Leading Effectively e-Newsletter - January 2006 Issue

Complex Challenges and The New Leadership
Leading Effectively: A Collective Approach

Mapping changes in the nature of leadership is a challenge, in part, because many different definitions of leadership exist. At CCL, we define leadership in a way that captures the new complexity that leaders and organizations face. We view leadership as the collective activities of organizational members to accomplish the tasks of setting direction, building commitment and creating alignment.

Leadership re-defined
"The traditional understanding of leadership focuses on individuals in positions of authority and in a way that is rooted exclusively in individual talent," says CCL's André Martin. "By thinking about leadership in a way that is tied to outcomes, we are better able to gauge if leadership is effective, as opposed to whether an individual has certain skills."

From this perspective, leadership is the potential outcome of interactions between groups of people rather than specific traits or skills of a single person. This definition is also more inclusive, therefore relevant to any organization in any culture. If the tasks of direction, commitment and alignment are being achieved, then leadership is taking place.

So what does leadership defined by setting direction, building commitment and creating alignment look like?

• Setting direction is the articulation of mission, vision, values and purposes. Key questions include: Where are we going? What are we going to do? Why are we doing it? If a CEO articulates a compelling mission - setting direction - then that is an example of leadership. If a project team effectively gels around a clear mission, then leadership is taking place within the group.
• Building commitment involves the creation of mutual trust and accountability, including addressing questions such as: How can we stay together? How can we work better as a group? What steps might improve cooperation? If a team restructures and rebuilds together to confront a critical challenge and develop greater trust and respect, building commitment through their interactions, then that is leadership.
• Creating alignment involves finding common ground and areas of interrelated responsibility. People need to ask: How can we develop a shared understanding of our situation? How can our actions be better coordinated? If a cross-functional group reaches across organizational boundaries to align IT systems - creating alignment - then that, too, is leadership.

Organizations are underperforming
By this definition, organizations are underperforming. We asked managers to tell us how well their organizations are doing in achieving the three key tasks of leadership as we define them. Only 50 percent said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, "In my organization, leaders set direction effectively." Just 46 percent of respondents said leaders in their organization build commitment effectively. And a mere 40 percent agreed that their organizations are capable of creating alignment. These findings are troubling but not all that surprising. If leaders are challenged by complexity, then it naturally becomes considerably more difficult to set direction, create alignment and build commitment. With all three leadership tasks rating less than 50 percent, organizations clearly have much work to do in developing leadership effectively.

A collective approach to leadership
When looking at how organizations approach leadership from the past to the future, we see movement from more individual approaches (i.e. leadership as a position) to those that are more collective (i.e. leadership as a process). This movement is expected to continue as we move towards greater reliance on interdependent decision making. Respondents hoped organizations would be better at integrating this new approach with existing systems and requirements - for example, focusing less on "making the numbers" and individual performance in the future and increasing focus on areas like teamwork, long-term objectives and innovations.

This article was based on Andre Martin's research report, The Changing Nature of Leadership (Adobe PDF, 302 KB)

About André Martin

André Martin is a Senior Associate at the Center for Creative Leadership. With his background in team effectiveness and organization development, André acts as the Program Specialist for the Center's Leadership and High-Performance Teams Program and faculty member for custom team's solutions. Additionally, André is Project Manager for two CCL research programs aimed at exploring the leading edge of team and organizational leadership. André holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from Saint Louis University.