A few years ago I was lucky enough to be invited to a ‘dialogic’ conference held at a small conference venue in a Château in the south of France, near the beautiful St. Paul de Vence. This was a select gathering of leaders drawn from business, the arts, religion and academia; fourteen diverse minds drawn from across the world. Who could possibly turn down such an opportunity, even if it were just for the wine, fabulous surroundings and ‘bonhomie’?
A dialogic conference is, as the name suggests, where people talk, present, ask questions and discuss. The topic for the conference was the mere small and insignificant question ‘What is Leadership’? After three days of intense discussion and fascinating rumination the group came to the interesting conclusion that it was impossible to define leadership because the concept meant different things to each individual.
To say the least, this was a little disconcerting, since I had promised to return to my organisation with an inspirational insight into leadership and here was I about to proclaim that some of the finest minds in the field had declared that it was an undefinable concept! Moreover, the discussions had been brilliant; inspirational, thoughtful and intellectually challenging, so the lack of an outcome seemed wasteful in the extreme. On the return flight I decided there must be some learning to be taken from the event. From my folder of extensive notes taken from days in cloistered reflection came the following conclusions:
- Leadership is about outcomes not behaviours. Training leaders cannot be achieved by training behaviours or developing qualities; this has been tried and discredited.
- Developing leaders, I believe, is about helping them develop a set of skills (intra-personal skills and inter-personal skills), which:
– Encourage collaboration
– Encourage the generation and execution of ideas
– Maximize the potential of people
– Maximize their own potential (including an understanding of their own limiting beliefs) - Leadership is a system that enables an organisation to achieve results beyond the ordinary. The leaders are the catalysts that make this happen.
- Good managers are not necessarily going to be leaders. Leadership should not be confused with Headship.
- Leaders will have an unequivocal source of inspiration that underpins their actions and can be drawn upon by their people.
- Most importantly, Leaders have clarity of purpose that drives them to find ways of achieving results that are out of the ordinary.
Of course, that’s not the end of it; there are always new ideas, concepts and approaches which are added ‘into the pot’. I’m tempted to suggest these points are the basis for a much broader discussion. Anybody fancy three days in the South of France?
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Inspiring talk…
You wrote
1. Leadership is about outcomes not behaviours
I like to view leadership as a personal decision by which one assumes responsibility for the organization grandeur, people personal and professional development, while delivering good (not only goods) and serving society.
It is, as well, a process that involves leader, followers and circumstances.
Considered as a process it is about, perception, interpretation, rules, relations, and decisions framed by a vision and oriented to a mission fulfillment.
The outcome, in this case, would be the best way to combine the best of the leaders’ vision and strategy, followers’ ideas and execution, and making circumstances play on your side, to reach a set goal. In the process you need openness, readiness, fresh mind, active listening, knowledge, flexibility; attitudes and abilities to cope with uncertainty, risk, challenges and uneven expectations.
It is also as set of tasks that include integration, job assignment, motivation, creativity, design and management.
So it would be difficult for me, to make a clear cut between outcomes and behaviors.
3. Leadership is a system that enables an organisation to achieve results beyond the ordinary… also
It is a system that enables people feel extraordinary while achieving the ordinary.
Hi Dave,
Ironic that I have just traveled back from Vence last month, I guess one can call that synchronicity, but just like the idea of Jungian synchronicity – the answer to “What is Leadership?” is found in the moment after it has occurred.
We try to define leadership before it has occurred and this is akin to madness. If we treat it as an ingredient we are assuming that there is a recipe to leadership and that is where we can really get cooked in that cookbook.
Just like Clinton’s sex scandal, the problem with question “What is Leadership” is the “IS”. It all depends on what “is” is, as Bill Clinton once so infamously stated.
I think “What is Leadership?” is a good question as long one is ready to mature with the answer and allow an organization to emerge within that ever-developing maturation.
What makes “Leadership” then so “undefinable” to utilize your group’s language has more to do with the fact that leadership does not come in one size or fit, the sense and scope of leadership I can attain, may be greater or lesser than another, the variation here is therefore critical as I think this through. I would therefore not use the word undefinable but “variable”. It varies with time, with scale, with maturity, with capacity and capability.
The most beautiful single thing about asking this question is that in asking it, we are asking a question which lasts a lifetime, both the lifetime of a leader as a person and a leader as a living and organic organization. For sure Vence is a beautiful place but so is home and this is what makes leadership so special, its birth is the home we transform it into.
A great home is a form of great leadership which is in turn an infinite loop that creates a great workplace and ultimately, emerges into a great society – what is leadership then, an ever emerging state – that definition does disservice to, but how it defines is the service.
Regards
Manjit
Sorry can’t sign up to the first point about ‘behaviours’ if the behaviours aren’t right people won’t follow you. Leaders must establish and maintain ‘credibility’ and their behaviour will either reinforce or undermine it. Leadership is about trust and I don’t trust people that don’t behave with integrity, passion etc…
Apart from that I like the rest.
@chrischanner1
Results vs. behavior. Yesterday I had the privilege of listening to an Army captain who had recently commanded an assault helicopter company in Iraq as SHE gave a mini lecture to senior ROTC cadets on leadership and what they could expect on their first period on active duty.
First, I was happy to hear that the leadership principles had not changed since I had been a cadet 46 years ago. The techniques and technology have greatly changed of course, but she gave the same concepts I would have given then and now.
Second, she was very clear about a leader’s behavior being under constant scrutiny by her company. You can say or write about principles, orders and plans, but until the troops see what you do, your leadership is only positional and not one of influence.
The lowest level of recognized leadership in the Army is an infantry fire team leader. His standing order is “Follow me, and do as I do.” It is all about leading by behavioral example.
Generals and CEO’s must lead by that same standing order.
Great article, and I wish I had been in France as well. I have long felt that leadership is about the individual – in that truly great leaders are naturally inspirational. I have come across many leaders in my industry who are not managers, they have a natural way about them that their co-workers recognise and respond to in a positive way.
I also believe that one of the key issues in business today is the belief that leaders can be trained, and hence leadership can be created. I agree that good managers can be created through appropriate development, but they frequently fail to have the necessary leadership qualities, and their organisations founder for the lack of this ability.
The key may be to turn the problem on its head, and train leaders as managers, rather than trying to create leaders out of managers.
Great article Dave, and a never ending source for discussion as we try to refine our own approach and behaviour. And in some ways it seems to me that making the journey is more important than finding the destination. This blogathon is one of the nearest things to 3 days in the South of France that I’ve been on recently and I’d like to thanks you for your contribution to it!
I response to Dave’s final sentence… we did.
But seriously, I could not agree more with your comment about a leader’s job being to help their people become outstanding. It’s such a pity that many leaders spend their efforts in keeping people in the place, under control, stifling their initiative.
Dave;
Very interesting discussion and as you state one which can go on for hours, days, weeks etc. However I disagree with your point that leadership is all about results not behavior for the following reasons. Setting the course, equipping the team, monitoring progress and modeling the desired “culture” by walking the talk are essential for the team to achieve results.
A picture of a great leader for me is a General in the army that leads from the front to win the battle and when he jumps into the unknown the rest follow with complete trust in the outcome and acceptance of the potential risks.
Food for thought and I did not even need to go to France for a few days, but sat in front of my laptop in sunny and warm Toronto
Have a great day
Paul
Hey Todd,
I’ve only been following your blog for a short time, but have to respond to this one. I believe you’ve identified or outlined many leadership traits very well. In training some of our own managers on leadership, I described leadership many ways, but this is a description that I believe helps individuals to consider their own definition:
“A Leader is someone that can take people to places they didn’t know they could go and do it in a way so when they look back, they don’t remember the pain of the journey.
They help people realize their individual accomplishments to build on their own confidence, but doesn’t need the credit.
A leader is someone that does more than they expect from the people that follow them and understands the only way they can be a leader is to have someone who trusts them to guide the way.”
I do think your point that leadership is about results and not behavior is an interesting one. In breaking up traits into categories, I would almost debate that a manager’s job is more about results, but a leaders job is more about behavior, but the behavior that leads to the desired results.
As leaders, our goals are to empower the the average individual or team and make them into the outstanding. That can only be accomplished by giving people something to take the pride in so their behaviors are changed into habits that lead to the amazing results we strive for.
I’m with you – I could discuss this for hours.
Beautifully stated. And don’t forget to include the Farber take – LEAP – love, energy, audacity and proof.