Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Hostage Negotiator as a Transformational Leader?

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Back in 2012 in a convention held by our primary vendor I had the pleasure of attended a key note address from the American Psychologist George Kohlrieser. He was speaking about his life as a hostage negotiator and his book, Hostage at the Table: How leaders can overcome conflict, influence others, and raise performance.

The speech started with a story on the first time he entered a room as a negotiator and how he became a hostage himself in the situation.  The way out was through communication and bonding with the hostage taker.  A link to a similar speech is here: https://youtu.be/k9Z9z_Fd3Bw  The Key concepts that I got from his book as it relates to transformational leadership are: how to be a secure base to establish trust and “put that fish on the table” to resolve conflict (Kohlrieser, 2006).

Being a secure Base

After listening to his speech, I attended a half day seminar where he took the concepts to a more detailed level.  We talked through what becoming someone’s secure base and what that meant.  In terms of a father daughter relationship, I am my daughters secure base where she learns from me the things that help her feel secure and will help her grow into a good woman with a “healthy sense of men” (Kohlrieser, 2006) based on our relationship as she grows.  This same concept can be put into a transformational leader who becomes a secure base for their followers.  These leaders “transform groups, organizations and even societies, in part by developing followers into moral agents and leaders” (Zhu, 2011).  This is done with leading as an example of how they want their flowers to be and instilling the right moral values into the group.  One of the leadership factors associated with transformational leadership is idealized influence.  This “describes leaders who act as strong role models for followers; followers identify with these leaders and want very much to emulate them. These leaders usually have very high standards of moral and ethical conduct and can be counted on to do the right thing” (Northouse, 2016 p.167).  The other three factors are: inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Northouse, 2016 p.167).  All of these factors roll into being someone’s secure base.  A transformational leader can be a secure base for their followers and everyone benefits from it

 

The second concept I learned from the seminar was to make sure and put the issue that needs addressed out in front to resolve conflict.  His analogy is that conflict happens when something is kept under the table and not brought out for discussion.  It is a smelly fish that we all know sits down just below our sight, but we can all smell it and know it is there (Kohlrieser, 2006). We moved on to role play some scenarios to identify underlying issues and participating in these gave me a new insight on leadership and how I could do a better job of being there for my people and keep everything on the table.  There have been many occasions where others on our team have said, let’s just “put that fish on the table” and talk through what is troubling us.  I took the same concept I had learned to them and now they are also using some of the same techniques in their daily lives.  The leadership model from Kouzes and Posner illustrate this concept the leadership practices that “challenge the process” and “Enable others to act” (Northouse, 2012 p.174).  Taking the issues or processes that exist, but no one wants to address and improve take a strong person to challenge.  A transformational leader is willing to take risks and “when exemplary leaders take risks, they do it one step at a time, learning from their mistakes as they go” (Northouse, 2012 p.174).  Expecting the same behavior from their followers is good role modeling and allows them to take the same risks with the support of the leader.

This speech had a profound effect on me and got me thinking about going back to school. It took a few years to commit to, but it is a great concept from a one day seminar that lends itself well leadership concepts.  This is a small taste of what transformational leadership is like for me.  I know there is still a long journey ahead, but I do have the right moral compass to succeed and will learn to lead better by example so that the next wave of leaders can be born.

 

References:

Kohlrieser, G. (2006). Hostage at the table: how leaders can overcome conflict, influence others, and raise performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Zhu, W., Avolio, B., Riggo, R., & Sosik, J. (2011, October). The effect of authentic transformational leadership on follower and group ethics. Retrieved December 06, 2017, from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/science/article/pii/S1048984311001068

 

Northouse, Peter G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.

Women in Leadership Positions

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I work for a company with over 23,000 employees and on a team of 14 that includes people representing multiple cultures and countries.   That sounds like it defines the word diversity in just one sentence.  The only thing that was left out from the description is that of the 14, only one of the team members is female.  She is from Costa Rica, but still the only member of our team to represent women.  In my regional office, there are 2 females in senior management positions for the region, but as one moves up to our corporate office in Europe, there are no females in a senior management role.  A startling statistic (2016) shows that “women occupy just 22% of senior roles in G7 countries while 39% of companies have no women in senior roles” which falls right in line with what I see across the board in our own company.

Diversity is broken up into two levels.  On the top there is gender, age, and skin which are things we can see in one another. On a deeper level, there are behaviors and beliefs of an individual and one’s culture that can affect how an individual’s value system is based (Penn State, 2016). A woman in the workforce must compete within a system that has preconceptions and historical norms that do not place them in leadership roles.  While western women are given more opportunities to take on higher roles, the same woman in Saudi Arabia has limits to how they can even interact with men (2016).  This creates a different mindset among women based on location that makes it even more difficult to be more inclusive as a company.  If the same company has 2 women in a department and they are from different cultures and beliefs, it is difficult to know how to interact with both in a consistent manner.  On could say this is also true given the same example with 2 men, but the playing field here is more even.  There are even more differences between men and women in the workforce that make it more difficult for a woman to succeed.

One of the senior women in our regional office has been in charge of the IT department for the past 7 years.  She is a kind communicator and an excellent leader.  Everyone know that she will stand up for them and get the job done.  It is important to describe her to put everything into perspective.  She is married with no children and has 2 dogs which she cares for like a child.  She works long hours, will travel on short notice and can stand in with any group of men and hold her own, not only in conversation but in knowledge.  She is atypical and some of this explains how she has climbed to senior management.  That being said, I have been on a site in a board room with other men while she is on the phone and they still give looks and make comments that would never be made in person.  This illustrates that even though she is excellent at her job, other senior executives still think of her in a lessor way. I have had someone that reports to her mention that although she is a good communicator, she lacks the knowledge to make the right decisions. One stereotype is “Women lack quantitative skills, and therefore cannot hold technical positions or understand the numbers required in a profit-and-loss environment. Women possess “soft” skills such as communication and team building” (Moran, 2015 p.148). In my opinion, the person that made the comments is the one that does not have the right knowledge to make good decisions, but he does say the right things which senior management wants to here and he keeps his position safe, while she pulls the harder tasks when things need to get done.

Moving forward, how can we have more diversity to include women in more areas of our organization and at the same time have inclusion from the expanded group? In my team, travel is a necessity which limits many people with families from wanting to join due to the required trips.  This can be addressed with keeping people in places for less time or eliminating the travel to use technology in its place.  Conference calls can be virtual with video and this could open up opportunity to new groups to come and bring the same skill set to the game.  Women in Senior roles through “diversity can bring many organizational benefits, including greater customer satisfaction, better market position, successful decision-making, an enhanced ability to reach strategic goals, improved organizational outcomes, and a stronger bottom line” (Riordan, 2014).

Recently we have had a change in the region that puts us under the European lead leadership structure.  In this new world the same woman that was in charge or the regional IT will now take over in a senior global role.  As she starts out this new path, she has to fight a similar battle with a whole new group of people and re-prove her knowledge again in order to gain acceptance to a male dominated group.  She does have the ear of our CIO who is also American which may work in our favor to overcome the mindset of the conservative male run company and may make it to CIO herself one day.  I have learned from working with women that were would all benefit from their wisdom and experience and look forward to having more on my team

 

 

References:

Women in senior positions in decline. (2016, March 8). Retrieved December 05, 2017, from http://economia.icaew.com/news/march-2016/uk-falling-behind-on-diversity

Penn State University World Campus. (2016). Lesson 3: Diversity. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1802572/modules/items/21179060

Nine things women can’t do in Saudi Arabia. (2016, July 28). Retrieved December 05, 2017, from http://www.theweek.co.uk/60339/nine-things-women-cant-do-in-saudi-arabia

Moran, Robert T.; Abramson, Neil Remington; Moran, Sarah V.(2015). Managing Cultural Differences. Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition

Riordan, C. (2014, June 01). Diversity Is Useless Without Inclusivity. Retrieved September 10, 2016, from https://hbr.org/2014/06/diversity-is-useless-without-inclusivity

Authentic Leadership and the path to get there

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What exactly is authentic leadership and is it possible for a good leader not to also be authentic?  First, we need to understand the definition of what authentic leadership is.  It is difficult to simple define so we will break it into three areas: intrapersonal, interpersonal and developmental perspective.  The intrapersonal perspective focuses on a leader’s individual experiences and “emphasizes a leader’s life experiences and the meaning he or she attaches to those experiences as being critical to the development of the authentic leader” (Northouse, 2016 p.196).  The interpersonal perspective examines the relationship between a leader and their followers and “authenticity emerges from the interactions between leaders and followers. It is a reciprocal process because leaders affect followers and followers affect leaders” (Northouse, 2016 p.196).  The developmental perspective focuses on the development of these other two perspectives to create an authentic leader over time.  It is not something a person has in the beginning, but could be “a pattern of leader behavior that develops from and is grounded in the leader’s positive psychological qualities and strong ethics” (Northouse, 2016 p.196).

Bill George’s take on authentic leadership states “we need leaders who lead with purpose, values, and integrity; leaders who build enduring organizations, motivate their employees to provide superior customer service, and create long-term value for shareholders” (George, 2003 p.09).  Values, purpose and integrity are attributes that are learned from life lessons.  I work with other leaders that do not display purpose in their work and do not motivate others.  I am the son of a Methodist minister who I watch and admired as I grew up.  He did much more than stand in front of a congregation and speak for an hour a week.  He counseled, comforted and made a difference to those he served.  These are life events that have affected me in a positive way.  I have spent years in the retail industry and understand that customer service is what drive sales and that happy customers come back.  I watch and learned from how he handled conflict and realize that staying open and positive can help resolve an issue better than just standing my ground.

So, the real question is how to become an authentic leader.  Just because we may possess attributes that make us good leaders, and have good relationships with our peers and followers, how do we walk the path towards authenticity.  In my opinion, the first step in the journey is trust.  In every leadership idea, there is the word trust.   To become a good leader, you must earn trust of those you work for and those that work for you.  This building block leads to collaboration and teamwork, which ultimately leads to better performance and productivity.  To gain ones trust it is important to be one’s self and to have an identity that others can relate to.  To earn trust, you must do what you say and be honest and forthcoming with others.  It is important be as transparent as possible or as the theory states, be an authentic person.

 From: The Authenticity Paradox: Hermina Ibarra (2015) Harvard Business review online

What are the pitfalls of being authentic?  It is important to be true to yourself but, “As we strive to improve our game, a clear and firm sense of self is a compass that helps us navigate choices and progress toward our goals. But when we’re looking to change our game, a too rigid self-concept becomes an anchor that keeps us from sailing forth”. (Ibarra, 2015).  In making values-based choices it is important to grow with your position within the organization.  As I get deeper into leading a team, the day to day activities are different.  I do not need as much detail and have learned to delegate tasks to those that are just as capable to perform them.  Being an authentic leader is serving those in our charge and giving them the tools and motivation to move forward. It is also important to learn how to manage upward.  Trust also runs uphill and it can be gained by having the confidence to speak out with a good idea and concept.  “True-to-selfers find it particularly hard to sell themselves to senior management when they most need to do so: when they are still unproven. Research shows, however, that this hesitancy disappears as people gain experience and become more certain of the value they bring” (Ibarra, 2015).  The more experience of participating in the broader conversation helps to reinforce leadership that is authentic.

It can be a long journey to authentic leadership, but the key is understanding what it is and remembering the actions and interactions with others to get there.  Leaders should be looking at how the can improve themselves every day in how they build trust, manage upwards and in the small conversations with followers and peers alike.  Authentic leadership is all about the positive connections and conversations that lead others to see you as an authentic leader

References:

Northouse, Peter G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.

George, W. (2003). Authentic leadership: Rediscovering the secrets to creating lasting value. San Francisco7 Jossey-Bass.

Ibarra, H. (2017, July 18). The Authenticity Paradox. Retrieved December 05, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2015/01/the-authenticity-paradox

 

Servant Leadership in practice

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Since our current team was formed more than 4 years ago, I have moved from a role as one of the team into the role of leader for the same team.  Initially, there were three of us which grew to six within the first year.  Our team would describe our manager as more of a professor than a leader.  He always spoke of how to get things done by following the right methodologies and Lean Six Sigma practices, which were great in a classroom, but not as easy to follow in the real world where the pace was fast and the demand was high.  To get things done for ourselves we had to do it alone without his guidance and support.  This was my first experience in servant leadership.  I used my knowledge to step up and get our team the support and materials needed to help us succeed.  When the time came for our manager to move up the chain, I was nominated by the team to become their leader.

Since we are a group of highly skilled and intelligent people, my role was immediately realized before I knew what servant leadership was.  My primary goals were to make sure they had what they needed to operate at their peak performance level.  The projects were fast and difficult and once I took myself out of a contributing role, I could focus on keeping the distractions and noise away from the team.  In Northouse’s Leadership: Theory and Practice there is the following graphic (Northouse, 2016, p232) which shows a model of servant leadership:

 

For the Existing conditions, the context and culture has been one that the team has always looked out for its own needs.  My role in that plays in to my attributes of servant leadership and the team is receptive to this role.  The second part that show servant leader behaviors and how they are important to the Outcomes. It understands that “viewing servant leadership as a multidimensional process. Collectively, these behaviors are the central focus of servant leadership. Individually, each behavior makes a unique contribution” (Northouse, 2016, p233).  We have a Diverse team from many different cultural backgrounds.  My job is to help them not only work better with each other as team members, but to also personally grow so they can evolve in their careers.  They know that I have an open door and if there is something that needs to be discussed they can approach me without any reservations.  Our team has a trust that empowers everyone to make sound decisions that reflect positively on the team and the relationships we build with those projects that we work on last for years after the project is finished.  By serving our team and putting them first, the outcome is performance and growth of the individual.  I have two of our strongest members being considered for a role that is equal to mine and I am happy to help them with the opportunity.  The same values I feel are important as a leader may bleed into their own leadership style and as they become the head of their workstream, the organization benefits from the societal impact had by expanding our work into other areas. While the servant leadership style may not work in all levels of an organization, I have found it to be the driving force to success and job satisfaction in the small are of the organization in which I reside.

 

References:

Northouse, Peter G.(2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.

 

 

 

Leadership lessons from Mount Everest

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I have always wondered what must go into an Everest expedition and the mindset of a person making the climb.  The idea to use parts of the climb as a leadership exercise is truly innovative and hands on.  In an article written for the Harvard Business Review, Michael Useem and Edwin Bernbaum started a program for MBA graduates to take on portions of Mount Everest and learn leadership lessons along the way.  The article cites four main lessons that apply to situational leadership.

 

Lesson 1

Leaders Should Be Led by the Group’s Needs

 

All the four lessons provide clear insight into what makes a good leader starting with the concept that a leader must serve their people.  In defining the first lesson, the team encountered a monastery on the way towards basecamp were where they met with the High monk who told them, “First, leadership is built by serving. Second, when leaders truly serve and subordinate their private welfare to that of all others, their authority often becomes unquestionable” (Useem, 2014).  One of my first duties to my team is to make sure they have what the need to be successful.  I also need to make sure they are happy with the job they do and have a path for growth.  A leader is defined by how they “interact with followers’ needs and the nature of the task” (Northouse, 2016, p135).   This is a Tennent of the path-goal theory and in a situation like climbing Everest, it is important to understand how intertwined the needs of the group and all individual’s needs are related to the task at hand.  In such a difficult journey all must work seamlessly together

 

Lesson 2

Inaction Can Sometimes Be the Most Difficult—But Wisest—Action

 

The example from this lesson in the article was of a climber that fell ill with altitude sickness, but insisted on moving along.  To do nothing and allow him to continue versus having him head back was really a risk versus reward for not only the individual, but also the entire group.  For Useem “it reinforced the idea that although leaders need to help people go for the highest achievement of which they are capable, they must also be keenly aware of the hazards ahead and take the necessary—and sometimes unappealing—steps to avert too grave a risk” (Useem, 2014).  We often find ourselves in situations that start to go south and it takes a strong leader to recognize and make the right decisions to keep everything on track

 

Lesson 3

If Your Words Don’t Stick, You Haven’t Spoken

The next lesson I likes involved communication and how if people don’t hear the message correctly, then a leader cannot assume the task will get done correctly.  In this instance, there was an example how the leader told one group one thing that delayed their arrival back to camp which was not clearly communicated to others (Useem, 2014).  While the leader was sure he mentioned something, his words were not received by the group in the same way.  This caused those that were not clear to waste effort and energy searching for the group that was not in peril, but late for their arrival.  It is important to communicate to a team so that everyone knows what is expected and has a clear path.  Poor communication is as bad as not communicating in the first place and “poor communication is one reason why many companies that have devised brilliant strategies fail miserably in executing them” (Useem, 2014).

 

 

Lesson 4

Leading Upwards Can Feel Wrong When It’s Right

 

The final lesson takeaway from the article is “leading upwards can feel wrong when it’s right” (Useem, 2014).  I have some personal experience from a normal work week where I do have to communicate and provide feedback to upper management.  In our various projects, it is vital to sit down with someone at the top and manage expectations and to also keep them knowledgeable so there are no surprises or obstacles along the way.  Most leaders appreciate the feedback and this helps to keep thing on track.  Difficult conversations are needed and while they can be uncomfortable, they help us grow as leaders.

 

 

The situational leadership theory matches most of the lessons from the Everest article as while working with a team in a harsh and ever changing environment requires leaders to make good decisions based on the situation at that moment.  Specifically, for the climbers that were coming down the mountain with altitude sickness and the decision to keep them in camp rather than risk a dangerous decent in the dark (Useem, 2014).  Situational leadership highlights that “the leader’s function is to continually evaluate and adapt his or her behavior to each follower’s task maturity (i.e., ability) and psychological maturity (i.e., willingness) to complete the task at hand” (Seyranian, 2012). This is one of the styles I am constantly developing as the work environment has many opportunities to make the right and wrong decisions.  My future strategy is to make more good decisions based on understanding the situation better.  The path-goal theory is another way for me to develop in to a better leader versus a manager.  With this theory, a leader may use supportive, directive, achievement, or participative behaviors to motivate and assist a follower (Seyranian, 2012). In the Everest expedition, leaders took turn in leading the group and would have had to use many of these behaviors to make sure the group stayed engaged and were all on board to reach the daily goal.  A manager may focus on the directive behavior to make sure tasks are complete, but a lead understands their followers and modifies their behavior to match the situation.  Both of these contingency models will help us become and grow as successful leaders

 

References:

Useem, M. (2014, July 31). The Leadership Lessons of Mount Everest. Retrieved September 29, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2001/10/the-leadership-lessons-of-mount-everest

Northouse, Peter G. 2016. Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.

Seyranian, Viviane. “Contingency Theories of Leadership.” Encyclopedia of Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. Ed. John M. Levine and Michael A. Hogg. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2009. 152-56. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. Retrieved Sep 29, 2017, from https://studysites.sagepub.com/northouse6e/study/materials/reference/reference6.1.pdf

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