You may have read that the Trait Approach to studying leadership is akin to identifying what traits the so-called “natural born leaders” possess. There are those whose primary conclusions from researching traits amounts to just that -leaders are separated from non-leaders because they innately possess certain traits, for example Mann’s research in 1959 (Northouse, 2013). I’m sure most of us would agree that people are indeed born with different innate traits, different strengths, different preferences, etc. I would argue that the evidence is also clear, as Northouse outlines, that while a definitive list of leadership traits has not been verified, certain traits more easily lend themselves to being a successful leader, for example extroversion (2013). I disagree however, that developing traits is futile or too difficult to be practical.
I have been in leadership and management positions for 15 of the 18 years I’ve been in the workforce. I have been highly successful in these roles and guess what… I’m an Introvert! I prefer to sit home and read a book or do something with my kids than go to a party or chat on the phone. I have absolutely no desire to be social on sites like Facebook or Linked In, but when it comes to leading a team and getting a job done, I happily take the reigns. In leadership positions, it’s fairly common that one has to speak before audiences or network at conferences. Being gregarious in these situations certainly does not come naturally to an introvert, but because being an effective leader is important to me, I’ve taken steps to develop skills and behaviors that appear extroverted or at least mask the symptoms of my introversion. I would submit that other skills are similarly possible to develop: empathy, listening, determination, courage, etc. You may not be suddenly imbued with the trait, but you can develop the behaviors and thought processes that are attributed to a given a trait for sure.
What is the key? In my experience it is simply having the “want to”. Interestingly our lesson calls the “drive to lead” a trait that differentiates leaders from followers (PSU WC PSYCH485, 2013, L.2. P.3). I struggle with accepting “drive to lead” as a trait because for me personally, it’s situation based. Leadership takes a lot of effort, especially when the challenge is steep and there have been plenty of times in my career or in my personal life when leadership has been lacking in a given group and I could easily have stepped into that role but chose not to. This was typically because I was guarding my work/life balance or knew that the budget, people, or goals were not sufficient to be successful and would essentially waste my time and end in frustration. When the “want to” or drive to lead is there, the rest can be worked out. For example, if you want to be an effective manager, you have to get training on staffing, budgeting, project management, and HR related processes. If you want to be an effective leader, you need to develop the tools that lend themselves to effective leadership. This is a choice. If you are an introvert and want to lead but have challenges getting in front of people, take an acting class or put yourself in other leadership situations like volunteering where you are forced to overcome your inherent tendency to duck for cover. If you naturally hate conflict but want to lead, take negotiation courses or get involved in escalations where you begin to see that conflict is beneficial and necessary to create the best outcomes. You may not be able to change your height, but you can change and develop most of the other traits if you have the critical component: the want to. In my experience, one of the key differentiators of effective leaders is their commitment to working on themselves and developing their skills and thereby their traits. Sure, some leaders, like Barack Obama, are born with more charisma than others. But even these leaders with a larger helping of a given trait, in order to maximize their potential, continue to develop and grow their traits.
In the end, a development plan for each would-be leader will be individual and unique and perhaps the lack of a generic prescription is one of the reasons that authors like Northouse claim that training or developing traits is “not reasonable” (2013, p.32.)? If you want to be a leader and feel you are missing some of the traits that others deem important to being an effective leader, don’t ignore the traits and focus on process or specific actions, develop yourself and you can be effective! I am not saying that everyone can be a great or world-renowned leader, but I do believe everyone who is committed and willing to put in the effort to develop his or herself, can be an effective leader.
Best Regards, Matt
Reference:
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (Sixth ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2013). PSYCH485 Lesson 2: Trait Approach. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp13/psych485/001/content/02_lesson/printlesson.html
Matt Johnson says
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comment and insightful questions. In both cases, inside and outside work, I am more inclined to turn down the assigned positions. Obviously I have limited freedom at work to do that because I’m paid to be there, but if the situation is right from a budget, priority, or political standpoint, I won’t take it. There’s enough challenges when those things are covered to take on problems or major projects without them.
I have a couple of assigned leadership postions outside work and those add anywhere from 4-8hrs of work per week. That makes it easier for me to turn down other offers for assigned positions.
When it comes to emergent roles, it’s a bit more complicated. Firstly, I always have at least a strong urge to step into any leadership voids and often feel like others expect me to and are disappointed when I don’t. But, if the project is too small, there’s not enough competition, or I feel others would gain more experience from leading themselves, I move to an encourager and helper role only. If there are high stakes or fun competition (for example in a workshop or hobby group), I’ll step in usually.
Those questions really made me think Mark, thanks!
Cheers, Matt
MARK A HALPIN says
Hello Matt,
I found it interesting to read that you are an introvert, yet you still have been successful in a leadership position. This goes against the accepted “norm” of having a leader who is sociable and extroverted. However, just because you are an introvert, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be a good leader, and your story shows that. When defining what it means to be a leader, I think that often times, these scientific types always try to pigeon hole someone into a certain category or characteristic, when it may or may not be completely true.
Now, you mentioned that there were situations where you chose not to step into a leadership position. Were these experiences within the workplace, or outside of it? Also, were the experiences something that required a leader to be in charge (an assigned leader) or would an emergent leader do the trick? As far as I can tell, there are many times when an emergent leader is needed more than an assigned leader, because most projects that I have dealt with were informal, and outside the scope of the workplace.
I also liked your suggestions for becoming a leader while being an introvert. One may not be interested in leadership if they are an introvert, due to the fear of having to take the reigns, but getting involved in an informal setting like an acting class may help them to break out of their shell. Nice post!
Mark