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February 27, 2007
Slaying 6 Myths of Leadership
A leader does not have to be larger than life. Nor is a project manager necessarily the project leader. Here we tear down these and other misconceptions about leadership, including: that only managers are leaders, that a leader cannot be made, that it is about control, and, of course, the old "Complete Leader" myth.
1) Leader As Rock Star
Also called "Great Man Syndrome," this myth says that leaders must have some elusive, larger-than-life "rock star" personality to be effective. Otherwise, people will not follow. While some leaders do have charismatic personalities, "it is not a prerequisite to being an effective leader," writes Mike Griffiths, a project manager at Quadrus Development.
Many leaders that have groomed world-class organizations won the confidence and support of their teams and achieved the long-term growth and stability required for stellar performance with their humility and human approach.
In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins profiles the personality types of the leaders behind the companies that met the "Good to Great "success criteria. Of the stellar companies examined, all 11 of the leaders demonstrated high levels of "humility and will." Via humility and a dedication to purpose, they have quietly but systematically built (or transformed ordinary organizations into) the very best companies in the world. Collins' research suggests that being humble, but unwavering toward the right goals, is far more important characteristics than larger-than-life personalities.
You do not need to be a "rock star" to lead.
2) Leadership Is Only For Those In Senior Positions
This myth says that leadership techniques are not applicable to "ordinary" workers. Although the term "leader" is most often associated with senior executives, the goals and roles of leadership apply equally well in a project setting, problem-solving group or voluntary group. "The truth is that leadership is everyone's business," writes Griffiths.
Wherever a group forms with a common purpose, the skills of leadership can be employed by anyone.
Meanwhile, being a manager does not automatically equal being a leader. As we proposed last year, whether the group's members you oversee are called employees, associates, coworkers or even teammates, what they are looking for is someone in whom they can place their trust; someone they know is working for the greater good — for them and for the organization, according to Leslie L. Kossoff, consultant and head of Kossoff Management Consulting. They're looking for someone they can and want to follow.
3) Leaders Are Born, Not Made
Leadership is a rare ability only given to a few, goes this myth. Last year we noted the intangibility of "leadership" and how it remains a component that some people have and others wish to attain. Can anybody transform from manager to leader? Many people still think leaders are born not made. In fact, this myth may be the furthest thing from the truth.
According to Bruce Avolio at Psychology Today:
After 50 years of collecting data on the topic, most psychologists believe that leadership qualities are innate or genetic and thus impossible to learn. Yet my colleagues and I presented over a decade of research showing that leadership skills can be developed and mastered.
Most people have the potential to become good leaders, according to nationally recognized author, business performance consultant and Chart Your Course International CEO Greg Smith. "Leadership is not like a diet pill. Like most learned skills, it takes time, training and lots of trial by error," he writes at Business Know-How.
4) On Projects, Only The Project Manager Can Be A Leader
Although leadership is often linked to strategy and plans — the domain of the project manager — anyone on a project can step up and take a leadership role. This does not need to threaten or undermine the role of the project manager. Rather, it can be taking responsibility for a problem or issue.
Griffiths writes:
Recently, a developer on my project took responsibility for owning and solving a particularly complex interface problem. He saw the problem, observed how people were struggling with it, suggested a solution, rallied support and collaboration, which solved the problem. This is an example of situational leadership. He was not in control of the project, but saw that he was in a position to lead the charge on a solution. Rather than feeling threatened by team members taking a leadership role (I'm relieved), here's an empowered team in action … and one less problem for the project.
5) Leadership Is About Control
Leadership is not about command and control — it is about "getting people excited about a common goal and enabling them to achieve it." Leaders do not specify exactly how things must be performed; instead, they gain buy-in for a solution, try to align project goals with personal goals and then leverage people's ingenuity to achieve a result.
Leadership aims to create performance contributions in the "passionate innovation" range. "Get people united and fired-up about a goal, then let them go at it and support them all you can," writes Griffiths.
6) The Ultimate Leadership Myth: 'The Complete Leader'
In a recent Harvard Business Review article aptly titled In Praise of the Incomplete Leader, the authors reported their disbelief that anyone can do all of the things required by their model of a good leader. But that doesn't bother them. "It's time to end the myth of the complete leader; the flawless person at the top who's got it all figured out," they write.
"First of all, no one is omniscient and flawless," says Deborah Ancona, professor of management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and faculty director of the MIT Leadership Center (via ComputerWorld). "No leader can do it all."
The management professor tells ComputerWorld:
Trying to do everything can lead to burnout. Trying to live up to some ideal often traps leaders behind a mask of competence, afraid to admit to confusion or to not knowing the answers. But if they don't get input, they can go off course. It can also be harmful because if everybody thinks the leader has all the answers, people don't think for themselves and learn to lead.
Ancona suggests that you know what your strengths are, and find out what you can't do so you can find people to work with who complement your skills. Rather than surround yourself only with people like you, create a balance.
Resources
The Five Myths of Leadership
by Mike Griffiths, Quadrus Development
gantthead.com, Dec. 11, 2006
From Manager to Leader
by Leslie L. Kossoff, Kossoff Management Consulting
About: Management
Are Leaders Born or Made?
by Bruce Avolio
Psychology Today
Leadership Mythology
by Gregory P. Smith, Chart Your Course International
Business Know-How
In Praise of the Incomplete Leader
by Deborah Ancona, Thomas W. Malone, Wanda J. Orlikowski, Peter M. Senge
Harvard Business Review, Feb. 1, 2007
The 'Complete Leader' Is a Myth
by Kathleen Melymuka
Computerworld, Feb. 5, 2007
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14 CommentsAnother myth about leaders is that they should be great motivators.
Somehow this is another way to say that the leader is supposed to be the most enthusiastic and energetic about the goals and that the rest should be coached and pep-talked into getting work done.
February 27, 2007 10:49 PMI liked the article a lot. I am of the opinion that if you want more children to grow up to be leaders, we well need more Boy Scout leaders. Boy Scouts build leaders, and they teach children right from wrong and help them gain leadership skills .
March 1, 2007 7:09 AMLeaders promote the right things for the company and its employees to do. Managers make sure the employees do it right. The concepts are not mutually exclusive, but few are capable of doing both.
March 5, 2007 12:46 PMFrom my own experience, I would say that leadership is the art of leading "work performance"and not necessarily associated with senior executives.
It is probably true to say that "the theme of a distinguished leader, at any 'described job' level" is that leadership is decision making concerning work [duties] requirements and for efficient performance of duties, and not abidence by organisations' regulations and laws only.
March 14, 2007 4:02 AMManagers generally like those who remind them of hemselves, and commit the flaw of 'likability' during performance appraisals and promote their proteges, thus they perpetuate the same ego-centrical leadership up the chain of command. They usually cannot distinguish personality from true performance.
My company leaders like the deep-voiced, confident "actor" style, who manage to state the obvious during meetings and receive great praise for such 'insight'.
Lately, with performance metrics at each level, managers lead to meet their individual metric, whether it benefits the company or not.
March 21, 2007 2:47 PMI think these myths of leadership are congruent with the myths of teams. Many talk of teams in much the same way as leadership. My investigations show that there are at least seven kinds of teams, each of which requires different dynamics, internal rules and responsibilities.
Perhaps these two items should be linked together, as various kinds of leaders are associated with different kinds of teams.
March 21, 2007 6:27 PMTo read these comments and to goggle at these alien and narcissistic navel-starings affords me great relief that I have spent the last thirty years as a solo "permatemp" consultant, working mostly at unscrewing as an outside freelancer what your "normal" management/employee teams have either micromanaged into complete disaster or to take up the slack while the permanent help is engaged in interminable office politics and tribal clique warfare.
American business has too many managers per employee, the highest ratio in the G-8 countries. It might amaze many managers, too, that most people would prefer to do their job and just go home at the end of a day to their lives and wives, and would be perfectly happy not even to know the names of the people they work with.
Job skills are declining because there are too many socialization and "corporate culture" hurdles one has to jump through just to get positioned to do the job one is trained to do. This monstrous matrix of irrelevancy to the task at hand, more than any other single factor, is why the most talented people reject direct employment and work as consultant corporate troubleshooters. It's not about the money: it's about maintaining one's sanity.
March 21, 2007 10:30 PMTom Peters is one of dozens of "leadership and managerhip" authors, who cause rather than solve problems, yet as long as their books sell, they are very happy and do not feel the responsibility of thier actions.
The best read on leadership is Peter Drucker. He changed his mind and attitudes many times in the writing of a minimum of 22 books. He is a man who has grown in capability in his life, and is brave enough to show mistakes of his younger years and writing of those times. I would highly suggest his last book, "Management Challenges for the 21st Century" to any and all.
March 22, 2007 10:43 AMThe university-run research facility I'm at is loaded with ex-military idiots at the top and middle management levels. They couldn't lead their way out of a paper bag. Lots of money gets spent on improving or developing new "business systems" and "training the staff"...and the ex-military idiots spend 90% of their time getting around the rules or creating ways to ignore & avoid issues whenever possible.
March 22, 2007 2:10 PMFor who is or are the real leaders, the one behind the desk that has a daily hour meeting with his staff members (management) and then as they leave the meeting ask each other what they are suppose to be doing that day, week, etc. I believe the leaders are the people on the floor that actually understand the procedures needed for the completion of assigned tasks.
We are all born leaders, the only difference is some of us have enough integrity and dignity that we do not have to try to convince others that we are. Being able to accept the views of those that surround you with an open mind would define the characteristics of a leader, those who surround you are or should be your chosen ones, if they cannot accomplish what you have set forth than you as a leader have failed for not choosing the correct staff. Put the blame where it belongs, a captain is only as great as his crew, and with that, the success and failure belongs to the leader.
March 31, 2007 6:55 AMi do believe that we are born being leaders
October 9, 2007 5:49 AM
