The History of Leadership 101

Organizations are complicated and fascinating entities. They are as varied as their products and each have a distinct method of interacting with the surrounding environment. They possess structure, roles, a culture and hopefully a strong and clear purpose. But, organizations also have a rich history and leaders (both past & present) that played a major role in that story.

Leaders Are Critical to Organizational Development

Leaders provide a compass for growth – align vision with talent – and they have the power to have a tremendous positive, or negative, impact. A leader can catapult an organization to the forefront of an industry or bring it to an early demise. They define an organization, for better or for worse.

Not unlike the history of leaders of nations, the history of leadership should be a respected part of an organization and its lifespan. The leader that takes the helm of an organization  can reveal volumes about the state of that organization at that moment in time. Each phase of an organization’s development may have a very different type of leader.

We Learn From Organizational History

We can learn from all this. Could the auto industry have avoided its recent issues if only they had looked back upon the leadership mistakes, and the solutions, that occurred in the recession of the early 1980′s?

Employees require the benefit of being knowledgeable about the challenges that affected previous leaders. Those challenges that were met with success – and those challenges that resulted in failure. As we can learn from our own personal mistakes – an organization can also learn from the mistakes of its leaders.

Ensure That Organizational History is Communicated

• When onboarding employees, speak about the leaders who were there in the early phases of the organization’s life cycle. Explain their vision.
• Explain how the current vision of leadership has been translated into strategy.
• Discuss key leader decisions.
• Talk about leadership failures and what was learned in the process.

With a look to the past – you can improve the future – and possibly avoid costly mistakes that have already been made.  Take the time to discuss the rich history of leadership in your place of business.

Dr. Marla Gottschalk is a Workplace Psychologist. Contact her practice at marlagottschalk@comcast.net. You can also find her on Twitter and Linkedin.

Expressed Positivity & Leadership Effectiveness

Leaders are the core of any organization – and understanding how they create excellence is a critical dynamic to explore. It has been proposed that there is a need to step back from the examination of discrete elements of leadership and pose more comprehensive concepts of effectiveness. Hopefully, a broader view of leadership will delineate a clear direction for efforts to select, train and mentor our future leaders.

Along this vein, theories which capture the influence of “positivity” within leadership seem particularly promising.  Interestingly,  a number of leadership theories posed over the last decade have incorporated this notion. (Authentic leadership serves as one example). Overall, these theories examine the impact of positive leader behaviors upon followers and the eventual performance outcomes which follow.

Positivity Matters

Positivity has long been a focus of leadership success.  But in recent years, researchers have refined the concept of positivity even further, observing the impact of a higher order construct named Psychological Capital (PsyCap). Psychological Capital is a construct made up of a number of positive work behaviors. These behaviors include efficacy (the belief that one can affect outcomes), hope, optimism and resilience. Research has shown that leaders who report expressing more of these qualities not only influence the level Psychological Capital of their followers, but also measured follower performance outcomes.

The idea that expressed leader behavior affects the behavior of followers is one that makes intuitive sense. But, it also has a firm base in the now classic research by Bandura (1977), which examines social learning theory.  Simply posed, social learning theory emphasizes the power of role models within human interaction when shaping behavior.

A Trainable Skill

Of particular note, is that Psychological Capital may be a “state like” quality and not a fixed or set trait – therefore it may be a trainable leadership skill within organizations today. (Organizations can also measure this construct with available assessment tools). Moreover, the Psychological Capital that a leader possesses appears to influence key leader actions, such as goal setting and problem resolution.

Train leaders to express their positivity while interfacing with employees. Those leaders that “flex their positivity” in the workplace and are perceived to be hopeful, resilient and confident, may indeed enhance the behavior of their followers. This in turn, may lead to goal attainment and eventual success -  a commodity all organizations could use more of.

Dr. Marla Gottschalk is a Workplace Psychologist located in East Lansing, Michigan. Contact her practice at marlagottschalk@comcast.net. You can also find her on Twitter and Linkedin.

Diffussion of Responsibility and Other Organizational Culture Dilemmas

Over the years, we have seen many organizations sputter and fail. But the lessons learned from the demise of the News of the World, are simply classic.  Not only did the crux of the situation inch closer and closer to the infrastructure of an entire country’s moral compass, but the situation offered so many key lessons concerning organizational culture and the potential failings of human behavior.

A a few of the classic lessons come to mind:

• First of all, the well researched social psychology concept of diffusion of responsibility. Now, of course, the Milgram Experiment isn’t exactly the same thing as compared to what ensued within the News of the World organization. But, did no one at News of the World think that they would have to pay for the havoc wreaked upon innocent individuals? Furthermore, why did no one – step forward, blow the whistle, and put a stop to the behaviors years ago? Were employees afraid of authority figures? Did they fear for their jobs?

• How were the mores and accepted (and illegal) behaviors actually communicated within the News of the World organization? Of course, not all of the employees working at News of the World, were guilty of crimes or any wrong doing. But to those who did participate -  what gave them the notion that the behaviors were an accepted part of the culture? Was this communicated through role modeling? Threats? Coercion?

• Finally, the notion of pay for performance within organizations. Why is there not a clause in every last top exec contract, concerning scandal and/or illegal behaviors? Why is Rebekah Brooks entitled to a large severance when a boat load wrong doing has occurred under her watch?

Certainly, New of the World is not alone in terms of the problems that plague a large organization. However, I refuse to think that all organizations are capable of this level of lawlessness or chaos.

I hope that is true.

What We Really Need Now From Theories of Leadership

Discussions of Steve Jobs and his amazing contribution to the success of Apple, have confirmed my suspicions that we haven’t yet captured all we need to know about effective leadership. In spite of the fact that Apple was left in experienced hands, speculation continues as to how Apple will continue without its leader.

Why the nerves?

Jobs’ leadership skills remain legendary, and surely possess all of the nuances, and often unquantifiable components of leadership that current theories may not fully consider. Not only did Jobs display the gift of vision, but the skills to set his vision in motion, both within the organization, and into the external environment.

Current leadership theory may not be robust enough for those interested in Apple, to make a confident prediction about how the future will unfold without Jobs. Moreover, this lack of confidence, may directly relate to the state of our skill set concerning the selection and development of leaders. This affects all organizations who depend on their leaders for guidance and vision.

The Elements of Leadership Have Been Debated for Decades

Leadership is one of the most well researched workplace topics – and with good reason. Relevant theories of leadership have the potential to have a significant impact upon organizations. There is a great body of existing theory – but are current leadership theories delivering what organizations really need? The answer might be no. Here is what we may be need now to move forward effectively:

A Broader & More Flexible View of Leadership

There has been an emphasis on specific elements of leadership – but the we seem to be missing the larger picture. We may need to step back and take a wider view of leadership that examines a leader’s overall ability to flex in response to the varying situations encountered. Organizations are dynamic entities, which require leaders to change their strategies as well. For example, we could refocus on the idea of a leader’s skill level to develop the right “script” for a specific a leadership challenge. Jobs hasn’t always described as being easy to be around, but he was able to choose the situations when taking a tougher stance was appropriate.

Leader “Sensitivity” to the Organizational Environment

Identifying a new leader through succession planning or hiring an industry specialist is one thing. Being sure the leader can navigate the organization and gain acceptance is another. Does the leader have the capacity to be sensitive to the prevailing organizational mindset? (Think of the debacle at Time, Inc.) Culture of the organization is no longer on the fringes – but a critical element when choosing strategy going forward. A leader must possess the skill to read and absorb this mindset.

Organizations Require Leadership Training Opportunities

By and large, if a theory doesn’t allow for the formation of real leadership development efforts within organizations, it seems relegated to a “read only, nice to know” status. Descriptive theories are necessary, but more of a focus on useable training points is needed. Does exposure to extremely difficult situations, even failure (as Jobs was), enhance a potentials leader’s skill set? These are things to consider.

An Integrative Approach to Leadership Theory

Leaders don’t lead in a vacuum, and an approach that considers not only the leader, but followers, corporate culture and the external conditions simultaneously is needed. As discussed in the American Psychologist (Avolio, 2007), integrating the elements is the future of leadership theory. Jobs would not be as successful of a leader if he wasn’t keenly aware of the external customer environment.

As all organizations strive to innovate and remain competitive, effective theories of leadership will remain a focus. Hopefully, theories will continue to evolve and capture the synergy of elements contributing to leader success.

Dr. Marla Gottschalk is a Workplace Psychologist in East Lansing, Michigan. You can find her on Twitter and Linkedin.