Principles of Leadership Greg Waddell, DSL

The Leader as an Agent of Change

Credit Note: This slideshow is based largely on the 1995 edition of Kouzes and Posner’s The Leadership Challenge (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass).

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The Leadership Challenge

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Based on research that began in 1983.

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Interviews with more than 1300 leaders.

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Thousands more interviewed since publication in 1997.

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A model of leadership behavior developed.

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An instrument developed called the “Leadership Practices Inventory.”

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New Realities

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Cynicism toward all Leaders•

The Center of Power has Shifted

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Information the new global commodity•

Everyone is now connected

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Yet, the world is more fragmented than ever•

A new openness to spirituality

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Thesis of Kouzes & Posner

The results of our research have been striking both in their refutation of the leader stereotype and in their consistency. Leaders do exhibit certain distinct practices when they’re doing their best. And this behavior varies little from industry to industry, profession to profession, community to community, country to country. Good leadership is an understandable and a universal process” (p. xxiii).

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Myth

Healthy organizations run smoothly and orderly.

Reality

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Myth

Healthy organizations run smoothly and orderly.

Healthy organizations are like living organisms, constantly adapting and changing.

Reality

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Myth

Great leaders are rebels who courageously overthrow the established systems.

Reality

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Myth

Great leaders are rebels who courageously overthrow the established systems.

Great leaders are those who know how to invoke people’s natural desire to adapt, grow and learn.

Reality

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Myth

Great leaders live and plan for today.

Reality

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Myth

Great leaders live and plan for today.

Effective leaders have a long-range perspective. They set their focus beyond the present situation.

Reality

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Myth

Great leaders always forge a new vision.

Reality

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Myth

Great leaders always forge a new vision.

Often, the most productive leaders are those who have taken an existing vision and turned into success.

Reality

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Myth

To retain their objectivity, leaders need to be distant detached; separating their emotions from their work.

Reality

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Myth

To retain their objectivity, leaders need to be distant detached; separating their emotions from their work.

Highly productive leaders often talk about their deep feelings of inspiration, passion, joy, affection and even love.

Reality

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Myth

Leaders must be charismatic; they possess a special—almost miraculous—gift.

Reality

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Myth

Leaders must be charismatic; they possess a special—almost miraculous—gift.

Effective leadership has little to do with the charismatic personality. Instead, it is the product of a commitment to the values and expected outcomes of the organization.

Reality

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Myth

The leader’s primary responsibility is to control resources, including time, money, materials, and persons.

Reality

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Myth

The leader’s primary responsibility is to control resources, including time, money, materials, and persons.

The main responsibility of the leader is to foster a performance-based culture through service and example.

(Matthew 20:25-28)

Reality

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Myth

Leadership is a lonely place to be.

Reality

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Myth

Leadership is a lonely place to be.

Effective leaders are in constant communication with the people they lead. They are profoundly concerned for others and frequently use family-like terminology when they refer to their work team.

Reality

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Myth

Leaders need to detach themselves from the mundane work and concentrate on designing strategies and other “thinking”

type of activities.

Reality

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Myth

Leaders need to detach themselves from the mundane work and concentrate on designing strategies and other “thinking”

type of activities.

Exceptional leaders combine working and thinking into one continuous process. They do not separate thinking from working.

Reality

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Myth

Leadership has to do with occupying a position of power.

Reality

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Myth

Leadership has to do with occupying a position of power.

Leadership is not a position but a process. It involves attitudes and capabilities that carry the organization into productive change, regardless of one’s title or position.

Reality

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Myth

Leadership is only for a very select few.

Reality

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Myth

Leadership is only for a very select few.

Leadership is not transmitted in our genes, nor is it a secret code that cannot be understood by the common people. It is a set of practices that can be observed and learned.

Reality

The 5 Core Leadership Practices

Challenge the Process

Inspire a shared vision

Enable others to act

Model the way

Encourage the heart

The Remainder of this Presentation Deals with the First Leadership Behavior

Challenging the Process

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Constantly Seeking Ways to Improve

Leadership has about it a kinesthetic feel, a sense of movement. Leaders ‘go first.’

They’re

pioneers. They begin the quest for a new order. They venture into unexplored territory and guide us to new and unfamiliar destinations.”

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Kouzes & Posner, p. 36

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The Sigmoid Curve

This is where the new vision should take form.

Not here.

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Stimulating Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is the impulse to accomplish a task that emanates from the satisfaction that is inherent in the task itself--as opposed to motivation through external rewards and punishments.”

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Thomas & Velthouse, 1990

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Stimulating Intrinsic Motivation

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By raising the bar•

By loosening the controls

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By giving people true ownership•

By forging a shared mission, vision and values

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By linking organizational and individual purpose

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The Paradox of Routines

Routine work drives out nonroutine work and smothers to death all creative planning, all fundamental change.”

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Warren Bennis

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The Paradox of Routines

Leaders must . . . destroy routines because routines get us into ruts, dull our senses, stifle our creativity, constrict our thinking, remove us from stimulation, and destroy our ability to compete. Once-useful routines sap the vitality out of an organization and cause it to atrophy. Yet some routines are essential to a definable, consistent, measurable, and efficient operation.”

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Kouzes & Posner, p. 44

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Maintaining an Outward Focus

When we take our eyes off the external realities, turning inward to admire the beauty of our own organization, we may be swept away by the swirling waters of change.”

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Kouzes & Posner, p. 47

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Relevance for the ChurchBy definition, effective Christian leaders are

transformational.

They constantly seek ways to help the church improve and adapt to a changing external environment.

Relevance for the Church

Successful pastors and other church leaders must develop skills to help people navigate the paths of

change.

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Action Steps

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Treat everything like an adventure.•

Take everything as a departure point.

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Question everything.•

Evaluate all current processes.

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Eliminate all unnecessary routines.•

Teach people to think creatively.

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Give people challenging tasks.•

Go find something to fix.

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Renew your leadership team.