On a walk the other day I was pondering that many leadership development programmes entice delegates to think about, ‘what type of leader do you want to be?’ Organisations on the other hand, often state the type of leaders they need, or expect of leaders. Straight away we have a conundrum, a tension and a balancing act between the two.
Both of these examples I thought highlight the extremes in the ‘Goldilocks Principle’. This principle taken from the story around Goldilocks in the home of the three bears. Coming across their porridge one was too hot and one was too cold. My leadership examples demonstrate the hot and the cold, one being what the leader wants to be as a leader and the other what the organisation expects of the leader. Almost two extremes of perspective, or lack of congruence, if you like. We assume that the two are happy bedfellows, but that isn’t always the case.
‘Just right’ leadership
In the Goldilocks story, she finds the porridge that is ‘just right’ for her. So, in our leadership what does that ‘just right’ leadership look like? Perhaps we should be working with our leaders to more understand ‘what must my leadership ought to be like?’ Rather than what kind of leader do you want to be? Or what kind of leader do we require of you. It shouldn’t be about what I want or what I am told to, but what is appropriate. Appropriate, given the people and situation, appropriate given my values, preferences, abilities. Sometimes this appropriate isn’t what the leader wants or the organisation needs.
You might say that what I have shared here goes without saying, that that is the way it happens, but does it? A reality is that we don’t foster the picture of what leadership ought to be like. The difference between the extremes of me and the organisation is nuanced but important to consider. In leadership development we don’t often consider the ‘bit in the middle’, the just right.
Leadership models and ‘just right’
This ‘just right’ we need to consider around leadership models. Look at any leadership model and it suggests the ideal approaches, behaviours and actions to be demonstrated. In leadership development we might share a model and get people to think about how and where they could use it, what they might need to consider. However, being able to take a model and then think about what is appropriate for my leadership (knowledge, skills, awareness and abilities), then what does the organisation expect of me (values, competencies, ways of working) from this model, is not as quite straight forward. There is a requirement for a degree of knowledge, intelligence, wisdom and maturity to find that balance, that sweet spot, that ‘ought to be like’ within that model.
Blindly throwing models at leaders and managers will not help them use them. It might increase their awareness a little, but that’s it. Unpacking models with them, exploring them, mapping them across to their own leadership uniqueness, will bring an embracement. Helping them in turn to organisationally contextualise and somatically apply their leadership appropriately.
How I ought to be as a leader requires a tripartite balancing act. Points of a triangle, with the three points being me as the leader, the organisation and the people. Where I am within that triangle will depend on my abilities and confidence, what’s actually happening around me and what it is I or we are trying to achieve.
How to get things ‘just right’
- Leadership isn’t a pick me up and put me down activity, it is a way of being, and extension of who you are in the workplace, an immersive activity and experience. Leadership doesn’t act in isolation and is mostly a conscious act, so the more you are ‘in with’ your people or team, the more awareness you will have of them the more you will be on point towards and with them.
- Knowing and understanding organisational expectations around your leadership will help to make it more of an unconscious awareness for you. You can then more naturally consider it within your thinking and actions. The reality is that where organisational leadership competencies or expectations exist, many leaders aren’t overtly aware of them, what they mean, or how to use them. Organisations do not push or reinforce any leadership expectations they have often enough. Nor do they hold leaders to account. So hunt these competencies out, ask about them, do something with them.
- You don’t need to know lots of leadership models or principles, but being confident in one or two broader based approaches will allow the flexibility to live between the ‘too hot’ and ‘too cold’ extremes. For example, Kouzes and Posner’s researched leadership model creates the opportunity to balance you as an individual and organisational needs of your leadership. Authentic and Servant leadership have a similar flexibility. Consider those models from your own leadership and what they could look like for the organisation. What does that ‘ought to be like’ actually look like in that model?
- Conscious feedback should be a daily and growing activity. Becoming a feedback sponge, continuously seeking and absorbing pieces of information to inform your own leadership picture.
- Most people reflect on occasion or by accident. Deliberate reflection is rare. Developing an attentive reflective nature allows for continual processing of self, people and situations, allowing more informed leadership decisions to be made.
Want to discuss your organisations leadership development?
If you want to examine your organisations approaches to leadership development or bring a leadership or coaching programme to life then contact Nick Howell at Abintus. With over 25 years of leadership and coaching experience he is perfectly placed to help you think through what you want to achieve and how best to go about it. Contact Nick on 07867 785314 or nick@abintus.co.uk