2. Inter-Connected
Consulting
Leader/Follower Alignment
•Today’s Agenda
•Definitions
•Four Key Questions
•The End Result
•Transformation
3. Inter-Connected
Consulting
Reciprocal Influence
• A Few Definitions
Follower
Influence Influence
– Leadership
• A Process L
e
L
e
a a
d d
e e
– Followership r r
• Fresh Perspective
Influence Influence
• Five Dimensions
Follower
5. Inter-Connected
Consulting
Intimate Allies
• Who
– A Partnership.
• Not Leader Subordinate or even leader, employee -
rather leader/follower
– Leaders (Provides the Vision, Ensures Trust is Developed, Committed
to the Relationship, Removes Obstacles to Motivation)
– Followers (Seeks work that has Meaning, Contributes Ideas, Willingly
Endorses the Vision, Assumes Responsibility)
6. Inter-Connected
Consulting
Create
• Who
– A Partnership.
• Not Leader Subordinate or even leader, employee -
rather leader/follower
– Leaders (Provides the Vision, Ensures Trust is
Developed, Committed to the Relationship, Removes Obstacles to
Motivation)
– Followers (Seeks work that has Meaning, Contributes Ideas, Willingly
Endorses the Vision, Assumes Responsibility)
7. Inter-Connected
Consulting
Courage
• Who
– A Partnership.
• Not Leader Subordinate or even leader, employee - rather
leader/follower
– Leaders (Provides the Vision, Ensures Trust is
Developed, Committed to the Relationship, Removes Obstacles to
Motivation)
– Followers (Seeks work that has Meaning, Contributes Ideas, Willingly
Endorses the Vision, Assumes Responsibility)
8. Inter-Connected
Consulting
It’s Not About You!
• What
– Vision
• “Followers and Leaders Orbit around the purpose –
Followers do not Orbit around the Leader.” (Ira Challeff)
– Goals
• “Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.” (Stephen Covey)
– Behaviors
• Back to the Vision
9. Inter-Connected
Consulting
The Main Thing
• What
– Vision
• “Followers and Leaders Orbit around the purpose –
Followers do not Orbit around the Leader.” (Ira Challeff)
– Goals
• “Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.” (Stephen Covey)
– Behaviors
• Back to the Vision
10. Inter-Connected
Consulting
Model the Way
• What
– Vision
• “Followers and Leaders Orbit around the purpose –
Followers do not Orbit around the Leader.” (Ira Challeff)
– Goals
• “Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.” (Stephen Covey)
– Behaviors
• Back to the Vision
11. Inter-Connected
Consulting
Seek What is Right
• Why
– It is the Right thing to do.
– No one Person has the Skill Set(s) Required to do
Everything Well. (The Superhero Leader – does
not Exist)
– It allows both the leader and the follower to do
what they do best (whatever that is)
12. Inter-Connected
Consulting Leaders Can’t Do it All
• Why
– It is the Right thing to do.
– No one Person has the Skill Set(s) Required to do
Everything Well. (The Superhero Leader – does
not Exist)
– It allows both the leader and the follower to do
what they do best (whatever that is)
13. Inter-Connected
Consulting Who has the Expertise?
• Why
– It is the Right thing to do.
– No one Person has the Skill Set(s) Required to do
Everything Well. (The Superhero Leader – does
not Exist)
– It allows both the leader and the follower to do
what they do best (whatever that is)
14. Inter-Connected
Consulting Getting Decisions Made
• How
– Leader (Decision Making, Kindness and
Compassion, Commitment to Followers, Provide
Feedback, Mentorship, Agape Love)
– Follower (Decision Making, Trustworthiness, Full
Cooperation, Candid Feedback, )
15. Inter-Connected
Consulting A Compass Not a Map
• The End Result
– Leadership is the Compass
• Power of Appreciation
• Reminds Everyone of What is Important
• Generates and Sustains Trust
• Intimate Allies
16. Inter-Connected
Consulting Ribbons on a Uniform
• The End Result
– Leadership is the Compass
• Power of Appreciation
• Reminds Everyone of What is Important
• Generates and Sustains Trust
• Intimate Allies
17. Inter-Connected
Consulting Always the Vision
• The End Result
– Leadership is the Compass
• Power of Appreciation
• Reminds Everyone of What is Important
• Generates and Sustains Trust
• Intimate Allies
18. Inter-Connected
Consulting Emotional Glue
• The End Result
– Leadership is the Compass
• Power of Appreciation
• Reminds Everyone of What is Important
• Generates and Sustains Trust
• Intimate Allies
19. Inter-Connected
Consulting Together
• The End Result
– Leadership is the Compass
• Power of Appreciation
• Reminds Everyone of What is Important
• Generates and Sustains Trust
• Intimate Allies
20. Inter-Connected
Consulting Vision + Alignment = Transformation
• Transformation
– Movement from the Undesirable State
• Vision
– Reciprocal Influence
• Leader and Follower Together
21. Inter-Connected
Consulting Three Keys
• Action Plan for Alignment
– It’s a Partnership and/or Team Endeavor
• Relationships Matter; Encourage, Develop, Learn, Grow
– Everything Revolves around the Vision
• Keep that in Mind when Developing Goals and Tasks
– Communication
• All in the Organization should have access to the same
information
23. Inter-Connected
Consulting
REFERENCES
– Ancona, D., Malone, T., Orlikowski, W., & Senge, P. (2007.) In Praise of the Incomplete
Leader. Harvard Business Review. 110-117.
– Bennis, W. (1999). The End of Leadership. Organizational Dynamics, 28(1), 9.
– Chaleff, I. (2009). The Courageous Follower: Standing up for and to our Leaders. San
Francisco: Berett-Koehler Publishers.
– Chowdrey, S. (2003). Organization 21C. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.
– Clark. R. (2005). The Excellent 11. New York: Hyperion Books.
– Drucker, P. (2004). What Makes an Effective Executive. Harvard Business Review. 16-22.
– Heifetz, R. & Laurie, D. (2001.) The Work of Leadership. Harvard Business Review. 37-
47.
– Heller, D. (May 2002). The Power of Gentleness. Educational Leadership. 4.
– Hiam, A. (1999). Motivating & Rewarding Employees. Holbrook, MA: Adams Media
Corporation.
– Werther, W. (2003.) Strategic Change and Leader-Follower Alignment. Organizational
Dynamics,.32(1), 32-45.
– Winston, B. (2002). Be a leader for God’s sake. Virginia Beach, VA: Regent University.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Definitions – Leadership and Followership. In essence we are talking about influence. Not just top down influence a relationship oriented paradigm where the leader and follower work together, influence each other, meet external and internal needs and fail or succeed together. Northhouse describes leadership this way: “as a process whereby leadership is a phenomenon that resides in the context of the interactions between leaders and followers and makes leadership available to everyone.” Again we are discussing a relationship – what type of relationship that might be – we will cover a bit later. What is Followership then? Why don’t we have as many definitions for followership than we do for leadership? The role of followership is to offer another or different perspective to any problem or dilemma. Ira Chaleff notes that it is dangerous to assume that the leader’s interpretation of any particular situation must dominate. If this lingers the follower will stop providing their unique perspective and thus the creative process and any chance for innovation (or excellence) wilts away. The Five dimensions of the courageous follower per Ira Chaleff are:. 1) Courage to Assume Responsibility. 2) The Courage to Serve. 3) The Courage to Challenge. 4) The Courage to Participate in Transformation. 5) The Courage to Take Moral Action. In my integrated relationship the five leader dimensions from my perspective would be. 1) Provide vision. 2) Trust enough to delegate. 3) Courage to serve the follower first and then the organization. 4) Courage to accept alternate viewpoints. 5) Courage to make tough decisions in regard to transformation.
Setup – For the next several minutes we will discuss four key questions. Not quite the five W’s however, it seems to me the where and when are self explanatory – the answer being everywhere and always. So – Whom do I mean by who? The leader and the Follower – will get a deeper lookWhat are we aligning is the next question. Here we will get in to Vision, Goals and Behaviors.Why? The quickest answer is because Leader’s cannot do “it” alone. What is it you may ask – we will go over that.And then How? Buzzwords abound like commitment, respect, mentorship and so forth. You might be surprised however, that kindness and compassion can help. Of course I’m sure you were thinking of a process, a plan to use to show us how to align. Well there is one of those as well. More to follow in that.
A Partnership. Why do police work in Tandem? For Back-up of Course. Why wouldn’t any leader want back-up? I could have chosen Batman and Robin however, Robin is a sidekick and followers are already looked upon as second fiddle to leaders and nothing could be farther from the truth. How might a Partnership lead to Alignment? A partnership distributes power more equally between the two individuals. When Leaders give power away and allow followers to accept it they actually gain more power because of the ideas that can be generated when power distance is shortened. Again like I mentioned earlier everything about a partnership is reciprocal in nature. The more power I give to you the more I receive because the ideas generated are theoretically doubled. In essence a corporate culture that envisions each personal interaction as a partnership views everyone as both a leader and a follower. A culture where each follower is also a leader is much different than a culture that separates people into leaders and subordinates, or even leaders and associates. It points to a positive culture that encourages a relationship oriented partnership designed to enhance all in it; while at the same time meeting the needs of the organization itself. Who creates this culture you might ask – well it is the leader of course. Who those leaders are – you tell me.
Let’s look deeper into who the aligned leader is for a moment. Who, not what, does he or she look like. Peter Drucker (2004) suggests we ask what needs to be done, not what do I need to do. This broadens the focus and takes it away from the individual. It allows the leader to seek support and advice from followers. It is the beginning of a reciprocal relationship. Drucker also noted that reassessing the situation after every major decision point is also critical for leaders – moreover the leader should decide what tasks are theirs and which ones are better suited for followers based upon their individual and collective skills sets. These types of leaders also communicate the vision and expectations continuously, reminding everyone what is important (Bennis, 1999.) They are not cheerleaders per se as that connotes a propaganda type approach to messaging. They tell the whole story, with the understanding that followers can seek clarification, guidance and of course present dissenting opinions as necessary. In other words leaders provide meaning so that followers can find their internal motivators and respond in kind. Leaders seeking alignment build trust with their followers. Part of trust building is transparency, passing information to the follower – and not just some information – but the same information the leader has access to. In this way communication is improved as both are on the same page. The leader has the responsibility to create conditions of trust (Chowdhury, 2003) until then followers will wander about seeking guidance and a role model to emulate. It is better to be vulnerable and have many followers than to be emotionless, impregnable, and without followers.
Followers. Let’s look closer at the five dimensions of the courageous leader as provided by Ira Chaleff. Courage to Assume Responsibility. 2) The Courage to Serve. 3) The Courage to Challenge. 4) The Courage to Participate in Transformation. 5) The Courage to Take Moral Action. Courage is a consistent theme for Chaleff. While leaders are often seen as courageous followers do not seem to be. Why do you think that is? Perhaps it is the idea of risk. We see risk when Leaders take chances on Mergers, or attempt to bring a new product to market. Why don’t we see the courageous risk that followers take when they tell a leader the hardships their policies might be on constituents, or when the follower brings corruption to the attention to the CEO. As Ira Chaleff points out Followers use their courage to provide balance to the organization. They do this by providing leaders honest feedback not just on performance but on sustainment of values, how they treat all constituents and the overall well-being of the organization. Here again, it takes courage to do this. Being a follower is not easy, being a subordinate is.
What are we Aligning? It’s all about the purpose – what are we trying to achieve? What will the future look like? It is not about the leader or follower it is about the vision both are trying to create. Once the leader asks the follower to join him or her in the vision and the follower accepts – it (vision) no longer belongs to either – but both. What does the vision offer? Increased Sales? Better Fiscal Management? These types of visions offer little. Leaders must offer a broader vision that entices, that presents a word picture of a future organization or even society. The vision has to have meaning it has to motivate the follower to want to use their skills, emotional output and time to ensure the vision can come to fruition. Army Vision Statement “The Nation has entrusted the Army with preserving its peace and freedom, defending its democracy, and providing opportunities for its Soldiers to serve the country and personally develop their skills and citizenship. Dr. Francis J. HarveySecretary of the ArmyApril 2005 WalMart’s Mission Statement: "We save people money so they can live better."WikiLeaks Vision “WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices.” All can be compelling visions to some. Is there a leader/follower relationship? Do you have to know your followers to have a relationship?Go and Make Disciples of the World. What of this vision? The vision certainly has meaning – you might say it is ennobling for both the leader and follower. Every skill imaginable can by utilized to make the vision come to fruition. No one is excluded in the purpose of the vision. I would offer that it has something that any leader and follower relationship can orbit around – to use Ira Chaleff’s statement.
Goals. How are goals aligned? What is the Main Thing? What is the primary goal of the organization that allows the vision to come to fruition? These are the questions that the leader must continuously ask themselves. Shouldn’t followers also be asking themselves these things as well? Why don’t they? Often as leaders we don’t ask them to or worse want them to – because they often offer uncomfortable insight into the problems of the organization. If we want to meet our goals and have the vision come to fruition we need our assumptive worlds to align. As William Werther states very well. “Leaders have to provide a new focus for the organization one that is future and externally oriented.” This new focus allows all conversations to be aligned and thus any dialogue that occurs will be about goals or the vision of the organization. In short, the assumptive world of the organization emerges through continuous dialogue – when this occurs all can focus on the main thing. And more importantly continuously make assessments to ensure it is still the main thing.
Can we actually Align Behaviors? Here we will discuss the leader without the follower for a moment. There are two ways the leader can attempt to align follower behaviors. The transactional approach which ties behaviors to external stimuli like bonuses, parking spots, corner offices. Or the transformational approach that links behavior to the internal stimulus which is the vision itself. Again, the more compelling the vision to the follower and the easier it is to align behaviors. In addition, and in no small measure - the leader must model the behaviors he or she feels and thinks are necessary for the organization. There can be no behavioral alignment unless the leader(s) are authentic in this regard. Jesus showed love and mercy in everything he did and provided the ultimate commandment as described in Matthew 22-37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines also described love as his primary behavioral goal along with fun. Even their stock market acronym of LUV showcases their commitment to certain behaviors and thus their vision. There are plenty of other examples – Parents, Teachers, Pastors. One such teacher was Ron Clark with his essential 55, that he revised to 11, Compassion, Resilience, and Appreciation are the ones that stuck out for me. What would an organization look like if we used those three behaviors and tied it to our vision?
Why are we aligning? It is the right thing to do for the organization. Interestingly enough Bruce Winston linked doing the right thing to the Beautitudes, in this case the 4th Beautitude of “Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.” Aligning means we are looking for what is right for the follower and the organization. In my role as the administrative officer for the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe one role I have is to ensure the office of 30 runs smoothly – this means allocating Human resources appropriately. I can do what makes my job easier – or I can focus on what is best for the follower and the entire organization and place folks with that in mind. If I can make a win-win (skill development for the follower) and a quality person for a department or section than I’ve accomplished my task.
Perhaps you are looking for a more practical answer. In that case – leaders cannot do it all. In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review Authors Deborah Ancona, Thomas Malone, Wanda Orlikowski and Peter Senge (2007) discuss the incomplete leader. The Super Hero leader “who has the intellectual capacity to make sense of unfathomably complex issues, the imaginative powers to paint a vision of the future that generates everyone’s enthusiasm, operational knowledge to translate strategy into concrete plans, and the interpersonal skills to foster commitment.” It is obvious that no one person can be all this. Nor should they – if we do it all then the other person suffers – this goes back to doing what is right. Leaders must develop their followers into leaders themselves – this can never happen unless they have responsibilities, goals and successes. As an Army Warrant Officer – one of our main goals is to replace ourselves. We are always looking for that future leader.
Let’s go back to communication for a moment. What is the vision? What goals and tasks must be accomplished to get us to that future vision? Who has the skills necessary to accomplish these tasks and goals? What if every department had a wide range of Subject Matter Experts – with a focus on the vision? Leaders put the right people in the right positions and then let them accomplish goals. This is the mentorship approach to leadership.
How do we align? One aspect is the concept of decision making. The old paradigm is that leaders make all decisions, which is a problem if we want to align organizations. Follower and Leaders both make decisions everyday – the concept should be that Leaders create a culture where decisions get made – not that Leaders make all decisions (Werther, W. 2003). You were probably expecting a plan or a 10 step process to alignment, I could make one up I suppose. However, the idea is not to create a map for you. I’d rather provide you a compass. Heller (2002) said that “There is incredible power that can result from kindness and compassion” one very significant result is that it opens the door so that the follower can hear the message the leader is trying to convey. Now the compass.
How is a compass a plan? Why not a map? A map provides a specified number of alternatives, that is not what alignment is about. We don’t know what alignment will actually look like until it is complete. Going back to Warren Bennis for a moment. In 1999 he listed four key competencies of the New Leader or New Leadership. I would call it the transformation of leadership. It is in essence a way for leaders and followers to interact to ensure alignment and thus transformation. Here is what I mean:
What is meant by power of appreciation? Two things – saying and meaning thanks, and surrounding oneself with talent, without becoming jealous of that talent. Public recognition for a job well done, or a simple thanks for three days of hard work on a difficult task can go a long way in instilling motivation, and keeping people focused on a task. Many think that military members are so proud of their ribbons because it connotes success and pride. It does to some extent. However, the real message of any medal is one of appreciation. Someone, most often a close leader and colleague saw fit to take the time and effort to work through the bureaucracy in order for the ribbon to become a reality. It shows appreciation to the other person is states “that I am worth something in the eye of someone else.” The message is I appreciate you first and then your talent.Of course we must also appreciate talent and not be afraid of it. Leaders and Mentors need not be smarter than the follower, what they offer is opportunities for the follower to shine.
How is a compass a plan? Step #2 of our plan based upon Warren Bennis. Reminding everyone of what is important. The Power of the Vision – does it invigorate and ennoble. Will it call people to action? Reminding folks of what is important means that constant communication is critical. Some call it Strategic Communications, this often means transparency – lifting the veil of information security in some cases. The message must be reiterated at every opportunity through every possible communication method; email, town halls, video, company newsletter and even discussions in the local eatery.
Trust. Generating Trust means being trustworthy – what does that look like exactly? Well the leader must be competent for sure, must be in control of their emotions. Being and ensuring that the behaviors of Fairness, Caring and compassion permeate the organization. Then trust starts to spread through the organization based upon that model. As Alexander Hiam (1999) puts it “Part of trust is affirming the importance of everyone in the organization. As Chodhury states (1993) “It is the leader’s responsibility to create conditions of trust.”
Working in Tandem or as a team of followers and leaders is of course the goal and the way to an aligned organization. In the end it is the leader who provides the vision and then the folower(s) who adapts that vision into their daily actions. As authors Ronald Heifetz and Donald Laurie (2001) note - solutions to adaptive challenges reside not in the executive suite but in the collective intelligence of employees at all levels.” How do we acquire this collective intelligence then? Via the Leadership Compass eg, the four points above and where does this lead? Transformation.
This slide is in essence a summary of our earlier discussions – but it also shows the final end result. Transformation. What is transformation really? As uncomfortable as this may seem it is moving from an undesirable state into an improved one.. The Vision sets the tone for movement. Reciprocal Influence allows all to be involved. Thus Alignment, continuous dialogue in the same frame and assumptions due to alignment, ensure the organization can transform as required. Continuous Leader and Follower Involvement create Alignment and also create the conditions for Transformation.
I’d like to leave with three primary thoughts as an Action Plan of sorts. This plan is not a checklist – it is much more than that. It is a way of thinking or refocusing. It provides something you can start right now!It is my contention that if we get these three things right we will have an aligned organization due to a positive leader follower relationship. It’s a partnership no one can do it alone. The leader needs the follower and the follower needs leaders, who those are will change and shift over time. It is illogical not to respect each role – cause all will fulfill these roles during a career.The vision is the key – align around that. Leaders and followers are less important than the vision. Goals and Tasks also revolve around the vision. What is best for the vision should be the underlying question.Communication – alignment cannot take place unless all have the same information. The Army calls it situational awareness. If we all have the same information then our questions, ideas and assumptions are linked – thus alignment takes place.
