed, as this post will show, I believe each one of us has to take responsibility for being and becoming the change we wish to see and be.
Leadership is a vast area (well, how we measure vastness, and which area is not vast is another question); so my attempt here is to just share some reflections, on a topic about which I have been thinking, discussing, writing and reading (and hopefully striving to practise too) for some years now. Like I keep saying about other topics, I hope to explore this subject further in future posts of this #NotJust newsletter.
Let me continue from the question of living our values, which we explored in this post below.
If you have not read this, maybe I can suggest you to read this first? Let me now share a reflection I wrote, as a follow-up to the above.
[Beginning of a Twitter (X) Thread I wrote on January 6, 2022]
The Relationship between Values and Efficiency
In today's thread, let us reflect on the relationship between organizational / group VALUES and EFFICIENCY.
First, taking a step back, let us think:
Are people in senior "leadership" positions in organizations really spending their time and energy on the right things?
Are they allocating their attention in the right manner? I think the answer often, though not always, is NO!
Check out what Gary Hamel and Late C. K. Prahalad have to say about how senior management allocates their time and energy, in their 1994 classic Competing for The Future . They say that on average, senior managers spend less than 3% of their energies on building a shared organization-wide perspective on the future. The situation is tragic, isn't it? (except for the opportunity for improvement lying therein.)
By the way, we have talked about this thinking deficit already in this post below.
Indeed, it is no easy task to get one's priorities right (though that can hardly be an excuse), and there are multiple reasons for misallocated attention. But it strikes me that one part of the reason for this malady lies in hazy organizational values!
In organizations with a clear set of values, there is a broad understanding of shared goal, of the guiding purpose. What is the right thing to do? What is expected of us? People are mostly clear about it. So, energy can be focused on HOW to do it & how to get better at it.
And it is much much easier to train and educate people on doing the right thing (than it is to teach them how to do the wrong things). So, when the why is clear, we can give people the liberty to figure out how to do it.
After all:
The moral sense, or conscience, is as much a part of man as his leg or arm. It is given to all human beings in a stronger or weaker degree, as force of members is given them in a greater or less degree. It may be strengthened by exercise - Thomas Jefferson
But when we as senior management or as an organization don't want to / “can't afford to” do the right thing, life gets a hell more complicated, even from just the standpoint of efficiency (let alone effectiveness)! For one, there are numerous wrong things to do! Enough room for confusion already!
Moreover, people differ in their motivation, disposition, ability and willingness to do the wrong things. Not just in degree, but also in the types of wrong things which each one is attracted to! Ergo, coordination & harmonization of human effort is now more difficult!
Even when we do the wrong things, since they appeal to the dark and lower side of human nature, motivating people to do the task is now much more difficult. Hardly any intrinsic motivators now, all we have are external carrot / stick, which are always in short supply.
The massacre of intrinsic motivators is a direct hit on efficiency, people are now more likely to do just the bare minimum, hardly likely to go the extra mile, let alone to put their mind, heart and soul into the task, in the service of a cause greater than themselves.
The cumulative outcome? The need for supervision to get the wrong things done is invariably much more.
We have to
Explain the wrong we want to do, & how exactly!
At the same time, making it appear that we are doing the right thing
With no power to inspire people
Another direct result of avoidable supervision: people begin demanding as well as seeking approvals for all and sundry items! Setting in a vicious cycle. Eg: when my subordinate asks approval for something, I think I should demand it going forward, from others as well!
So, this kills creative freedom, employee autonomy and further demotivates employees... Because, come to think of it, avoidable supervision itself can be a big demotivator for any self-respecting person - if any more demotivation can be added to the mix, that is...
Here is a related post on the problem of tying ourselves down to needless approvals.
And all this avoidable supervision robs senior management of their precious attention which should have been directed at fruitful endeavours... In learning, thinking, empowering people to do the right thing, to be and become more and better, in larger organizational interest.
So, there we go, a small reflection how failing to live up to our values can not only lead an organization along the wrong path of doing the wrong things, but also in doing the wrong things the wrong way!
Wrong values corrupt and corrupt absolutely!
Let's choose wisely?
[End of the Twitter (X) Thread I wrote on January 6, 2022; read the thread here]
If you have read the above reflection, I would once again urge you to read the post we mentioned previously, where we speak about the importance of doing the right thing, rather than doing the wrong things right. So, while that post spoke about effectiveness (achieving the right results, doing the right thing), the above reflection sought to show how a dilution or corruption of values can lead to a loss of #NotJust effectiveness, but efficiency as well (even if it be efficiency in doing the wrong things).
Let me now share another piece of reflection, which underscores a mythical belief which I believe is a big hindrance to the reform of our institutions.
[Beginning of a piece of reflection I wrote in July 2022]
Leadership is not for Leaders Alone
Leadership is not for leaders alone, not for top positions alone
Yes, leadership is for everyone, irrespective of our title or position in the hierarchy. Irrespective of one's extent of experience / inexperience.
In other words, everyone is called upon to lead, whether or not the system has christened us as a leader.
In other words:
We don’t need a title to lead, and having a title does not make us a leader either.
I just discovered that there is a book by this very title: You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader.😊
Viewed one way, a very big or maybe even the biggest killer of organizational growth and societal progress is that many or most employees in many organizations presume that thinking or leading is not part of their job.
They think their opinion is not valued or sought for or required, and hence they don't even bother to form an opinion about the very matter which they deal with, leave alone matters concerning the organization or civil service or society as a whole.
I think as aspiring leaders, it is our responsibility to ensure that we create and nurture an organizational culture in which everyone believes and realizes that it is both their right and responsibility to think, innovate, lead and bring about change.
Change and organizational transformation is too complex and too difficult an endeavour to be left to the Head of Department / top bosses. Everyone has to be an inspired contributor.
We have discussed this at some length in the following post.
Which brings me to the point I set writing about. We need to reimagine and renew our whole approach to training and moulding our people. To begin with, we need to have a scientific and systematic leadership development programme. It is not enough to have leadership training programmes for senior managers or administrators when they are already near their retirement.
What we need instead is to impart such programmes right from Day 1, so that everyone is groomed not only to lead but also to develop the leader in others from the very beginning.
As we go ahead in our civil service career or whichever career one is in, the programmes should evolve in line with our experience, understanding and greater responsibilities we are called upon to take up at each stage. Yes, the training should begin from the beginning and evolve; not be non-existent and then appear in some sporadic form as we near the end of our service or careers.
We need this fundamental change in policy, in order to enable ourselves and our organizations to realize their potential.
Good night/day. 😊🌷
[End of the piece of reflection I wrote in July 2022]
The Role of Leadership
Let me share a few other reflections I have written, on what I believe is the role of leadership.
[Beginning of a piece of reflection I wrote in June 2022]
The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%. - Andrew Carnegie
Come to think of it, we can observe that the potential of many organisations is for the most part underutilized, since 1) many people put in far less effort than what they are capable of individually, and 2) the collective energies of different individuals are not deployed in the most productive and effective manner for the larger good, for the overall mission of the organization.
Hence, how to inspire everyone, if not more and more people in the organization and outside, to put their full mind, body, heart and soul into the mission of the organization, to put their inspired contribution in the service of the mission, should be nothing less than a top priority item for the top leadership, as well as for everyone who believes he or she leads or is called to lead and serve.
Are our organizations and "teams" giving due attention to this crucial function, which spells the difference between life and death? On a slightly different note, how wise is it to decide we don't have insufficient in-house "resources" and then look outside, if we are not doing what we can to inspire our own people to live and die for the mission? Yes, our soldiers die on the battlefield, how can we too inspire ourselves and each other to live and be ready to die, if not die, then at least to live in the line of duty, in the service of service?
Here's something I wrote long back, something not precisely yet somewhat related to this.
[End of the piece of reflection I wrote in June 2022]
[Beginning of two other pieces of reflection I wrote in June 2022]
The primary role of leadership (which is everyone, but especially those at "the top") is not to steer the ship or check its engine. It is to inspire people, everyone, to reflect, understand and reinvent the reason for its very existence, for its very journey. To help everyone see that we are on purpose.
To define the mission. And to keep redefining it. To keep it inspired and inspiring. Together.
To infuse purpose, to give a larger and deeper definition of it, or better still, to give the intellectual and spiritual tools to continually redefine and rediscover purpose. I think that should be the primary role of leadership. And it can be a very gratifying and fulfilling thing as well. What say?
Gift purpose. Someone who is fired by the why will figure out the how. They will give their inspired contribution to the mission. 😊💐
[End of two other pieces of reflection I wrote in June 2022]
So there we go, for today. There is of course much more to be said and thought about leadership (and incidentally, quite a bit which I have written already as well). Well, I think you would like to add that it is also something to be lived and acted upon. Yes, indeed.
Before we depart, I recall what one of my closest and dearest friends once asked me, around 17 years ago: what is the big / great deal about “leadership”? Yes, we should be careful, in our discourse on leadership, to always stay humble, to understand leadership in its true spirit and meaning. Leadership is service, and for others, not for oneself. And moreover, followership is at least as important as leadership. The two are not indistinguishable, in fact. We could say that no one who is not a good follower can be a good leader. Of course, this does not mean that the leader will follow anyone or anything.
We will reflect on these aspects in later posts. Before we leave, here is the book recommendation for today, a powerful and relatively short and simple book on leadership, in my opinion. The book, published 33 years ago, is titled On Becoming A Leader by late leadership researcher and author Warren Bennis. [I read this book a few years ago, and I have been rereading parts of it in between.]
Ok then! Please let me know whether you find this post to be of some value. You can let me know in the comments section or at newdheep@gmail.com. Thank you for being here, for your precious time, energy and attention! - Dheep.