authentic leadership

Authentic Leaderschip

Prof.dr. Jesse Segers

@SegersJesse

Well, I would have

exhibited more

leadership qualities if

someone would have

told me to.

Goals

1. To realize that implicit theories influence our view about leadership

2. To better understand what authentic leadership is

3. To be able to see me/others/events through multiple perspectives

4. To realize the importance of meaning and stories as a leader

5. To reflect about and to connect the dots between my own story as a person/leader, my value system, my motivations to lead and my goals as a leader

Agenda

1. What is (authentic) leadership?

2. How do you develop it?

• Personal leadership

• Leadership in relation to others

3. Why do you want to develop it?

What is leadership

2. If you have to draw leadership: how does it look like?

5 minutes on your own

20 minutes in groups of 5 or 6 people

When ready hang your group drawing against the wall

Explain your drawing in 2 minutes

1. A personal leadershipexperience duringthe last year.

= the challenge

What do you need in order to speak about leadership?

A

C B= the people

challenging thoughts about leadership.

= the challenge

What do you need in order to speak about leadership?

A

C B= the people

“Leadership, for us, is not simply about getting people to do things. It is about getting them to want to do things. Leadership, then, is about shaping beliefs, desires, and priorities. It is about achieving influence, not securing compliance.”

Haslam et al. (2011)

Environment exercise

Types of challenges

Problem Solution Type of challenge

! ! Technical

! ? Mixed

? ? Adaptive

(Ronald Heifetz, 1994)

Leadership is acknowledging the elephant in the room

1. Which elephant have you acknowledged lately in the room?

2. When have you been the skunk at the lawn party?

3. What was your last courageous conversation?

= the challenge

What do you need in order to speak about leadership?

A

C B= the people

Skills

Identity

Adult development

(Daniel Day et al., 2011)

«Self authoring

«Socialized mind

«Self transforming

Adult development

New experiencesFeedbackExploring biography, reflectionSafety: a third place

Leadership is developing as a human being

1. What have been situations lately that you didn’t understand?

2. Where do you reflect?

3. Where is your third place?

4. On what does your self-worth depend? On being liked by others?

challenging thoughts about leadership.

= the challenge

What do you need in order to speak about leadership?

A

C B= the people

When does political behavior arises?

Limited resources Vagueness

How do you feel about politics?

• Politics viewed as

• Negative: I prefer that it doesn’t exist, is always a win/losesituation

• Neutral: this is just the way it is, it is human nature

• Positive: it is fun, exciting, is looking for a win/win situation

How do you feel about politics?

• Action orientation

• Responds: if needed, but tries to stay of it

• Predicts: looks at it, tries to predict, anticipate

• Initiates: politcal action

Political style gridPolitics viewed as...

Act

ion

ori

enta

tio

n

Negative Neutral Positive

Initiates

Predicts

Responds

DeLuca (1999)

Political style gridPolitics viewed as...

Act

ion

ori

enta

tio

n

Negative Neutral Positive

Initiates Machiavellian

• manipulator,

sometimes created by

context

• looks at the number 1

•Win/lose

Responsible

•Obligation (no desire) to

protect the good

• comes with the scope

•Often reaction against

Machiavellian

Leader

• Play maker

• Impact player

•Win/win

•Creativity

•Low key

Predicts Protector

• Filer builder (emails,

files, …)

• defensive towards

new ideas, bureaucratic

Speculator

• Observe

•Grapeviner (especially

with reorganizations)

•Predicts who is going to

get what, which project is

going to be launched

Advisor

• Counselor in politics

•Often senior who help

juniors

•Look for win/win

Responds Cynic

• “I told you so...”

• Gossip

•Have lost many tomes

(lose/win)

•Don’t take risks

Fatalist

• Que sera sera

•Do your job and hope for

the best

•A lot of technical

managers

Spectator

• fan, soap opera

• encourager, supports

players (goes for a

drink after win or los)

DeLuca (1999)

Machiavellian vs Political leader (De Luca, 1999)

Machiavellian Political leader

Manipulates Influences

Create losers Creates winners

Lone wolf Team player

Use power for self-interest Uses power to get things done

Boot licking & brownnosing Respect, chooses moments

Promotion is a goal Promotion is an outcome

Hidden agenda’s Open agenda’s

His/her word is an aid His/her word as a contact

Calculated Strategic

Gossip Repeats

Takes credit Spreads credit

Exercise:

• Think of a political skilled individual in your working environment

• What makes this person political skilled?• Define 3 characteristics or typical behaviors

Political skills

Political skills

Definition• “the ability to effectively understand others at

work, and to use such knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal and/or organizational objectives”

Dimensions• Social astuteness• Interpersonal influence• Networking ability• Apparent sincerity

Ferris et al. (2005, 2007)

Social Astuteness

Which power/influence tactics to use to enforce your personal (leadership)claim?

Which power tactics, influence strategies or techniques could be used?

Kipnis et al. (1980), Higgins et al. (2003)

Tactics Characteristics Direction

Rational persuasion Presenting logical arguments and factual evidence to demonstrate a request is reasonable

Inspirational appeals Expressing an inspirational vision and stressing its value

Consultation Asking for advice and suggestion to improve things

Ingratiation Flattery, praise, stressing the qualities and suitability of the other, friendly behavior

Exchange Offering help in an explicit manner in the domain of the other in exchange for support

Personal appeals Asking for compliance based on friendship or loyalty

Coalitions Create an informal group of like minded people around 1 theme.

Collaborating Offering the other help (resources, assistance…) with what one wants that the other does

Legitimacy Stress consistency with existing rules, politics, appointments or habits.

Recommending Stressing the benefits for the other

Pressure Using warnings, repeated demands, and threats

Kipnis et al. (1980), Ammeter et al. (2002), Yukle , et al. (2008)

Power/influence tactics

Effectiveness of influence tactics

The effectiveness depends on:• Combination of tactics

• 1 soft tactic (e.g. ingratiation, personal appeal, inspirational appeal, consultation) more effective than 1 hard tactic (legitimacy, pressure, exchange)

• 2 soft tactics or a combination of a soft with rational persuasion, is more effective than any combination of the harder tactics

• Gender• Conform role expectations

• Soft tactics more effective when used by women• Hard tactics more effective when used by men

• Transparency of the pursued self-interest• Political skills of the influencer

Fable & Yukle (1992), Rudman (1998), Higgins et al. (2003), Brooke et al. (2011)

Political skills

General effects of political skills for leaders:• Better performance appraisals• Better team performance• Better sales results• Better outcomes in assessments for promotion• More confidence, job satisfaction, commitment, and

support towards the organization of the subordinates• Lower cynicism with subordinates• It’s a buffer against negative effects (stress/burnout),

of organizational stressors (role conflict, role overload, job pressure, interpersonal conflict, social stressors)

Ahearn et al. (2004), Treadway et al. (2004), Perrewé et al. (2004, 2005), Ferris et al.

(2005, 2007), Zellars et al. (2008), Blinckle et al. (2010, 2011), Meurs et al. (2011)

Leadership is working with the system

1. Do you have a good sense of organizational timing?

2. Who warns you for bad timing?

3. What is your political style?

4. How flexible are you in your influencing strategies?

5. How prototypical are you for the system?

Trust is the power of leadership

1. How do you build, maintain and repair trust?

2. Do you appear to be sincere? How transparent are you?

3. Do you still try to walk your talk? Or do you talk your walk?

Skills

Identity

Adult development

(Daniel Day et al., 2011)

Leaders develop leaders

1. On what does your self-worth depend? On being better than others?

2. How often do you ask for help?

3. Do you grant others a leadership identity?

Developing my leadership through golden moments

Golden moment = moment that has been defining in your evolution.

The goal is to come to corevalues and beliefs by ‘connecting the dots’

My golden moments

1. Personal reflection -10’

Start with the first very good experience you had. Draw it the happiness/tim axe, describe it with some core words: why was it defining? What have you learned? .

Go to the next defining moment. Continue until have mapped them all out.

Happ

ines

s

Time

2. Sharing (3x20 min. incl. breaks)

-Materialize the time line with post-it’s on the ground

-Walk your defining moments with your two buddies and explain them. Your buddies can ask for clarification

-Your buddies make you reflect on your leadership behaviors, beliefs, values and purpose by asking open question

My golden moments

3. Personal reflection + feedback (20’)

-Note in your learning log what you became aware of (10’).

-Share your learnings with your buddies who can give feedback.

Conclusion1. Which elephant have you acknowledge lately in the room? When have

you been the skunk at the lawn party? What was your last courageous conversation When have you protected the skunk at the lawn party?

2. What have been situations that you didn’t understand lately ? Where do you reflect? Where is your third place? On what does your self-worth depend? On being liked by others?

3. What’s your story?

4. Do you have a good sense of organizational timing? Who warns you for bad timing? What is your political style? How flexible are you in the influencing strategies? How prototypical are you for the system?

5. How do you build, maintain and repair trust? Do you appear to be sincere? How transparent are you? Do you still try to walk your talk? Or do you talk your walk?

6. On what does your self-worth depend? On being better than others? How often do you ask for help? Do you grant others a leadership identity?

I want to develop my leadership this year because…

Q&A

OPENING MINDSTO IMPACTTHE WORLD

www.tfli.bejesse.segers@ams.ac.be

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