This week I wanted to go a little off of the norm and talk about leadership. Leadership is something that is not well defined. What I mean by that is you can find around 100 different definitions of leadership through a simple google search. But that isn’t helpful to anyone who is really trying to define leadership. So, in true John style, I wanted to offer some insights into what leadership is to me and hopefully it allows you to take just one more definition down for your toolkit in the future.
Leadership – a process of social influence which maximizes the efforts of others towards the achievements of a goal. (Kruse, 2013)
Read that one more time.
Okay, so out of all of my searching and all of my experience so far, this is probably the best definition out there and I’ll explain why.
Leadership used to be defined as an “art” and it was often debated whether leaders were made or if they were born. With this definition, that argument doesn’t matter. What does matter is what you are able to do with your influence to maximize peoples’ efforts. Wow...
In the spirit of this blog and always learning, let’s break that down a little further.
Social Influence - refers to the way in which individuals change their ideas and actions to meet the demands of a social group, perceived authority, social role or a minority within a group wielding influence over the majority. (Psychology World, pulled in 2022)
Now there is an entire subsection of psychology that is focused on social influence and all of the factors that go into it like obedience, conformity, disobedience, non-conformity, etc. But I don’t want to get into that too much here since there are a ton of different rabbit holes to go down. So, let’s focus on what part of that whole definition/explanation of social influence actually means. As a leader you are using social influence to maximize efforts. In essence, what a leader does is changes peoples’ ideas and actions to influence the majority of a populace.
In simple terms, a leader, uses their skills of influence to motivate.
What about “maximizing efforts?” That is the beauty of this definition. It isn’t about just influencing people to meet a goal; it is about maximizing their performance in order to achieve that goal. This is where people would normally talk about leadership styles and you will often get asked the question… “what is your leadership style?” and a lot of times I used to give an answer of being a “transformational leader” Which is a leadership style that sort of blazes the trail and leads from the front. VeryWell Mind, a website on mental health, describes transformational leadership as: [the ability to] inspire positive changes in those who follow. Transformational leaders are generally energetic, enthusiastic, and passionate. Not only are these leaders concerned and involved in the process; they are also focused on helping every member of the group succeed as well (Cherry, 2022). She further goes on to explain that The transformational style of leadership can be highly effective when used appropriately, but it might not necessarily be the best choice for every situation. In some cases, groups may require a more managerial or autocratic style that involves closer control and greater direction, particularly in situations where group member are unskilled and need a lot of oversight (Cherry, 2022).
What I have actually realized is that a good leader needs to possess the ability to morph into the leadership style that best meets the needs of the individual they are attempting to maximize. Again, think about that. Let’s do what we always do here. Let’s throw a wrench in the paradigm of all the academia and military leadership lessons that you have received so far. You know, the ones that think you have to have a certain style…. I would postulate that you need to know all of them and adapt to your surroundings in order to maximize the effort.
What does that mean? Well, if you have a hard-charger, maybe you can, dare I say, be a little more laissez-faire with them as the influence needed for them to maximize their effort might be a little bit of space and a broad understanding of what needs to be accomplished (say commander’s intent). On the other hand, you may have an introvert that needs some one-on-one motivation and influence in order to feel like they are part of the bigger picture but don’t want the recognition. You change your style to match that person in the moment and use their energy to maximize their potential. With that person you may find yourself as more of a motivator and coach that is trying to figure out what their passion is so that you can appropriately place them in the team and ensure their talent is effectively incorporated.
For the transformational side that I was once truly anchored in, you can still use that style but probably with a more competitive individual who truly just wants someone to follow and set the example. Interestingly enough, you may find yourself having to use several different leadership styles with the same person over time. That simply means that person is growing and evolving along with you.
As a leader you need to understand your people. You need to be in tune with what they are in tune with. You need to know what makes them tick and what intrinsically motivates them. Sounds easy right? Well, it isn’t. You will make mistakes and you will need to learn from those mistakes. In the same vein you need to know that your people will make mistakes too. You need to be able to handle those mistakes appropriately. What does that mean? What is the appropriate way to handle mistakes from your people?
That is not an easy nor is it a straightforward answer. Actually, I would say “it depends”. I can unequivocally state that an emotional response, while it may be the first thing that comes to mind, is almost always the wrong way to respond. I would say that even if lives were lost due to the mistake. Why would I say that? You can armchair quarterback the situation all day long. The saying “hindsight is 20/20” is very, very real here actually.
No matter what leadership style you need to take on to motivate someone, when it comes to building back after mistakes are made there needs to be an analysis into the root cause that is based on data. This needs to involve everyone that it takes to get to the root cause of how the decision was made that caused the mistake. That actually reaches all the way back to a debrief of the situation and determining if it was an issue with Perception, Decision, or Execution… if you are an avid reader of this blog, you should see some of the correlations happening here.
Leadership, at is core, goes back to the “…process of social influence which maximizes the efforts of others towards the achievements of a goal “(Kruse, 2013). If we want to be able to lead, we need to understand the social influences we have on others. Our actions and our words will resonate for years with a young mind and they will influence their perception of you as a leader, good or bad, for many years beyond when the actions were taken and the words were spoken.
Keep learning, keep driving, keep taking risks, but most of all be humble with your thoughts, be approachable with your actions, be credible with your words, and be aggressive in your pursuits.
REFERENCES:
Cherry, Kendra. Transformational Leadership, A Closer Look at the Effects of Transformational Leadership. VeryWell Mind. 23 May 2022. Accessed on: 10 Aug 2022. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-transformational-leadership-2795313
Kruse, Kevin. Forbes Magazine. 9 Apr 2013. Accessed On: 10 Aug 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/?sh=ecd53185b90c
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