Have you ever wondered why there are so many theories, so many books and so many leadership courses and so few leaders? The answer that I have found, after working for a long time as an organizational consultant and coach, is that the greatest impediment to leadership development is our conception of it.
The traditional view conceives the leader as a charismatic individual who has innate and extraordinary characteristics, and who, based on these particularities, conducts the leadership of his "followers". What is distinctive about their actions is that they influence others and determine their behavior. 90% of the current leadership literature focuses its focus on the topic of influence. This view of leadership, founded on the paradigm of influence, implies the belief that leading is " making the other do what I want." The failure of this model is due to the fact that it is nothing more than a modernized and sophisticated version of the traditional concept of "command-control", where it is intended to change the order by influence.
From this perspective, it should not be surprising that in the “organizational climate” surveys it frequently appears that a large percentage of people feel that they are not growing professionally, that they only contribute between twenty and thirty percent of their productive capacity and that they do not have possibilities to develop their potential. Nor should we be surprised that this leads to frustration, demotivation and low productivity.
In my understanding, this issue has no solution until we change our notion of leadership. This is why I propose to think about leadership from a paradigm of human and organizational development. In this conception, there are five basic responsibilities that define the actions to be carried out by every person who assumes the leadership from the leadership and who conceives this role from the development paradigm:
Envision
One of the implicit commitments that any person who is related to others from leadership assumes is to generate and agree on a Vision that assigns meaning to the daily actions that they carry out together. Antoine de Saint Exupery expresses this concept with the force and forcefulness of metaphor, he says: « If you want to build a ship, don't start by looking for wood, cutting boards or distributing the work. It first evokes in men and women the longing for the free and wide sea.
To empower
When leading from the development paradigm, one goes from the management style of "delegating tasks" to that of " delegating power." The objective is to mobilize the collective potential so that all members contribute their knowledge and energy in achieving the shared objectives. Who does not grant power and grants autonomy, cannot claim responsibility and commitment. Both are sides of the same coin.
Develop
The action of developing does not only presuppose training, instructing or teaching something, but serving as a guide and inspiration for the members of your team to unfold their potential and give the best of themselves. This implies supporting them to take on new challenges, accompanying and guiding their professional career and helping them to exceed their performance levels. It is in this sense that Tom Peters argues that " Leaders don't create followers, they create leaders."
To ease
One of the ways to contribute to the development of the people with whom the activities are shared is through the task of facilitating the processes of learning and change. It is to this aspect of leadership that we refer when we argue that the leader should play the role of coach with his people. Coaching is a process aimed at developing people's potentialities, aimed at unlocking the aspects that hinder the capacity for action and hinder the achievement of the proposed objectives.
Predispose
One of the fundamental and non-delegable actions of leadership is to emotionally predispose, create the emotional and bonding conditions between individuals, so that an emotional climate is generated that allows everyone to deploy their potential and capacity for action.
Envisioning: generating and sharing a Vision
Empower: unleash inner power
Develop: seek development
Facilitate: enable performance
Predispose: generate the appropriate emotionality.
The responsibilities of the leader / coach.
