Leadership: an introduction

Ed Walker MD, MHA

Director, UW Healthcare Leadership Development Alliance

What is your definition of leadership?

Pick a word or phrase that best describes what you think

leadership is

Four important components of a definition of leadership

Leadership is a

1) process whereby an

2) individual influences a

3) group of individuals to

4) achieve a common goal.

But what exactly is it?

Trait of the leader?Skill set?Situational moment?Stylistic processA set of transactions?Ability to influence or manipulate?A transformational experience of inspiration?Knowledge of people and their motivations?Clear understanding of goals and paths?

Trait vs. Process Leadership

Certain individuals have special innate or inborn characteristics or qualities that differentiate them from nonleaders. – Resides in select

people– Restricted to those

with inborn talent

Trait definition of leadership:

LEADER

FOLLOWERS

Leadership• Height• Intelligence• Extroversion• Fluency• Other Traits

Trait vs. Process Leadership

Leadership is a property or set of properties possessed in varying degrees by different people (Jago, 1982).– Observed in

leadership behaviors– Can be learned

Process definition of Leadership:

LEADERLEADER

LeadershipLeadership

(Interaction)(Interaction)

FOLLOWERSFOLLOWERS

Assigned vs. Emergent Leadership

Leadership based on occupying a position within an organization– CEO– Chief of Staff– Director of HR– Department heads

An individual perceived by others as the most influential member of a group or organization regardless of the individual’s title– Emerges over time

through communication behaviors

– The virtual org chart

AssignedAssigned EmergentEmergent

Leadership & Power

Five Bases

of

Power

Five Bases

of

Power

Major activities of management and leadershipare played out

differently; BUT, both are essential for an organization to

prosper.

Leadership & Management Kotter (1990)

My gender?

My skills and learned

behaviors?

My ability to capitalize on

circumstance?

My personal style?

My ability to influence and

negotiate?

My group’s ability to form a team?

The culture of my

organization?

My flexibility to adapt?

My genes?

Who I am Who I leadHow I lead

What makes me a good leader?

Is leadership a trait?

Great ManTheories

Early 1900s

•Research focused on individual characteristics that universally differentiated leaders from nonleaders

Traits Interacting With Situational

Demands on Leaders

1930-50s

• Landmark Stogdill (1948) study - analyzed and synthesized 124 trait studies - Leadership reconceptualized as a relationship between people in a social situation

• Mann (1959) reviewed 1,400 findings of personality and leadership in small groups - Less emphasis on situations - Suggested personality traits could be used to discriminate leaders from nonleaders

Revival of Critical Role of Traits in LeaderEffectiveness

• Stogdill (1974) - Analyzed 163 new studies with 1948 study findings - Validated original study - 10 characteristics positively identified with leadership

• Lord, DeVader, & Alliger (1986) meta-analysis - Personality traits can be used to differentiate leaders/nonleaders

• Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) - 6 traits make up the “Right Stuff” for leaders

Historical Shifts in Trait Perspective1970’s - Early 90s

Innate Qualities

Situations

Personality / Behaviors

Today

• Intelligence• Self-Confidence• Determination• Integrity• Sociability

5 MajorLeadership

Traits

Big Five Personality Factors

5-Factor Personality Model & Leadership

Emotional Intelligence & Leadership

People who are more sensitive to their emotions & their impact on others will be more effective leaders

Underlying Premise Definition Ability to perceive and:

– apply emotions to life’s tasks

– reason/understand emotions

– express emotions– use emotions to facilitate

thinking– manage emotions within

oneself & relationships

Is leadership more of a well developed skill set?

Basic Administrative Skills – Katz (1955)Management Skills Necessary at Various Levels of an Organization

Leaders need all three skills – but, skill ability/ importance changes based on level of management

Skills Model

Skills Model of Leadership

Maybe leadership is a matter of interactive style?

Balancing people and productivity

Blake-Mouton Grid

Ok, maybe leadership is just the flexibility to adapt to a

given situation?

Blanchard and

Hersey

Telling

Participating

Delegating

Selling

Followers Developmental level

Followers Developmental level

D1 Low CompetenceHigh Commitment

D2 Some CompetenceLow Commitment

D3 Mod-High CompetenceLow Commitment

D4 High CompetenceHigh Commitment

LeadersLeadership style

LeadersLeadership style

S1 – DirectingHigh Directive-Low Supportive

S2 – Coaching High Directive-High Supportive

S3 – SupportingHigh Supportive-Low Directive

S4 – DelegatingLow Supportive-Low Directive

How Does The Situational Approach Work?How Does The Situational Approach Work?

Perhaps leadership is just staying out of the way and

letting people do their jobs?

Path-Goal Theory

Is leadership more than just getting the job done?

Transformational Leadership…

A process of charismatic and visionary leadership that changes and transforms individuals

A form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more than what is expected of them

Concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals

assesses followers’ motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings

both specific (one-to-one with followers) and broad (whole organizations or entire cultures)

follower(s) and leader are inextricably bound together in the transformation process

Transformational Leadership Factors

Leaders who exhibit TL: have a strong set of internal values & ideals are effective in motivating followers to support greater good over self-interest

Leaders who exhibit TL: have a strong set of internal values & ideals are effective in motivating followers to support greater good over self-interest

Transformational Leadership

TLs empower and nurture followers

TLs stimulate change by becoming strong role models for followers

TLs commonly create a vision

TLs require leaders to become social architects

TLs build trust & foster collaboration

Describes how leaders can initiate, develop, and carry out significant changes in organizations

Focus of Transformational Leaders

Focus of Transformational Leaders

Overall ScopeOverall Scope

An example of Transformational Leadership

• Model the WayExemplary leaders set examples by their own behavior

• Inspire a Shared VisionEffective leaders inspire visions that challenge others

• Challenge the ProcessLeaders are willing to innovate, grow, take risks

• Enable Others to ActLeaders create environments where people can feel good about their work & how it contributes to greater community

• Encourage the HeartLeaders use authentic celebrations & rituals to show appreciation & encouragement to others

Kouzes & Pozner (1987, 2002)Kouzes & Pozner (1987, 2002)

Wait, maybe it’s not about the leader at all – it’s about

the team that’s being led

Team Leadership

Team Leadership is about performing functions

Wait – we’ve gotten too far from the focus on the leader

and the complexity of the kinds of people we really are

Psychodynamic Approach

Function of leader – To become aware of his or her own personality type and the personalities of followers

Underlying assumptions– Personality characteristics of individuals are deeply ingrained

and virtually impossible to change in any significant way

– People have motives & feelings that are unconscious

– Person’s behavior results from observable actions, responses AND from emotional effects of past experience

Eric Berne and Transactional Analysis

Four dimensions important in assessing personality:

1. Where a person derives energyderives energy – internally or externally

2. Way in which a person gathers informationgathers information – precise, sequential way or more intuitive & random

way

3. Way in which a person makes decisionsmakes decisions – rationally & factually or in a subjective, personal

way

4. How the person is oriented to the world --oriented to the world --

planning & organized or, more spontaneous & pliant

Carl Jung & Personality Types

Carl Jung and Personality

TypesPsychological Preferences and Leadership

Sixteen Types and LeadershipPsychological Types and Leadership

Maybe it’s all about gender – do men or women make

better leaders?

Overall, multiple meta-analyses show that men and women were equally effective, but with some differences:– women and men were more effective in leadership roles congruent

with their gender

– women were less effective to the extent that leader role was masculinized

– women were less effective than men in military positions more effective than men in education, government, and social

service organizations substantially more effective than men in middle management

positions; interpersonal skills highly valued less effective than men when they

• supervised a higher proportion of male subordinates

• greater proportion of male raters assessed the leaders’ performance

Meta-analysis of Gender and Leadership Effectiveness

(Eagly et al, 1995)

What about culture? Does that make a difference?

Dimensions of Culture

House et al’s (2004) research on the relationship between culture and leadership resulted in the GLOBE research program

– Initiated in 1991 – this program involved more than 160 investigators

– Used quantitative methods to study the responses of 17,000 managers in more than 950 organizations, 62 different cultures

– Developed a classification of cultural dimensions – identified nine cultural dimensions

ResearchResearch

Dimensions of Culture

GLOBE research program – nine cultural dimensions– Uncertainty Avoidance:

extent to which a society, organization, or group relies on established social norms, rituals, and procedures to avoid uncertainty

– Power Distance: degree to which members of a group expect and agree

that power should be shared unequally

– Institutional Collectivism: degree to which an organization or society encourages

institutional or societal collective action.

ResearchResearch

Dimensions of Culture

GLOBE research program – nine cultural dimensions– In-Group Collectivism:

degree to which people express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations or families

– Gender Egalitarianism: degree to which an organization or society minimizes

gender role differences and promotes gender equality

– Assertiveness: degree to which people in a culture are determined,

assertive, confrontational, and aggressive in their social relationships

ResearchResearch

Dimensions of Culture

GLOBE research program – nine cultural dimensions– Future Orientation:

extent to which people engage in future-oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification

– Performance Orientation: extent to which an organization or society encourages and

rewards group members for improved performance and excellence

– Humane Orientation: degree to which a culture encourages and rewards people

for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others.

ResearchResearch

GLOBE researchers divided the data from 62 countries into regional clusters– Clusters provide a convenient way to

Analyze similarities & differences between cultural groups

Make meaningful generalizations about culture & leadership

– Clusters were found to be unique– Regional clusters represent 10 distinct

groups

Clusters of World Cultures

Clusters of World

Cultures

Characteristics include - Anglo – competitive and result-oriented

Confucian Asia – result-driven, encourage group working together over individual goals

Eastern Europe – forceful, supportive of co-workers, treat women with equality

Germanic Europe – value competition & aggressiveness and are more result-oriented

Latin America – loyal & devoted to their families and similar groups

Characteristics of ClustersObservations

Characteristics include - Latin Europe – value individual autonomy

Middle East – devoted & loyal to their own people, women afforded less status

Nordic Europe – high priority on long-term success, women treated with greater equality

Southern Asia – strong family & deep concern for their communities

Sub-Sahara Africa – concerned & sensitive to others, demonstrate strong family loyalty

Characteristics of ClustersObservations

Developing Leadership with Strategic Thinking

Balancing Rigor and Relevance

50

51

52

SelfPersonal

Readiness(Once)

TeamTeam Dynamic(Three times)

Your LeadershipPeer & Self

Rating (Three times)

Global MindsetSelf

(Once)

FALLWinter

SPRING

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For Team Dynamics we repeat the same team measures 3 times

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Authentic Leadership Model:•Self-Awareness•Transparency•Balanced Processing•Moral/Ethical Behavior

Full Range Leadership (Transformational - TF):•Four Is:

• Individualized Consideration• Intellectual Stimulation• Idealized Influence• Inspirational Motivation

•Contingent Reward (Transactional - TA)

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Transactional Contingent

Reward“Utilities”

Self-AwarenessTransparencyBalanced Processing

Moral/EthicalBehavior

Transformational“Walls”

Authentic“Foundation”

Strategic“Crown”

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Clapp-Smith Model

Focus on state-like attributes (not traits)Leverage experience (trigger moments)Increase self-awarenessDevelop reflective learning capabilities

(e.g., journaling, after action reviews, etc.)Provide challenge, feedback and support

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FALL

WINTER

SPRING

A leader trained in an evidence-based system of development …

Knows his or her strengths and is always self-aware Continuously reflects by thinking about how he or she thinks Has a clear self concept and goal orientation Is motivated to learn and motivated to lead Maintains and appreciates perspective and is morally

grounded Is adaptable, tolerant of ambiguity and is self efficacious in

the face of adversity Is socially and culturally aware Balances individual and team effectiveness Becomes an authentic leader: self aware, balanced

processing, moral perspective, transparent Demonstrates psychological capital: self-efficacy, hope,

optimism and resiliency

So what have we learned?