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An Effective

Leadership Model for

Africa's Development

Building Leadership Capacity in Public, Private and Civil Society

Sector Organisations

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Development-aligned Objectives

Join us and help us make this dream a reality

Our commitment…

1. Make 21st century, Africa’s century

2. Establish African democracy

3. Competent, ethical leadership

4. Reconstruction and reconciliation

5. Leadership advocacy and dialogue

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Basic Basic

Inter- Inter-mediate mediate

Advanced Advanced

Management

Leadership

Integrated Leadership Development ModelIntegrated Leadership Development Model

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Fundamental Concepts

The Great Man Leadership Model

Traditional Leadership Institution and Model

Cohabitational Leadership Model

Black Doughnut Leadership Model

Constellational Leadership Model

Binary leadership Model

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3000 BC• Having invented irrigation, the city, the corporation and writing, Sumer (Mesopotamia)

added professional solders and hereditary kings

• The kings moved out of temples and into palaces of their own, where they forged

personal links with divinity, claiming godly status by virtue of descent from heaven, a

notion that would appear in many cultures and endure into modern times as divine

right

• With kingship came new uses of writing: dynastic history and propaganda, the

exaltation of a single individual

History and Evolution

Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004

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2500 BC…The days of collective landholding by city and corporation were gone

The fields now belonged to lords and great families

The Sumerian populace became serfs and slavecroppers

Beneath them was a permanent underclass of slaves – a feature of Western

civilisation that would last until the 19th Century after Christ

History and Evolution

Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004

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States arrogate to themselves the power of coercive violence:

- The right to crack the whip

- Execute prisoners

- Send young men to battlefield

From this stems the venomous bloom - the black flower of civilisation i.e.

- Torture

- Wrongful imprisonment

- Violence for display

- The forging of might into right

History and Evolution

Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004

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History and Evolution The ideal of the leader as provider and the wealthy as open-handed has survived

for centuries and can be traced in many languages to the present

Our word ‘lord’ comes from the Old English hlaford or ‘loafward’ – he who

guarded the bread supply – and was expected to share it

The Inca title qhapaq meant ‘munifiencet’ – someone who gathers wealth in but

also redistributes it

The Incas emperor ‘wakchakuyaq’ cared for the bereft

In Hawai, chiefs were warned by their elders against hoarding food or goods –

‘the hands of Arii must always be open – on this rest your prestige’

Of Chinese emperors it was said that their first duty was to feed their people

And in Africa…

Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004

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Bertolt Breecht - the Poet wrote…

The books are filled with names of kings

Was it kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?

Young Alexander conquered India

He alone?

Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004

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The Command-and-Control Leadership Model

It simply doesn’t work in all situations

Alone at the helm

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12…winner takes all….

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Perspectives on Theory and Practice

• The Great Man Leadership Model

– It is most documented yet least researched model

– It has evolved into the most dominant mechanism for organising

and running organised life across the public, private and civil

society sectors

– It has had phenomenal impact in shaping society and the

institutions that support it

– It has spawned many different concepts, language, traditions etc

– Examples of characterisations of aspects of the model

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Tide is turning against the ‘T-Rex’ Approach

• The Single Authority leadership approach has also produced

spectacular failures

• These failures have provoked global backlash against leaders

and top management

• The tide has finally turned against the leadership few and their

tendency to sideline those operating outside the ‘executive’ team

• This is most welcome break for tradition-bound African societies

whose leadership DNA is based on collaboration, consultation

and open accountability

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Modern Periods: Leadership Theories

Based on the ‘Great Man’ Leadership Theory1. Trait theories

2. Behavioural theories

3. Contingency theories

4. Fiedler’s LPC Model

5. Path-Goal Theory

6. Vroom-Yetton Model

7. Graen’s Dyad Model

8. Charismatic Leadership Model

9. Transformational Leadership Model

Types of Problems

Situation Problemdefinition

Type I

Primary locus of responsibility for the work

Situation and implementation

Clear

Kind of work

Clear

Type III Requires learning

Requires learning

MechanicDoctor

Technical(Recurrent)

AdaptiveLeader and Team

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Current Trends in Leadership Theories

Based on Collective or Distributive Leadership Theory• Traditional or Collective Leadership Theory

• Collaborative Leadership Model

• Adaptive Leadership ModelTM

• Constellational Leadership ModelTM

• Binary Leadership ModelTM

• Community of Mutual Reciprocity Leadership ModelTM

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Collaborative Leadership• Collective leadership

• Distributive leadership

• Adaptive leadership

…the art of getting fulfilling work done with others….

Types of Problems

Situation Problemdefinition

Type I

Primary locus of responsibility for the work

Situation and implementation

Clear

Kind of work

Clear

Type III Requires learning

Requires learning

MechanicDoctor

Technical(Recurrent)

AdaptiveLeader and Team

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Adaptive challenges vs. technical problems• There is a gap between aspirations and reality.

– Progress requires responses outside the organization's standard repertoire

– Narrowing that gap will require difficult learning

– Part of the learning will require distinguishing what is essential and what is expendable

– Painful choices must be made between competing loyalties and values

– The people with the problem are both the problem and they are the solution

– Problem-solving responsibility must shift from authoritative experts to the stakeholders.

• Adaptive work requires a longer time frame than technical work

– Adaptive work involves experimentation and willingness to make mistakes and to learn from

– Adaptive challenges generate disequilibrium, resistance and work avoidance

– Significant organizational change inevitably involves adaptive challenges

The African Leadership Group 20

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g Identityg Historyg Sizeg Worldviewg Culture/Customs g Philosophyg Knowledge systems g Leadership Institutiong Ethics/moralityg Religiong Mythology g Languagesg Achievementsg Contributions

Key elements to leadership effectiveness

TraditionalLeadershipInstitutions

TraditionalLeadershipInstitutions

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Peers

Our Responsibility is to….

SocietySociety

Self

Family

Community

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Black

Doughnut

Leadership

Model

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Doughnut Leadership Model

Black

Black Leadership Executives

Black Leadership Executives

Key to South Africa's post-apartheid transformation

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Constellational Leadership»Consultation

»Consensus

»Collaboration

»Commitment

»Accommodating

»Adaptive

»Mastery of Paradox

»Big Picture-focus

»Long-term

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Equal among Equals in Consultation

• Rules of Engagement• Develop collective mindset• Identify true adaptive or

transformational challenges facing the organisation

• Keep employee distress within productive and manageable range

• Pay attention to ripening issues rather than ‘hitting the iron whilst still hot’

• Give work back to the people• Protect leaders without formal

authority

Leadership Constellation

• Rules of Engagement• Adopt bold strategies and programmes

aligned with those leading without formal authority

• Provide continuity, consensus• Practice the politics of inclusion• Develop capacity for paradox/ambiguity• Place group or organisational survival

and sustainability above individual gain• Reward outstanding individual

performance equitably

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Equal among Equals in Consultation

Role Players• Reputation for high

performance• Each a leader in own right• Possess diverse expertise and

functional knowledge • Strong independence of mind• Mature and depth of

experience Leadership Binary

Leadership Constellation

• Reputation for high performance

• Each a leader in own right –regardless of status

• Possess diverse expertise and functional knowledge

• Strong independence of mind

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Equal among Equals in Consultation

Consultation Processes• Disciplined

• Purposeful

• Solution-focused

• Information-sharing

• Provide full feedbackLeadership

Binary

Leadership Constellation

• Must have beginning and end

• Thorough and transparent• Integrity, trust & candour• Consensus and compromise

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The Binary

Leadership

System

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Leadership lessons from Natures wise ways: an extrapolation

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• The Mandela-Mbeki Binary Leadership System

• The Binary Leadership is located within the constellational

leadership system of the ANC

• There’s nothing new, unusual or extraordinary about this

• Many of human systems operate according the laws of duality e.g.– The Family nucleus (father/mother) inside the family constellation

– The Chairman of the Board the Chief Executive

– The CEO and the COO or CFO

• It’s the business of striking creative balance between

opposites

Partnership for life…

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M

Mandela

Mbeki

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Leadership Paradox

• Precedents

• Paradox

• Ambiguity

• Contradictions

Cronin & Genovese