| |
|
Occupational Psychology covers a wide range of subjects in business and the workplace; one of the "hot topics" of the moment is leadership. A one day conference, held in early December 2005 and the first of its type, shared the latest thinking on leadership with people from business and commerce, and highlighted the benefits occupational psychologists can bring to organisations through their particular approach to issues in the workplace and the people within it.
Six experts on leadership presented their personal views, and were encouraged to ‘stick their heads above the parapet’, to offer delegates their latest insights based on their research and practical experience in the field of leadership. The result was insightful and provocative thinking on the nature of leadership in today’s organisations.
For all the speakers, the traditional leadership concept - in which the leader hands down actions from their ivory tower - is increasingly out of touch with what organisations need. Julian Rizzello, Principal Development Consultant and Course Director in the Centre for Strategic Leadership at the National School of Government, characterised this as "[treating] Leadership as being a capacity of specific individuals." People in the most senior positions are referred to as leaders and are seen as a source of vision and change. This ‘heroic’, authority-centred, top-down picture of leadership regards the organisation’s success or failure as dependent upon the leader’s personal capacities, personality and behaviours. Thus, leaders are seen as "the most important people, inherently wiser, and worthier of deference." Rizzello went on to suggest that this "Devalue[s] the efforts of others and make[s] people in lower levels feel confused, frustrated and disrespected." Furthermore, "Expecting the leader who has risen within the hierarchy to be always right or solely responsible is not fair on them as they may feel under enormous pressure to be perfect."
So what did the speakers view as important for the new style of leadership. Professor Gill, founder and Director of the Research Centre for Leadership Studies, focused on five multiple intelligences of leadership: cognitive intelligence; emotional intelligence; spiritual intelligence; moral intelligence and behavioural intelligence and suggested; "It is the interaction of these five intelligences that makes a good leader." He pinpointed emotional intelligence - the ability to understand the needs and feelings of oneself and others - as making a key difference in leadership. Thus an effective leader is one who is able to define and communicate their vision and mission, create a culture of positive shared values, develop and implement intelligent strategies whilst ensuring that people are kept motivated and empowered.
Professor Alimo-Metcalfe, Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Leeds currently on secondment as Chief Executive of Leadership Research and Development Ltd., also suggested it is time to de-bunk some of the myths stemming from these ‘heroic’ models, particularly that leadership is rare and "only found at the top of organisations," and that those demonstrating good leadership were "superhuman." "Organisations," she states, "are increasingly aware of the dark side to charisma, with some of the most charismatic leaders also being the most lethal." Her research suggests that a new form of leadership is now emerging in the UK which differs from the US focus on the visionary, charismatic leader. This new leadership emphasises the importance of "engagement’ and collaboration, rather than distancing and adulation."
The single most important dimension highlighted by Professor Alimo-Metcalf’s 360 degree feedback instrument - The Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ), which identifies 14 dimensions of leadership - is "showing genuine concern" - that is to say staff feeling that their boss is interested in them as an individual, and actively supports their development.
Taking a slightly different tack Professor Randell, Emeritus Professor of the University of Bradford, claimed that leadership "Is like a rainbow, you admire it when it’s there and miss it when it’s gone." "Leadership," according to Randell, "is not a thing, it is an outcome of an interaction, as is love and beauty, it cannot be stored, bought or measured and this is what causes so many conceptual and practical problems with it." He went on to explain that Leadership is a human skill that encompasses Gathering Information, Giving Information, Influencing Behaviour, and Handling Emotion. He asserted that no one would ever be an effective leader unless they were able to perform competently all those four activities.
Mr Rizzello also saw leadership as a process that occurs between people - "It often arises spontaneously among colleagues as required, without the prior need to define formal role relationships. Thus, leadership is a shared social process that is chiefly defined and shaped by those who are considering and experiencing it in a particular time and place."
In a similar vein, John Burgoyne, Professor of Management Learning in the University of Lancaster and Professor of Management Learning at Henley Management College, discussed how much of the psychology-based research and theory on leaders and leadership has concentrated on the characteristics, behaviours and styles of leaders.
He noted that there were 11 core issues that should also be considered, including looking at who leads corporate leadership development within any organisation. As Professor Burgoyne pointed out; "[the question of] Who finances leadership development, at what point people are developed, and who takes responsibility for this development will all have an effect on the type of leadership created."
With this in mind he suggested that it is much better to look beyond what makes a good leader, i.e. their competencies, and focus on what they actually do, i.e. their practices.
However leadership is defined, the most frequent question asked of occupational psychologists working in this space is, according to Tom Smith, Head of Learning and Development for the Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets, Private Banking, Asset Management and Amanah Finance at HSBC Bank; "Are they born or are they made?" There is currently heavy investment in competency models to identify leadership attributes, but, in Tom Smith’s view, these are becoming more similar than different across organisations; "Ten of the most cited competencies can be found in two-thirds of competency models," suggesting limited advantages even if these models are implemented. "Unfortunately, psychologists seem to be mainly used to design redundant competency models" that are not applied and so, "leaders may be lacking skills for future needs," Smith warned.
New trends in leadership development include increased use of external leadership development programmes (e.g. in conjunction with universities) and increased use of "stretch" assignments like job rotation and international assignments. "In such situations," who better, Smith argued, "than psychologists to gather together different strands of data and information using rigorous research methods?"
This inaugural event clearly demonstrated that occupational psychologists have a unique wealth of knowledge and experience to contribute to the understanding of leadership and leadership interventions.
As Tom Smith said; "Occupational psychologists have been distracted by wider issues in organisations. However, now there is an opportunity for fresh strategic involvement in more areas through the collaboration between researchers and practitioners." On the evidence of this conference many are already capitalising on this opportunity.
|
|
