Leadership development: up close and personal
Early in her life, Susan’s* mother told her “if you want to succeed in your career, you need to outshine all the men around you”. Throughout her career, Susan took care to measure herself against her male peers and to be sure to surpass them in a number of areas of performance.
Susan’s drive and determination made her an asset to her employing organisation and she was rapidly promoted to a senior level. At the same time, her intense effort often exceeded the level of investment needed to achieve her goals and she started to suffer from exhaustion. What’s more, Susan’s leadership style was such that even her most senior staff depended on her for answers to the team’s most significant questions. Susan often felt anxious about taking a break, knowing that her staff depended on her so much. She was also unaware that, by positioning herself as the ultimate source of answers, she was limiting the team’s performance in line with her own limitations.
It took the curiosity, compassion and insight of her doctor to help Susan to identify the link between her behaviours as a leader and her mother’s early advice. Listening to her doctor’s questions, Susan was immediately able to understand that yes, there was a link. Something was driving her behaviour of which she had previously been unaware. At the same time, understanding the link was only the beginning: it was the help of a skilled Executive Coach that enabled Susan to adjust her values and beliefs to support a new leadership approach.
John* joined his organisation from school and worked his way up the career ladder. By the time he was eligible to participate in his employer’s leadership development programme he was already well schooled in the official and unofficial rules of the business.
John came away from the programme with a clear understanding of the impact across the organisation of a largely coercive and pacesetting style of leadership. Leaders exemplified excellence and expected others to emulate them. They often gave orders and rarely took the time to get to know their employees, seek their views and opinions or provide feedback and coaching support. During a period of rapid growth, there had been some benefits to this approach. However, John recognised its limitations and decided to develop his repertoire of styles to provide a clear vision for the future and coaching support for his staff.
Back at work, John found the reality of this journey far more challenging than the theory. He recognised that there was a gap at times between his aspiration and his practice (or “theory in use”). Even when he was seeking to provide coaching support, his direct reports were wary at times, accustomed to his former style and lacking trust in the changes he was beginning to make. The fact that he was learning and his coaching style was inconsistent contributed to the unease of staff members.
What’s more, John was under pressure from his own line manager to push for business results which he thought were unrealistic in a challenging business climate. After a while, John used his learning to begin a search for a new employing organisation in which the predominant leadership style was more closely aligned to his aspirations as a leader.
Susan and John’s stories illustrate both the deeply personal nature of leadership development and the challenges of adapting your leadership style in an organisation. Together, these examples begin to point the way to the steps organisations need to take if they’re serious about bridging the gap between leadership theory and the day-to-day practices of leaders in their organisations.
*Susan and John are fictional characters designed to illustrate the nature of leadership development. Any likeness with specific individuals is unintended.