Page 1 BP Leadership Theories and Models – An Introduction

Leadership Theories and Models – An Introduction

What is a Leader? The word we now use today for leadership is derived from an old Viking term. A ‘leader’ was the name of the person who stood at the front of the boat and directed the boat through the ‘leads’ or gaps in the ice. This was a role which required immense judgement and knowledge and required the ultimate trust of his colleagues to follow wherever he judged it appropriate to lead the boat.

‘Leadership: the ability to influence the motivation or competence of other individuals in a group.'

Charles Handy

Notable Leadership Research by the University of Lancaster has identified a new type of leader – the ‘notable’ leader. According to their research successful leaders today have the following notable qualities:

Traits displayed as…

Idealised Influence charisma, respect and trust

Inspirational Motivation meaning and challenge

Intellectual Stimulation learning and challenge

Individualised Consideration personal growth and development

An article in ‘The Edge’, the ILM Magazine, ‘A La Carte Leadership’ discusses how Jamie Oliver epitomises this leadership style in his leadership of his restaurant Fifteen. Viewers of the Channel 4 programme may remember how Jamie took 15 out of work teenagers and trained them up for life in the kitchen of a top London restaurant. The Edge reports that ‘Jamie’s principled attitude ad heightened self awareness are typical of the new breed of notable leader. And the University of Lancaster believe that his energy, honesty and profile mark him out as a great leadership role model. The article surmises that there are five lessons on leadership that can be taken from Jamie in his restaurant Fifteen:

1. Lead the way: Jamie ensures that everyone who works for him is clear about what is expected of them. He also communicates his clear vision of where the wants the project to go.

2. Show them how: Jamie is a highly visible leader and sets a great example to his team. This

means handling the unpleasant jobs as well as the pleasant ones. 3. Believe in them: Jamie shows total belief in his team and is not afraid to delegate. He has a

positive approach to coaching individuals, always looking for things to praise. Even when the team badly messes up he tells them they can and will get it right.

4. Deal with it: Jamie demonstrates massive responsibility throughout the project personally,

professionally and financially. He understands that he – and no-one else – will carry the can if things go wrong.

5. Learn and adapt: Jamie learns continually throughout the project, if one way of tackling a

problem doesn’t work, he tries another.

Page 2 BP Leadership Theories and Models – An Introduction

Four Leadership Theories

Action Centred Leadership/Functional Leadership - John Adair Adair's model indicates the need for leaders to balance the three areas. The 3 interlocking and overlapping circles show a team leader must always consider all the areas before taking action. Insufficient consideration of any area has an adverse effect on the others, for example:

failure to achieve a task may cause low team morale

low team spirit may leads to conflict between team members and poorer individual performance

failure to develop an individual may cause them to demoralise/distract the rest of the team

Task Needs

Defining the task

Making a plan

Setting objectives

Managing time

Allocating work and resources

Controlling quality and speed of work

Checking performance against plan

Adjusting the plan

Team Needs

Maintaining discipline

Building team spirit

Encouraging, motivating, giving a sense of purpose

Ensuring good communication within the team

Training the team

Consistency / treating everyone fairly

Honesty/integrity

Showing respect for others

Setting and maintaining standards of performance

Representing the team to management and vice versa

Co-ordinating with other teams

Setting standards

Individual Needs

Attending to personal problems

Supporting and encouraging people

Giving constructive feedback

Praising individuals

Motivating people

Recognising abilities and assigning tasks appropriate to these

Assessing performance

Honesty/integrity

Showing respect for others

Clarifying job role of the individual

Coaching an individual

Identifying development needs

Finding development opportunities

Identifying ways of improving individual performance

Page 3 BP Leadership Theories and Models – An Introduction

Situational Leadership – Hersey and Blanchard In simple terms, a situational leader is one who can adopt different leadership styles depending on the situation. Most of us do this anyway in our dealings with other people: we try not to get impatient with a nervous colleague on their first day; we chase up tasks with some people more than others because we know they'll forget otherwise. Ken Blanchard, the management guru best known for the "One Minute Manager" series, and Paul Hersey, created a model for Situational Leadership in the late 1960's that allows you to analyse the needs of the situation you're dealing with, and then adopt the most appropriate leadership style. It's proved popular with managers over the years because it passes the two basic tests of such models: it's simple to understand, and it works in most environments for most people. The model doesn't just apply to people in leadership or management positions: we all lead others at work and at home. The dimensions of this model are

For the leader: Amount of direction given (task focus) Amount of support given (relationship focus) For the follower: Amount of competence/ability Amount of commitment/motivation

Although we tend to have a preferred style, effective leaders are versatile in being able to move around the grid according to the situation. There is no one right style. We need to gauge the ‘right style’ by judging the readiness of the followers. According to Hersey and Blanchard your leadership style (S1 – S4) must correspond to the development level (D1 – D4) of the follower and that it is the leader who should adapt. By adapting the right style to suit the follower’s developmental level, work gets done, relationships are built and the follower’s developmental level rises, to everyone’s benefit.

Page 4 BP Leadership Theories and Models – An Introduction

The Style of the Leader Directing style (S1): High on Directive, Low on Supportive Leaders define the roles and tasks of the 'follower', and supervise them closely. Decisions are made by the leader and announced, so communication is largely one-way. The leader takes a highly directive role, telling them what to do and without a great deal of concern for the relationship. Coaching style (S2): High on Directive, High on Supportive Leaders still define roles and tasks, but seek ideas and suggestions from the follower. Decisions remain the leader's prerogative, but communication is much more two-way. Supporting style (S3): Low on Directive, High on Supportive Leaders pass day-to-day decisions, such as task allocation and processes, to the follower. The leader facilitates and takes part in decisions, but control is with the follower. Delegating style (S4): Low on Directive, Low on Supportive Leaders are still involved in decisions and problem-solving, but control is with the follower. The follower decides when and how the leader will be involved.

Readiness of Followers Clearly the right leadership style will depend very much on the person being led - the follower. Blanchard and Hersey extended their model to include the development level of the follower. They said that the leader's style should be driven by the competence and commitment of the follower, and came up with four levels: (D1) Low Competence, Low Commitment Generally lacking the specific skills required for the job in hand, and lacks the motivation to tackle it. The leader takes a highly directive role, telling them what to do and without a great deal of concern for the relationship. The leader may also provide a working structure, both for the job and in terms of how the person is controlled. (D2) Some Competence, Low Commitment When the follower wants to do the job but lacks sufficient skills or knowledge and won't be able to do the job without help. The task or the situation may be new to them. They may need support and praise to build their self-esteem, and involvement in decision-making to increase their commitment. (D3) High Competence, Variable Commitment Experienced and capable so knows how to get the task done, but may lack the confidence to go it alone, or the motivation to do it well / quickly (D4) High Competence, High Commitment Experienced at the job, and comfortable with their own ability to do it well. They are able and willing to work on a project by themselves with little supervision or support and may even be more skilled than the leader.

Supporting style (S3): Low on Direction High on Support

Coaching style (S2): High on Direction High on Support

Delegating style (S4): Low on Direction Low on Support

Directing style (S1): High on Direction Low on Support

(D3) High Competence

Variable Commitment

(D2) Some Competence Low Commitment

(D4) High Competence High Commitment

(D1) Low Competence Low Commitment

Page 5 BP Leadership Theories and Models – An Introduction

Kurt Lewin Three Styles Theory One of the most easily recognisable theories is that of Kurt Lewin who talks of three types of leader, the Autocrate, the Negotiator and the Laissez Faire. In 1939, a group of researchers led by psychologist Kurt Lewin set out to identify different styles of leadership. While further research has identified more specific types of leadership, this early study was very influential and established three major leadership styles. In the study, schoolchildren were assigned to one of three groups with an authoritarian, democratic or laissez-fair leader. The children were then led in an arts and crafts project while researchers observed the behaviour of children in response to the different styles of leadership.

Authoritarian Leadership (Autocratic) Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders, provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done. There is also a clear division between the leader and the followers. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group. Researchers found that decision-making was less creative under authoritarian leadership. Lewin also found that it is more difficult to move from an authoritarian style to a democratic style than vice versa. Abuse of this style is usually viewed as controlling, bossy, and dictatorial. Authoritarian leadership is best applied to situations where there is little time for group decision-making or where the leader is the most knowledgeable member of the group.

Participative Leadership (Democratic/Negotiator) Lewin’s study found that participative leadership, also known as democratic leadership, is generally the most effective leadership style. Democratic leaders offer guidance to group members, but they also participate in the group and allow input from other group members. In Lewin’s study, children in this group were less productive than the members of the authoritarian group, but their contributions were of a much higher quality. Participative leaders encourage group members to participate, but retain the final say over the decision-making process. Group members feel engaged in the process and are more motivated and creative. Delegative (Laissez-Faire) Leadership Researchers found that children under delegative leadership, also known as laissez-fair leadership, were the least productive of all three groups. The children in this group also made more demands on the leader, showed little cooperation and were unable to work independently. Delegative leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave decision-making up to group members. While this style can be effective in situations where group members are highly qualified in an area of expertise, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation.

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Tannenbaum and Schmidt – Continuum Theory The Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum is a simple model which shows the relationship between the level of freedom that a manager chooses to give to a team, and the level of authority used by the manager. As the team's freedom is increased, so the manager's authority decreases. This also links with "How Team Develop" - to some extent the four different styles relate to different stages in a teams development.

Tannenbaum and Schmidt recognised that in an interaction between a leader and his or her team there is a trade-off between the control exercised by the leader and the control exercised by the team. No one ever has 100 per cent control, because even if a leader gives a direct order, the team members retain control over, for example, how enthusiastically they obey the order. They highlight four distinct leadership styles, labelled telling, selling, consulting and participation. Tell Manager makes decision and announces it An autocratic style in which the leader gives specific instructions and monitors staff closely is most useful when the team cannot tackle the task unaided, is unwilling, new or suffered a previous leader who allowed standards to deteriorate. It is the style most people accept in a crisis. For this style to work well you need to:

Be clear and precise about standards, performance targets and expectations; Give detailed instructions; Monitor key performance indicators closely; Use frequent feedback to modify behaviour; Help people over learning problems while being firm about standards.

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Sell Manager makes decision and then "sells" decision A persuasive style, in which the leader gives clear direction and supervises closely but also explains decisions, encourages suggestions and supports progress. It is most useful when motivation is lacking. It is also the best style where a task is non-negotiable but where the team's motivation is vital to achieve the results required. For this style to work you need to:

Develop team skills, monitoring how those skills are implemented; Spend time with each individual addressing standards, skills and motivation; Monitor closely and be directive to keep performance to agreed standards; Listen to the team's feelings but stand your ground in relation to the goal; Reward positive behaviour.

Consult Manager presents ideas and invites questions, manager presents tentative decision subject to change, manager presents problem, get suggestions, makes decision This is a collaborative style in which the leader discusses the task and listens to the team's ideas, taking them into account as he or she makes the key decisions. It is most useful when the team has sufficient skills and competence to make a contribution but where the leader feels a need to retain control. That need can result from an imbalance between the team's competence and the risk involved in the task. For this style to work you need to:

Focus on morale and team spirit; Encourage participation, straight comment and feedback. Specify objectives but let the team discuss how to achieve them; Explain fully, and encourage 'buy-in' to major decisions while minimising directives and

suggestions from yourself, except in exceptional circumstances. Participate/Join Manager defines limits; asks group to make decision, manager permits subordinate to function within limits defined by superior A facilitating style in which the leader allows the team maximum responsibility, this is most useful when the team is competent and has a positive attitude towards the task. You can let them get on with it and use this style as an important part of their development. For this style to work you need to:

Act as a resource that the team can call on when needed; Delegate increased responsibilities; Allow team members to manage themselves once you have agreed clear objectives - allow

them to administer day-to-day monitoring and control; Represent the team to others, when necessary tackling anything that interferes with their

performance.

Reviewed January 2014