Managing Leadership^®

One of the problems with the word “leadership” is that it is pretty slippery. You can define it to mean whatever you wish to emphasize, under whatever circumstances you face, at any given moment.

So, let’s just consider the two basic categories into which definitions of leadership, or its presumed components, tend to fall. One is loosely related to matters of insight – vision, method, innovation, creativity, and the like.

As obvious as it may appear to many that all of these are expressions of leadership, the matter is far from clear. Nevertheless, that argument can be made, and these do have the effect of helping to clarify purpose and action, and of lining up organizational energy behind those.

But the thing about these is that it can also be argued that they are best identified or cultivated (depending on which we are talking about) from within the organization, rather than drawn exclusively from its top leadership. This offers a broader, more informed, and typically more open-minded and fertile field for such examples of insight to surface from, than is reliably provided by a select group of specially cultivated individual leaders.

The other group of presumed leadership definitions might be contained under a category called “command.” These are the functions that provide discipline. Force of character, strategic guidance, operational policy, the power of personal example, and so on. It is instructive to note that this category necessarily also includes the full range of communication skills. And, moreover, they are all classic functions of management.

This group is an example of the problem about discussions of this type that we have referred to – the tendency to define as leadership whatever happens to suit the speaker’s purpose. But it points to another one, as well: we habitually award a positive value to whatever we define as leadership. But it most certainly does not inevitably warrant that.

And all of this, in turn, suggests two reasons why we need to maintain leadership in a position subordinate to management. One is that the former is a characteristic, a function, a process – suit yourself; but it is not a discipline; the latter is that. Moreover, those elements of it that are most clearly actual examples of leadership are best sought where they are most likely to be found: within the organization, not atop it.

The other is that whatever we settle on leadership as being, and wherever we choose to insist it is located, it is not inevitably constructive, much less disciplined to the goals and purpose of the organization. It is management’s role to ensure that it is those things.

And this is why the position taken here that ownership of the decision-making process cannot be given to employees, but must remain with managers, to whom it is contractually assigned, is not inconsistent with the principles of “managing leadership” promoted in these pages. Leadership – like decision-making and other forms of delegated authority – can and often ought to occur throughout the organization, but it must be managed in order to ensure that it constructively serves designated organizational aims.

Thanks for staying with us through the development of this argument. Please be sure to offer your thinking about it, as well. And in the meanwhile, have a great weekend!

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Today’s tips: Speaking of flexibility thriving from a firm foundation, please see Miki Saxon on how to develop a healthy culture without dissolving into formlessness or descending into bureaucracy.

And, or course, despite today’s argument, many of you will insist on retaining your leadership – rather than management – development programs. That’s fine. But at least be sure to follow Dan McCarthy‘s timely advice on how to design and fund it.

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