Leadership: 6 Reality Checks To Use! (click me)
Leadership: 6 Reality Checks To Use!
The ‘L’ Word in Organisations.
What is the ‘L’ word in organisations?
That ‘L’ word can bring Business-Confusion!
That ‘L’ word can bring Business-Destruction!
That ‘L’ word can bring Business-Progression!
Leadership is the ‘L’ word in organisations which needs to be understood and used effectively to bring the desired Business-Results.
What is Leadership?
Reality Check #1 : We all are leaders, but we all are not leaders in the same directions.
There are numerous definitions, metaphors and analogies for leadership. But leadership is simply about influencing personnel. Those four (4) directions are:
1. Inward - Leading your Self
2. Horizontal - Leading your Peers
3. Vertical Downwards - Leading your Subordinates
4. Vertical Upwards - Leading your Boss
Then there are also many theories of leadership. Some of the most common theories are Great Man, Trait, Behavioural, Style, Situational, Contingency, Transactional, Leader-Member Exchange, Transformational and Servant. My personal preference that I use is Path-Goal leadership, where leaders support and encourage their followers to achieve the goals, by making the path to be taken easy and clear. Path-Goal involves being Supportive, Directive, Participative and Achievement-oriented. You will see later in this article why it is important to select the right leadership. Despite which ever one or combination is selected, team performance measurement is always critical. A neat little formula stuck with me from training, that has definitely helped me within the dynamism of the Oil & Gas industry. The formula M2R2 means Measure, Monitor, Reinforce and Reward.
What Is Your Level?
Reality Check #2 : There are different qualities of leaders in the same job position.
John C. Maxwell is a leadership expert, and is globally recognized with millions of book sales and successful training programs. John identified five (5) levels of leadership:
- Position – “people follow because they have to”.
- Permission – “people follow because they want to”.
- Production – “people follow because of what you have done for the organisation”.
- People Development – “people follow because of what you have done for them”.
- Pinnacle – “people follow because of who you are and what you represent”.
Quite frankly, some leaders may not care about why others are following them, and their only concern is that the job is executed. Nevertheless, I am sure most of us have experienced situations when we required team members to go the extra mile or find a solution, beyond their expected performance level. Especially during circumstances of extreme constraints for schedules, costs and human resources. Therefore, knowing our level whilst consciously seeking to improve, will produce the valuable benefits of Rights, Relationships, Results, Reproduction and Respect.
How Do You Affect Your Leadership?
Reality Check #3 : Personality affects leadership.
Studies have shown that one’s personality does affect one’s leadership ability. In fact, let’s forget the studies for now because we have conspicuously seen this throughout our careers, and experienced it personally in leadership roles for different organisations. My personality type is predominantly INFJ, according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
The MBTI basically assesses an individual's personality as follows:
- Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I). Preference of World focus – Outer-World or Your Own Inner-World.
- Sensing (S) or Intuition (N). Preference of Information focus – Basic Information You Take In or You Interpret And Add Meaning.
- Thinking (T) or Feeling (F). Preference of Decision focus – Logic And Consistency or People And Special Circumstances.
- Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). Preference of Structure focus – Get Things Decided or Stay Open To New Information And Options.
Leadership Or Management?
Reality Check #4 : Both leadership and management skills are required to get Business-Results.
Leaders do the right thing and managers do things right. Since the business objectives require the right things to be done right, often a mix of the two (2) skill-sets is executed by senior personnel in the organisation.
Everybody has heard the expression, “square peg in a round hole.” Business success relies on effectively matching the teams, the leaders and the business objectives, to get the right people to do the right job in the right way. Off course this alignment can start from the hiring process, and it continues throughout the organisation’s life cycle. Business strategies, tactics and processes changes due to varying micro-economic and macro-economic scenarios, along with the other PESTLE and SWOT factors. Training and development of human resources is an inevitable requirement. In terms of the hiring process stage, it is therefore a wise decision to intake personnel whom are coachable, diligent and possess mental flexibility. Let’s face the facts, “finance is the life-blood of business” and everything absorbs a cost. Therefore, with respect to leadership, the right leadership approaches must be implemented upon intensive assessment of the actual needed leadership model(s).
You Want Business-Progression?
Reality Check #5 : The use of Organisational Behaviour Development can positively impact Management Accounting, Production Management and Operations Management.
An example is the company Optimus Seventh Generation which delivers behavioural change consultancy to High-Hazard industries. One of their cases required coaching the workforce and leadership of a major Oil & Gas company, to create new habits and embed new skills. After eighteen (18) months, the Operator reported significant performance improvement in reliability and safety, as follows:
- 13 months and 2 million hours Lost Time Incident (LTI) Free (including 2 major Offshore projects).
- 29% reduction in Total Recordable Case Frequency (TRCF).
- 68% reduction in First Aid Injuries (FAI).
- Significant increase in Near Miss and Hazardous Condition reporting & exceptional participation in one of their new systems.
- Established a positive intervention culture.
- Significant reduction in Plant trips.
- Reports from visiting construction personnel and safety representatives that the installation was ‘the safest we’ve ever worked on’ commented that ‘management take safety seriously – we feel looked after here’.
Another example, is BP one of the top global Operators in Oil & Gas, which I have had the honour to work for. In their Operations Management System, leadership is one of the key elements. That leadership element includes principles, sub-elements, as well as a leadership framework.
Leaders with a wider range of applicable leadership approaches, leads to a better organisation. This can in turn lead to better performance, increased reliability and safety, and better employee retention.
Easier Said Than Done!
Reality Check #6 : Leadership development programs can fail.
McKinsey & Company is a global Management Consultancy firm, which after engaging hundreds of chief executives, identified four (4) of the most common errors made in leadership development programs.
- Overlooking context – assuming one size fits all regardless of organisational culture and strategy
- Decoupling reflection from real work – imbalance of linking leadership development to actual job projects which improve learning and have a business impact
- Under-estimating mind-sets – organisations are often reluctant to engage root causes of the leader’s behaviour
- Failing to measure results – failure to measure and track changes in leadership performances, tend to increase likelihood of neglecting improvement initiatives.
McKinsey & Company’s final advice was:
“Companies can avoid the most common mistakes in leadership development and increase the odds of success by matching specific leadership skills and traits to the context at hand; embedding leadership development in real work; fearlessly investigating the mind-sets that underpin behaviour; and monitoring the impact so as to make improvements over time.”
As I end this article of an enormous and highly debatable subject matter, I need to mention Change Management. Everybody knows and says “the only thing constant is change” therefore, it makes imperative sense to have an effective change management system when dealing with leadership. Whether it is the leader introducing a new system to the team or the leader being developed into a new leadership system, compliance to a change management process must be done. For instance, there can be awareness of the reasons for change; desire to participate and engage in the change; knowledge on how to change; ability to implement the change; reinforcement to ensure the change is sustained. I have colleagues whom have entered the consultancy business, and I am sure they encounter organisations which seek to share and enhance leadership fortitude within the Petroleum Energy Industry.
May we all do the requirements to let that ‘L’ word bring us Business-Progression!
3 Simple Self-development Steps:
a. Become Your Hero!
b. Overcome Your Horrors!
c. Welcome Your Happiness!
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