I have recently been recalling a conversation with my former boss, who expressed an opinion that I think is all too prevalent in today’s management circles; he suggested that my experience was in too narrow a field, and the number of people I manage was too few for me to successfully move up within the management structure. This is a view I am not sure I agree with, on what basis do we seek to employ managers? What are the criteria and why should previous experience matter?
I thought about this for a while afterwards and I came to the conclusion that there are 5 main things that a manager needs to be able to do;
1) create and sell a vision and ethos to their team and on behalf of their organisation to external agencies
2) develop and grow the business and the opportunities of the organisation in line with their remit
3) be innovative and progressive in the way they handle the business they are working in
4) have a clear view of how to develop themselves and staff in order to further the professional abilities of them, their team and the organisation they work for
5) create a professional and efficient approach to the work of their team in order to be successful and present the organisation in the best way possible
None of these factors seem to me to be based on prior experience, in fact many of them contain elements that benefit from a fresh perspective and an injection of energy unrelated to prior experience. So why do we have an antiquated view of leadership as something born entirely from paying one’s dues and rising through the ranks? Two words will answer this question;
1) safety and 2) control.
It is safer to pick someone you have already developed, and it allows you to control someone’s career so that you gain more work for less money for longer.
This leads us to the next very big conundrum, how do you break the pattern? How do you get picked for your ability despite your age and experience? The answer lies partly in the concept of transformational leadership.
Before we talk about transformational leadership, let us first look at the standard model of leadership under which these largely obsolete systems of recruitment have arisen; the standard model is known as transactional leadership. This is when an aim or objective of the leader is dictated to his or her subordinates who have an identifiably different role to the leaders. This allows the leader a level of control that stops the subordinates from easily contributing to the leadership even if they have a talent that could be exploited for mutual gain. It also creates issues within communication as the channels for communicating are largely one way, with very little feedback reaching the leader as to the position of his/her team in relation to the actions required.
Transformational leadership, then dismisses some of these issues. It frees up staff to have a two-way dialogue with leadership and to actively contribute ideas and creates a level of autonomous work that is separate from the leadership. In other words, it allows staff the freedom to apply their common sense and ability to their work in a far more direct manner. This model does mean that the leadership is not a position of power so much as a way of guiding people within the vision of the company, this loss of control is not easy for leaders of the old paradigm to give up, but the results of transformational leadership are such that it is, really, the best option for future growth within any industry (with the possible exception of the military).
Great, there is a paradigm shift in leadership, but how does that help to secure you that promotion or that job role that you have wanted for ages?
There are three key things that contribute to the use of transformational leadership and that will start you on your journey towards this goal;
1) charisma
2) values
3) interpersonal control (trust)
Let us look at these in a little more detail.
Charisma is defined in leadership terms as this; a trait “positively related to the need for power and activity inhibition”. In other words, if you want to get anywhere do more stuff! Get involved, be proactive and don’t take no for an answer. Actively seek out feedback from peers and either spearhead or innovate to produce new projects within your industry. When you have done this, be sure people know about it but be careful about this, there are two things you need to consider when advertising your achievements; firstly, never say “I did” or “my team”, it should always be “we” and “our”. Remember that power is most important within a collective, you are trying to demonstrate your ability to run a successful team, not advertising yourself as a lone wolf. Secondly, remember that advertising your achievements within the organisation you work for alone will only make your achievements relevant to a select few people who should already be aware of your skill set. Network and spread the word, the more people you can talk to about the work you do, the bigger the potential recruitment base you have for either new staff or for your next career move.
Values, the power of values is that they transcend the industry and the job specification of your current role. If you are value centred when you set yourself goals you allow yourself the scope to think bigger than the job you are in, and this leads to two things, you getting noticed and a vast improvement in innovation. If your job applies only to a sector that is the equivalent size to a shoe box, but your values extend your vision to the whole closet then you have a lot more room to innovate and create. Transformational leaders in a study by Lehr (1987) suggested that near universal values where the most attributable to the work they do, to further the analogy this extends the vision to include far more than even the closet. By applying universal values, you also ensure a fairness and equality across staff making your team and your colleagues more inclined to follow your lead.
Interpersonal control, the ability to trust other people in judgement, ability and capability to do the job they have been assigned. If you trust someone to do a job and provide them with the autonomy to apply their creativity and innovation to achieving the goals set, you will not only receive better results almost universally, but you will also very often find that people will go above and beyond what is asked of them. This more than anything else will suggest to leaders that you are capable of managing a team effectively and of creating value within an organisation.
So, with three simple steps towards starting transformational leadership processes you can go a long way towards meeting the major leadership goals of most organisations, sure, experience will always give people the edge, but by embracing a new paradigm, by changing the way you think about leadership you will start to increase your chances of being promoted or hired. Remember, there is no gimmick to this, it is a transformation of yourself, a long hard look at your values and your goals, these are only the first steps on this journey, the end you decide to put in sight is dependent on your vision of your own future and the way you lead others towards that. If you can create a shared goal out of your vision of the future, you will have infinitely more chance of achieving it than if you decide to plough on alone.
Shevek Pring 