Holistic Leadership
by Chris Edgelow
Today, arguably more than any other time in history, there is a profound yearning and compelling need for quality leadership. "Where are the leaders?" is a phrase I continue to hear in so many of the organizations I've worked with over the past years. There is usually an abundance of competent managers at all levels of the organization, yet a lack of leaders for the task at hand.
Management and leadership have been terms tossed around for decades. Rather than get into a debate over definitions here, let me simply suggest; Management is the set of skills required to get work done through the efforts of other people that result in the delivery of the goods and services any organization provides in as effective and efficient manner possible. Leadership is the set of skills required to move people away from status quo, in a direction or to a place they would unlikely go on their own. Leadership is about movement, it is about initiating and sustaining change throughout the system.
The complex myriad of challenges all organizations face today require a balance of both management and leadership skills. Everyone in a position of authority, regardless of how high up the organizational hierarchy, must spend approximately half their time managing and the other half leading. Unfortunately, the vast majority of organizations I find myself in these days have people in positions of authority spending a disproportionate amount of their time on the management side of the equation rather than leadership. And that costs organizations significantly in terms of unrealized potential and lost opportunity.
That is not to say there are no quality leaders in our organizations – there are many. Rarely are they at the top level although in a very few cases they are. Usually they can be found toiling somewhere in the middle of the organization, continually getting extraordinary things done and never drawing attention to themselves. The problem is there aren't enough of them. And rare is the organization that has figured out how to develop quality, capable leadership throughout the system.
A Holistic Model for Leadership
If there is a lack of quality leadership in our organizations today, can it be developed? Of course it can. While there is no question some of the work of leadership relies on natural talent, the vast majority of leadership skills and abilities can be developed and nurtured by anyone who aspires to be something more than simply a competent manager.
Many years ago, I worked with a colleague who developed a very simple model for leadership and leadership development. Dr. Lyle Benson grounded his approach to leadership in the applied behavioral sciences and came up with a holistic approach to leadership that continues to make sense in today's fast paced world.
Holistic leadership consists of three essential sets of skills or competencies leaders require – work skills, people skills and self skills.
Work skills are those competencies a leader requires to be technically good at what they do. This is the content or specific areas of expertise that must be mastered in order to be successful in any job.
Here are some examples of work skills: - An accountant must know balance sheets, income statements and everything else related to financial tracking and management.
- A software developer must know how to build new programs using any of the various programming languages.
- An operations manager in a chemical plant must understand all the various processing functions, how the mechanical equipment works and all the hazards and implications of the raw materials being used.
Work skills also involve: - The ability to use all of the various management systems that hold every organization together, whether they are SAP systems, email systems or intranet systems.
- Administrative elements such as contracting, budgeting, planning, organizing, evaluating and all the other elements of work related activities.
- Typically, it is proficiency in work skills that is most immediately obvious to other people in the organization. It is also the most likely reason people get promoted to higher levels of authority – because they are very good at the actual work they do. Unfortunately, as we all know, there is no direct connection between a high level of work skills and competent leadership.
People skills are those competencies that enable a leader to successfully interact with individuals and groups. These are the interpersonal skills that enable the ongoing exchange of information between people so necessary to get work done.
People skills include: - Basic communication, conflict resolution and listening skills.
- Giving and receiving feedback, meeting management and presentation skills.
- Ability to coach and mentor others and the capacity for effective performance management.
- Helping skills, the capacity to motivate others, group participation skills and working with wide ranging diversity are also people skills.
Everything that has to do with effectively working in a wide array of people in the myriad of situations are people skills.
Like work skills, people skills are very evident and visible from the outside. When someone has a high level of people skills, they are more likely to get promoted to a higher level of authority than someone less engaging. When a high level of people skills and work skills are combined and demonstrated over enough time, the likelihood of being fast-tracked to the top increases significantly.
Unfortunately, the combination of strong work and people skills is not sufficient to ensure the caliber of leadership that today's challenges require is in adequate supply. The vast majority of organizations promote people based on those two skill sets and remain dramatically under-led. Much of what is being passed off or heralded as leadership today is nothing more than a rock star mentality, ego on a rampage, coercion rather than engagement and power and authority run amuck. The organization may even be well managed, but there is a definite leadership deficit. That is because a vital part of the equation is left unfulfilled.
Self skills are the intrapersonal competencies that set true leaders apart from the masses. Self skills are essentially invisible from the outside looking in. They are sensed or felt, rather than observed. Intangible as they may be, self skills are the core competencies that make such a profound difference in the quality and depth of genuine leaders.
Self skills include: - A highly developed sense of self knowledge and awareness.
- Clearly understanding ones strengths and weaknesses as well as an in-depth knowledge of ones personality, values, biases and ambitions.
- Conflict resolution styles, behaviour in groups determined by patterns established early in one's family and dealing with authority.
- The ability to see oneself as a part of a system while remaining a participant in that system is a self skill.
- The ability to intentionally choose ones behaviour rather than living on auto-pilot is a self skill.
- Understanding how any of the myriad sources of diversity in systems impact oneself and how one therefore impacts diverse systems is a self skill.
Perhaps the most critical self skill is to be very clear about personal wants and needs in any situation and to be able to set those aside for the common good. The willingness and ability to set self-interest aside and find ways to create lasting value is essential in the creation of workplaces that provide dignity and meaning for everyone involved.
This does not mean people with self skills are perfect – far from it. They are open, vulnerable and honest about their short comings. They are capable of saying they have made a mistake and apologizing genuinely. Genuine leaders point to others in times of success and look inward when the situation is floundering.
When self skills are highly developed, there is a palpable sense of genuineness and authenticity present that is very easy to spot and impossible to fake. There is a level of integrity and character that are rock solid. Values and principles are obvious and above reproach. What you see is what you get.
Blended with a high level of work and people skills, self skills are at the heart of the highest quality leadership. Each of these three sets of skills represents an equal third of what is required for capable, holistic leaders. Unfortunately, that vital balance of all three skill sets is a rare commodity in most people in leadership roles.
Holistic leaders do exist in every organization, perhaps not in senior leadership roles or even supervisory roles. They are people who know themselves, can work well with a wide range of people in an array of different situations and are technically very capable. They provide the energy to get and keep their part of the organization moving forward in the desired direction. The problem is there just aren't enough of them.
Leadership Development – Take A Holistic Approach
If you think your organization could benefit from a higher caliber of leaders, look at what you are currently doing to develop people into leadership roles. How much of your development efforts are dedicated to continually advancing work skills? How much of your development efforts are aimed at improving people skills? And how much of your development efforts focus on enhancing self skills?
Over the years I've found an imbalance in most leadership development programs. Work skills and people skills continue to get most of the attention and support. Self skills are misunderstood, under valued or missed completely. It is only when leadership development efforts support a balanced blend of all three skills that your organization will begin to see the results of significantly more capable, holistic leaders throughout the system.
So, what will you do in your organization? Start with a quick scan of everything you are currently doing that relates to leadership development. If you were to sort each program/resource/activity into one of the three categories – work skills, people skills and self skills – which category would have the most emphasis and attention focused on it? If there is a balance between all three, you are clearly headed in the right direction. If not, what can and will you do to balance your efforts out and move toward developing the kind of leaders required for the challenges your organization faces now and into the future? Trust you find the article by Chris Edgelow an interesting one. If you need further help in Holistic leadership interventions in your organisations, please free to write to me and you will have a professional team to support your efforts. Look forward to hear from you. Best Wishes
SREE NIDHI S K
Director - Oscar Murphy International, Singapore & India
Behavioral Trainers, Coaches & Attitudinal Change Catalysts
Reg Director (Asia) - AATD - Accredited Alliance for T & D, USA
Phone: Mobile: 91 9901983545 Office: 91 80 41718771 / 772 Changing Attitudes Reaching Effectiveness
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