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by Kelly Riggs
There is so much talk about leadership these days.
If you have any presence on social media – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook – you can’t go a day without seeing several articles on leadership. It seems EVERYBODY is in the leadership business. Everybody has an opinion.
Me included. Perhaps I’m the pot calling the kettle black.
But apparently there is no shortage of people who can tell you what leadership is all about, and what you need to do to become a better leader.
Whatever that means. Because there really is no common definition of leadership beyond the very basic idea that “leadership is influence.” Ask a dozen people what leadership is and you’ll get several completely different ideas, and several more nuances on the theme.
Leadership is consultative, and collaborative, and charismatic, and participative, and inspirational, and engaging. Leaders do a thousand different things: motivation, strategy, communication, decision-making, accountability, feedback, problem-solving, coaching, engagement, and far more. All of this while being equally authentic, transparent, and visionary. #exhausting
In 2016, Lolly Daskal wrote a piece for Fortune entitled “100 Answers to the Question: What is Leadership?”
Exactly.
So, what is the point of all this? Simple – if leadership is this complex and challenging (and it is), why do companies routinely put people into these positions with little or no training or instruction?
More importantly, why are the expectations for the position of leadership not explicitly communicated? Because let’s be very clear: getting things done as an individual and leading a team of people are two VERY DIFFERENT skill sets.
Although it’s not always well appreciated, there is a lot to learn in order to be an effective leader. So, you might naturally assume that education is an essential part of leadership development.
Like an MBA.
Apparently, it helps. A bit. But not really.
In a 2017 HBR article entitled “What an MBA program won’t teach you about leadership,” authors Evan Sinar and Richard Wellins (both Ph.D.’s and employed at DDI) share some very interesting research data about the impact of an MBA on leadership skills. As it turns out, an MBA helps in some ways but provides little help in others. According to their research:
Translation: In most cases, an MBA creates mostly business smarts, not leadership smarts. How many leaders have you seen with plenty of financial skills but lacking in people skills? Of course, that’s not always true, but the authors did survey 15,000 leaders across 300 companies, so it is backed up. Whilst it might not teach leadership skills, it can help people advance in their business careers. By getting a place in an MBA program, or one of the online mba programs, it is impressive for many business owners. As those programs are known for being difficult to get onto, employers understand that candidates must be skilled to have gotten a place. However, some students can optimize their chances of being accepted these days by using the services offered by Fortuna Admissions. They help students get onto these programs by offering them lots of support to ensure they have a higher chance of being accepted. Once they’re accepted onto these MBA programs, these students can learn a lot of business skills that can give them an advantage over other business students who haven’t been on one of these programs.
So, what kind of “education” will create an effective leader? That is the million-dollar question. And, undoubtedly, there is no shortage of experts to step in and tell you exactly what is needed, but let’s talk about what you should look for. Students need to learn these leadership skills because they might become future managers in some or another company, managing their teams. What they can do is directly go to blog pages like leadership styles quiz or others to get a theoretical understanding of different types of leadership styles and which style might be effective in what situation. Apart from that, an aspiring leader needs to learn, at minimum, four very specific skills:
Those are the critical, cornerstone skills that translate into effective leadership, no matter the circumstances. These are the skills that allow leaders to fulfill their mission, which is to create results. Although they likely got promoted for getting things done, leaders don’t create results personally; they do it through others. This is why we define leadership as “the art and science of getting things done through other people.”
That’s what leaders get paid to do: create a team of individuals who get things done.
However…there is more to this story than simply educating the leaders. The system that supports the leader must be addressed as well, or things will go south in a hurry.
In 2016, Harvard Business Review published a remarkable article entitled “Why Leadership Training Fails-and What to Do About It.” The article reveals a fundamental reason why leadership education often fails to produce significant changes in results:
“HR managers and others find it difficult or impossible to confront senior leaders and their teams with an uncomfortable truth: A failure to execute on strategy and change organizational behavior is rooted not in individuals’ deficiencies but, rather, in the policies and practices created by top management. Those are the things to fix before training can succeed longer-term. It’s much easier for HR to point to employees’ competencies as the problem and to training as the clear solution. That’s a message senior leaders are receptive to hearing.”
In most cases, senior leaders are unwilling to invest in the development of leaders. However, when they do, they are often unwilling to address the systemic issues that hamper growth – items like organizational structure, strategic planning, and team collaboration.
The problem is, when the organization is dysfunctional even the best leaders will struggle. And, unfortunately, organization dysfunction is rampant. #indenial
Leadership is a journey. No doubt about it. One book or one seminar will never create an effective leader, and much of what makes a great leader must be experienced. So by taking Tilt 365 personality tests or through other methods, one needs to understand what holds them back from successful leadership. In fact, mistakes need to be made. Lessons must be learned.
However, while there may be plenty of talking heads who can tell you how to create great leaders, very few talk about the one thing that will limit the effectiveness of those leaders – a dysfunctional organization.
The truth is, there is plenty of opinion about leadership, but far too little being done about ineffective organizations.???????
Kelly Riggs is a business performance coach and founder of the Business LockerRoom. A former national Salesperson of the Year and serial entrepreneur, Kelly is a recognized thought leader in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning. He serves clients ranging from small, privately held companies to Fortune 500 firms. Kelly has written two books: “1-on-1 Management™: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t” and “Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.”
