What is Effective Leadership?

In a recent conference for economists someone from the audience asked the panel of presenters: “What is the role of a leader in shaping policy?” The panel reflected in silence, and after a couple of minutes offered: “Leaders inspire others. They set the direction and people follow.” This interaction drove me to think about the meaning of effective leadership, and about the actions and behaviors that help set a direction and inspire others to follow.     

In my interactions with people across different organizations, I have found that those individuals who others perceive as ‘leaders’ are motivated by the notion of serving a higher purpose and advancing a mission that makes a difference in the lives of others. These ‘leaders’ are committed to the pursuit of goals that ultimately will improve the lives of their customers, employees, investors, suppliers, and other stakeholders.  

Over the years, I have found that it is the human touch that ignites, fuels, and facilitates growth and creativity.  To foster an innovative, creative, and high-performance environment, the effective leader has that human touch and provides people with opportunities to acquire knowledge, use divergent thinking, and contribute ideas.  The leader motivates and inspires other to think creatively, contribute to the enterprise, and develop their full potential by caring about them and allowing them to be their authentic selves.

An effective leader builds people and motivates them to contribute to a worthwhile higher purpose by granting them freedom to express their views and remain genuine.  Before a leader can inspire others to commit to an organizational mission, people must feel like they matter and that the organization appreciates them for who they are.  James MacGregor Burns speaks of a transforming leadership style, which converts followers into leaders and leaders into moral agents who have the ability to produce social change.  But it is important to indicate that people will not follow unless they feel like their opinions and actions matter, and that they are treated with respect and dignity.

A few managers I have encountered throughout my career have utilized a transactional approach to leadership. This type of relationship can yield conformity and often reduces productivity because individuals are discouraged from exerting greater effort. Consequently, under these circumstances, employees feel motivated to only give enough to meet baseline expectations, but never to give more. Recognizing this, effective leaders make attempts to encourage people to contribute and not be simply satisfied with an exchange of work for pay. Effective leaders seek to foster an environment that encourages freedom of thought and that allows the individual to express their views openly, which ultimately is more valuable to the organization and beneficial to the individual whose voice is heard. 

Effective leaders seek to transform the organization into a high-performance enterprise that pursues a mission while providing meaning to those involved with the organization. Leaders realize the importance of leveraging employees’ hearts and minds and, as such, enable their people to build on their skills and use divergent thinking in decision-making. Leaders support the ongoing development of people so that they can strive toward continuous growth. Creating this environment requires commitment, trust, fairness, compassion, and respect for the individual. To foster this environment that cultivates engagement, participation and creativity, leaders encourage people to develop their skills and take on greater responsibilities. Effective leaders use transformational leadership as a tool for building people into outstanding leaders. And building leaders can yield great opportunities for future innovation. 

People must be encouraged and allowed to contribute ideas that will enrich discussion and enhance the decision-making process.  Leaders also understand the importance of motivating people to take intelligent risks.  Hence, it is important that the organization consider approaches to better inform and train its people so that when people take risks and make decisions, they will be better informed about the issue and able to leverage different tools and skills.

Leaders understand the significance of fostering an environment that inspires and excites people with the notion that they can accomplish great things. Effective leaders encourage others to speak up and empower them to enhance ‘the existing’ for the betterment of the organization. Leaders invite people to share their perspective which are discussed and challenged with the intent of building more robust and comprehensive initiatives for improving the organization. This is consistent with Jim Collins’ findings pertaining the value of engaging in dialogue and debate, not coercion, as good-to-great companies use discussion not only to get ‘buy-in’, but to find the best decision.

Effective leaders realize that in order to find creative solutions to organizational challenges we must create a safe space for suggestions while welcoming divergent opinions. Effective leaders see the value of not discouraging people from challenging the status quo. After all, maintaining the status quo for the sake of not disrupting the way we have always done things, is inconsistent with the notion of balancing change and continuity. Organizations must evolve and move through a process of creative destruction, and if they do not, they will ultimately perish. Hence, why it is so important to leverage people and allow them to contribute ideas and opinions. Doing so can help motivate people and advance the organization’s mission of making a difference in society.

References

Burns, James MacGregor. Leadership. Harper & Row, 1978.

Collins, Jim. Good to Great. Random House Business Books, 2001.