Newsletter - March 2008
A Call to Higher-Order Leadership: 6 Key Elements
March 13, 2008 - Harry J. Martin and Dennis F. Lekan
There has been much debate over the past several decades in academic and practitioner circles over what constitutes effective leadership. Many models have been offered regarding what effective leaders do. Countless studies have been conducted, many cases have been written, and numerous executives have penned books chronicling their experiences. Just about every person who has ever commented on the subject has his or her own favored view of leadership and prescription for success. Unfortunately, all this effort has failed to produce much agreement on what it takes to be a leader. Managers continue to wait for a grand, unifying theory of leadership that will provide the insight they seek.
When researchers have studied the daily activities of leaders, they’ve confirmed what most in leadership positions already know: it is a very difficult job. It’s complicated, fast-paced, fragmented, and stressful. There is a constant stream of problems to be solved and precious little time to evaluate and reflect. What leaders do matters; there are consequences to the decisions leaders make. They have to do the right things, and they have to do the right things right the first time. The job requires long hours and demands energy and persistence everyday. And as much as they’d like things to be clear and organized, leaders face a messy world where there is very little that they control. Much of their day is spent asking, persuading, selling and convincing. They face resistance, conflict and discord with every action. And everyone is watching. They live in a fishbowl and run a gauntlet of people ready to question, criticize, and second-guess their every move. Leaders are human. They seek acceptance and understanding but must learn to cope with isolation and rejection.
To meet the current and future challenges facing organizations, managers must strive to become custodial leaders. But this is not enough. Today’s challenges require that leaders achieve a higher standard or what we call “higher-order leadership.” Higher-order leadership involves taking actions that not only advance the objectives of an organization but also promote the intellectual, emotional and ethical growth of its members. Higher-order leadership is an extension of custodial leadership. It expands concern for others to include helping each individual reach his or her fullest potential. Higher-order leadership is not only concerned with safeguarding others, it requires that leaders make a conscious effort to advance the personal growth of an organization’s members. The motivation of the higher-order leader is to contribute to a cause, goal, or ideal that is bigger than him or herself.
Higher-order leadership involves activities that are familiar and common in many organizations, including providing employees with job training, tuition reimbursement, career planning, coaching, developmental job assignments and the like. Such activities are directed primarily at developing the skills and intellectual capacity of the organization’s workforce. However, higher-order leadership is also concerned with creating a climate that fosters emotional and ethical growth.
Six specific elements define higher-order leadership: (1) respect people, (2) live by standards, (3) exercise prudence and practice self-restraint, (4) expect the best, (5) lead by example and (6) don’t take yourself too seriously.
Respect. Leadership is not about you; it’s about others. Self-awareness and values clarification help prepare a person for higher-order leadership. But before you can be such a leader, you must respect people and look at them as individual contributors, not just tools to be used, manipulated, and discarded. Higher-order leadership demands that those in positions of responsibility not violate the inherent worth and dignity of those they lead. You don’t have to like the people who work for you. However, you must treat them with understanding and compassion. This is, perhaps, one of the most difficult things a leader must do.
Sometimes, those assigned to us appear to have little redeeming value. Leaders occasionally label these employees lazy, stupid, worthless, devious, incompetent, unreliable and hopeless. And these are the polite terms. Certainly, at times their behavior may warrant such descriptions. However, it is the leader’s obligation to work with such people and bring out as much talent as he or she can find. So you must challenge yourself to show courtesy and respect at all times. It may be that, after working through the organization’s disciplinary process, an employee is ultimately terminated. However, even this must be conducted courteously and respectfully.
Countless times we have witnessed situations and heard stories of employees who have been written-off by their bosses as stupid, lazy, stubborn, bad-ass, malcontents. But when placed in a new circumstance with a different leader, these same “worthless” people blossom into energetic and responsible contributors. Of course, this doesn’t happen every time, with every employee. But it happens often enough to conclude that poor leadership causes performance problems at least as often as do employee deficiencies. Higher-order leaders look at negative employee behavior as a problem to be solved, not as an opportunity to get angry, berate, criticize, get frustrated or yell.
Effective leaders use empathy and compassion to try to understand problems and work with people to construct plans for corrective action. This requires a belief that people are capable of making improvements, should they choose, and that leaders have a role to play in helping employees succeed. Leaders must be willing to listen and understand other points of view. They must also respect diversity of backgrounds, perspectives and methods of solving problems. Sure, you may be smarter, better educated, more energetic and stronger than those who work for you. But don’t let the trappings of position lead to arrogance and displays of superiority.
Standards. Another principle of higher-order leadership is living by standards and using them to guide all actions and decisions. Actions should not be taken based on whim or impulse. Leaders are obligated to use their brains to understand why they’re making their choices and what they hope to accomplish with each decision. This isn’t a perfect or exact science and never will be. But leaders must look at their decisions and ask themselves whether they are consistent with their own values. At a minimum, leaders need to ask questions like, “Is this the right thing to do?” “Is this ethical?” “Is this something I’m comfortable doing?” “Why do I favor this alternative?” “Is this going to be good for the team?” “How is this going to help us reach our goals?” Situations in which the leader would rather avoid asking such questions may be exactly the situations in which they most need to be asked. The answers may not be clear, but leaders must get into the habit of asking these questions daily. If you feel a decision is consistent with your values and is good for the team, you’ll have the conviction and self-confidence to implement the decision and overcome objections and resistance.
The standards we are referring to include your personal values, accepted ethical and moral principles, professional codes of conduct, and the needs and objectives of your team and organization. Leaders must think about and discuss these issues with friends, family members, colleagues, and others whom they trust. Defining these standards is a personal process. However, effective leaders are aware of values, ethics, morals, goals, and the needs of their people. Effective leaders are also good at articulating these things and try to use them to guide their decision-making. This is one of the reasons we stressed the importance of values clarification in our earlier discussion of custodial leaders.
The personal growth and development of individuals on the team is one standard that can be clearly defined and used regularly by higher-order leaders. Higher-order leaders often ask, “Will this help my people grow?” This question may not be applicable to every decision a leader makes during the day but can guide the evaluation of choices. Higher-order leaders are always looking for opportunities to stretch people and help them develop. This affects decisions regarding project assignments, delegated tasks, travel, resource allocation, employee involvement in decision-making and the handling of mistakes. Higher-order leaders don’t deprive team members of opportunities to learn. On the contrary, they are ever vigilant about how they can expose people to situations that will build their skills and self-confidence.
Prudence and Self-Restraint. The successful leaders portrayed in this book illustrate the principle of exercising prudence and practicing self-restraint. We have discussed the importance of self-awareness and self-control to leader effectiveness in general and to custodial leadership in particular. It is also a central principle of higher-order leadership.
You cannot let position and prominence distort your judgment and tempt you to act rashly or recklessly. Success has a way of feeding delusions and encouraging complacency. You must think about what you are doing and the risks involved, even if the pressure of the situation demands quick action and only cursory consideration of such issues. You must avoid being impulsive. However, being thoughtful about decisions is not an excuse for avoidance and unnecessary delay. This principle doesn’t prevent leaders from being bold, innovative, and unconventional. It allows leaders to take quick action when necessary. But leaders must be suspicious of any tendency to react thoughtlessly out of habit, impulse or emotion.
Higher-order leaders work throughout their careers on self-control and self-mastery. They are not afraid of self-reflection and introspection. They try to maintain a high degree of self-awareness and regularly solicit feedback from trusted sources to better understand their motives. Higher-order leaders are known to be calm, steady, and predictable. They understand that they cannot let their emotions undermine their decisions and credibility. If leaders remain calm, even in situations of threat or crisis, their behavior will produce a sense of calm, control and confidence in those around them. This, in turn, will keep people focused so problems can be handled more rationally. Leaders cannot afford to be immobilized by crises.
One way that higher-order leaders exercise prudence and practice self-restraint is by being humble. A leader’s position often feeds illusions and promotes fatal overconfidence. It is vital that leaders fight this tendency, retain a sense of proportion, and stay grounded in reality. By practicing humility, a leader is less likely to be blinded by delusions of grandeur.
Expect the Best. Another defining element of higher-order leadership is setting high expectations for one’s own achievement and, just as vital, for members of the team. The importance of focusing on others rather than on oneself is a theme that runs throughout the stories in this book. A parallel theme is that the effective leaders radiated optimism and positive expectations for themselves and their teams. Employees responded to their enthusiasm and confidence with improved performance. In contrast, the ineffective leaders communicated negative expectations of doubt, suspicion, annoyance and constraint. Whether consciously or unconsciously, these leaders used these expectations to create employee insecurity and self-doubt in an effort to control and manipulate them. Most employees responded with a flight to safe and familiar tasks, little risk-taking and mediocre performance.
Higher-order leaders try to understand people and their motivations and encourage ownership, achievement and accountability. This can be scary for some employees, so such a leader creates an environment in which people really believe they can make major contributions. This requires that the leader communicate optimism, provide support, and reward effort and improvement until people begin to believe in their own abilities to succeed. Higher-order leaders talk about possibilities, not just problems and limitations.
Central to getting people to believe in themselves is credibility. Therefore, higher-order leaders understand the jobs their people perform and keep in touch with operations and what’s going on. This allows them to set goals that are credible and realistic. Eventually, people take ownership of goals and their own performance because the leader helps them understand their role on the team and contributions to team accomplishment. While proper goal setting is an important component of this process, getting people to believe in themselves stems from the leader’s contagious optimism.
Lead by Example. Credibility is a hallmark of higher-order leaders. They understand that leaders are objects of identification and their behavior receives a lot of attention, regardless of how much they may downplay their own activities. And they know they will not be able to maintain their credibility if they don’t lead by example. Higher-order leaders avoid hypocrisy and know they must model the behavior they seek from others. To win support for the visions and values they articulate, they must be willing to do those things they ask others to do. You must embody your values to be credible. Even though many managers think that others can’t see what they’re doing and that they’re fooling their employees, the “troops” are always the first to know. Don’t abuse your position, don’t use your talents for selfish purposes, and don’t lie and cover-up mistakes. You will be exposed and severely compromise your credibility and effectiveness.
Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously. We understand that the challenges and pressures of leadership are many. In addition, our call to a higher standard of leader behavior may appear only to be adding to an already long list of requirements. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and defeated. It is characteristic of higher-order leaders that they have the capacity to refill their well of energy and enthusiasm, especially at those times when the situation may have sucked them dry. They do this by keeping themselves healthy and physically fit. However, they also do this by not taking themselves too seriously.
Harry J. Martin, Ph.D., is an associate professor of management at Cleveland State University and president of Harry J. Martin & Associates. Dennis F. Lekan, Ed.D., CMF is managing partner of OI Partners - Corporate Leadership Associates LLC (Cleveland). Martin & Lekan are co-authors of The Best and The Worst of Leadership. They can be reached at 440-250-1500 or dlekan@oipartners.net.