The Essence of Leadership
"It was the best of times: now it is the worst of times." The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announcing his budget on 22nd April 2009, said that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. They also call for extraordinary leadership that will need to convince the followership that the government 'knows what' is going on has the 'know how' to do something about it.
The flip side of leadership is change, while the relationship between theory and practice is captured by this 'knowing what' and 'knowing how' equation – sometimes known as the knowing/doing gap. The Change Management Forum (CMF) provides a place where academics and practitioners, with a keen interest in contemporary issues in leadership and change, meet with the aim of narrowing CMF is where they can exchange ideas and dialogue about current issues.
Now in its fifth year at the University of Bath School of Management, the Forum is directed by its founder, Dr Ian Colville. It arose out of questions from alumni, both undergraduate and MBA who, after taking Ian's courses in leadership and change, asked what comes next. Some wanted to keep up with what was happening in terms of continuing professional development, others wanted to talk about what they had led and changed, either as managers or change consultants, and all were open to learning from each other. The Forum takes seriously the idea that there is much to be gained by academics and practitioners closing the knowing/doing gap, and its membership reflects this, comprising a mixture of managers (some of whom are alumni), consultant and academics.
The CMF meets four times a year in an early evening session (including a very fine buffet meal and networking opportunity), structured around an invited guest who speaks personally about what they know about change and leadership. The hope is that they tell 'the story' of the experiences that resulted in that knowledge. Past speakers include Peter Hendy(now Commissioner for Transport for London), Dr Tony Murphy (Vice President, Global HR for Eli Lilly and Company) and John Sampson (now Acting Deputy Chief Constable and Head of Counter Terrorism for S. Yorkshire Police Service)
Last year, we had an illuminating talk from Justin King, CEO of Sainsbury's, who came along with his external Change/OD consultant, Adrian Moorehouse of Lane4 Consulting (yes, the Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer) to tell the story of the turnaround at Sainsbury's under his leadership. This year, so far, we have had sessions from Rob Goffee, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School; Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of John Lewis partnership (JLP) and Neil Holloway, Vice President of Business Strategy at Microsoft International.
Charlie Mayfield provided a thought-provoking contract to Justin King, pointing out yet again that those who seek to construct the definitive list of characteristics possessed by successful leaders, are doomed to failure. Speaking in January, just as one Wall Street hedge fund manager colourfully observed, "Western capitalism was being flushed down the toilet", Charlie suggested that if communism had failed and capitalism was currently crumbling, then perhaps there was anew place emerging for the middle ground form of organisation – perhaps time for the re-emergence of the co-operative movement, or from his viewpoint, the partnership model.
JLP's core aims include to provide fulfilling employment, and make 'sufficient' profit, with any bonus at the end of the year being shared out in equal percentage amongst all partners who comprise all the workers (hence called 'partners' not 'employees'). This is a very different model to, say, Sainsbury's who have shareholders and are a publicly traded company. If leadership is about taking various stakeholder groups with you, then what comprises effective leadership in Sainsbury's and JLP differs because the number and range of stakeholders which each must take account of, differ, even if they are both grocery retailers.
Rob Goffee theorised these differences by reference to sociological ideas about organisational character, rather than personal character. Rob is one of the few genuine cross-over academics whose work is read avidly by both practitioners and academics, and when you see him in action you can see why. He also has one of the most provocative and compelling book titles in the field: Why should anyone be led by you?". He talked about how you lead clever people – ie: people who not only do not want to be led, but may also be smarter than you – and gave us a framework for explaining how very different people in very different organisations can produce what he called authentic leadership, which worked in those differing circumstances and made sense to followers.
The value of theorising practice was again brought home by our most recent speaker, Neil Holloway. Neil is currently Vice President of Business Strategy for Microsoft International and was previously Managing Director, Microsoft UK, before taking up leadership of Microsoft Europe and Asia. With software revenues of $51b in 2007, Microsoft is arguably the most successful commercial organisation on the planet. This begs the question: how do you create and lead strategic change in a company that is already, by any yardstick, high performing? Again, the issue that clearly came to the fore was the link between the character of the organisational culture and the character of the leadership.
Our final talk this year is on 28th May, to be given by Viv Miles, formerly of GCap Media Group, where he was responsible for finding and nurturing talent for this successful commercial radio group. Viv will be drawing on his wide experience of coaching and developing to bring out the best in, and of, people. If there is a war for talent, how do you keep winning the battle and lead talented people, some of whom are known to have prima donna tendencies, and can be very awkward customers? Ask any Vice-Chancellor!
Returning to that other Chancellor, Alistair Darling, and the world of economics, it was Keynes who said that 'practical men (sic) who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the salves of some defunct economist" The irony would seem to be that Keynes is that defunct economist and theoretical leader. Another economist and student of the last recession, J K Galbraith said "all of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common; it is the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership"
What we have learned from the Change Management Forum is that there are different, or equivocal, ways of confronting that anxiety. In other words, there is more than one way of leading change. It is the challenge of theory to 'know what' those equivocal ways are and it is the challenge of practice to 'know how' they can be focussed in dealing with the anxiety that is the public finances.
Good luck, Chancellor!
If you have any questions about the CMF, please contact Ian Colville directly on 01225 386126 or email: i.d.colville@bath.ac.uk or check our website for further information and joining details. www.bath.ac.uk/management/businesschange_management/