Christian Whamond. Key Leadership. Executive coach
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What is leadership?

24/4/2014

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A Google search on the term leadership yields about 134,000,000 hits! An Amazon search yields over 112,000 results for books on the subject. Wow!

I have been writing this blog for some time and whilst I have explored how others have defined leadership. I have not taken time to define what I mean by leadership. The reason for my tardiness is that I have found defining leadership to be quite a daunting task. I have even asked myself if it’s possible to create a leadership definition? Despite these nagging concerns and against my better judgement I’m giving it a shot.

"Leadership is like beauty; its hard to define, but you know it when you see it" Warren Bennis

My definition for leadership is as follows:

“Leadership is a process of influence that generates the commitment and capabilities required to translate vision into reality.”

Let me explain some of the underlying principles and ideas that are implied in this definition.

  1. Leadership is a about change. It’s the purpose of leadership to bring change, to drive innovation, encourage people to do different things or to do things differently. If there is no need for change, there is no need for leadership.
  2. Leadership happens through a social process of influence. Leadership is a social process. A process of influence resulting in the commitment by people to a vision and process of change. Leadership is not about authority or having a position and a title.
  3. Leadership demands results. Leadership brings vision into reality, leadership demands results. Leadership is about making things happen.
  4. Leadership is distributed. Leadership is not the responsibility of the person at the top. Leadership is not the responsibility of the person with the title, position or authority. We are all responsible to exercise leadership at all levels of an organisation and in all facets of our lives.
  5. Leadership is personal. Leadership is an extension of who we are, an extension of our own personal purpose and vision. There is therefore no one right way to lead. You work with the abilities that you have to create change whilst working to learn and improve. Leadership begins with leading yourself.
  6. Leadership is developmental. Leadership is about change and therefore requires learning, growth and personal transformation. Leadership requires you develop new abilities, those necessary to translate the vision into reality.
So there it is. Yet another definition of leadership! So in a nutshell leadership is about three things:

  1. A Vision of the Future
  2. The Alignment of people with that vision
  3. The Execution of the vision
Please add your ideas and thoughts in the comments below.
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Leadership defined.

16/6/2013

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Last week the CEO of Telstra David Thodey defined Leadership. David said that the things that make a good leader are the ability to execute and get things done, able to understand and feel the ebbs and flows of a business, understand the needs of the customer, have strategic insight and able to spot opportunities  ability to manage in ambiguity (not everything is black and white), have a understanding of emotional intelligence and lastly passion.

This got me thinking, what is your definition of leadership? Over the years I have read many books and attending seminars on leadership. I have found that only few people have a solid answer to this question. Few have a clear definition of what leadership means for them personally.

The definition of leadership has been a thorny issue for many years with each author approaching the topic from a different perspective. This is not to say that any of the definitions are right or wrong, rather each attempt exposes a different and valuable facet on what leadership means and how it’s expressed. Therefore it’s useful to explore the different definitions, perspective and viewpoints on leadership.

Leadership as Influence

These definitions describe leadership as a process of influencing others. It’s the ability of the leader to build relationships and influence people’s behaviour as required to execute the vision. The outcome of leadership is about changing the behaviour of people. This perspective of leadership is focused on inspiring and motivating others, with an emphasising the relationship between leaders and followers.

  • “Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.” – John Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
  • “Leadership is the incremental influence that a person has beyond his or her formal authority” – Vecchio
  • “Leadership requires using power to influence the thoughts and actions of other people.” – Zalenik, A., Managers and Leaders: are they different?
  • “Influencing people – by providing purpose, direction, and motivation – while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization.”  - US Army Manual
  • “Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by passion, generated by vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose.” – Dr. Myles Munroe, The Spirit of Leadership
  • “Leadership is the art of influencing others to their maximum performance to accomplish any task, objective or project.” – William Alan Cohen, The Art of a Leader
  • “Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes.” – Joseph Rost, Leadership in the 21st Century
  • “Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation.” – Hersey, P., Blanchard, K., Dewey, E.J., Management of Organizational Behavior

Leadership as Change


These definitions describe leadership primarily as a process of change supported by social influence and persuasion. Change is central to effective leadership. The greater the change the greater the need for leadership. More change demands more leadership. Therefore leadership requires leaders develop vision and future direction, to influence people to move towards the vision to achieve a shared goal.

  • “Leadership is the ability to step outside the culture to start evolutionary change processes that are more adaptive.”  - Edgar Schein
  • “Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles.” – John Kotter, Leading Change
  • “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” – Northouse, P. G., Leadership: Theory and Practice
  • “Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.” –  Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z., The Leadership Challenge
  • “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” – Warren G. Bennis
  • “Leadership is the process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his or her followers” – John W. Gardner, On Leadership
  • “Leadership is the capacity of individuals to spark the capacity of a human community – people living and working together – to bring forth new realities.” – Peter Sense

Leadership as Service

Then there the definitions of leadership as being about service to others usually referred to as “servant leadership”. This perspective of leadership speaks to the motives and intentions of the leader, proposing that effective leaders act from the desire to be of service to others.

  • “Leadership is about service to others and a commitment to developing more servants as leaders. It involves co-creation of a commitment to a mission.” – Robert Greenleaf
  • “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor. That sums up the progress of an artful leader.” – Max DePree
  • “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.” – John Kenneth Galbraith

Leadership as Character


There are definitions leadership that refer to the importance of the leader’s character for effective leadership. These recognise the important of integrity, trust and the character of the leader. This is the recognition that without character and integrity, people will not trust the leader and without trust leaders cannot influence others to follow them on a journey of change.

  • “Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.” – General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
  • “Leadership: The capacity and will to rally people to a common purpose together with the character that inspires confidence and trust” – Field Marshal Montgomery
  • “Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people, based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.” – Joanne Ciulla

Leadership as Development


There a a number of definitions of leadership that focus on the responsibility of the leader to grow and develop others into leaders. They highlight the importance of knowing and expressing who you are as a leader. These definitions recognise the need for the personal development of the leader and their constituents so they are able to effectively deal with the challenges of change brought about by a challenging vision.

  • “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nadar
  • “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” – Jack Welch
  • “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams, American 6th US President (1825-29)
  • “Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential.” – Warren Bennis


The above definitions provide an overview of some of the most widely reference definitions of leadership.

What’s Your Personal Definition of Leadership?

As you would have noticed from the collection of leadership definitions above that there is no one single definition of leadership. There are as many definitions of leadership as there are leaders. This is a good thing. It recognises that leadership is deeply personal and a topic to be wrestled with by each of us as we prepare to lead. Leaders are unique and each leader needs a personal definition of leadership that guides and inspires them. Unless we understand what we mean by leadership it becomes difficult to select, develop and grow leaders.

As leadership is personal and unique to the individual, having your own personal definition provides an anchor for your role as leader. Your definition of leadership affects how you think about your role, how you act, your relationship with others and ultimately your results.

If you don’t as yet have a personal definition of leadership take some time over the next week to develop one that’s your own. I would suggest the following process to create your own personal definition of leadership:

  1. Review the definitions listed previously as a source of inspiration. Highlight those that resonate with you personally.
  2. Start a conversation with your peers and others on how they define leadership. Use these conversations to stimulate and challenge your own thinking.
  3. Work on and revise your personal definition as you go.
  4. Your personal definition should create awareness for you concerning to your role as leader and help you answer the question, “How do I know when I’m leading?”.
I look forward to reading in the comments people's own definition of leadership.
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Organisational influence

1/10/2012

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Picture
Today, your performance review is based on things like sales numbers or number of goals met. Tomorrow, though, it could be based on something that until now has remained ephemeral: organizational influence.

Already companies are using influence to help them run more smoothly. 

For example, when companies have a new system to roll out, they'll look up who the most influential people are in various departments and bring them in for a briefing ahead of time, in the hopes they'll be able to evangelize the system to their peers.

The most progressive organizations have always realized that the informal connections employees make with others and the amount of knowledge and expertise they share outside of prescribed work responsibilities contributes mightily to the bottom line. But until now, they haven't had an empirical way of measuring that activity.


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Five Steps to Increase Your Influence

27/12/2011

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When was the last time you thought about how you influence others — how you change minds, shape opinions, move others to act?

The ability to influence is one of the essential skills for leaders at all levels. It’s more art than science, and it can be tough to get your arms around.  But the bottom line is that influence matters. And as we continue to morph (at breakneck speed) into an interconnected, interdependent, increasingly global workplace, it will matter more.

In traditional hierarchical organizations, power is typically based on position. The higher you are on the organization chart, the more power you wield. There are clear, top-down rules where the person at the top calls the shots. The person with the power has the influence.

Today, organizations are moving toward flatter, matrixed and team-based models. The theory is that with change and complexity comes the need to be more nimble, more inclusive of diverse thought, and more collaborative. In this model, power is more about one’s ability to influence and get things done outside of traditional reporting lines. In other words, the person with the influence has the power.

To be an effective influencer, you need both substance and style. Without a solid foundation of credibility, even the most interpersonally adept leaders will fall short. On the flip side, highly credible people can struggle with influence if they don’t understand the interpersonal dynamics at play.

Recent research to identify and measure influence styles created five categories:
  • Asserting: you insist that your ideas are heard and you challenge the ideas of others
  • Convincing: you put forward your ideas and offer logical, rational reasons to convince others of your point of view
  • Negotiating: you look for compromises and make concessions to reach outcomes that satisfy your greater interest
  • Bridging: you build relationships and connect with others through listening understanding and building coalitions
  • Inspiring: you advocate your position and encourage others with a sense of shared purpose and exciting possibilities
Each of these styles can be effective, depending upon the situation and people involved.  A common mistake is to use a one-size-fits-all approach. Remember that influencing is highly situational.

Here are five steps to increase your influence.

1)      Understand your influencing style.  It all begins with self-awareness.  What’s your dominant style?  Do you assert, convince, negotiate, bridge or inspire?  Do you tend to apply the same approach to every situation and individual?  Understanding your natural inclination is a good place to start.  If you’re not sure, consider taking a quick assessment.  The DiSC profile is the most common used in today's business.

2)      Take stock of your situation.  Who are the critical stakeholders you need to win over to achieve an objective or overcome an obstacle?  What influencing style might be more effective as you interact with them?  For example, if you’re dealing with a hard-nosed CFO, consider using a convincing approach, which is based in logic, data and expertise. If you’re in a crisis situation where people are relying on you to be decisive and fast on your feet, an asserting style may be more effective.  If you’re working cross-functionally and need to win the support of a peer, a bridging or negotiating style may be the way to go.

3)      Identify your gaps.  Once you understand your natural orientation and the appropriate styles to influence those around you, figure out where you’re on solid ground and where you need to shift gears and use a different approach to be more effective.

4)      Develop.  After identifying your gaps, find ways to develop in those areas.  It might be a workshop, coach or internal role model who is particularly strong in the style you’re trying to develop.  For an added bonus, find a learning partner – someone with whom you can role-play to gain confidence.

5)      Practice.  Begin with small steps – low-stakes situations where you can test out your new influencing approaches.  Target a person or situation where you’d like to achieve a certain outcome, think through the influencing style that will work best in that situation, and give it a try.  See what works and what doesn’t.  As you build your capability and confidence, move on to higher-stakes scenarios.

Whether you are leading, following, and/or collaborating, chances are you need to influence others to be successful. Influence strategies can range from reliance on position to education, encouragement and collaboration.  The key is knowing which approach to use in a given situation.
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