Countless business books explore the key ingredients of leadership. But one professor, who’s studied winning streaks, has come up with the fundamentals for leading a sports team or organization into success:

According to Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End, the most critical component of leadership is not self-confidence. Even more important is having and inspiring confidence in others. To lead, we must get others to put forth their strongest efforts and guide those efforts in a clear direction, she says in a passage excerpted by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.

In the excerpt, Kanter points out that organizations in winning streaks build a momentum that coincides with the emergence of many leaders at different levels–some are promoted while others are self-appointed. Reiterating this point, Duke’s men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski liked to say, “leadership is plural.” Writes Kanter, “Even at the top, leaders often come in pairs, trios, and quartets, operating as a unit in spirit even if one of them has final authority in law.”

Indeed, leadership is not about larger-than-life individuals who single-handedly turn an organization around. It’s about creating an environment in which people are given the support they need to excel and thus, leadership from many different places can emerge. Need proof? Look at three-time Super Bowl champ New England Patriots, who encourage multiple leaders to step up. Observes Kanter, “Sports certainly produces a very high number of prima donnas and big egos, yet I was struck by how many of the winning teams were led by unpretentious people who boosted others.”

In the excerpt, she lists a leader’s three imperatives–”to ensure accountability, cultivate collaboration, and encourage initiative.” According to Kanter, in every sector and level, leaders must…

1) Establish a culture of straight-talkers. They must foster open communication and create “humiliation-free zones,” where both positives and negatives can be discussed without fear. For instance, Gillette, Verizon, and Continental Airlines have environments where data is abundant, and people are dissuaded from denying or covering up facts.

2) Lay out expectations. Continually reminding people about standards and clearly delineating goals lets them focus on both the big picture and the day-to-day execution. While making people own up to their responsibilities, leaders should also place them in positions where they can meet those responsibilities. In short, “leaders should set people up to succeed,” says Kanter.

3) Ensure that information is transparent and accessible. If performance information is widely and abundantly available, people will be better equipped to place high standards on their performance, on those of others and on the system as well. Tools such as mass meetings, voicemail updates, quarterly report cards, and regular performance appraisals encourage accountability. In short, leaders must make sure that people are taking on responsibility and have the support to handle it well.

Source:

How Leaders Build Winning Streaks
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, September 27, 2004
hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=4388&t=leadership