leadership

LeadershipLeadershipManuel E. ContrerasSocial Development Institute

Inter-American Development Bank June, 2005

“Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth”

James MacGregor Burns (1978)

New framework: Everyone is responsible

Heroic vs. post heroic leadership(Bradford & Cohen, 1998)

Heroic Leadership Post-Heroic Leadership

Traditional framework: Leader is responsible

Direction

Shared responsibility

team

Mutual influence

ManagementGroup

Downward influence

Tangible vision

Leader andmemberscreate

Leadercreates

Conferred power to performa service

AuthorityAuthority (Heifetz, 1994)

1. Authority is given and can be taken away

2. Authority is conferred as part of an exchange

Formal and Informal Authority Formal and InformalFormal and Informal AuthorityAuthorityFormal Authority: comes with various powers of the office and it is granted because the office holder promises to meet a set of explicit expectations (job descriptions, legislated mandates, etc.).Informal Authority: rests on trust and comes with “the power to influence attitude or behavior beyond compliance.”Trust: Predictability on values and skills.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Formal Authority

InformalAuthority

CredibilityTrust

RespectAdmiration

Importance andrelevance of the position

SOURCES OF POSITIONALPOWER

Formal authorityRelevanceCentralityAutonomyVisibility

SOURCES OF PERSONAL POWERExpertise

Track recordAttractiveness

Effort

Adapted from Hill (1994)

AuthorityAuthorityAuthority

Social functions of authority:Direction and sense of purposeProtectionOrder:

Roles and responsibilitiesConflict resolution mechanism and cohesion Norms

(Heifetz, 1994)

Adaptive LeadershipAdaptive LeadershipAdaptive Leadership

Mobilize people to face their problems and their painful decisions so that they learn new ways of being.Mobilization implies to motivate, organize, orient and focus attention.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Adaptive LeadershipAdaptive LeadershipAdaptive LeadershipThe final objective of leadership is to confront difficult problems that require the clarification of values and the generation of progress.The measurement of leadership is the progress in the solution of problems. Communities achieve this progress because people who exercise leadership challenge them and help them in the process.There is a joint responsibility.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Technical ProblemsTechnicalTechnical ProblemsProblems“The necessarry knowledge about them already has been digested and put in the form of a legitimized set of known organizational procedures guiding what to do and role authorizations guiding who should do it.”

(Heifetz, 1994)

Adaptative ProblemAdaptativeAdaptative ProblemProblemNo adequate response has yet been No adequate response has yet been developed. They require developed. They require learninglearning to to overcome the conflicts in values, or overcome the conflicts in values, or reduce the gap between the espoused reduce the gap between the espoused values and reality.values and reality.They require changes in They require changes in values, attitudes values, attitudes or habits of behavior.or habits of behavior.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Distinguishing Technical from Adaptive Challenges Distinguishing Technical from Distinguishing Technical from Adaptive ChallengesAdaptive Challenges

What’s the Work?

Who does the work?

Technical Apply current know-how

Authorities

Adaptive Learn new ways

The people with the problem

(Heifetz and Linsky, 2002)

Technical and Adaptive Problems TechnicalTechnical andand AdaptiveAdaptive ProblemsProblems

When we face an adaptive problem and we treat it as technical one and we turn to authority figures to produce technical solutions we develop inadequate dependencies (maladaptive behavior).

(Heifetz, 1994)

Disequilibrium and work evasion Disequilibrium and work Disequilibrium and work evasionevasion

To exercise leadership one must overcome the work evasion mechanisms and help people learn despite their resistance.

Leadership requires that one regulate the level of stress and the pace of learning at a rhythm within a range that people can tolerate.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Common mechanisms of work avoidance Common mechanisms of work Common mechanisms of work avoidanceavoidance

Hold on to the past.Blame the authority figures.Find a scapegoat.Deny the problem.Draw conclusions too quickly.Use a distraction.

(Heifetz, 1994)

How to control the heatHow to control the heatHow to control the heatRaise the temperature

Draw attention to tough questionsGive people more responsibility than they are comfortable withBring conflict to the surfaceProtect dissenting voices

Lower the temperatureAddress the technical aspects of the problemEstablish a structure for the problem-solving processTemporarily reclaim responsibility for tough issuesEmploy work avoidance mechanismsSlow down the process of challenging norms and expectations

(Heifetz and Linsky, 2002)

Leadership with authorityLeadership with authority

Authority as a resourceAuthority as a resourceAuthority as a resource

1. Managing the holding environment2. Directing attention3. Testing reality4. Managing information and framing

issues5. Orchestrating conflicting perspectives6. Choosing the decision making process

(Heifetz, 1994)

Strategic principlesStrategic principlesStrategic principles1. Get on the balcony.2. Identify the adaptive challenge.3. Regulate distress.4. Maintain disciplined attention and prevent

work avoidance.5. Give the work back to the people.6. Protect leadership from below.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Get on the balconyGet on the balconyGet on the balcony

Leadership is both active and reflective. One must alternate between participating and observing.

Take perspectiveDevelop capacity to distinguish the patternsDon’t be swept away by the music!

(Heifetz, 1994)

Identify the adaptive challenge Identify the adaptive Identify the adaptive challengechallenge

Is it a technical or adaptive problem?Readjustments on basic routines or new ways to proceed?What are the values, beliefs or attitudes that need to change?What sacrifices must be made and by whom?

(Heifetz, 1994)

Regulate distressRegulate distressRegulate distress

Balance between tension necessary for change and being overwhelmed by changeHolding environmentOrchestrate the sequence and rate of changeModified social function of authority

(Heifetz, 1994)

Adaptive Work Calls for Leadership (Or walking on the razor’s edge) (Heifetz and Laurie, 1998)

Adaptive Work Calls for LeadershipAdaptive Work Calls for Leadership (Or walking on the razor(Or walking on the razor’’s edge) s edge) (Heifetz and Laurie, 1998)

Responsibilities SituationTechnical or Routine Adaptive

Direction Authority defines problems and solutions

Authority identifies the adaptive challenges, frames key questions, issues and solutions.

Protection Authority shields the organization from external threats

Authority lets the organization feel external pressure within a range it can stand

Orientation Authority clarifies roles and responsibilities

Authority disorients current roles or resists pressure to orient people in new roles prematurely

Controlling Conflict Authority restores order Authority exposes conflict or lets it emerge

Shaping Norms Authority maintains norms Authority challenges unproductive norms or allows them to be challenged

Regulate distressRegulate distressRegulate distress

Poise and tolerance: Control changeEmotional capacity to tolerate uncertainty, frustration and pain

(Heifetz, 1994)

Maintain disciplined attentionMaintain disciplined attentionMaintain disciplined attention

Allow people to face difficult alternatives in terms of values, procedures, operating styles and power Uncover conflicts to use them as sources of creativity Limit work avoidance

(Heifetz, 1994)

Giving the work back to the people Giving the work back to the Giving the work back to the peoplepeople

Achieve that people assume greater responsibilitiesDevelop the collective trust in oneself

(Heifetz, 1994)

Protecting leadership from below Protecting leadership from Protecting leadership from belowbelow

For organizations to learn, everybody must be able to express their opinionThese opinions can create disequilibrium--one must resist the temptation to quiet them to restore equilibrium.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Protecting leadership from below Protecting leadership from Protecting leadership from belowbelow

Protect those who put the internal contradictions of the organization on the table

What are they really talking about?Is there something we are missing?

(Heifetz, 1994)

Losing balanceLosing balanceLosing balanceAuthority limits the exercise of leadership because in times of disequilibrium and distress people expect too much and develop inadequate dependencies.

Whoever puts forward delicate issues runs the risk of being sacrificed. It is in periods of disequilibrium that there is a greater urgency to find answers, and the need for leadership from those in authority is even greater.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Losing balanceLosing balanceLosing balanceIf authority figures reinforce that dependency and fool themselves thinking they have answers that they do not have, they are not complying well with their role. They will give technical solutions to adaptive problems that will generate work avoidance and hamper progress.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Management vs. LeadershipManagement vs. Leadership

Management and Leadership according to Kotter (1998) Management and Leadership Management and Leadership according to Kotter according to Kotter (1998)

Management Leadership

• Coping with complexity • Coping with change:Promotion and mangmt.

• Planning and budgeting • Setting a direction: visionand strategies forachieving it

• Organizing and staffing • Aligning people:communicating vision

• Controlling and problemsolving

• Motivating and inspiring

Ronald Heifetz’s reply:Ronald HeifetzRonald Heifetz’’s reply:s reply:“In short, the prevailing notion that leadership consists of having a vision and aligning people with that vision is bankrupt because it continues to treat adaptive situations as if they were technical: the authority figure is supposed to divine where the company is going, and people are supposed to follow. Leadership is reduced to a combination of grand knowing and salesmanship.”

(Heifetz and Laurie, 1998)

Staying aliveStaying aliveSelf-knowledge and self-discipline form the foundations for staying alive.

Heifetz and Linsky, 2002

AssassinationAssassinationAssassination

Leadership is dangerous because the stresses of adaptive work can be severe.People exercising authority are always failing somebody.Persons exercising leadership and authority figures get attacked, dismissed, silenced and sometimes assassinated because they come to represent loss, real or imagined, of the members of the community as a result of adaptive work.

(Heifetz, 1994)

The temptation for martyrdomThe temptation for martyrdomThe temptation for martyrdom“Exercising leadership, people often are drawn to taking courageous stands. Indeed, leadership may require willingness to die. Sometimes, however, people confuse courage with the temptation of martyrdom.”

“Martyrdom does not arise from the nature of the martyr’s person or acts alone. It derives from the meaning people give to him/her and his/her acts. Martyrdom is a role created by the community.”

(Heifetz, 1994)

The temptation for martyrdomThe temptation for martyrdomThe temptation for martyrdom

“ … Martyrdom is a role reserved for

charismatic authorities who are assassinated

in the service of their cause.”

(Heifetz, 1994)

CharismaCharismaCharismaWe attribute charisma to those that express our pain and give us hope, and we don't understand that the source of their charisma is our own longing.

Charisma derives not only from the attitudes of those people and their devotion to the cause, but also from the fact that the community has invested power and hope in them.

(Heifetz, 1994)

Personal challengePersonal challengePersonal challenge

Internal discipline to contain the personal tensions that leadership causes.The role/self distinction.Partners: confidants and allies.Listening: Using oneself as data.Finding a Sanctuary.Preserving a sense of purpose

“the capacity to find the values that make risk-taking meaningful.”

(Heifetz, 1994)

Final reflectionsFinal Final reflectionsreflectionsThe exercise of leadership is a voluntaryactivity.Thus, it’s a time bound intervention: its episodic.It is oriented by the task of carrying out adaptive work.It implies asking questions more than providing answers.

Final reflections (cont.)Final Final reflectionsreflections ((cont.cont.))It requires good questions and the willingness to sustain uncertainty.The heart of the strategy is to center people’s attention in complex and difficult issues instead of in distractions.In light of the above, one can exercise leadership form any position.Its development requires a learning strategy.

"The true journey of discoverydoes not consist in searching for new territoriesbut in having new eyes.”

Marcel Proust

BibliographyBibliographyBibliographyBradford, D.I. and A.R. Cohen (1998 ) Power up: Transforming Organizations Through Shared Leadership. New York: John Wiley &Sons.

Heifetz, Ronald A. (1994) Leadership without easy answers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Heifetz, R.A. and D.L. Laurie (1998). “The work of leadership.” Harvard Business Review on Leadership. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press.

Heifetz, R. A. and M. Linsky (2002) Leadership on the line. Staying alive through the dangers of leading. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Hill, L. (1994). “Power Dynamics in Organizations.” Note HBB No. 494-083. Harvard Business School.

Kotter, J.P. (1998) “What leaders really do.” Harvard Business Review on Leadership. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press.

MacGregor Burns, J. (1978) Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.