Leadership One
Action-Centred Leadership
Transactional/Transformational Leadership
& RAF Leadership Attributes
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Scope
• Define Leadership
• Function Approach to Leadership
• Transactional/Transformational
Leadership
• RAF Leadership Attributes
• Review Objectives
3
Scope
• Define Leadership
• Function Approach to Leadership
• Transactional/Transformational
Leadership
• RAF Leadership Attributes
• Review Objectives
4
What is Leadership
‘There are almost as many definitions of leadership as
there are persons who have attempted to define the
subject.’
Stogdill
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What is Leadership ?
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What is Leadership
1. Results: Is it what you achieve that
makes you a leader?
2. Process: Is it HOW you get things done
that makes you a leader?
3. Position: Is it WHERE & WHEN you
operate from that makes you a leader?
4. Person: Is it WHO you are that makes
you a leader?
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What is Leadership…Results?
‘Leadership is about getting extraordinary results
from ordinary people.’
Sir John Harvey-Jones
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What is Leadership…Process?
‘Leadership is the intelligent use of power.’
Sir Winston Churchill
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What is Leadership…Process?
‘Leadership is that combination of example,
persuasion and compulsion that makes men do what
they don’t want to do: in effect it is the extension of
personality.’
Field Marshal Slim
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What is Leadership…Position?
‘A leader is best when he is neither seen nor heard.
Not so good when he is adored and glorified. Worst
when he is hated and despised. Fail to honour
people, they will fail to honour you. But of a great
leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, the
people will say: “We did this ourselves”’
Lao Tzu, Chinese Tauist Philosopher, c600 BC
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What is Leadership…Person?
‘Leaders there have to be, and these may appear to
rise above their fellow men, but in their hearts they
know only too will that what has been attributed to
them is in fact the achievement of the team to which
they belong.’
Gp Capt Leonard Cheshire VC DSO** DFC
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The Leader
‘Leadership is visionary; it is the projection of personality and
character to inspire people to achieve the desired outcome’
(RAF Leadership Centre)
• Persuades by giving direction and providing a vision that is
communicated to followers
• Sets an example by acting, as a role model to influence
others by actions, not just words
• Demonstrates integrity
• Inspires others by motivating, empowering and encouraging
them
• Grows the organisation by working for progress and
development
• Demonstrates leadership in times of turbulence
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‘Never do today that which will be someone else’s
responsibility tomorrow’
‘Eagles may soar high,
but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines’
‘You have to be 100% behind someone,
before you can stab them in the back’
‘A problem shared is a problem halved,
so is your problem really yours or just half of someone else’s?’
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Scope
• Define Leadership
• Function Approach to Leadership
• Transactional/Transformational
Leadership
• RAF Leadership Attributes
• Review Objectives
15
Adair’s ‘Action-Centred’
Leadership Model
Task needs
Task Functions: To define
and achieve the task
Team Functions: The
requirement to build and
maintain the team
Team
maintenance
needs
Individual
needs
Individual Functions: To
satisfy and develop the
individuals within the
team
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Essential Functions of a Leader
•
•
•
•
•
•
Defining the objective
Planning
Communicating
Supporting/Controlling
Informing
Evaluating
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Action by the Leader:
Define Objective
Task
• Identify the problems and tasks
• Identify constraints
• Obtain all available information
Team
• Set targets
• ‘Involve’ the staff
• Create team spirit
Individual
• Assess individual Skills
• Examine your training programme
• Set targets
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Action by the Leader:
Plan
Task
• Establish your resources and priorities
• Make your decisions
Team
• Examine structure and job allocation
• Delegate
Individual
• Agree individual targets
• Agree personal responsibilities
• Delegate
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Action by the Leader:
Communicate
Task
• Brief the staff
• Check their understanding of your briefing
Team
• Have regular consultation with staff
• Obtain and examine the feedback
• Test ideas
Individual
•
•
•
•
Listen to the staff – ideas and troubles
Give advice when necessary
Show enthusiasm
Examine your own attitudes
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Action by the Leader:
Support/Control
Task
• Monitor progress being made
• Check to see that your standards are being
maintained
Team
• Co-ordinate the work
• Reconcile any conflict
Individual
• Recognize and give encouragement
• Counsel
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Action by the Leader:
Evaluate
Task
• Review the task and your functions
• Re-plan and carry forward incomplete targets if
necessary
Team
• Acknowledge and reward success
• Learn from any failure
• Inform staff of results
Individual
• Personal appraisal
• Give guidance and encouragement
• Examine personal needs for further training
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Scope
• Define Leadership
• Function Approach to Leadership
• Transactional/Transformational
Leadership
• RAF Leadership Attributes
• Review Objectives
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Transactional Leadership
• Builds on individual’s needs to get a job done and make a
living
• Is preoccupied with power and position, politics and perks
• Is mired in daily affairs
• Is short-term and hard data orientated
• Focuses on tactical issues
• Relies on human relations to lubricate human interactions
• Follows and fulfils role expectations by striving to work
effectively within current systems
• Supports structures and systems that reinforce the bottom
line, maximize efficiency and guarantee short-term profits
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Transformational Leadership
• Builds on an individual’s need for meaning
• Is preoccupied with purposes and values, morals and
ethics
• Transcends daily affairs
• Is orientated toward long-term goals without
compromising human values and principles
• Focuses more on missions and strategies
• Releases human potential – identifying and developing
new talent
• Designs and redesigns jobs to make them meaningful
and challenging
• Aligns internal structures and systems to reinforce
overarching values and goals
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Characteristics of a
Transformational Leader
•
•
•
•
•
•
They identify themselves as change agents
They are courageous
They believe in people
They are value driven
They are lifelong learners
They have the ability to deal with
complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty
• They are visionaries
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Ethics
‘In general, we usually label leadership as
‘good’ or ‘effective’ when it moves people
to a place in which both they and those
who depend upon them are genuinely
better off, and when it does so without
trampling on the rights of others.’
John Kotter
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Scope
• Define Leadership
• Function Approach to Leadership
• Transactional/Transformational
Leadership
• RAF Leadership Attributes
• Review Objectives
29
Attributes for RAF Leaders
•
•
•
•
•
•
Warfighter, Courageous
Emotionally Intelligent
Flexible and Responsive
Willing to Take Risks
Able to Handle Ambiguity
Mentally Agile - Physically
Robust
• Politically and Globally Astute
– Air Warfare Minded
• Technologically Competent
• Able to Lead Tomorrow’s Recruit
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Warfighter/Courageous
All our personnel, commissioned or non-commissioned
must be, first and foremost, warfighters and second
specialists, though they may be second to none in their
specialisation.
The distinction between the front line and the support area
will become increasingly blurred and all of us need to be
military minded and of a determined fighting spirit to
overcome the adversity of circumstances that any of us may
face in operations.
Physical courage is expected of all leaders, as far as each is
able to give, but we must nurture moral courage to do the
right thing.
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Emotionally Intelligent
Self-awareness is one of the key foundations of effective
leadership. Leaders who know themselves will be able to
develop self-control and subsequently understand the needs
of others.
This will enable them to manage relationships at all levels
better and remain calm under pressure.
Thus individuals will be able to function as part of a wider
team, invariably multidisciplinary, increasingly joint and
often multinational, in the delivery of military capability.
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Emotional Intelligence
Awareness
Others
Self
Awareness
Social
Awareness
Action
Self
Self
Management
Social
Skills
Positive
impact on
others
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Flexible and Responsive
In a world that is now changing faster than ever, where
technology is advancing rapidly, the RAF needs
leaders who are flexible in approach and able to
consider new ways of doing things.
RAF leaders must be open minded, responsive to
change, constantly looking for the opportunities that
change brings and be able to cope with the discomfort
that is associated with change.
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Willing to Take Risks
The RAF needs leaders who understand the difference
between a gamble and a risk and are willing to take
measured risks in appropriate areas without abrogating
responsibility.
This will be achieved if leaders at all levels fulfil 2 roles:
they must themselves set the example in this regard and
must develop an ethos where a failure to act is considered a
more serious fault than making a mistake.
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Able to Handle Ambiguity
Ambiguity pervades our lives and becomes prevalent with
intrinsically chaotic nature of warfare.
At the more junior levels of leadership there may be little
ambiguity but at the highest levels it is considerable. Our
leaders must be able to handle it and, if possible, turn it to
their advantage.
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Mentally Agile - Physically Robust
Our leaders need to be able to handle complex and
multifarious problems and have the creativity and mental
agility to move quickly between various concepts.
Their thinking must be innovative and their minds
receptive.
They must be physically robust and able to withstand the
strain of operations, so that their mental capacity does not
fail them under stress.
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Politically and Globally Astute
Leaders will be more effective depending upon their aptitude
in two areas:
The first is their ability to understand and thus cope
with the politics of their immediate environment and, hence,
their ability to influence those around them.
Similarly, a leader’s awareness of much wider issues at
a national and international level, and their ability to put their
actions and decisions into the context of air power and air
warfare, is crucial.
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Technologically Competent
The RAF culture has always been to embrace new
technology.
It behoves all members of the RAF to be competent within
their specialization and many, at various stages of their
career, will need to display considerable expertise. Yet, in
the age of Network Enabled Capability, this may not be
enough.
Leaders must strive to keep pace with technological
advances on a broad front, through a focus on continual
personal development, so as to ensure its most effective
application.
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Able to Lead Tomorrow’s Recruit
As society develops, each new generation of recruits to the
RAF is different.
Leaders must recognise the qualities the new generation
brings and must learn the leadership skills that will allow
them to maximise their potential.
Everyone in the chain of command needs to understand the
new generation, be able to lead and inspire them so that in
their turn they will lead the RAF to new heights of
excellence.
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‘Children today are tyrants. They
contradict their parents, gobble their
food, and tyrannize their teachers.’
(Socrates - 469 BC - 399 BC)
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Scope
• Define Leadership
• Function Approach to Leadership
• Transactional/Transformational
Leadership
• RAF Leadership Attributes
• Review Objectives
42
Scope
• Define Leadership
• Function Approach to Leadership
• Transactional/Transformational
Leadership
• RAF Leadership Attributes
• Review Objectives
43