LEADERSHIP
How we see leadership
Leadership carries great responsibility. Effective leaders are able to change and create great things through people. However, as the recent economic crisis demonstrates, if leadership is not based on a code of ethical conduct many bad things can happen.
This short essay is about our vision on leadership. A vision where people play the central role, increasing social responsibility and sustainability.
We start by giving a short definition of leadership, followed by an introduction to leadership styles and the transactional-transformational spectrum. Servant leadership is further explained as a model with a people-centered ethic that can be extremely powerful in creating socially responsible, sustainable and successful organizations. This ethic is what establishes the difference between effective leadership and good leadership.
Leadership is ultimately about influencing others. This includes giving explanations for events, choosing objectives, outlining the way to work, motivating followers, building relationships and enlisting outsiders (adapted from Yukl, 2010). We do this in different ways depending on our preferred leadership styles, with consequences with regard to our effectiveness.
In their work on leadership and emotional intelligence, Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2004) present us six basic leadership styles, each representing certain patterns of leadership behavior which are more or less effective depending on the context. These styles are: commanding, pacesetting, democratic, affiliative, coaching and visionary. The first two, are seen as dissonant styles because they create a distance between the leader and the follower, and should therefore be used with great care. The last four are so called resonant styles as they are based on positive mutual relationship between leader and follower. Each style has its strength and applicability depending on the context. Effective leaders are good at understanding multiple contexts and applying different leadership styles accordingly.
Leadership styles can also be broadly characterized as ranging between transactional and transformational, with regard to the nature of the relation between the leader and the follower (Bass, 1985). Transactional leaders motivate basically extrinsically (e.g. salary, bonus, etc.) while transformational leaders do it intrinsically by calling to the basic human motives of followers for growth and fulfillment.
A specific type of transformational leadership is called servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1977), which is a model with a people-centered ethic. What makes servant leadership particularly interesting for our time and age is the genuine concern of the leader in ensuring that followers grow and develop. For these leaders, the fulfillment of followers is not only a means to an end but the end itself. The leader’s success becomes a byproduct of the followers’ own achievements. Several research studies (van Dierendonck, 2010) seem to demonstrate that servant leadership stimulates self-actualization, positive job attitudes, performance and a stronger organizational focus on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. It does that through a positive relationship between leader and follower and through the creation of a work climate of trust and fairness.
The behaviors that characterize servant leadership include empowering and developing people, humility, authenticity, interpersonal acceptance, stewardship and providing direction (van Dierendonck, 2010).
Effective leadership is not the same as good leadership. We have seen that many times in the history of mankind. While the mastery of different leadership styles can increase our effectiveness in leading others, it does not ensure we do it for the right cause. Competence without ethics can be dangerous and this is why we believe it is important that leadership development incorporates both aspects. Unfortunately most training and educational programs focus only on effectiveness.
Never before has good leadership been so important. Being able to understand and develop our competence as leaders, while putting the growth and development of the follower at the center is critical for success and for a more sustainable society. It is our joint responsibility to ensure that.
