Understanding leadershipNovember 20, 2015

Understanding leadership – Part 10: The influence of leaders

I believe debate on decluttering structures and new HR approaches would advance more easily if leaders' influence were better understood. When we discuss how hierarchical leadership may be, how much freedom employees need and what skills the "new leader" must have, we should be clear what we mean by leadership. I will not offer the 101st definition; we each have our own view, there are no patent recipes, and leadership success depends on how much influence employees grant. Unlike mere superiors, leaders have always been "elected" by their people. Below I examine how leaders exercise influence. We can identify three basic spheres of influence, more or less present in every leadership situation:

Superior
Partner in social relationships
Shaper of structures and corporate culture

The animation below summarises these spheres. I revisit these spheres in light of "digital transformation", "democratisation" and "Work 4.0":

1. Superior

As superiors, leaders act within hierarchy on positional power; they are placed before employees and more or less ensure work gets done. Almost all leaders start here; many stay there for life. How they use the role—discretion granted or rule-bound compliance—is left aside here. As superiors they are part of management and share responsibility for success, deciding under uncertainty within formal company rules. Unlike much current "digital transformation" hype, I do not believe the superior role should be abolished entirely. Experience—and every "democratic" company I know—shows that in a market economy hierarchy and legitimate power ultimately steer organisations, whatever the label. The superior role does not belong on history's scrapheap but should be reflected on and reassessed. That poses challenges for HRM and OD: integrating the superior role into democratisation visions; elections and which modes work; whether talent tools suffice; new aspects of good management.

2. Partner in social relationships

Superiors become leaders when employees, peers, bosses and clients value them as partners and work constructively on shared goals. In social relations all parties mutually "construct" each other (see post 9). Leadership becomes the interplay of leading and being led, with mutual dependence. Good leaders build productive informal ties: trust, development, coaching, orientation. They handle power carefully without avoiding it—they are agile players in ubiquitous micropolitics. What may be new is lifting the "we all love each other and work is such fun" veil over transformation talk and facing realities we all bow to. OD can help: how micropolitics works in firms and increasingly in social networks, how values are lived, how to meet new social and micropolitical challenges—not by inventing rules but giving people space and resources to reflect on their (leadership) role and connect beyond networks (peer consultation, job rotation, etc.).

3. Shaper of structures and culture

As superiors and as social partners, leaders work within existing structures and culture and must align action accordingly. Through participation or passivity they always shape the company—whether aware or not. Good leaders often fail when ideas hit structures or clash with prevailing philosophy. Leaders are natural change agents. OD must address them as actors of change. No board alone transforms a company, however charismatic. Concepts are easy; pilots need not scale. Lasting change needs breadth: leaders with employees must drive change in line, matrix or project work—not overnight rush jobs but slow engagement with the old system and alliances. Leaders must learn to plug in and spread messages "virally"; OD must equip them. Micropolitical strategies must leave the shadows and serve democratisation.

Next posts: organisational leadership

The next four posts explore organisational leadership: how management and work organisation shape leadership understanding; Taylorism and division of labour still in many leaders' thinking; bureaucracy's origins; change in public administration and non-profits.

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