Additional Notes from the Leadership – A
Personal Journey Presentation
SLIDE 1 - When I started work after achieving my engineering degree, my first job was to
manage a road maintenance organisation of 40 people and a landscaping organisation of
another 40 people. 80 people in total.
And my credentials for the task? Four years at Sydney University attaining a Bachelor of Civil
Engineering. And that course comprised pure and applied maths, physics, chemistry, geology,
structures, soil mechanics, surveying, materials and hydraulics. Plus one 2 unit course on
construction techniques. Oh yes – plus 4 years at St John's College and an unofficial degree in
socialising. Great preparation for guiding two maintenance organisation.
So began a 36 year career in construction related management!
SLIDE 2 - I started as a cadet with the NSW Department of Main Roads which was followed
after graduation with 12 years in construction, maintenance and contract administration. I never
went into design, which in the DMR was Bridge section. I followed the advice of may father (we
did things like that once) – ‗For God‘s sake don‘t go into Bridge Section! That will be the end of
your career!‘ My father , as you might have guessed was also an engineer with the DMR, and
he was a construction engineer.
After 12 years I left the DMR and moved to Canberra, which really lead to a completely different
career than the one I imagined. But in all of the jobs I have undertaken I have had to lead and
influence people to achieve outcomes.
And to do this I have had to learn a lot about both management and leadership, and that
learning has been continuous. In fact I do not think one can every stop learning because
management and leadership relate to people. And people are complex….
In this paper I will try to explain the elements of leadership and then provide personal examples
that reflect some of those elements.
SLIDE 3 - Leadership is one of the most complex and multifaceted phenomena to which
organisational and psychological research has been applied. While the term ‗leader‘ has been in
the English language since the 12 th century, the team leadership was not known until the 1700s.
But it was not until the 20th century that scientific research began in earnest.
Warren Bennis (widely regarded as a pioneer in leadership studies), stated:
―Of all the hazy and confounding areas in social psychology, leadership theory undoubtedly
contends for the top nomination. And, ironically, probably more has been written and less known
about leadership than about any other topic in the behavioral sciences.‖ And in a similar vein,
James Burns (the creator of the Transformational Leadership theory) mused:
― Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth‖. And
finally Ralph Stogdill (responsible for the Trait theory of leadership) claimed ―There are almost
as many definitions of leadership as those who have attempted to define the concept‖, as
reflected in the quotes displayed.
So for the purposes of this presentation and to to get the ball rolling a simple definition of
Leadership is a process of getting things done through people.
Lets explore this definition in a little more detail.
SLIDE 4 - The complexity around leadership can best be illustrated through the evolution of
leadership theories.
Great Man assumes that the capacity for leadership is inherent – that great leaders are born,
not made.
Trait assumes that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to
leadership.
Behavioral based upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born. this leadership theory
focuses on the actions of leaders not on mental qualities or internal states. According to this
theory, people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation.
Participative suggests that the ideal leadership style is one that takes the input of others into
account. These leaders encourage participation and contributions from group members and
help group members feel more relevant and committed to the decision- making process. In
participative theories, however, the leader retains the right to allow the input of others.
Situational proposes that leaders choose the best course of action based upon situational
variables.
The theory states that instead of using just one style, successful leaders should change their
leadership styles based on the maturity of the people they're leading and the details of the task.
Using this theory, leaders should be able to place more or less emphasis on the task, and more
or less emphasis on the relationships with the people they're leading, depending on what's
needed to get the job done successfully.
Contingency Focus on particular variables related to the environment that might determine
which particular style of leadership is best suited for the situation. According to this theory, no
leadership style is best in all situations. Success depends upon a number of variables, including
the leadership style, qualities of the followers and aspects of the situation.
Transactional A style of leadership in which the leader promotes compliance of his followers
through both rewards and punishments. Unlike Transformational leadership, leaders using the
transactional approach are not looking to change the future, they are looking to merely keep
things the same. These leaders pay attention to followers' work in order to find faults and
deviations. This type of leadership is effective in crisis and emergency situations, as well as
when projects need to be carried out in a specific fashion.
Transformational Enhances the motivation, morale and performance of followers through a
variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the
mission and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that
inspires them; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding
the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that
optimize their performance.
Adaptive The practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive. The concept of
thriving is drawn from evolutionary biology, in which a successful adaptation has three
characteristics: (1) it preserves the DNA essential for the species' continued survival; (2) it
discards (reregulates or rearranges) the DNA that no longer serves the species' current needs;
and (3) it creates DNA arrangements that give the species' the ability to flourish in new ways
and in more challenging environments. Successful adaptations enable a living system to take
the best from its history into its future.
SLIDE 5 - Human Behaviour Theories are fundamental to any leadership theory. Understanding
the complexity of the human being and one goes along way to establishing a suite of leadership
principles.
The Hawthorne Experiments
―Instead of treating the workers as an appendage to ‗the machine‘,‖ Jeffrey Sonnenfeld notes in
his detailed analysis of the studies, the Hawthorne experiments brought to light ideas
concerning motivational influences, job satisfaction, resistance to change, group norms, worker
participation, and effective leadership.
From the leadership point of view today, organizations that do not pay sufficient attention to
‗people‘ and ‗cultural‘ variables are consistently less successful than those that do. From the
leadership point of view today, organizations that do not pay sufficient attention to people and
the deep sentiments and relationships connecting them are consistently less successful than
those that do. ―The change which you and your associates are working to effect will not be
mechanical but humane.‖
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
1. Physiological
2. Safety
3. Love/Belonging
4. Esteem
5. Self-Actualisation
Herzberg's Hygiene and Motivation Factors
states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a
separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction.
McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y
Theory X - management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can
and that they inherently dislike work. As a result of this, management believes that workers
need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical
structure is needed with narrow span of control at each and every level. According to this
theory, employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid
responsibility whenever they can.
Theory Y - management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and
exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties.
According to them work is as natural as play[1]. They possess the ability for creative problem
solving, but their talents are underused in most organizations. Given the proper conditions,
theory Y managers believe that employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and
to exercise self-control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which they are
committed.
Alderfer's Existence/Relatedness/Growth
The existence group is concerned with providing our basic material existence requirements.
They include the items that Maslow considered to be physiological and safety needs.
The second group of needs is those of relatedness- the desire we have for maintaining
important interpersonal relationships. These social and status desires require interaction with
others if they are to be satisfied, and they align with Maslow's social need and the external
component of Maslow's esteem classification.
Finally, Alderfer isolates growth needs' an intrinsic desire for personal development. These
include the intrinsic component from Maslow's esteem category and the characteristics included
under self-actualization.
Vroom's Expectancy Theory
proposes that a person will decide to behave or act in a certain way because they are motivated
to select a specific behavior over other behaviors due to what they expect the result of that
selected behavior will be.[1] In essence, the motivation of the behavior selection is determined
by the desirability of the outcome.
SLIDE 6 - In addition to these theories there is a range of other inherent human elements which
impact any leadership theory.
There are leadership styles
•
Transactional
•
Autocratic
•
Bureaucratic
•
Democratic/Participative
•
Charismatic
•
Laissez-faire
•
Task-orientated
•
Transformational
There are human traits that impact leadership such as
•
Honesty
•
Competent
•
Forward-looking
•
Inspiring
•
Intelligent
•
Fair-minded
•
Broad-minded
•
Courageous
•
Straightforward
•
Imaginative
And there are organizational structures that people work which materially effect the approach to
leadership, such as
•
Pre-bureaucratic
•
Bureaucratic
•
Post-bureaucratic
•
Functional
•
Divisional
•
Matrix
•
Flat
•
Team
•
Network
•
Virtual
•
Hierarchy-Community Phenotype Model
All of these elements impact an individuals leadership approach. Is it any wonder that people
get confused about Leadership.
For the average person, how does one make sense of all this?
SLIDE 8 - The Irish Ganger
Background
Landscaping gang - laid turf, etc
Headed a gang with multicultural background
Where perceived as 'lazy' and not performing
Always appeared to be sitting around or not doing much
I was asked to 'get stuck into them'
The facts
Best unit rate in the office for laying of turf
Observation
Worked slowly but constantly - always on move
Economy of movement - always picked up a tool when going between work areas
No wasted movements - time and motion experts would be impressed
Leadership lessons
Don't rely on the opinions of others
Don't rush to judge
Gather your own data
Observe work practices
SLIDE 9 - The Militant Truckers
Background
SHB tow trucks
Changing traffic lanes - tidal flowing
Breakdowns
Very militant - always going on strike
Liked holding the traveling public to ransom
The facts
Data
Very regimented - time, and process
2 shifts a day
Observation
No challenges - same routine
The work teams were bored
Sat around a lot doing nothing before or after lane changing
Solution
Increase work load and variety
Pair tow trucks with local road maintenance organisation
Tow trucks layout and clear temporary traffic arrangements before and peak traffic periods
Outcomes
Productivity went up
Absenteeism when down
Militancy disappeared
Leadership Lessons
Gather the facts and observe practices
Establish a plan of attack
Engage people with respect about the issues
Work with the people to develop the solutions - make them feel they own the solution
Provide feedback on performance
Celebrate the wins
SLIDE 10 - Transformation - An inspiring Story
Background
Decisions being made to close the office due to poor productivity - thought work could be done
by another office
Office once twice size but had whittled away
No reorganization had occurred
Twice as much plant as needed
Operators getting of plant to hold stop/go bats, etc
Too many gangs with too few labourers
Gangs were location based - Blayney, Orange, Carcoar
Solution
Restructure the operation
Halve the plant fleet
Reorganize
Major construction gang
Major maintenance gang
General shoulder maintenance gang
Reduce the number of foremen from 3 to 2
Establish a 5 year works program
Outcomes
Productivity quadrupled
Roads constructed went from 3 to 12 kms per year
With no cost increases
Office remained open for a further 15 years
Leadership lessons
Have a vision and plan
Engage with the workforce to adopt the vision and the plan
Communicate, communicate
Make them part of the decision making process
Leader must be seen as honest and with integrity
Treat everyone with respect
Listen, listen and listen
Don't make promises you can't keep
SLIDE 11 - Restructuring - The stuff of nightmares
Background
Tasked with meeting a $10 million operational Budget
A road maintenance organisation with plant workshop
Issues
Organisation had been restructured weeks before I arrived
Restructure unsustainable if budget to be achieved
Change had to occur quickly if budget was to be achieved
No job costing systems
Overtime a standard practice rather than a tool to achieve outcomes
All engineers had been on contract for years
Solution
Go back to old structure with some modifications
Implement daily costing systems to monitor expenditure
Manage overtime
Move from a contract engineer structure to public sector structure
Establish practice standards for work activities
Outcomes
9 months constant industrial disputation
With AWU
With Supervisors union
Replaced all contract engineers with public sector engineers
Weak support from management
Achieved budget
Implemented practices that became the standard for the ACT
Resulted in Roads North being restructured as per Roads South
Leadership Lessons
Never restructure unless financial, operational and industrial criteria have been analyzed
Have a sound and clear vision for the organisation
Be true and strong when challenged
Unions
Management
Maintain integrity
Treat everyone with respect
Be decisive with decisions
Communicate at all levels the changes
Don't waiver when the going gets tough
Post script - many of the workforce asked me to return as the manager when the job became
vacant three years later
SLIDE 12 - The Sergeant-Major Supervisor
Background
Supervisor was a sergeant-major in Vietnam
He believed that he saved lives by ensuring solders under his command followed orders exactly
Unfortunately he carried this philosophy into civilian life – caused lots of industrial problems
I tried to reason with him and change his approach to supervision – but to know avail. I suspect
he thought I was soft touch.
He had a habit of jumping into tasks that should be done by others
One day he advised he had involved himself in an activity that I had advised him I would do, as
it involved some sensitive negotiations.
It was the last straw. I lost my composure and blew the shit out of him.
An amazing thing happened.
He jumped to attention in front off me and stayed in that state until I cooled down and said ―At
Ease‘
From that moment on I never had a problem with him. I directed him rather than reasoned with
him.
I have never come across an individual like him before or since in my career
Leadership Lesson
-
Understand the individual
-
- Change your style to suit the individual and the circumstance]
SLIDE13 - A tale of two leaders
Background
-
Multi-discipline design and construction company
-
Electrical contracting
-
Substations
-
Transmission lines
-
Water and waste water treatment
-
Facility management
-
Had been purchased for $2 million from manufacturing company
-
Purchased by A South African and a New Zealander
-
Workforce of 1500 across Australia and NZ
-
Joined company in 1993 as Quality Systems Manager
-
Issues
-
While under manufacturing company significant investment in documenting
management systems, but never applied
-
Company had significant losses when sold
-
Performance variable
-
Poor reputation among clients
-
Solutions
-
Focus on areas of strength
-
Focus on implementing Quality Management System
-
Refine existing systems to make more user friendly
-
Constantly update based actual use
-
Establish a consistent implementation across the organisation
-
Improve internal reporting - finance and project
-
Rebuild relationships with clients
-
Focus on partnerships rather than contract management
-
Work with clients to develop solutions
-
Do away with litigious claims
-
Support staff
-
Internal Training
-
External Training
-
Effective performance plans
-
Outcomes - over a 6 year period
-
Effective implementation of Quality Systems
-
On balance all jobs made money
-
$30 million in cash within the business
-
Company floated and sold for $55 million
-
Leadership Lessons
-
MD and Chairman ordinary people but always took time to talk to every employee
-
Treated everyone in company with the utmost respect
-
Where ethical and honest
-
Set same standards for everyone including themselves
-
Constancy of purpose
-
Set clear and unambiguous vision/mission
-
Where highly respected by the employees
-
Amazingly loyal workforce
SLIDE 14 - The wayward contractor
-
Background
-
Major contract in the mid 80's
-
Incredibly litigious - claims submitted on a daily basis
-
Project with many technical difficulties
-
Tight timetable to complete - politically motivated
-
Project behind schedule
-
Observations
-
Contractor spending more time managing claims than project
-
Contractor had a poor performing supervisor
-
Many aspects delayed due to rejection of work by my contract supervisors
-
Communication between contractor and superintendent nil
-
Solution
-
Off the record talk to the contractor's project manager
-
Project performance unacceptable - had to be improved
-
Contractors main construction supervisor incompetent - had to be replaced
-
Contractor had to start managing the project rather than claims - otherwise
superintendent would remove PM and he would never work on a DMR job again
-
Supporting proposal to contractor
-
My team would work with his team to deliver the project
-
I would approve any legitimate variation on the spot
-
Outcomes
-
Productivity went through the roof
-
Project achieved scheduled completion date
-
Variations were minimized
-
Collaborative atmosphere spilled over to previous claims and all were settled by contract
completion
-
Project over spent by abut 10% despite significant technical problems
-
Project hailed as a success by all parties
-
Leadership lessons
-
The importance of a clear plan and effective implementation of that plan
-
The importance of a common goal
-
The importance of having capable people
-
The power of teamwork/collaboration
SLIDE 16 - Principles of Leadership
- Know yourself and seek self-improvement
In order to know yourself, you have to understand your be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking
self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished
through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interacting with others.
- Be technically proficient
As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees' tasks.
- Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions
Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, they
always do sooner or later — do not blame others. Analyze the situation, take corrective action,
and move on to the next challenge.
- Make sound and timely decisions
Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools.
- Set the example
Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to
do, but also see.
- Know your people and look out for their well-being
Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.
- Keep your workers informed
Know how to communicate with not only them, but also seniors and other key people.
-
Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers
- Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised and accomplished
Help to develop good character traits that will help them carry out their professional
responsibilities.
- Train as a team
Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section, etc. a team; they
are not really teams...they are just a group of people doing their jobs.
- Use the full capabilities of your organisation
By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section,
etc. to its fullest capabilities.
SLIDE 17 - The Effective Executive has been a personal management bible of mine for many
years. The lessons contained within have stood the test of time for me. Is a bit dated in its
presentation but the words are wisdom. I have included a review to assist the reader:
―Executives are not paid for doing things they like to do. They are paid for getting the right things
done.‖ — Peter F. Drucker
That quote (from chapter 7) summarizes the philosophy of ―The Effective Executive: The
Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done‖ quite well. It‘s a book that explores what the
job of an executive knowledge worker is — to make the right decisions for the organization
being served.
The book is a fairly easy read, spread across seven chapters:
Effectiveness Can be Learned — Effective leadership is a skill you learn by understanding
what‘s expected of you, and focusing on the right things. It‘s a differentiating skill that has
become increasingly valuable as we‘ve moved from an industrial- to a knowledge-based
economy.
Know Thy Time — Time is a finite resource, and you‘re probably wasting more of it then you
think. If you want to accomplish great things, you must manage your time wisely. Start by
auditing your workday.
What Can I Contribute — Your energy will be wasted if you‘re not focused on the right
contributions. An executive‘s salary comes with an expectation of addressing the right
organizational opportunities.
Making Strength Productive — The key to being effective is to leverage your strengths. Position
yourself so that your weaknesses are irrelevant.
First Things First — Focus on what‘s important now, not in the past. Tackle issues one at a time
(multitasking is rarely more productive then concentrated effort.)
The Elements of Decision-making — Focus on the important decisions; Identify boundary
conditions; Determine what is right before making compromises; Understand what the decision
needs to accomplish; Separate strategic implications from one-off situations; Build-in a plan for
action and feedback.
Effective Decisions — Start with your gut; Don‘t base future planning on today‘s (or yesterday‘s)
way of doing things; Disagreement is a good thing (it means people are thinking about the
problem. Find out why it‘s happening or you won‘t see the whole picture.)
In addition to the original (1960′s) text, the edition I have starts with a reprint of Drucker‘s ―What
Makes an Effective Executive‖, first published in the June 2004 issue of Harvard Business
Review. This introductory piece is actually quite good, and reflects some updating, more
clarified thinking on the role of an executive. To paraphrase the introduction, it outlines the
behaviors of successful executives as:
Understanding what needs to be done
Understanding what‘s right for the organization
Developing plans for getting things done
Making good decisions
Communicating
Focusing on opportunities
Running productive meetings
Focusing on the team/organization, rather than the individual (everyone is responsible, and
accountable)
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It provides a very clear opinion on the role of the executive
knowledge worker. Sometimes the material feels a little dated (though often it‘s amazingly
timeless), but the examples add interesting business and political history to the lessons. I don‘t
think I would have gotten as much out of this book back when I first started my career (where I
was focused more on excellence in my craft), but now, the lessons provide a good framework
for filtering through all the things I could be focusing on, so that I can select the ones that I
should be focused on.
Leadership Jazz was given to me some 20 years ago by a colleague. I have included a review
on the book which I feel may help the reader understand its contents. My slide is a very small
element of the content.
SLIDE 18 - Leadership Jazz by Max De Pree is a truly inspirational book that begins by
examining leadership through a musical metaphor. This was especially catchy to me, as I am a
huge music fan. De Pree opens his book by comparing his preferred style of leadership to the
operations of a jazz band. He explains that the leader of the band must embody all of the
aspects of a servant-leader, allowing his or her band members to shine in their respective areas
while also guiding and encouraging the band as a whole. This introduction really sums up the
ideas that De Pree presents throughout his book. He stresses over and over again that
leadership is very closely tied to being a follower, and that leaders must always be in touch with
the ideas and opinions of their followers. He believes that good leaders must exemplify the ageold qualities of a leader (integrity, honesty, accountability, etc.), but he also presents more
interesting ideas, such as his supposition that the greatest leaders really are ―amateurs.‖ In
explaining his amateur theory, De Pree uses the example of Leonardo da Vinci – a jack-of-alltrades who may or may not have truly been an expert in one field, but whose curiosity and
varied sources of knowledge made him a truly remarkable creator and leader.
De Pree also asserts that leaders must be willing and happy to concede their roles as leaders to
subordinates who may have more knowledge than they. He notes that in a society that is always
changing and developing, innovation is absolutely key to surviving in this world. Often, leaders
can reach new levels of innovation by recognizing the special talents and areas of expertise in
their followers, and then deferring to their knowledge. Overall, De Pree stresses this whole idea
that leaders must always be open to learning, growing, accepting when they are wrong, and
cooperating with their teams. Obviously, leaders must have a vision and a plan, but the success
of their implementations is related almost entirely to their level of humility and openness. De
Pree‘s ideal form of leadership follows a very clear path of personal morals and ethics, where
means are much more important than ends and the humanity of all people involved in a
corporation or organization is always respected. In fact, De Pree even has a chapter in his book
entitled ―Where do Ethics and Leadership Intersect?‖ and the first line of the chapter is ―believe
me, they do intersect, all the time.‖ He states that three ideas seem to be at the exact
intersection of ethics and leadership, and he identifies these ideas as justice, celibacy (defined
not in a sexual way, but rather as making room for things such as stewardship and family), and
the common good. It‘s no wonder that Peter Drucker is quoted on the cover as saying, ―read this
slowly. This book is wisdom in action.‖ This book does not follow a clear plot line, but rather it is
a delineation of a philosophy and should be read closely. A large part of understanding this
book is tied to taking the time to relate De Pree‘s ideas to areas in our own lives and leadership
roles.
Clearly, the ideas in this book are very closely tied to the ideas of Drucker and Management by
Objectives. Just as Drucker was a proponent of integrity, honesty, teamwork, and recognition of
special skills, De Pree continually points out that these qualities are absolutely essential to
effective leadership. I do believe that there is a lot of logic to De Pree‘s arguments. I have a
hard time imagining trying to be a leader who has no care or concern for the members of my
team, and I do believe that a good leader should always be accountable and humble. De Pree is
a huge proponent of servant leadership, which is widely believed to be one of the most effective
forms of leadership. Obviously, it is unrealistic to think that a manager or CEO of a company will
always act with the greatest of character, and I‘m sure that De Pree often fell short of his own
mark, but the ideal that he sets is certainly an ideal for which to strive.
I would probably recommend this book to other public relations students, mostly because it
does have some very sound ideas and it‘s not a very hard book to read. De Pree‘s writing style
is very understandable while still being interesting and is eloquently executed. He breaks down
some somewhat clichéd ideas into new and different approaches. For instance, he takes the old
idea that a leader should always be willing to learn and proposes that leaders should actually
strive to be amateurs, therefore always being curious, questioning, and open to new growth. I
do think that reading this book slowly while taking a lot of notes and reflecting on the ideas that
are presented could be very useful to anyone in a leadership position. This book is thought
provoking and at the very worst, it is completely harmless. There is, of course, nothing wrong
with striving to treat people fairly and respectfully while always working to better yourself and
build a solid reputation in your field. Anyone who is drawn to the MBO form of management and
seeks to use it in their workplace would benefit especially from De Pree‘s expansion on the
ideas that are presented by Drucker.