Chapter III: Leadership Traits
“You can be efficient with things, but must be effective with people” (Robert McCarthy, S.A., FBI Academy, Quantico, VA, 1991)
Leadership in Perspective Competence, Character, and Courage
The purpose of this chapter is to provide readers with what made tough situations encountered in personal real life experiences workable, allowed new and risky process to permeate tradition, and provided avenues for members to buy into procedures that they wanted but were afraid to ask for them. The leader in this next phase of the discussion is defined through three main components with derivative embellishments as may be required and they are Competence, Character, and Courage.
I have taken over the leadership role in three situations, all police departments, and none of which have been at the top of their game upon entering into the front office. I can say with moderate humility that they all were better when I left. This is not based on my assessment but rather editorials, government officials, and community leaders. The transformation was not due to my presence but rather an attitude. Not my attitude, but the attitude of members, the governments, and the community. Once in a while the leader gets credit but let us put that in perspective at this juncture. The success encountered in each situation was primarily due to the environment created. The environment that permitted flexibility in otherwise stagnant traditional philosophies.
Just about all things within an organization seem to work against the leader. For example, in the police situations I speak of required cautious navigation through intricate work rules, contractual obligations in place for years, and countless exploitations from internal and external variables to the organization that are constantly pushing personal agendas. I say with reasonable certainty that this fact reflects your discipline, agency or organization to some degree. Policing is a very traditional organization and as Peter Drucker maintains in many cases stalled organizations worship at the altar of yesterday, sacrificing what is important. Since I have entered the field of academia in higher learning environments, these traits remain constant and I submit that if you look at your group it is probably true as well.
Competence
This encompasses many tasks/skills/traits such as the ability to understand and analyze written and spoken materials. Critical is having a good grasp of the language of the chosen profession as well as the language of the community. Articulating the plans, vision, and objectives of the assemblage being lead was discussed at length in preceding chapters. That which is worth reciting again is that communications is essential to building relationships and relationships is what builds the trust in a leader.
Planning is essential in any organization. As an example used in forthcoming chapters is General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s planning and implementation of those plans on June 6, 1944, D-Day. The courage displayed in preparation and execution of the invasion during WWII, understanding of what inevitably will result in the incomprehensible loss of life to the forces storming the beaches of Normandy, France is probably unfathomable by the masses today. Second only to the planning and execution by the Allied Commander of the invasion was the great courage and risk taking displayed in his stance on accepting responsibility and being held personally accountable should the invasion not work. He did not look for someone to blame.
The ability to reason along with the preceding assets aids those in leadership and management roles better thinkers that in turn creates better leaders. Intellect does not hit a brick wall. In other words, sound reasoning is not restricted nor constrained by the knowledge brought into an organization by the leader. Intellect paves the way for a supervisor, leader, or manager to continue to grow and build upon traits.
KNOWLEDGE, Mission–Purpose, organizations core values. Purpose: What is your organization about? Does your mission statement contain the core values of the organization? Whose mission statement is it?
Components of Success
Implicit in contemporary research of police organizational members is that they will not tolerate autocratic leadership styles (ASCJ, 1987). While the statement pertains to the policing industry, it also pertains to most. Now every group has someone in charge, and at the end of the day a decision must be made and responsibility and accountability is laid at the feet of him or her making the decision. Further research denounces salary, benefits, and job security as the primary motivator for member loyalty, enthusiasm, and productivity and is replaced with the job means something, they have some say in the workplace, and they may become all they can be.
First, money is good so do not immediately discount salary and benefits, but do not place it necessarily at the head of the list. The less intrinsic items may be essential to recruitment as everyone wants an honest wage for work performed, and some in your workplace merely want the honest wage. Second, fundamental to the workforce today is the rapid recognition of a genuine work place and a genuine leader. Most work place environments I have been associated with are not democratically run, but the more successful offer an opportunity to be heard and offer the opportunity to grow as a person and qualified member of the agency.
This has not always been the case as in my first employment opportunity as a police officer. I was called into the lieutenants office after my very first roll call and was promptly put on notice of my perceived value to the agency. I was told that “No smart ass college kid is going to come in here and take my job.” I quickly learned that not all employment opportunities enjoy the gift for gab. My retort was, “Lieutenant, fear not, I don’t want your job, I want to be Sheriff.” In situations where your livelihood is subordinate to another person’s evaluation the purchase of lip balm by the case may be a legitimate tax deductible item required for continued employment.
In contemporary roles as the principal of a group, agency, organization, parent, teacher, or professor the following snippets undoubtedly will arise in determining personal leadership traits. Those provided are discussed within sub-headings in this section. Reading them offers an opportunity for the reader to conduct a self-analysis of traits they find in themselves. Further, it is important for the reader to analyze each in context of material provided, and see if you can place the titles in the appropriate following sections.
PUT THE ORGANIZATION FIRST
UNDERSTAND YOUR OWN POLITICAL STYLE FIRST
BELIEVE STRONGLY IN WHAT YOU DO
PLAY ABOVE BOARD (SURVIVE WITH HONOR)
DON’T BE STOPPED BY MORAL AND RATIONAL BLOCKS
FORM A STRATEGIC COALITION
TREAT EXECUTIVE ATTENTION AS A SCARCE RESOURCE IMPLEMENT USING THE 51% GUIDELINE
Critical Thinking?
A seminal study performed by Edward Glaser (1941) defined critical thinking involving three main concerns. They are clear attitude, knowledge of methods of inquiry, and ability to apply the methods. Furthermore, Glaser called for persistent examination of existing beliefs, challenge those beliefs, recognize problems, identify solutions, and communicate the findings with clarity. Critical thinking is not often clearly listed as an attribute of perspective members or leaders. Nevertheless, the above listed traits, qualities, or characteristics may be found subverted in categories such as integrity, knowledge, skills, ability, communication/sociability, creativity, innovation, honesty, and character to name a few. An associate of critical thinking is critical listening (previous chapter) that are not mutually exclusive, but rather attached at the hip.
In essence, critical thinking may be defined as thinking that is clear, rational, objective and informed by evidence. According to Balance Careers trade magazine the following top five critical thinking skills sought after by perspective employers are:
- Analytical
- Communication
- Creativity
- Open-Minded
- Problem Solving
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/critical-thinking-definition-with-examples-2063745
Critical thinking is the overarching glue when discussing the following terms in this section of Drink, Swear, Steal and Lie. So why dedicate any time to this criteria? Probably because for a substantial period of time in the United States society has thought that this skill is being taught to or developed in students beginning in primary and onto secondary education. With reasonable certainty I contend this is not the situation at all. Upon leaving the beloved vocation of law enforcement I ventured into a logical next career; academia at the higher education level.
Assuming that critical thinking remained the corner stone of at least secondary education was a rude awakening for me to say the least. I would suggest it required near surgical precision to eradicate the cranium situated within a tightly held orifice not commonly ruminated for admittance, but pronounced for skeletal accommodation in horizontal or moderate upright positioning while simulating the calcaneus, metatarsals, and phalanges solidly stationed parallel with granular terracotta. Forbearance may be required to gather external information sufficient to counter preconceived ideas after first glance of the former Sesquipedalian Buffoonery. Go ahead, look it up and determine what was said. See hint below.
An affluent vocabulary is not essential when fewer and more understandable language will do.
Creating Environment
For those in charge it is an awesome responsibility to create the environment best suited for the organization and the members within to grow, develop, and extenuate missteps of members turning those into positive learning experiences. Yes, all of this while not falling into a group think mentality that is rife for failure. A simple truth is that from birth we begin a journey to explore and locate a place to live life, eventually work, and enjoy those we cherish, find confidence in what we do, and implore individual faith. A rather undemanding task of leadership today don’t you think? Yeah right!
Reminiscent to leader effectiveness is creating a non-toxic environment. Leaders must fully understand the significance of personal characteristics that aid in developing an environment for member growth and organizational achievement. Similarly, situated in the development of a prospering atmosphere is to understand segregation. Contemporary ambience has succumbed to segregation, intersectionality either directly or indirectly, in politics, economics, education, and sadly in family. This segregation I speak of is of ideas, innovation, invention, enthusiasm, inclusion, and faith. Binary methods to overcome societal deficiencies such as segregation is personal and environmental growth while at the same time embolden membership through sufficient environments for equal growth. I was enlightened by one mentor that exclaimed his leadership success was measured by making subordinates smarter than he. I soon subscribed to the enduring advice, regardless of the situation I found myself.
Leaders in an executive role may exercise authority or power of authority in a free and pluralistic society consisting of members who choose to follow through no single code of ethics but several sets of values emanating from a variety of cultures and subcultures (Ortmeier & Meese, 2010). Leadership is about influencing and motivating, and therefore as a motivator the ethical leader should seek to fit the individual member to the environment for the greater good of the organization. Leaders may find any percentage of the membership being led discover sanctuary in a comfortable old pair of slippers and find no reason to move out of the comfort zone they currently occupy. Leaders must be capable of showing the membership what’s in it for me. The greater the change the greater what’s in it for me must be.
Good vs. Evil Intent
Manipulation Leadership in a perfect world is motivation by bending people’s pathway so they head toward a predetermined outcome. I, at times bend the intended paths of others for noble reasons (Yes I can be an ethical manipulator, I think!) and at times I have been accused with ill-intent (like for selfish gain). Either way, I was seeking to redirect the will of others. These often are referred to as directing, structuring or focusing behaviors (Zigarmi, Blanchard, O’Conner, & Edeburn, 2005).
Manipulation of others may be viewed as coercive, deceptive, or self-serving by followers while at the same time might be considered by the leader as fair, motivational, purposeful, humble and honorable. However, any leadership practice that increases another’s sense of self-determination, self-confidence, and personal effectiveness is practicing empowerment creating an atmosphere for success (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). Leadership has always involved politics (Gardner, 1990) and requires an ethical leader who possesses the philosophical and moral foundation for decision making (Ortmeier & Meese, 2010).
The motives to influence/motivate/manipulate (interactive/co-existent terms) others, I have labeled honorable, for the good of the organization or increasing the ability of the member(s) of the organization through the integration of discretionary decision making, legitimacy of action and accountability. The antitheses of honorable are the unethical leaders that are deceitful, inconsistent, misplace and break loyalties and are irresponsible and generally self-serving (Ortmeier & Meese, 2010). It should be sufficiently clear as differing models are offered for the good of the order require members to embrace and understand the purpose. Problematic is whether the intentions of leaders are viewed by members as honorable.
The problem is that many are terribly challenged when it comes time to withdraw from this type of manipulation and equally challenged when it is so easy to use it for self-serving purposes. When exercising manipulative leadership it is too easy to be drawn into the Authoritarian Leader/Coercive Leader-People styles. That is to say task oriented leadership at each level of an organization subjects followers (perhaps autocratic) to a toxic environment.
Thus leaving little or no allowance for cooperation or collaboration. Heavily task oriented modes depict leaders as: very strong on schedules; expect people to do what they are told without question or debate; when something goes wrong leaders would tend to focus on who is to blame rather than concentrate on exactly what is wrong and how to prevent it from reoccurring. Intolerant leaders of dissent may fail to observe matters requiring attention or deserving of executive resources. Thus, making it difficult for subordinates to contribute or develop.
Bottom line, the latter trap which is easy to fall into as a result of manipulation inhibits human growth of self and community and is easily satisfying to the leader when the only purpose is to provide statistics rather than promote change and growth and develop an atmosphere of growth. Personal and organizational ethics is now in question and it takes introspection and often times humiliation to snap back to a more transformational style. I have grown from this mode, but it is maintenance heavy to remain free from autocratic styles when it is so easy to do.
Members today are not looking for the leader that leads by use of clichés or pop phrases that may be appropriate for marketing a brand. Members would rather deal with honesty in the workplace. The fact is many if not most members will understand downturns and setbacks in the workplace and will often have good ideas for a resolve, temporary and long term, but the leader must listen. The member is looking for the leader that will make a decision, not a rash decision but a just decision based on the facts available. The greatest compliment that one can pay another is to listen.
A few salient points to consider at this juncture is that members keep score differently than the leader and not everyone wants to be involved; in fact, some do not even know they are playing. The key here is to keep members in the game prior to a catastrophic development, and it will make decisions easier, not without pain, but easier. This does not constitute luck in an organization, but rather concrete actions taken by a leader when creating an environment for growth and development for the members, a process for communications, and a leader that can walk the walk if he/she has talked the talk. Keeping the member a viable component of the group affects the odds of success. Finally, to this point leadership should not be afraid to have conversations.
Confidence
Dr. Norman Vincent Peele (1952) published his book, The Power of Positive Thinking. An important take away in his works is the theme of not accepting defeat, how to make oneself at peace in thought and health. This, in short, was a thesis in confidence building. Confidence is a trait that provides strength somewhere near or part of the vertebral column (human backbone). Confidence requires knowledge of what is expected of the leader, how to accomplish goals, how to build coalitions, and how to overcome the fear to practice in your role.
Building one growth activity on another continues the building blocks of confidence. Confidence is not innate nor instinctive and requires continuous practice. Equally significant in this portion of our conversation is the fear of mistakes. Get rid of the fear. This does not mean intentionally make mistakes, but when they occur use the following scenario, “Mess up, Fess Up, Fix it up, and Move on!” In other words, when it is discovered a mistake is made, admit it. Move swiftly as appropriate to fix the mistake, take advantage of transparency internally and externally to the organization, and tell those interested how or what is being done to remedy the situation. Do not lie!
This is especially true to the media. If a leader lies and is caught, the personal and organizational integrity is shot. A lie puts a one day story on life support and will come back to haunt the author(s) infinitely. Mistakes are inevitable, after all we are only human, but do not dwell on the things that you did poorly. Learn from them; life provides little lesson along its path to make you better as a person and as a leader. Take advantage of it. By the way, did you notice I did not make a reference to lies and the 2018 oval office dweller?
ABILITY-I have generally found this characteristic in three venues: ability, motivation and attitude. Ability is what one is capable of doing, motivation will determine what one will do, and attitude will determine how well one will perform the task at hand (leader and member).
Character
An unequivocal asset of leaders is character as asserted by President Theodore Roosevelt, “I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character! Character can best be described through three main attributes. These are trust, integrity, and courage.
The head of an agency must be engaging, but with the disposition and moral fiber that leaves no doubt regarding the ability to perform above community standards. Briefly let us revisit standards. Standards establish minimums and once achieved with no effort to reach beyond this point creates mediocrity. I have always entered each of my tenures as the leader with the paramount belief that we begin at excellence and move collectively toward perfection. This has guided me well and with deep conviction and confidence it will provide the needed road map for most organizations to succeed. This laundry list of talents illustrated in this appraisal is best couched in a single term, character. The subsequent prerequisites develop the character of a person but a leader exploits them.
Trust/Integrity
A literature review provides terms such as trust, integrity, and honesty that are often used interchangeably yet they are different although similarly situated. Trust is an expectation of another to the point of predictability, a dependence or reliance upon a person or method that seems to ensure compliance and steadfastness; whereas honesty concentrates more on the sincerity, candor, openness, frankness and truth in both actions and words of the agency and of its leader. Trust and honesty may then ascribe to one’s integrity that is veracity, truth, and reliability.
Frequently throughout the literature the terms boss and leader are also inexplicably intermingled providing the allusion as being one in the same. Actually, for this purpose in this dialogue that could not be further from the truth. The boss resides in a manager mentality. This in comparison to the leader signifying a more experimental state of mind. A manager is more reliant upon rules and regulations to guide the day, more rigid and often thought of as the straw boss to get strategic goals accomplished. In this context, the boss and bully are also similar in nature as they both may be considered a tormenter, intimidator, and tyrant. On the other hand, the leader takes innovation, experiment, creativity, adding in a splash of empathy with flexibility to create the vision and in this framework the leader is neither aloof nor detached from member or community (Burns, 1978; Kotter, 1990; Hickman, 1990; Bass, 1985; Kouzes, & Posner, 1987; and Zalesnik, 1997).
Integrity is a key component for leadership and without it the organization may be led in the wrong direction. For example, the tragic collapse of Enron resulting from a total lack of integrity and ethics. A once thriving company ended with over 14,000 employees losing their pensions that at one time the retirement 401k account worth billions (based on company stock) in the end was worth less than $10,000 (McLean, & Elkind, 2003).
Warren Bennis maintains that trust/integrity is the emotional glue that holds an organization together. Integrity and trust, simply put if you talk the talk, can you walk the walk. Leaders that concentrate on others in most occasions will not dwell on self-granulation. Leaders prefer self-understanding. The discussion of building relationships began in the previous chapters is carried on in understanding leadership traits and will appear frequently in forthcoming chapters.
Determination
Determination sharpens focus. This trait will often provide a road map for completing ones mission. A determined leader is a tenacious leader. He/she are steadfast in decision making. In the face of obstacles they will find a resolve. In planning they will demand flexibility. Goal setting and satisfying objectives requires meaningful outcomes that are within the capability of the organization. A determined leader will not sacrifice tomorrow on meaningless traditions that may be outdated. Traditions that have gotten the group to a place may be relegated to historical posterity rather than confusing contemporary tasks at hand.
Determined leaders have the capability of creating a vision and leading the organization to that vision (Drucker, 2006). Within the determined leader resides clarity of purpose, command of focus, ability to validate goals, assiduous care of surroundings, and the ability to consistently articulate the vision.
This section does not interpret decision making as once a decision is made you cannot change. Bunk! Not all decisions are correct. Not all decisions are delivered with a ten year warranty. Although, followers do expect some continuity from the decision maker, some form of predictability, and some measure of tolerance toward mistakes. This does not mean a determined leader should not hold those that surround she/he accountable. A determined leader does not forbid flexibility.
Courage
A trait often extolled and highly publicized as a virtue in political campaigns, but frequently ignored as an office holder, is that of courage. Personal courage is required at each level of responsibility within an organization in order to ensure compliance. The lack of personal courage often results in low self-confidence or passing the buck. Administrative courage is in making difficult decisions without passing the buck.
Courage is required at every level within the group. This requires courage during hiring processes, during the training phase, probation periods, management and executive training, during field operation, courage to admit mistakes, and especially in the front office from the high seat of authority within the organization. Unfortunately, the antics that can be viewed in the highest office of this country perceive the front office chair as a throne rather than the intended purpose. Although, some would consider this appropriate behavior as indicated by an election. Oh dear, is this another Presidential reference. Well, I told you the oval office simply provides too many examples to forego in this discussion.
A risk taker and innovator must be courageous in establishing goals and seeing those goals satisfied. Goals then are planned steps to measure progress in order to competently bridge the gap from tradition through change; it is essential to translate program goals and values into the organizations work ethic.
Loyalty and Credibility
For an extended period of time in the history of company loyalty, it may have been achieved through birth right. This means by virtue of a parent working for a company may have provided an employment opportunity to an offspring. Not unheard of for decades was entire families immersed within a certain factory, mine, or public organizations. Since then companies and family members have realized downsizing, right sizing, and job transfers (shipping jobs abroad). Also, technology advances introducted human free assembly lines now taking advantage of robotics. Certainly, company loyalty required retooling.
Leaders that demand absolute loyalty may disregard credibility as a necessity in leadership. Members are not loyal to your organization. They are loyal to a vision, a mission, and organizational values. Dr. Pamela Brill (2004) in her book “The Winners Way,” loyalty is developed through means other than money, however money is good. She contends that member recognition is critical to developing loyalty. Recognizing members and their work adds value to the organization and to the member permitting the member to observe their worth in the organization. Leaders need to celebrate successes and achievements regardless of the member role. This method of saying thank you recognizes the value of people’s work and their roles, and is particularly healthy if distributed daily rather than an annual ceremony.
Humanizing Relationships Top Down
Successful Fortune 500 companies have entertained this concept for decades. Leaders that lead by example generally work harder than others, live the company values and understand the impact of simple terms. CEO’s that build relationships with the membership further trust down the road of credibility. However, credibility should not be considered synonymous with honesty, albeit they are not mutually exclusive. Honesty is a quality of being honest. Credible is more often associated with terms such as trustworthy, reliable, sincere, dependable, convincing, and realistic to name a few. Terms that become part of daily conversations from within contain thank you, you are important, I trust you, I care about as an example, have stimulated subordinates to live the company line. The effective leader develops the culture of concern and atmosphere of change, empathy, creativity, and demonstrating the importance of each member.
Charisma/Sociability
According to Northouse (2018) “charisma refers to a leader’s special magnetic charm and appeal, and can have huge effects on the leadership process” (p.24). The true charismatic and ethical leader is fashioned from a set of assumptions relating to a leader and the association. Charismatic leaders are influential and inspirational to others, generally based on a genuine concern for the organization led (Ciulla, 1995).
On the other hand, sociability is the capacity to engage and develop pleasant social relationships. An extrovert may find it easier to be sociable than those that choose to work alone. This trait provides avenues for cohesiveness displaying kindness, friendly, and thoughtful of others. These traits are not restricted to a leader in an organization. Members identified with these traits can prove useful to move the group forward. This may be further explored in discussing the informal leader.
Effective leaders are required to understand its membership. Understanding where they are currently situated and knowing where they need to go is paramount for building an efficient organization. One aspect of gaining this understanding is the understanding of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence (EI) revolves around one’s ability to identify and appreciate how one’s emotion fits in that particular function or association. Everyone enjoys a different personality. In order for emotional intelligence to be impacting a leader/follower must recognize their own emotions. They must be able to interpret the emotions and how they are impacting those around them. Particularly, a leader must identify feelings of others and develop individually crafted strategies to deal with external emotions (Dearborn, 2002). These may involve harnessing emotions (personal and member) and applying them to task at hand, and filling the gaps in others’ emotions to aid in propping them up. Guiding EI is geared more toward regulating rather than motivating. The following link provides greater information relative to EI.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-personality-analyst/200909/what-emotional-intelligence-is-and-is-not
Innovation and Creativity
I subscribe to the theory that, “Without a past, you can have no future.” The problem with our traditional bureaucratic public safety organizations is today’s leaders have a death grip on tradition and fail to see past the industrial era of management styles. The traditional leadership and management strategies are crushing creativity under their own weight, (Stage & Dean, 2000). It has been my experience that innovation and creativity do not emerge from the ivory tower of headquarters, but rather from the rank and file members performing the daily tasks. Kouzes & Posner, (2007 maintain, “Innovation requires more listening and communications than does routine work (p. 177).” This point is discussed at greater length in previous communications sections.
The industrial era of leadership was designed for the purpose of getting the information flow in one direction; downward and required little if any response. Within the profession, very much like the psychotherapy and counseling arena, the police have responded to a body of “expert knowledge” and qualification that were well guarded by the profession for the profession and not to be shared (Totten, 1999). Once a paradigm has been established the scientist enhances their reputations by writing journal articles that are addressed only to colleagues within the profession (Kuhn, 1996).
Albeit leadership is a continuum of traits that have been perfected over time to meet the needs of local, state, national, and multi-national organizations. Many traits of the past remain an expectation of contemporary leaders. Although former traits are brought forward, I submit that added to the mix is authenticity, innovation, creativity, imagination, flexibility, and futuristic planning. Perhaps a 20 year plan is now strategic rather than long-range. Furthermore, the powers to be had little time for any input outside the organization; fatal to contemporary demands for innovation and creativity. It is critical to stay in touch with internal and external fabricators of organizational cultures in order to be a change agent (Kouzes & Posner, 2007).
The successful innovative leader must be caring, sharing, and open to all ideas as described in the preceding as well as possessing the ability to work in teams, be creative and have a keen ability to forecast and move without hesitation. Albert Einstein defined insanity as “Doing the same thing over and over again over and over again and expecting change.”
Change Agents
If one is uncomfortable with change they are going to be mighty uncomfortable the remainder of their life! A change agent or change centered leadership style subscribes to intuitive and creative juices of the membership and leadership in conjunction with power motivated for the right reasons, foreseeing the urgency for change and meeting those demands through swift and thoughtful decisions (Andersen, 2000). Critical to this style is the development of the group members and a strong relationship between leader and follower (Andersen, 2000). Succession planning is a process in trouble. Selecting the right members for executive education requires deeper attention to existing rosters of organizations and selection of future leaders in cooperation with new vision (Haskins & Shaffer, 2010).
Clemmer, (1999) asserts “Searching for stability and predictability can be one way we resist change. Stability is when everything is settled (p. 10).” The effective change agent requires perceptive acuity that addresses the future as well as the current time frame. The leader that is capable of addressing current and future needs must simultaneously provide the “what’s in it for me” member answers as well as the roadmap of how to achieve change.
Change agents generally have to cope with the killer phrases demonstrated in any discussion of change. These are “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” “we tried that and it didn’t work,” or “Let the next guy change it, I’m happy where I am.” True change agents generally first have a base interest in motivation.
The change agent is one who understands where the organization is required to head and how to put it on the correct footing toward that change. More so, this person recognizes where the organization is required to head in terms of identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the group (personnel and organizational traits), and can convey them in relationships of development rather than elimination. Goals are then the short term measures to meeting overall objective and mission. How can leaders motivate members to be part of the change? What motivates you?
Politically Savvy
Stop! Think for a moment and answer this question: When was the last time you had a conversation about politics in your organization? Maybe, just minutes before you began your last task. Ok, I get it you do not want to admit it in front of anyone. So, when was the last time you gave any thought to your organizational politics? Regardless of where you are situated or the type of organization you may be affiliated, I say with some certainty that in the last day or two you had this type of conversation. What you need to examine is was it a positive or negative exercise?
Politics in an organization are created for several reasons such as to move an organization forward through development of the hierarchy, placing future leaders in the proper tracks for training and promotion, and permitting the organization to operate with a certain level playing field for those involved to name a few. Obvious to me is that most leaders having reached the pinnacle of the leadership spectrum probably have not noticed new rules have formed around him or her, and unbeknownst to the leader, and are changing as we speak. In my observation, there exist two main blocks preventing the membership from forming a firm understanding of the political landscape within his/her organization. They are the rationale argument and the moral argument. These arguments are not really arguments but merely excuses conjured up to provide a fallback position in order to save face and frankly they are Bunk!
The rational argument most likely will follow along the lines that the technical merit should speak for itself; while the moral argument meanders along that it is not right to be manipulative and play political games. The latter argument should immediately be recognized as false, particularly for anyone with siblings growing up. You have been manipulative at each turn of your childhood journey to gain an advantage. This manipulative development will vary with each generation category. The rational argument seems to have some value, but really! Who in their right mind would proffer a concept, idea, or argument in favor of something without merit? I submit these stale and fashionably objectionable concepts are for those that have not committed to the political game. Deserving of examination is simply this, what is the political style in your group or organization?
When was the last time you had a discussion of the organizational politics within your organization? If you have had that conversation with any of your cohorts then what were some of the terms that came up in the conversation. Perhaps, they were similar to: back stabbing, brown nose, and bootlicker, style over substance, manipulative, hidden agenda, and good old boy network, under the table deals, turf war, or testosterone overload. I am confident that if in fact that conversation did occur most if not all of these terms were present and probably some new ones stolen from your kids.
Is it Strategy or Luck?
The political savvy leader develops his/her knowledge of the environment at the same time he/she is creating the environment. This notion goes hand in glove with the communications process of the organization (discussed in detail in preceding chapters). I submit more succinctly that organizations reflect the style of those that lead them. The ethically centered leaders that developed their style, both leadership and communication, through clear, unambiguous, transparent, and positive fashion is more likely to have the ear and thought process of the organization members.
Members today are not looking for the leader that leads by use of clichés or pop phrases essential for establishing a brand. As previously stated, the member would rather deal with honesty in the workplace. Organizational members are not stupid people. They have realized downturns in personal life. They get it, but don’t lie to them. Remember a leader that leads from confidence doesn’t have to be 100% correct 100% of the time, but must have the right reasons for doing what he/she does. Leaders that listen will conjure up the courage and build trust among members at the same time. You cannot be perfect 100% of the time, but the one time you’re required to be perfect, you had better show up. The greatest compliment that one can pay another is to listen.
A few salient points to consider at this juncture is that members keep score differently than the leader and not everyone wants to be involved. In fact, some do not even know they are playing. To reiterate, the key here is to keep members in the game prior to a catastrophic development, and it will make decisions easier; not without pain, but easier. This does not constitute luck in an organization, but rather concrete actions taken by a leader when creating an environment for growth and development for the members, a process for communications, and a leader that can walk the walk if he/she has talked the talk. Keeping individual members a viable component of the group has an impact on the odds of success. Finally to this point, leadership should not be afraid to have conversations with its members about the political style of the leader and the organization.
Finally, a significant take-a-way from this chapter is the aforementioned prerequisites develop the character of a person and a leader exploits them!