Contemporary Leadership
Over the years, decades and even centuries the relationships those humans develop with each other and with the external environment have become much more complicated. It is not a secret that social, economic and business scenes demand stronger focus on the ability to deal with diversity and differences that individuals, as well as groups, demonstrate. The role of leader in human groups was always essential, from the times, where tribes were struggling for survival, facing the nature, to the contemporary business environment, where companies are facing a challenge of working in an international and highly competitive environment. The truth is, the role and image of a good leader have been discussed in many academic and professional studies and there is no universal truth or rule that would establish the characteristics and features, defining excellent leadership.
What are the preferences for leaders? We see John Adams and Nelson Mandela as good leaders and argue that David Koresh Robert Mugabe are the examples of poor and bad leadership. Kellerman (2005) notes that the preference for studying good leadership is natural as it places in focus positive elements and isolates negative. She also highlights the fact that a lot of learning that comes solely from positive and illuminating experience lacks actual understanding of good leadership. To understand good leadership it is critical to study its opposite, especially in the contemporary environment, where the understanding of leadership is shifting from individual element to collective (Higgs, 2009).
Some argue that the past decades outline the development of the leadership "industry" mainly under the pressure of the business environment, where management of large and extremely diverse teams is becoming one of the most challenging elements for businesses. As such, many companies consider leadership and management their primary asset and the key competitive advantage. With that in mind, a lot of work have been done and several theories have emerged in the attempt to define leadership and empirical studies, which analyze actual leaders and look for the formula of their success in business. Bennet and Thomas (2002) note that the fascination that the majority of individuals have for people who inspire confidence, hard work, and loyalty is a common knowledge. But the question why some individuals have these qualities while others only stumble over their responsibilities and create the negative working environment. They suggest that one of the reasons is the way leaders deal with adversity and diversity.
The commitment of leadership to inclusion and management of diversity is the key for the modern organization. There are numerous studies that discuss the differences between leaders and managers and outline the qualities that should make part of a good manager and a good leader. Understanding of the company´s goal, its people, and personal experience is the critical factor that can build on good or bad leadership (Groysberg and Connolly, 2013). My personal experience shows that people, who are not able to understand differences on an individual level and manage this diversity, will, generally fail as leaders. It does not mean, however, that their managerial skills fall beyond expectations. It is the responsibility of the company, as well as an individual in management and leadership role to ensure that that the company offers a right role for the right individual.
My Personal Experience
During some time, I used to work or cinema theater in a regular position, which did not demand people management skills. My direct manager and the supervisor were an on-field manager that spent significant time with us and was able to observe and control everything that was going on the team. This person was one of the brightest examples for me as a bad leader for several reasons. To better explain my position, I find it important to talk a little bit about our daily routine and some of his qualities. First of all, as soon as I joined the team, I learned that my manager is an experienced professional that has not only understanding of the business but also spent enough time in the industry to be an able to guide and teach others. One of the major issues that I faced with is the need to constantly look for him when I needed this guidance and help. I came to the point when knowing that in a case of doubt when my manager could certainly help me to avoid mistake and make my job better, I would rather seek for other colleagues help then come and talk directly to him. The reason for that was a "feeling of incompetence" that my direct superior was trying to create whenever one of us was in doubt. When I joined the team, I was hoping to grow professionally and personally, through adequate guidance and mentoring, but I haven´t seen neither one nor the other as part of my experience.
Another issue, which I consider typical for bad leadership is the motivation and inspiration. When we come to work, we want to level ourselves with our superiors, see someone who inspires learning and wish to become better at work and grow personally. My manager did not make it a practice to give feedback, reward or discuss the downsides that each of us had at work. Some of my colleagues were fired from one day to another without any prior discussion or attempt to improve their work. This working environment was extremely demotivating and even created at some stages fear of making a mistake. Many of us would prefer to hide our mistakes and hope for it not to be noticed rather than admit it, fix and learn for the future.
When it comes to performance appraisal, we had a system in place that set specific objectives to each employee and this measurement tool also implicates personal appraisal and emotional side of the relationship between an employee and the manager. I strongly believe that a good leader should be able to sit down at the table and dedicate som time to discuss work and give proper feedback to its employees as well as receive comments and observations about his own experience as a manager. In our case, we only received the appraisal by email without an opportunity of face-to-face meeting and, surely, without a chance to provide our feedback to our direct superior. As a result of his approach, many of us felt like we will always be punished for mistakes that each of us commits to work, but there is no opportunity to get our efforts recognized.
Good vs. Bad Leadership
Many studies have been made to understand leadership and answer one of the most important questions of contemporary Human Resource Management (HRM) organization: “What Makes a Leader?”. The experience of many companies and conclusions of empirical studies show that there is no universal formula for a good leader. In my experience, it is very important to differentiate good technical skills that are critical for a great manager and emotional intelligence that places manager one step up in their careers and enables their progress as a leader.
I would like to discuss my findings and conclusions about bad and good leadership in more details, based on the experience, described above. First of all, I believe that there is no universal formula to be a good leader and it is not possible to learn to be a leader by books or through the university course. There are, however, some specific characteristics that I find critical in every leader. First of all, leaders should recognize that learning is a continuous process and there is no point in time, where one can stop learning. Secondly, leaders should be humble to the degree, where they can accept that even superior and a more experienced individual can learn a lot from younger employees. Learning is a mutual process and as much as I can learn from my leader, his experience of working with me can also provide a lot of new knowledge to him as a leader, Thirdly, any working environment demands change management and diversity management skills and it is the responsibility of a leader to feel and accept this diversity to be able to align his leadership style with the needs of organization. Finally, a good leader should believe and love his work, because his inspiration is the core of motivation for those, who he leads.
As we discussed some of the key elements of the good leadership, which are important for me, I would like to touch upon some of the classic characteristics that I see as examples of the bad leader. First of all, the inability of an individual to recognize the role of emotional intelligence in management and focus only on technical skills is the recipe for disaster. For this reason, many large corporations in the modern environment dedicate time and resources to hire professional psychologists to develop so-called "competency models" for organizational leadership (Goleman, 1998). Secondly, leaders which are not self-aware will not be able to develop others as they are not competent enough to manage their own upsides and drawbacks on personal as well as professional levels. This self-awareness should be extended also to the understanding of personal value to the company and individual goals as opposed to the objectives that the company sets for them. Another common leadership mistake, as I see it, is not making time to know your team and provide proper feedback. If individuals that leader is guiding do not have a clear understanding of their goals and their position with regards to the set objectives, they will not be able to be confident about their work as well as will not be able to improve. Finally, the bad leader is the one that understands motivation as accessive control and creation of fear of committing a mistake in the team.
Motivation is an individual element of everyone's work experience. While some people are motivated by face-to-face regular feedback, others need to ensure that they have work-life balance. It is surprising at times, but for some people motivation means extra responsibilities, while for others routine and sense of “belonging” make all the difference.
There are many aspects of leadership that can be further explored and the more experience we have working with people, the deeper is our understanding of leadership and our personal learning curve through "leading self" and leading others".
References
Kellerman B. (2005). How Bad Leadership Happens. Leader to Leader. Vol.2005., Issue 35:41-46. Print.
Higgs M. (2009). The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Leadership and Narcissism. Journal of Change Management. Vol.9., Issue 2:165-178. Print.
Kellerman B. (2004). Bad Leadership. What it is, how it Happens and Why it Matters. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Bennis W. and Thomas R.J. (2002). Crucibles of Leadership. Harvard Business Review [Online]. Retrieved 18 April 2016, https://hbr.org/2002/09/crucibles-of-leadership?cm_sp=Topics-_-Links-_-Read%20These%20First
Groysberg B. and Connolly K. (2013). Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work. Harvard Business Review [Online]. Retrieved 18 April 2016, https://hbr.org/2013/09/great-leaders-who-make-the-mix-work
Goleman D. (1998). What Makes a Leader? Harvard Business Review [Online]. Retrieved 18 April 2016, http://stattrak.amstat.org/files/2015/11/Whatmakesaleader.pdf
