Lessons in Leadership

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70 LEADERSHIP
ACCOUNTANCY IRELAND
AUGUST 2016 VOL.48 NO.4
he film Glengarry Glen Ross
depicts two days in the life of four
salesmen in a real estate office in
North America. A ‘trainer’ (Blake)
played by Alec Baldwin is sent by the owners
to motivate them to increase sales. Blake
unleashes a torrent of abuse, yells and screams
profanities and assures the salesmen that,
without an improvement in performance, all
but two will be fired by the end of the week.
Alec Baldwin’s indelible performance
aside, we can look at this scene and recognise
what we know as the default setting for many
leaders. Scare them. Yell. Threaten: ‘coffee is
for closers’. Somehow people respond to this
sort of bully tactic, even though we know it
is utterly toxic and repellent. We can find
thousands like this guy around the world, yet
nobody would sign up to be on his team. So
now that we know what not to emulate,
what does another type of leader look like?
The one we want to be?
Leadership is about getting things done
through and with people. Try as we might,
people are rarely rational-only creatures –
organisations, as human systems, are messy,
complicated, rich, creative and emotional.
One of the biggest challenges facing leaders
today is navigating this paradox of order and
mess. So how then do we create and manage
effective teams that get the job done? How
do we become the leader we would like to
work with? Here are three suggested
approaches to the leadership task of working
with people.
1. KNOW THYSELF
Self-awareness is the most important
leadership principle. Without a meaningful
understanding of who we are and what
makes us tick, we cannot hope to successfully
manage other people. If we have an
understanding of our strengths, weaknesses,
blind spots, passions, preferences, assumptions
and hopes, we can then begin to manage the
complexity of the leadership task.
How do you respond to change? How
comfortable are you with conflict? Are you
able to promote and advocate for an
organisational goal even though you might
have ambivalent feelings about its merits?
This type of knowing cannot be learned
from books alone; it requires a commitment
to personal and professional development as
an ongoing process. Three suggested
approaches are outlined below.
Management expert Peter Drucker
suggests writing down what you think will
happen when you make a key decision. After
nine or 12 months, review your notes and
compare expectations with outcomes. An
exercise like this, which is known as feedback
analysis, keeps us close to our own data and
decision-making processes. An important
aspect of an exercise like this is building in
both qualitative and quantitative expectations
– in other words, the impact on people and
processes as well as the bottom line.
Psychometric testing can be a useful
starting point for a conversation about what
makes you tick. Tests such as the Myers Briggs
Type Indicator (MBTI) – and there are a raft
of others – offer an insight at a moment in
time as to how you use your perception and
judgement. The Belbin Team Inventory
assesses the preferred team roles of individuals
and can be a helpful instrument for
addressing how and why teams are effective
LESSONS IN
LEADERSHIP
Leaders learn and develop through interaction and
reflection on experience, writes Dr Annette Clancy.
T
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LEADERSHIP
ACCOUNTANCY IRELAND
AUGUST 2016 VOL.48 NO.4
71
(or not). It is important when considering
any type of testing to work with a certified
practitioner who can assist you in
interpreting the results.
Consider working with an external
consultant or coach. Be clear from the outset
that your focus is on self-awareness as it
relates to decision-making and business
outcomes. This will help you choose the
right consultant with whom to work. If your
emphasis is on the people aspects of
leadership, then you need an external
consultant who is skilled in that area. There
are several advantages to working with an
experienced external consultant: they are not
intimately involved in the day-to-day
operation of your company; they hold you
accountable for decisions you take,
particularly as they relate to people; and you
create the space to work out problematic and
challenging situations.
2. YOU ARE NOT AN EXPERT
Leaders are often portrayed as all-knowing.
They have the answers, see the future and
intuit problems before they arise. Nobody
can live up to that expectation and it is a
recipe for failure. You don’t have it all figured
out so why should you pretend you do? If
you behave as though you are the expert,
then everyone around you will expect you
to have the right answer every time.
Recognising your limitations is the first step
in creating a team around you.
Steve Jobs saw himself as a leader of artists.
In many respects, he was a curator – he
collected talented people and created the
conditions in which they could create
beautiful objects. Curation is as much about
what is left out as what is included, and this
is where Jobs excelled.
Curation involves looking at the
relationships ‘between’ and asking questions
such as: what is the mood, tone and quality
of engagement we are striving for? What are
the necessary skills and talents required in
order to deliver on the task? What is the
culture of this team? Is it collaborative,
competitive, individual or collective? What
are my skills as a leader and how can I
complement them? What is my leadership
style, and am I willing to be challenged? How
do we negotiate the ground rules for
working together?
Embracing your limitations and
complementing your skills with those of
your team will serve two functions. It will
allow others to recognise that they have limits
also, and it will strengthen the team as it
comes to rely on its members in order to
work effectively.
3. RELATIONSHIPS MATTER
Traditional images of leadership don’t pay a
lot of attention to relating. Leaders may have
difficulty relating to others, particularly when
others’ views are different to their own. The
leader is often portrayed as a solitary figure,
distant from those whose day-to-day task is
delivering on the organisation’s goals. That
gap is fertile ground for mistrust, cynicism
and conflict.
Leaders cannot lead without followers, so
building relationships is central to effective
people management. Some leaders ‘act’ as
though they are interested in other people’s
views and this type of defence mechanism is
a cover story for a discomfort in authentic
relating.
Symptoms of poor relating include: being
perpetually disappointed in others’ work;
blaming others for poor performance;
assuming that you are always right and others
are generally wrong; and feeling resentful at
others’ success.
Authentic relating involves listening to
others’ views and perspectives; explaining
your own perspective (not simply delivering
a decision); asking yourself a critical question:
‘how willing am I to change my view on the
basis of others’ perspectives?’; being
genuinely interested in what others think as
distinct from consulting as a tick-box
exercise; and viewing relationships as holding
the potential for insight.
Leadership has been the focus of
substantial research in the 20th and 21st
centuries. As times change and gurus appear
and disappear, the search for the holy grail of
leadership continues. Leaders learn and
develop through interaction and reflection
on experience, not by sitting alone in a
private office. Leadership is not a
disembodied process – it is an embodied and
personal act of faith in vision, people and the
future. Knowing ourselves, what makes us
tick and how we relate to other people are
the foundations of good leadership and good
team performance if – and only if – we are
brave enough to take a closer look.
Dr Annette Clancy is a Lecturer
in Management at UCD College
of Business.
STRATEGIES FOR HOLDING
SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS
Meetings are an essential part of
organisational life, yet research suggests
that just 40% of CEOs’ meetings achieve
their objectives. Try the following tips for
a more successful outcome next time.
The objective: Clarify the purpose of
the meeting. Is it decision-making?
Information sharing? Brainstorming?
Planning? You should be able to
complete this statement: ‘At the end of
the meeting, I want to have achieved...’.
Do not hold any unnecessary
meetings: Find the balance between
productive use of time and the need for
good communication.
Be prepared: Draw up an agenda and
ensure it is circulated well in time. The
agenda should include the start and finish
time. This allows people to plan their
work and feel confident that the meeting
won’t run over.
Invitees: Invite the right people with
the authority to act on decisions made.
People need to see the point of their
presence and understand what they are
expected to contribute. In addition, they
need to understand how attending your
meeting will further their agenda.
Delegate leadership: Delegate
authority for meeting organisation and
management to a member of your team.
Use meetings as a skill building process
for your staff.
Manage the process: Manage airtime
so that everyone contributes. Draw out
silent people and rein in those who take
over the airwaves. Balance discussion
with keeping on topic. Begin and end on
time.
What next?: People need to see the
link between what is said and what
happens next. Conclude with a summary
of the topic and the actions agreed. Keep
minutes, hold people accountable for
actions and revisit decisions taken at each
subsequent meeting.
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