If you ask 10 leaders what a leader is supposed to do, you’ll get 10 different answers. This lack of agreement reaches on successful leadership behaviors exists across all fields including academia and consulting practices. It also adds to the confusion on what actually constitutes successful leadership behavior.
There are a bevy of scientifically valid leadership assessments that all purport to capture behaviors critical to successful leadership. Some examples include:
– The Conger-Kanungo Leadership Scale
– The Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire
– The Leader Observation Scale
– The Multifactor Leadership Inventory
– The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire
– The Survey of Management Practices
– The Transformational Leadership Inventory
– The Zenger-Folkman Leadership Assessment
So which one is right?
The answer is that all of them are to some degree.
Which gets us back to our original question: what do leaders actually need to do?
Well, there is more light being shed on this through the work of Dr. Gary Yukl of the University at Albany–SUNY. Dr. Yukl has been studying and lecturing on the leadership business for the past forty years and knows a thing or two about it.
In his article, “A Hierarchical Taxonomy of Leadership Behavior: Integrating a Half Century of Behavior Research,” Dr. Yukl reports the findings of an overarching “study of studies” of leadership behaviors. His results show that key leadership behaviors can be grouped in the main categories:
1. Task Oriented Behavior. This includes panning short-term activities, clarifying between task objectives and role expectations and monitoring performance. The primary objectives of task oriented behavior are high efficiency in the use of resources and personnel, and high reliability of operations, products, and services.
2. Relations Behavior. This set of behaviors provides support, encouragement and recognition for achievements and contributions as well as developing skills, navigating the political environment, and empowering people. The primary objectives of relations behavior include strong commitment to the unit and its mission, and a high level of mutual trust and cooperation among members.
3. Change Behavior. This involves monitoring the outside environment, creating new visions, encouraging creative and innovative thinking, and taking prudent risks. The primary objectives of change behavior include major innovative improvements (in processes, products, or services), and adaptation to external changes.
The upshot of all this is that leadership remains much more of an art than a science.
Even more importantly, no leader should have to learn what to do through the school of hard knocks. The best bet for leaders is to take advantage of a leadership development program whether offered by their company, through an academic program, or a part of an extended professional coaching relationship.
The other thing to do is to read deeply about leadership and work to adopt an informed leadership “philosophy.”
My leadership approach has evolved over 2+ decades of military service…and it continues to evolve. I had the advantage of attending many professional development schools during that time. But also I learned an awful lot about how to lead from hard-won experience and personal reflection.
At this point, I am very partial to the work of Kouzes and Posner (The Leadership Challenge), Zenger and Folkman (The Extraordinary Leader), and Dr. Yukl. All of these experts offer excellent frameworks that are based on good strong scientific research. In addition, Kouzes and Posner’s work has the advantage of being simple to understand. Zenger and Folkman’s approach is more detailed and comprehensive, while Dr. Yukl’s work is informed by the entire field of academic research into leadership.
Going forward, I’m going to be integrating Dr. Yukl’s work into my Leadership Forge leader development process. His three part framework is “parsimonious”–just enough to effectively communicate the essence of leadership behavior.
I sum up Yukl’s findings as:
1. Get the job done well
2. Get along with people and help them be successful
3. Boldly take the organization into the future
I’m interested to hear what you think about all this and what you think a leader needs to do.
Send me your comments!
By Joe Scherrer | The Leadership Crucible