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Why Do Some People Become Great Leaders?

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Why do certain people become great leaders? Leadership theories seek to answer this question and usually fit into one of eight basic types.

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Good morning Christy! I enjoyed reading your article The Major Leadership Theories. I found the article to be really informative and educational. Even though leadership dates back centuries, man has experimented with numerous theories though out history to define and describe what qualities and characteristic’s a good leader must have to be successful. Your article discussed many aspects of leadership. I had to stop and think how some of the theories influence leaders. I especially liked the interactive leadership test that was included within the article. I took the test to find out what leadership style fit my personality. With that being said, one question stood out above all others. If particular traits are key features of leadership, then how do we explain people who possess those qualities but are not leaders? I believe personality traits are one of the key aspects of leadership; however, I also wonder why many people are not motivated enough to act upon their own beliefs and values?  Thank you for sharing this article. I look forward to working with you throughout the course.

Sandra

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15 Tips for Effective Communication in Leadership

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Communication in leadership is critical for success. Get our research-backed tips for better and more effective communication for leaders.

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Productive change doesn't happen by itself. As an effective change leader, you must know how to guide it using these 3 elements.

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Graziadio Business Review | Graziadio School of Business and Management | Pepperdine University

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When we think of what makes someone a great leader, one characteristic that comes to mind is decisiveness. We do not envision successful leaders standing around appearing unclear and uncertain. Instead, we view them as people who are able to quickly arrive at their decisions and communicate the goals to others.

Leaders often have to make challenging decisions, such as what direction to move their company in; whether to keep an employee, reposition them or let them go; whether or not to share "bad news" with stockholders, and many other such challenges.

Great leaders understand how to balance emotion with reason and make decisions that positively impact themselves, their employees, their customers and stakeholders, and their organizations. Making good decisions in difficult situations is no small feat because these types of decisions involve change, uncertainty, anxiety, stress, and sometimes the unfavorable reactions of others.

Great leaders also know when to move quickly and proceed with the available information, versus when to take more time and gather additional information. When leaders opt to pursue additional information or avenues, they must also know when to stop. While a large amount of data may be desirable in a perfect world, the data gathering process can utilize too much time, and the vast amount of data can also be paralyzing and take attention away from the big picture or key data points.

This article will explore three crucial qualities that great leaders must develop to become great decision-makers: emotional intelligence, the ability to handle uncertainty, and the ability to weigh evidence with intuition. The article concludes with a step-by-step process employing these characteristics to arrive at the best possible decision given the many variables that can and will come into play.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage your emotions and those of others, is one of the most important qualities a leader must possess. According to the authors of Primal Leadership, a leader's emotions are contagious. This is why resonant leadership is so important-a leader's mood will resonate with others and set the tone for the emotional climate in an organization.[ 1]

Emotional intelligence consists of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Self-awareness is the foundation for all aspects of emotional intelligence. It involves being able to accurately assess yourself. Before you can change, you must be aware of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Self-management entails the ability to understand and control your emotions, adapt to change, and adopt an optimistic outlook. Social awareness is similar to self-awareness but the focus is external and involves understanding the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others, as well as how to relate to other people. Relationship management is crucial for great leadership and includes qualities such as being influential and inspirational and developing others.

Here we will focus on one of the core components of self-management: emotional self-control. When you have developed this skill, you will recognize your emotions, be influenced by them, but not blinded by them, and be able to calmly and clearly express your decisions to others even when you experience intense emotions within yourself and from others.
Emotional Self-Control and Decision Making
Imagine that you were presented with a critical high-stakes situation with a significant potential downside and you needed to make a decision and take action right away. You would likely have a significant emotional reaction, including feelings such as anxiety, fear, or anger. Unfortunately emotions such as these cloud our ability to make good decisions. When we get into the emotional part of our brain, our innate reaction is to protect ourselves. We get an adrenaline rush or flight-or-fight response, and short-term survival is the immediate goal. As you can imagine, being in this state is not particularly conducive to making strategic, long-term decisions. This is why emotional self-control is so important. Great leaders are aware of their emotional state and are able to manage intense emotions so they can make smart decisions.
Reigning in Emotions for Strategic Decisions
In order to make strategic, long-term decisions, we must know how to bring down the intense emotional reaction so that we can engage a different part of our brains (the prefrontal cortex), which is responsible for looking at the big picture and long-term planning. Paradoxically, the way to do this is to accept and allow whatever emotional reaction we are having and choose to focus on the facts as much as possible.[ 2]

Trying not to experience an emotion is like trying to pull a rollercoaster backwards as it heads down the hill. It takes a lot of effort, which ultimately backfires and we feel worse. Instead, simply jump on board and ride it out. The intensity of the emotions will quickly pass and then you can think logically. The goal, however, is not to take feelings out of the decision-making process. It is simply to keep them from taking over and losing emotional self-control.

Managing Uncertainty and Choices

Why is it so difficult to make decisions? Perhaps it is because the variables and the outcomes are often uncertain. We do not like uncertainty. Uncertainty creates discomfort and analysis paralysis. We try to analyze the situation from every angle to alleviate the sense of uncertainty. These efforts are often futile and waste valuable time and energy because so often we must make decisions in the face of uncertainty.
The Lengths We Go to Avoid Uncertainty
In a 1992 study conducted by cognitive scientists Amos Tversky and Eldar Shafir, college students were asked whether they would purchase a great deal on a trip to Hawaii over their holiday break. They were told that they would receive the grade on their most important exam before they had to decide. Of those who were told that they passed the exam, 57 percent said they'd go for the trip. Interestingly, a similar percentage (54 percent) of those who were told that they failed also said they'd go.

When researchers designed uncertainty into the mix, results changed dramatically. Students were told that they would not receive the exam grade for two days and that they could buy the trip now, pass on it now, or pay $5 to wait for two days until they received their grade. The majority of students (61 percent) said that they would wait. The first part of the study showed that students for the most part wanted to go if they passed or if they failed the exam, but here they were willing to pay to wait and find out their grade.

This study shows the lengths that we will go to avoid uncertainty. Students seemed to think that knowing their grade would help them make a good decision when in reality it would not make a difference in their decisions.

We are often paralyzed by uncertainty and end up basing our decisions on things that aren't even related. Question your attempts to find certainty before making decisions because you may be seeking a false sense of security. Much like the aforementioned method to reign in negative emotions to achieve emotional self-control, acceptance is a crucial starting place. If we are able to accept the uncertainty rather than try to resolve it, we can focus our limited time, energy, and money on making the best decisions in the face of an uncertain outcome.

This does not mean that you should not bother to analyze a situation before making a decision. Various analyses can be helpful in providing the information necessary to make the best decisions in the situation. The key is to know when what you don't know is important, and if so, how to go about gathering the necessary information to resolve the uncertainty. If what you don't know is not important, then the next step is to accept the uncertainty and proceed in spite of it.

If, however, you find yourself getting stuck or investing too much time or other resources in the analyses, ask yourself if the uncertainty that you are attempting to resolve is truly resolveable. If not, it would be best to accept the uncertainty and move on.
Limit Your Choices
One of the decision-making mistakes we commonly make is to give ourselves a lot of options. We figure that if we consider every possible alternative, we will have better choices and make the best decision. Sometimes we do this exhaustive search as a way to resolve uncertainty. We assume that if we go through everything, no stone will be left unturned and there will be no uncertainty. The problem is that we are likely to get overwhelmed and make no decision.

In 2000, Sheena Iyengar of Columbia Business School and Mark Lepper, chairman of Stanford's psychology department, conducted a study in which two tasting displays of gourmet jams were set up in an upscale supermarket. They had 24 jams set up for tasting in one display, and just six jams in the other. They found that more people were attracted to the table with 24, an equal number tasted at both tables, and a huge difference in purchasing resulted: only 3 percent of those who had tasted at the table with 24 jams bought a jar, whereas 30 percent of those who had tasted at the table with six jams bought a jar.[ 4]

This study and various others like it show that when there are more than five or six options, people have a more difficult time deciding and often opt not to make a decision. To help yourself and others effectively and efficiently make decisions, limit your options. Keep options fewer than five and you will find it much easier to make a decision.

Trusting Your Intuition

Excellent leaders often say that they go with their gut to make decisions. They are able to trust themselves and their expertise and not get stuck in the cycle of over-thinking. The more you know about a subject, the more reliable your intuition will be. Make yourself an expert in your field and your intuition will be your best guide.
Intuition Leads to Satisfaction with Decisions
Participants in a study conducted by Timothy D. Wilson and his colleagues at the University of Virginia and the University of Pittsburgh were asked to choose a piece of art to hang in their homes. Half of them were asked to think rationally about their choice, and the other half were instructed to go with their gut. Those who went with their feelings rather than their analysis were happier with their selection. We can rationalize our way into anything, but our first impressions often tell us how we really feel.[ 5]
How to Hear Your Intuition
You may have heard intuition described as a nagging little voice inside you. It typically speaks softly rather than screaming out at you. Unfortunately in our non-stop, busy, technology-filled worlds, it can be easy to not hear our intuition. It is always speaking, but we are often not listening.

Hone your skills at listening to your intuition by building some form of meditative practice into your daily life. It doesn't have to be actual meditation; it can be a few moments of reflection, a warm bath, a walk with your dog, and so on. We are typically so bombarded with information all day (television, radio, Internet, cell phone, Blackberry...) that we miss out on opportunities to notice ourselves thinking and feeling. To hear your intuition you must have some time when you're a human being, not a human doing. Build periods of quiet into your life and you will be surprised at what you hear.
Decide Your Way to Great Decisions
Great decision making takes practice. As you now know, this process requires a certain level of comfort with discomfort. We could play it safe and defer important decisions to others, spend hours and hours analyzing and agonizing over every option, or we could accept the level of risk and go for it. Many people are afraid of making a bad decision or the wrong decision. We can only do our best with the information we have available to us at the time. There is typically not a right or a wrong answer. In the worst-case scenario, however, you select the wrong option. Even if you choose an option that reveals itself to be inferior in the short-term, you will learn that you can handle the outcome and make the best of it. You may even find unexpected opportunities by going down the "wrong" path.

Practice this process using the following steps:

1. Decide whether to take action quickly or gather additional information. If you decide to gather additional information, create parameters to determine what information is essential and when to cease your information-gathering process.

2. Be aware of the emotions that come up as you proceed with your decision. Accept the emotions and allow them to guide you without controlling you.

3. Recognize the uncertainty elements in the situation and decide how much of the uncertainty needs resolution. Know that most situations cannot be calculated with complete certainty and, even though it may be uncomfortable, it is often necessary to accept the uncertainty and proceed.

4. Allow yourself to hear your intuition. Do not over-think important decisions because you may talk yourself into something that goes against your instincts and experience.

5. Seek out opportunities to thoughtfully and proactively make challenging decisions. Recognize that even "negative" outcomes may be better than you expect, and gain confidence in your ability to make great decisions.

Be a leader in your personal life and career by committing to make difficult decisions in a timely manner. The best way you can inspire others to change is by making changes yourself. Practice this process and become a confident leader of yourself and others. Just think of all of the time and energy you will save in the process, and how great you will feel as you remain calm, trust yourself, and make great decisions.

[ 1] Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, Primal Leadership,(Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2004).

[ 2] Daniel H. Barlow, Anxiety and Its Disorders, Second Edition: The Nature and Treatment of Anxiety and Panic, (New York: The Guilford Press, 2004).

[ 3] Amos Tversky and Eldar Shafir, "The Disjunction Effect in Choice under Uncertainty," Psychological Science, 3 (1992): 205-209.

[ 4] Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, " When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79 (2000): 995-1106.

[ 5] Timothy D. Wilson et al., " Introspecting about Reasons Can Reduce Post-Choice Satisfaction," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19 (1993): 331-339.

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Kenneth Ko, PhD, GUEST EDITOR, Associate Dean, Graziadio School of Business

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Jerry Biberman, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Scranton

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When we think of what makes someone a great leader, one characteristic that comes to mind is decisiveness. We do not envision successful leaders standing around appearing unclear and uncertain. Instead, we view them as people who are able to quickly arrive at their decisions and communicate the goals to others.

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May 1997 | Volume 54 | Number 8
Social and Emotional Learning Pages 78-83

Francis M. Duffy

When educators talk about school improvement, they often propose solutions like outcomes-based education, extended school years or school days, 90-minute block periods, school-based management, charter schools, and democratic learning communities. These one-pill-cures-all prescriptions tell us why schools need improving, but rarely tell us how to actually improve them.

One reason that administrators fail to successfully improve schooling is their adherence to an individual approach to supervision. The current supervisory paradigms involve working with individual teachers to bring about improvement in the school or school district. I maintain a paradigm shift is required. Supervisors must take a systemic approach to school improvement, keeping in mind the teachers' roles as knowledge workers. I call this new paradigm Knowledge Work Supervision. Figure 1 describes the proposed paradigm shift.

Figure 1. Direction of the Proposed Paradigm Shift

1. The school system's relationship with its environment

2. The work processes; linear work and knowledge work

3. The social architecture, including motivation, job satisfaction, skills, and quality of work life

Districtwide Steering Committee providing strategic leadership

Redesign Management Teams providing tactical leadership

Knowledge Work Supervisors providing overall coordination and process management

Formatice/sumative evaluation

Inservice training

Coaching

Clinical supervision

Formative evaluation

Self-directed inservice training

Coaching

Clinical supervision (on individual basis)

Competency Modeling

Performance Technology

Teachers as Knowledge Workers

My own experience as a high school teacher illustrates the complexities of being a knowledge worker. I would enter the classroom with learning objectives in mind and a lesson plan in hand. But once I started the class, my mind would race, and new examples of the points I was trying to make would pop into my head. Students would ask questions that would repeatedly take me off course. Looking at the clock, I'd realize class was almost over. Before closing I would make one last point triggered by a student's question during the first minute of class-a full 44 minutes earlier.

Kind of nonlinear, isn't it? There's no research evidence suggesting this kind of knowledge work can be improved using traditional supervisory methods.

In a school district, the linear work process that the teacher works within is the instructional program, kindergarten through 12th grade. You improve your instructional program by examining it, grade by grade, to identify where mistakes are made or where the potential for mistakes exists. Then you take actions to correct the mistakes or eliminate the possibility of making them. Improving nonlinear knowledge work, on the other hand, requires different actions. Remember that knowledge work occurs primarily inside the heads of teachers and is manifested as classroom teaching behavior. In regard to improving knowledge work, Drucker (1991) says:

In knowledge and service work, however, the first questions in increasing productivity-working smarter-have to be "What is the task? What are we trying to accomplish? Why do it at all?" The easiest, but perhaps also the greatest, productivity gains in such work will come from defining the task and especially from eliminating what does not need to be done (p.72).

Once you answer Drucker's questions, then the broad actions needed to improve knowledge work are to

Improve the quality and timeliness of key information teachers need to teach effectively;

Assure that teachers interact with key people with whom they should be exchanging critical information;

Provide teachers and key people with a variety of structured, semistructured, and informal forums for exchanging information (for example, structured workshops, brown bag lunches, or national conferences);

Examine and improve any devices (for example, computers), work procedures (lesson planning), and organizational functions (for example, administration and supervision) that support teaching (adapted from Pava 1983).

Although Knowledge Work Supervision focuses on improving the entire school system, the model does have methods for supervising and appraising the performance of individual teachers. These are listed in Figure 1 under "Ways of Improving Individual Performance Levels." Six methods are recommended. Remember, however, that with Knowledge Work Supervision, appraising individual performance is not the path to school improvement. Knowledge work, because it occurs inside a professional's head, cannot be supervised directly. This stands in direct contrast to current supervisory methods in schools.

Traditional Supervision Cannot Improve Schooling

There are two leading models of school supervision. One, which dominates the literature and is seen occasionally in practice, is clinical supervision (Cogan 1973, Goldhammer 1969). Clinical supervision, as originally conceived, is a five-phase process: pre-observation conference, observation, analysis and strategy, postobservation conference, and postconference analysis. Supervisors observe classroom teaching, make notes following prescribed methods, analyze the observation notes, and share the results of the observation with the teacher, assuming that the feedback will help the teacher improve his or her performance.

The other model, found overwhelmingly in practice and disdained in the supervision literature, is performance evaluation. As frequently experienced by teachers, performance evaluation is a twice-a-year surprise observation of classroom teaching. Supervisors use evaluation forms containing several categories of behavior that are assumed to represent effective teaching. Supervisors often fill out the forms during the observation. The results are used for personnel actions (for example, to grant tenure or for merit pay).

Although these approaches differ, they have one striking similarity: they both examine the behavior of individual teachers. The underlying, unstated assumption of both approaches is that if only enough teachers improve their teaching, then the overall performance level of the school district will also improve. Even though we understand that school districts function essentially as systems, we persist in trying to improve schools one teacher at a time.

I propose linking school improvement to instructional supervision. School improvement can become a permanent, ongoing organizational function by replacing traditional instructional supervision with a supervision-for-school-improvement function. The focus of supervision then shifts from scrutinizing the behavior of individual teachers to examining and simultaneously improving a district's (1) work processes, (2) social architecture, and (3) relationship with its broader environment. This combined function, which I call Knowledge Work Supervision, will transform school districts into high-performing learning organizations.

What It All Means

Three key groups of players power Knowledge Work Supervision: a districtwide Steering Committee, Redesign Management Teams, and a Knowledge Work Supervisor. The Steering Committee provides strategic leadership for organizational learning. Members include a senior administrator and a building principal and a teacher from each level of schooling (elementary, middle, and secondary). The Steering Committee aligns school improvement actions with the district's overall mission and vision.

Redesign Management Teams (currently existing in many schools as school improvement teams) provide tactical leadership. These teachers and administrators from each level of schooling develop specific proposals for redesigning their schools and send them to the Steering Committee for review and approval.

A Knowledge Work Supervisor is an administrator, supervisor, or teacher trained to serve in this new role and provides daily coordination of activities. Some school districts may choose to establish and train a cadre of Knowledge Work Supervisors. In addition to coordinating the entire improvement process, the Knowledge Work Supervisor manages the invisible but real boundaries between various parts of the organization-that is, the boundaries between grade levels, levels of schooling, clusters of schools and the larger district, and between the school district and the community. It is in these boundaries that information is lost or distorted, children fall through the cracks, program goals mutate, necessary connections between grade levels disconnect, and good intentions fall short. The Knowledge Work Supervisor manages these boundaries by developing high-powered communication strategies that promote organizational learning.

In some organizations, boundary management is accomplished by creating liaison roles. Mohrman, Cohen, and Mohrman (1995) describe several liaison roles commonly found in organizations. Adapted for school districts, these roles are liaisons between school buildings; with professionals within a school building; with students, parents, and community groups; with upper management; and with professional organizations (p.163).

The Knowledge Work Supervision model capitalizes on a school district's collective knowledge to provide educational services of value to all students and parents. This approach has four phases.

In Phase 1, Preparing, the Steering Committee sets the stage for redesigning the school district.

In Phase 2, Redesign for High Performance, a Redesign Management Team and a Knowledge Work Supervisor assess the work processes and social architecture of the district and develop specific redesign proposals.

In Phase 3, Permanence and Diffusion, the Redesign Management Team and Knowledge Work Supervisor work to make improvements permanent within the schools that started the process and, later, to spread those improvements throughout the district.

In Phase 4, Continuous Improvement of Schooling, the supervisor, team, and committee continue to improve schooling after the entire district is transformed, with the goal of making incremental improvements by applying principles of quality management.

After a predetermined period, Phase 4 ends and the process returns to Phase 1. Thus, organizational learning and renewal through Knowledge Work Supervision continues for the life of the school district.

Supporting Theories on Organizational Improvement

Whenever I share this approach, at least one person asks, "Who's using this?" I imagine Cogan, Anderson, and Goldhammer faced this question when they first proposed clinical supervision. The answer is "No one, yet!" The model is mired in a quandary: because it's new, no one is using it, and because no one is using it, no one wants to try it.

To help people get over its "newness," I explain that although the model itself is new, its components are not, and many are currently being used in schools. For example, Joyce and colleagues (1983) describe a long-term school improvement process with (1) refinement, (2) renovation, and (3) redesign, and they refer to school improvement teams, found today in many school districts. School districts also regularly assess their communities' expectations and apply principles of continuous improvement (Joyce 1980).

To design Knowledge Work Supervision, I bundled tested organizational improvement methods (taken from socio-technical systems design, quality improvement, reengineering, and organization development) with innovative ideas for improving knowledge work in school districts. A summary of these ideas follows.

Socio-Technical systems. Socio-technical systems (STS) design theory suggests that organizations are complex systems with components that interact with one another (Emery 1959; Trist 1965; Pasmore 1988). The system functions by converting inputs into outputs. Inputs are human, financial, and technological resources that result in products or services (outputs) being delivered to a customer. The attitudes, knowledge, and skills of people (the social system) affect the work they do. To improve, managers and employees require feedback (that is, an evaluation of the quality and timeliness of a product or service).

According to STS design practice, the way to improve a system is to examine and improve three sets of organizational variables that affect the quality and timeliness of the final product or service: an organization's work processes, its social architecture, and its environmental relations. Further, improvements in these areas must be made simultaneously-an STS design principle called joint optimization.

A school district can apply the principle of joint optimization by using Knowledge Work Supervision. In using this supervision-as-school-improvement model, practitioners assess the instructional program and teachers' access to high-quality knowledge (the work process); the job skills teachers need, their job satisfaction, and their motivation (that is, the social architecture); and the district's relationship with its broader environment (environmental relations). The assessments result in specific proposals to redesign these three areas simultaneously (following a carefully planned schedule).

TQM. Total Quality Management is another theory guiding Knowledge Work Supervision. This philosophy leads us to rethink how organizations operate. Its core beliefs are that quality is the goal of effective organizations and that customers judge quality.

W. Edwards Deming, the father of TQM, believed quality shortcomings rest with management and management systems (1982). The reason managers do not use TQM principles effectively is that they lack an understanding of how to change traditional, bureaucratic organizations. According to Sherwood and Hoylman (1992), fundamental and enduring improvements in quality come only with fundamental changes in the way an organization is designed, with changes in the way people are viewed and managed, and thus with changes in the way work is thought of and performed.

Reengineering. Developed by Michael Hammer and James Champy (1993), reengineering is a popular improvement process in the business world. A key principle is the clean slate approach to redesigning work processes. This principle says that when it comes to organizational redesign, nothing is sacred-everything is subject to reengineering.

Reengineering examines only the work processes of an organization. It does not try to "reengineer" the social architecture. Because of this, I regard this model as flawed because I believe the work processes and the social system must be redesigned and improved simultaneously. Nevertheless, I extracted and modified the clean slate principle from business process reengineering as follows: If a process or a component of a school district is working well (as documented with evaluation data), then do not redesign it. However, examine and improve everything else-including the way the district's administrative structure supports classroom teaching (the core work process of all school districts). In some cases, the only way to improve a process will be to wipe the slate clean and start all over again.

Organization Development. One significant concept from organization development incorporated in the model's design is the idea of the "learning organization." Chris Argyris and Donald Sch&icirc;n (1978) wrote much about this concept. Peter Senge (1990a) called learning organizations places where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspirations are set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together (p. 1).

David Garvin (1993) describes a learning organization as "an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights." The hallmarks of a learning organization, according to Senge (1990b), are (1) systematic problem solving, (2) experimenting with new approaches, (3) learning from experience, (4) learning from the experiences of others, and (5) transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organization.

A school district can create the above characteristics of a learning organization by using Knowledge Work Supervision. During Phase 3 of the process, the Redesign Management Team and the Knowledge Work Supervisor develop specific redesign proposals to build in systematic problem solving, freedom to experiment, opportunities for teachers and administrators to exchange information, and methods for transferring knowledge throughout the school district. Specific designs to achieve these characteristics of a learning organization are tailored to fit the unique requirements of each school district. There is no prescribed design.

Knowledge Work Supervision can transform your school district into a high-performing learning organization, whereas traditional supervision cannot transform entire school districts into high-performing learning organizations no matter which method you use. Knowledge Work Supervision takes time, however, because it is to be used continuously for the life of your district. As the organizational improvement literature points out, some of the most important improvements in organizations don't happen until several years into their transformation (Kotter 1995). Yet some school administrators expect quick change carried out as a singular event. Worse, schools often launch improvement initiatives, only to scrap them because of the vagaries of transient top administrators seeking to put their mark on each district they enter.

If applied consistently and with patience, Knowledge Work Supervision will move your entire school district toward higher levels of performance. Of course, even if you adopt this approach, your district will never perfectly achieve its vision of excellence. Yet because you repeat this cycle for the life of your organization, your district will move continuously toward its vision. It is your school district's lifelong journey of organizational learning and renewal that will improve its organizational performance. Nothing less will do it.

References

Argyris, C., and D. Sch&icirc;n. (1978). Organizational Learning. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.

Cogan, M. L. (1973). Clinical Supervision. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

Deming, W. E. (1982). Out of Crisis. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Drucker, P. F. (1991). "The New Productivity Challenge." Harvard Business Review 69, 6: 69-79.

Emery, F. E. (1959). Characteristics of Socio-Technical Systems. London: Tavistock Documents #527.

Garvin, D. A. (July/August 1993). "Building a Learning Organization." Harvard Business Review, 71, 4: 78-91.

Goldhammer, R. (1969) Clinical Supervision: Special Methods for the Supervising of Procedures. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Hammer, M., and J. Champy. (1993). Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution. New York: HarperCollins Publisher.

Joyce, B. R. (1980). "The Continuous Process of School Improvement: Lessons Learned from the Past." (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED243879).

Joyce, B. R., R. H. Hersh, and M. McKibbin. (1983). The Structure of School Improvement. New York: Longman.

Kotter, J. P. (March/April 1995). "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail." Harvard Business Review 73, 2: 59-67.

Mohrman, S. A., S. G. Cohen, A. M. Mohrman, Jr. (1995). Designing Team-Based Organizations: New Forms for Knowledge Work. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Pasmore, W. A. (1988). Designing Effective Organizations: The Socio-Technical Systems Perspective. New York: Wiley & Sims.

Pava, C. H. R. (1983). Managing New Office Technology: An Organizational Strategy. New York: The New Press.

Senge, P. (1990a). The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday.

Senge, P. (1990b). "The Leader's New Work: Building Learning Organizations." Sloan Management Review 32, 1: 7-23.

Sherwood, J. J., and F. M. Hoylman. (March 1993) "The Total Quality Paradox." Journal for Quality Participation 16, 2: 98-105.

Trist, E. L., G.W. Higgin, H. Murray, and A. B. Pollack. (1965). Organizational Choice. London: Travistock Publications.

Ward, A., in T. A. Stewart. (October 3, 1994). "Your Company's Most Valuable Asset: Intellectual Capital." Fortune 30, 7: 68-74.

® Knowledge Work Supervision is a registered trademark.

Francis M. Duffy is president of The F. M. Duffy Group, 7404 Bucks Haven Lane, Highland, MD 20777 (e-mail: fmduffy@gallua.gallaudet.edu). He is also Professor of Administration and Supervision at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.

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Supervising Schooling, Not Teachers - Educational Leadership

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May 1997 | Volume 54 | Number 8 Social and Emotional Learning Pages 78-83 Francis M. Duffy When educators talk about school improvement, they often propose solutions like outcomes-based education, extended school years or school days, 90-minute block periods, school-based management, charter schools, and democratic learning communities.

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Since the early 20th Century, business leaders and psychologists have tried to identify key leadership theories and models to reflect what exactly makes a good leader and what a true leader is. How he/she behaves and how they motivate employees to success has been studied endlessly.

As you would expect, the more people that study a concept, the more theories result, so this article picks out the key leadership theories that have formed the backbone of our understanding of leadership. More importantly, these theories can be used to help develop your skills as a leader.

The Key Leadership Theories

It can be argued that the most popular leadership theories over the years can be placed in one of five categories:

Trait Theories

Contingency Theories

Behavioural Theories

Power and Influence Theories

Within each theory, there are a number of leadership styles and characteristics to learn to help create a well-rounded understanding of leadership.

1. Trait Theories

-What type of person makes a good leader?

The first of the key leadership theories; Trait theories provide the belief that people are born as good leaders and that the characteristics needed to be a good leader are inherited, commonly known as 'traits'. It is a common view nowadays, that leadership isn't a born trait after all, and that it can in fact be learned.

Trait theories do have a part to play, as these theories have highlighted that a good leader must have the following qualities, such as:

Integrity

Empathy

Assertiveness

Visionary

Good decision making skills

Typical theories within this category are of the Great Man and Trait Theories.

2. Behavioural Theories

- This concept attempted to identify reasons for how someone's behaviour can influence how they lead.

In contrast to the previous notion that leaders were born, behavioural theories represent the second of the key leadership theories and counters the argument by proposing that good leadership is about focusing on actions not on mental qualities or internal states, which trait theory suggested. This theory states that leaders can be taught and learn leadership through teaching and observation.

Should you lead a team, encouraging them team work and decision making or should you simply tell the team what to do? These key questions stem from the original main leadership style of Lewelin, who suggested that a leader could be one of three types:

Autocratic - Involving others and team decision making

Democratic - Telling people what to do

Laissez faire - Totally hands off and letting the team get on with things

It now transpires that in modern thinking, each leadership style is important, but rather than a person fitting into a pigeon hole of being one of the three types, a good leader uses each style, opting to select the right approach to suit the situation.

Which leads us nicely onto Contingent theories...

3. Contingency Theories

- The environment influences the leader

The next step in key leadership theories thinking is that leadership styles should be reflective on what environment the leader finds himself / herself in. The realisation here is that leaders should not be pigeon holed into one leadership type.

I once worked with a manager that told me, "I am a hands off manager, so if you need any help, just let me know." That was a nice thought, but I internally cringed when he mentioned it to me. A great manager changes their style to suit the needs of the individual and the team.

Contingency theories attempt to depict certain styles to use in certain situations. For example, if something is urgent and needs completion right away, what style should you use? If a person needs more time to learn their task, how do you manage them? Should a leader be more people or tasks orientated, and so on and so forth?

Well known contingency leadership styles are from Situational Leadership Theory, which links leadership style with the task maturity of the individual or followers. Other common styles within this framework are Fielder's contingency model, Path - Goal theory, and the Leadership Process Model.

4. Power

- Influencing others through Power and Authority

Power theories are about influencing people through the concept of power and authority and how managers can influence people to get the job done.

There are effectively, two different angles here. The first is via the Transactional Leadership style, which suggests that people should be given clear direction and managed through rewards and punishments. This style is about focusing on developing tasks and creating structures that can provide the reward for meeting those tasks. When the employee meets this target, they get rewarded. Consequently, if they do not achieve their targets and are under performing, they get punished as a result. Obviously, punishment and reward can come in a number of different guises, but the principle of transactional style is the same.

Don't get me wrong, elements of this leadership theory are effective and indeed used widely today; most managers use this concept as part of their leadership tool box to help achieve results and ensure the teams are meeting targets and working to the values set by the organisation. You often see this style in the form of pay rises as a result of a good yearly appraisal, or a bonus for hitting objectives.

The flaw here is that people can sometimes feel stifled and micro managed, with morale and motivation often faling victim, if it is used in excess.

The point is, it should be used in conjunction with other styles for maximum results.

The second style in the Power Theory section is that of French and Raven's five forms of power. It highlights different elements of power and how a leader can influence people through the use of them. There are effectively three types of positional power (legitimate, coercive and rewards) and two type so personal power (charm and appeal). It suggests that using personal power is the most effective way, as this builds relationships and inspires the team to commit and share the common goals. It also appeases to good leadership ethics and characteristics.

In addition, successful influence tactics can help guide people to task completion and success by utilising the science behind human and social psychology.

Summary

Ultimately, a successful leader should use all of the key leadership theories available; the leader must act with virtue, leading by example and with integrity. The use of the softer side of leadership is also essential, like being able to effectively influence individuals and teams, and communicate effectively, using empathy, high level of emotional intelligence, and good decision making skills.

So too, a leader must be able to understand when and how to identify situations in order to use the correct leadership style to suit the situation.

The leader must effectively use power in a positive way that promotes success, growth and development.

The vital thing to remember is to learn the key leadership theories and take the positives from each one, using them when the situation dictates.

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Key Leadership Theories: Helping identify Areas to Improve Your Leadership Skills

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Since the early 20th Century, business leaders and psychologists have tried to identify key leadership theories and models to reflect what exactly makes a good leader and what a true leader is. How he/she behaves and how they motivate employees to success has been studied endlessly.

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It's no secret that good leaders are also good communicators.

And the best leaders have learned that effective communication is as much about authenticity as it's about the words they speak and write.

"Communication and leadership are inextricably tied," says Susan Tardanico. "How can you galvanize, inspire, or guide others if you don't communicate in a clear, credible, authentic way?"

The former broadcast journalist and 20-year corporate executive advises leaders to focus on these 5 essentials of leadership communication:

1. Beware of the "say/do" gap. "This is all about credibility, which boils down to trust - one of the most potent, precious, and fragile elements of leadership," says Tardanico. "If your actions don't align with your words, there's trouble. And it can turn into big trouble if you don't recognize and correct it swiftly and genuinely."

It is often difficult to see the say/do gap in yourself, so Tardanico says to rely on a few trusted colleagues to tell it to you straight and flag discrepancies.

Of course, you have to be prepared to hear the feedback and address issues - which isn't always easy. "Rule of thumb: it's better to say nothing or delay your communication until you're certain that your actions will ring true," she advises.

2. Take the complex and make it simple. "Being complex does not make you smart," insists Tardanico. "There is power in clarity and simplicity." She notes that people are already suffering from information overload, and your job is to distill complex thoughts and strategies into simple terms that your employees can relate to.

"The more memorable, the better," she advises. "If you're having trouble distilling something to its essence, it's a sign that you may not have a clear understanding of it. That makes it impossible for you to communicate it to others effectively."

Tardanico also notes that leaders find it easy to get mired in technical jargon and business-speak. "Beware of this trap. Just say what you mean," she urges.

3. Don't fake it. Find your own voice. Use language that's distinctly your own. Let your values come through in your communication.

"I wrote for two executives who didn't have a voice," Tardanico recalls. "They wanted me to be the voice, to make them sound eloquent. They wanted to sound like someone else. Forget about eloquence - worry about being real. People want real. People respect real. People follow real. Don't disguise who you are. People will never willingly follow a phony."

4. Be visible. Are you visible to the people who matter most - those who will help you achieve organizational goals? This is not about being seen on CNBC or making the rounds of the speaker circuit.

"Visibility is about letting your key stakeholders get a feel for who you are and what you care about," explains Tardanico. Today, it's easy to hide behind a computer and transmit messages to others without seeing or interacting with them. Although e-communication serves a valuable purpose, it is no substitute for face-to-face communication.

"In today's environment, people are burned out, confused, and stressed," Tardanico says. "They need to feel a personal attachment to you and the work that you believe in. They need to feel valued."

Tardanico recommends doing a "calendar test" to make sure you're allocating time regularly to be out on the floor, in the factory, in the call center, in the lab, in the store. Show your people that you care about them and their work.

5. Listen with your eyes as well as your ears. Stop, look, and listen. Remember that effective communication is two-way.

Tardanico says that good leaders know how to ask good questions, and then listen with both their eyes and ears. "It's easy to be so focused on getting your message out - or persuading others - that you don't tune in to what you see and hear. Because you're in a position of authority, you won't always get direct feedback. You need to read between the lines," says Tardanico.

"Listen and hear what is coming back at you. Look for the nonverbal cues. Sometimes a person's body language will tell you everything you need to know."

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Five Essentials of Leadership Communication - Center for Creative Leadership

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It's no secret that good leaders are also good communicators. And the best leaders have learned that effective communication is as much about authenticity as it's about the words they speak and write. "Communication and leadership are inextricably tied," says Susan Tardanico.