Leader Reality Check:

Turn Around. Who Is Following You?

If no one is there,  then you’re just taking a walk…

 

Leadership occurs in groups. Whether a small group, committee or large crowd – leadership is about one individual influencing a group of others to achieve a common objective (Northouse, 2013).  How does a leader successfully lead groups?

Ackermann and Eden (2011) observe that each member of a group (leader included) comes to the table with their own views due to their differing expertise, roles, accountabilities, experiences, consequences and personal perspectives. Considering this, where does the team even begin reaching common ground?

Ramsey(2005) suggests that leading groups occurs on 4 differing levels. They are:

• Self –  We must ‘rescript our internal dialogue’ – our mental models developed in early childhood. They limit our perceptions, behaviors and aspirations into adulthood.
• Relationships –  Many lack skills to genuinely ‘connect’ with fellow group member due to perception filters. We categorize, simplify and short hand our mental processes so much that we arrive at conclusions without fully giving a matter more than cursory consideration. We ignore new information or influencers which might require a different course of action.
• Context –  Many aspiring leaders lack the critical consciousness to simply put themselves in the other individual’s shoes. This requires leaders to consider ethical implications, ‘low power/high interest’ groups and impacts on larger social realities.
• Organization – This requires ‘re-patterning’ within the organization. This usually also entails systematic changes which risk threatening political and power roles – and those who have benefited from the status quo.

Collaborative ethos is not arrived at without growth (personal and organizational), sacrifice and the desire to change and evolve in an extraordinary way. We begin by changing ourselves, identifying our own values (assumptions) and processing our emotions to resolve anger, fear and hurt (Ramsey, 2005) – then the real work of successfully leading groups can begin!!

References:

Ackermann, F. and Eden, C. (2011). Making Strategy: Mapping out strategic success. California: Sage Publishing.

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, Inc.

Ramsey, V. & Latting, J. A.(2005). Typology of Intergroup Competencies. Journal of Applied Behavior Science. (41),3. pp. 265 – 284